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We are not the most devoted of campers, we pretty much stick to basic car camping in campsites where there are actual bathrooms. We pick campsites for scenic views and proximity to day hikes or breweries, depending on the situation. There is a little kid in my life and these things make camping easier. We pack coolers of ingredients for full-on fancy camping meals and a set of bocce balls for afternoon entertainment. Once we get out there, camping is a pretty carefree way to spend a weekend. There is little to do besides cook up the food we’ve brought along and relax. In the evening, we build a fire and sit around it. Sometimes we play card games or watch for stars in that dark sky.

This fall we’ve been doing a lot of camping. Maybe it is an unconscious attempt to draw out the season as the cooler weather and shorter days set it. On every trip, I’ve been returning to the same recipe for granola bars. They are tasty and portable. I’ve packed up these bars for early morning kayak paddles, long rides in the car and hikes into the hills. And on camping trips, they are the perfect snack to tide me over between an early morning wake up and actually being alert enough to start cooking breakfast at the campsite. We tumble out of the tent, start heating up water for coffee, pull out the pan of granola bars and everyone is happy.

I’ve been working to keep these bars from getting too crumbly and the best advice I have is to chop things up – the nuts, the cherries. The smaller pieces seem to stick together that much better. Of course, you can help matters out by storing them carefully. I’ve found returning them to their pan or some other container helps them keep their shape. And since these bars have become a breakfast staple, I’ve been using them to clean out the pantry, substituting different nuts, various chocolates and even some peanut butter chips I found, along with any kind of coconut flakes I can find lurking in the cupboard. Another breakfast note – I don’t like too much sweetness early in the morning, so I’ve been lighthanded with the sugar, even going with a little less than what I have listed here on a batch where I used up the rest of my sweetened coconut.

GOOD MORNING GRANOLA BARS

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Orangette

1 ½ cups (160 grams) quick-cooking oats

⅓ cup (35 grams) oat flour, or quick-cooking oats pulsed in a food processor

⅓ cup (65 grams) to ½ cup (100 grams) sugar (see above)

1 cup (110 grams) raw walnuts, chopped into rough pieces

½ cup (25 grams) unsweetened coconut flakes

½ cup (85 grams) chocolate chips or chopped chocolate of similar size
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¼ cup (40 grams) dried cherries, halved

½ tsp. fine salt

1/3 cup (85 grams) peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

6 Tbsp. (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted

6 Tbsp. (120 grams) honey

1 Tbsp. water

Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare an 8-inch square baking pan with a little butter or baking spray. Line pan with parchment paper so it covers the bottom and two sides of the pan with a little overhang. Lightly grease the parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, sugar, nuts, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, dried cherries and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the peanut butter, vanilla, melted butter, honey and water. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and give everything a good stir to combine thoroughly. Transfer to a prepared pan and press the mixture into the pan. A spatula works pretty well, but a damp hand or piece of plastic wrap will help as well.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the bars are golden all over with some browning on the edges. Don’t be surprised to find the bars are still a little soft to the touch, they will firm up as they cool.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely or even overnight. When cool, run a knife along the around the edges of the pan and use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan. Cut into bars.

To store, place bars in an airtight container. Or do like I did and slide the bars and the parchment paper back into the pan for storage. I think it’s the best way to keep them from crumbling.

Here we are at the start of July and what feels like, to me, anyway, the start of our summer vacation. The meltingly hot weather seems to have arrived, which makes lounging in the shade sound like a good idea and frosty drinks a required luxury. The garden seems to be gathering momentum, with clusters of green tomatoes appearing in the thickets and rapidly climbing pole beans. The popsicle mold sits filled with strawberry goodness in the freezer. And if all of that is not enough, it is the start of the Tour de France.

The Tour is a bit of a thing around here. And what I mean by a “thing” is a three-week celebration of cycling and French-inspired cooking. It is also a time honored tradition around here in July. There is a supply of cold French rosé in the fridge and a small sampling of recipes I hope to work my way through in the next few weeks. Of course, we will still be planning on some of our staples, like the crepes I mentioned here, as well as a delicious version of a cherry clafoutis that I’ve been working on. And don’t forget Tina’s celebratory drink that she created for just such an event!

