The wagon wheel salad experiment.

Back in June I put together a celebratory camping trip for my parents' 25th wedding anniversary. While it wasn't wildly attended, those who were able to make it made for a very good trip and a lot of quality catching up. The Sleeping Dragon Clan has drifted a bit (as much as people can drift with the wonders of Facebook in the world) and needed a chance to reconnect.

My sister, AM, and her partner put together an incredibly tasty pasta salad for the picnic that kind of stuck in my head. I was getting cravings for it and nothing ready made in the grocery store even came close. So I asked for the recipe and this is what I got;

"There isnt really a recipe. 

Its mayo a little mustard garlic powder onion 

powder I use garlic pepper. Salami red 

peppers and frozen peas."

Plus pasta of course. So I went to work and it is still a work in progress. I'm not terribly used to using garlic powder and it has a stronger flavor than granulated garlic or fresh garlic. Let's just say that those I've served it to so far are rather safe from vampires. But it's always tasty and I am getting better at my ratios. 

Of course I rarely actually measure things so the measurements are guesstimates, go with your own instincts and taste buds. 

**It should be mentioned that this recipe is best made the night before you intend to serve it. Plan ahead lovelies, it's well worth it. I promise.**

Assembled ingredients for my second attempt.

Wagon Wheel Salad

•  2 cups cooked and cooled pasta. (I like to use wagon wheels, because I like the visuals and the texture)

Dressing (Again, these measurements are an estimate and you should trust your own instrincts and tastes to guide you.)

• 3/4 - 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 heaping Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 heaping Tablespoons onion powder
• 2 Tablespoons stone ground mustard 

Goodies (Can be really anything that appeals to you and your guests)

• 1/4 lb deli salami, cubed
• 1 can medium olives, quartered
• 1 Roma tomato diced
• 1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, sliced into bite size pieces.

Put salted pasta water on to boil and begin your prep work. 

When the water comes to a boil add in your pasta and good to just al dente, once the pasta is cooked drain immediately and rinse in cold water until the pasta is cool to the touch.

While your water is boiling and pasta is cooking, mix your dressing and prep your goodies.

Mix the garlic powder, onion powder, and mustard into the mayonnaise in a medium to large mixing bowl and set aside. 

Dice your tomato, salami, artichokes, and quarter your olives. Add everything into the mixing bowl with the dressing.

Once the pasta is cooled and drained, add it to the sauce and goodies mix and gently fold everything together. 

Transfer your salad to food safe storage container and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight) so the flavors can come together. 

Before serving, let the salad come back to room temperature for optimum flavor. About an hour on the counter should do it. 

Salad all blended together and ready for its sleep in the fridge.

As you can see I took a slight left turn from the original recipe, and now that I've looked at it again I do believe that the next rendition will involve those peas from the original. And maybe not the artichokes, perhaps some home canned dilly beans or pickled veggies. I love that vinegary spike of brightness. 

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Leave them below darlings. 

~Sleepy Ginger

Not cooking, burning. Woodburning that is.

My apologies for my silence this past bit, I've had non-cooking things taking up my focus. Mainly this majestic beasty.

With my father's help I made an inkle loom. The photos above track its progress from cardboard pattern sketch to the finished product. 3 yards and 10 inches of inkle woven trim. Not terribly bad. Not to say no cooking took place in all that time, just that I did a dreadful job of tracking it. So its time to play some catch up.

Everybody ready?

Good, let's go. 

~Sleepy Ginger

Meatballs, apparently worth the hassle...

Happy Sunday Darlings, its the end of the weekend and I was strangely inspired.
I am not a big fan of periodicals (unless my YouTube subscriptions count?) but there is one such publication that I will read cover to cover multiple times. Cook's Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen.

The latest edition.

I adore the way they break down the whys and hows of a recipe, including documentation of their less than successful outcomes. (Remember folks, the difference between science and goofing around is writing stuff down!) Each issue teaches me new techniques and inspires thought. The latest issue included two page spread titled Sausage Meatballs and Spaghetti. It details all about how to use the flavorful sausage in your meatballs without having them become overly dense and/or dry.

It should be available in your local periodical retailer so for the full article go there. I really do recommend it. I personally own several years of their compilations and truly enjoy them.

I read that article a few days ago, then today while browsing Serious Eats (I am a food blogger for a reason ya'll) I stumbled across this gem. How to Make Quick and Easy Italian-American Red Sauce That Tastes Slow Cooked. Hello sexy! Serious Eats is one of my favorite time wasters, especially the Food Lab archives, because I'm not truly wasting time. I'm learning. So there.

