putting my skill to the test

So I have an interview for a cooking job at a bakery tomorrow. Talk about dream job! Here's the problem. She wants me to bring in a soup sample of soup I've made from scratch. Dream job just went from awesome to super intimidating in .05 seconds. I read her request and immediately my mind started spinning of recipes, doubts, and ideas. I looked through a couple recipe books and settled in the tried and true "look at the recipe books then do whatever I feel like" method.As tempted as I am to just rip off someone elses recipe, I want it to be my own and I want it to be good. I've settled on mushroom and wild rice soup with bell peppers, celery, carrots, onions, garlic and a ton of herbs. So here's hoping that I don't completely butcher the first soup that actually counts for something.

El Pato- the new family favorite

Papa Wantz sent Megan a jar of El Pato last year and somehow it hasn't made an appearance in our lives until just now. So we cracked open the jar and did a little taste test...YUMMM

But El Pato was just the beginning. I made some corn cakes, piled cheese, black beans and fajita veggies on top then topped it off with this amazing magic sauce. It felt a little spanish, a little southern or maybe a little mexican? Either way, I think it's a new favorite in the house and will be making more appearances soon :) Happy Friday to everyone!

Lebanese Eggplant Stew

Last night we reinstated crockpot sunday. I absolutely love crockpot sunday.

Eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, carrots, onions, garlic and a ton of middle east-ish spices. Threw it all it, put it on low, and headed out to church. At this point I should mention that two of the boys joining us for dinner I had never met and therefore felt very uncertain about this particular stew. It sounded great on paper, but in practice it did not look or taste very good...I guess I was bound to get a bad recipe sometime :)

Anyways, we ate the random stew, laughed, got to know each other, drank tea and hung out in the kitchen while digging into the one and only Tillamuck Mudslide.

A great crockpot sunday night, which got me excited for the upcoming year, making new friends, getting new roommates and sharing more meals with them.

More Cilantro and Mushrooms

So the ingredients of the week have slowly become cilantro and mushrooms. First I needed cilantro to try the quinoa recipe, then while walking through the produce isle a box of mushrooms jumped out at me for a mere 88 cents. Who can pass that up?

Both ingredient have yet to let me down this week and they pulled through once again for the finale. Meg's been craving potatoes so today we got some potatoes and I sat down to figure out what to do with them. There's the typical (in our home at least) cut them up and broil them, then i came across an sauteed herb recipe which sounded good but was without the herb part of it. Finally I settled on this little guy.

Baked potatoes with beans, corn, onions, tomatoes, chile powder, cummin, and of course mushrooms and onions on top. We had some corn to use up so the potatoes were served with some corn on the cob and a salad.
Turned out pretty good and there is a ton of leftovers! I'm really liking having new ingredients and experimenting with them, wonder what next week will bring....

Mexican Black Bean Soup and Spanish Quinoa

It's great to be back in Seattle, in my own kitchen, with a roommate who encourages me to try new recipes :)

Last night was the return to the old faithful crockpot with some mexican black bean soup. My attempt to cook through the book has been slow and not so steady this summer, but I'm hoping to start back up more consistently.

So black bean soup it was. Complete with onions, mushrooms, cumin, chile powder, corn and cilantro. A couple hours on high and wah-lah-yummy easy soup.

Tonight we followed along with the whole bean/corn/cilantro theme and made some quinoa concoctions. Quinoa is kinda a forgotten part of my diet, I don't ever think to make it but when I do it's awesome. Tonight I made red quinoa and while that was cooking sauteed some onions and garlic. Added some beans, corn, lime juice, tomatoes and cilantro and bam its a colorful fiesta in the kitchen. It was pretty good if I do say so myself...

Up next is some more fun with cilantro and somehow using a bunch of mushrooms we seem to have acquired...Oh how I love a challenge...

ice cream, smores, milkshakes and more

The lake was wonderful as always. It never seems to let me down. One of the magical things about the lake is that all the "no sugar" rules of my life go out the window. There is absolutely no judgement if I want to eat ice cream everyday or have an extra smore just because...

One night the first week I was there the Sponseller's came over for smores and a little fire..

There's this little ice cream shop in town that has become the favorite over the years, so much so that it was at my sister's wedding. It's full of chocolate dipped things, candied apples, and of course, lots of ice cream. We got to go with the whole Sponseller clan the night before they left, which was entertaining as always :)

This particular night I got half "death by even more chocolate" and half "peanut butter cup" which is peanut butter ice cream, with chocolate PB cups mixed in. So good!

Another day we branched out and wandered down to Polly's sweet shop, which is just as adorable as it sounds. Megan and Alex wanted milkshakes so we ventured down the boardwalk and we pleasantly surprised with the fact that Polly's makes milkshakes out of any ice cream you want. I stuck to the traditional ice cream cone, which never lets you down :)

I just got home from arizona, which is a whole other blog post and am currently working on getting back into my crockpot cookbook. Stay tuned!

grand lake breakfasts

This morning Mom tried out a new recipe on the fam called "Carrot Cake Pancakes". It's precisely what it sounds like. Pancakes with carrrots and a bunch of spices that taste like a mix between muffins, cake, and pancakes. We usually don't all eat bfast together, but the lake seems create that sort of atmosphere. We sit at the bar and Mom rattles off every option-french toast, eggs, corn cakes, and today, pancakes. Tay, Dad and I sat at the bar passing butter, agave, syrup, and bananas, chatting and sitting the sunny spots of another lake day.

I love watching my mom try new things in the kitchen. She is the person who taught me to cook and love food, finding as much joy in experimenting with food as I do. Every now and then it's a flop, but most the time her intution and skill pulls through and her experiment turns into our new favorite meal. Today was no exception.


In other news-I am, as always, awestruck by the beauty that sits in front of me here at the lake. It seriously never gets old. I've been reading a lot and today the chapter I read was talking about how sometime to commune with God and feel close to Him we have to remove ourselves from the everyday hussle and bussle and be in awe of His creation. That's what the lake seems to do for me. The huge mountain in our backyard, the variety of animals scampering around, the sound of the water hitting the rocks, the lighting and thunder in the afternoons. It all points directly to Him, creates a grateful heart and reminds me of what a big God I have the priveledge of serving.