Re-Style

Things that are awesome:

- Seeing Legally Blonde the Musical at an outdoor theatre sitting on the grass with 7 kinds of cheese and my amazing friend Tree.

- My friend Jordyn spending her Sunday with me at a thrift store completely re-styling my closet. We bought 41 items. It was awesomely insane.

- My friend Annie's new swishy hair.

- Yesterday I was able to sit on a couch and read a magazine for nearly an hour and drink tea.

- My friend Alan coming to my rescue when my recording equipment wasn't working and I couldn't get any work done.

- 7 mile hikes. 

- Rocking a baby to sleep.

- My 4 year old goddaughter Winry has a pink Dalek dress for DragonCon. She looks incredible in it.

- Snowboarding season is less than three months away.

- Being cooked for.

-Joe, always. 

The Whisperer

I'm sitting on a couch in Oxnard, California with a ginger cat named Otis on my lap, and I'm being whispered.

Okay let me back up a little.

So, six months ago or so I wrote a book. It, to me, didn't seem like a very big book. In fact it seemed like just a collection of things that I like to eat that all had some kind of other meaning to me. Some of the recipes came from my family. Some of them came from my friends. A lot of them came from me. I think in my head I downplayed the whole thing. I don't think I realized when I was writing the book that I was putting so much into it, and when I finished it, it was as though all the stuffing got knocked out of me and I became completely deflated.

I don't know why, but after that I just couldn't write. I stopped cooking. I stopped trying. All the other things in my life became bigger, and slowly that raging fire of a foodie and a blogger and a writer with big ole dreams just drifted away.

I missed that side of me. I missed her a lot. I've spent a lot of time over the last 6 months eating frozen healthy choice meals, triple cream brie on crackers, and obsessing about how I never seem to be able to stay the weight I want to be (though I will concede the possibility of the triple cream brie having something to do with that).

I felt stuck. Uninspired, uncreative, undone. I needed a jolt. I needed perspective. Something to get me back on the right path.  I needed Dana.

Dana writes Whisks and Words, and she is exceptional. We've known each other a long time, having gone to the same college, but we haven't really known each other for more than a year or two. Food writing connected us together and I'm grateful for that. Dana recently moved to the West Coast and set up shop in Oxnard, California, which is a mere five hour drive from my place in the desert.

With a week away from the circus coming up, I knew I needed to not hang around the city being depressed while drinking nothing but vodka tonics. I needed to do something. I needed a kick in the butt. So I asked Dana if maybe I could come and say hi and visit her for a couple of days, thinking that perhaps we could just hang out and eat and cook and drink and that somehow by the osmosis of being around her I would start writing again.

So I showed up her house yesterday. I was greeted by a fresh batch of Chamomile Cupcakes with Honey frosting, an awesome snuggle-cat named Otis, a glass of red wine mixed with sparkling lemonade, and the declaration that she was going to "whisper" me.

There is nothing quite like sitting on another woman's couch with a seemingly endless supply of cocktails, catching up on life, talking about food and writing and careers and most importantly what we're going to eat. It's a wonderful wonderful thing.

I'm so utterly thrilled that I'm here. I'm so glad that I get to sit and hang out and wear a hoodie because it's not 110 degrees here. I love that this morning I woke up to Dana making Blueberry Muffins and then we went off to the farmers market to pick out what we wanted to have for lunch.

I love that I'm already feeling like my old self, feeling enchanted by the idea of writing, feeling thrilled that I'm near someone who shares a lot of the same sentiments that I do, feeling hungry. It's nice to be taken in, to be fed. It's like I'm being wrapped in this big snuggly blanket after spending six months freezing my ass off.

I'm being whispered. I can feel it.

Delicious Days: Super Hash and Passionfruit Jam

 

Super Hash, which is all kinds of yummy meats together with poached eggs on top. You can choose as many jams as you want. The star of the show was the passionfruit jam. It was tart, flavorful, and perfect.

Delicious Days: Bruschetta Trio - Crab, Duck, Pate

Chicken Pate with pickled shallot first, which was stunning. A great balance of texture with velvety flavor, and the right tang.
Blue crab with mint. Fresh, delicious, light.
Duck with goat cheese and apricot jam. My goodness. It was just incredible. The perfect balance of flavors. My favorite thing I've eaten in a long time.