These two recipes so close together felt like kismet to me so I braved the Winco weekend crowds and grabbed the ingredients I didn't have on hand.

I won't transcribe the Cook's Illustrated recipe as that smacks of plagiarism to me, but I will post a recipe for what I made as I had to make several adjustments based on volume and the palates of my diners.

Sleepy Ginger's Meatball variation

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 teaspoons water

16 oz ground pork

32 oz ground beef 

4 slices of hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for serving

3 large egg yolks

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon italian seasoning (rosemary, oregano, thyme)

Bread, cream, yolks, cheese, and seasonings before pulsing...

• Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Set wire rack in lined baking sheet and spray with vegetable oil.
• Dissolve salt and baking soda in water in large bowl. Add pork and beef, fold gently to combine and let stand for 10 minutes.
• Pulse bread, cream, cheese, yolks, garlic, and seasoning in foot processor until smooth paste forms, about 10 pulses, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed. Add meat mixture (do not wash out bowl) and pulse until mixture is well combined, about 5 pulses. Transfer meat mixture back to empty bowl.
• With your wet hands (or gloved hands if you loathe having dirty hands like me), lightly shape mixture into 1 3/4inch round meatballs (about 1 oz each); this is made easier with a #30 scoop. I got 42 meatballs from this recipe. Arrange meatballs, evenly spaced, on prepared wire rack and bake until browned. About 15 minutes, rotating the pan half way through baking.



Gloved up for protection, I loathe getting my hands dirty.

• Remove tray from oven and bask in the glory of MEATBALLS!  Let rest for 5-10 minutes before either simmering into your sauce or packing away for later. I packed half of these meatballs away in the freezer for later meals, they should be good for 3 months but I highly doubt they will be in there that long. 

42 meatballs awaiting their trip to the sauna.

And after their 15 minutes in the oven, golden brown and delicious. And over exposed because I didn't turn on the rammit frackin' light before taking a picture. Patience pays.

Sauce, simmering away. The green is a sprig of fresh basil giving its brightness in the name of my dinner.

Tossed with pasta, plated, and Parmesan-ed. Not as thick as I wanted it, but still fairly good.

I must admit that I made a mistake tonight. I should have started the sauce before I started the meatballs to ensure it would have enough time to cook down. But I was relying too much on the word "Quick" in the recipe title. Quick for me means that I can have dinner completely done and ready to serve in 30-45 minutes. And perhaps I could have with this recipe but I didn't plan things out well. With a new recipe I should have left myself time for adjusting and I didn't. Sad, sad SleepyGinger.

But it was still good and the sauce that I didn't splash thinly over my pasta cooked down beautifully in another 20 minutes. So live and learn. 

Tasty trails my Darlings!

Burrito Bowls for the cilantro haters

I hate cilantro. Hate it, hate it, hate it! It tastes like soap to me and completely throws off my dining groove. While I do my best to pick it out there is inevitably one sneaky leaf that lingers behind to spoil my bite and leave me making faces like an infant having their first lemon.

But I'm not alone in this situation, it all comes down to genetics. For more of the science behind the issue I shall direct you to the wonder that is SciShow. Always a treat.

Back to the issue at hand. Burrito Bowls, lots of fun but that super tasty rice base is typically cilantro lime...  So clearly for the best outcome I was looking at a make at home dinner. Always cheaper than take out. I consulted the Facebook hive mind and concluded that the most likely substitute for the loathesome cilantro would be green onion, and why not add some garlic for kicks.

What follows isn't an exact recipe, since I prefer to cook by feel (aka didn't bother measuring). Combine to taste and based on what feels right to you. I BELIEVE IN YOU!

Garlic, Green Onion, and Lime Rice

2 cups white rice
3 1/2 cups chicken stock/ broth (Could be done with water but... Why intentionally skip out on a flavor possibility?)
*Zest of one lime (approximately 1 Tablespoon)
*Juice of one lime (approximately 1/2 cup)
1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic
*- lime juice and zest could be replaced with 1-2 Tablespoons of TrueLime powder which is purely crystalized lime and a staple in the Sleeping Dragon pantry.

Combine all ingredients in the basin of your rice cooker and let 'er rip! Delicious aromas will soon flood your kitchen and power you through the rest of your dinner prep. Burrito bowls are fun, but a good deal of prep work involved.

DICED ALL THE THINGS! Spurred on by the scent of cooking rice. Talk about inspiration.

Burrito Bowl in all its beautiful completeness. You can't really see the rice in this pic under all of the other tasty layers of goodness, but it's there and it's vital. Believe me.

