use real butter

Recipe: roasted butternut squash with moroccan spices

Well well well, if it isn’t December. How have you been, December? You certainly haven’t been very snowy lately, at least not in Colorado. While December has been acting more like August around here, I’ve noticed a frenzy of gift shopping going on all around me for the impending holidays. I’ve gone and done a little hunting myself. That is, I’ve gone and gathered up a few dealios on some lovely gift ideas just for my readers. I know a few kickass ladies who happen to run their own small businesses and turn out beautiful, high-quality products. Each one gave me a code for a discount or a free gift for my readers!

cmh design (code through December 20, 2012: HOLIDAYSHIP)

Cindi Miller Herleman is the Denver-based artist and boss lady at cmh design. She handcrafts adorable squee-worthy stuffed toys and other items for kids, big and small. I recently ordered a Whee One from Cindi for a present, and got two little security bunnies to gift to a couple of children in need. It was tough just ordering the gifts and not picking out a few for myself – like the zombies, frankensteins, and draculas! Cindi even makes scary monsters cuddly and sweet. She also maintains a collection of brightly-colored whimsical bibs and burpies for the littlest kids as well as pillows and knit hats.

cmh design is carried in physical stores around Denver as well as in Seal Beach, California and in New York City (see listings). But don’t fret if you can’t get to those places, Cindi has an Etsy store where she graciously set up a discount code for all use real butter readers. Enter HOLIDAYSHIP on your order BEFORE DECEMBER 20, 2012 to receive free shipping on your order. Go check out the cuteness and see her latest creations on the cmh design Facebook page.

spotted dog farm (code through December 31, 2012: BUTTER)

Hopping over to Asheville, North Carolina, you will find Sumner Smith, the proprietor of Spotted Dog Farm. Sumner has mastered handmade botanical resin jewelry – real flowers or delicate leaves suspended and preserved in resin. She has a most gorgeous selection of pendants, rings, earrings, and bangles in a delightful array of colors and designs. Browsing the jewelry on offer is like a walk through a field of summer wildflowers. These lovely pieces make fantastic gifts for others or… for yourself!

You can peruse the handmade botanical resin jewelry at the Spotted Dog Farm Etsy store. Sumner has kindly provided free shipping to all use real butter readers through DECEMBER 31, 2012. Just enter BUTTER to get free shipping on your order. Keep up with the latest on the Spotted Dog Farm Facebook page.

helliemae’s (code through December 24, 2012: mobutter)

And last, but certainly not least, is my dear Ellen Daehnick, the owner and caramel pusher at Helliemae’s in Denver, Colorado. Helliemae’s caramels are rich, creamy, buttery (how could we not be friends?!), salted, and dark – dark as in burnt caramel. They are luxurious and indulgent treats that melt in your mouth. Ellen constantly experiments with new flavors, testing products to her exacting standards and treating the rest of us to seasonal favorites like apple caramels in the fall, candy cane caramels for the holidays, jasmine tea caramels for Mother’s Day, and Atticus caramels (Stranahan’s Colorado whiskey, cane syrup, and bourbon barrel smoked salt) for Father’s Day. These punctuate the year-round goodness of classic salt caramels, coffee caramels, Chili-Palmer caramels (cinnamon, chili, salt), cardamom caramels, caramel sauce, and heavenly Magnolia Praline Crunch (pecan praline crunch with sea salt, black pepper, and grapefruit zest – oh my word…).

So here’s the deal that Helliemae’s has for use real butter readers: order $50 or more, add a 2-ounce box of classic salt caramels to your cart, enter mobutter at checkout, and you will receive the 2-ounce gift box of tiny caramels ($10 value) for free through DECEMBER 24, 2012. Stay on top of the latest in caramel flavor goodness at the Helliemae’s Facebook page or follow Helliemae’s on Twitter @helliemaes.

Full disclosure: I was not asked, given stuff, nor paid by these fine ladies to feature their products. It’s all about sharing the awesome with you.

