calling all home cookers and bakers

The food writing market is saturated. This is a real issue in Salt Lake City because of the fact that it is such a small city and all the restaurants have been written about and exhausted. I want to start of community of people who either grow their own food, cook their own food, and bake. People who have a passion for food like I do, but who don't necessarily want to be chefs working in a commercial kitchen. I want to highlight one person a month and interview, take pictures, and gather recipes from selected people for either their cooking or show the community how much effort you have put into your garden or recipes. Local business is important, yes, but so are the "regular" people who don't have to step foot in the produce section because they grow it all themselves :) So please, if you are a baker, cook, gardener or mini-farmer, or you know someone, please contact me at ctshewbart@gmail.com

Sunday night

I don't care what they say. In my opinion, dinner is the most important meal of the day, especially Sunday dinner. There is nothing more warming than a good Sunday night dinner, particularly in the fall. Here in Utah, it is getting cold at night and fall has definitely made its presence known. For me, that means crockpots, soup and lots of baking. But I digress, Sunday dinner is very important to me. It is the dinner of the week that bids the weekend farewell before the hustle and bustle of the work week, and although I make dinner every night, a lot of families don't have the time and enthusiasm that I do for cooking. Lately, my position as head chef in the Stark house has gone to Russ. He seems to really be enjoying cooking for his family lately and I think it is a good idea for him. He will be heading out to Omaha for work and will be gone a long time. Therefore, I am sure he wants to spend time feeding and loving us for as long as he can. We will all miss him dearly. Tonight, Russ made grilled lamb chops and this interesting Greek salad, as he called it. It was cut up cucumber, tomato, and onion in a cucumber yogurt sauce. It was good. I am happy he has taken to cooking and eating at the table. He was so sweet and set the table for us to eat together tonight and he always helps place items in the background for my pictures. Sadly, Holly and I watched the Emmys instead and he ate at the table alone. I want to change this dynamic and turn Sunday into an important family day where we all eat together and spend one more evening together before everyone gets too busy and tired. I am just so happy that eating in front of the TV is no longer a tradition in this household with the exception of tonight. Now if only I can get Eli to eat... 

my drive up the canyon

As I was driving up the canyon today, I forgot where I was for a moment. The winding road and the changing colors of the leaves reminded me of the fall in Vermont when I was in college. With the tires gliding around every curve, my body swaying in a constant, delicate motion, my eyes are forcefully on the road in an attempt not to stare at the trees. The rusted red, burnt orange and lustrous, golden leaves are mesmerizing and still today, a picture is not a beautiful as it being seen with my own eyes. As the car slowly embraces each curve, I am in no rush to reach the top. I am enchanted by the vibrant colors and desperate for a break in the canyon so I can sneak a peek at what is below me. Suddenly there is a change of scenery and I am in a forest of Quaking Aspen. The leaves of the Aspen tremble in the breeze with their tall, white, slender trunks and their large black eyes staring at me as if they loved me and their delicate leaves waving hello, welcoming me. My flash back is over and I come back, leaving behind my nostalgic memory. This is to no disappointment. As much as I loved Vermont, Utah is my home. I am not a native, but I have chosen Utah and I will forever be grateful for my choice. 

What a crappy dinner

I spent all day baking muffins as we all know by now and I was very excited to make dinner. It was going to be grilled lamb shoulder, garlic mashpotatoes and whatever vegetable was ripe and ready from the garden. Instead, due to those who share a different pallet than I, wanted seafood. I will never argue with that! We had shrimp and scallops available and I was very excited to pan sear the scallops and cook some spinach and sprinkle some crushed hazelnuts over the top. You French foodies will know that this wonderful dish is called Scallops Maison Blanche. It is a wonderful French dish and very simple to make. I was then going to make a shimp coctail (because Russ bought already cooked shrimp in a bag) with a dipping sauce. The only ingredient we did not have was spinach. I asked Russ to go to the store and get me two spinach bunches. I said, " please do not get the kind in a package. Get the bunches from the produce section." Of course, he got one package of spinach and it was the small plastic shell. That means I have no spinach because once it is cooked, it reduces down to nothing. I am tired from baking all day and I cannot think creatively, so I end up just cooking the scallops, shrimp and spinach all together and just giving it to them with the potatoes. I didnt even eat any. I am feeling a little moody today and didn't want to deal with it. However, I am really upset that my dinner did not turn out the way I wanted it. I was so excited to cook and then all these other things started going on and I just needed spinach and apparently that was too much for him to handle. I gave him plently of crap for it already. Yes, Russ. Next time I need spinach I will just go to the store myself. Thanks for telling me I can do that. I suppose the next time you want dinner you can heat up a can of chilli. Goodnight

