I am far too excited today to use this for the first time.

Meet Ateco’s plastic coated 16″ / 40 cm number 3116 pastry bag! Isn’t she gorgeous?

I bought her awhile back when I dragged my husband into a restaurant store in downtown Seattle. It was almost too overwhelming to process.

My heart was warmed over the sight of shiney ovens.

I had sandwich en-counters. Love.

Let me put it in pitchers for you.

I know, they’re not to scale.

But here’s the scoop…

I’m gonna dish a little.

Cookin’ is whisky business.

One might get addicted to pot.

And the room may spin.

Just wok it off. Brings a tier to my eye.

Or brush it off.

Oy! Enough with the puns. That’s the last straw!

But I can’t help it!  Olive puns!

What’s that you say? “There is no hope for you. You’re a basket case.”

That’s cold.

Now, I’m steamed.

Not really. Good gravy. I’m not gonna stir up trouble over a few puns. I got a handle on my emotions. It’s all good.

Oh the makes we could make with these culinary cravings! I am in love with the restaurant store. Look for it soon on my Facebook Places notices. Cuz I’ll be dragging husband back again so he can ride in a garbage can that has wheels. Pitchers will follow.

Look for big, big news here soon about this blog and new changes that are coming.

Lookie! Lookie! Lookie!

I went to the store and I fell in love. Purple. Tubular. Shinnnnnneeeey. The nice thing about falling in love at the store is that you don’t have to wait for something to love you back. So I bought them and made them my own.

When I returned home, I remembered that I didn’t really like radishes because of their severe bite. The bad thing about falling in love with something that gets fresh with you at the store is that you can’t give it back.

So I sliced them real pretty. Nope, still didn’t like them. I chopped all three bunches and tossed them into a bowl. Looked tasty but it didn’t help.

I decided to add some chopped pecans. They might be good with radishes.

I bargained with my pantry for awhile and walked out with some dried cranberries. Yum.

I have fallen in love with red onions this year so why not? Besides, they delightfully matched the purple radishes and this made me insanely happy.

Eventually if you stare at the makings of a salad long enough it will cry out for a dressing. I listened and poured 1/2 cup of olive oil into a jar.

Added a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar…

and I just happen to have about a 1/2 a cup of homemade raspberry jam. Yep. Raspberry vinaigrette sounded good.

All I needed then was all things small… poppy seeds, salt and pepper.

Placing the lid on the jar (I love these lids!) I was smitten with the most gorgeous dressing I’d ever made. I tossed all of the ingredients together in an attempt to justify my spontaneous, uncontrollable radish purchase and…

I love radishes.

More Salads You Might Enjoy

Chilled bacon, lettuce and tomato salad recipe

It’s not delivery. It’s fresh! Chopped Pizza Salad recipe

Yesterday I was reminded once again of how much I really love where I live (although I think this pretty much everyday). The northwest is so eccentric and adventurous. Yesterday, this girl from the adventurous Snoqualmie Valley visited the eccentric Seattle Pike Place Market. My friend, Mandy, from Gourmet Mom on the Go blog invited me to a luncheon in her home which was sponsored by this little bottle.

After shopping together at Pike Place and learning about fish from the fish mongers, we went to Mandy’s and made lunch with our fresh ingredients and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Can I tell you how fun it was not just talking about cooking but instead actually cooking with fellow Seattle foodie bloggers?

Last week Mandy was hangin’ at Paula Deen’s house and this week she chose to hang out with me. She really knows how to make a girl feel special!

I have made a little video and placed it on You Tube to share with you to show my love for my home for my entire life, the Great Northwest. I hope you enjoy it and it inspires you to come visit us at The Old Hen Bed & Breakfast soon!

Pike Place video

You can see more about my day with Mandy, Lindsey, Jamie, & Emme (Emme will be on this season of Master Chef on July 27th on Fox!) at Mandy’s blog.

Thank you to our hosts, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and Mandy, for a fun day!

