cherry pickin' fun and infused vodkas

The trees

Riddle me this: Is it fun? Is it free (or close to it)? Is it outdoors? If an activity meets all three of these criteria, then Brandon and I are probably doing it, have done it, plan to do it, or want to plan to do it on the weekend. Cherry picking is a fun Saturday activity that definitely fits the bill. It's cheap, tons of fun, and beautiful!

We went to Riley's Mile High Ranch all the way out in Yucaipa because, after a few minutes of research on the Internet, we knew they still had a good crop left. It was quite the trek, but well worth it. Walk up to the giant barn and they will give you a bucket for $10. You can pick to your heart's content - or as much as you can fit in the bucket. The cherries are perfect right now, so get your patooties out there and start picking!

Lugging my haul... heavy!

I got home with two giant bags of cherries and no real idea what to do with them. One can only eat so many plain cherries in the matter or a week. So, to start off, I figured I'd deal with them in the best way I knew how... in booze!

*Cherry Vodka*
Crap ton of cherries
Crap ton of vodka

Mix together. Let sit for a few days. Mix in cocktails or drink straight!

And since I bought two handles of Absolut Vodka (I almost always use Absolut or Smirnoff because they are perfectly suitable here) and had plenty of extra, I made a batch of my famous...

*Pineapple Lime Vodka*
1 Pineapple
5-6 limes, zested

Mix together. Let sit for a few days. You can add pineapple juice and lime juice if you need it to 'mature' faster. Serve over ice.
mmm...

I love to keep these vodka concoctions in the freezer during the summer... they are absolutely fabulous and always a crowd pleaser. Bonus: These make cute gifts if you bottle them in mason jars and tie a ribbon around the top.

japanese curry

It's risky cooking for my dad. He's yin, always choosing meat and potatoes over all other conceivable option. He'd rather eat in and watch the game on TV.

Me: "Dad, what do you want for your father's day dinner?"
Him: "Hamburgers."
Me: "Aw, I want to make you something special! If you could pick anything in the world, what would it be?"
Him: "Pizza."

I'm yang, preferring fresh tasting Cal Med fare or other interesting flavors. I adore eating out and consider myself a budding foodie (probably not apparent by these simplified meals, but I'll get to the good stuff soon!).

Him: "What's on your agenda tonight?"
Me: "Bran and I are going out to dinner at a place called Simon. The chef is Kerry Simon, Iron Chef America champion! He's creating a 4 course tuna tasting menu with wine pairing. I'm so excited!"
Him: "You had me until 'out to dinner.'"

My Funky Potato (would be an awesome band name, right?)

So you can see why he might be a bit apprehensive about this Japanese Curry business. Brandon did vouch for it- we have made it on other camping trips and he quite loves this meal- but it was very out of my dad's comfort zone. It didn't help that it's not the most visually appetizing meal in the world, though it smells divine! Dad, the trooper that he is, gave it a shot...

... and he liked it!

In fact, everyone liked it! It's quite a feat to successfully feed 14 hungry campers with a meal that only one had ever even tried before. Even the kids were fans. You'll like this. It's easy, warm, soul soothing. Perfect for camping. It will be an instant comfort food. I promise.

*Japanese Curry*
equal parts:
yukon gold potatoes, diced
carrots, diced
onions, diced
chicken, diced

oil for sauteing
water for boiling

1 (or more) box prepackaged Japanese curry*

white rice

*available in the Asian foods section of most big markets

*equipment*
1 high sided pot (such as a dutch oven)
something to make rice in
serving spoons

Saute your meat and onions in a big pot in a few tbsp of oil or butter. When the onions are soft and meat slightly browned, add in the rest of your diced veggies and add just enough water to cover the ingredients in the pot (about 3 cups). Cover and bring to a boil.

When the potatoes and carrots are just tender, add the broken up curry to the pot. Stir to mix. Let cook 5 more minutes.

Serve over rice.

tacos!

Camping in Devils Postpile (Mammoth Lakes, CA) was great fun and the food was simple yet fabulous! The weather was cold and cloudy for the most part, but the fishing was decent and the scenery is some of the most beautiful you can find anywhere in the world. There is something incredibly special about cooking while set amongst towering pine trees and a rushing river. Everything just tastes better.You can't beat this view.

