What a great time its been working with California Kitchen at the California State Fair. I look forward to continuing our partnership and finding hew and exciting ways to engage with Californians about their food choices next year. As I promised, here are the remaining few recipes from the fair. Hopefully you are able to use them and the Fish Watch Guide to make informed choices about your seafood purchases.

Vegetable Stuffed Sole
 1 small zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1 small yellow summer squash, cut into matchsticks
½ onion, sliced thin
4 sole fillets
½ cup of ricotta
1 tbsp fresh dill
4 tsp olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
4 pieces of pancetta

In a bowl, combine ricotta, fresh dill and salt and pepper to taste. Set to the side.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cover a 9 x 11 baking pan with olive oil. Place the fillets in dish. Place about ½ cup of vegetables at the wide end of the fish and roll up jellyroll style. Place seam side down and top with one piece of pancetta. Bake for 15 minutes or until fish begins to flake. Serve immediately.  

Panko Crusted Tilapia Nuggets
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup whole milk
Coarse salt and pepper
2 cups panko bread crumbs
¾ cup flour, divided
2 lbs tilapia fillets, cut into chunks

To make fish nuggets, cut tilapia fillets in half and then chunk into nugget size pieces. Preheat oven to 375, with racks in top and bottom third. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil and place oiled rack into pan; set aside. Place egg and milk in a wide shallow bowl; season with salt and pepper and mix with a fork. In a second bowl combine ½ cup flour, salt and pepper with a fork. In a third bowl, combine panko, ¼ cup flour, salt and pepper. Dip tilapia into egg, shaking off excess, then into flour then into panko mixture, pressing to adhere. Place on prepared racks in baking sheets.  Bake until lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom halfway through.

Fish Dressing
½ cup mayonase
½ cup yogurt
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbs fresh dill
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Combine all ingredients with a fork and set aside in fridge for 1 hour prior to serving.

Today I covered a lot ground at the fair. I will list the links below for recipes used with any side notes you might find helpful. As always please feel free to ask any questions!

Nuts:
I spent the morning doing a simple three ingredient candied nut. There are A LOT of ways to candy nuts but this is a great choice for something you want to throw on a nice salad. You can work with the spices and flavorings to get just the right candied nut for you.
Here is a recipe with the basic directions for three ingredient candied nuts.

Herbs:
In the afternoon I moved on to a discussion about drying herbs. This is a favorite activity of mine to do with the kids. Its simple and a great gifting option. You can add your dried herbs to salt, pour them in a mason jar and it becomes a lovely gift!
Here is a great resource for all you could need to know about drying herbs.

Fish:
Lastly, I closed out the day with fish three ways. It is so much fun to get all the ovens going at once in the kitchen. I had a great time talking to some very avid fishers about sustainable fishing practices and great ways to include fish into your everyday routine.
I made Sole wrapped veggies, Tillapia nuggets and parchment pouch Salmon.
In reviewing the recipes I used to make the first two fish dishes I served I discover that I will need to write a full recipe for the first two dishes. I will work on that tomorrow and get it out to you all soon.

It's been a full day at the fair. While today was my last for this year you can always find me residing on my corner of the internet or at local fairs and markets. Please stop by say hi, refresh my memory of where I met you and ask away if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Yesterday was a blast at the California State Fair. I got to do some of my most popular demos the lip balm demo and chocolate chip cookie story time (this year with chocolate milk ;) thank you dairy council). I will quickly post about these two and once fair comes to close I can give more detail.

The lip balm is my favorite because it is so simple. All you need is the ratio and then you can make it your own. 2 parts coconut oil to 1 part bees wax. Melt and pour into a container. You can make it your own with essential oils or other flavorings or you can add one part shea butter for a more "butter" like texture.

As for the cookies this is a riff on the many soft chocolate chip cookie recipes on the interwebs. This is the one I have grown to call my own.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2  eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbs cinnamon
1 lb. chocolate (I prefer callebaut or guitard chips)
1/2 teaspoon good quality salt, for sprinkling on top before baking

Cream the softened butter and the sugars fully, usually 5-7 minutes on medium high. Scrape the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time followed by the vanilla.  Scrape the bowl. Wisk the flour, soda, salt and cinnamon in another bowl. With the machine on low, add the flour in three additions. Mix until just combined, don't over mix. Fold in the chocolate.
Bake at 350 for 6 minutes turn tray and bake for another 6 minutes. Take care not to over bake.

If you have any questions please leave a comment!
See you soon and I hope you enjoy some of the photos from the fair.

Tomorrow on the KCRA morning show I will be showing you a fun and quick way to make your own lip balm.
All you need is one part bees wax (you can find it here) and two parts coconut oil melted together in a double boiler and poured into a small container. You can add vanilla or almond extract or essential oils to get the smell you would want. And if you want a touch of color you can add the remainder of tube of lip stick or add this liquid lip tint So easy!
If you would like to come and try this project first hand please join me at the DIY stage at the California State Fair on Tuesday July 14th. You can find all the details here.

Enjoy!

Yesterday was a great day at the fair. Thank you for voting for my granola. It is very tasty and it was great the hear that from all of you!
I also got a lot of requests for my recipes. While I am so thankful that you enjoyed it so much I don't share my recipe since I am in production with it. You can buy it here OR you can use this Alton Brown recipe, it is close to mine and always produces an amazing product.

Also you can fine a great funnel cake recipe here and you can get all of the information about Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day here.

Thanks for a great fair day and I look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday July 14th for kids day. I will be hosting a make and take chap stick project for kids in the DIY area to the left of California Kitchen Stage. And in the evening we will have evening story time with Chocolate Chip cookies and milk. You can get the schedule here. I look forward to seeing you there!

And thanks to everyone at the fair today, we had a great time. This is the best California State Fair in years. Make sure that you come for a visit. More info at www.bigfun.org

So much is going on at the California State Fair and we are thrilled to be a part of it. Tomorrow July 11th you will find us in the California Kitchen from 10:30 am to 1pm talking about Cottage Food and having a little friendly competition where you get to be the judge. Then from 1:30 to 3 I will be in the kitchen again making tasty bread and talking about milling your own flour.

Make sure to join us. We will be sampling home made funnel cake!

July is always the busiest month of the year for us. But we always get to start it off with food, fun and friends which makes it a little easier. We have for years now been having the same family over on the 4th of July. We enjoy each others company, eats lots of tasty food, lets the kids eat 2 foot long popsicles, and watch our neighborhood parade and fireworks display. This year we had the added bonus of "christening" a table that my husband made. (While there is no tutorial on how to make it, ;) I am sure he would share his CAD drawing if you asked)

The Forth of July is always a time to remember the things I am thankful for in this less than perfect Union. Real relationships, delicious food, and the good times that summer is all about.