Yay for summer! Yay for ice cream!

I have some bad news. My like-new ice cream maker will likely be making its way down from the top of the barn and into a proud new owner’s arms. That’s right. I don’t like homemade ice cream. I know that I’m in the minority but it’s just far to rich for my non-fat milk coated lips since the early age of 6. I’m giving my ice cream maker one last chance to redeem itself, so if you have a low-fat frozen yogurt recipe that you love, bring it on.

In the meantime, I do enjoy my homemade sauces so today I’m sharing this thick & yummy caramel recipe with you!

First, get your participants lined up since caramel is SUPER HOT and SUPER FAST cooking.

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• salt (optional)

Caramel is like the pretty girl you meet that you think is stuck up but as it turns out she’s really sweet. It might be intimidating at first but as long as you stir it a lot, it’s really easy to make!

Using a large, heavy-duty pot. I know, right? By the ingredients listed, you’d think a small pan would be fine but nope. Caramel needs plenty of space for it’s bubbly personality. Place all of the sugar into the pot over medium-high heat. Continuously stir and watch it morph into a sugary liquid. Seriously, this is the best part. Oh, and look! A storyboard!

Once again, out of my love for you, I have taken the liberty of giving each phase a scientific description that you can relate to when you make your own sauce.

1. Sand with tiny particles in it. It’s all I got. I was at the beach recently. Stir! Stir Stir!

2. Tiny particles with sand in it. Okay, this is more difficult than I thought it would be.

3. My 7th grade rock candy science project. That’s the year I knew I would never be a scientist.

4. My very first homemade gravy. Hey, now. No time for giggles. Keep your eyes on the prize!

After the sugar is fully melted, it’s time to add the stick of butter. Remember to keep stirring!

When butter is almost finished melting, remove pot from heat and stir until butter is completely melted.

Next, pour in the heavy whipping cream. After bubbly foam dies down a bit, stir immediately and watch as it swirls into all of its caramel goodness. Stir until all the whipping cream swirls are gone and you see caramel sauce!

Yay for caramel sauce!

Caramel latte sundae!

Step aside, coffee shop… Coffee ice cream, homemade caramel sauce and whipped cream topped with coffee beans are the new cool beans!

*This recipe makes one pint of caramel sauce which will keep wonderfully in the refrigerator in a canning jar.

A few weeks ago, a hummingbird had made his way into our bed & breakfast without reservation. After running into the window several times, I finally heard his cry and figured out what the noises were and brought in the bird rescue forces (AKA Pastor Husband with all of his manliness… and a really, really tall ladder).

Here is the rest of the story in pictures:

“Careful, honey.”  As you can see, I have the gift of encouragement.

“Can we keep him? I will love him and feed him and call him George.”

I shall enlarge the picture so you can appreciate his teeny, tiny sweetness!

Lest you wonder if I used him in the hummingbird cake… No, I would not be capable of such a deed. After his 15 minutes of tame, he was off to his next adventure. I hope he enjoyed his stay. I am still waiting for his review on Trip Advisor.

After meeting Mr. Hummingbird, I was inspired to make a cake that I had not heard of since I was a little girl.  As usual, I enjoy making usual things a bit unusual so this hummingbird cake has a delightful new twist. Well, okay a few twists but I think you will like every turn!

Toss 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) and 2 cups of sugar into mixing bowl and cream together well.

Add three eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix well.

Peel two ripe medium bananas and mix in well.

Add one cup fresh, frozen or canned crushed pineapple. Are you catching on to how this cake got its name yet? Yeah, me neither.

Sift all remaining dry ingredients:

• 3 cups of cake flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt

I am always far too proud of myself when I take the instructions of sifting seriously. Add & mix until dry ingredients incorporated without over-mixing. Over-mixing will make the dough tough in some recipes.

Then add one cup of coconut, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon & a dash of freshly ground nutmeg.

