Maple lovin!

Hello lovelies!

Over the weekend my roomie Becca and I went to the East coast for her Colondar reunion. If you've been following my blog, my bestest friend and roomie Becca was diagnosed with Colon Cancer back in 2006. She participated in the Colon Club's 2008's Colondar.

Since then Becca's become very close to all of the Colondar models, old and new. This year marks the 5th year since the making of the Colondar. The Colon Club invited the models back to the infamous Lake George lakehouse to reminisce and meet the new models. The models were able to invite guests to accompany them and I, alongside Becca's mom, Mary, and her trusty cameraman Ehsan, had the honor to join in. I understand now what Becca was saying about the lakehouse. There is a sense of tranquility and some kind of special healing power of the place that will forever be a part of me. These people that have been affected by Colon Cancer have a story to tell and to just imagine that there are close to 100 of them alive and well, active in their pursuit of colon cancer awareness. I was honored to be in their presence as well as inspired to help.

We stayed in Vermont majority of the time, and this of course introduced me to the ever loving essence of maple. Before we left, we got a chance to stop by the Dakin Farm and purchase some maple syrup and other goodies. I seriously couldn't wait to come home start creating recipes with all this yummy maple. When I woke up this morning this is what I've come up with. Enjoy!

* - I used Dakin Farm's maple products for all of these recipes. I hope you get a chance to use them. They are quite delicious!

Maple Marinade Salmon

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Maple Syrup *
• 1/2 of a lemon, freshly squeezed
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp of finely chopped ginger (if you don't have fresh ginger, ground ginger works too!)
• 4 salmon fillets

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients, except the salmon. When finished, reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade.
2. In a shallow baking dish (i use an 8x8 or 9x9) arrange salmon fillets. Pour the remainder of marinade over each fillet. Make sure each fillet is fully coated. Refrigerate for 30 mins. 
3. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Preheat oven for 5 mins. Take fillets out of the refrigerator and place inside preheated oven. 
4. Bake fillets for 15 - 20 mins until fish flakes easily with fork. 
5. Before serving, drizzle the 1/4 cup of marinade over salmon. 

Maple Glazed Carrots

Ingredients

• 1/2 bag of peeled baby carrots
• 2 tbsp of unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup of water
• 2 tbsp of  Maple Syrup *
• Dash of salt

Directions

1. Bring medium pot of water to boil. Add carrots and cook for 3 - 5 mins until tender. Drain. 
2. In a large skillet combine butter, water, maple syrup, and salt over a medium-low heat. 
3. When butter is melted, add carrots. Mix well and cover. Bring to a quick boil then reduce heat to simmer. 
4. Cook carrots for 8 mins stirring often. 
5. When finished cooking (most of the liquid will be gone), uncover and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Maple Butter Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 2/3 cups of  Maple Sugar  (use brown sugar if you can't find maple sugar in your local grocery store)
• 1 egg
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 jar of Maple Butter *

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and egg. Mix until well blended.
2. While mixing, slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time. Add salt. Blend well. 
3. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. 
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take out cookie dough from refrigerator.
5. Roll 1 inch balls and place approx 1 1/2 to 2 in apart on cookie sheets. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in flour.
6. Place in oven and bake 10 - 12 mins.
7. Remove from oven. Place cookies on cooling rack.
8. Once the cookies are cooled spread a fairly generous amount of maple butter on top.

Bon Appetit!