Whew! That’s a lot of fabulousness on one page, kids. Let’s wrap it up with a recipe. I call it a sleeper recipe because people tend to ignore vegetables, as if they were the shy nerd in the hall. Truth is, that nerd just needs a little olive oil, some spices, and suddenly it owns dinner! That’s right. Butternut squash never ceases to thrill me with its sweetness, nuttiness, and versatility.

salt, pepper, olive oil, spices, and a butternut squash

cumin, coriander, chile, paprika, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, cayenne, cloves

mix the spices together and use a teaspoon

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It used to be when someone would suggest a mediocre place to meet for a meal, I’d say “sure”, because I wanted to be agreeable and nice and easy. Well, after years of walking away from a meal wondering why I wasted good money on it, I have decided not to do that anymore. Screw that. I’m lucky to live near a town (city) full of terrific restaurants. Usually, our problem is deciding where to go as we run down the list of favorites. A few months ago, my pal Kathya sent me a text that she and her husband had eaten at Oak, and that it was fantastic. So one day Jeremy and I were looking for a place to enjoy a late lunch and I said, “Let’s try Oak.”

oak at fourteenth and pearl

outdoor seating for the days of finer weather

Oak sits on the corner of Pearl and Fourteenth Streets in downtown Boulder. It’s been there for a while and I remember having lunch at Oak a few years ago with a friend, but nothing more than that. There was a destructive fire, Oak re-opened, and I began hearing great things about their food. It’s got a clean, contemporary, open interior with a main dining room and a smaller adjacent dining room. From the main dining room, you have a view into the open kitchen, the extensive bar, or out the picture windows onto Pearl Street’s shenanigans.

housemade passion fruit and lemongrass soda (jeremy’s cocktail in background)

On our first visit to Oak, we hit their midday menu (2:30-5:30 pm) and the first thing that sucked me in was the housemade passion fruit and lemongrass soda. Jeremy got a “surprise me” cocktail from the bar and I think he wasn’t so thrilled with the surprise. My soda was not overly sweet and beautifully passion fruity. The lemongrass was fairly understated, but… PASSION FRUIT! I have a soda about once every six months, yet Oak managed to list two housemade sodas that I cannae resist: passion fruit, and ginger beer. The ginger beer was spot on spicy, fresh, not too sweet, peppy – pretty much the second best I’ve had (first is Rachel’s Ginger Beer which I thoroughly enjoyed at Delancey in Seattle). And then there were the pickles…

holy mother of whoa, fried pickles with green goddess aioli

shaved kale and honeycrisp apple salad with togarashi, parmesan, and candied almonds

fried padrons on sausage and harissa

Over the course of a couple of visits, we sampled a few of the appetizers or small plates Oak had on offer. Let me confess, we have ordered the fried pickles every time, because they are THAT GOOD. The pickle slices are crisp and dilly and thick and big, coated in a crunchy, hot batter. It is my favorite item on the menu and that is saying a lot because the food at Oak is pretty much outstanding. Something so simple as a shaved kale salad was prepared to perfection. The padron peppers were lightly charred and served on a bed of aromatic sausage and delightful harissa. The menu has an impressive variety without being overwhelmingly ridiculous or underwhelmingly bland like most chain restaurants. It was tough choosing among the entrées.

shrimp po’ boy with champagne mango, spicy sambal, cilantro aioli

grilled double cheeseburger, tender belly farm bacon, gruyère, harissa aioli

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Recipe: cranberry yogurt coffeecake

Our local sunset is now some time around 4:15 pm, because we have that giant wall of the Continental Divide as our western horizon. It sneaks up on you rather quickly and sometimes the best you can do is to admire it from the road or while you’re working or maybe even miss it altogether. But when it’s good it is awesome and I love watching the progression from yellow to orange to pink.

lighting up a wave cloud

turning orange

and pink

I’ve been spending time with my folks this week. They like to feed us when they are in Boulder. I think that’s a parent thing. I feel a little like a parent with my parents these days… bringing them groceries, making sure they have what they need, having them up to stay with us, planning outings that will be of interest, setting up play dates, and telling Dad when to use his inside voice.

dinner at mom and dad’s place

a visit to the denver art museum

seeing the fantastic “becoming van gogh” exhibit

[You really ought to see the Van Gogh exhibit at the Denver Art Museum if you are anywhere near the state of Colorado from now until January 20, 2013.]

It happens every year after Thanksgiving, that people post about eating their leftovers. I skip over much of it because I have a fairly cool relationship with turkey. But then there are the cranberries. I hoard cranberries. Organic whole cranberries only come around once a year and I buy several bags to store in my freezer. I love these tart little jewels and the brilliant color is simply mesmerizing. I make cranberry sauce for the sole purpose of having “leftover” cranberry sauce.

cranberries and sugar

just 15 minutes until you have…

cranberry sauce

A recipe for cranberry coffeecake caught my eye on the King Arthur Flour site over the weekend and I knew it was meant to be. Coffeecake says “casual” to me. Nothing fancy, but always good. I like the single pan dealio and love how versatile it is as a dessert, as a breakfast, for a snack, to go with tea and of course… coffee.

streusel ingredients: vanilla, butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt

mix it together

crumbly goodness

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