The Tour de France, which makes a three week journey around France is not just an amazing bicycle race. With the tour’s first ever foray into the Corsican countryside, I couldn’t help but be amazed by the most gorgeous scenery of that island. Such amazing beaches and lovely towns. Another place to add to my travel wish list, I guess. And while I know I am suppose to be paying attention to the bike racing, I can’t help but watch the scenery flying by for potential travel locations in the future.

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It seems like we have been everywhere but home lately. For the last month or so, we’ve packed up and piled into the car most weekends, bound for some destination or other. We’ve seen family and city, spent time camping and celebrating anniversaries. And while I love my fair share of travel, it has put a small crimp in my garden planting routines this spring.

I am happy to report that everything is finally in the ground as of just a few days ago. I might be a little late this year, but I think everything will pull through nicely. Instead of a weekend activity spread over a day or two, it took weeks this year. And my little plot is relatively small. Planting the garden has crept into my week night routines, planting a tomato start or two before dinner or sowing another row of radishes in the early morning before heading off to work. Seriously, people, these things happened!

The radishes are usually the first things I try to get into the garden. The very best radishes always seem to be the early ones, pulled from the ground in the still-cool spring, snappy and crisp. So as soon as the garden is mapped out, in they go. I get a little anxious with radishes—will there be enough for me to get my fill and share? Since their season seems to be so short, I plant them everywhere I can. Here is a little space between the tomatoes and the peppers—it won’t be open space for long, but the radishes will be long eaten and enjoyed before the other plants have filled that space.

The other thing that happens early in the season is our transition to outdoor meals. Weather permitting, we eat almost all of our meals on the patio from May until about September. Maybe October, depending on the day. We’ve already had several meals outside, long afternoon lunches in the spring sun and evening drinks with friends. But it seems like we’ve settled into a good routine and we’re outside every night now. It’s kind of hard to keep the dining room table clear when we’re not eating there much, though.

We also dusted off the barbecue. Now that we’ve reached the long weekends of May, it is almost a requirement! I love this salad for rounding out a meal cooked on the grill. The salad can be prepped quickly and added to the grill at the last minute for a fast finish.

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Grilled romaine lettuce salad

Serves 2 per head of lettuce

Wash and trim lettuce. Slice head in half lengthwise and season with a drizzle of olive olive and sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper. Place lettuce, cut side down, on a hot grill and cook until char marks appear, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn and cook a few minutes longer. Serve warm with caesar dressing, lemon wedges, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and more black pepper.

I haven’t always been in the loop regarding Cinco de Mayo. But I am generally pretty excited for any chance to add a party to my routine! I had only just mentioned this to my husband before he started coming up with questions for me—what was I doing celebrating Cinco de Mayo? This wasn’t my holiday, nor that of any of my people. What business did I have poaching someone else’s party? Apparently he is a little more possessive of holiday celebrations than I am. I suppose this might have something to do with the fact that I’ve been straddling two different holiday calendars for years.

Ever since I moved to the US, I’ve been back and forth between various holidays. How am I to handle Thanksgiving with the Canadian holiday in October and the American in November? No matter, I’ll celebrate twice! Is the May long weekend Victoria Day or Memorial Day? They are not the same weekend, but close enough to cause confusion. And let’s be honest, I wasn’t really thrilled to have to give up the extra holidays that seem to pepper the Canadian calendar or answer the now-routine question of “What, you mean it’s not a long weekend for you?”

Perhaps fueled by this shedding of vacation days, I’ve been eager to pick up more. And what’s more, these holidays come with the chance to discover new flavors. First up was Bastille Day or le quatorze julliet—why not throw another holiday into the month of July? It actually fit perfectly with what has become a French-inspired month in our house as we follow along with the epic three-week Tour de France.

