Donuts and bagels and fritters oh my!

by Jill St. George on Jan 11, 2012

It seems like just yesterday I was picking out donut holes at Winchell’s in Yakima – a fond memory as a child. When I think back it wasn’t so much about eating the donuts, it was more about the anticipation of the donut house. Of walking in to the smell of freshly-baked donuts. Seeing rows upon rows stacked up in the glass cases. The anticipation of picking out each and every one, with a huge emphasis on the color of sprinkles I’d choose. So I’m sure you can imagine the disappointment when I heard the doors had closed.

Many, many … many years later, we’ve been given the opportunity to create the same memories for our children. Don’s Donuts and Julie’s Java is located on Nob Hill, just a few blocks west of where the old Winchell’s used to be. I had driven by many times, but finally decided to stop yesterday. It was as if a day hadn’t passed since my last visit to Winchell’s – the same smell, the rows of donuts and the child-like excitement of picking out the perfect one.

After scarfing down a couple of  fancy cake donuts I grabbed a sweet almond bagel for the road. Having already had two cups of coffee, I skipped on Julie’s Java, but of course that just gives me another reason (or excuse) to visit again – soon! But next time I’ll have my son in tow with hopes to give him the same donut experience I had as a child.

Don’s Donuts & Julie’s Java

1024 W. Nob Hill Blvd.

Yakima, WA 98902

Don has a variety of freshly-baked bagels.

Fancy cake donuts for the kids.

Ooey, gooey cinnamon rolls.

A peek inside.

Apple fritters!

Sweet almond bagel.

Don's customers express their satisfaction with a photo-op.

Slow Cooker Super Bowl

by Robin Salts Beckett on Jan 5, 2012

Slow cookers make cooking for a crowd easy! (L-R: Dirk Bernd, Ryan Cowden and Wes Shockley) • Photos by Jennifer Dagdagan

After the culinary whirlwind of the holidays, who wants to spend more time in the kitchen during these cold beginning months of the new year? We don’t. Alas, the Super Bowl does manage to roll around every year, and many of us are again searching for a way to feed a crowd of people — who are glued to the flat screen.
But what if it was easier?
With that goal in mind, we searched for recipes — appetizer, main dish and dessert — that are delicious and can be made in a slow cooker (OK, and one fondue pot). You know, the kind of recipes that go hand-in-hand with some of our terrific local and regional microbrews.
We came up with the following menu — one that’s sure to please any football fanatic on Feb. 5. Keep in mind that the ingredients and directions are more like guidelines … slow cooker recipes just beg to be altered according to your tastes.

The fondue got rave reviews

Appetizers
Spicy artichoke dip
Ingredients:
• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup grated parmesan
• 14 oz. can of artichoke hearts, drained
•  1 jalapeno, diced

Add all ingredients to slow cooker. Set slow cooker on low until melted. Stir.

Easy cheesy fondue
Ingredients:
• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ cup beer
• 8 oz. package cream cheese
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Combine ingredients in saucepan and melt over medium heat on a stovetop. Once melted, transfer to a fondue pot.

Jalapeno Pork Roast - delicious!

Main Dish
Jalapeno Pork Roast
Reader Vicki Hannon Baker contributed this recipe. She reported on Yakima magazine’s Facebook page that the recipe is quite easy, taking five minutes to throw in the slow cooker. (And we concur.)

Ingredients:
• 1 pork roast (size can vary — there is a lot of sauce)
• 2 28 oz. cans of green enchilada sauce
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• toppings

Combine ingredients in a slow cooker. Set slow cooker on low. Cook overnight or all day (8 hours). Put on flour tortillas with queso fresco or cheddar cheese, sour cream and onions or other desired toppings.

Dessert in a slow cooker? Yep!

Dessert
Slow Cooker Blueberry Cobbler
This dessert is adapted from Schwan’s and was given to us courtesy of our favorite local food blogger, Savannah Tranchell, who writes Appetite for the Yakima Herald-Republic. A dessert in a slow cooker — who would have thought?
Ingredients
• 1 cup flour
• 1 and 1/4 cup sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 eggs
• 3 teaspoons lemon juice, divided
• 1 bag frozen blueberries

Directions
Stir together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, spices, sour cream, water, eggs and 1 teaspoon lemon juice into a 4-quart slow cooker. Mix well.

Combine berries with remaining sugar and lemon juice. Pour berry mixture into center of batter. Cover and cook on high for two hours.

Thanks to the following for their help on this feature: Lisa Dyr and Kristie Patrick for their vintage crock pots; Gabby Hauff for her fondue pot; Nicole and Ryan Cowden for use of their house and Nicole’s styling skills; Wes Shockley and Dirk Bernd for being our “models.”

Fresh Sheet: Joy Garden

by Robin Salts Beckett on Jan 5, 2012

Beef bulgogi with spicy kimchi

One of my co-workers, George May, is a good cook and leaves samples of his culinary handiwork on my — and others’ — desk from time to time. This makes him one of my favorite colleagues (that and the fact that he’s a fellow Star Trek fan). He’s Korean American, and these delicious little morsels are Korean too. He always delivers his “samples” with tiny bottles of soy sauce and chopsticks. I give a girly clap of my hands when I round the corner to my desk and see a miniature picnic.
So when I heard about Joy Garden, a new Korean restaurant on 56th Avenue and Tieton Drive, I asked George his opinion, trusting his ability to judge authentic Korean fare. With his thumbs up, my friend Brynn and I gave it a whirl ourselves.