Tasty trails my darlings! ~SleepyGinger

Lily Market (or... SCOOOOOOORE! And the Death of the Widow)

I've driven past a dozen times, always thought it was just a little hole in the wall convenience store. Until one night the urge for chocolate was too strong and I caved to the siren song of Baskin- Robbins. I'm weak, I know. But it was good, so bite me.

Anyway, back on track. I pulled into the parking lot and was stunned to realize that the "hole in the wall" Lily Market took up the entire building!

I could see the shelves of cooking pots and 50# bags filled with rice. I made a mental note to return and check it out. Sometime when I didn't have my take out dinner rapidly cooking in the passenger seat.

(I ate the ice cream. Cherries jubilee and chocolate fudge. And it was wonderful!)

The next day I stopped in after work. KNOWING that such a trip would be detrimental for RedneckWidow's respiratory system. Wide eyed and wondering I wandered. Aisle by aisle, smiling and taking it all in. Too much good stuff, too many things I didn't know, but would soon be Googling. (there's that verb again!)

Dried Betel leaves are apparently for addictive fun times*  (*Author's note- NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!)

You burn it and it smells pretty.

The shiny pots are very light weight aluminum and the cast iron pans with the divots is for  Takoyaki but it looks like it could be used for Aebelskiver.  

Stylized Tiffin Carriers super pretty.

Farther back into the actual grocery I found aisles of dried noodles on one side and gorgeous metal tea pots on the other.

And then there were the fun finds in the grocery itself. 

Chinese Chicken sausages with edible collagen casing, BellaBabe friendly. Though too sweet for Apocalypse.Mom who described them as more of a breakfast sausage.

These bags of Pho noodles are bigger than my head! I mean fresh noodles are awesome, but how many people do I  need to be serving in order to justify buying this???

This case contains the Durian and durian products. 

8.5 POUNDS of Sambal Oelek. I am afraid.

And in the very very far back (IE the side I could see from the opposite street)... The deli case! Filled with freshly made Thai dishes that made my toes curl! I've been back 5 times in 8 days! They are starting to recognize me. But the steamed buns haunt my dreams.

Today when I went in for more pictures (whatever!) I almost wept because the woman in front of me ordered the last two steam buns. But that's fine, I'm mature. I only pouted a little. But I will be back, oh yes I will be back. Likely on Friday when they roast young coconuts packed with sweet rice. Mmmm yes, I will be back.

** A brief moment of humor. After that first trip I got home and was greeted by RedneckWidow and Apocalypse.Mom who wanted to know where I had been and when I was going to take them. So of course we went back that same night! And I warned RedneckWidow about the spices, don't let her claim I didn't! 

 ***Secondary note. I just checked out their website... There are apartments over the market!! If they allowed pets I would kill to live there!!

Lily Market… Or “Oh god, my eyes my eyes!!!”

There are very few places in this world that ward off the evil that is the Redneck Widow with any real effectiveness. While Thai food places and Fubonn or other Asian places strive to set my allergies off, none of them are places I can’t actually go into.

Lily Market wins!!!!

As I parked the car in the small parking lot, my nose plugged up and my eyes began to water. I got out of the car and looked at the restaurant and my eyes began to burn and itch; before I even got into the store itself. Going into the store I began to sound like I had a cold, then like I was in danger of losing my voice. The slight tickle in the back of the throat started less than five minutes in. By ten minutes in I could no longer breathe, was starting to hack and cough, and my hands were starting to tingle.

I gave up. The store had defeated me. I retreated to the clean (ish) confines of my car, which ironically is named Lily Rex. And even there I had to re park the car to a place not in direct wind path of the front doors. Then use my inhaler and hope SleepyGinger and Apocalypse.Mom didn’t take too long exploring their new find.

So, I recommend Lily Market to anyone who likes authentic Asian markets… It was a great place for the ten minutes I was there. Also, It is right next door to the Baskin and Robbins that sells the soy free chocolate ice cream. (Another awesome find for SleepyGinger)

The evil that shall not be eaten

So, the large family we have all decided to take a day out and go to the beach for Labor day weekend.  And so far I am the only one brave enough to blog about our horror. One the way home, we decided to just stop in at some out of the way place we found along the way… while sometimes this is fun and adventurous. This is not always the case.

As we pulled into The Logger… somewhere along highway 30… and that is as close to a location as I feel safe giving you as we hope and pray our readers are not inflicted with such culinary horrors. Do you see how much we love you, our dear readers?

