Joni & Celine

Just a quickie to share a fun photo from yesterday. The adorable and talented Joni (of Just The Food) & Celine (from Have Cake Will Travel) spent the day with us yesterday, filming some upcoming segments for Everyday Dish. They were so much fun and their recipes are awesome! They have a cookbook coming out soon, and it's going to be fantastic.

Thank you both for a great day and lots of laughs!

Camping

Camping is something that has always been in my blood. I think I was only about 6 months old when my parents took me camping for the first time, as they loaded down our Volkswagon with one of those old impossibly heavy canvas tents, and a kayak that my dad had built from a kit. Later on our camping trips grew from weekend excursions to month-long journeys all the way up the California coastline to the Pacific Northwest. Yes, you can definitely say that camping is in my blood.

My hubby and I have carried on the camping tradition with our children, beginning when our daughter was only a couple of months old. Our trips have always centered around the food we bring. Food takes on new meaning when you are outdoors 24/7. Our whole trip revolves around preparing the food, cooking the food, eating the food, cleaning up from the food mess, then deciding what we are giong to eat next!

As we continued to camp, our equipment arsenal began to grow exponentially too. First the giant tent, so that we could fit all of the kid's toys and necessary stuff in there, then more cooking equipment and a larger cooler and big, bulky air mattresses. It all felt so necessary at the time, but we were completely loaded down. It's truly a wonder that my husband was so patient with all of the stuff that I insisted on bringing. He was a camping minimalist at heart; just a single bowl that doubled as a cooking pot, a pocket-size single burner for cooking and a fork and a knife. Ha! He never knew what hit him!

Now that our kids have gotten older, we are slowly finding ourselves scaling back on our camping essentials. Our tent has gotten smaller (and miraculously morphed into a small tent trailor), the cooking equipment has gotten sparser and forget those pesky air mattresses that continually sprung a leak. I think that the work load has even lightened up a bit too.

So if you're wondering where I'm going with this, last week we were able to sneak away for a 6 day adventure near Bend, Oregon, meeting up with some old friends that we hadn't seen in several years. Getting together two families with 5 teenage kids was no easy task. But somehow we pulled it all together, and as we sat there laughing and playing Apples To Apples by the roaring fire, I found myself reflecting on the evolution of our camping trips. We've come a long way baby.

ETA: I put up our camping food list on Everyday Dish (on the "Dish" page).

The kids proving to me just how short I really am.

Bruno, enjoying the sun and contemplating when he gets to go home.

Bottle Love

A while back, after doing a lot of reading on the subject, I decided to give up on refillable plastic plastic water bottles. Knowing not just that the plastics, and more specifically the BPA's, are terrible for our bodies, but that there is some thought that they might contribute to breast cancer. Yuck! And forget the fact that these plastics are showing up in our blood. As convenient as those refillable plastic bottles are, I just had to say no.

My next move was to the stainless bottles. These are very durable, and perfect to throw in a gym bag or the kid's backpacks for school. They sounded like the perfect solution, but I still wasn't totally convinced. They are fairly pricey (if you go for the good ones with the non-toxic finish), and my son was always complaining that his beverages had a metallic taste to them. I couldn't fault him there, as I noticed it too.

I really was at a loss as to what to do, other than carrying around a water glass from home, which was completely impractical. Then it hit me. What about those great iced tea bottles that you find everywhere from the grocery store to take-out cafes. With their resealable lids, they would make the perfect container for water, juice or home-brewed iced tea on the go. Plus, they look stylish. There's also the added benefit that you're recycling at the same time too. And you can actually fit ice cubes into the bottle, for a truly refreshing iced summer drink.

Now I wouldn't recommend these for children or if you're planning on doing some rugged outdoor activities. But for running errands around town or slipping into a bag at the farmer's market or going out for a stroll, these bottles are ideal. I've even started to notice the nice designs that some of these bottles have. I love that they can be thrown in the dishwasher to be cleaned, without worrying that the plastic is breaking down.

So, the next time that you find yourself with one of these bottles, consider keeping it as a water bottle. You may just find yourself hooked on the idea. Who knows. Maybe we can start a new trend of re-purposing glass bottles.