Delicious Days: A Beautiful Bakery

The selection at this British bakery always makes me smile. Their Cheese Sticks and Bread Pudding are two of my favorites, but I've never been sad with anything I've eaten. Just lovely.

Crumbles Bakery

Delicious Days: Fruit Salad

It doesn't look real, does it? The saddest omelet in the world was accompanied by one of the best side servings of fruit ever. Perfect raspberries, delicious kumquats, sweet blackberries. Delightful.

Delicious Days: Snow Crab and Champagne

 

Steamed Snow Crab, lemon butter, grilled corn and a bottle of champagne for me and chimay for him. Sometimes staying home with a movie is best.

Delicious Days: Smoked Goada Mac and Cheese

 

Creamy, delicious, gooey and delightful. Missing some texture. There was an option to add bacon, and boy I wish I'd taken it. Maybe some toasted breadcrumbs on top would have done the trick. 

The burgers here were not a good choice. Skip them.

Delicious Days: High Tea

 

High Tea of a sandwich selection, the two favorites being Branston Pickle and Green Apple, and then Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese; Scones with jam and whipped cream, which were lovely but I was sad that the cream wasn't clotted; and then some profiteroles and macarons, both of which were way too sweet. I wish they had real petit fours. But it was lovely, and unlimited tea of which I went through two pots of Earl Grey.

Delicious Days: Duck Flatbread and Gnocchi with Fava Bean Puree

 

Duck Flatbread with Apricot Jam and Kumquats - Definitely a bit on the weird side. The Kumquats were really tart and sweet at the same time, which really overwhelmed the dish. 

Gnocchi with Parmesan, Ricotta and Fava Bean Puree - Light and fluffy tiny tiny gnocchi. Delicious puree, but lacking a touch of salt.

Nailed It! The Bacon and Cheese Scone Quest

I promised you this recipe would come eventually! And lo, here it is!!


So, when I was a wee lass (which I typed first as ass... hilarious), my Nana used to make these bacon cakes. They were triangular shaped like scones often are, moist, delicate and delicious slathered in butter and we would have them for tea. Nana always made "tea" at 6pm. It was her version of supper, the last meal of the day, and it would be malt loaf or eggy bread or ham sandwiches or bacon cakes or something else delightfully carby. It was usually my favorite meal. I would spend my six week long summer holidays with her and I loved tea-time almost as much as I loved blackberrying and rollerskating and her bedtime stories.

I have a few of her recipes and one of them is for bacon cakes. I've diligently made it a few times, and while the result is pretty good, it isn't what my ten year old self remembers. I've tried to tweak it a lot, and finally I decided that instead of just creating a replica, I need to create something that I really like.... something of my own.

I started over, tweaking, making, kneading, shaping, re-doing. I tried adding ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, cream cheese. I played with the amount of baking powder, the type of milk, the quality of the butter. Until finally one day a few weeks ago I got the result I wanted. I think I've gone through at least nine incarnations of this recipe, but it's finally the one I like best. Ironically, it's probably the one with the fewest ingredients... the simplest version. These are perfect just out of the oven, cut in half and spread with some good quality salted butter.


Bacon and Cheese Scones

4oz Butter (1 Stick), cold
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
4oz Sharp Cheddar, grated
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Slices of Bacon, cooked and diced
1 Scallion, sliced thin
1 Egg
2/3 Cup Milk (any kind)

Preheat your oven to 400F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter with the flour, salt and baking powder until it becomes like breadcrumbs. Stir in your cheese, scallion and bacon. Beat the egg into the milk, then slowly add to the dry mixture until combine. Try to mix it as gently and as little as possible.

Roll out the dough until it is an inch thick and cut into circles with a four inch or so cookie cutter. I, owning cookie cutters only in the shape of candy canes and ninjas, used a jam jar lid.

You should get about 8-10 circles out of it. If you like, you can do a quick egg wash glaze over these by beating an egg with a couple of tablespoons of milk and brushing with a pastry brush. It's not completely necessary, but I would take the time if you have it.

Bake for 20 minutes until well risen and turning slightly golden. If you need to reheat these for later, do use the oven and not the microwave... it's much better.

