International Tour of America, Part 2

Hi readers, we are very sorry for our lack of posting, but we have been so busy with our various trips and events! Before we leave for another two week adventure, here are some more pictures from our International Tour!

Here's the Parthenon:

And the great pyramid of Memphis:

Here we are with the famous Peabody ducks:

And with a kangaroo! (they are really soft and furry, by the way)

And in case you forgot this was a food blog, here we are with some cheese:

That doesn't really have anything to do with the International Tour, but we do love cheese!

We'll get back to actual recipes soon, we promise.

Moo!

International Tour of America Part 1

Hello Castle Farm Cookbook readers! Sorry we haven't updated much lately; we've been getting ready for (and now taking) a trip!  We are on an International Tour of America.  We're driving through Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia in search of amazing things.  Here's some we found so far...

We went to the Virginia Safari Park:

(here we are stealing some of the animals' food)

We had a wonderful breakfast at the Loveless Cafe:

and we saw Foamhenge:

and the Eiffel Tower:

It's been an exciting trip with lots of delicious food, international landmarks, and driving so far.   We'll keep you updated with a few more pictures this week and hopefully we'll be back to your regularly scheduled Castle Farm recipes shortly...

pig, out!

Once upon a time there was... Tomato and Feta Fritters

These are also called ntomatokeftedes, which is a long Greek word that means tomato fritter.  We found this recipe over at Closet Cooking, where Kevin the blogger makes all kinds of delicious and beautiful food.  We definitely recommend checking out his site.  Anyway, Greek fritters...

I was super excited about making them, Cal was less convinced.  Once we finished them, Cal loved them, too.  They definitely take a little time, and aren't great for reheating.  Perhaps these would make a better party food than weeknight dinner, but you should still make them.

Blooper Friday! Sugar Cookie Bar Semi-Fail

The thing about sugar cookie bars is that they are impossible to fail.  We ran out of time, melted a plastic container, used the wrong pan, and didn't fully cook them and they were STILL delicious.  So unlike other Blooper Fridays, we are actually going to show you this recipe.

We first saw the cookie bars at Recipe Girl, complete with beautiful, colorful pictures and knew we had to make them.  She adapted the recipe from The Repressed Pastry Chef, to make her own version (<-- that's where you can find the full recipe and see what these are supposed to look like). We adapted it a little from hers.

Once upon a time there was... Bulgur Wheat with Caramelized Onions & Pine Nuts

We've been intrigued by quinoa for a while now... such a funny word. So, we were watching our favorite food blogs for a good recipe to try. Then we saw it! On Cara's Cravings, a really delicious looking recipe for Quinoa with Caramelized Onions & Pine Nuts. We gathered our ingredients and started to cook up the onions. Then, we discovered a problem. In trying to buy quinoa, we somehow ended up with bulgur wheat. As it turns out, this was not too much of a problem, they are very similar. So we supposed it doesn't matter what grain you use... We've heard quinoa is healthier, but the bulgur wheat was quite tasty. Maybe we'll get around to trying quinoa someday. For now, here's our inadvertently-adapted-from-Cara's recipe.

Once upon a time there was... Creamy Baked Chicken with Almonds

This recipe used to be called Baked Almond Chicken.  (We adapted it from Taste of Home.)  Whenever we scanned our recipe binder for what to make, we would glance over it, thinking it was chicken dipped in crushed almonds and baked.  In fact, it is something completely different! So, we have renamed it so that we can remember how yummy and unique it actually is!

Once upon a time there was... Lemon Dijon Chicken

Today we have a delicious, quick, easy, healthy chicken recipe.  You never can have too many! We originally found this one at All-ChickenRecipes, we adapted it slightly, and it has become a staple at the Castle Farm.  The ingredients listed below are enough for 6 chicken breasts.  We usually 1/2 them since we are only making 2.