street fair, farmer's market and an evening of jam making

i am determined to get out of the house today and go some place besides the hospital. there is only so much of being on "bed rest" one can take. i am itching to get back into my kitchen and cook. i lay here in my bed dreaming of the possibilities. and while i don't have a lot of energy right now i think even preparing a pan of dutch baby pancakes along with apple chicken sausage for dinner would be a good beginning. of course it is going to be soaring into the 90's today so something on the grill is probably more reasonable. perhaps salmon along side a crab roast? may be better suited for tomorrow.

i spent yesterday at swedish hospital all day being infused with medication to fight off this infection and lots of fluids to rehydrate me. i do feel much better today.

dutch baby

1 c. butter

6 large eggs

1 1/4 c. half & half

1 1/4 c. flour

3 T sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Put the 4 T, butter incast iron pan, and set it into a 425 degree oven after first dusting the pan with nutmeg, then mix batter quickly while butter melts.

put eggs in blender container and whirl at high speed for 1 minute.

with motor running, gradually pour in milk, then slowly add flour; then rest of butter, melted continue whirling for 30 seconds.
(with a rotary beater, beat eggs until light and lemon colored; gradually beat in milk, then flour.)
remove pan from oven with the butter melted and pour batter into the hot melted butter.

return the pan to the oven and bake until puffy and well browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
serve at once with any fruit topping or syrups or powdered sugar is good, too.
a tip: Have everyone waiting at the table when the Dutch Baby comes out of the oven, while it is puffed up.

also I use cast iron skillet for the cooking.

mr. roll and i went to the street fair, downtown, today. it was delightful just to be out with mr. roll. we also stopped by the farmer's market and i bought 2 huge flats of raspberries and blueberries, both from a local farm. i'm going to begin making jam here in a few minutes. i'm also hoping to make a quart of blueberry syrup that we can enjoy with the dutch baby tonight.

edit: i canned 12 pints of raspberry jam, plus 2 quarts of raspberry jam. and then mom helped me can 12 quarts of blueberry jam, and make 2 quarts of blueberry syrup. i don't usually like to have a sous in the kitchen with me, but i certainly needed mom's help with the blueberries--that was a lot of blueberries to work with.

the dutch baby is in the oven almost done and the apple chicken sausage is staying warm on top of the stove and they smell delicious. i have loved these sausage for 20 years and was so happy to find they finally are selling them here in western washington at my local market (and these are not the smoked ones you can find everywhere, these are the fresh :)

2nd edit: a very good dinner was enjoyed by all.