Mendocino Day 6, Last day

Oh the end of vacation draws near. Tomorrow we pack up, clean up, and hit the road for the LONG drive back home.

In prepping for going home, we are eating all leftovers. Nothing pretty or new to photograph and post here.

We did take a dog-free hike in Van Damm State Park in the Pygmy Forest. The Pygmy Forest is a strange stunted forest area of trees that don't look like the lush redwood forests all around here. The forest area looks more like high mountain desert forest. But a short 1/4 to a 1/2 mile away, the trees are big and rich again. It has something to do with the land formation and soil quality that has made the trees so little.

We took a short 2.5 mile walk from the pygmy trees to the giant redwoods. The hike knocked me out. the last 1/2 mile heading out was all down hill, which of course means the first 1/2 mile coming back was all uphill, and steep. Ugh. I am way out of shape. When we got back to the rental, I took a nap.

Lunch was a good burger from Mendo Burger.

Now, it's relax. Recuperate. And leftovers for dinner.

Mendocino Day 5, and recipe for Zucchini Pancakes

Another afternoon hike along the Mendocino Headlands Trail with The Boy and the dogs. This time we went east on the trail. Beautiful coast line. 

Lots of gorgeous wild flowers growing everywhere. This area is definitely perfect for flowers.

Dinner was a wonderful vegetarian fair. My goal was to clean out the frig of anything that could be dinner-y. Tomorrow is our last day here. I don't want to have to haul home any groceries. So, it seemed best to empty the frig tonight, and if there is not enough leftovers for tomorrow's dinner, we'll just go out.

So Zucchini Pancakes based on the recipe by Smitten Kitchen titled Zucchini Fritters found at http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/08/zucchini-fritters/ .

Zucchini Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

4 cups grated zucchini

Salt

2 green onions finely diced

1/2 c flour

1 t baking powder

1 egg

Olive oil

INGREDIENTS FOR TOPPING

4 T sour cream

2 T lemon juice

1/2 t crushed garlic

2 green onions finely diced

Salt and pepper to taste

1) Grate zucchini (in my case, and the two small yellow crook neck squash I had leftover from the Potato and Squash Torte). Place in a colander in the sink and stir in salt to draw out the water. Let sit for at least 30 minutes. Drain well. Squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible.

2) Put in mixing bowl and add the green onions, flour, and baking powder. Toss well so the flour is evenly distributed throughout.

3) Beat the egg and mix into the other ingredients. (Secret: I used my hands, it was easier than the fork I tried to use.)

4) Heat a non-stick skillet over medium to medium high heat. Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom. When sizzling hot, add about 1/4 cup scoops of batter into the pan. Flatten out slightly. Fry until golden brown on one side, the gently flip over.

5) While the pancakes are cooking, mix all of the topping ingredients together. Watch pancakes carefully so they don't overcook.

6) Keep cooking pancakes until the batter is gone. The batter I made made a dozen pancakes.

Yummy! Top with the sour cream lemon sauce. If you like, add a little cranberry sauce or apple sauce. For mine in the picture, I used a little sour cherry preserves I bought in town. I served mine with roasted sweet potatoes and onions, and roasted lemon garlic green beans with cherry tomatoes.

Vacation Breakfast Day 5, Chocolate Chip and Orange Scones

Morning number five dawns. Actually dawn was hours ago. I slept in this morning. A lot. What was breakfast plans became brunch plans, but that's okay. This is vacation, right?

So this morning was yummy, decadent, indulgent Chocolate Chip Orange Scones. The recipe is adapted from Joy the Baker, another one of my favorite food blogs. Her recipe is called Orange and Dark Chocolate Buttermilk Scones found at http://joythebaker.com/2011/01/orange-and-dark-chocolate-buttermilk-scones/ .



Chocolate Chip and Orange Scones

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups flour
2 T sugar
2 1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
Orange zest(I used the zest of one whole orange. This was too much. Next time maybe only half of an orange.)
6 T cold butter
1/4 cup milk
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I prefer them over dark chocolate.)