So far, I have not been able to connect Cinco de Mayo with any cycling event, which I am sure would help its acceptance at our house. But that might be why they invented margaritas. And while I lack any real knowledge of traditional foods prepared for this meal, I figured that a taco party couldn’t be so far off course. We love those around here. And while I usually favor vegetarian taco fillings, this spicy chicken seems like a special dish to make for a holiday or get-together.

So it may not surprise you, but I am going to take a little break from my Monday post next week. I’m going to be in beautiful Vancouver, B.C., visiting Tina. And if all goes as planned, we’re going to spend a few hours of Cinco de Mayo running a half marathon together. And if that isn’t reason to celebrate, well, I don’t know what else could be! Except for those margaritas…

Chicken Tinga

Adapted from Sunset magazine

This tasty filling works well with tacos or mini tortillas. I liked the fixings piled high on crisp tostaditas, so I am listing that preparation here.

Tostaditas
Vegetable oil
16 small corn tortillas

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1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoon puréed canned chipotles in adobo*
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups cooked and shredded chicken

Garnishes
Finely sliced green cabbage
Fresh pico de gallo
Thinly sliced radishes
Crumbled queso fresco
Avocado, cut into thin slices
Crema, thinned with water so it’s pourable
Cilantro leaves
Limes wedges

Make tostaditas: Heat 1/4 inch oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once oil begins to shimmer, add tortillas to the pan and cook until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes, turning once. When done, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

Cook tinga: Spoon 1 tablespoon of hot oil from the tostaditas into a second frying pan. Over medium heat, sauté onion for a few minutes until soft and golden. Add in shallots and salt; continue cooking for a few minutes. Stir in 3/4 cup water, tomato paste, chipotle sauce and sugar and mix to combine. Add chicken. Cook for about 2 minutes, until mixture is bubbling. Add more salt to taste and more water if needed to keep the mixture saucy.

To serve: Set tostaditas on plate and serve alongside the tinga and garnishes.

*Purée the contents of the can and freeze the remainder. It keeps beautifully in the freezer and is so convenient.

Have you ever had someone tell you that they would basically disown you if you didn’t cook something for them? Yeah, that happened to me. The whole ordeal started about a week and a half ago at the grocery store when my partner in crime noticed the April cover of Bon Appétit. He is either fairly observant, or maybe just an eavesdropper, but he certainly is a tricker and some how knew how to play me to get just want he wanted. After examining the cover he said to me “Hey, weren’t you and Ginger going to try to cook the cover of Bon Appétit again soon?” You can guess what happened next. I absent-mindedly confirmed his suspicion and the next thing I knew the magazine was in our grocery bags and I had committed to spending my Sunday making Fried Chicken Sandwiches with Slaw and Spicy Mayo.

Long story short. I cooked the cover and it was delicious!
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No matter what I am baking or prepping in the kitchen, Blaise wants to make a blue version of it. Most often, it’s blue cupcakes. And not just any blue cupcakes, chocolate blue cupcakes. While I am still trying to figure out how to make a dark chocolate cupcake appear sufficiently blue, Easter eggs seemed like the perfect diversion. With the help of a little dye, we could create all the shades of blue he would ever want to imagine. It all started out innocently enough, but little did I realize the complexities of egg dyeing. There were tough decisions to be made, highly saturated liquids to be spilled and room to be made in the fridge for all of those eggs. But back to those eggs…

Around here, we house no sacred Easter bunny myths or traditions. It hasn’t been a careful plan, just a holiday that we have not really spent much time or tradition on. I have always been a fan of a delicious batch of hot cross buns, but I don’t need an occasion for those treats. When it comes to egg decorating, I do fondly remember the tradition as a kid, but I don’t think I’ve revisited that process since my pre-adolescent years. High time, right?

Several weeks back, I found a little mention about making your own Easter egg dye. The colors were lovely—warm and earthy. I don’t quite remember all of the colors pictured, but there was a blue, a yellow and a reddish color that I thought Blaise would like. Plus, I thought it would be the perfect use for a red cabbage that was languishing at the back of the fridge. The question of the dye seemed settled.