Slather with butter and enjoy hot, with fond memories of your childhood drifting through your head.

Well That Snuck Up on Me

Okay, I swear I have recipes. I actually have like, a really good one for you. But the post it note that I wrote it down on fell behind the fridge and I haven't managed to get to it yet.

And I've been working.

And doing lots of voice overs.

Oh yeah, and I turned 30.

Seriously. 30. I know I know it's "not that bad"and being 30 is the new 20 and all that stuff and look at all the great things I've accomplished and blah blah blah.

But it's hard when you look at your life and you think of all the things you meant to do before now. You make a list in your head of what you can pull off before you're 35, or 40. How late is too late?

I wish I could tell you that at the age of 30 I'm going to rededicate myself to food and be awesome and amazing... but I just don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm day by day here in the Valley. I get up, I go record voice overs, I go to the Circus, I spend time with my boyfriend. I live off poached eggs on toast and lots of coffee. I go to the park with the dog. I watch Deadliest Catch before bed to help me fall asleep. I do it all over again. 

It's a weird cycle. And I'm going to be in it for a while I think. But I'm hoping that soon, soon things will shift in some way. Soon I'll get to the next stage of my life, whatever that may be. Soon I'll embrace 30 and not be in this weird limbo thing where I'm not sure what to do with it. 

Soon, I'll dig out that recipe. Because it has bacon in it... and it's really good.

Food Riot Launches Today!

Today is the day! Food Riot is finally here!

If you haven't heard about it yet, Food Riot is this absolutely amazing project brought to you by the makers of the hugely popular blog Book Riot. It's a food community like no other, and I'm extremely proud to be one of their contributors! Check them out. Subscribe. Share. Enjoy!

Liquid Diet

I would regale you with all the tales of the awesome food coming out of my kitchen, but I really have none to tell. I've been on a pretty liquid diet for the last little bit because my show is dark for a week. To the average person living in Las Vegas, having a week off work when you can't go anywhere pretty much turns into one thing.... day drinking!

I have, though, eaten a couple of really good things which I managed to be smart enough to take a few pics of, so please consider this an interim post, sharing with you a couple of highlights of food sandwiched between a lot of cheap Tempranillo, Redd's Apple Ale (love the name!), Buddha Beer and Gimlets.

The beach house breakfast I made for Larry, Justin and Amee when I spent a whirlwind 25 hours in Newport beach a few weeks ago.

The KJ Steamer at Joe's Crab Shack. I subbed shrimp in because I wasn't in the mood for mussels. Snow crab is just one of the most delicious things ever. This was the day I got permission to go play hooky from work and see a concert with my hot boyfriend.

This burger looks weird, and to a degree it was a let down because it was ordered medium rare and arrived well done, but on it was truffled cheese and bacon onion jam. That really made up for it. This was also the night that we were planning to go to the gym after work but decided a crappy day meant we would go to the Yardhouse instead.

Oh Brio. Home of Cucumber Basil Gimlets, and this Three Tomato Insalata with Chicken. Divine and yummy and just the fortification I needed to spend an afternoon shopping with the lovely Dani. She and I really are the worst together. We egg each other on when it comes to buying clothes almost as much as when it comes to ordering cocktails.

I realize that posts like this make it sound like I have this really epic fabulous life. To a degree, I do. but I'm only showing you the highlights, not the other 97% of the time.

It's a really nice 3% though.

Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Winter is coming to a close here in the Valley. Since we've actually already had a 90 degree day, I'm guessing we're in that sweet spot where we have two weeks of Spring before everything becomes, well, deserty.

In a last ditch attempt to enjoy the winter, my guy and a few of our friends toddled off to the mountains in Utah for a day of Snowboarding. Since I have an angry knee, I went for the pretty views and the chance to escape.

We were staying over night in a little condo so that everyone could get up early and make the first run. My friend Chat  had made the worlds most enormous salad and insisted I try a plate. It had about twelve ingredients and was really delicious. I picked out the celery because I'm weird like that. He'd mixed everything up and added some chicken that he baked in the oven. I nearly went for seconds.

