Oregon Lodge Cooking: Recipes & Memories from Summers at Lake Creek

Menus and stories flow through Oregon Lodge Cooking, with more than 65 recipes that evoke summertime memories of a well-loved Central Oregon resort. The book is a time capsule for the early days of Lake Creek Lodge and a reminder of simpler times. Recipes include Grilled Salmon with Homemade Tartar Sauce, Creamy Polenta, Cinnamon Sticky Buns, and Chocolate Brownie Pie. Cooking seasonally comes naturally with fresh ingredients close at hand, such as Mint Sauce made with wild spearmint, and Old Fashioned Blueberry Muffins, which take advantage of Oregon’s bountiful summer crop.

Each chapter touches on a different aspect of the joys of Oregon summers, from the knotty-pine cabins, to the fishing pond, to hay rides and horses. Juli Tantum spent years gathering stories and tracking down favorite lodge recipes. She tested and updated the recipes so that the popular Ice Cream Cake dessert and Oven-Fried Chicken entrée are easy to prepare and available to all.

The lodge kitchen’s chalkboard displayed that night’s menu so guests could anticipate dinner all day while fishing, hiking, or swimming. Those same menus are printed in Oregon Lodge Cooking. At the sound of the dinner bell, friends and family gathered on the lodge deck to enjoy delicious meals on Oregon summer evenings. The food was good and simple, as lodge cooking is meant to be.