Making the best of things

The theme of the last few weeks has been "We'll make it work."

 Everything is going to hell at the office

We'll make it work

We do the math over and over and to our amazement, we're still stupid broke. 

We'll make it work

Or, the focus of today's post,

I get my menu all set for cooking group, only to find the store is out of pretty much everything I need.

We'll make it work.

Breakfast for dinner is what I promised the lovely participants of the New Columbia cooking group. Homemade breakfast sausage, leek and mushroom egg muffins, 

and a simple fruit salad with whipped cream.

Simple, easy, delicious.

Because work is so insane these days (commencement is in three weeks) I'd waited until a mere hour before cook time to pick up ingredients. Luckily, I thought to myself, this group takes place in the market of a little grocery store in North Portland. I figured I'd be all set.

ha.

A dismal selection of berries (there must have been a raid), no mushrooms, and no ground pork, actually no ground anything. Soooooo, off to our local friendly Fred Meyer.

Still no ground pork.

Okay not true, but no ground pork that didn't look questionable.... you know what I mean.

But they were having a sale on organic, pastured happy ground turkey.
#MakinItWork

I picked up the rest of my ingredients and raced back to the kitchen for class.

This kitchen is a pseudo industrial kitchen, the supplies are ever changing, and most things are GIANT size. So cooking a meal for five people is a comical adventure through big-land.

However, tonight's dilemma was kind of the opposite. I could not for the life of me find normal size muffin tins, just itty-itty bitty mini muffin tins.  So....we'll make... mini egg muffins! 

And apparently all the frying pans had taken a walk, so we cooked our sausage in giant stock pots.

Though we lacked proper cookware, the food turned out delicious. The mini egg muffins were perfectly bite size. We threw the leftovers in the fridge and they made an excellent snack or on-the-go breakfast in the morning.  Things always work out right?
Right.
Though making sausage in a soup pan sucks, use a frying pan. Get it together.


Homemade Breakfast Sausage (paleo, primal, 21DSD)

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey or pork
• 1 apple, granny smith or gala, diced into 1/4inch pieces
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp sage
• 1tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• oil or butter for pan

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Work together, with your hands, to evenly distribute spices. Using your hands is really the easiest way. Form meat into small 2-3 inch patties that are no more than 1/2 inch thick.
Melt coconut oil or butter in a large fry pan over medium heat. Add patties to pan and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until done through. Finish with additional salt and pepper, if you like.


Leek and Mushroom Egg Muffins (vegetarian, paleo, primal, 21dsd)
Makes 12-16 large egg muffins or 24-36 mini muffins
Ingredients

• 8 eggs
• 2 small leeks, ends trimmed, diced (include the greens!)
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 cup mushrooms (we used shitakes) diced
• 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese (optional)
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350F
Dice up all your veggies. You want them fairly small because they will distribute more evenly throughout the eggs.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the bejesus out of those eggs. You want them fluffy and happy. Happy eggs taste better. Fold in your leeks, garlic, mushrooms, cheese (if using), and spices.
Mix thoroughly to distribute.
Grease your muffin tin. Ladle egg batter into tin, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Place in preheated oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the muffins pass the toothpick test.

Refrigerate any leftovers for up to a week!

Bacon Jalapeno Winter Squash Soup

Woah. Posting two days in a row! WHAT?!

I have good reason...

Last night we resumed our Village Gardens Cooking Collective at the Village Market store. I met with five eager community members to cook and share a delightful winter meal together. In spite of some serious language barriers, we produced a beautiful blood orange kale salad and lots of winter squash soup.

The soup was stupid good. So I'm sharing the recipe with you because I'm nice like that. And I wrote this recipe, so I'm feeling proud of it.

Bacon Jalapeno Winter Squash Soup

Ingredients

• 2-3lbs Winter squash (acorn, butternut, hubbard)
• 6 strips uncured bacon, cut into 1/2inch pieces (be sure to save the fat after cooking)
• 2 jalapeno, deseeded and diced
• 1 sweet onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 apple, cored and chopped
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. pepper
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 cup heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk

 

Directions

·       Preheat oven to 400F. While oven is preheating, prep all ingredients.

