Taste of Home – Congrats to the Taste of Home winner of the America’s Best Loved Recipe Contest.  George Schroeder of Port Murray, NJ won $25,000.00 with his Gorgonzola Penne with Chicken. His recipe looks delicious, check it out.

APC Crisco National Pie Championship – Here are all the winners of the 2009 APC Crisco National Pie Championships.  Lots of winners recipes to try out.  There are a couple I wouldn’t mind trying out – like this Tres Leches Caramel Cream Pie by  Christine Montalvo. 

Lea & Perrins – has a (w)rap contest actually, it’s called That’s a Wrap Contest.  Lea & Perrins Thick Classic Worcestershire Sauce comes in a traditional paper wrapping, so they want you to rap about using the sauce with the wrap.  They even have an app to help you out if you can’t figure out how to wrap, um, rap. To help inspire you, here’s a 1.00 off coupon for Lea & Perrins Thick Classic Worcestershire Sauce.

Regal Springs Tilapia, the world’s largest producer of the mild-tasting, popular fish, is searching for the best family-friendly tilapia meal for no more than $15.  Six finalists will receive cash prizes.  The grand prize winner receives $5,000 and may appear on the company’s website and promotional materials.  The contest begins May 1 and ends August 1, 2009.

I won a t-shirt from The Barbecue! Bible on the Foodie Blogroll.  The Barbecue! Bible is having a neat barbecue contest.  They want to know about your most innovative grilling technique in The Ultimate Grilling Recipe Contest.   Steve Raichlen even shares one of his ingenious grilling techniques with you in his video – Caveman TBone Video.  Steve is a grilling guru with many barbecue books including the Barbecue Bible.  The winner of the Ultimate Grilling Recipe Contest will win a trip for two to the Barbecue University.  The contest ends JULY 10th – so you need to get right to this contest NOW!!!

I have a few gadgets that are maybe a little seasonal in nature, and somewhat fun, but very functional at the same time.  Functional is very important to me.  I don’t want something hanging around that I’m not going to use, but if it makes my life easier, I definitely want it. Here are a few things I’ve added to my kitchen that I think you might enjoy too.

Cherry Chomper – This cherry pitter by Talisman Designs, is cute and does exactly what it should do.  You put a cherry in it’s mouth push down on the head, and the pit is swallowed up, while the cherry is there pitless, waiting for you.  My daughter had absconded with the Cherry Chomper and I made her dig it back out and give it back because I am not messing my teeth up on cherry pits.  It captures all the pits in the bottom container, so you can throw them into the compost bucket without any rolling away, plus catches the juice too. My Grade A. 

 Grilly Goat Basting Tongs & Sauce Pot – The Grilly Goat name is a little on the silly side, you have to admit, and the tongs look a little odd, but the set is great.  The lockable tongs have a silicon basting brush as built in (kind of it’s removable).  I wasn’t sure what I would think, or my husband who likes to do the grilling would think about this feature.  Well, we like that we don’t have to mess with both a brush and tongs. The brush worked much better than I thought it would and impressed me.  Having just one tool is really cool.  Plus, there are other features that we found we like a lot.  The Sauce pot is very stable and won’t tip (unlike my other basting pot). The Sauce pot also has a slot to slide the edges of the tongs into, giving you somewhere to set the tongs so that the sauce drips back into the sauce pot and not on the plate or tray. My grade A.

Hamilton Beach Wave station Express – We bought this on vacation because my daughter wanted to make virgin daiquiris and I was eager to try them out.  Since then she’s become our smoothie queen, using different combinations to make luscious drinks.  She throws in the ice and they are all ground into tiny ice particles, to make the drink cold, but not watery.  The wave action causes the ice to break down evenly, so you won’t have any big ice chunks. This is really high up on the fun list for me. The Wave Station Express has a nice little spigot on the front for pouring, though if it’s slushy you need to pour it out the top. 

Deb and I grew up in the city, long long time ago.  We only had a little yard, bigger than most of our friends, but much smaller than the yards we enjoy now.  Our yard and the one across the fence – an Italian family, were the only ones we knew of that had vegetable gardens.  Grass was a coveted commodity.  People protected it with fences, and walls and signs that said – “Keep off the Grass”.  We didn’t care too much about the grass, especially since we had trees shading most of the yard, but the one nice sunny spot had a vegetable garden.  We grew tomatoes in that vegetable garden and I would go out with my salt shaker, and pick a nice ripe tomato to munch standing right there in the middle of the tomato patch.  Now we have bigger yards, but we’re still growing tomatoes in our gardens and I wait with baited breath for the first bright red tomato to be ready.