But when I got down to the real business of figuring out what we were going to do with all of the eggs, I saw some pretty amazing posts of beautifully dyed eggs. Of course, there were the vegetable-dyed ones that first caught my eye. But then there were the neon eggs and the bright stripes. They were so bright and so cheery that on a recent shopping trip, I all but abandoned my plan of vegetable dyes for a package of glowing neon tablets. But when I got back home and read over the packet, I couldn’t do it. The ingredient list scared me off. The veggie dyes were back on.

What I may have lost in other-worldly egg hues, I made up for in natural ones. I feel particularly lucky in the egg department in that I know people. Yes, that’s right. I get a weekly supply of fresh eggs that I treasure. If I was going to go through the process of making my own egg dye, I was going to color some delicious eggs while I was at it. I even got a special order of a dozen barely blue eggs that already looked Easter-ready. And you can bet we were going to eat them. Hard-boiled eggs are always a big hit at our house. They are easy to throw into a sandwich or a salad and some days, Blaise simply insists on adding one to his meal, whatever it might be. Besides, the prospect of egg salad sandwiches for days certainly didn’t hurt as I was trying to justify all of those eggs cartons taking up space in the fridge with other concerned members of my household.

Making our own dye certainly wasn’t the quickest route for egg dyeing, but we enjoyed the process of watching the colors deepen hour by hour.

And just when I thought my work was done with the blue eggs, that there were no more blue shades to be achieved, Blaise proclaimed that all he really wanted was black. Boys….

Happy Easter!

While there certainly are a lot of colors that you can create at home, I decided to keep it to just three—red, blue and yellow. The great part is that most of these ingredients are common enough that you could easily add them onto your shopping list if you don’t have them already. Add variety by using different colors of eggs and different dipping times to achieve a range of shades. And if you need more variety, you can hop online and find a few more ingredients to round out your color palette.

Vegetable dye

Makes about 4 cups of dye in each color, enough to dye dozens of eggs

1 small head red cabbage
2 pounds beets
3 tablespoons turmeric
Water

Hard boil eggs to your preference and cool.

Make each color in a separate, non-reactive pot.

• To make the blue: Chop cabbage into rough pieces, about 2-inches wide. Place in pot and add just enough water to cover the cabbage.
• To make the red: Cut beets into quarters. Place in a pot and add just enough water to cover the beets.
• To make yellow: Add 4 cups of water to a pot and stir in turmeric.

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Bring each pot to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and allow the liquid to cool. Once cool, strain out the vegetable pieces, if any. Place the liquid in a glass bowl or jar and add 1/8 cup distilled white vinegar to each color.

Add hard-boiled eggs to the liquid and allow to sit. One to two hours gives a pale shade. Allow the eggs to sit in the liquid for several hours or overnight for a deep color. Don’t crowd the eggs or you might have light spots where the eggs touch. Place the dye and eggs in the fridge while they sit. Jiggle the jars occasionally to ensure everything gets evenly coated.

Once desired shade is reached, remove eggs from jar. I had the best luck using a second clean jar and pouring the liquid from one jar to the other until it was empty and I could retrieve the eggs. Rinse in cool water and set eggs out on paper towel or a drying rack and let them dry completely. Refrigerate eggs until ready to use.

Last, but certainly not least, these dyes are highly saturated and will stain. Working in the sink seemed to contained the better portion of my splashes, except for the jar of turmeric water that I sloshed all over my kitchen floor. Shh…I don’t think anyone will notice the yellow hue by the sink.

OK, so it’s winter and a little bleak. It looks grey outside and sadly, it looks like this might be the case for another month or so. And just about this time every year, I manage to find blood oranges at the grocery store! That little reminder that there is a season for everything just might be enough to get me mildly excited about the months between Christmas and spring!