Cooking successfully while in nature takes lots of forethought, especially if it's in a secluded location (like DP) and you have to pack in your ingredients AND your equipments. This means that planning is key! With just a little bit of work - and a very good checklist of items to take with you - you can be prepped to make meals simply and deliciously. I suggest making a list of meals that you'll make for each night, then thinking about every ingredient you'll need in making it. It's important to remember to pack simple things like salt, pepper, tongs, etc. or you'll regret it (says the chick who forgot oil a few years back).

So, to help you out, I'll be making a very detailed list of the items needed to pull off each of the next 5 meals. Each meal for my camping trip was planned for about 10 adults, and since it is camping, I'll just write an ingredient list rather than exact measurements. These meals are so simple that you will want to estimate how much you'll need for the number of campers in your party. Also, I'll jot down the equipment that you'll need.

These meals are not meant to be gourmet. It's just good, wholesome food that can be thrown together relatively quickly and with little prep time. And it tastes good.

*Simple Camping Tacos*
ground meat (turkey or beef)
garlic salt
salt
pepper
vegetable oil

cilantro
onions
grated cheddar cheese
jarred salsa
lime

corn tortillas

*Equipment*
cast iron skillet
large non stick pan
tongs

plates
napkins

For the meat: Brown the meat up in a couple tbsps of vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet. Season and set aside.

For the shells: Heat up 1/4 cup of oil in the non stick pant. To fry them, quickly put them in the oil on side A and leave in for just a sec. Quickly turn it over to side B and fold it in 1/2 until lightly browned. Flip it over to the other side of side B and brown on that side. As soon as they're cooked, put them on a paper towel lined plate and salt them! Seriously, this makes them great!
Assemble your tacos with whatever accoutrements you like. I like cilantro, salsa, cheese and a super quick squirt of lime, but feel free to bring anything else you like.

It will fill you up and satisfy you. Until s'mores, that is.

sangria

This is some good stuff.

Sangria is one of those drinks that is easily made with what's already in your fridge: the wine (red, white, rose), the sweetener(sugar or fruit juice), the fruit(tons of options here), the bubbly(sparkling water, lemon lime soda, none). So much of it is simply taking what you have and adjusting the the amounts so that it tastes yummy. Play around with it and have fun!

Plus, it's one of those make ahead batch drinks that you can prep the night before and put it out and let people help themselves. Easy, tasty, no fuss. What's not to love?

*Simple Sangria*
a bottle of decent red wine (I used a Spanish table wine)
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup triple sec
1 1/2 cups pomegranate lime juice (Trader Joes special!)
1/2 cup OJ
Any fruit you have available (I used apples, oranges, limes, strawberries)

Cut up fruit and throw it in all the liquids combined. Let it sit for a few hours, or even better, overnight. You can top it off with the bubbly or your choice or drink it straight over a big glass filled with ice.

It's a lovely drink to end a long weekend with!

s'mores cookie bars

I'm going to blow your mind right now. You are either going to think this the most vile and revolting concoction known to man or you will bow down and kiss my toes when I make these for you. I don't think there is too much in between here.

I have had a hankering for s'mores for weeks at this point. I don't know where it came from, but I do know when my sweet tooth speaks, I must listen. Since then, I have been on a desperate mission to curb this craving. I came across this recipe from the super cute fun blog, Lovin' From the Oven, and I knew this was it. This was the recipe that would quite my inner s'mores-demanding demons.

*S'mores Cookie Bars*
(adapted from Lovin' From the Oven)
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar (if you like a sweeter cookie, you can add another 1/3 cup white sugar). Mix in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder and salt.

Add your dry ingredients to the wet ones. Divide dough in half.

Press 1/2 the dough into your baking pan. Layer in your chocolate, then your marshmellow creme. Top with flattened remaining dough.

Pop in the oven for 30 minutes. Ding! It's dunzo. Wait to cut into this until it's cool or you will be sorry.

If loving these is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

searing scallops

This is the kind of meal that Brandon will, after tasting, put his fork down and come kiss me before I've even made my plate. Little does he know, the most time difficult part of the whole meal is the fighting the traffic home from Fish King after picking up the ingredients (sidenote: there actually is never traffic on my route home... it's all surface streets and takes a grand total of 7 minutes to get home). It just goes to show that good doesn't have to equal difficult. Cliche, yes, I know, but it's true! ::I'm feeling more and more like Rachel Ray every day:: :*(

The most important rule about scallop cooking... you absolutely must start out with quality scallops. This may mean a special trip out to your local seafood monger, but trust me, they basically cook themselves. When you are perusing the scallops, make sure you get 'dry' scallops. Wet ones have been soaked in chemicals and are nearly impossible to get the kind of sear that you're looking for. They only take a few minutes to cook, so if you have a couple quick sides, your meal can be to the table in under 10 minutes! So much better than take out.