While the interior is no-frills, it’s clean and pleasant, and the service is friendly. The restaurant offers Korean barbecue, but unfortunately they can’t actually cook the dishes at patrons’ tables. The menu also includes stews, noodle dishes and even American-style kids’ dishes (chicken strips and fish and chips). I chose the beef bulgogi and Brynn tried the pork bulgogi.  We split a side of kimchi.
Bulgogi is a typical Korean dish using thinly sliced beef in a marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, sugar, garlic and sesame seeds that is grilled or barbecued. Kimchi is a spicy vegetable dish (usually made with napa cabbage, but one can use other vegetables or roots). If you’ve ever had a bad experience with kimchi, don’t let it deter you from trying it again. Although kimchi is traditionally fermented, I’ve tasted plenty of varieties (thanks, George), and each one is delicious. I think of it like a spicy cole slaw, although there are many that aren’t spicy.
Brynn and I enjoyed our meals, “mmm-ing” our way through them, and they were delivered to our table quickly. Each steamy-hot dish was a tumble of sweet and savory flavors, punched up with the kick of the cold, crisp kimchi on the side. Although the kimchi was spicy, as Brynn noted, “There are no sweat beads on my forehead.” The warm sautéed vegetables and white rice were nice complements to tender and flavorful beef. Since they were from the lunch menu, our meals were fairly inexpensive, too, with each of our entrees coming in at a mere $7.50. All in all, it’s heartily recommended.

5605 Tieton Drive, Yakima
509-965-9544

If you’re interested in Korean cooking, George recommends the public television series “Kimchi Chronicles,” available at kimchichronicles.tv.

Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cookies

by Jill St. George on Jan 3, 2012

The past few years, my sister and I have dedicated one day in December to helping our grandma Mary make Christmas cookies for the whole family. Unfortunately the holidays passed us by much too quickly and the cookies didn’t get made this year. Even though the holidays are over, my sweet tooth has far from subsided, so I pulled out grandma’s recipe and whipped out these cookies. They’re the perfect cookie – soft in the center, a tad bit crunchy on the edges and the perfect about of peanut buttery yumminess.

Ingredients

½ Cup Shortening

½ Cup Peanut Butter

½ Cup Sugar

1 Egg

½ Cup Brown Sugar

¾ tsp Soda

½ tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

1 ¼ Cup Flour

Mix dry ingredients – flour, salt, baking powder and soda together in a bowl. Mix wet ingredients – shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar and egg together in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet. Mix. Drop teaspoon size dough balls onto greased baking sheet about two inches apart. Dip fork in flour and press marks into cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

(makes a very small batch, so double recipe if necessary)

Yum!

Fresh Sheet: A Tale of Two Cranberries

by Robin Salts Beckett on Nov 10, 2011

The turkey cranberry sandwich at White House Cafe.

For most of my childhood I didn’t realize that cranberry sauce was actually made with berries. I also wondered why folks called it a sauce, since it slid out of a can in a gelatinous log. (I also recently found out that pickles are, in fact, cucumbers, but that’s a different story.)
Sometime during my 20s, I first tasted the cranberry’s tart-tangy splendor on a sandwich made of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. It was a sauce not made from a can, and it was amazing.
If you’re looking for that sweet/savory combination and don’t want to wait until the holidays, take a seat at one of these local eateries for their version of the classic — and seasonal — turkey cranberry sandwich.

The White House Café makes its turkey cranberry sandwich ($8) all year long, which is something to be thankful for. My favorite ingredient in the sandwich is not turkey or cranberries, though — it’s sliced almonds. They give the sammie an unexpected, and delicious, crunch. The whipped cream cheese, crushed cranberries, lettuce and radish sprouts also add dimension and a whole lot of tastiness. Pair the sandwich with one of the White House’s luscious soups and specialty beverages, and you’ve got yourself one indulgent lunch.

White House Café
3602 Kern Way • Yakima
509-469-2644
whitehouseinyakima.com
Geppetto’s recently added its turkey sandwich, panini style ($14), to a new fall menu. The panini is great, but the star of this show is the cranberries. Period. The cranberries appear in a delightful chutney, one of the foodie world’s “it” condiments these days. This sweet and tangy chutney gets its flavor from apple cider vinegar, honey and — of all things — Tamatio, a popular hot sauce. That complexity is a nice counterpoint to a generous slather of cream cheese, warm turkey and lovely, salty bacon. When two friends and I had lunch there recently, the paninis were accidentally brought to us sans bacon. I am not a fussy customer, but I had to ask about it. A plateful of sizzling slices was brought to our table pronto. Thank goodness, since they would have been missed. It’s a delightful sandwich; however, be warned: it’s not a light meal. But hey! It’s the holidays, right? In that case, add a cup of their cream of mushroom soup…

Geppetto’s
3105 Summitview Ave. • Yakima
509-895-7048

Get Your First Friday On!

by Jill St. George on Nov 9, 2011

Photos by Jennifer Dagdagan

I’M A PRETTY BUSY GIRL, so nights out for me are few and far between. But in the name of research, I recently had the opportunity to hit up one of downtown Yakima’s First Fridays — a monthly event that has become so popular it’s spread to some establishments on Yakima’s west side.

The first Friday of every month, many downtown businesses are often full to overflowing, with restaurants, wineries and shops offering specials and entertainment for customers who can walk from hangout to hangout. So I grabbed my notepad and my good friend Andrea, and we hit the town for a girls’ night out.