When I was making my Ruby Red Cabbage Slaw, I needed to go out and gather some fresh tarragon.  I took my trusty flashlight and as I was walking out to the herb garden, I passed the tomato bed and something bright red flashed in the light.  What?  Didn’t anyone see that out there?  I struck gold.  I pulled up the bottom of my shirt and picked three very ripe, ready for the picking tomatoes and dropped them in my shirt (who needs a basket).  I waited until today – to make my first tomato sandwich.  I love, love, love tomato sandwiches.  I don’t have to have the B, or the L, just give me the T, T, T!!!  I did add some basil, because it’s so close I picked it too, and they go so well together.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium or 2 small homegrown tomatoes
• 2 slices toasted bread
• Mayo
• 3 or 4 leaves basil chopped
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

Smear Mayo on both pieces of toast.  Slice tomato and place on one side of bread. Sprinkle basil on the other. Shake a little salt & pepper on the tomato.  Slap both sides together and take a big bite. MMMMMMMMM

We just picked our first couple of ripe tomatoes and that always makes me very happy.  Tomatoes in the store over the winter just don’t do the real homegrown tomatoes justice.  Whenever I first pick my tomatoes, I always think back to John Denver singing “Homegrown Tomatoes” – one of my very favorite song.  My kids (along with my sister Deb) think my husband and I are dorks for listening to John Denver music, but it was one of the things we had in common long before we met.  John Denver didn’t write Homegrown Tomatoes – Guy Clark is the author, so I will give you a few versions of this very appropriate song. 

Guy Clark singing – it’s not great quality, but they look like they’re having fun.

John Denver – I couldn’t find one of him on stage, except this one. This clip was when he went to the Netherlands to meet an imitator and it’s really fun to watch. Then at the end, he sings Homegrown Tomatoes.

And in case you think it’s dated – here’s the Central Ohio Folk Festival 2008 ‘Halfway Home’ – singing once again –Guy Clark’s Homegrown Tomatoes.

Next time you’re out in your tomato patch, sing while you pick, it’ll make you feel like dancing too. Try it – you’ll see. Maybe you can become another Johnny Tomato Seed.

• Subway announces they are cleaning up their standard subway build by removing pickles and olives from their standard build (what they use to list basic nutritional info). These two ingredients are higher in sodium and they felt that the sandwiches would be heart healthier without them. By removing them from the standard build, they hope to draw awareness for those watching their sodium intake due to high blood pressure or who are just concerned with overall heart health.  Subway’s Fresh Fit menu is approved by the American Heart Association and their children’s menu is approved by the National Institutes of Health.
• Hormel – also wants you to eat healthier and help you to figure out what all the labels are really telling you.  They have a downloadable “Shop Smart, Live Well: Value Without Compromise” guide that provides information on healthy, trusted and affordable options that people can feel good about eating and serving to their families. Specifically, the guide offers tips on how to:
  • Decipher various product claims;
  • Identify natural products in the supermarket
  • Make simple, smart shopping choices
  • Trade costly, unhealthy snacks for healthier, more affordable options
  • Live the “Shop Smart, Live Well” philosophy both in and out of the supermarket
  • Create delicious, all-natural recipes the whole family can enjoy
    • Go here to get Hormel Coupons.
• Cooking-Hits.com – Are you ready to be the next Giada, Rachel or Bobby? Cooking-Hits is a place to upload your cooking videos to share.  Besides uploading videos of your cooking your favorite recipes, you can also connect via Facebook,Twitter, MySpace or YouTube.  Cooking-Hits.com allows users to:

  · Have Fun – Interact with other food lovers by viewing, rating, commenting on or sharing original recipes via “home-cooked” short video

  · Get Solutions – Great ideas, helpful hints, tips on meal prep and ask questions

  · Find Time – Search and print recipes, ingredients and menu options

  · Save Money – Create shopping lists where ingredients from a recipe can be added one at a time

• Biokleen – To commemorate 20 years as a leading provider of earth-friendly cleaning supplies, Biokleen has pledged to plant one tree for every new fan the company receives on Facebook in the month of July with the help of EarthCorps. It only takes a minute, so become a fan. Each tree planted absorbs and removes one ton of harmful carbon dioxide out of the air over its lifetime, so do your part to preserve the environment and join the conversation!