Friday Muffin Mania

I am not sure how many of you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, but in case you don't, I went insane making muffins today. I woke up with this intense need to bake. Oddly enough, I wasn't feeling well. I think I am being glutened again. It sucks to feel like and look like your 9 months pregnant with a swollen gut. My GF friends will know what I am talking about. At any rate, I wasn't feeling well and I am the happiest when I bake, so I decided to bake muffins all day. I started off with a lemon zest, blueberry muffin. It was so amazing I had to make more, but I wanted a variety. I decided to go out into the yard and collect walnuts and apples for a cinnamon apple walnut muffin. They were soooo great!!!! I had such a fun time collecting walnuts and peeling their thick, green and rotting coat off. Meanwhile, I am shooing away chickens that are pecking at my feet. You know you live a great life when your biggest problem is being annoyed by chickens pecking at your feet as you collect ingredients for your muffins in your own backyard. I found the neatest little contraption that cracks them too. It was so much fun crushing the walnuts that I went out and got myself. It was so rewarding.Next I made a corn, zucchini, and rosemary muffin. This sounded a lot better than it tasted. It was good, don’t get me wrong. It was the corn that overpowered the zucchini and rosemary. I either didn’t add enough zucchini or rosemary. Either way, I decided to try it again, but with gluten free flour instead of corn meal.I thought I was going to end it at the corn, zucchini, rosemary muffin, but then I decided I wanted to make a muffin for Jen (Holly’s sister) that was sugar free and chocolate. Not only did I make it sugar free and gluten free, I made it fat free as well. I took Pamela’s gluten free baking flour, Splenda, unsweetened cocoa, fat free yogurt and skim milk and vanilla. Then after it baked, I grated unsweetened chocolate and a little Splenda on top. At this point, I think all the muffins taste terrible because I have been baking them all day. I don’t know about you, but if I cook all day, I start to think everything tastes bad. I am going to wait on the opinion of others. My concern is Jen won’t like them because this is a picky group of eaters and she is a bit on the high maintenance side JAfter I finished my chocolate, I decided I wanted to make a really dense, savory muffin for breakfast on Saturday. I made a cheddar cheese, herb and bacon muffin. I found them to be too salty. I am definitely going to use less garlic and salt next time. I know, I know, there is no such thing as too much garlic, but I found them too salty and I love salt. I am being very critical of these muffins for some reason. As long as everyone else loves them, I am happy. All I know is I had the best day baking and I am so happy with how lovely they look and the photos I took of them. Please follow me on instagram so you can see all the wonderful things I come across in this world. Stay tuned. I hope you can join me for dinner tonight. 

                                 

Thursday night

Tonight's entry will be very short because I didn't cook! I came home and Russ had the table set and dinner was in the oven. Holly had dinner with her co-workers tonight and as usual, Eli hated dinner. Russ made Eggplant parm and salad. It looked unlike any eggplant parm I had ever seen. It was actually more like a casserole because for 1. there was not parmesan in the dish :) 2. He didnt use any breadding at all nor did he toast, bake or fry the eggplant before baking. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that Russ made a lovely casserole with eggplant, tomato, and mozzerella cheese. It was a lovely dish. However, I think I would like to take my place back in the kitchen tomorrow. I have been dying to make this grilled balsamic honey carrot recipe and I will just be so sad if I don't get to make it.  It may have to wait until next week. Bon Appetit! and crepes a lot for reading :)

Welcome back

Hello! It has been so long. So many things have changed and boy have I gotten fat! The good news is I don't have celiac. The bad news is I still have a gluten sensitivitiy and although I am not allergic, I still avoid it. So, you will notice my meals are gluten free, but I am not going to talk about that too much anymore...

I live with a great family now. I recently ended a relationship, but started a new life and I am loving it! It is so great to be cooking again. There was a long time where I wasn't making the time and so many changes occured. However, I live with picky eaters. I now face a new challenge and being the people pleaser I am, I bend to their every need. Eli is 7 and hates everything. Holly, the mom has a long list of foods she won't eat and Russ the dad says everything is good.  I am going to start keeping track of all the wonder things I cook for them and share my journey of living with the Starks. Lots of things are going to be changing around here as well, but one thing is for sure, dinner will always be on the table. 

Let me tell you a little about this home I live in. First of all, it is beautiful. The yard in the front is nicely groomed and a Ohio State flag dangles from the roof gutter. A large tree shades the yard.  The kitchen is enromous. There is a six foot long island in the center, wooden cabinets, granite counter tops, and a massive dinner table. A rack hangs above the island where all the pots and pans are and  hallalulah  there is a dishwasher.

The backyard deserves its own paragraph. It is my dream yard. There are 13 chickens, 5 rabbits, one which lives in the house and is my furry little garbage disposal, a beautiful herb garden and a crazy amount of fresh vegetables. Every morning I go and collect the eggs from the chickens and put the bunnies in the yard and spend the rest of my day cleaning or reading or writing.  I typically plan out my menus for them, but sometimes moods change and other dinner suggestions are made and so I stay flexible in my weekly menu.  I haven't gotten used to the idea of going out and picking the vegetables. I am still learning how to tel when they are ready, but Holly picks up my slack there. However, I do utilize the herb garden. I cannot tell you how delightful it is to walk outside and cut a  spring or rosemary, or thyme or basil. It is such a treat to do that. It is also a joy to have so many fresh tomatoes and zuchinni and squash. The cucumbers are amazing as well. 

Sadly, I have been over indulging in my life here and I need to take a step back. If I am going to use this much butter and drink this much wine, I am going to need to start running again. Therefore, this week, I am going to get back on the ever so enjoyable French diet. One that consists of smaller portions, but more food. I am going to hold off on drinking an entire bottle of wine every night (which is going to be a challenge for me since I love wine so much) and eating breakfast, which I haven't been doing. Fortunately, you won't have to read about my stupid diet. However, you will get to have dinner with me every night and will be a pleasure to serve you.