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This is the season for apples in our community, with trees producing a hearty harvest. Boxes of apples sit at the end of driveways with “Free” written on a piece of cardboard. Friends text and offer boxes of apples. Apples are available at farm stands. My husband enjoys a fresh apple every day. I enjoy baking with apples. This recipe I made for my children when they were young. It is delicious warm but can also be eaten the next day, served at room temperature. I select larger, firm apples for t...
A super easy meal that I make now and then for breakfast. I never thought to share this recipe until a co-worker of my husband said she wished she knew how to make this. It’s all about technique. A can of hash and fresh eggs – sounds easy, right? Plus, once you add the eggs, you put on a lid and turn the burner off. Gives you two minute to check your email or bring in the morning paper. Ingredients Hormel Corned Beef Hash, 14 ounce can Eggs, 1 to 2 per person Cooking oil, 1 tablespoon Drie...
Fresh vegetables make for the best ingredients. To know the source and care of what we eat is important. “Eat clean” is a way to eat as much food in your diet, without additives and pre-made mixes. Know the source of your food. Eat healthy to stay healthy. Ingredients Corn on the cob, 2 to 4 ears Poblano pepper Tomatoes, 2 medium Red onion, 3 slices Olive oil, 3 tablespoons Salt, ¼ teaspoon Balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons Preparation Heat an indoor electric grill to 200 degrees. As it war...
It may be work, but the rewarding part of this recipe is you can use small apples or apples you have cut the worm holes out. You can use apples that may otherwise go to waste. I cut open a box of apples planning to make applesauce and ended up with enough apples for this recipe. There’s barely any flour in this recipe, and I decided to use gluten free, so I could share with family. We enjoyed ours with vanilla ice cream. Ingredients Apples, 4 cups, peeled, cored and chopped Egg, 1 Dried c...
The weather cools and I use the oven more often. Roasted pecans are a great snack and can be added to salads and desserts. They make a nice gift by wrapping a ribbon around a jar. I bought a couple bags of pecan halves to bake with and had plenty leftover. Roasting them is quick and they turn out delicious. Ingredients Pecan halves 4 cups or 1 pound Salted butter, 4 tablespoons Salt,1 teaspoon Preparation Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cut the butter into four pieces and place on a large baking...
If there is anything amiss, it is that our local vegetable stands are only open during the growing seasons. I should love to stop into a small local market to select the freshest of ingredients. We have driven around the valley to buy winter crops from the back of a wagon. Organic foods are favored. In our area we can now purchase locally milled flours, fresh cheeses, breads, meats and eggs. In the ideal situation, we can create our daily menus from each of these. We can also plant fruit...
I began the self-education process about gluten-free foods by talking to friends and family. My desire to learn to bake gluten-free treats was so I could bake and share something as a gift. Plus, should I ever have a gluten-sensitive guest in our home, I could offer them a gluten-free dessert. I also approached the matter cautiously, with a concern for our family food budget. Food has become more expensive. Purchasing different types of flours is important for my overall baking plans and there a...
This year is a good year for peaches. We travel over the Cascade Mountains on occasion and on the return trip we stop at Thorpe’s Fruit Stand along I-90. The fruit we buy depends on the season. Auntie Polly Cayou appreciates us bringing her a box of fruit. We bring her fruit as a gift. Taking care of aunties is very important. There are close bonds in our tribal culture with our aunties. They are like mothers to us. Even at my age, it’s good to have an auntie who appreciates a visit and gif...
This recipe is mixed in a food processor. I plan to mix this up when the house is cool and wait to preheat the oven to make a pie, after creating the pie dough. To cut the lattice and lift it, I use a multi-purpose stainless-steel scraper. To chill the water, I put ½ cup in a small plastic container and set in the freezer. You could place ice cubes in a cup of water. The extra flour is sprinkled on the surface where you will roll out the dough and sprinkled on top as it is rolled out. If...
We are once again growing zucchini, summer squash, winter squash and pumpkins. The blossoms are bright and beautiful when I enter our garden gate. Many thanks to Lynn Beebe for generously sharing zucchini and summer squash starts. Unexpectedly, they were offered when most of our garden was planned. We quickly ordered another raised bed from our neighbor Brian Cladoosby, who builds them in his spare time. We also had to cut back blackberries growing through the garden fence to place the seventh r...
This recipe prepares in the slow cooker. It will make 2 to 3 pints. You can refrigerate and it keeps a month. Or you can water bath can it so it stores longer. I was describing this recipe to two young millennial women. They both asked, when do you add butter? I replied, “this is fresh fruit cooked down to be smooth as butter.” Ingredients Blueberries, ½ flat (6 pints) Sugar, 2 cups Cinnamon, 2 teaspoons Nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon Canning jars, 2 to 3 pints Preparation Wash and remove any...
This recipe makes two round eight-inch cakes. It is perfect for those with a sweet tooth and a wish for cake but you realize you are out of eggs. Some folks run to the store to buy a sweet treat. Or they may stock up on all the sweets they crave when they do their weekly grocery shopping. For the most part, I simply do a bit of baking. Ingredients Sugar, 1 cup Flour, 2 cups Baking powder, 2 teaspoons Butter, 1 tablespoon, melted Milk, 1 cup Brown sugar, ¼ cup Cinnamon, 2 teaspoons...
My husband received fresh shrimp from a co-worker recently that was reportedly harvested in the San Juan Islands. In the shell they looked a decent size. Once shelled, they looked a bit smaller. Then cooked, they looked quite small. Small, but tasty! Ingredients Fresh shrimp Water Butter Lemon (optional) Preparation The fresh shrimp we received already had their heads and any eggs removed. Using your fingers, crack open the shrimp on the underbelly. Carefully pull the shrimp out of the shell,...
