This month, as part of the Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the fabulous blog Living Lou. Lou is a 19 year old food blogger from Toronto, Ontario. She’s passionate about leading a healthy lifestyle and inspiring others to follow suit. She has a ton of great recipes to choose from.

I was torn between her recipe for Coconut Crusted Chicken Strips and her recipe for Parmesan Popcorn. I settled on making popcorn because I thought it would be fun to get back to basics and make popcorn from scratch. The chicken strips are on my menu for later this week.

There really is no need to make prepackaged popcorn. Making it at home is simple, convenient and allows you to take basic popcorn to the next level with a variety of flavors. I tweaked Lou’s recipe by adding some garlic powder. I have a tendency to add garlic to a lot of my recipes. I love the flavor it brings to various dishes.

I forgot how much popcorn comes from 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels. I didn’t measure it but I would estimate that it makes around 4 quarts (16 cups) of popcorn, more than enough to feed your family and a few guests.

Watching the kernels “pop” into cooked popcorn was just as fun as watching the Jiffy Pop my mom made when I was little. There’s something mesmerizing about watching it transform from a few kernels to cups and cups of popcorn. This would be a really fun recipe to make with your kids.

Garlic-Parmesan Popcorn

Ingredients:

1/2 cup popcorn kernels, popped using your favorite method
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Toss the popcorn with the melted butter.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and black pepper.
Toss and serve.

This is the third post in a continuing series of posts about legal issues that affect food bloggers.

Are you afraid to comment on something for fear of reprisal? Do you feel passionately about something but fail to speak your mind because you are afraid of being attacked for your opinion? If not, then this post is not for you. However, I know from speaking with many of you that you have experienced some form of bullying online.

In my practice I have represented school districts that deal with this issue among school children of all ages. Guess what? It doesn’t stop when you graduate. Based upon the multiple emails I received on my Recipe Attribution post, I know that many food bloggers out there had strong opinions about the subject but did not feel comfortable expressing them. Why? Because they were afraid of being berated. They were afraid to offer an opinion. They felt they might be bullied.

Of course, some may hold back because they don’t want to offend the author of the post but that is the exception not the norm.

I dare you to post a recipe with a boxed cake mix and ask readers to comment on whether they think anyone should use packaged mixes in their recipes. In all likelihood you will see a deluge of people professing how they are appalled that you did not take a few extra minutes to make the recipe from scratch. Now, calling something where you used a packaged mix a “recipe” is something that might be up for debate. Do I think it’s okay to use packaged mixes? Yes, as long as they are not composed of artificial ingredients or flavors. That’s my opinion that I’m sharing with you. See what I did there? I shared my opinion. I did not say things like “How could you feed your family something like that?” or “Don’t you care what you put into your body?” Big difference.

For the most part, the nasty comments one might receive on a post are not illegal. They often do not rise to the level of an illegal activity like cyberstalking or cyberharassing. Nor are they something that would warrant notifying the Internet Crime Complaint Center. However, even though the activity may not be illegal in the eyes of the law, it can still be considered unacceptable by most standards.

Am I asking everyone to be nice? Yes. Am I asking everyone to agree with each other? No. We should have a healthy discourse, one where we respectfully disagree. I can’t tell you how many decisions by the court have made me want to scream “What were you thinking?” While I may feel that way I never say it that way. Whenever I write to the court, in support of or in opposition of something, I always close with “respectfully submitted.” I show respect.

A blog is an extension of of ourselves. It can be real and raw and when someone tries to intimidate someone it can be alienating. Sometimes it feels just like high school. I HATED high school.

I know there are those out there who are simply looking to drive traffic to their sites and will post whatever they think will draw traffic instead of revealing who they are. I want to believe that they are the minority. Most bloggers I know share their struggles both in and out of the kitchen. They put themselves out there to connect. When they are attacked with nasty comments or bullied for sharing their opinion it hurts.

If you are only talking to people who think exactly like you, you are essentially talking to yourself. That is what crazy people do.

Related Posts:

Trademark Infringement

Recipe Attribution: The Debate Rages On

Disclosure: While I am a lawyer, I am not offering legal advice. Posts on legal matters are intended to provide legal information and do not create an attorney/client relationship.

Photography is an art form. A photographer forms an intimate relationship with their camera and the objects that they are photographing. Time, patience and a sharp eye can transform a subject into something extraordinary. The photographers who participated in this month’s event are clearly artists who have excelled at their craft. There were 36 submissions. Each one tells a story about the photographer and the subject. I am so honored to have hosted this event. It gave me the opportunity to check out new-to-me photographers who I will eagerly follow in the future. Many thanks to Soma, Sneh, Kulsum and Barb for serving as our judges. They definitely had a tough and important job.

If you are not familiar with Does My Blog Look Good In This see my announcement post. You can check out all the submissions here and find out about our judges here.

Without further ado, I am pleased to announce the winners.

Overall Winners:

1st Place: Yelena from Cooking Melangery: Orange Sweet Potato Baked Chips with Thyme

2nd Place: Miriam from El Invitado de Invierno: Shaker Lemon Pie

3rd Place: Yulyan from Cooking With Love: Whole Wheat Banana Cashew Loaf

Edibility Winner: Pamela from Uno De Dos: Blueberry Lemon Cake

Originality Winner: Kankana from Sunshine and Smile: A healthy finger food from India

Aesthetics Winner: Noémi from Almond Corner: Chocolate Stout Cake

Host’s Award: Raks from Rak’s Kitchen: South Indian Filter Coffee

Thank you again to everyone who participated. The May edition of DMBLGIT will be hosted by Radhika of Just Home Made. Make sure to head over to Radhika’s site and keep an eye out for her announcement post. Hosts are needed for July 2012 and August 2012. If you are interested in hosting a future edition of DMBLGIT, send an email to Andrew with “DMBLGIT Host” as the subject line.