1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the milk and apple cider vinegar and set them aside. This is a nifty trick for when a recipe calls for buttermilk and you don't have any. It makes sour milk, which will work the same.
2) Mix the first six ingredients together in a bowl. 

3) Cut the cold butter into smaller pieces. Then cut it into the dry ingredients until about the size of peas. I used a pastry cutter, but two forks or two knives will also work.


4) Beat the egg yolk into the milk mixture, then fold into the dry ingredients just enough so the liquid is incorporated. Don't over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips until equally distributed. Again, try to mix as little as possible.


5) Flour a flat surface, and turn out the dough onto the flour. It will be crumbly. It'll firm together as you knead. Knead the dough ten times, making sure all of the loose dough works in together.
6) Gently pat into a 1 inch thick circle.

7) Cut into four pieces and place in a greased baking pan. (For a nice finish, blush egg whites of extra milk on top and sprinkle with sugar. I have run out of milk and sugar, so this wasn't an option for me.)


8) Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until the scones are golden brown on top.

Serve with preserves. Add fruit and a soft boiled egg for a complete breakfast. So good!

Day 4 in Mendocino, and Fried Potatoes and Eggs

I am the self-acclaimed queen of using leftovers, as I am sure I've hinted at before. Breakfast this morning was a way to use up the odds and ends from last night's dinner. 

A little leftover sliced potatoes and squash. Add to it a little onion and a couple of eggs. Delicious fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast.

Our day was spent walking up and down the three main streets of the Mendocino Village, looking into shops, buying a few souvenirs, and trying some really good frozen yogurt from A Cultured Affair.

Lunch was green salad and leftovers at the vacation house. I've been wanting to go to some of the nicer restaurants here in town, but we are eating breakfast so late, we miss the lunch hour for most places. So tonight we are going out to a nice dinner instead.

Potato and Squash Torte

Dinner last night was late. I took a nap and didn't get up until almost 7:00 p.m. Why did I even bother? I could have just gone back to sleep until the morning. But I was hungry, and the recipe I made was definitely worth it! This is one I am sure I will make every summer.

It's adapted from SmittenKitchen.com's "Herbed Summer Squash and Potato Torte" found at http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/herbed-summer-squash-and-potato-torte/ . (I really like Smitten Kitchen's food blog. If I even give just one food blog recommendation, that would be the one.) I had to make a few adjustments since I am in a borrowed kitchen without all of the resources I have in my own. Even so, it turned out amazing! It could easily be a yummy vegetarian dinner with a little green salad.

Potato & Squash Torte
INGREDIENTS
1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
1/2 bunch scallions
2 or 3 small summer squash (I ended up 
        using 2)
1 or 2 small zucchini (I used 1/3 of the 
        giant zucchini from my garden)
1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
1 T flour
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Diced the scallions and mix with the flour and Gruyere cheese.

2) Thinly slice the squash, zucchini, and potatoes.

3) Spray a baking pan with cooking oil. Form one layer of potatoes on the bottom.

4) Top with a single layer of zucchini.

5) Then a layer of summer squash.

6) Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil, approximately 1 teaspoon worth. Add a few dashes of salt and pepper. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese, flour, green onion mixture.

7) Repeat steps 3 thru 6. End with a third layer of potatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, and the remaining cheese mixture. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degree for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake another 15 minutes, or longer if needed, until the torte is soft to the cut of a knife.

8) Slice and serve with s green salad and some simple, light protein. We had ours with sliced melon and baked fish fillets.

Day 3 in Mendocino

We took the dogs to Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. The site used to be the town dump from the early 1940's until well into the 60's. Can you imagine dumping garbage onto the beach? That's beyond our these days. But what was once a dump, is now a glittery crystal beach covered in smooth glass pebbles. The ocean made beautiful what people threw away.

Lunch today was from the local market. We just aren't hungry at lunch time and most restaurants around here put away their open signs by 1:00 p.m. or don't open until dinner to begin with. 