This is my contribution to the Independence Day Celebration at my brother in laws.  I wanted something bright, something kind of healthy that make use of some of the cabbage we have in the garden.  This slaw has a nice wine vinegar sauce that you sauté it in and is a cool side for your picnic plate and it’s lovely to look at too.  This recipe came from my Joy of Gardening Cookbook that is about 15 years old and.  Decent gardening cookbooks can last you a lifetime, with recipes to enjoy right away as well as giving you ideas on how to put things up for the winter.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup or brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of water
• 2 tbs fresh tarragon or 1 tbs dried
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 cups finely chopped red cabbage
• 1 medium onion finely diced

In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, maple syrup, water, tarragon, caraway seeds, and salt.  Heat until simmering.  Add the cabbage, onion and stir.  Cook, stirring often for 5 minutes or until the cabbage is bright magenta and slightly crunchy.  Transfer the cabbage to a ceramic or glass salad bowl and chill before serving.

Happy Fourth of July – Everyone!!!

Tonight’s dinner was inspired by the cabbage we are growing in our garden. We have plenty of it, and now we’ll have to come up with plenty of recipes to try it all out.  What’s cool about picking cabbage.  I read in my gardening book that if you leave a portion of the stem and leaves, newer smaller cabbage heads will branch off.  I picked a head of cabbage leaving behind the steam and big leaves and lo and behold, four smaller heads are growing there now. 

I thought red potatoes and cabbage would be delicious together along with a little apple cider vinegar to add a some tartness. It was an easy side dish with a really good flavor and I will definitely make it again.

Ingredients :

• 8 – 10 red potatoes
• 1/2 head of cabbage, diced – bigger pieces
• 1 medium or 2 small onions, diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

Cut up potatoes into big bite size pieces and boil in a big pot of water until almost soft, then drain.  In a large skillet, heat oil.  Sauté onion until it starts to soften, and add cabbage, sauté a little longer and add the potatoes.  Add apple cider vinegar, brown sugar caraway seeds, salt and pepper to taste.  Stir together for another 5 minutes until heated through and serve. 

My kids were out burning some twigs in our fire pit out back. A few years ago we wanted to have a place to burn wood, and I insisted on a cement block type square fire pit to burn the wood in.  It’s away from the house and pretty safe, but the brush pile has gotten out of control and my husband put them in charge of working on it.  After eating dinner in front of the fire, I thought s’mores would be the perfect dessert.  It would have been perfect if we had marshmallows – I don’t like to run out to the store for a single ingredient if I can help it.  I had Marshmallow Creme, so I thought I would use that instead.  To kick it up a little, I also added a little bit of home made caramel sauce that I had in the fridge and used organic chocolate with almonds in it.  I put the uncooked s’mores onto the pie irons to warm over the fire and melt the chocolate.  You might need to use your test strips when you’re done to check on your sugar levels, but this was good stuff. 

Ingredients:

• 1 graham cracker – broken in half/ per person
• 1 tsp of marshmallow fluff/ graham cracker
• 1/2 tsp of caramel sauce
• 1 square of chocolate with almonds a little smaller than the graham cracker

Layer the graham cracker with the marshmallow fluff, the caramel sauce, and the square of chocolate(larger than the one in my picture), then the other half of the graham cracker on top. Place it in the pie iron and warm for a couple of minutes on each side.

I’ve been trying out some new things and there are a few you can bring to the 4th to share with your friends, or have on hand.  I like surprising people and getting them to have a taste on my dime.  Sometimes you’ll don’t mind tasting something new that someone else brings just because you know you’re not wasting your money.  If you like it, then you can buy it yourself next time.  This time you can be the supplier.

Here are some suggestions:

• Zevia -  This is a new sugar free soda made with stevia – a plant based sweetener.

I’ve had stevia before, and I was not thrilled with the taste.  From Wikipedia:  The species Stevia rebaudiana, commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a sweetener and sugar substitute, stevia’s taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations.

What I experience was the bitter concentrations and swore off Stevia.  However, some FDA changes came about and now an extract form can be used in foods that is much sweeter tasting without the aftertaste that some of the earlier powdered stuff had.  Zevia was really delicious.  My husband and kids and I all tried it and agreed that we would buy it.  Here’s how good it was – I was drinking it and it popped into my head that since I usually drink sugar free sodas, I should look for a sugar free one – and then thought duh!  they’re all sugar free. Really, I’m not that dumb, it was so good I forgot – especially the cola. 

