Blog - Fresh From Oregon

Turkey Pot Pie with Savory Crust

November 24, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

I always look forward to the day after Thanksgiving and all the leftovers. One of my family’s favorite is a turkey pot pie with a savory crust of parsley and cranberries. Using your leftover turkey and vegetables you can create a delicious new meal. No need to have only once a year you can substitute the turkey with chicken and enjoy this pot pie throughout the year.

Savory Crust
3 cups Bob’s Red Mill white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
1 1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
5 Tablespoons cold water

In large bowl combine the flour, salt, parsley and cranberries. With pastry blender cut in shortening until it resembles small pea size shapes. In small cup combine eggs, cider vinegar and water. Add to flour mixture and combine until just mixed and forms a ball. Divide into two pieces and flatten to a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for an hour.

Turkey Filling
2 (10.5 oz) cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup turkey or chicken broth
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup carrots, cooked, diced
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup potatoes, cooked, diced
1/4 cup onions, diced
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups turkey, cooked, diced

In large bowl combine all the turkey pie filling, set aside.

To assemble roll out one pie crust to fit in and just over a 10″ pie plate. Place filling into pie shell and spread out evenly. Roll out second piece of dough and place over filling. Roll top dough under the bottom crust and flute the edges. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until crust is brown. Let set for 20 minutes before you cut.

Three Best Apples for Baking this Week in Oregon

October 14, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

Each week new apples are being picked in Oregon and these are the three best apples for baking with this week. That list changes as we move through the season with varieties getting too ripe for good baking and new ones being picked.

Honeycrisp – It is a medium to large apple with a white flesh that is crisp and juicy with a good balance of sweet and tart flavors. The University of Minnesota developed this apple from a cross between Macoun and Honeygold apples. This is a modern apple developed in the 1960’s and introduced to the market in the 1990’s. The Honeycrisp is a great keeper you can store at 32-38 degrees for 4 months. This is an all-purpose apple for me, I use it in cakes, pies and it makes the best dried apples.

Ginger Gold – This is the best of the early golden apples. Its firm, crisp, juicy flesh is dripping with sweetness. The Ginger Gold was discovered as a chance seedling growing near a Golden Delicious orchard in Viginia in the 1960’s. The color and shape looks like a Golden Delicious but it has a much earlier season ripening 6-8 weeks earlier. This apple is a short season apple only keeping 2 months at 32-38 degrees. This apple is great for eating, baking, pies and applesauce.

Tsugaru – Yellow with red blush, the Tsugaru (SOO-GA-ROO) resembles Golden Delicious, but is much more firmer. It is a cross between a Golden Delicious and a Jonathan apple. It is a medium size apple with a creamy white flesh, very juicy, lightly flavored, and moderately sweet with low acidity and very little browning. This apple is great for eating, baking, salads and pies.

Best Ever Apple Cake

3/4 cup pecans, chopped
3 cups Bob’s Red Mill white flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 large baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a 10-inch removable-bottom tube pan with nonstick spray. Sprinkle pecans evenly on bottom of pan. In a large bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and cinnamon. Add apples and toss to combine. In another large bowl, mix remaining flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, oil, butter, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Beat until batter is smooth. Pour half of the batter (about 2 cups) into prepared pan. Top with half of apple mixture. Spoon remaining batter over apples and top with remaining apples, placing them 1/4 inch in from the tube and the border of the cake. Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Run a paring knife around the sides and center of cake and turn cake out onto wire rack. Invert cake onto another rack to cool, pecan side up.

Source: Best-Ever Apple Cake Recipe – Redbook Magazine

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Apple Caramel Cake

October 10, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

Apple season started weeks ago here in Oregon and after a trip to Kiyokawa Family Orchards & Fruit Stand in Hood River, Oregon my refrigerator is bursting with apples. I left with 9 varieties of apples and have several recipes ready to share with you over the next few weeks. The Apple Caramel Cake is a easy recipe to make, very moist and the frosting adds a great finish. I like to use a nice sweet apple so I used Ginger Gold in this cake.