Vacation Breakfast Day 3, Buttermilk Bread Pudding

Tiny pansies growing on the front walk

I am excellent at using up leftovers in recipes. What do you do with 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup of buttermilk and a 1/3 of a baguette? Make bread pudding, of course! A very good, easy breakfast dish because you make it the night before and then bake it in the morning.

Buttermilk Ricotta Bread Pudding

INGREDIENTS

Leftover bread cut up in small pieces, in this case about 1/3 of 
         a baguette
2 T butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup ricotta
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 t vanilla
Dash of salt


1) Place bread in baking dish. Cover with melted butter. Stir so the butter is spread throughout.







2) Stir the remaining ingredients together. Mix well. Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.







3) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover the bread pudding and bake until the middle is set and the top is turning golden brown. The exact time will depend on the baking dish and depth of the bread pudding in the dish. Mine took about 30 minutes. If desired, serve with fruit, syrup, or berry compote.

ENJOY!

Day 2 in Mendocino

Fern Canyon Trail, 5 mile round trip hike through beautiful woods and lush green foliage.

Lunch from Fete Tote, excellent! Shrimp and Avocado Sandwich, Southwestern Chicken Sandwich, Roasted Butternut Squash, Shrimp and Pasta Salad, Raspberry and Cream Cake, and Chocolate Cake.

After reading and naps, we had leftovers for dinner and watched Big Bang Theory on TV. Cable TV is a treat for us, since we don't have it at home.

Vacation Breakfast Day 2, Buttermilk Strawberry Scones

Woke up this morning and noticed this determined little ivy leaf growing inside the window frame.

Day two dawns and breakfast plans are yummy.

Buttermilk and Strawberry Scones
INGREDIENTS

1 cup leftover sliced and sugared strawberries from yesterday's breakfast, drained of excess liquid
1 cup flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 c cold butter
1/3 c buttermilk, plus extra tablespoons as needed

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in bowl.

2) Cut cold butter into small pieces then cut into dry ingredients until the butter is the size of peas. The rental happens to have a pastry cutter which made it easy. I have made two knives or two forks work before as well.

3) Mix in buttermilk gently. Add extra tablespoons of buttermilk until the dough just sticks together.

4) Sprinkle flour on a flat surface. Turn dough out onto the flour. Put flour on hands so the dough doesn't stick. Pat out dough so it's flat enough to dump strawberries into the middle. Gentle fold in strawberries and pat out into a circle. Try to work the dough as little as possible.

5) Cut the circle into four and place in a greased baking pan. Brush each piece with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar.

6) Bake in 425 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

VOILA!

Day 1 in Mendocino, and recipe for Roasted Buttermilk Marinated Chicken

So after that fabulous breakfast of Lemon Ricotta Pancake, The Boy and I went for a walk with the dogs on the Mendocino Headlands Trail. Beautiful views. Gorgeous, varied coastline. We need to walk some more of it. But little dogs with little legs can't go too far all at once.

After we dropped the dogs back at the house, we headed in a few blocks to find a restaurant for lunch. It was after 2:00 p.m. so a lot of the places had already closed their doors. But Mendocino Cafe was packed! I forgot to take pictures of our yummy plates. The Boy ordered a Thai Burrito with rock shrimp. I had a crab cake sandwich with a green salad and Gorgonzola cheese dressing. Scrumptious, all of it.

From there we walked around the corner to Mendocino Chocolates and picked up some dessert. I did not forget to get a pic of those.

What can be more decadent than chocolate in a hot tub in the afternoon?

After a lovely afternoon nap, I made Roasted Buttermilk Marinated Chicken Quarters. Very simple and delicious.

Roasted Buttermilk Marinated Chicken Quarters

Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk

2 chicken quarters (we like dark meat so we had thigh and leg 

                    quarters)

Salt and pepper to taste

(That's it! What could be easier)

Marinate the chicken in the buttermilk in the frig overnight. 

Preheat the oven to 425.

Take the chicken out of the buttermilk. Shake off any extra. (Throw the remaining buttermilk away. Do not use it for anything.) Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. I would think you could add other seasoning you like, but here my spice options are limited. Place in a baking dish and bake for 35-45 minutes.
Done!