Farm to Table Inspired Wedding with Champagne Wedding Coordination



Tara, from Champagne Wedding Coordination, asked if I would like to help out with a styled shoot for a new wedding venue near the Portland area, at Orchard Events. Orchard Events is on a century farm/orchard (Jossy Farms), outside of Hillsboro. The wedding venue is outdoors and is located among an orchard of fruit trees. It is quiet, peaceful and nice scene change from the city lights of Portland.

 The Champagne Team wanted to dream up a Farm to Table inspired wedding. This was totally right up my alley so I was immediately on board. I love every single detail that was thought of. I hand delivered the items to the shoot last Thursday and was able to see all of the details starting to come together. I can't wait to see the professional photos once they are finished!

 Until then, feel free to enjoy some of the photos I took!












Bananas Foster Muffin Recipe



The first time I experienced Bananas Foster was while I was a State FFA Officer. I had always heard of it but had never had it before. Bananas Foster really is not a very popular dessert for most 18 year olds, go figure. During our State Officer year we had to live on the Oregon State Fairgrounds for almost three weeks in August, in an old, concrete dorm room building with creaky metal bunk beds that I am pretty sure came from the Salem Insane Asylum. Hello, One Flew Over the Cuckcoo's Nest. By the end of the three weeks I was feeling a bit cuckoo myself.

Thankfully we did not have to eat fair food or take out while we were there and had access to a kitchen. One night one of the chaperons made us bananas foster for dessert. It seemed like such a treat to have after a long day. Ever since that encounter I have been hooked on this dessert. 

If you have never had it before, it is bananas sauteed in butter and brown sugar, creating a rich caramelly sauce and then to top it off, rum is added and then lit on fire to burn off the alcohol. The sauce and bananas is then poured over vanilla ice cream, so good!

I decided to try my hand at turning this dessert into a banana muffin and was super happy with the way they came out! These muffins have a slightly crunchy outside, from the caramel sauce and a cooked banana flavor, instead of the harsh raw banana flavor you can sometimes get with other banana breads. They are my favorite right out of the oven, like most muffins and the best part is, you do not have to wait until you have brown bananas to make them!

Bananas Foster Muffins

Makes 1 Dozen

 3 bananas
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. rum
1/3 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 2/3 c. flour
1/3 c. instant oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Warm saute pan over medium high heat. Peel and dice bananas and melt butter in saute pan. Add bananas to pan and saute for one minute. Add in brown and white sugars and cook until a caramel sauce begins to form, approximately 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool.

Add mixture into a bowl once cooled and then mash all together. Add rum, eggs and milk. Mix thoroughly. Gently add in sifted dry ingredients, making sure to not over mix. Line muffin tins with liners and fill three quarters full with mix. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. 
No need for super ripe yucky bananas in this recipe1

Chop, chop, chop!

Does anyone else love the smell of melting butter as much as me??

Saute the bananas in the melted butter. 

Add in brown and white sugars. 


You don't want to let the sugars get quite to the caramel stage, just before it. 

Let cool and then mash it all together. 

Add the wet ingredients and make yourself a cocktail.
If you do not drink or do not own rum, you can use rum extract. 

Next the dry ingredients...

Trust me on the oats. 

I sprayed the top of my pan too just in case there was any muffin overage. 

Voila!

Enjoy with coffee or a mimosa!! Or both!






Paradise Produce | Wooden Sign



If you live in Central Oregon, specifically Madras, and have never been to Paradise Produce, you need to plan on taking a drive out to the country and visiting. Paradise Produce was started a couple years ago by our neighbor Terri Buck and has grown overtime. She features garden fresh produce, farm eggs, local honey, flowers and veggie starts. 

 She has a self serve, honor system, building on their farm, where you can drop by and purchase what you need, whether someone is there or not. She is also generally at the Saturday Market in Madras. Once canning season starts you can purchase bulk produce items from her. I purchased POUNDS of tomatoes from her last year for salsa and pasta sauce and they were delicious! 

 Terri starts a lot of her produce in a large greenhouse, her flowers in a smaller greenhouse and then when the weather warms up she has a large outdoor garden space. Terry recently asked me if I would make a wooden sign for her greenhouse building to help keep visitors from roaming the produce greenhouse. While she appreciates your curiosity, it is best for your safety and also the plants to not enter the greenhouse. No one wants to be eating squashed produce or slipping on a rogue tomato and twisting an ankle!

 If you are looking for fresh, local veggies this is the place to go! Take a beautiful drive out to the country, say hi to Terri and purchase some quality goods! Follow Paradise Produce to keep up to date about what is available! 


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