Personal – Page 6

Favorite Apps for Finding New Recipes

March 31, 2015 by Asharae Leave a Comment

If you’re anything like me, you may find it difficult to keep track of your favorite recipes, get overwhelmed when browsing new recipes, or maybe you’re not even sure where to begin when it comes to meal planning.

First of all, if you don’t plan your meals at all, now is a great time to start! Planning out your meals (or at the very least your dinners) will save you money as well as immense amounts of time and stress wondering what you should cook for your next meal.

I’m not a stickler about planning my weekly meals every Sunday or anything like that, but before we go to the grocery store I do choose 3 or 4 dinner meals to cook, and a few lunch and breakfast items to fill in the gaps. We shop about once a week, sometimes more if I forget an item. But we always stick to the list. That’s what works for us – you’ll have to find your own rhythm to figure out what works for you and your family!

I have a few favorite tools that I use when searching for new recipes and making my shopping list. I’m a very visual person, so I almost always want to see a photograph of the dish I’m going to make before I make it. If a certain recipe doesn’t look appetizing, I’m much less inclined to want to try making it. The tools below are very visual-oriented, and I hope you’ll find them as helpful as I do!

Pinterest – This is my catch-all for finding recipes. I have my This Wild Season account for general food and kitchen inspiration, as well as a few boards on my personal account dedicated to food, drinks, and inspiration for that coffeeshop/bakery I dream of owning one day.

The beauty of Pinterest is that you can create as many boards as you like for as many topics as you choose. Want to split your food board into sides, main dishes, and desserts? You can do that!

I’ve even created a secret board to keep track of the recipes I’ve tried and loved. I use my public boards to collect ideas, inspiration, and recipes I might one day try. And then I’ll repin the best recipes to my secret board – making notes on what I want to try or change the next time I make the recipe. This is super helpful when I’m working on perfecting a recipe to share here with all of you!

Yummly – This is another great tool for collecting recipes you want to try. It’s Pinterest-y in its layout and each photograph includes notes on cooking time, how many ingredients are involved, and it always links back to the original blog post.

I personally love that you can install what they call the “Yum” button. When you’re browsing through food blogs and come across a recipe you want to save, you simply hit the Yum button on your browser. It automatically saves that recipe to your Recipe Box on their site.

Once you’ve “yummed” a recipe, you can place it in a “collection” such as breakfasts, dinners, or desserts. I imagine this would be a great way to keep track of large amounts of recipes and not run the risk of overwhelming your followers over on Pinterest with 872 “super simple slow cooker recipes.”

FoodGawker – This is a great site for recipes with beautiful food photography. FoodGawker has a submission process and they only accept blog posts that have high quality photographs.

Since I’m a visual person, this site is awesome for searching out delicious looking recipes! I just trust that if someone took the time to make their recipe look beautiful, they also care enough to make it taste delicious. That’s probably flawed logic, but it hasn’t gotten me into too much trouble so far!

FoodGawker also has a great search feature that’s super helpful to find what you’re looking for! You search by category or keyword, save favorites, and even look at the current popular recipes to see what others are enjoying.

Sticky Notes – Nope. That’s not the name of some new app. I’m talking about old school sticky notes. The ones you used to collect in wild colors and stick all over your walls and school notebooks in an attempt to keep yourself organized. What? You still do that? Oh good, me too.

Lately I’ve gotten in a habit of reading cookbooks from start to finish. I’ve made it through The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, The Yellow Table Cookbook, Fruitful, and I’m currently working my way through Off the Menu. Next on my list is The Chelsea Market Cookbook – Tim got it as a Christmas gift for me!

While I read, I try to keep a stack of sticky notes next to me, and I mark each recipe I want to make. My cookbooks all have little sticky-note-fringe poking out the top of their pages now. It’s perfect for meal planning because I can quickly flip back through a book to find a recipe I wanted to make.

What about you? How do you keep track of your favorite recipes? Do you have a recipe box – real or online – where you gather your favorites? Share it with me in the comments below! I’d love to follow you on Pinterest or Yummly or wherever you keep your recipe inspiration!

If you’re looking to find This Wild Season on the sites I’ve recommended, you can find me here on Pinterest, Yummly, and FoodGawker. See you over there!

This post contains affiliate links (to some of my favorite cookbooks!) but all opinions are my own.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

February 12, 2015 by Asharae Leave a Comment

These past few weeks, between some of the stories we’ve heard from our friends, the book we’re reading with our small group, and reflecting on our own circumstances, I’ve been hit over and over with the truth that God uses the “in-between times” to shape us for what he has ahead of us.

