Weekend in Cle Elum

We spent Presidents Day Weekend in Cle Elum with Kyle's family and like all our family gatherings, most of our time and energy was centered around food! The family is always so well organized when it comes to our meals and group trips. In order to make sure we didn't overlap too much on food and had the right variety, we sent around an excel spreadsheet that we filled in with what we would bring in various categories (starch, protein, appetizers, drinks, etc). Here are some of the highlights and some recipes.

Warm bacon salad and cioppeno. Kyle's mom and aunt got fish stock from Central market to make this hearty seafood soup. My warm bacon salad went well with the soup. You make the dressing by frying up bacon, setting the bacon aside once cooked and adding about 2 tbs of brown sugar, a splash of red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to the bacon drippings in the warm pan. Then, using a whisk, beat the ingredients over low heat until it is well mixed. Taste it and add more sugar and red wine vinegar to taste. Add the bacon back in and pour over the salad. I recommend using spinach, avacado, tomato and croutons. You can also make a wedge salad which is delcious, too.

Chocolate fondue was a fun dessert for the big group. It was very easy to make--just 16 oz milk chocolate chips, 1/2 pint whipping cream, 1/2 cup caramel topping, and 3 tbs torani hazelnut syrup. Just place all the ingredients in your fondue pot and heat over low heat, stirring until the mixture is melted and smooth. You can dip your favorite ingredients--we had apples, strawberries, marshmellows, pound cake, grapes and preztels. We also broke into some potato chips and dipped those as well which was absolutely indulgent and delicious.

Happy Eating,

Emi