To be honest, of all of the citrus available, we don’t have a whole lot of variety in our neck of the woods. I know there are many more varieties out there, depending on where you look. But I’m not going to be picky. I’ll scoop of a bag of whatever I find. And happily, the blood oranges are pretty easy to track down.

It seems that every season, I find a few recipes to try that call for this rosy fruit. Oddly enough, several of them are from Canal House, whose recipes I often adore! Aside from kicking up a salad or a cocktail, the blood oranges make pretty amazing orange juice. Just add a couple to your juicer for some brightly colored juice sure to brighten up your morning.

So you can imagine how happy I was to find a recipe for blood orange marmalade this weekend, just when I was looking for a project. First, I should tell you a few things about me and jam. It’s only fair…

On a whim a few years back, I took it upon myself to make a wide selection of jams and jellies. I started with the strawberries in June, didn’t miss the gooseberries, all the way through apricots, peaches and pears and stopped somewhere around the Concord grapes. And that is not an exhaustive list, I assure you. I know I went a little too wild with my preserving binge. Even my good efforts to share jam with friends and family didn’t run me out of any flavors. My sister even received a flavor pack of every jam made that season. What a good idea, right?!?

Since then, I’ve tried to hold myself back. Strawberry is a favorite flavor for my husband, so most years I’ll make a few jars of that. Then I’ll have my work cut out for me trying to remind him to make toast throughout the year! I’ve also dabbled into a few jellies, but to be honest, when we’re talking about specific temperatures to get things setting just so, it scares me a little. It shouldn’t, I know. But for that reason, I will tell you that the jelly we’re talking about today provided me with a few challenges.

I am sure everything that went wrong stemmed from a misstep on my part! But I made a couple of substitutions to make up for the fact that things did not go as planned. Basically, I did not get enough liquid out of my apples. So I made up for that by adding water for the remaining liquid and a little pectin. I am sure things will go much more smoothly for you!

As suggested on the site where I originally found the recipe, this project is best tackled on a weekend. You could do it over the course of two week nights if you were well prepared and motivated, but since that never seems to be the case for me, I’ll spell out the recipe for two days! Plus, it was a nice way to spend a grey afternoon, especially with this cheery reward at the end. Also, since this recipe will make use of both fruit and peel, consider buying organic fruit where ever possible.

Happy jam making to you!

Blood Orange Marmalade

Recipe found on Leites Culinaria

Originally from Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures

1 3/4 pounds Granny Smith apples

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2 3/4 pounds blood oranges, or 17 ounces blood orange juice

5 2/3 cups sugar

2 navel oranges

Juice of 1 small lemon

Day One:

Wash apples well, cut into quarters, removing stem and core, but do not peel.

Place the apples in a large, wide pot and cover with 3 1/4 cups of water. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 30 minutes. The apples should be soft.

Collect the juice by straining the apple mixture into a large bowl, light pressing the apples to get any remaining juice. Discard the solids.

Filter the juice a second time by pouring it through a cheesecloth. Collect the juice in a glass jar and refrigerate the juice overnight.

Day Two:

Measure 2 1/8 cups of apple juice, leaving the sediment that formed in the container. Discard any juice and sediment that remains.

Squeeze the blood oranges, saving any seeds, until you have 2 1/8 cup of juice. Save the seeds in a cheesecloth bag.

Scrub the navel oranges and slice into thin rounds. (Based on my experience, unless you want full rounds in your finished marmalade, you might consider cutting them down to halves or quarters, depending on your preference.)

Place the sliced oranges in a large, wide pot. Add 1 cup of sugar and the remaining 7/8 cup of water and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to medium and gently simmer until the slices are translucent.

Add the reserved apple juice, blood orange juice, the remaining 4 2/3 cups of sugar, the lemon juice and the reserved blood orange seeds in the cheesecloth. Bring to a boil, stirring gently. Skim any foam from the surface. Continue cooking on high heat, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes. Skim again if needed. Remove the cheese cloth with the seeds. Return to a boil, then remove from heat.

Immediately ladle the jam into hot, sterilized jars and seal. This recipe filled about six pint jars for me.