1 3/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill flour

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups apples, peeled & finely chopped

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup golden raisins

Frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

5 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13×9-inch baking pan, set aside. In large bowl combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In bowl of a mixer cream brown sugar and butter 2 minutes, add eggs and vanilla until combined. Add flour mixture, mix for 3 minutes on medium speed. By hand stir in apples, walnuts and raisins. Pour into greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack.

Frosting: In small bowl with whisk blend powdered sugar, cinnamon, butter, vanilla and milk. Add more milk if need to make spreading consistency. Spread over cool cake and sprinkle with nuts.

Tomato Bruschetta Three Ways

September 24, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

What’s fresh this week. If you visit your local farmers market you will see a rainbow of different colors of tomatoes. There are cherry tomatoes in all shapes and colors, heirloom green stripes, Italian plums and the good old red tomato. I filled my bag with an assortment of tomatoes and bought some great bread, I’m ready to make some bruschetta. Since I have so many types of tomatoes I am going to share 3 different ways to make tomato bruschetta. The first tomato is the heirloom green stripe which has a mild flavor so I want to make sure I use an olive oil with some great flavor. The second tomatoes are a box of rainbow cherry tomatoes, so many colors and shapes so I am going to keep this one simple. The last tomato will be with red tomatoes and the traditional bruschetta is the best way to enjoy them.

Heirloom Bruschetta
3 small heirloom green stripe tomatoes, sliced
12 slices fresh mozzarella
3 cloves garlic, minced
Balsamic vinegar (Get a really good aged one)
Garlic olive oil
12 pieces any rustic bread, sliced
Salt & pepper
fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the bread on both sides with the garlic olive oil and bake in the oven until golden brown on both sides. This should take about 2-3 minutes of each side, remove from oven. Lay two slices of tomatoes and one slice of mozzarella cheese on each slice of bread. Sprinkle with the minced garlic and drizzle some of the olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with fresh basil.

Rainbow Bruschetta
1 pint rainbow cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 basil leaves, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons basil flavored olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 loaf bread with kalamata olives, sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the olive bread on both sides with the olive oil and bake in the oven until golden brown on both sides. This should take about 2-3 minutes on each side, remove from oven. In medium bowl combine the cherry tomatoes, garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon tomato mixture over toasted bread and enjoy.

Traditional Bruschetta
2 large red tomatoes, diced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 basil leaves, minced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 loaf french baguette, sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the french baguette on both sides with the olive oil and bake in the oven until golden brown on both sides. This should take about 2-3 minutes on each side, remove from oven. In medium bowl combine tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Place tomato mixture in a bowl on a large plate and place toasted bread around the bowl or scoop tomato mixture on each piece of bread and place on a large serving platter.

Apple Slab Pie

September 20, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

What do you think of when you see an pan of slab pie on the table. I think of family reunions, church suppers and picnics. It is apple season here in Oregon and each week there are several apples coming into season. I wanted to take some of these apples and create something that I could share with friends. When you make a slab pie you are making two pies at once. The flaky crust of the dough and the sweet filling of apples is a great way to start the fall apple season.

Pie Crust: Make recipe twice
3 cups Bob’s Red Mill white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, cold, small chunks
1 egg
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
5 tablespoons cold water
In large bowl combine the flour and salt, add shortening and butter. With a pastry blender mix together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, do not over mix. In a small bowl combine egg, cider vinegar and water, add to the flour mixture and combine until the dough just comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to 1 hour to rest the dough. Make another batch of pie dough and repeat above. You will have two balls of dough when you are done.