Here is the big twist. One cup of macadamia nuts and  one cup of white chocolate chips. I’m pretty sure you are either gonna love me or hate me for this. If you just started your diet this week, I sincerely apologize. Now give your mixer a few more whirls just until the goodies are mixed in.

Coat two 9 inch baking pans (circles or squares are both great) with baking spray (or smear with shortening and then dust with flour) and get ready for the goodness that is named hummingbird cake.

My batter turned out thick because I used some frozen pineapple jelly that I happen to have in the freezer. Yours will probably be a little thinner than mine. Bake at 350 degree pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes or until cake tester comes out very clean.

This cake will be gone as fast as Mr. Hummingbird. Hey, maybe that’s why… hmmm…

Okay, we’re not done yet. A cake as special as this deserved a very special frosting. And so it was. And it was so heavenly, it deserved its blog post. And so it was.

Yeah, I know, right? See you there!

printable version

I made this recipe up on the fly to go with my hummingbird cake but after making it, I was thinking of so many other ways it could be enjoyed.

You know that verse “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” (Psalm 34:8) Yeah, pretty sure that guy was inspired to write that after he tasted this heavenly glaze..

In a medium bowl, add 1/4 cup (a half a stick) butter to 3 cups of powdered sugar. Then add 1 cup of evaporated milk or whipping cream and stir.

Place one cup of butterscotch chips into microwave for about 30 seconds at a time & stir between each heating. You will probably need to heat for a total of 90 seconds when the chips will be half melted. Stir until they are completely melted. Add melted butterscotch to frosting.

Thank the good Lord for the enlargement feature so we can enjoy a bigger portion. I thought I was proud of myself for actually taking the time to sift flour earlier today. Holy cow! My family won’t even want to be around me when they see what this gorgeous glaze has done to my pride-o-meter. Please. Enjoy. I know me and my pride are.

See this butterscotch overdose upon hummingbird cake here.

printable version

This blog post has been brought to you by the fruit, kiwi.

Have you ever seen a fuzzier fruit? It seems that the more neglected a produce item is at our house, the more likely that it will be featured on this blog.

Yep, kiwi from Costco was the fruit of choice today. Perfect! There were about 10 left. They got a good shave and were piled into a pot!

Place them over medium heat. Add 1 cup of sugar. I was so proud of these action shots that I took with my humble little camera while pouring the sugar with my left hand!

Using a potato masher, smoosh the kiwi into smaller pieces.

Add a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice – bottled lemon will work just fine but I prefer fresh lemon. Besides, it makes my blog seem fancier.

After the natural juices start flowing, pour the jam into the blender on as low of speed as possible, increasing as necessary, to accomplish a lovely jam texture.

Place back on medium heat and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 5 minutes.

At this point, the jam should be a bit translucent. Continue to simmer over low heat for about 10 more minutes to reduce down to a jam. It will thicken but be sure to leave room for a little more thickening as it cools.

Yay for kiwi! So ugly and so beautiful all at the same time! Set aside while you finish part 2 & 3 of the recipe. When your kids walk in the kitchen, just tell them that you are working on a Harry Potter dessert. It might be the only way that you can get them to eat anything green.

Next, add 2 cups of milk, one 3.4 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding and 4 oz. of cream cheese into blender.

Blend on lowest efficient speed until smooth. Pudding will immediately begin to thicken. You now have heaven in your blender. It will be difficult, but aside until shortbread crust is ready. Step away from the pre-made cookie dough.  You are about to experience something much better and it’s incredibly easy!

Cream together 2 sticks (one cup) of butter at room temp. and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar. Add 2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Easy or what?

This will be the most beautiful dough you have ever seen. It’s fun to touch too because it is silky soft!

Spray ten inch (or so) tart pan with non-stick baking spray. I do love my tart pans. They are pretty and shiny and handy and… Okay, I may be a little smitten with my culinary wares. I cannot help it. I worked long and hard to create a grown-up kitchen. I think it is even more grown-up than I am now.

