FIND SOMETHING YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT, AND KEEP TREMENDOUSLY INTERESTED IN IT -JULIA CHILD
Yes, I agree, 2020 is a dumpster fire. I even have a candle saying so! However, this year has also had wonderful moments that have been overshadowed by an overwhelming negativity in the news and outside our windows. So, for the next month I …
I decided to break away from exclusively baking pies this Thanksgiving. I was on call all week, which turned out to be very busy. I needed recipes that were less time-intensive than pies. Besides time constraints, I was hosting a cozy holiday with just my parents …
Autumn in Seattle was long and beautiful, and apparently I did not spend it in the kitchen. Very belatedly (but still delicious all winter long), I present these gooey apple cider cookies filled with caramels. Kevin had friends visiting for a long weekend, and I whipped these up after a long rainy outing to Snoqualmie falls and the Ballard Locks. Though the Ballard locks are more active than any other lock system in the US, there wasn’t much action the day we were there. We did get to see one boat go through! I was more entertained by the fact that the captain of the boat looked exactly like Gorton’s fisherman.
On a lovely hike to Snow Lake, my friend Dr. W found the best hammock spot that ever there was. This was also the hike that made me realize I need to add hiking boots to my Christmas list to be a true resident of the PNW. This perfectly picturesque scene was soon to be disturbed by an obnoxious man with a small drone that may as well have been a full size helicopter for all the noise it made. Hikers lounging and lunching banded together to restore the peace, giving me one vote against the Seattle Freeze. I had several lovely conversations with passers-by as we took an hour to enjoy the scene before our trek back over the mountain.
Back to the cookies. These cookies are best fresh out of the oven when they’re still a bit gooey. The caramel will harden as they cool, so I recommend setting one over a hot cup of tea or blasting in the microwave for about 8 seconds to soften it up just a bit. Also, don’t try to make these healthier by getting the sugar-free cider mix. This is a large recipe, and I had to send goody bags home with each of the boys to save myself from eating 3 dozen of these. It felt very possible at the time…
Almost exactly 3 years ago, my family came to visit at the end of Ohio’s apple season and we went to a U-pick farm. They were having a sale and we made the most of it – I left that farm with 2 enormous pumpkins …
August was prime produce season in Washington, as I mentioned probably too many times in previous posts. Bon Appetit had a Farmer’s Market Challenge including 10 recipes for the month, and this crumble was the grand finale. This is a delightful, simple recipe that comes …
We went to Bainbridge two weekends ago and meandered around a quilt show and the farmers market. There were flyers everywhere for zucchini races, which are just exactly what they sound like. We came across a zucchini all prepped and ready at one of the farmer’s market stands, and I was left with a huge sense of disappointment at missing this event the following weekend. I want to see a bunch of 10 lb zucchini’s flying down the road! Instead, I made zucchini bread.
I’m now transitioning from summer to fall squash, but made this zucchini blueberry bread when I over-purchased at the farmers market (as I am wan to do). I can feel less guilty because the bread is based on fruits and vegetables, right?! This recipe makes two standard-size loaves, one for now and one for later (or one for each of our offices, in our case).
Make sure you grease AND flour your pans – I forgot the latter step and ended up with the bottom half of both loaves stuck in the pan. Whoops. I also intermittently have either canola or vegetable oil on hand but not both, and substitute one for the other without really thinking about it due to their neutral flavors. What’s the difference? Products labeled as “Vegetable oil” can come from a variety of sources, including canola, safflower, sunflower, corn, soybean or peanut oil according to the US Department of Agriculture. The standard Wesso and Crisco “vegetable oil” lining grocery store shelves is a soybean product, while the Mazola version is a soybean-canola blend. The canola plant was developed from rapeseed to avoid a specific toxin in the rapeseed plant. Both oils can withstand high temperatures so are suitable for baking, and don’t significantly change the texture or taste of whatever you are baking. The main difference I came across (except maybe for those with a soy allergy) is in the fat content. Canola oil has less saturated fat, so would be the healthier choice of the two.
