use real butter

Recipe: green onion buttermilk pancakes

Jeremy and I are back in Crested Butte getting our offices up and running, squaring away various details, and meeting many of our wonderful neighbors (including their pups like Ryder, Meatball, Lilly…). We have settled into the new digs enough to finally get out and do a little exploring this past weekend – both around town and on the trails.

gâteau fab, who tells me she gets lots of inspiration from foodgawker

a busking biologist at the farmers market

cb farmers market opening day

which baked goodies to choose?!

Living in two mountain towns allows us to draw the inevitable comparisons. So many similarities and yet so many differences. Whenever we tell locals that we live in Nederland, they always ask about the Frozen Dead Guy (aka “Grandpa”). Thankfully, Crested Butte doesn’t boast a frozen dead guy (we really don’t need two of them), but she makes up for it in titles like Wildflower Capital of Colorado and the Birthplace of Mountain Biking. Because we’re both such wimps about the heat, we’ve been riding or hiking in the mornings and evenings. The peak bloom should be in another month, but we’ve already witnessed several early bloomers and their green precursors blanketing whole mountainsides. Just the other evening I told Jeremy that I felt like I was witnessing the party planning stages of a giant celebration. Crested Butte is magical at every turn.

false hellebore or corn lily

meadows of green and yellow

crimson columbines (the first i’ve spotted this season)

sundown on lush hillslopes

the lupine are getting ready

And speaking of magical, you need to get in on this wondrous savory pancake. I grew up eating scallion pancakes of the Chinese persuasion, but these scallion pancakes are of the western variety. They are buttermilk pancakes with green onions. The first time I had them was at The Pinyon (which is now closed) – two green onion pancakes tucked under fried chicken with a side of syrup. Now that I can’t get them at The Pinyon, I have to make my own. Challenge accepted!

buttermilk, milk, eggs, butter, baking soda, baking powder, salt, green onions, flour

mix the dry ingredients together

slice the green onions

whisk the wet ingredients together (except the butter)

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: corn pudding

I was ever so slightly worried that upon our return from Crested Butte, I would be just a little less in love with our home (butter headquarters). I mean, after we were done getting the new place set up and rearranging furniture and learning how to operate and maintain various parts of the house (radiant floor heating FOR THE WIN!!!), we went walking, hiking, mountain biking – it was spectacular.

one of several amazing views

magical sunsets

and more magical sunsets

As I sat on the deck with Jeremy discussing the important items we needed to address this week, I swung my feet back and forth while looking up at the sky and mountains. “Oh man,” I mooned. Jeremy got a worried look on his face and asked what was wrong. “I just… I really love it here – our home. And I love the new place! I love Colorado so much!” I declared. He smiled and exhaled a sigh of relief. You can’t help but wonder if your mind and heart will always drift to the other place – to Crested Butte. It’s a paradise of paradises. But that didn’t happen and I know why… because my heart is always wherever Jeremy and Kaweah are.

happy faces

A couple of weeks ago, I had a hankering for barbecue. And when I say barbecue, that’s not just the chicken, or the ribs, or the brisket… it’s all of the fixins that go along with it. With all of the corn coming into the markets, I had a craving for corn pudding.

made with fresh corn

slice the kernels off carefully (use a sharp knife)

This lovely recipe comes from my trusty copy of The Border Cookbook and it happens to be gluten-free without trying to be gluten-free. I love when that happens even though I eat the hell out of gluten.

roasted green chiles, green onions, eggs, cornmeal, cheddar, corn, goat cheese, butter, buttermilk, salt, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda

place 2 cups of the fresh corn in a food processor

make a coarse corn purée

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: french silk pie

I was packing a few last kitchen items Tuesday evening when I looked up to see a nice rosy glow on James Peak. It’s been a while since I’ve had the leisure to notice sunset because our time has been sucked up with a project of sorts.

sunset on james peak

Early Wednesday morning, we piled a bunch of stuff, ourselves, two mountain bikes, and the dog into two cars and headed west because we had an appointment at noon. Jeremy took Kaweah in the Outback (Subie) and I followed in the WRX (Roo). He told me later that she faced backwards for the first 30 minutes to see where I was before she settled down for the 4.5 hour drive.

the view from the gas station at copper mountain

road trippin’ through colorado

we closed on a great little place in crested butte!

i celebrated with a raspberry lime fizzy drink avec umbrella

This post is coming to you from the new Crested Butte branch of use real butter! Butter headquarters remains in Nederland (near Boulder), but I’ll be working periodically from the CB office too. We’re still unpacking stuff, but Kaweah really digs the new place and every window has a view of a towering snowy mountain (because we are surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains). So let’s celebrate with some pie – some French silk pie. It’s super smooth which might be why it has “silk” in the name, but if you’ve ever chomped on silk (which I have), it’s got NOTHING on this pie!

am i right?

Start with the crust. I made a chocolate cookie crumb crust. Actually, I originally crushed a bunch of organic chocolate graham cracker bunnies (Annie’s brand), but the color was too light for what I had in mind. Those crumbs went into a bag for later projects and I resorted to an organic Oreo cookie (Newman-O’s). You know the drill, split the cookies open and scrape off the cream filling, then introduce the chocolate cookies to the food processor.

for the crust: organic oreos, butter, sugar, vanilla extract

scrape away the cream filling

combine cookie crumbs, sugar, vanilla, and melted butter

press into a pie plate or baking pan and bake

**Jump for more butter**