Coffeehouse Northwest: A review

I love eating out in Portland. The food scene here is FANTASTIC. You can get any type of cuisine- super authentic Mexican food, Italian, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean, African, South American, Hawaiian, cooffeeee, chocolate; basically whatever your little heart desires. Portlanders love to eat, and I am no exception, though I am limited by time and budget constraints, (who isn't, nowadays?) I try to get out every once in a while though. I usually default to well-known, established joints like St Honerie Bulangerie, or Cha Cha Cha, but of course, I love to try new places.

So tonight, after running my errands, I was on my way home, sitting at the intersection of NW 13th & Burnside, when I remembered hearing someone saying that you could find the best hot chocolate in the world at Coffeehouse Northwest. "Mmmm, chocolate sounds good" I thought to myself. I decided head up there.



This place was super funky and modern, cozy and artsy, with a great brick walls and a rustic hardwood floor. This is the type of coffeehouse that appeals to me. I was drawn and comforted by the atmosphere. I made my way to the counter where a great looking, "hip", young man took my order. The menu was so simple, which I love, being, as I am, so indecisive.



I told the man that I had heard that they had the best hot chocolate, and he agreed saying that they took time to pick out the highest quality of chocolate and that it was reserved for adults only. Apparently if your a child you'll be served something else. He also instructed me to sit down upon my first sip.
I wasn't surprised by what I got, hot chocolate I could have imagined being served only in my best dreams. Rich and creamy, and not too sweet to overwhelm the fine chocolate but rather complement it. Each sip was like popping one of those creamy french truffles (that you might find at Trader Joe's of Whole Foods around the holidays) into your mouth and letting is slowly dissolve over you tongue. I mean it.



Honestly, I'd recommend this restaurant based on its cozy atmosphere alone. Everyone was quietly sitting around, working on there laptops, sipping on there coffee, or reading; light conversation, very comfortable. It's the perfect coffee shop for hanging out. I used to walk by this place every single day when I lived on SW Kings and never checked it out!?! I can't believe it! But long may they live!

brown bread

Let's start off talking about how easy this bread is to make. If you are intimidated by the prospect of baking bread at home, this is the recipe for you. I guess it is technically a quick bread.. it dosn't use any yeast(baking soda is the leavening agent).
This bread is good along side soup, or olive oil, or even with butter and honey!
I baked in a standard loaf pan but I think it might work out fine in a bread machine too. You might cut a cross in the top of the free form mold before baking - I haven't tried it this way yet, but it kinda puffs up weird otherwise, and I think this might help.

I love this bread, it isn't yeasty or super bready in texture like a yeast leavened bread, but it has its own personality - dense, hearty, crusty yet still moist. It would be delicious with a bowl of hot, hearty soup, as the base for a sandwich, or simply warm with a nice slathering of salty butter.

Brown Bread Recipe

3 cups whole wheat bread flour
1 cup white flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4+ cups buttermilk
2 ounces butter
1 egg

Melt the butter over gentle heat.
In a medium-sized bowl lightly beat the egg and then gradually add the buttermilk all the while stirring to incorporate the egg. Beat in the butter.
In another bowl sift and mix the dry ingredients as best you can (not really a prob if you can't find the coarse flour), and then stir in the buttermilk mixture. If you are using a baking tin the mixture should be on the wetter side. If your dough is too dry, mix in small splashes of buttermilk until it is the right consistency.
Cook at 400F for 50 minutes on the middle rack. You want to hear a sort of hollow sound when you knock on the bottom of the loaf. Resist the urge to take the bread out too soon, or the middle of the bread won't be cooked through.
Makes 1 loaf.