So I spent the day in the lodge, sipping on Maple Crown and Coke (I had a flask because I'm smart like that). Then when we got home I couldn't stop thinking about that damn salad. So off to the grocery store I trundled and picked up the goodies to make a revised version. I didn't want to bake the chicken and I luckily remembered that my friend Kyle had told me that he'd taken to poaching chicken for salads and then refrigerating it to eat through the week. Bingo. Worked like a charm.

And so, this salad was born. I can't stop eating it. It's so simple and delicious and ridiculously low calorie.

Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Play with your quantities here until you're happy with what you have. You'll only use about 1/3rd of a chicken breast per salad, but of course you need to cook the whole thing.

1 Chicken Breast (boneless and skinless)
2 Handfuls Spring Salad Mix
2 Strawberries, diced
10-15 Blueberries
Salt and Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and drop in the chicken breast. You need enough water to just cover the chicken. Turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and cook for twenty minutes. Check to make sure it's cooked all the way through, then shred it. Season with salt and pepper. You can then use about 1/3rd per salad.

Put the spring mix on a plate. Scatter over your diced strawberries and blueberries. Top with the poached chicken and drizzle over some balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Or, make your own with 1 teaspoon flavored olive oil and one teaspoon balsamic vinegar.

Eat with fond memories of mountain views. Embrace spring.

Makes one salad, with leftover chicken for two more.

Going Back to the Start with Rhubarb Crumble

I posted a little while ago about how I'm sort of in this rut. I finished my book and after that was done it's been a "now what?" situation. I've not really been spending much time in my kitchen, and when I have I've been making old faithful type food that I've already told you about here on this blog.

I couldn't figure out what to do now that I've finished something big. Then, I got all zen and stuff and realized that what I needed to do was take a breath and go back to the beginning. I needed to go back to my childhood. To something familiar and comforting. I needed Rhubarb Crumble.

Rhubarb is a lot less common in American than it is in England. I rarely see it fresh here, and I've never seen it growing.

Back in England, when we moved into the house that I lived in for the five years before I moved to America I remember my Mother going through and ripping out a lot of the old garden. I helped somewhat, until I accidentally speared a frog with a garden fork. I became quite the indoor girl after that. It still gives me the willies thinking about it.
Anyway, so Mum went and dug up a big Rhubarb plant that she didn't want. She went ahead and put it on a pile of scrap sticks and woody things that would eventually be burned. It was sitting on top of the pile, half hacked to pieces, and the darned thing kept on growing. I think it sat and flourished for about two weeks.
So Mum hacked off all the green parts again and then had a nice little bonfire to burn all the green scrap that wouldn't be good for composting. After the bonfire there was a pile of rubble and a few chunks of unburnt wood that didn't quite finish combusting all the way. And about a week later, this pile was of course growing bright green Rhubarb stalks.

I don't know how the hell is survived. I also don't know how the hell Mum finally killed it. But hey, I've had a soft spot for Rhubarb ever since.

This Rhubarb Crumble is my Mum's recipe. She used to make it here and there when I was young, and I think my Nana used to make it too. It was served frequently with custard or vanilla ice cream, and I recommend you do the same thing!

Rhubarb Crumble

The easiest way to make this is in a pie plate or an 8x8 pan. You can throw in some strawberries as well if you need to use some up. I had a few in the fridge the last time I made this and sliced them over the rhubarb before I layered on the topping.

20oz Frozen Rhubarb
6oz Flour
3oz Butter (cold)
6oz Sugar (split in half)

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Take half the sugar and toss the rhubarb in it. Lay the rhubarb in the bottom of a pie plate or other pan, spread fairly evenly.

In a small bowl, work the flour and butter together with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make sure you start with cold butter and work pretty quickly as you don't want it to melt. Mix in the rest of the sugar and spread this topping evenly over the rhubarb.

Bake for 45 minutes until the top has become golden brown.

Eat with a dollop of ice cream, custard or whipped cream while tucked up in bed watching the Top Chef finale.

Makes 12 servings.

Afterwards

Here's the thing about writing a book. It's a huge personal accomplishment. It's very big in your head and very emotional in some ways because it's like this little being that you've created. You work so hard to create it, get it dressed, make it pretty and perfect, and then you send it out into the world.

And then what?

Then, well, you did that. Check. Moving on.

