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Snacking in the Kitchen

~ Culinary Adventures In & Out of the Kitchen. Recipes, Reviews, Culinary Musings.

Monthly Archives: October 2013

Halloween Mexican Skull Pumpkin!

31 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by snackingkitchen in Holidays

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Tags

art, carving, halloween, pumpkins

halloween_pumpkin_mexican_skull_carving3

Happy Halloween!  The tradition of pumpkin carving continues this year (my 4th year, going strong!) with the Mexican Skull carved Halloween pumpkin.

This year, I headed out to the Swan Trails Farm pumpkin patch with my friend Alla and her two nephews.  What fun!  We picked pumpkins, watched a duck race, ate kettle corn and got lost in a corn maze (but found our way out).

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With my pumpkin safe at home, I decided on the Mexican Skull pattern, carving some parts of it and using acrylic paint to highlight and draw the rest.  Spooky, yet beautiful, if I say so myself.

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The Artist joined in on the fun, painting the skull on the opposite side of the carving (there is still work to be done there, so the final painting will be revealed later).

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Happy Halloween to you all!

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Kale and Chard Salad with Apple and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

29 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

apple, chard, fall, kale, salad, vegetarian

kale_and_chard_salad

Oh boy, are you going to love this Kale and Chard Salad with Granny Smith Apple and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds.  Especially if you have a handful of pumpkin seeds leftover from carving your Halloween masterpiece.

I picked the kale and rainbow Swiss chard from our yard – there are still a few leaves that are brave enough to withstand the chilly Northwest fall.

For the salad, saute strips of kale in grape seed oil for just a few minutes, until the kale begins to wilt.  Then add stalks of Swiss chard and saute for another minute.  Season lightly with salt.

To the sauteed kale and Swiss chard stalks, add sliced leaves of rainbow Swiss chard along with thinly sliced Granny smith apple and toasted pumpkin seeds.

There’s very little need for dressing, but if you wish, go ahead and drizzle a bit of grape seed oil and lemon juice.

Eat immediately.  It’s also fantastic with grilled chicken thighs.

What’s your favorite salad at the moment?

For some fun pumpkin carving ideas, check out my previous patterns: https://snackinginthekitchen.com/2011/11/01/happy-halloween-wine-and-grape-carved-and-drilled-pumpkin/   and https://snackinginthekitchen.com/2012/10/24/halloween-pumpkin-carving-the-story-of-two-pumpkins/

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Apple Walnut Pancakes with Cranberry Sauce ~ Breakfast Recipe

23 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by snackingkitchen in Breakfast, Brunch, Cooking, Dessert, Recipe, Uncategorized

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Tags

breakfast, cooking, pancakes, recipe

apple_walnut_pancakes_cranberry_sauce_breakfast

Pancakes for breakfast? Yes, please!  Last weekend I decided to upgrade the traditional “eggs-for-breakfast” and make pancakes instead.  Rather than making them plain or over-the-top-pumpkin-spice variety, I decided on the Apple Walnut Pancakes with Homemade Cranberry Sauce and based the recipe on one of my favorites for Apple Bacon Pancakes I have done in the past.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 apples, grated

1/2 cup chopped roasted walnuts

Directions

1.  Whisk dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients and whisk to combine.  Stir in apples and walnuts.

2.  Heat a large pan over medium high heat and lightly grease with oil or butter.   

3.  Use a measuring cup (1/4 c) or a small ladle to make pancakes.  Cook the pancakes for 4-5 minutes on each side. You will notice the edges drying out and bubbles appearing on the surface of the pancakes – that’s when you know it’s time to flip!

4.  Add butter or oil, as needed between the batches.  Serve the pancakes hot, with a drizzle of honey, yogurt and homemade cranberry sauce.
And speaking of cranberry sauce, it has got to be one of the easiest things to make yourself in the kitchen!  Simply combine fresh cranberries with organge juice, zest of oranges or mandarines, a little bit of grated ginger and sweetener.  You can use sugar or honey, to taste.  I like mine on the sour side and don’t use too much of either sweetener.
The combination of hot pancakes with cool yogurt and cranberry sauce will surely win you praise with your breakfast companions.
I have been eating the leftover of the cranberry sauce and yogurt for breakfast, as a parfait, tossed together with chia seed granola.  Bon appetite!
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Farmers Market Breakfast – Farmstr Mystery Basket

20 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by snackingkitchen in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

breakfast, farmers market, organic

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This project began with a tongue.  Cow tongue to be exact.  My friend Janelle, of Talk of Tomatoes and Farmstr, asked if I would like to get a cow tongue.  I grew up eating this tender, mild flavored delicacy.  In fact, my mom has been cooking it in a pressure cooker for years, with lots of garlic.  She then slices it paper-thin and serves as sandwich meat.  Of course, I wanted to take one tongue home and give it a try in my own kitchen.