As per usual, I tried the Chicken Fried Steak.  I do have to say, I have never had a chicken fried steak that was sweet and tangy. I am not sure how to make country gravy sweet. I swear it tasted just a little like lemon. The fries were ok though… the ones that didn’t have gravy on them. Sleepy Ginger got a hamburger steak… at least that is what the menu called it. It came with packet gravy, mushy onions and rice pilaf the consistency of baby food.  And Apocalypse Mom had a seafood platter. Half of which was burned beyond edibility and the other half has been referred to as “deep fried death from the sea.” The kidlets got a variety of burgers. But the biggest testament to the horror that is The Logger… Not one of use escaped this particular dining experience without some type of digestive problem that haunted our next few days.

So, if you are driving the length of Highway 30, dear readers, and you see the small restaurant at the blinking caution light in the middle of nowhere… keep driving… I promise there is better food choices on your path. 

Cartlandia...

First, I only had one goal for this day…. Known in my brain as that Saturday we all went out to shop and ended up eating out of street carts.  It is a widely known fact, I absolutely dislike food carts. I had a bad experience… (BTW do not eat Tacos de Ojos. They pop when you bite into them and if you are the friend sitting next to the guy eating them, you can hear them pop…) in Mexico.  So, my goal was to see “Snow White and the Huntsman”. I had been attempting to make time to see that movie since opening weekend. (And yes, I finally saw it… Last weekend… at home.) So, when we drove past the Cartlandia and we all agreed to stop, I was already not caring… so long as we got to the movie on time… I was good.

Second, It isn’t really that food carts turn my stomach, or that I think they are unclean or anything like that. It is very simply that my food tastes run rather simple and most of the time, in my experience, food carts screw up the whole burgers and fries thing. After all, there is a reason that I am named the REDNECK widow… So, all of that being said… I really enjoyed my lunch there.

I followed the girls through most of the area until my body just wouldn’t do it any longer. It wasn’t too long though as my arthritis got the better of me and I needed shade and seating. Which lead me to the seating area. It was nicely shaded with a pop-up… ten by twenty if I’m not mistaken. Under it was a lovely set of table chairs and a picnic tables already taken by a nice family.

I decided that the all-beef hotdogs and fries sounded right up my alley, so I headed over to Relish Gourmet Hotdogs. So for around five dollars, I purchased a giant (and delicious) hotdog with as many of the fixings as possible. With it came a huge basket of fries, so much so that I couldn’t finish them alone. In fact, even with the help of BellaBabe, PainterLady and SleepyGinger, we still couldn’t finish them.  We ended up donating them to Kanegermin.

So, all in all I loved Cartlandia (Don’t tell SleepyGinger… I’ll never hear the end of it.) And I actually look forward to going there again. I sincerely wish the lovely couple at Relish Gourmet Hotdogs the best of best wishes in their upcoming nuptials and suggest everyone I know go to Cartlandia and tip them well. Weddings are expensive! 

Fubonn... or How NOT to act in public...

SleepyGinger convinces us to go to the large Asian market in town, so off we go. First of all, you probably shouldn’t have the overly excited one drive, especially when the other two are hyper paranoid of cars. J Secondly, I think it is only fair that there be some kind of Asian food with no soy, onion or peppers.  

Allergies suck!

So, SleepyGinger had been to Fubonn before and in her experience she told us we should eat before shopping because shopping hungry makes you buy stuff you may not need. So first we looked at the grill place. But while having food cooked at our table might be nifty, due to the combined food issues of Apocalypse.Mom and myself (suddenly we sound like super heroes “With our issues combined…”) it wasn’t actually possible to eat there. So, to the other side of the mall we went.

There we had a great dinner, Apocalypse.Mom had something with fish and I had the rice with meat… because that is what I am able to have at Asian restaurants… Beef or Chicken with Rice. The plainer the better. Depressing right? But the food was great and the service was awesome. The overall experience was welcoming and I would return often if given the options.

Now, food was out of the way and the store wandering began. There were movies, books, clothes, and of course the main market. The main market was amazing! Everything a girl could ask for…. Soy filled poisonous death…. Which, by the way, gets you glared at a lot if you shout it in the middle of the store. Again, I apologize to the small boy with his grandmother. I am sure the ENTIRE store is not filled with soy covered poison.  There were also some lovely fresh fruits and vegetables.

The highlight for me was the non-food items… for obvious reasons. But they had some really great things in there and the only reason I haven’t been back is because I will spend way too much money on things I have no room for.  So, officially, Fubonn market: Great… The rest of the trip is just a giant allergy trap… but still ok. 

