January 6, 2013

Homemade Butter and Buttermilk

Homemade butter and buttermilk

This morning, I went to the grocery store and got everything I needed to make my favorite chili to bring over to my parents’ house to watch today’s Seahawks game. At my dad’s insistence, I also needed to make some cornbread. According to him, you have to have cornbread to go with your chili.

I’m sure you know the feeling. You go to the grocery store. Get home. Put everything away. And then…you realize you don’t have an ingredient you need. In this case, I had no buttermilk for the cornbread.

Heck no, I’m not going back to the store. Not today. Not just for one thing.

After a quick online search, I learned you can easily make buttermilk at home, as long as you have  heavy cream and a jar.

Bazinga.

And all you need to do is put the heavy cream in a jar with a lid and shake it until it separates? Really? The solids are butter, and the liquids are buttermilk? For real?

I can do that.

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Author: Adrienne | Categories: Home Cooking + Recipes | Comments: 4
December 30, 2012

Happy New Year and a Marbled Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze

2012.

What a year it has been.

A year of new friends, careers began, hope and a renewed thankfulness for health, family and love.
I’ve never been the New Year resolution type. I’m in more of a constant state of self-improvement. You know, a work in progress. Though, of late, I have found it incredibly satisfying to focus less on myself, and more on improving the lives of those around me. My family, community, and friends.

If I have a goal for 2013, it’s to continue this journey of living as much for others as I do myself.

The more people I meet and the longer I’m here on this earth, I see the evidence of each person, individually, having their own unique gift to give to the world. Sure, it can be a trite saying, but it does seem to ring true. The choice, however, is whether or not to tap into these special things about us. Passions and skills should be nurtured, protected and expressed.

After all, it can be quite fun to see someone blossom into their own. Seeing a friend find her passion, and putting her all into it. Watching my love accomplish his dream and become a positive figure in a sea of negative influences. A family member standing up for what’s right and fighting for what he believes in.

These are the joys all around me.

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Author: Adrienne | Categories: Home Cooking + Recipes | Comments: 0
October 27, 2012

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s Friday night. What’s a young, 20-something newlywed couple to do?

Stay at home, open a bottle of wine and watch Duck Dynasty?

Why yes, that’s what we do.

What’s Duck Dynasty, you ask? Oh, it’s fine television programming. Google it. You won’t be disappointed.

Maybe it’s the wine talking…

Either way, it seemed like a great idea to sit down and figure out a recipe using a neglected can of pumpkin that’s been sitting in the cabinet for a while. That’s what you do this time of year, right? Recipes featuring pumpkin seem to be everywhere you look. I have nothing against pumpkin, but if I see one more recipe for standard pumpkin pie, I might just scream. Or open another bottle of wine and watch more Duck Dynasty.

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Author: Adrienne | Categories: Home Cooking + Recipes | Comments: 2
October 25, 2012

Apple Cranberry Muffins

When life gives you 30 pounds of apples, you…

…think of all the apple dishes you can and get to baking, cooking and eating.

My friend Dr. Rob was in town this weekend, and he picked gobs of apples off of his parents’ apple trees. That’s how I came into the apple treasure trove of the century.

I now have big plans for these little beauties. In fact, I feel like since I’ve inherited them, my whole life has revolved around them. See, you can’t just have 30 pounds of apples sitting on your counter and ignore them. No, I will not waste, thee, apples.

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Author: Adrienne | Categories: Home Cooking + Recipes | Comments: 1
October 11, 2012

Chicken, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup with Spinach

I’m currently watching the Vice Presidential debate.

Clearly, I need comfort.

Or maybe a shot of whiskey. Perhaps some online shopping. At this point, I’ll take what I can get.

Whiskey and shopping aside, certain foods have the ability to take the edge off. For me, it’s the foods my mom made for us as a kid, a plate of pasta or this, a big bowl of warm, savory soup.

Lucky for me, Washington State is made for soup weather. Our months of gray cloudiness have started. It’s dark when I wake up, and well on its way to darkness when I get home from work.

The fall and winter are really the best seasons for soup not only because of the weather, but because of the produce that’s in season. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, butternut squash, kale and chard are plentiful. Let me tell you something, folks, these are the best building blocks for amazing soups.

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Author: Adrienne | Categories: Home Cooking + Recipes | Comments: 0