Alas, this post is not about tongue.  It’s about the mystery farmers basket that Janelle delivered to me from her company – Farmstr.  Farmstr is an online marketplace where you, the consumer, can find small, local farmers and can buy directly from them at more affordable prices.  It’s a win-win.  Farmstr was first launched in Seattle and is quickly expanding to Western Washington.  Looking for Washington and Oregon farmers?  That’s the place to be!

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When I opened the basket (ok, it was a box), I was more than thrilled to find some of my breakfast favorites: local organic eggs, GMO-free sweet corn, and Anaheim peppers.  And then there was an eggplant, a baby one, which threw me for a loop.  The corn came from the Rents Due Ranch in Stanwood, WA.  Unfortunately, the corn season is over for the year, but you can certainly buy varieties of winter squash from them now.  The rest of the produce came from the Burke Ave Farm – the urban farm located in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle.

I got cooking, picking up a handful of cherry tomatoes from my own garden  and red onion to bring this dish together.

Farmers Market Breakfast for 2

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 eggplant, diced

2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and sliced

1/2 red onion, diced

kernels from 1 corn on the cob

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

4 eggs

salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  I used my newly fixed and trusted cast iron skillet.  Add eggplant, peppers and onion and saute until almost tender, about 5 minutes.  Eggplant is a known sponge for oil, so keep a close eye on it and add more oil if needed.

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2.  Add corn and tomatoes and cook until corn is lightly charred and tomatoes are about to burst.  Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste and mix together to combine.

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3.  Crack four eggs over the vegetables, lower the heat to medium low and cook until the whites are set and the yolks are lightly runny.

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All that’s left to do is eat!  Crack the yolks and let it run and ooze over the vegetables.  Normally, I would drizzle a bit of hot sauce over this, but honestly, the flavors of the farmers produce were so bright and vibrant, we enjoyed breakfast just as it was prepared.  No condiments needed.

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If you would like to experience Farmstr and what it has to offer for yourself (and why wouldn’t you), please sign up for the Farmstr newsletter and Hot Sheet to learn about the great deals offered, in season produce, and the farmers.  To sign up, scroll to the bottom of the page www.farmstr.com and click on ‘Join Mailing List’.

To learn more, feel free to ask more questions and/or read How it Works and FAQ.

Disclaimer: I was offered the produce at no charge in exchange for the recipe and review.  All opinions stated in this post are my own.

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Brunch at Pickle Cafe, Adrift Hotel ~ Long Beach, WA

07 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by snackingkitchen in Breakfast, Brunch, Eggs, Restaurant Review, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

We spent the weekend in the beautiful Long Beach, Washington, just under four hours away from Seattle.  This was an especially sunny and warm weekend for our fall, and we appreciated and treasured every moment of it.

I booked a room at the Adrift Hotel & Spa (more on this later) and spent Sunday morning looking out at the beach from the windows of Pickled Fish – the hotel restaurant, located on the fourth floor.

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I started with a beautiful Bloody Mary, spicy and thick, stirred with celery sticks and garnished with two olives.

Bloody Mary Brunchimg_2320

The food choices were quite obvious.  With the proximity to the ocean, we ordered Crab Cakes Benedict with roasted potatoes (they must have had truffle salt sprinkled on top).  Our second choice was the Daily Frittata with local albacore, chanterelle mushrooms and bell peppers.  The two arrived looking beautiful.  The crab cakes were filler-free, light and sweet tasting of crab.  And then we dug into the frittata, foraging for mushrooms.  Alas, there were none! Not a single bite.  I was quite disappointed, and informed our server.  She didn’t argue too much.

Crab Cake Benedict and Frittata

Instead, she returned with a heaping plate of butter sauteed chanterelle mushrooms.

Mushrooms

And just because we were on vacation, I thought dessert would be in order.  In came the plate with Brioche French Toast, garnished with berries, confectioners’ sugar, whipped butter and whiskey syrup.  The best French Toast I’ve had in a long time.  The bread was thoroughly soaked in the egg custard and soft in the middle, yet still crisp at the edges.  I could’ve gone for an extra shot of syrup.

French Toast Brunch img_2332

Needless to say, we were happy and full.  We spent the next few hours walking and horse back riding on the beach. Oh vacations!

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