King's Omelet

Another lazy weekend morning + some errands that needed to be done + bloggy breakfast. Also known as find a new breakfast spot and try something new. Usually I would Google it (isn't it fun how that is a verb now?) but the sign for King's Omelet has been taunting my morning commute for weeks now. Time for some tasty payback.

Remembering the wait I had at the Gateway Breakfast House I scurried out the door as soon as I was dressed. And a good thing as there was a line, but only a 10 minute wait for a single.

Walking in the door one is greeted by a an Asian style altar/ shrine in a display case covered with family pictures and at least a dozen military photos of young men and women in uniform. On inquiry I learned that the owner/ head cook's son is a Marine. Clearly there is a lot of Marine pride in this establishment. I'll have to take RedneckWidow with me next time.

King;s is a family run establishment with a clear crowd of regulars from the retirement village down the street. One gentleman opted not to take his leftovers home and was swiftly surrounded by the patriarch/ head cook and his older sons all demanding to know what was wrong with it. It was all in jovial good fun and quite amusing to watch. Sometimes people watching is better than the food.

Gladly this was not the case here.

My coffee cup was always full by the very attentive wait staff and my meal was quick in coming. I wanted something sweet so ordered the strawberry crepes with a ham steak on the side. The crepes were light, oh so fluffy and simply packed with sweet fresh strawberries. The ham steak was nicely grilled and slightly browned on the outside. Excellent.

I loved this place and am looking forward to going back again.

Cartlandia (Food cart pre-crawl)

Saturday was a day of grand plans, a little bit of compromise. But everything turned out well. Redneck Widow and myself were to be picked up by PainterLady and BellaBabe for a day of picking over the bones of a dying clothing store chain. Sad for the chain, good for us. I did the math and over 5 trips to the stores (spread out over a 3 week period) I acquired some $1,500 retail value of clothes for roughly $175. Completely revamped my wardrobe and without breaking the bank. Very, very, happy girl here. But you're not here to read about my shopping finesse.

We met up at about lunch time and after a fortifying stop at Dutch Brothers for caffeine (all hail the Dutch) we were on our way. Our goals were the Clackamas location, Eastport Plaza location, and then MAYBE the Cascade Station location if there was time before returning the Gresham Wunderland for a cheap seats showing of Snow White and the Huntsman and then dinner at the Olive Garden for their endless pasta bowl…Mmmm Pasta.

That was our goal. That was not what happened. The Clackamas location was LOOOOONG gone. The storefront empty, most of the signage removed. So on our way to the Eastport Plaza location we swung into Cartlandia, despite Redneck Widow’s misgivings. One thing Cartlandia has up on other food cart pods I’ve been to is the available parking, very nice.

BellaBabe and I led the charge, up and around the carts, investigating menus, what sounds best, what sounded good… Samples? Sure!

After walking the entire loop and inspecting every menu we settled on splitting a margherita pizza eith white sauce from Krust Artisanal Pizza and a couple of pasties (one Traditional and one Cheese and Onion) from the London Pasty Company while PainterLady and RedneckWidow had hotdogs and fries from Relish Gourmet Hotdogs.

BellaBabe and I ordered the pizza first and then headed across the way to the Pasty cart. The owner of the London Pasty Company was very helpful and understanding about our questions involving the ingredients (allergy issues) and very cheerful with a mesmerizing accent. Which is always fun. Also very emphatic about liking them on Facebook, which in this modern social media age I suppose I understand.

PainterLady and RedneckWidow found a shady table near Relish where they could listen for their orders to be completed. Both were telling us about the sweet couple who owned the cart saving up for a wedding and how very nice they were. Our pizza was delivered to the table and we took the requisite (now apparently gone) photos before digging in.

The pizza had a cracker style crust that seemed to have been pre-cooked and warm sauce ladled on (a bit heavy for our tastes) and then the sliced mozzerella was allowed to "melt" in the residual warmth from the sauce. The tomatoes were cold. BellaBabe and I thought back to Pyro Pizza's crispy crust, hunks of artisinal mozzerella and heat toasted basil... This was not what we wanted. On to the pasties!

Sad, so sad. The "Traditional" was as dry and flavorless as saw dust and left us begging for water. We were hoping for a moist filling with thickened gravy, no such luck. It didn't even appear that gravy had ever been involved in the equation. The Onion and Cheese was.. Well is was overly cheesy mashed potatoes stuffed into a pastry shell. It was a baked pierogie. It was... bland.

So while I know it doesn't excuse the tardiness of this post, remembering this experience was sad.

The highlight of the trip was PainterLady's garlic cheese fries, so good. But I'll let RedneckWidow share her portion of the journey.

Until next time, be tasty!