I should tell you that some of the flavors are a little bit different as they are all natural including the coloring. For example, the Black Cherry contains geraniums, clove buds, and spice oil from the bark of the cassia tree. The Orange Zevia contains annatto, because it was the only way to get the natural orange coloring.  Whole Foods carries Zevia as well as some natural food places.

•  Truvia – While you are at it, try truvia also.  It doesn’t have that bitter aftertaste either.  I bought it after I tasted the Zevia, just because I was impressed with the Zevia.  Now Truvia is my first choice, splenda my second – though restaurants don’t have truvia, so I’m stuck there.

•   Agavero – This is something for the adult crowd only.  Agavero is an ultra-premium spirit that is created from a blend of 100% blue agave añejo and reposado tequilas hand blended with the essence of Damiana flower for unparalleled smoothness and taste. My husband loved this stuff.  I enjoyed it, but he absolutely loved it.  He drank it on the rocks – without anything else added.  The Damiana flowers are said to be an aphrodisiac, but I can’t attest to that – or maybe I won’t attest to that – or maybe I’m just not telling.

Agavero is made exclusively from blue agave plants that are a minimum of 10 years old when harvested. The production process begins with the delicate baking of the piña, or heart of the blue agave.  The heart of the blue agave is then crushed to obtain the aguamiel (honey water).  The aguamiel is put through natural fermentation and then subjected to two slow distillations to produce tequila.  Before bottling, the tequila is aged in new, French limousine oak barrels. The añejo tequila is aged eighteen months and the reposado tequila is rested up to one year. The long maturation allows for the full benefits of the slightly charred, limousin oak casks to be blended into the liquid. Then the secret ingredient, the essence of the damiana flower, is hand blended to the tequila blend for unparalleled smoothness and taste.

The bottle is lovely to look out blue for the blue agave plant with leave coming up from the bottle.  It’s really a special looking bottle, something that would make a nice gift, or would stand out on your bar.  It would definitely be noticed no matter where it is.

If you like cooking with tequila – here’s a recipe using Agavero:

Grilled Garlicky Agavero Tequila Shrimp Kabobs with Lemon and Fresh Bay Leaves – Serves 6 (courtesy of Diane Brown)

• 2 tablespoons Agavero
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 12 lemon wedges
• 12 fresh bay leaves Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley Wooden skewers, as needed.

Mix the Agavero, olive oil, pepper, and garlic with the shrimp and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat a gas grill or broiler until moderately hot. Thread the shrimp, bay leaves and lemons on skewers and season with salt and pepper. Grill or broil skewers basting with additional marinade and turning every 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is opaque and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.

• Boar’s Head Pepperhouse Gourmaise – This condiment adds a little zing to your sandwiches.  It’s really a great combination made with a  proprietary blend of black, white, pink and green peppercorns that are then mixed with Boar’s Head Mayonnaise and its Deli Mustard.  It’s great on hot dogs and also hardboiled egg sandwiches. I think it would go well on chicken or as a sauce for salmon.  I’ve been using it on different things and I think the hardboiled egg sandwich spread is one of my favorites, though I love it on deli-meat sandwiches too.

Last night was our anniversary – and we spent the night alone without any kids, animals, noise – just the two of us spending time together.  Tonight, we grilled chicken and had a salad, nothing really special, just a regular family meal.  Later I was thinking about the anniversary and realized we didn’t do anything to involve the kids, so I told my husband if he ran out and picked up some ice cream I would quickly assemble a brownie (box mix).  Since it’s summer and I hate heating up the house I wanted to try something new and grill it out on the deck . 

I lined my cast iron grill pan with foil, sprayed it with some oil, then poured the mix in it.  I placed the pan over the two middle burners which were turned on low.  The two burners on the outside were on high.  It baked rather quickly with the lid down and came out quite nice. When we are camping I bake biscuits and other things over the stove by flipping pans, but since the grill has a lid to keep in the heat, there’s no need to flip.

We served the warm brownies in a bowl with scoops of ice cream over top for our dessert and enjoyed it on the deck with dusk setting in.  The family loves to eat all of our meals outside and with the new grill – we’ll be doing most of the cooking and it seems if we can get some more cast iron pans, maybe the baking too.  Have you ever tried baking on the grill?  Besides s’mores?  What’s your favorite grilled dessert?