I must admit I have never stared so hard at egg whites in motion as I did when I was making this recipe. This month I decided to participate in #Baketogether, which is a monthly baking event hosted by Abby Dodge. Participants are tasked with making a recipe created by Abby. This month’s assignment was Angel Food Cake.

With words in the recipe like “peaks” and “tracks” I knew I had to keep my eyes glued to the mixing bowl to make sure I was doing it correctly. I made just a few changes to Abby’s recipe. I added some cocoa powder to transform it into a chocolate cake. More importantly, I substituted traditional cake flour with a gluten-free cake flour recipe. Finally, I topped my cake with some Biscoff Frosting. I didn’t intend to put any frosting on the cake but a little fumble in the kitchen led to the need for some cosmetic touches to the cake. Woe is me, I ended up needing the assistance of some Biscoff Frosting. I know you feel for me. I can tell. As you may know, Biscoff spread is not gluten-free. If you need to eliminate gluten completely, substitute this frosting with your favorite gluten-free frosting recipe.

Don’t skip any steps in Abby’s recipe. It is imperative to sift the flour. It is also necessary to keep a close eye on the egg whites to make sure you do not over beat them.

I decided to get a little fancy and top the cake with some chocolate shavings. The little hint of chocolate on top of the icing was a great contrast to the frosting. Next time I make this recipe I’m going to throw in some chocolate chips or additional shavings into the frosting.

As you may note if you take a peak at the calendar, it is too late to participate in this month’s #Baketogether but keep an eye out for next month’s assignment.

You can find the recipe for the gluten-free cake flour here: Gluten-Free Bay

You can find the recipe for the Biscoff Icing here: Kitchen Misfit. Please note that the Biscoff spread is not gluten-free. I can tolerate small amounts of gluten which is why this recipe worked for me.

Chocolate Angel Food Cake (Gluten-Free)

Ingredients:

1 cup (4 ounces) gluten-free cake flour*
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup (5 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
11 large (1 1/3 cups) egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup (7 ounces) superfine sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°. Have ready a 10 x 4–inch angel food cake pan. If the pan doesn’t have feet to support it while cooling the cake, have ready a bottle or funnel to hold the pan in a level, upside-down position. If using a non-stick pan, there is no need to invert it.

Sift (just a regular old sieve will work here) together the flour, cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar and salt three times (no joke – THREE times) onto a sheet of parchment, waxed paper or foil and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium-low speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increasing speed to medium, and beat until whites are opaque and climbing about half way up the bowl (the tracks from the whisk will be beginning to hold their shape) forming very soft peaks. Continue beating while slowly and continuously adding the superfine sugar. Beat on medium high until the whites are thick, shiny and form medium-firm, fluffy peaks. (The peaks should droop over gently.) Do not over beat. You want to leave some room for those whites to expand in the oven.

Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture over the beaten whites. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the whites. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, one quarter at a time.

Using the spatula to gently coax the batter, pour evenly into the prepared pan. Smooth the top. Bake until the cake is light golden brown and the cake is springy when touched, about 40 minutes. If using a regular pan, immediately invert the pan onto the counter if the pan has feet or if it doesn’t, invert the pan sliding the center tube onto the neck of the bottle. If using a non-stick pan, allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert cake onto cooling rack and let cool completely.

To remove the cake from a regular pan, rotate the pan, gently tapping the bottom edge of the cake pan on the counter as you turn it until the cake loosens from the pan. If necessary, run a long, thin knife between the cake and the pan and around the inside of the tube to loosen the cake. Slip the cake from the pan and gently lift it up from the center of the pan and arrange on a flat serving plate.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the bread I made isn’t necessarily flat. I was starving when I embarked on my first attempt to make this recipe. I didn’t make much of an effort to flatten it. I just wanted to throw it in the oven as quick as possible. It’s dangerous to cook when you are hungry. Things don’t exactly turn out as planned.

Well, this may not look like flatbread but I am pleased to tell you the texture was close enough. More importantly, the flavor was divine. I added a lot of diverse ingredients under the assumption that the bread would simply be a vehicle to support the toppings. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the bread is phenomenal all by itself. This flatbread recipe makes four servings. The fourth piece of flatbread never made it into the pictures because I kept taking a little piece here and there until the whole thing was gone.

I used the leftover sauce as a stuffing for chicken breasts. I think it would also taste great over pasta. You can find the flatbread recipe over at Girl Cooks World where you can see Cate’s pictures of what the flatbread is supposed to look like. Her recipe is definitely going into my rotation of easy gluten-free recipes.

*Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce adapted from Epicurious.

Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Just spicy enough to give a little kick to your favorite chicken, pasta or flatbread recipe.

Ingredients:

Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
½ cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1 cup half & half
½ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
3 teaspoons dried sweet basil
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

Toppings
½ cup spinach, wilted and drained
1 cup chicken, shredded
½ cup Spicy Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Directions:

Heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, tomatoes, half and half and crushed red pepper; simmer over medium heat 2 minutes. Stir in basil and simmer 1 minute longer. Add cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat.

Add toppings to the flatbread and serve.

]]>