Other things we’ve checked off the bucket list this month? Kayaking in Greenlake (Kevin made me carry my kayak like 20 minutes to the car), Volunteer Park, riding bikes at Alki, and walking across Deception pass on Whidbey Island. We went to dinner at Orchard Kitchen on Whidbey, which was fantastic. It is a farm-to-table restaurant owned and run by a couple that is located on their farm, which guests are free to explore if they arrive early for dinner. I chatted with Tyla Nattress about the hens she is raising and integrating into her brood before dinner, then afterward we watched Vincent Nattress butcher a pig as customers began to dwindle. It was a true farm to table experience. The food was wonderful, but what I really loved was the communal tables and the two couples we enjoyed thoroughly for 3 hours. We were worried about struggling to make conversation, but ended up at a delightful table and left with great memories and a long list of recommendations for places to travel and things to eat.
The rabbits on Whidbey had no fear of people, which was cool and a little unsettling. These little guys were nomming on apples that had fallen from a nearby tree with absolutely no regard for nearby traffic. No mom, I didn’t try to pet the rabbits. I believe these are the vermin of Whidbey, terrorizing gardens and burrowing holes in inconvenient places. At least they’re cute!
If I were a better writer, I would begin this post with an ode to my cherry pitter. I made these scones during medical school and used the ol’ chopstick method for pitting cherries. It worked, sort of. By the end I had stained hands, …
Kevin and I were both off for Labor Day weekend this year and ran away to Whidbey Island with friends. We had the most wonderful time playing on the water and not setting morning alarms for 3 straight days. Not to mention the seaside bonfires, …
Just when I thought I was starting to get the hang of residency and felt like I knew some things, we started radiobiology lectures. I’ve been sending the baked goods to work with Kevin, but decided to keep these very organic whole wheat breakfast champions for my own co-residents.
The original recipe was for Blueberry Bran Muffins, but there was no bran in the recipe… What is bran?? The only thing I REALLY know about bran is that it was the muffin I never wanted growing up. Wheat kernels are made up of 3 components: endosperm, bran, and germ. The endosperm composes most of the kernel and becomes white flour following the milling process. Bran is the hard outer layer of the seed, which is removed during the milling process of white flour. Bran is included in whole wheat flour and is a great source of B vitamins and insoluble fiber. Germ is the part of the kernel that will sprout and grow. It is also a good source of B vitamins and included in whole wheat flour, but is frequently separated during the milling process because the natural oils in the germ limit the shelf-life of flour. It is worth noting that this also limits the shelf-life of germ on its own, so should not be bought in bulk. Bran and wheat germ can be substituted for each other by volume, not weight. Anyway, this recipe uses wheat germ instead of bran and it is toasted to a deep golden color. This is not your typical bran muffin.
High quality and local ingredients get expensive quickly, which is why I LOVE receiving local ingredients like honey as gifts. I’m not willing to allocate all of my resident income to baking because, you know, rent. However, I do appreciate it when I am able to create more wholesome goodies. I swiped this local honey from my parents’ cabinets when I was home (Hey mom – can you restock when you come to visit me??) and I’ve been loving it. The syrup was a gift from my mom for another healthy-ish baking project, and it is DELICIOUS. The Runamok website is fun to explore with several very creative infusions (everything from jasmine tea to merquén), and I could easily spend way too much money on maple syrup. The only thing that could have made these more Seattle-esque, would be if I had fresh eggs from my mom’s hens. I’m going to need to track down a local friend with a brood!
I just happened to have organic and local ingredients for these muffins, but there is no need to go out and buy these ingredients if you have good ol’ standards on hand. All-purpose flour could easily be used instead of white whole wheat for a slightly less pretentious, but just as delicious muffin.
These muffins will dry out and so are best eaten the day they are made. I’m sure they’re best fresh out of the oven, but I made them late at night and they were still gone in about 30 seconds during our morning meeting!
Walking around Seattle in the last week has felt rather post-apocalyptic with the hazy air dampening the noise of the city. There are intermittent people on the streets wearing masks to protect their airways, some more effectively than others. I did see one city worker …