We’ve been filming the story of our dear friends Courtney and Ryan who adopted their daughter Nara from Ethiopia nearly two years ago. From the time they started the adoption process, they waited three years to be able to bring her home. They agonized in the waiting when all they wanted to do was have their daughter in their arms. And yet, as we’ve been unpacking more of their story the last couple weeks, they shared how God was active and working that whole time. He was preparing them for the next task – moving to Ethiopia to work in full-time ministry. It’s something they didn’t see coming, but looking back they’re able to see all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. I can’t wait to share more of their story with you – till then you can read more on their blog.

Just last night as I was reading the book that we’re going through with our small group, I came across this quote. “God uses your present experiences to mold you for future usefulness here on earth and in eternity.” Stop. Read it again. Okay, and maybe one more time for good measure. He is using our present experiences. And He is preparing us not just for tomorrow but for the future, for eternity. Whoa. I honestly can’t even wrap my mind around that.

Do your present experiences seem ordinary and dull like mine usually feel? Maybe it’s not that they’re actually ordinary, but that we simply don’t have our eyes open to the ways God is working around us and through those “normal” events. Maybe it’s not that He’s not working around us, but rather we’re just not seeing Him. He is there, but we’re getting too bogged down by the seemingly ordinary-ness of our circumstances – we’re too self-focused to see beyond to what could be.

I want to learn to be sensitive to how God is at work around me. Most days I don’t even know where to begin. If I look back though, it’s so incredibly clear to see how He has used other people and the pieces of my story to bring me to where I am now. Why then is it so hard to believe that He’s using the here and now for what is to come?

I’d love to have some sweet analogy for you to tell you why I’m sharing this recipe with my thoughts above. It would be something about waiting, patience, and trusting that your cinnamon rolls are rising, even though you don’t see it happening in the moment. I haven’t fully worked it out in my head, so I’ll let you make those connections if you wish 😉

Now, on to the recipe! These cinnamon rolls are sweet goodness! The best part? You can make them ahead of time, pop them in the fridge overnight, let them come to room temperature and rise a bit in the morning, and they’re ready to bake! Make these this weekend for your sweetheart, for your kids, or maybe even just for yourself!

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

Adapted from Beth Kirby

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 hrs

Cook Time 25 mins

Total Time 5 hrs 25 mins

Servings 12 rolls

Ingredients

For the Dough

3.5 cups all purpose flour + 1/4 - 1/2 c for kneading
1.5 c buttermilk warm
1 stick unsalted butter melted & warm
3/4 c sugar
6 Tbs cornstarch
1 packet instant yeast 2 1/4 tsp
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 Tbs butter for greasing the pan

For the Filling

1 cup brown sugar packed
1.5 Tbs cinnamon
A couple dashes of nutmeg
One stick of butter very soft

For the Icing

4 oz cream cheese softened
1 Tbs brewed coffee
1 Tbs maple syrup
1.5 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbs milk