*Simple Seared Scallops*

dry, good quality scallops
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

Get your sautee pan nice and hot over high heat. Like Christian Bale in American Psycho hot (weird simile, eh?). Put in your butter and oil at the same time, and heat it through until the butter stops bubbling and cracking.

While it's heating up, dry your scallops off thoroughly. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

When you're ready, put the scallops in the pan. Wait! Don't touch them. Leave those little guys in there so they can develop a nice brown crust. You want them to be rare in the center, so you are only going to cook them about 2 minutes per side for medium sized scallops. Mine were big, so to avoid burning, I turned the heat down once they were browned and let them cook about another minute on a lower heat. If yours aren't terribly large, you won't need to do this.

Serve immediately!

These are so yummy. I got my scallops from Fish King in Glendale, so I picked up a quart of 'not-fried-rice' to make it was a kick-ass, crazy-easy meal. Top the whole meal off with a glass of chablis or dry riesling... heaven.

potato soup with leeks and sausage

This is a super easy weeknight dinner for when you're feeling lazy and the weather is dreary. Perfect occasion for your enameled cast iron dutch oven! Important note: It's really crucial to salt and pepper your dish throughout the cooking process. Food with salt & pepper added only at the end sometimes falls flat. When you adjust seasoning at each stage, the flavor is much more developed. Yum factor increases. Celebration ensues.

*Potato Soup with Leeks and Sausage*
4 links andouille sausage, cut into bite sized pieces
5 fatty leeks, cut lengthwise and then into 1 inch pieces
1 stick butter
2 tbsp flour
6 largish red potatoes, diced to 3/4 inch squared
6 cups of chicken stock
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf

Brown up the sausage in your skillet with 2 tbsp butter over medium high heat. Once it looks done, take it out and set it aside. Don't clean out your pan.

Put in the rest of the stick of butter, and turn the heat down to medium. Once your butter is bubbly, put in your leeks and some salt and pepper. Work them out, yo! Make those puppies sweat, but don't let them brown. This will take a good 15 minutes and look something like this:
When the leeks are tender (not smooshy), put in your flour. Cook that for at least a couple minutes to mellow the flour our. Once that's done, add the rest of your ingredients, including your cooked sausage. Season up your soup again.

Let this whole mixture cook together with the lid on for about 15 minutes. At this point, check your potatoes. The soup is done when your potatoes are fork tender. I really need to get you guys (hahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahaha, like anyone but me reads this) my garlic bread recipe because it goes great with just about everything.

Enjoy!

mac & cheese

There is just no arguing with this recipe for macaroni and cheese. I have spent the last 5 years perfecting this recipe, and at this point, it's damn good. So, it's not low fat. In fact, I think my ass gets fatter just looking at the pictures.

Let me put it in old lady terms: I have gall bladder issues. Dairy triggers these horribly painful symptoms. I had two servings of this. It's worth it; it's so worth it.

Mac & Cheese
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/2 cup flour
5 cups milk
1tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp dry mustard
12 oz grated cheese (I like 8 oz cheddar, 4 oz pepper jack)
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 pound macaroni

Heat up your water and your oven to 350. Those are the things I always forget to do!

Melt one stick of butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Put in the flour and let them cook together on medium heat for a couple minutes, making sure to they don't brown. This gets rid of the icky floury taste that you sometimes get from, well, flour. Slowly stream in all of the milk and whisk your mixture constantly. This is when you should start boiling your pasta (note: you should cook your pasta very al dente since it's going into the oven at a later point).

One that barely comes to a boil, add in your salt, pepper, and mustard. If you're feeling in the mood, add a dash of cayenne. Your mixture should be fairly thick at this point. Take it off the heat and add in your cheese.

Melt the remaining 1/2 stick butter and mix it with the bread crumbs.

Combine your cooked pasta with your cheese sauce in a 9x13 pan. Top generously with the bread crumbs. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

There ain't no competing with this.