Miso Soup

Miso Soup Recipe

3 ounces dried soba noodles
2 - 4 tablespoons miso paste (to taste)
2 - 3 ounces firm tofu, chopped into 1/3-inch cubes
2 onions, thinly sliced
a small handful of cilantro
a pinch of pepper

Cook the soba noodles in salted water, drain, run cold water over the noodles to stop them from cooking, shake off any excess water and set aside.
In a medium sauce pan bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and remove from heat. Pour a bit of the hot water into a small bowl and whisk in the miso paste - so it thins out a bit. Stir this back into the pot. Taste, and then add more, a bit at a time, until it is to your liking. Add the tofu, remove from the heat, and let it sit for just a minute or so.
Split the noodles between two (or three) bowls, and pour the miso broth and tofu over them. Add some onions, cilantro, and pepper to each bowl and enjoy.

Noodles Soup Dish

Noodle Soup Dish Recipe

It has been cold and crispy out, and I've been getting over a narly cold. What better time to make a nice hot, creamy bowl of spicy noodle soup?

I saw a little snow come down today (..briefly) another excuse for a cozy soup.

This kinda reminds me of Original Top Roman Noodles, but way more hearty and fresh. Maybe there is something satisfying about working for your food instead of taking the shortcuts.
The spice paste is strong, beautifully fragrant, and hot. After I made the paste the rest of the soup is a breeze -stock, coconut milk, lime juice, and a sprinkling of mint round out the flavors.
I absolutely loved the way the broth turned out. Delicious.

Noodle Soup Dish Recipe // Serves 4

5 small, hot red Chilies
3 small cloves of Garlic
a small lump of Ginger
2 tsp Lemon grass
1 tsp ground Coriander
1 teaspoon Ground tumeric
a little vegetable oil (optional)
2 cups Stock - vegetable,
1 can Coconut milk
juice of A lime - just the juice
Soy sauce
Mint - a small handful of leaves
Noodles - chubby, fresh egg noodles, or whole wheat angel hair pasta. Whatever you like/have.

Halve and de-seed the chilies. Peel the garlic. Peel and shred the ginger. Finely slice the tender, innermost leaves of the lemon grass. Then blind the first 6 ingredients into a thick paste in a food processor. You may need a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to help it go round but add as little as you can.
Place a fairly deep pan over moderate heat, add half the spice paste (keep the other half in the fridge for tomorrow) and fry it, moving it around the pan, for a minute or so, then pour in the stock, coconut milk, and a splash of soy sauce. Let it come to the boil, then turn the heat down and let the soup simer for ten minutes. Meanwhile cook the noodles according to package directions.
Divide the noodles between four large, deep bowls and ladle over hot soup. Sprinkle with mint leaves.

Orange Sorbet

Inspired by the stack of oranges on my table, I made some sorbet. I think I'll make sorbet out of all the extra fruit I encounter, so I can enjoy the refreshing treat every afternoon. It's very good. And makes me very happy.

I know we are in the dead of winter, surrounded by frost and frigid temperatures, but truthfully I could have ice cream and sorbet all year round regardless of the temperature outside. Chilly temperatures are not enough to keep me away from the freezer.

This sorbet a great color and taste. Squeezing the juice by hand took time, but it was so worth it. The flavor is so vibrant. Not too sweet not too sour. So here is to sorbet in the middle of winter!

Orange Sorbet

Ingredients:

1c simple syrup (50% water and 50% sugar boiled together), cooled

1c orange juice

Combine both components and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours. Throw in the frezeer, stirring every few hours or you could also churn it in an ice cream machine if you have one and then thrown in the freezer.

Red wine Muffins w/ chocolate and cinnamon

Hope you all had an amazing MLK and inoguration day! I was sick.. the whole weekend : (

But anyways, today I discovered that I had some wine left over from the other night.. must have been from a week ago.. But anyways I turned it into something amazing... Red wine muffins w/ chocolate and cinnamon... How much could a muffin get?! They turned out a little flat but so moist and cakey inside.

Red Wine Muffins

12 muffins

Ingredients:

3/4c flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

2 eggs

1/4c finley chopped dark chocolate

1/2c butter, melted
1/2c sugar

1 cup red wine

Warm the oven to 390F. Oil a muffin pan (12 units).

Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and chocolate together.

In another bowl beat the eggs until fluffy and then stir in the butter and sugar - mix until well combined.Then add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and mix well. Add the red wine.

