The supplies

 (I got all mine at Costco but you can find these items just about anywhere)

1. I got these delightful rosemary crackers that are locally made in Washington.
2. Goat cheese log. It is more economical at only $4.85 per log vs the same price at other stores for a little coins worth. Ok so this isn’t the chevre you may be used to having on special occasions but if you want to pretend this does the trick and hits high marks for taste.
3. Baby peppers in produce cooler – slice in half and remove seeds (you can slice bell peppers too if you can’t find these babies)
4. 3 lb bag of raw walnuts
5. Worcestershire sauce (to avoid high fructose corn syrup you may need to purchase this at a health food store)
6. Cumin, paprika, chili powder and black pepper (if you never use these powders and think you never will again, don’t bother purchasing them just for this recipe. You can do without. Although I love these spices and if you see my other recipes you may find regular use for them.

Obviously you can purchase less amounts at a variety of stores but I use these ingredients all the time so it pays to buy in bulk.

Putting it all together

Place a hunk of goat cheese in the middle of a plate and sprinkle fresh cracked black pepper on top if you like.

Place crackers around the perimeter of the plate.

Turn on stove to medium heat with a teaspoon of organic coconut oil or butter in the saute pan. Toss in the sliced baby peppers and let sit for 1 minute and toss. Cook for another minute or two and remove from heat. Sprinkle with salt. These are best when they are not fully cooked just a little browned on the outside but still crisp.

Toss peppers on top of crackers surrounding the goat cheese. Sprinkle candied spiced walnuts (see recipe below) on top and serve.

Picture by - The Frugal Chef

Candied Spiced Walnuts

Place a pan on stove at medium heat. Pour enough oil/butter to provide a thin coat covering the bottom of the saute pan. Place enough walnuts to cover the surface of the pan. Heat for 1-2 minutes and stir often. Then splash enough Worcestershire  sauce to coat the walnuts and 1-2 tablespoons organic sugar. Shake a thin layer or the following spices: cumin, paprika, chili powder and black pepper. You can use any or all of the spices or just omit them all together if you don’t like those flavors. Stir for another 5 minutes. Be sure to not let the nuts burn. Turn down heat if necessary. Transfer to a plate or wax paper to cool. They are ready to serve. You can store the rest in an air tight container for a couple of weeks.

These walnuts are wonderful on salads, for snacks, with golden beets and goat cheese etc. Beet Napoleon will come at another time.

Enjoy as I did and will again.

*Summer food tip

The better quality ingredients you use such as farmers market tomatoes, basil allows you to throw plates of summer snacks together in no time. High quality ingredients don’t need a lot of fuss. They taste great as is. So you can get credit for putting a couple of ingredients together and let the food do the work:)

In health & happiness,

Jennipher Hau

For lunch we ordered the Hawaiian line caught seared ahi with an avocado-tomato salad. I think there was a whole avocado in there!

The other dish was Pad Thai with fresh prawns. There was everything summery in this non-traditional spin of Pad Thai. Toasted almonds, roasted cauliflower and eggplant bits, scallions, ginger, sesame oil & lime.

Delicious! Please try if you ever visit Bend.

Fresh & Fun,
Jennipher Hau

So this isn’t totally fair to post considering I didn’t make the burger but purchased it at Sheridan Fruit Co. But honestly if I was looking for a second business it would probably be somewhere involved in the distribution of high quality meats like these because honestly I am not totally interested in figuring out their secret seasonings but rather enjoy the mystery of someone else’s culinary genius.

What I can offer is how it all goes together in the end in my natural hippie-esque way to keep it healthy, tasty and pretty looking too!

I made a bed of lettuce with purple frisse and toppled with farm fresh vine-ripened tomatoes and garnished the side with some Bubbies Bread & Butter Pickles. Delicious! Of course you can use any lettuce you prefer.

My grill is currently out of commission so I pan-fried these burger for a few minutes on each side and served it up sans bun to keep this meal low inflammatory. Grains are high in omega 6′s which can cause inflammation which leads to all sorts of health disorders. Don’t get me wrong I love bread. I just pick and choose the times I can’t live without it. Like a big chunk with e.v.o.o. and some reduced balsamic.

Back to the burger…

Serve it up on the plate and you’ve got something crossed between a burger and a steak salad. I finished off the plate by drizzling some reduced balsamic vinegar to make it pretty and taste delicious and topped the burger with caramelized onions I made up two days prior. Also I used a little mustard & bbq sauce for the burger just to feel more traditional.

Reduced Balsamic

Place a sauce pan on the stove on medium heat and pour about an inch high worth of balsamic and let it come to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and let it sit on the heat for about 5 minutes to reduce down. It’s that easy. Now for storing I used to use a mason jar and through it in the fridge for later use. Now I got myself one of those $2 squeeze bottles and fill it once the vinegar has cooled and use that to drizzle and make pretty designs. You can use this for everything from marinating fresh strawberries or caprese salads etc!

Pina Colada

This took the Vitamix although I am sure you can use any blender that can crush ice.

1.5 oz light rum

2 tbsp coconut milk or cream of coconut (Use full fat version – it is more cost effective because lite versions are just watered down and the MCF Fats actually raise your metabolism and help burn off more fat instead of putting in on your hips!)

1/4 cup fresh pineapple (use core if your blender can handle it – tons of digestive enzymes in there)

1/2 cup milk or 1/4 cup cream and 1/4 cup water or extra coconut milk

1/2 cup ice cubes

Blend all ingredients until smooth and garnish with pineapple and a sprig of mint if you have some leftover from mojito night like I did:)

Keeping it fresh & fun,

Jennipher Hau

The Menu

Spinach & Artichoke Dip

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 tsp salt

Slice of lemon

10 oz spinach fresh or frozen

6-7 marinated artichoke hearts

Blend all items and place in oven safe casserole dish for 35-40 min at 350 degrees!

Oh and I made caramelized onions which were delicious and spread some on top and baked til golden brown. The best garnish!

California Salsa

4 vine-ripen tomatoes quartered

1/2 white or sweet onion

1/4 cup cilantro

1 jalapeno

Juice 1/2 a lemon

1/4 tsp salt

Place all ingredients except 2 tomatoes in blender and pulse until well chopped. Then add the rest of the tomatoes and give a quick zip and you are all set.

Sans Blender? No problem! Chop all ingredients into 1/2 the size of your finger nail and mix. Delicious!

Grilled peach salad: 6 bocconcini mozzarella, 3 grilled peaches quartered, 1 shallot, 1/4 cup e.v.o.o., drizzled reduced balsamic with torn basil. Slice each peach and place face down on grill for 1-2 minutes on each side. Cut into quarter size chunks. Toss in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and let sit for about 10 min prior to serving. Yumm. Pics to come in the near future.

The main course – compliments of Sheridan Fruit Co.  Portland, OR

Smoked pulled pork with bbq sauce (smoked for 8 hours)

1 chicken cordon bleu sausage

1 mama rosa italian sausage

1 cherry white sausage of love – with fontina cheese and bing cherries

1 drunken pig sausage with guiness & cheese

Fresh sauerkraut

1 filet of wild salmon

Sweet potato fries

There was no room for dessert to say the least.

We had dessert in the morning with homemade vanilla bean whip cream served over fresh farmer’s market berries & coconut flour pancakes. Very patriotic indeed!

Happy Belated 4th of July everyone! I was too busy eating to share earlier and promise to produce more pictures in the near future of my wild culinary escapades.

Now back to the work week with my fresh mango smoothie to purge this weekend’s Thanksgiving gluttony:)

Keeping it fresh and fun,

Jennipher Hau