I'm having a really hard time with the afterwards of writing my book. I've had so many projects and when it came to cooking and food, that was the big one. Now, well, now I've kind of hit pause when it comes to cooking.

I've been away a lot. I've been snowboarding or working on other big non-food projects (I narrate audiobooks too and just got done with a really big one). When it comes to cooking, I've not been making anything new. I've made a lot of meatballs and salads and things that you've seen already. I haven't been reading food magazines or other peoples blogs. I've not been jotting recipe ideas down at every opportunity. I've not been feeling inspired, so I haven't really been writing.

This makes me sad. I love this blog and I love food, and writing about food. I need to kick start myself somehow. I need to be inspired. I need to just get back in my kitchen and play. I need to start going to the grocery store and grabbing something random and figuring out what I want to do with it. There are so many "I need to" and "I should do", but I just can't seem to get started.

What do you do when you hit a wall? How do you handle the afterwards of something big?

Crunchy Chickpeas

I've mentioned several times here at Salted Spoon that I am most definitely a snacker. I love just nibbling on things all day long, particularly salty things. I also love chickpeas. I put them in lots and lots of things, and even make this yummy chickpea salad where it's almost the only thing that you are eating.

I've seen recipes for crunchy chickpeas roaming the internet for a while, and decided to give them a quick shot. They are definitely quite delicious!

Crunchy Chickpeas

1 Can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Cooking Spray
Salt and Pepper

Seriously, how short is that ingredient list?!

Preheat your oven to 425. Spread your chickpeas over a baking sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray. Grind over some salt and peppers. Stir or shakes, then spray and season again so that all sides are covered.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring at the 10 and 20 minute marks so that all sides cook evenly. Cook a little more if they need more crunch.

Makes 2-4 Servings

Also, I've taken up snowboarding. This is insanely fun!

Almost Healthy Gingerbread

This week I pulled the book Healthy Homestyle Cooking by Evelyn Tribole off my cookbook shelf. I wasn't in the mood for cookies and I'm low on supplies for savory items, so it was the Gingerbread recipe that caught my eye.

I think I bought this book at a yard sale or a thrift store or something. It's one of my older ones and it is chock full of lots of good recipes that are on the healthier side of things. I'm still working on my holiday weight, so it was nice to pick out a few things that wouldn't break the calorie bank.

I love gingerbread. I find it hearty and comforting. I like how after it sits for a little bit, the top always gets sticky and you have to lick it off your fingers. I like how it almost develops a little more flavor with age.

I did play around with the original recipe a bit. I upped the spices, added salt, switched buttermilk for yoghurt and added a little milk. I used apple butter instead of apple sauce because that's what I had on hand.

It came out very well and I'd definitely recommend you try it! Next time, I'll probably try and figure out a way to get some booze in there somewhere.

Almost Healthy Gingerbread
Adapated from Healthy Homestyle Cooking

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
3/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Egg Whites
1/2 Cup Yogurt
2 Tablespoons Fat Free Milk
1/2 Cup Apple Butter or Apple Sauce
1/2 Cup Molasses

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray or grease an 8x8 Baking dish.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together until well combined. Add the egg whites, yogurt, milk,  apple butter and molasses and stir well until combined. You should have a nice thick batter.
Spread into your pan and bake for 30 minutes until the cake has set. Let cool in the pan, then store in an airtight container.

This is great right out of the oven, but if you let it mellow out for a few hours it's even better.

Eat at work at your desk, lick the sticky top off your fingers and try not to get anything on your keyboard.

Makes 9-12 pieces.

If I Could Eat At Other Tables...

I wish I could eat everything in the world right now. I see all of my fellow bloggers creating completely fabulous food and I want to be munching away in their kitchens. I'd love to be pulling up a chair and talking to them about their food and their heritage and what they really love to eat when no one is looking.

If I could eat from my fellow bloggers tables today, here is the meal I would want.

Starter

Perfect Potato Soup from The Pioneer Woman

Main Course

Ravioli Nudi in Tomato Sauce from The Sweets Life

Dessert

Chocolate Speckled Salted Shortbread from Bake or Break

What do you want for dinner?

