clam tide season

Tonight's dinner:  Razor Clam Chowder.  For perfect chowder every time all you need is the following.

1.  A minus tide aka a really really really low tide 

 



2.  A few "out of towners" to help dig.  The trick is to tell them they need the FULL clamming experience and show them how to clean a limit.

3.  A recipe from www.recipesfromthewild.com





Spring Chinook. Ever heard of it?

It's that special time of year when the salmon are migrating up stream, or is it down stream?  I've been educated via husband but my mind is usually focusing on "looking" as though I'm a great listener.  I guess I should work on the actual "listening" part.  There are a few tidbits that actually stuck like, spring Chinook are fattier then the salmon caught in the summer, they seem to have fewer bones (that was an observation), the price for spring Chinook is sky high and we eat like kings, and I love, love, love it which is a fact!

Need a recipe for such a catch?  Click on Salmon Recipes below.

Salmon Recipes

a night of lasagna to remember

Steve and I have created a tradition for Valentines day which consists of me making a gooey lasagna and peanut butter pie (Steve's favorites).  Even though I have a hard time enjoying my own creations without thinking of what I could have done better, tonight's lasagna was probably my best yet.  I normally use my recipe on http://www.recipesfromthewild.com/ but his time instead of using a ground venison concoction  I used venison breakfast sausage we had made this year and I also baked it for an additional 20 minutes.  I must confess it was pretty darn good.  At least Steve loved it and that's all that matters.

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Want a lasagna recipe that might help you nab a husband?

        Lasagna with ground venison

                     

love letters

Dear Kosher Salt,

We met so long ago, you were set next to me in culinary school and I think it was in our Mother Sauce class where we officially started working together as a team. You effortlessly brought balance to my dishes and assisted me in transforming my palate. You were a new experience for a girl from a small town with simple taste and you showed me that I was capable of exposing layers of flavor.

You were there for me from the beginning and today you generously season and tenderize my cuts of meat, you assist me in finely chopping garlic, you pretty much define brining and curing, and you bring to the surface elements of flavor that might have otherwise been lost. You are always by my side when I need you and for this, I love you.

I love Kosher salt

the flavor of love

Tonight I was in the mood to make Valentine cookies and thought I'd try shortbread instead of a sugar cookie.  Earlier this week I was reading a recipe out of  my old culinary schools dessert book and I noticed that the shortbread recipe called for you to cream the sugar and butter together which I've never done before with shortbread, until tonight. 

The flavor was delicious and the texture was "melt in your mouth" but the icing took some finesse as the cookies were very delicate.

recipe

 Lime zest shortbread cookies with citrus icing

"Wild" Game Day Goodies

Superbowl, another excuse to drink beer in the afternoon on a Sunday and stuff our pie holes with lots of food.  For me, Superbowl Sunday makes my mouth water for clam dip and potato chips even though I never eat potato chips any other time of the year.  I also require some form of cheese and chili (or chile) and most definitely a spicy tangy hot wing sorta thing OH, and of course lots of Coors Light! 
By this time of year our chest freezer still has an ample amount of venison burger and steaks so I created a few fun "wild" game day recipes.

Buffalo Wings made with Venison

Venison Sliders

Find these recipes at www.recipesfromthewild.com under Elk/Deer.  Sign up and post your own recipes, it's free!

She's crafty

I love Halloween. I'm not really into dressing up these days, or gore, or spooky stuff, but I am into October and Halloween is in October so in turn, I like Halloween. There is one thing I absolutely HATE and that is carving pumpkins. It's messy, and frustrating, and stupid...because of the frustration. So, I'm I selling my case of loving Halloween or what?

For the past couple of years I have been invited to my sister-in-law Kelsey’s house for and annual pumpkin decorating party. It's pretty much awesome! I guess her aunt started this tradition YEARS before you would see it in a Martha Stewart magazine and it has just stuck around. Aunt Suzie (Kelsey's aunt) is a talented florist and lives on a large piece of land in Oregon. This time of year everything she has tended to in the yard starts to die which makes for perfect pumpkin decorating. We use staples from a staple gun...both short and long to keep the vegetation in place by pushing the staple directly into the pumpkin. How easy is that? The hard part is trying to be creative....this year I did pretty good.
 

I always make two.  One for Steve and one for me.