Pan Obsessed

I don't know about anyone else, but as I peruse kitchen stores and cooking catalogs, I find myself drawn to the specialty baking pans. You know the ones. They're shaped like hearts and giant cupcakes and mini Bundt cakes and flowers and twinkies and all kinds of other fun and unique shapes. Shapes that almost make me giddy.

Back in the "old days", I would often justify a pan purchase as necessary for recipes that I was working on, either for cookbooks or magazine articles or a TV spot. This was definitely a win win for me, as I "needed" the pans for work. This was fine, for a while, until I could no longer fit them all in my tiny kitchen.

I realize that by saying collection, it probably sounds like I have hundreds of pans, which I definitely don't. But I do have lots of them, all stacked together in plastic storage tubs. As I took a few out last night to photograph, it got me wondering if others find themselves drawn to these pans too. Anyone else find the specialty cake pans irresistible?

Fortunately I haven't bought a new pan in quite some time. I think that I'm set for now. Unless of course I happen to spy something new, that would make the "perfect" dessert...

Grilled Cheese & Lemonade

My daughter graduated high school last week, so I've been far away from my computer. It was so nice to be able to catch up with our family (and friends), since we don't get to see everyone nearly enough. The graduation ceremony was beautiful, and I can't believe that my baby girl is going off to college!

Now that I'm back to work, I wanted to let you know that we just put up a video and recipe for strawberry lemonade on Everyday Dish. So easy and refreshing for hot summer days.

We also put up a recipe up on the Membership side of Everyday Dish for Vegan Pepperjack Cheese. This stuff is so frickin' good, and makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches! You have seriously got to try it! It's both sliceable and spreadable, with a smoky peppery bite. I am completely addicted...

Pepperjack grilled cheese with tomato

Good News!

Great news for those considering a subscription to Everyday Dish TV. We have a special running right now. The price is $35.00 for a one year subscription. Now that's a lot of marshmallows (and key lime cheesecake and awesome vegan cheeses and smoky sausage links and chorizos and...). Just think about it. The monthly cost is less than your favorite Iced Soy Mocha ($2.92), and much healthier too. EDTV is guaranteed to be habit forming, without the jittery side effects of caffeine.

In other news, for those of you with children (or without), who are looking for a fun gift idea, I have an article in the new issue of Family Fun Magazine. The article is on do-it-yourself truffles (vegan, of course), perfect for teacher thank-you gifts.

XO Julie

Farmer's Market Demo

Spring has sprung, and summer's just around the corner!

It was a gorgeous day in Portland on Tuesday, and a perfect one to be outside. I was invited to be the guest chef at the Farmers Market at OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University), a weekly event designed to not only provide fresh food and produce to the community, but the whole OHSU family (the hospital, medical school, cafes and dining establishments) as well. OHSU is undergoing a sustainable transformation, to provide locally prepared food and products that can be delivered as naturally as possible with an emphasis on recyclable containers. No easy feat for such a large organization, but I applaud their efforts as they put their best echo foot forward.

I was provided with a table for the demo (sans electricity), and had to have samples for over 200 people. I immediately thought of the "Peanut Sesame Noodles" from Everyday Dish TV, as it can be made without appliances, and doesn't require cooking. I brought everything that I needed to assemble the recipe, chilled and pre-measured, threw everything in a bowl and mixed the dressing right there on the spot. Everyone loved it and I ran out of samples much sooner than expected. Not so surprising as the samples were free! I met a lot of really interesting people, which is one of the things that I love most about demos. I got the definite feeling that this dish will be showing up at many barbeques and potlucks this summer.

Sometimes I forget about past recipes that I've created. That is until I have to search for one, given a scenario such as this. After making the peanut noodles again I can definitely say that it was just as good as the first time I made it, maybe even better. Being a cookbook author I am constantly challenged to come up with new ideas, and I have to admit it's in my nature to nurture this development process. But it's always comforting to revisit forgotten favorites, and bask in the pleasure that they provide, in a satisfyingly prepared meal.

My daughter was so upset that there were no leftovers I had to make it again for dinner that night. A chef's job is never done. Just when you get the dishes done its time for the next meal.