Greek Chicken Thighs

I'm not going to lie, I mostly made these Chicken Thighs because I wanted to use my new baking dish.
My office does Secret Santa every year and it's no secret that I'm big into cooking. I was really delighted to get this dish, not just because it is super pretty, but because it's the perfect size for the portion sizes I tend to make. I have a lot of bakeware and trying to find room for this dish made me realize that I seriously need to go through my cabinets and organize what I have and possibly re-home some duplicate pans.

In case you are curious, I gave my Secret Santa Beer, Chocolate and Coffee. It seemed like a good choice. 

I stumbled across this recipe in the 2012 wrap up from the blog Everybody Loves Sandwiches. I changed it just a smidge, but the recipe is pretty straightforward. These chicken thighs get marinated for a couple of hours, then baked in a good hot oven until cooked. Although they get cooked uncovered, the chicken thighs stay nice and moist. I took the skin off mine, but the original recipes says you can leave them on if you wish. This dish is really light and tangy. The flavor of the chicken shines through nicely.

Greek Chicken Thighs

Multiply this recipe as many times as you like to fit your preferred portion size!

2 Boneless Chicken Thighs
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 Cloves Garlic, smashed
1/2 Teaspoon Oregano
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
Black Pepper

In a small bowl, mix together the lemon juice, salt, oregano, garlic and a few good grinds of black pepper. Put your chicken thighs in a ziploc bag and pour over the marinade. Let sit for at least a couple of hours, flipping the bag over a couple of times if you can. You can also let it sit in the fridge during the day to cook at night if you like.

When the chicken is marinaded, preheat the oven to 425F. Pour the chicken and the marinade into a shallow non-stick baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes.

Eat with some lightly buttered boiled potatoes off your favorite plate on a Sunday afternoon.

Serves two for lunch or one for dinner.

Banana Rum Cake for Larry

New Year's here in the Valley was a really nice experience this year. I had a lot of fun on the 51st floor of the Cosmopolitan drinking wine and champagne, playing Cards Against Humanity (which, incidentally, is the best game every) and hanging out with friends.

My friends Larry and Justin were staying with me over New Years. They were in from California and were using my guest room while I'm between roommates. They both love food, which makes them the perfect guests.

I'm going to try something new this year. It isn't exactly a resolution, just a way of keeping me busy. I have a lot of cookbooks. I consider myself a collector and I love getting books for my birthday or Christmas. I'm going to go ahead and try and aim to make and adapt one recipe from a different book every week. This could be interesting for sure, as I've got several books that I've never made anything at all from.

So since it's the first week of the year, I asked Larry to give me a hand picking out a book. The happy result was the Joy the Baker Cookbook. After skimming through the recipes, we settled on one for Banana Rum Cake. When I went to Antigua I can back with a bottle of Antiguan rum and have been looking for a good excuse to open it.

I adapted this cake a fair bit from it's an original version. Instead of making it a layer cake with frosting, I went for a simple bundt cake.... a good excuse to break out new pans.

Banana Rum Cake
Adapted from Joy the Baker Cookbook

3 Cups Flour
2 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
3/4 Cup Butter, softened
1 3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
3 Bananas, mashed
4 Tablespoon Rum
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Buttermilk
1/2 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a Bundt pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar, add in the eggs and vanilla. Add in the bananas, rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, buttermilk, salt, baking powder and baking soda until well combined. Fold in the flour and the walnuts. Pour into the pan and bake for fifty minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven for another 10 minutes. Check that the cake is cooked through. Let cool in the pan.

Cut into nice big chunks and eat at your desk at work after a busy couple of hours. Resolve to drink more tea.

Salted Spoon: The eBook!

Almost a year ago now, I started working on a little side project. I wanted to put together an eBook of my favorite recipes, something small and cute with both new recipes and the popular ones from this blog.

Over a few months, it started to take better and better shape. I had a few times where it stalled out, but one fine day in the fall I was able to close my laptop, turn to my guy and say "It's done".
Tweaking, editing, formatting, cover designs and life intervening meant that it took me just a tad longer than expected, but yesterday it was finally published.

It's got 30+ recipes in it and the stories behind them and I'm really really happy with it.

You can pick it up on Amazon at the link below or the link in the sidebar! Thanks so much for being here and helping me make this possible!