Test Kitchen and the River Foodies!

The world famous O'Brien's River Brownies, O'Brien Guide Cookies, and Mandarin Orange Chicken Wraps will remain a menu staple. However, we have been experimenting with some wonderful new eats and treats for our River Menus. There are plenty of taste testers even in the off season. Prepare your taste buds for
Blueberry Muffins!


These tasty morsels have two slick tricks:
1) Do not over mix.
2) Do not over cook.

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
Mix 1/2 Cup sugar and 2 Tblsp. cinnamon together.
Spray Pam into 18 muffin tins. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar into bottom of muffin tins. Reserve the rest of cinnamon and sugar for tops.

2 Cups flour
3/4 Cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Combine the dry ingredients.
Add 1 1/2 - 2 Cups blueberries to the dry ingredients and stir to coat blueberries. (The berries can still be frozen when put into the flour mix.)

In a separate bowl, beat two eggs and 1 Cup of milk. Use a little paddler's elbow to really mix the egg and milk to make it frothy...like the whitewater!! Then splash about 1 tsp. vanilla into the liquid. Now pour liquid into dry ingredients and stir around until mostly moist.

Add 1 stick melted butter and finish stirring until all is moistened, but not smooth.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix and bake until done.

Definition of done: The top of muffin starts to crack and the top of muffin when gently pushed down springs back...or about 22 minutes!

You can butter these little beauties, drizzle honey on them, or eat the blueberry nuggets plain. They travel well for snacks at work, on the go, and for a light snack along the river. Stay tuned for more River Foodie Recipes!

Reserve your trip today! Oregon Rafting

Rogue River Blackberry Crisp

There is nothing like the taste of a ripe, juicy August blackberry in the middle of January! We picked and froze most of our crop of blackberries this summer.
First, 4 cups of berries were taken from the freezer and placed in a bowl to begin defrosting.

Now it is time for preparing the crisp!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
When berries are mostly defrosted, but not completely mix 1/2-3/4 cup of sugar with 3Tablespoons of flour. Pour blackberries into a 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle berries with sugar flour mixture and let set. Push the partially frozen berries back and forth to make sure they are all covered and then leave them alone to finish juicing.

Meanwhile, mix together 2 cups of oatmeal, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 c flour and 1 stick of melted butter. Stir until all oats are moistened from the butter and then spoon over the top of the blackberries.

Mix 3 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle this over the top of the oatmeal mixture. Bake the crisp until done. This means you can see the purple, juicy, goodness bubbling around the edges of the oats, or about 40 minutes.


Eat the blackberry crisp warm with friends or family. You can serve it with a glass of milk, hot coffee, ice cream or whipped cream, and enjoy a taste of the Rogue's hot summer days in the middle of winter!

Plotting the Produce

O'Brien's Headquarters is a buzz with seed catalogs from around the Northwest. A close to home favorite is Territorial Seed Company who have some of the sweetest corn, crispiest cucumbers, and tantalizing tomatoes. We are gathering our seeds and pot starts, mulching in more of the green miracle (natural fertilizer from Headquarters sheep and chickens), and carefully nurturing and whispering sweet nothings to the sleeping fruit trees. The harsh freeze in early December left some of them more than droopy.

All of the good efforts that go into the planning and planting will pay off when our guests are eating farm fresh jams and jellies, corn relish, pickled beets, fresh cherry tomatoes, and our own Gorp-like River Mix made from the abundant fruits and nuts harvested at Headquarters.

Join the plotting and find a little corner, pot, old boot, tea pot, or river bootie for a little green harvest of your own.

January Behind the Scenes

The wonderful folks at Maravia Rafts have been busy making a continued line of the "Rocket Boat". This one is longer, faster and even more fun to ride the waves. During the winter months we are preparing gear, oiling wheel wells, restocking heavily used straps, and now measuring and fitting the new frames to the rafts. We are also heavily mulching, hauling, piling and sifting the green miracle of manure out to the quietly resting garden bed. The chickens are working the soil, eating the abundant earwigs and laying an egg or two through even the darkest days.

Rafting on the Rogue River is a year round attitude, make plans to join us soon and see us dressed up in our new Royal Blue Class V boat with metal accessories! Don't forget your super soaker!!