Apple Filling:
8 golden Delicious apples, peeled and sliced thin
2 tart apples, peeled and sliced thin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
1 3/4 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted

In large bowl combine apples, lemon juice, flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You will need a 10×15-inch baking pan. On a floured surface roll out one piece of the dough to fit in the bottom of the 10×15-inch baking pan. Place apple mixture over the dough spreading out evenly. Take the remaining dough and roll out slightly larger to place over the top of the apples. Since the dough is so large to work with I use my large pasta rolling pin to do this. Roll the top dough under the bottom dough and cut some small slits in the top to vent the pie as it cooks. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until golden brown and you see the apple mixture bubbling up a little from the slits. Remove from the oven and cool on wire rack.

Icing:
2 cups confectioners sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk
Combine the confectioners sugar and milk in a small bowl and with a whisk combine until smooth and slightly thick. Drizzle over the pie.

Summer Pickled Vegetables

September 16, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

If you have a garden or go to a local farmers market you will see an abundance of vegetables at this time of the year. Making pickled vegetables is a great way to preserve that summer taste so you can enjoy it all winter long. A jar of pickled vegetables makes a great gift during the holidays and is perfect for the hoilday dinner table.

2 heads cauliflower, small pieces
1 head broccoli, small pieces
1 cup peeled pickling onions
1 each green, yellow & orange peppers, small pieces
2 cups carrots, 1/2″ rounds
12 pickling cucumbers, 1/2″ rounds
8 small hot peppers, strips
1/2 cup canning salt
2 quarts vinegar
3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons mustard seed
4 teaspoons celery seed

In large bowl combine cauliflower, broccoli, onions, peppers, carrots, pickling cucumbers and hot peppers. Sprinkle with the pickling salt, cover with crushed ice and let stand 3 hours. Drain vegetables; rinse well. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed and celery seed in a large 8 quart pot. Bring to a boil; add vegetables and simmer 5 minutes. Pack hot into hot pint jars and add enough liquid leaving a 1/4-inch headspace. Add lid and band and process in a hot water bath 10 minutes.

Adapted from ~ Ball Blue book

You can’t have the Oil without the Vinegar!

September 10, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

We arrived mid afternoon to the town of Leavenworth the “Alpine Bavarian Village” of Washington state. Our room at the Enzian Inn was not ready yet and with only one block to walk to town we decided to see what we could find. We passed many cute shops and tasting rooms of local wineries and then came to the shop I wanted to see. The Oil & Vinegar Cellar located at 633 Front Street where they say “Where the Virgin Compliments the Aged”. You need to go down a pair of stairs that leads you to the cellar of oil and vinegar heaven. The brick walls and silver fustino’s dripping out the sweet aged flavors of pure delight made me want to start dipping and tasting. I started down the balsamic vinegars, all aged 18 years, tasting flavors like fig, apricot, cinnamon peach, blackberry and the last one in the row white balsamic vinegar that was so sweet I had to have it. I moved on to their featured combo of the day cranberry walnut balsamic vinegar and Florida Orange olive oil, what a burst of flavor in your mouth. Finally I started tasting the olive oils with flavors like garlic mushroom, basil, jalapeno, key lime and roasted chili to name a few. But the one that caught my eye was butter olive oil. The label suggests that this was a healthy choice for over popcorn, drizzled on mashed or baked potatoes or tossed with sauteed shrimp and garlic over pasta. In all they had 12 different types of balsamic vinegars and 15 types of olive oils. This is a place I would recommend you stop in at if you find yourself in Leavenworth. Better yet you can order on line or join their club and get a surprise every three months in the mail.

Yakima Farmers Market a Sunday Morning Treat

September 9, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

What a beautiful sunny day here in Yakima, Washington. What made it even better was walking through a farmers market. The market is located in the heart of downtown and is open every Sunday until the end of October. The first stop just as I entered the market was at Essencia Artisian Bakery where a fresh baked chocolate crossiant was calling my name. Throughout the rest of the market the tables were overflowing with peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, peaches, apples, squash and even some pumpkins and gourds. Yakima Farmers Market website.

What’s Fresh in Washington State?