·       In a large soup pot, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.

·       While bacon is cooking, halve and remove innards from squash. Cut into quarters.

·       When bacon is finished, remove and set aside. Carefully pour remaining fat into small bowl to use later in recipe.

·       Add two tablespoons of rendered bacon fat back to soup pot. Add sliced squash and stir well to coat.

·       Dump oiled squash onto a large rimmed baking sheet and place in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Cook until fork tender and browned on top.

·       Add remaining fat to soup pan and sauté the onions, jalapeno, and carrots over medium heat until onions are translucent and carrots begin to soften. Stir frequently so not to burn.

·       Add garlic and remaining spices, stir to coat and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.

·       Reduce heat to low and add diced apple and chicken stock and cover pot.

·       Remove squash from oven. Let stand for a few minutes to cool then carefully remove skins from squash.

·       Add squash to soup pot and bring to contents to a  boil 

·        Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer 10-15 minutes for flavors to meld and squash to get squishy.

·       Using an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth

·       Slowly pour in coconut milk or heavy cream and stir to incorporate.

·       Serve soup with crumbled bacon pieces on top!

Ginger hitchin' + the kitchen expands.

So. Its been SOME TIME since my last bloggy blog. But life has been CAHRAZY. Like crazy. 

Like CHECK THIS OUT

YEAH UKELELES!?! 

Pretty cool....

BUT

AlSO

SERIOUSLY

WE'RE GETTIN' HITCHED BITCHES!

So yes, my best friend and partner in crime proposed two weeks ago and it was just absolutely the happiest day. The next year is going to be an absolute PARTY. 

We've even started CAKE TASTING!

 Yes cake. 

Thanks to lovely folks at Pentunias Pies & Pastries for these delicious GLUTEN-FREE treats. 

Yeah beezies. I said it.  

gluten-free. 

Shane couldn't even tell, so no whiners at the wedding please.

My lovely friend (AND BRIDESMAID) Jenn introduced me to this bakery. 

It spews cuteness and glitter. Seriously. There was glitter all over the cupcakes.

If you're in Portland, you should check them out. 

Other than being up to my ears in wedding business (woooooo), I am happy to say I am now working with Kitchen Commons and Village Gardens  on a Collective Cooking Group, as the cooking group coordinator. We are focused on bringing families back into the kitchen, emphasizing healthy cooking, budgeting time and money, and building community. Once a month, our group will be getting together to cook and share a meal. I'll be sharing our recipes and doing a recap of each meeting via this blog! I am super excited to help facillitate this program in my neighborhood. 

I even bought this awesome CRAZY FOR KALE cookbook as a fun recipe source....

I may just be crazy at this point...

Kombuchin' like kombitches

There has not been a dull moment since Britt and I have been reunited under the same roof.

If you missed the memo, her house burned down two weeks ago and she has relocated to a twin size air mattress in my living room. Living the dream here folks. Read about that and other crazy happenings in Danielle and Britt's lives on TwoEvilActors. 

Anyway. We have been doing awesome things like making badass music, cuddling with copious cats, and adventuring down Alberta, experiencing all Portland has to offer....

 Like beer cozies and sexy ladies

Tasty treats like Salt and Straw Ice Cream

Photo courtesy of Salt & Straw's FB

And of course..... fresh brewed KOMBUCHA on tap at Townshend Tea House

 

Yes. Those are growlers of Kombucha... 64 fluid ounces of fermented deliciousness. 

#tarotcards #Lifecolors #soportlandithurts

Our growlers have left our side, nary a moment since we purchased them. Portlandia, you are missing out on some great ideas here. In fact, I think Britt and I need our own reality tv show. Mr. Shakespeare* himself once said "This shit writes itself" Can't argue with that....



*he probably didn't say that, but Britt wore a shirt that said that... so I'm going with it. 

Anyway, whilst the rain beat down upon the earth, Britt and I swigged buch straight from the jug and made insightful revelations about our lives. Let me translate: It was raining, we were stuck inside, so we read tarot cards and drank too much kombucha. **

**we do this when its sunny too...



"Too much kombucha you say? No such thing!" Ah readers... unfortunately there is.... Drink a growler in 48 hours and see what that shit does to you... shit being the operative word. I'll spare the details.