Instructions

Gently warm buttermilk - you don't want it to get too hot or it will curdle. Dissolve yeast in warmed buttermilk. Add warm melted butter, sugar, salt, and eggs. Stir together thoroughly by hand.
Mix the cornstarch and flour in a separate bowl. Add to the buttermilk mixture. Stir together until flour is completely incorporated. Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for an hour and a half, or until dough has doubled. Punch down and let rise for another hour and a half.
On a clean work surface, sprinkle 1/4 c flour. Place the dough in the middle of the flour and gently knead it into a workable dough. Use the other 1/4 cup flour if it's still too sticky to work with. Beth's advice is to use the least amount of flour possible - that makes the rolls more tender in the end. Be sure not to over-work the dough while you're kneading it.
Flour a large work surface (about 20inx20in) and roll your dough out into an 18x18in square. At this point be sure you have enough flour so the dough doesn't stick to the counter when you're ready to roll it up (I made that mistake!)
Combine brown sugar and cinnamon and a couple dashes of nutmeg in a small bowl. Gently spread the very soft butter over your dough, leaving about a 1in border around the edges. Sprinkle nearly all of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the butter, reserving a couple tablespoons to use in a moment. Start with the edge closest to you and begin gently rolling the dough. Once you reach the end, pinch the seam shut so all your cinnamon-sugary-butter goodness doesn't escape.
Melt two Tbs of butter and pour them into a 9x13 glass baking dish. Tip the baking dish so the butter coats the bottom and up the sides a bit. It may pool in the bottom of your pan - that's okay! It'll make the bottoms of your cinnamon rolls extra delicious! Using a floured knife, cut your rolled up dough into 12 equal pieces. I think the easiest to do is cut your roll in half. Then cut each of those pieces in half. You'll have four equal pieces. Each of those gets cut in thirds, leaving you 12 equal-ish cinnamon rolls. Place each in the buttered baking dish.
You'll notice that those sad little end rolls got skimped on the sugar - once they're in the pan, feel free to use the cinnamon sugar mixture you saved to sprinkle in those end rolls and any others that look like they need some extra love.
If you're making these rolls at night so they'll be ready to bake the next morning, you cover them tightly with plastic wrap at this point and place them in the fridge. In the morning, set them in a warm place till they have doubled in size, about an hour (they may have risen a bit in the fridge.) If making these rolls straight through, let them rise till doubled in size, about an hour and a half, then you're ready to bake.
Heat your oven to 325F. Bake rolls for 25-35 min. Beth recommends using an instant read thermometer and removing the rolls once they've reached an internal temperature of 190F. She says this ensures they stay delicious and gooey on the inside, and I have to agree! Allow rolls to cool about 10 minutes in the pan.
While the rolls are baking, you can assemble the icing. Use a fork or a whisk to combine cream cheese, coffee, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and milk and mix well to combine, making sure icing doesn't have any lumps of powdered sugar. Start with 1 Tbs milk and add another if icing seems too dry. Drizzle over the cinnamon rolls and enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

What I’ve Learned in 2014

January 2, 2015 by Asharae 5 Comments

2014 has come with an immense amount of learning for us in and out of the kitchen. We spent over 100 days of our year on the road or in the air, traveling to shoot weddings and engagement sessions, visit friends and family, and everything in between. I reflected on our year with Grain & Compass over on our blog yesterday, but I also wanted to reflect on everything I’ve learned in the kitchen this year.

Here on This Wild Season I’ve reflected on what it’s like to be an introvert, my struggles with battling against comparison, and learning how to strive for meaningful work rather than striving for success by the world’s standards. As I started reflecting on all the food-related things I’ve learned this year, my list actually got much longer than I expected! I have loved that this blog is a creative outlet and source of encouragement for me to try new things.

I hope you see something below that you haven’t yet learned how to do, and that you follow the links and learn something new! Tis the season for New Year’s Resolutions and learning new things – the great thing about learning a new technique to use in the kitchen is that it’s a lifelong skill you’ll always have! You can take each of the skills below and use them in so many ways to create new and delicious food for you and your family.

What I’ve learned in 2014:

– How to peel a butternut squash. There are lots of ways to peel a butternut squash, but I learned a method recently that involves poking holes in your squash and microwaving it for a few minutes to make it easier to peel. Read more about it in my recipe notes for Butternut Squash Soup.

– How to clean leeks. Leeks are in season through the winter, reaching their peak in January. If you’ve never cooked with them, now’s the perfect time! They have a mellow onion flavor that works well in many dishes. Leeks are grown in sandy soil, so they typically have fine sand and grit hiding between the layers. Here’s a great quick video online that shows how to simply cut and wash leeks.

– How to make the most delicious chocolate chip cookies. Hint: It involves browning butter. If you’ve never done it, you should learn how! It’s ridiculously easy. And your newly acquired butter browning skills will come in handy when you tackle these salted brown butter rice crispy treats from Smitten Kitchen.

– How to roast garlic. A few weeks ago I roasted garlic for the first time. I had assumed I’d never need to roast garlic and that it was more work than it’s worth. Oh man was I wrong. Roasted garlic is sweet and delicious – it loses that bite that raw garlic has and it’s easily minced and mixed into sauces, spread on fresh bread, or eaten with a spoon (to keep the vampires away, of course.) How Sweet it Is has a great little tutorial for roasting garlic – check it out here!

– How to make homemade stovetop popcorn. It’s simple and delicious and healthy. Enough said.

– Not all measuring cups are created equal. Did you know? Cups for liquid and dry ingredients actually measure slightly differently. If you’re getting serious about something like baking, the science is important, and you should use dry measuring cups for things like flour and sugar, and liquid measuring cups for things like water and milk.

