Culinary Adventures with Camilla

About a year ago, my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf developed an allergy to garbanzo beans . It's more accurate to say a sensitivity, I think. But ever since he ate those Fresh Garbanzo Beans , he gets an upset tummy from eating any garbanzo beans. So he requested two kitchen projects this summer: (1) make hummus without garbanzos and (2) make falafel without garbanzos. These were a first attempt. I have say: they smelled great, but they weren't as flavorful as they smelled. He was grateful for the effort and asked when I planned to try again. I won't post this (failed) recipe, but will keep working on it.  If you have a recipe you'd be willing to share, I'm all ears. The only two requirements - must not include garbanzo beans or garbanzo flour and must be baked not fried. Thanks in advance!

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  BreadBakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Rocío of  Kids and Chic  has selected oatmeal breads as our theme. She wrote: "Oats of any kind: rolled, flour, steel cut, quick cooking, etc. Your bread can be sweet or savory but it's got to have oats!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Oatmeal Bread Basket #BreadBakers Oatmeal Bread themed #BreadBakers: Agave Oatmeal Sour Dough Bread from My Catholic Kitchen Applesauce Oatmeal Bread from Hostess at Heart Banana Oatmeal Loaf from Basic N Delicious Blueberry Currant Oatmea...

When someone pointed me to the Summer Strawberry Kids Cookoff   and we had fresh strawberries in our High Ground Organics CSA box last week, my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf was game to create a fun, tasty appetizer. We've been enjoying dinners al fresco during these warm summer evenings. He carted his tray out to the yard. The contest rules stated 'five ingredients or less.' D asked if salt and pepper counted as ingredients; I thought so. He tasted his strawberry concoction and decided, with the cardamom (his favorite spice!), it didn't need salt and pepper. Great. I ngredients 1 to 2 pounds fresh organic strawberries (you can use 1 quart) 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 C balsamic vinegar 1 t ground cardamom crème fraîche and bread for serving Procedure Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Hull and slice strawberries in half lengthwise. Place them in a mixing bowl with red onion. Pour in the vinegar and toss to coat. Spoon the mixture onto a...

After a post in Weekends in a French Kitchen, there was some talk amongst the bloggers about how to peel and eat heads-on shrimp. I decided I should rope in the Kitchen Elves for a tutorial. Here we go... A quick note on preparation: I boiled these with some Old Bay, sprinkled them with more Old Bay and a dash of salt, and drizzled them with melted butter. Then the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf squeezed fresh lemon juice over the top. Okay. Ready? You have your whole shrimp, head and all... Twist off the head and suck out the juice. Seriously. It's the best part! Well, maybe not the best part, but it's definitely part of the experience. For the record, only my mini-boys and I suck the shrimp heads. My husband says that Filipino by marriage doesn't mean he has to eat like a Filipino. Fair enough. More for us! Use your fingers to peel down one side; the legs will stay connected to one side or other other. As you peel down - towards the tail - you'll be...

It's time for Group B's July 2015  Secret Recipe Club   reveal. This month I was assigned to  Fit Mama Real Food   which is written by Heather. She's wife to Jacob, mom to Hunter and Zoe, real food lover, crazy crafter, and group fitness instructor. And she has some really delicious looking recipes. I am definitely going to try her Crusty No Knead Dutch Oven Bread   (I am all about no-knead breads!), Chicken Kebab Salad , Pomegranate and Almond Butter Deep Dark Chocolate Brownie . But, for this month's SRC reveal, I decided to make Heather's  Creamy Millet Porridge . Serendipitously, I had just ordered some grains from Bob's Red Mill when I found Heather's recipe. And millet was in my order! Given that I've never cooked with millet - and really no idea what I wanted to do with it when I placed the order at  Bob's Red Mill  - this was the perfect introduction to it! In case you're unfamiliar, millet is an ancient grain that has...

Just like me, the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf shows love and friendship through food. So, when we were heading to the beach for a belated birthday celebration, he asked me what kind of cake we were going to make for our friend Stella. I asked what he thought about a bundt cake with some flowers in the center. He was excited to help. He measured, he tried (and was moderately successful) with the two handed egg-break, he whisked, and he baked. He even decided on the colors of the flowers and the birthday candles. The cake was delicious, moist, and well-appreciated by the birthday girl and our other friends. Ingredients Bundt butter and flour for the pan 1-1/4 C freshly squeezed lemon juice zest from 4 organic lemons (we used Meyer lemon) 3 C flour 1/2 C ground almonds 1 1/2 t baking powder 5 large eggs 2-1/2 C organic granulated sugar 1 1/2 C mild olive oil Glaze 1/2 C organic powdered sugar 2 t freshly squeezed lemon juice 1t water Proced...

Weekends in a French Kitchen (click to read about the project:  here ) launched this month.  And if you're game, I'm including affiliate links to the cookbooks at the bottom of the post. Yesterday I posted from Daniel Boulud and Dorie Greenspan's cookbook. Today marks my second post from Mimi Thorisson's  A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse. Special thanks to the project organizers: Alice of  A Mama, Baby and Sharpei in the Kitchen , Christy of  Confessions of a Culinary Diva , Tammy of  Telling Stories from Chez Nous , and Emily of  Blue Bungalow . What a fun, fun project they have designed. Join us. This week's selection from Mimi Thorisson's  A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse  is Langoustines with Armagnac. You'll find this recipe on page 110 of the  A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse ...we will not be posting the actual recipes on our blogs.  Here are the...