A refreshing summertime salad. This makes enough for a quart for your family, plus a pint for a friend and one serving size bowl to eat after it has marinated one hour. I have brought this to potlucks. Hopefully we all shall be able to enjoy more meals together with friends and family. This is a flex recipe. If you like onions, add more. If you prefer green beans, add two cans and leave out one of the others. You could also add an extra splash of cider vinegar for more flavor. I used fresh...
Enjoy the strawberries and rhubarb you harvest or buy in early summer, into the winter months. A well-established rhubarb plant in your garden, produces enough stalks to create several tasty dishes. This year, to date, our rhubarb produced enough to share bundles with two friends, cook up and water bath can 5 batches of strawberry rhubarb jam and this recipe. Plus there is more rhubarb growing! Use a double crust when you bake the pie with this filling. One pint jar per pie. Strawberry Rhubarb...
This is my go-to recipe when I want to serve strawberries and whipped cream. You can use either a round or square 8-inch pan. You can use either a round or square 8-inch pan. This bakes with a beautiful dome in the center of the cake. It is a heavy cake and thus filling. The one I recently baked had edges that were a tad crunchy which added to the flavor. Year’s past, when my children were young, I made a simple chocolate frosting for a quick birthday cake. Ingredients 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 cups f...
Writing up a recipe has challenges, particularly the part where I write the exact amount of an ingredient. Often it is calculated by estimating the amount of an ingredient by visually imagining the sliced pile of hot peppers in a measuring cup. Then I realized each canning jar I used was 4 ounces. Five jars, 4 ounces each, so 5 x 4 equals 20 ounces. Then an ounces to cupsconversion has to be calculated. That equals 2-½ cups sliced hot peppers. Or I could describe the hot peppers by...
This is a slightly different variation from the recipe published July 2016 in The La Conner Weekly News. At the final stage of cooking the jam, a foam covers the top, during the full rolling boil. This can be removed by skimming the top with a large broad spoon and savingthe foam in a small bowl. Removing the foam is optional. It is more a matter of aesthetics than necessary. I remove most of the foam per family custom. It is a delicious snack, enjoyed by the spoonful. My mother and I cooked...
Surprisingly, the lemon is the predominant flavor in this recipe. We order Alaskan cod from the Butcher Box. Each fillet is vacuum sealed and frozen. The lemons I bought from Costco and they were ample in size and fresh. Dill is not my favorite herb, so I used dried parsley. Generally I find ways to blend both olive oil and butter in preparing fish. Here, I useda bit of olive oil poured on the foil lined baking pan, under the cod and dabs of butter on top of the cod. This recipe is for two...
Beets are available year round. They are easily grown from seed here in the Pacific Northwest. Beets are a root vegetable that stores well and keeps well. This recipe calls for one large roasted red beet. I roasted a few beets a day ahead. Ingredients Roasted red beet, one large Valencia oranges, two small White balsamic vinegar, one tablespoon Salt, to taste Preparation Peel, slice and cube one cooled, roasted red beet. Cut into half-inch cubes. Splash on the white balsamic vinegar. Mix...
This is a recipe for the Instant Pot. For a stovetop version, refer to my recipe published in 2013 in the La Conner Weekly News. Back then, I was asked to write up a recipe for Spanish Rice, to be included as a recipe handout for the La Conner Sunrise Food Bank. It was one of two recipes I provided to them. You can substitute your salsa preference. Ingredients White or brown rice, 2 cups, rinsed Pace Picante Salsa, ¾ cups Chicken broth, 2 cups Butter, 2 tablespoons Salt, ¼ cup...
Celeriac is a root vegetable that stays fresh in your refrigerator crisp drawer. Adding celeriac to mashed potatoes creates a unique flavor, a bit like turnip. When mashed, if you leave small chunks, the flavor is more memorable. Ingredients Celeriac, 1 medium Red potatoes, 3 medium Water, to cover Milk, ¼ cup Butter, 2 tablespoons Parsley, ¼ teaspoon Salt and pepper, to taste Preparation Rinse and peel the celeriac and potatoes. The amount of the celeriac and potatoes will be...
Our good friend to the north, Willie Lane, offered us fresh herring eggs from Sitka, Alaska. Willie is a tribal member of the Lummi Nation and lives in his tribal community. Willie has a generous and humorous spirit, much like my husband, Kevin Paul. Their friendship reminds me of my Inupiat culture (Northern Alaskan Eskimo). We have a laughing/joking friend, to share and laugh. Mine happens also to be my husband. Foods from the wild are a joy to share. As we traveled north to pick up a half...
This is one of the few meals that I fry in oil. I use a clear oil, canola oil, and added a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil. I test the oil to see if it is hot enough by dropping in a bit of the tempura batter. It sizzled and floated to the top. To protect my hands, while cooking, I use long metal tongs and oven mitts that cover my entire hands and wrists. Ingredients Alaskan cod, cut in strips, 3 strips per serving Canola oil, 2 cups Toasted sesame oil, 1 teaspoon Flour, 1 cup Egg, 1 large Cold...
Clams and other foods from our area waters are eaten at every opportunity in my home. These Butter Clams were dug by Ben James, who is also known as “Ben Jammin” or “Ben be Jammin” as in “clam jamming”, or digging clams. What a perfect nickname, to be associated with one of the traditional foods of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. They say, “when the tide is out, the table is set.” My husband tells the family story that his step-grandfather, Alfred Sampson, Sr., would walk through the woo...