– How to make a simple homemade bread. We rarely bought bread this year – partly because we traveled so much we were hardly home long enough to get through a whole loaf of regular bread. And partly because this bread is easy to make, tastier than much of the stuff you get at the store, and contains no preservatives or weird ingredients. It’s delicious so it’ll disappear much quicker than a regular loaf of bread – you’ve been warned. A bread machine makes quick work of the bread dough, then you just let it rise in the pan, pop it in the oven, and enjoy the sweet aroma of fresh baked bread.

– How to make veggie burgers. This is one I’m still working on, so I want to throw it out there – do you have any great veggie burger recipes? I’ve tried this black bean burger from Saveur and this sweet potato burger from How Sweet It Is – both of them are delicious! We’re still learning the best method for cooking each burger – how hot the pan needs to be, how much oil to use, whether to coat the burger patty in corn meal or flour or something else before cooking. That’s the fun about experimenting in the kitchen – we’re constantly adding new skills and new ideas to our repertoire.

– How to make risotto. This is another one of those dishes I thought would be more trouble than it’s worth. But again, it’s not too difficult – just requires patience and a lot of stirring. And lots of patience. Risotto is a great versatile dish to serve with veggies, a salad, chicken or steak. The first time I made risotto, it was a corn risotto made with Corona instead of white wine and it got stuffed in a poblano pepper and roasted in the oven – you can thank Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for that. I’m currently working on refining a risotto dish to share here on the blog, but until then you should check out Shauna Niequist’s risotto recipe over on her blog.

– Food that’s in season really does taste better. This is the second year we’ve grown veggies in our garden and we continue to learn more about what each vegetable requires and when it comes into season. This knowledge helps us appreciate all the work that other people put into growing the majority of our food for us. It also helps us know what to look for at the grocery store so we can spend our money well, choosing what’s in season because it’ll be tastier and cheaper. There’s nothing more delicious than a juicy tomato, picked fresh off the vine in the height of summer, sliced up, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and topped with mozzarella and fresh basil. I’m drooling just thinking about it. Whether you have your own garden or you get your fruits and veggies at the store, it’s worth knowing what’s currently in season so you can save money and eat food that’s more delicious.

Did you learn anything new in 2014? What did you do that you’re proud of? Add any new skills to your arsenal?

I’m not a huge fan of setting a New Year’s resolution, because that always sounds to me like something I’m automatically going to fail at accomplishing. But I am a huge proponent of dreaming big, setting goals, and taking steps to achieve those goals, no matter what time of year it is. What are you hoping to do this coming year? Are you setting any goals for yourself? Where do you want to see yourself one year from today?

As we move into 2015, I’m stoked to continue learning new recipes and new cooking techniques. I’m hoping to plan our garden soon and get started earlier in the season than I usually do! Some days I dream of having land, growing lots of our own food, having chickens and goats and bees, making our own cheese and honey, and creating a beautiful space for others to get away from it all and to rest and relax. But we’re not there. And I’m not sure if that’s ultimately where we’ll end up.

But today, in this place and in this time I can take small measures toward those dreams. I can learn more about growing our own food, I can appreciate the work that goes into it, make meal plans, shop smart and in-season, and truly savor each meal and each moment with my husband, my family, and my friends. I may not set a New Year’s resolution, but I’m happy to name my goals and take steps toward them.

Blueberry Lemonade recipe can be found here!

This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Last Minute Gift Ideas

December 15, 2014 by Asharae Leave a Comment

If you’re anything like me, you’ve waited until the last minute to do your Christmas shopping. Perhaps it was out of good intentions to savor this season, to rest, and to scale back on the holiday crazy. But more than likely you just procrastinated, like me. I for one was sitting on my couch in a turkey-and-football daze while the early birds were scoring deals on Thanksgiving evening. (Let’s not even get into how crazy it is that “Black Friday” starts on Thanksgiving now – as in, during Thanksgiving dinner.) And then somehow Small-Business-Saturday and Cyber Monday passed me right by. And now, here we are, just over a week to go till Christmas, and panic is starting to set in.

So I figured, perhaps you too might be in need of a few helpful ideas when it comes to Christmas gifting this year. Below are some of my absolute favorite items I’ve been using lately (and a few that are on my wish list) – they’re all budget friendly ($35 or less) and would make great gifts or stocking stuffers for Christmas!

