“I don’t even consider you from Minnesota now. You’re from California,” Katie said, immediately rescinding my proudly held Midwestern Card. It was like a mosquito bite. Just a pinch at the time, but later on it started to itch. Was she right? Had I lost my sense of place?
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We returned yesterday from a sweet weekend getaway to the mountain town of Julian, CA. Lucky to have acres to roam and a Quonset hut to nest, these family escapes are more rare now as we are scheduled to the stars with sports and other commitments. The property is not ours per se, but belongs to my family, and we have been adventuring there for nearly 10 years now.
I'll be honest. We're not exactly roughing it. I packed our SUV to the gills with the following... paint, glue, yarn, scissors, markers, paper, leather Motorola radios ("walkie talkies") pink ski vest + Uggs books + magazines my camera big straw hat scooters + helmuts cooler, dry goods, sparkling water, spices Bose sound dock a bottle of pinot plastic eggs + chocolate + goofy glasses
As I closed the back of the truck, I thought it might be possible that I've simply outgrown camping.
I let go of email and running, and turned instead to hiking, cooking, reading, gathering, making. We crafted swords and slingshots, I collected feathers and daffodils. We ate True Food Kitchen's quinoa Johnny Cakes and I baked Spanish chicken with onion, potatoes and spicy sausage. We dyed eggs with beets, red onions and turmeric, and huddled together on a loveseat in front of the tiniest TV screen for a Friday night movie. I was up at daybreak each morning, and heard the call of the turkeys as I hid eggs on Easter Sunday. Later that day we packed up the truck and gave a heavy sigh, with the promise to return soon.
Quinoa Johnny Cakes
My go-to dessert dish when I brunch at True Food Kitchen with my lady gals. Barely adapted from Dr. Andrew Weil's True Food Cookbook
Recipe:
2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups whole wheat pasty flour
1/4 cup sugar (evaporated cane or white)
2 tbs plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
orange zest
1/2 tsp olive oil
pat of butter
Toppings:
ripe banana, apples, or blueberries
Greek yogurt (plain or vanilla)
maple syrup
Method:
1. Make quinoa. (HOT TIP: If like me, you normally add some savory "better than bouillon" flavor to your quinoa, skip it if you plan to use leftovers for these Johnny Cakes).
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk well to combine. In another large bowl, combine the milk, eggs, vanilla, orange zest, and oil and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend until just combined. Fold in the cooked quinoa taking care not to overmix. Let the batter rest for at least 1 hour.
3. Lightly brush the cooking surface of a nonstick pan or griddle with butter. Ladle about 1/3 cup of the batter onto the hot pan. Drop banana slices, thin apple slices, or 8 to 10 blueberries on top of each pancake. When bubbles form in the batter, flip and cook on the other side until
lightly browned. Continue with the remaining batter and choice of fruit.
Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt and maple syrup on the side.
I got super lucky this week and landed a small stash of blood oranges from a neighbor. This happened to coincide with a craving for roasted beets, which I had already planned to make. Tired of my usual beet-goatcheese-pepita-oliveoil salad, I decided to merge these two heartbreakers into one bloody beet bowl. This is how it went down...
IN ADVANCE: I roasted the beets coated in a bit of olive oil and salt in a 350 oven for nearly an hour. This is sketchy, because I was cooking other things at the same time, on and off. It's an art. Not a science. Once out and cooled I slipped their dirty skins off. That sounds mildly sexual. Oh well. Then I cut them into 1" chunks a tossed them into a jar in the fridge for later.
NEXT: I prepped two small blood oranges by cutting the peel off with a serrated knife. I usually take the tiny pith core out too. I cut these into bite sized chunks.
AND THEN: I combined the orange pieces with 3/4 to 1 cup of the beets in a bowl, and grated (~ 2 teaspoons to 1 Tablespoon of) fresh ginger root right on top. Then a drizzle of honey, and a sprinkle of salt to bring out the full flavors.
Done! I think you could still safely add goat cheese, if you so desire. Or perhaps go super savory and do garlic instead of honey, and toss in some finely sliced red onion or shallots...
Beets produce the most perfect shade of magenta ever.
PS >>>>>>---------> Forgive my iPhonography, I was documenting on the fly!