September 9, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

I have a week with no cooking, yes John and I are on a weeklong business trip and we are traveling through the central and eastern part of Washington State. So I thought I would bring you along to Washington State and share what we find along the way. First stop Yakima, Washington in the central part of the state. Yakima Valley is a sunny area with orchards, farms and vineyards where more than 40 commercial crops are grown. Did you know that this area enjoys 300 days of sunshine? Or did you know there are more than 70 wineries and it is best known as one of the largest wine-producing regions in the country. After checking into our hotel John and I headed north of Yakima about 30 miles to Ellensburg. We wanted to travel down through the Yakima Canyon and enjoy a drive along the Yakima river. We passed by many people in their boats fly fishing and just as many people in large rafts just enjoying floating down the river. As we were just coming out of the canyon and back down into Yakima a beautiful apple orchard came into sight. We turned down a side dirt road to get a better view of these trees just hanging full of apples. The first part of the orchard was apple trees grown on a trellis in a V-shape. We were not sure what type of apples these were but as we turned the corner and saw the next section of the orchard with the traditional type of dwarf apple trees and I knew that bright red color and shape, the red delicious apple. I could not believe the amount of apples that were hanging on the trees. I knew that they were going to be picked soon all the empty wooden bins were lined up under the trees, is the fall season officially here? Seeing all the apples that would be ready soon I decided that once I get back to Oregon I am going to devote most of my upcoming blogs to the apple and all the great pies, desserts, side dishes and anything else I can think of that you can make with apples. Tomorrow we head north to the town of Leavenworth and more adventures in the state of Washington. Below are a few fun facts about apples grown in Washington State and the Yakima Valley:

Washington State leads the nation in apple production and more than half of the fresh eating apples come from Washington. Red delicious representing 30% of apples grown.
Washington has seven main production areas with Yakima Valley being the largest.
The Columbia basin area gives the state its famous Fuji apple.
Growers now use “dwarf trees” in high density plantings to bring new orchards into production faster.
More than 175,000 acres of apple orchards are nested in the eastern foothills of Washington.
The following are the top nine apples grown in Washington State. Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, Cripps Pink and Cameo.

The picture to the right shows how the apples are grown on a trellis in a V-shape. Trees are planted 12 feet apart, with every other tree slanted in the opposite direction of its neighbor, in a V formation to meet at row center. They want fruit produced narrow, tall fruiting walls. The goals is for the trees to reach full height in two years.

Grilled Chicken Salad with Fresh Plums

September 6, 2012 · by Carrie Trax ·

It is almost the end of the week and I still have some great finds from my trip to last Saturday’s farmers market. It was good fortune or should I say “Fortune Plums” that I saw overflowing in a wicker basket. Picking up a half dozen of these plump plums I decided they would make a great addition to a fresh green salad. If you are not familiar with these plums they were developed by the United States Department of Agriculture and released in New Zealand in the mid-1980’s. The plum is large, juicy with a bright red and yellow skin. You can use them in salads, desserts like cobblers and tarts or just to eat fresh.

Salad
6 cups mixed greens
3 plums, sliced
1 lime, zest & juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 grilled chicken breast
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup red raspberries
3 tablespoons hazelnuts, toasted & chopped

Balsamic Dressing
8 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, mince
1 cup olive oil

In medium bowl combine the plums, lime juice, lime zest and honey, set aside.
Prepare the balsamic dressing by placing all the ingredients in a pint size mason jar and shake for about 15 seconds, set aside and make the salad.

Place 2 cups of the mixed greens on a plate, (I use a mixture of leaf, romaine and iceberg lettuce). Slice the chicken and place 1/3 over the greens. Sprinkle 1/3 each of the feta cheese and red raspberries plus 1 tablespoon of the hazelnuts over the salad greens. Place plums around the salad and make sure you get some of the delicious lime juice.

Shake the dressing again for a few seconds and spoon the desired amount over the salad. You will have some of the balsamic dressing left over for other delicious salads.

You can also make this salad with other fruits like peaches, apples and pears.

Source: Balsamic Dressing ~ Key Ingredient