Pour into the muffin pan units and bake for 20 min.

Oregon Beer

Support Oregon Beer.

Here we got Ninkasi, Rouge, Widmer, Deschuttes..

(+ some non locals)

Nephews new rattle

My little nephew is starting to be able to hold things! He got his first little rattle yesterday. I think he liked it..
( I know this is not Hungry Hill FARM related, but I couldn't help it!!!)

Cabbage salad with oranges

This salad, that I made tonight, could easily be altered and added to; fresh chopped parsly, shredded carrots, diced apple and walnuts would be good in it too.



Cabbage salad with oranges

About 5 cups finely sliced cabbage
1 tsp salt
2 leafy celery stalks, finely sliced

Vegan "Pumpkin" bottoms

Today I was craving something with pure decadence...



Mmm yes. I ran across this recipie in MIX magazine from the girls down at Sweetpea Baking Company. I did alter it a bit though. I'm not vegan but enjoy expiramentation, so I was happy to try it. I was invisioning, after reading through the recipie, melty muffin cake w/ a gooey cakey oozy middle. And thats what I got...






I was suprised it called for chocolate chips. I just chopped up some good dark block chocolate that I had.

Vegan Pumpkin Bottoms: from the girls at Sweetpea Baking Company

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

Cake batter:
1½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
½ cup canned pumpkin purée (or squash)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:
4 ounces (½ tub) Tofutti cream cheese (non-hydrogenated)
¼ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons cornstarch
¾ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons mini chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, pie spice and ginger together in a large bowl. Add the water, oil, pumpkin and vanilla and whisk until the batter is smooth.
Make the filling: Blend the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the corn startch, vanilla, lemon zest and salt until the mixture is smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.
Line or oil a standard-size muffin tin. Fill each cup with 2 tablespoons of pumpkin batter. Drop 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling into the center of each and then top with the remaining pumpkin batter (about 1 heaping tablespoon on each). Bake about 20 to 25 minutes.

Enjoy! I gave one to my dad and ate the rest within a couple days... But they were definently worth it!

Salad idea..

I tend to veer clear of ice burg lettuce, but recently I've been feeling like it adds a nice crunch to a salad.. Here's an idea..

equal parts of your favorite lettuce greens and ice burg lettuce
1 cup candied walnuts
1 cup raisins
3 cups chopped apple
1 cup crumbled blue cheese

(you could even add a cup of chopped celery, and/or a diced avocado)

Toss everything in a bowl and top with poppy seed dressing!

Orange and Apple Salad

This is a great light dish, so summer-y, but a great addition to the fall menu!!


Ingredients:

***Dressing***

1 tsp olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
1 orange, juiced
1 orange, zest ed
1 small lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 pinches salt
a bunch of Black pepper

***Salad***

2 crisp apples, cored and sliced into 1/8-inch thick slices,
3 oranges, peeled, cut in half and this into 1/8-inch slices
cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions:
Combine dressing ingredients in a mason jar or other seal able container and shake to emulsify. Combine apple, orange and cilantro in a mixing bowl and toss. Toss the salad with the dressing. Distribute between serving plates. (Top with shaved cheese?)

Rosemary potatoes

Potatoes are very nice to have around. They keep forever. This is one of my favorite things to do with them, and it's super easy.

Rosemary potatoes Recipe

1 pound unpeeled small potatoes (1- to 1 1/2-inch-diameter)
a dash (about 1 tablespoon) olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 large rosemary sprigs

Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Toss baby red potatoes with olive oil and kosher salt on large rimmed baking sheet. Place rosemary sprigs alongside the potatoes. Roast until the potatoes are tender and beginning to brown in spots, about 45 minutes.

Salad with Grapefruit and Pine Nuts

I love this salad combination, how the buttery pine nuts and juicy, sweet grapefruit come together. The lettuce adds a great crunch and the goat cheese baguettes add a creamy bonus.