Place half of the shortbread dough into tart pan & spread it out. (You can save the other half or make two tarts, depending on the size of your tarts).

Ready to bake! 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until a light golden brown.

Allow to chill-out for about 1/2 hour. At our house we call this a time out. Maybe my kitchen really isn’t as grown-up as I thought.

Spread half the cream cheese pudding over the shortbread crust.

Carefully spread a very, very thin layer of kiwi jam over pudding. You should end up with enough shortbread dough & cream cheese pudding for two large tarts and should have leftover kiwi jam to store in the fridge for toast! Garnish your Kiwi Jam Dessert Tart as you like! Kiwi tastes similar to strawberries so I chose some lovely sliced strawberries for mine.

Nom nom nom!

Tart and sweet! Chewy and creamy! Beautiful and ugly!

printable version

It has been a pretty soggy spring in the Seattle area. I keep telling myself that the drippage will bring an extra beautiful summer but since my seeds keep getting moldy before they have a chance to sprout, maybe not. I can always be thankful for the evergreen trees, fish and cute rain boots… minus the time that group of senior citizens made fun of them.

I keep wanting to make summer dishes but instead find myself drowning in pots of homemade chicken noodle soup in May and the giggles of senior citizens making fun of my fashionable rain boots in June. I forgive them because they just don’t understand how desperate we are to have fashion while we puddle walk…. that, and they were the cutest group of people I have ever seen.

Desperate for newness, I made this pasta dish the other night. It was delightfully fresh yet still cozy. It sparked a memory in me that I’m going to admit to you now. This is just between you and I so don’t go laughing all the way to Twitter with this or anything, okay? I could lose followers if this gets out. My husband taught me how to cook noodles. Yep, it’s true.

Okay, you back now? “Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.” – Saint Thomas Aquinas. Yep, pretty sure I have surpassed reason with many things that I have disclosed in my life. I am now healing from the healing process. Anyhow, back to the noodles.

Just in case anyone else is still suffering from the same newlywed wife brain dysfunction that I had, I am about to teach you how to cook noodles.

Gladys, I do believe she must be knee-deep in those ding-dang boots again. She ain’t thinkin’ straight.

Ignore the voices. I understand your dilemma. You are ready for marriage but the day after your honeymoon you can tell that your husband is trying to smile as he suffers through your first homemade meal but he cannot smile because his teeth are sticking together from your half crunchy, half mushy pasta.

You watched your mom cook all those years. How could you not know how to cook? Girls, it’s because we were teenagers and we thought we knew everything so we only half paid attention. Please allow me to spare you any future embarrassment and shine at the dinner table!

Using your noodle to cook perfect pasta

1. Put 16-20 cups* of water in a large pot.*

2. Wait for water to boil.*

3. Add 16 ounces of pasta to boiling water.

4. Stir the pasta right after you put it in the water & stir occasionally during cooking.*

5. Follow the package directions for cooking times.* If the pasta is to be used as part of a dish that requires further cooking, under cook the pasta by 1/3 of the cooking time on the package.

6. Taste the pasta to determine if it is done.” Pasta should be “al dente,” or firm to the bite, yet cooked through. Drain pasta immediately* and stir in about a tablespoon of olive oil for added flavor & to help prevent stickiness.

*These items are the most common pasta cooking mistakes. Change your heedless ways and you too can make perfect pasta every time! For example, if you do not drain the pasta immediately, the pasta will keep cooking while sitting in the water even if it’s off the burner since the water is very hot.

Okay, back to our recipe. Cook one pound of perfect pasta and come along with me… the benefit from coming along with me is that you will never have to live married life with your husband taking credit for every good recipe you ever made just because he taught you how to cook a noodle. Girl power!

Place a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a frying pan and turn to medium heat.

Add about 6-8 ounces of cod (more or less is fine) and a dash of salt & pepper & fry about 10 minutes on each side.

As the noodle instructions say above, stir a tablespoon or two of olive oil into your perfect noodles.