Books:

Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist – This one is a given. This Wild Season is named after a quote from this book, and I believe anyone who loves food should read this book (that’s all of you.) Shauna is the most wonderful storyteller. She weaves recipes and cooking tips into stories from her own life in a way that keeps you hungry for more.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman – Smitten Kitchen is one of the very first food blogs I ever followed. Deb creates and tests and retests recipes till they’re just perfect. This cookbook is full of deliciousness – I’m still working my way through it, but so far everything we’ve tried has been amazing! It feels like more of a fall/winter cookbook to me, so it’s perfect for this time of year!

The Yellow Table: A Celebration of Everyday Gatherings by Anna Watson Carl – I’ve mentioned Anna’s story on the blog before. Just over a year ago she started a journey to create her own cookbook and has since road-tripped about the country, having dinner parties along the way, sharing her story over on her own blog, and now her book is published! I got my copy in the mail last week and have been reading it cover-to-cover. I can’t wait to try her recipes in our own kitchen!

Kitchen Gizmos and Gadgets:

Cuisinart Smart Stick 2-Speed Immersion Hand Blender – I raved about this immersion blender in my recipe for Butternut Squash Soup recently, but here’s a link for the actual one we use. I love this thing. We use it often to blend soup as it saves you the trouble of pouring hot soup into a blender, doing multiple batches, wondering where you’ll put the blended soup – back in the pot or do you dirty another bowl? All that is simplified by using an immersion blender. It’s also perfect for blending smoothies, salsas, sauces, and pretty much anything you’d use a regular blender for. I love that the bottom is detachable to make it easy to wash as well!

OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge Can Opener – This is a totally weird gift, but I love mine so I had to share! Perhaps it would make a funny stocking stuffer! This can opener leaves a smooth edge on both the can and lid so you don’t have to worry about slicing your fingers. It’s a little tricky to figure out when you first get it, but once you get the hang of it then it’s a breeze. The option available online now is a sleeker design than ours, but it works the same way.

Food Network’s Silicone Set – We got these for ourselves last year for Christmas and I hardly use any other utensils when I’m cooking. The spatula and spoonula (isn’t that a great name?) are the two we use the most, but I love having the full set. I’m a firm believer that if you have beautiful kitchen utensils you’re more likely to use them. These are silicone, so they’re comfortable in your hand and extraordinarily heat-resistant.

Paper Straws – These are just for fun. How can you not be happy when drinking out of a striped straw? We love having these around for parties, casual dinners, and really for any occasion.

Bonus Ideas:

Rifle Paper Co. Botanicals Notebook Collection or Midnight Garden Recipe File Box – You’ve certainly seen Anna Bond’s designs floating around the internets, and for good reason. Her work is simply beautiful. I love these little notebooks a friend gifted me – they’re the perfect size to carry around in my purse, and I use them to write down recipe ideas, business goals, and even gift ideas. The recipe file box is the spiffiest way to store those tiny recipe cards you’ve collected from your grandmother. Rifle includes their own adorable recipe cards so you can add your own recipes to your collection.

The Giving Keys – One of our brides for next year works for this company in LA and I just love the idea behind what they do. First of all, they employ people who are looking to transition out of homelessness. Each key they make has a word on it such as hope, dream, belong, or courage. The idea is that you wear your key until you encounter someone who needs the message you wear – at that point you give your key to that person. What a beautiful gift, and an incredible conversation starter!

Chelsea Market Cookbook – This is on my wishlist for Christmas. When Tim and I were in NYC for the first time back in September we stumbled upon the Chelsea Market – we literally knew nothing about it. (Had I heard of it, it would have been on our must-see list!) We were actually headed to see the High Line and walked right past the market on our way from the subway. It was so much sweeter that way as we felt like we had “discovered” this hidden gem in New York City. Anyone from NYC would probably laugh at us for not having heard of it – oh well. If you’re not from the city, the Chelsea Market is a collection of shops, restaurants, bakeries, and all around amazing food. This cookbook is a compilation of recipes from the various chefs and restauranteurs associated with the market.

Grain & Compass Fine Art Prints – Our print shop is open and we just updated it with photographs from our travels this year! We have prints from every corner of the US with a few from South America as well. Each print is mounted on a backboard so it can stand-alone or be put in a frame.

Give a gift that’s personal – Think about what your strengths are. Is there something you’re good at, something you enjoy doing or creating, something personal you could give of yourself? This adorable succulent and owl planter were given to me by my friend Deedie – she’s a floral designer, so it makes perfect sense coming from her! It was such a sweet surprise when she showed up to our coffee date a couple weeks ago with this darling little plant in hand! What thoughtful, personal gift could you give away this year?

This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.