Salad with Grapefruit and Pine Nuts

4 servings

2 t vinegar (your choice, but I used balsamic)
1 t fresh lemon juice
1 t Dijon mustard
3 T olive oil
a head of lettuce (again, your choice of variety)
1/4 c pine nuts, toasted
1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
salt and pepper
a baguette (optional)
fresh goat cheese (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, and olive oil. Toss lettuce, pine nuts, and grapefruit in a large bowl and add vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with toasted baguette slices topped with goat cheese.

Mini Loaf

This morning I was woken up, early early; by my cat. He was thinking about cat food, I was thinking about bread.

So I fed him and baked some bread for myself.... He was thinking mmm... cat foooood. I was thinking mmm... Bread with honey, jam, butter, maybe some olive oil and sea salt tonight, or hummus!
Anyways I think this quite possibly could be the best loaf of bread I have ever made! I also made a whole wheat version. Mmmm.






Mini Loaf Recipe
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1.5 cup water, or a few drops more.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl using a whisk, then add water and stir until combined. Cover tightly with plastic and let it sit for some where warm for around 15-20 hours.
After the first rise, scrape the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and flop it over onto itself once or twice, don't over-handle it. It doesn't need to look all perfect. Let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then, quickly form the dough into a ball (folding the corners into the middle works well) and set it seam-side down onto a well flowered surface and cover with a non-terrycloth towel. Let it just sit there for another 2 hours. Before the bread goes in the oven, preheat it to 450˚f with your baking pan in there. After the half hour is up, take out your pan, sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal, and dump the dough in, seam-side up. Cover and return to the oven. Bake 20 minutes covered, 20 minutes uncovered, give or take a few at the end depending on how brown you want your crust.



This mini-recipe will yield a small loaf of crusty white bread, suitable for dipping in homemade soups, drenching in half-melted butter, dipping in tastey olive oil w/ herbs ... or whatever else you like to do with your bread.
It's a nice, small amount.

Hmm...

I came head on with this guy today..

My goodness, he has wwaaaaaayyyy too many legs!!!!!

carrot slaw

What you need:

a generous squeeze fresh lemon juice (More than 1 Tbsp)
1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
lots of salt and pepper
2 cups shredded carrot

Toss it all together and let it sit overnight.
Then serve.

Snow!

We rarely see snow here in Scio, Oregon, but we did this year!

Fields, covered in snow

The life source

Grandmas house

Walking through it

Sunshine salad

(This picture is the lettuce from my sisters garden down in Scio (beautiful!))

After a period of very rich holiday foods, the simple pleasures of summer are necessary. Nothing represents summer better than a green-clad salad-ey composition. Add to this recipe a few slices of cucumber, and some nuts if you want (what ever you have depending on the season). The real star hear is the lettuce. You might serve this with, maybe some soft goat cheese, or fresh bread with aged balsamic vinegar and a dash of olive oil ... :)

Sunshine Salad Recipe

Dressing:
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp chopped onion
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 chopped garlic clove
zest and juice of 1 1/2 (or two) limes
1 egg

blend all ingredients together, in a blender.

Croutons:
a dash of olive oil
2 slices day old bread, preferably sour dough, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
4 garlic cloves chopped

Heat OVEN TO 350. Heat a bit of oil in a pan. Add the chopped garlic and heat over low. Put the bread cubes on a baking sheet w/ a little oil and bake , tossing every once in a while. After about 20 minutes, add the bread chunks into the garlic mixture and on top of the stove and cook for about 5 more min or until crisp and golden.

Green Part:

About 8 cups (a couple heads) crisp greens, such as bok choy, Romaine hearts, whatever, etc.
3/4 c grated Parmesan
Some toasted almonds
some peeled orange sections, cut in half if you want
thinly sliced onions; red, yellow, shallot, or green

Toss together, and top with the dressing and croutons!

Welcome To Hungry Hill Farm

A new year promises to be a good starting point for exploring new horizons. This blog is dedicated to the love of farm life, family, food, and everything that goes with that! Please visit, explore and involve yourselves with the adventures of Hungry Hill Farm!