Alas, three days later we were back in Townshend, refilling our growlers.

Please note the crazed look...

I should mention that while Kombucha is fermented, it is for all intents and purposes, non-alcoholic. It has TRACE amounts of alcohol in it, but I think you stand a better chance of getting buzzed off a tablespoon of Robitussin. Britt and I are just this crazy, naturally.

For those of you who aren't living an episode of Portlandia, Kombucha is a lightly carbonated or effervescent(bonus points for THAT word),  tart, fermented tea drink. Its packed with enzymes, aids in digestion and gut health, and contains glucosamines for joint health. And like lots of other fermented foods, it likes to power-punch that immune system into action.

While it is really fun to drink Kombucha out of a growler, a much more economical approach to buch-swigging, is to brew your own at home.

Its super, super simple, requires zero special equipment-- just the desire to brew and the ability to handle a SCOBY.

SCOBY, not to be confused with Scooby, is a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. Its this squishy mushroomy thing you put in the sweet tea to make it magically transform into Kombucha.
Sounds yummy right?

I have no idea who this woman is, but she is holding a SCOBY. 

Scooby

If you can handle the thought of that, then you are well on your way to home-brewing your own Buch!
Congratulations.
If you keep reading below, you'll have the instructions too... WOW. WHAT A DAY FOR YOU!

Food for Thought and Comfort.

Shane and I have developed this unspoken open door policy at our house, which I absolutely love. We love to entertain and we love to take care of our friends. So impromptu dinner parties are the norm and our guests, the usual suspects (B, theSuz, Kdough), have each designated their own spot at our dining room table.

The table in our dining room is the one I grew up at.  I used to wake up in the middle of the night and eat cereal with my oldest brother when he got off the late shift. Our family hosted Christmas and Easter, and crammed sometimes 25 people around the table as our family grew.  I watched the upholstery on the chairs wear down and get replaced numerous times before it made its way to my first Portland house six years ago. Since then its been subjected to a variety of drinking games that has worn the finish nearly all away, adorned with new water rings and the evidence of numerous games of quarters has been carved into its surface. But in spite of the flaking finish and squeaky legs, it still serves as a gathering place for friends and family.

Mark's Daily Apple posted last week about the benefits of cooking your own food. He notes that some anthropological interpretation of surviving evidence shows rituals surrounding food preparation started tens of thousands of years ago. This has evolved within cultures into rich and varied traditions. Food preparation and ceremony have long been tied. Unfortunately, as the American diet becomes more and more processed and the emphasis has become solely on quick, easy and cheap, this ritual has been sacrificed.

In an effort to reverse this trend and bring the focus back to simple, healthy meals, my neighborhood is in the process of teaming up with Kitchen Commons and creating a collective cooking group. This is going to be a phenomenal opportunity to not only learn crafty kitchen skills to apply at home, but also provides a chance to gather with neighbors and share our diverse cultural traditions over a communal meal.

This weekend, we had a fuller house than normal (normal being 5 adults and four animals...sigh).
At two am Saturday morning, I woke up to a phone call from my friend Britt who was standing in front of her north Portland house as it was engulfed in flames. An hour later, we had impromptu beds made up in our living room and played hotel for her and her roommates. The next morning we gathered around the table as family and ate stacks of french toast, bacon, sweet potatoes and fruit. Chattering over coffee and food about the previous evenings events, we were giving thanks that no one was hurt.  I felt like I was channeling my parents, who managed to make never-ending stacks of hot cakes or french toast for all the kids, plus friends who randomly appeared (especially in high school). 

I've always enjoyed cooking for people, as evidenced simply by this blog. The usual suspects gathered around the table again last night (loaves and fishes people, no idea how this happens) for an absurdly late (or European style!) dinner, providing comfort and relief from a stressful and emotionally taxing weekend all around. Now more than ever I've been reminded how therapeutic cooking and sharing a meal with friends and family can be and how thankful I am to be surround by such incredible people.