Add the zest and juice of one lemon (watch for seeds). I can smell summer already, California summer, that is.

Now comes the fun part. Seasonings! First, grate a couple (or more, if you like) cloves of garlic. I bought this handy set and love it. It makes a very fine grated garlic which I adore. It blends into my recipes so nicely.

Flake cod into bite size pieces. Add cod & garlic to pasta.

Chop a few tablespoons each of fresh flat leaf parsley, chervil, and oregano. Cool thing is that you can play with various herbs like thyme, sage, dill or cilantro. Add what you like! In fact, if you can cook perfect pasta, you can grow your own herb garden. Best part is, herbs love cruddy, sandy soil and they come back year after year! They are the perfect garden for a girl who has the boots for gardening but no patience for it. Add salt & pepper to taste and stir.

Ahhhhh… “Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” – Federico Fellini

printable version

another pasta adventure

I owe you an apology. I have been a bad blogger. My new gig has been taking up much of my time so I haven’t dropped in to say hello in far too long. I haven’t forgotten you. I’ll be whipping up some new recipes for you soon. I am working on one today, in fact, but it’s not ready to share yet. You might want to find a snack while you wait.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this story from my past.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who didn’t like to eat quiche. Oh wait, I already told you that story, didn’t I? You want new material? Oh, okay…. um…. let’s see… did I tell you about the time I ran into a mailbox when I was learning to drive. No? You’re not interested? Fine… um… I’m sure I can find something to share with you from this crispy old photo album here… No, that won’t do. That accidental mullet  that made me cry and is far too embarrassing.

Oh! Here we go. How about a story about what it’s like to grow up with a mom who is a professional cake decorator. I know, it probably sounds like no big deal to you but this was back in the seventies and eighties  before Duff from the Ace of Cakes was even born. There was a cute, short little lady making the cakes of people’s dreams before fondant was popular and icing was made of 10 parts lard and 1 part powdered sugar. That lady happened to be my mom.

She worked at Scandia Bakery and Lefse Factory in Stanwood, Washington. Before the Food Network, you just made the newspaper and local news and that she did. I cannot even begin to tell you how many bowls of lard icing I stirred. I had nightmares about frosting and my father had a wallet that had a fold-out picture holder that dropped to the ground when he opened it with pictures of my mom’s cakes. Yes, I am still recovering, thank you for asking.

I shall now share with you my very first cakes – the cakes I shed tears over. These are the cakes for which I won money, hard rock record albums (before I even knew what hard rock was) and ribbons. I spent hours trying to make them look like my supermom’s cakes. Now I must warn you before you move on that you have not accidentally happened upon the Cake Wrecks blog. What? You’ve never been? You must. You must go now. No wait. Finish laughing at this and then go. No. Don’t laugh. I will hurt all over again if you do.

Ready?

Do you remember Precious Moments figurines? Yeah, I still have some in my attic. Anyhooo… How about that? Grand champion winner! Yeah, pretty sure that ribbon must have belonged to the cake on the left side of the ribbons. How nice of my parents to take the picture this way to make me always think I won. I’m not even going to try to comment on her race. I’m just plain not sure.

Those tears I mentioned? This is the photo for me to remember them by. The cake, in case you can’t tell from this awesome 126 film  that was developed about 15 years after the picture was taken, is of a red-haired country girl fishing on the world’s largest stump or at the world’s smallest pond. Not sure which. The tears? Oh yeah, those were because her huge head kept falling off. In case you were wondering, toothpicks will not hold your head on. ‘Nuf said.

Okay, now for my final picture.

Evidently I liked big stumps. I don’t know why. Easy to see why the grand prize ribbon is way at the other end of the table. They didn’t want to give me false hope. Poor little bunny. Good news is that his head stayed put and it appears they showed me a merciful second place.

Thank you for humoring me by making it to the end of this blog post. You are so gracious. You should consider being a judge for cake shows.