Food traditions this time of year run deep. Family gatherings, company holiday parties, and more…which then lead some of us to New Year’s resolutions! But if you break it all down to its roots, what do you have? Comfort foods. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, warm buttered rolls (sourdough at our house!), cranberries, cookies and, in my family, pies. With life being a busy sort of thing, maybe only some of it is homemade and oh what a difference homemade makes.
This is why we focus on homemade at Camp as well. This past season, a guest said to me, “This doesn’t taste like restaurant food. I don’t want restaurant food. It tastes homemade.” Bingo! Just what we are going for. And the way we do this is with building a meal with good, clean ingredients and starting from scratch.
Bow Narrows Sourdough buns for Christmas
Here’s just a few of the things we make homemade at Bow Narrows Camp:
• traditional sourdough bread
• yeast breads
• salad dressings
• cookies and desserts
• custom-made seasoning blends
• our own barbecue sauce for the ribs
If we can avoid a boxed or bottled version, we do it. The results speak for themselves. While many of the dishes are my own or a family recipe, our guests have supplied a few of our best recipes:
• buttermilk pancakes
• English muffin bread
• panko pork chops
• sawmill gravy and cathead biscuits
It’s a great thing to see the best of our kitchen come out through the guests who love this place.
A favorite Spillar recipe
So this year when you plan your holiday meal tradition, make as many homemade dishes as you can. Homemade comfort food…that’s what it’s about. As it says in our camp kitchen, Happiness is Homemade.
For recipes and menu ideas, or to share a few with us, email Joanne at bownarrowsforever@gmail.com