The Left Over Queen

Finest Foodies Friday - November 6, 2009

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:18:00 +0000

IF YOU LIKE FOOD BLOGS, THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE EVERY FRIDAY!

As always here is what the FFF is all about. Finest Foodies Friday is a weekly Friday post featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites and yours!

What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is the first and fastest growing free membership blogroll for food bloggers and has become a wonderful community to share ideas about all things food related. With a membership of over 5,200 food blogs, I am sure you can find much inspiration and new friends!

The only requirement to be featured here on FFF is to be a member of The Foodie Blogroll and be displaying The Foodie Blogroll widget on your blog. If you are not yet a member, but you have a food blog and would like to join us, please click here!

If you have a favorite foodblog on The Foodie Blogroll, that you would like to be featured here on FFF, please join us over on The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum, and post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

Two Peas and Their Pod

This blog is by “The Cooking Couple” Maria and Josh. They like tasty and delicious food, are not fans of fast food or chain restaurants. They believe if you can make it better at home, why eat out? I have to agree with that. Maria says: “We are a great team in the kitchen. We love trying new recipes, techniques, and flavors. We try to keep it healthy, but of course we have to splurge once in awhile.” Don’t we all?! Maria is also a really good Twitter buddy of mine, so be sure to check out their blog to find out how you can follow them on Twitter, too.

Burp! Where Food Happens

I really love Lo and Peef’s blog! They has a great sense of humor, and their food is always really yummy. Burp! Is the name of their imaginary restaurant that they came up with one night, and this dream became the inspiration for their blog. This is how they describe their food philosophy: “We’re two hopeless food geeks who harbor a genuine love for delicious (sustainable) edibles. We’re not fancy, or fussy. But, we do love to create new and wonderful things in the kitchen. We keep the dream of BURP! alive through daily experimentation, and we share our successes (and failures) with you.”

The Feast Within

This blog is written by Gabi who comes from a long line of cooks! At the tender age 14, after years of experience making mud pies and easy bake oven treats, she began her real cooking career. She devoured her mom’s Larousse Gastronomique French Encyclopedia of Cooking looking for recipes. After baking some croissants and making Coq Au Vin and she was hooked! She says: “I’m sure I now own well over 300 cookbooks -(including one of my family’s recipes that my mom put together about 20 years ago and all its various reformations.) I never get enough- I devour them like novels.” She blogs because of how much inspiration she has received from the blogging community, and hopes to give a little back! Isn’t that a great inspiration?

Cafe Nilson

Raquel who writes Cafe Nilson is all over the place! She is a regular Jouster in The Royal Foodie Joust and has been featured on Foodbuzz’s 24,24,24 several times. Her blog is her online cookbook. It contains her collection of recipes from places they have lived in and visited, shared by friends and family and fellow foodies on the internet. So she invites you to grab your favorite table and enjoy a cup of coffee in her online cafe!

Laws of the Kitchen

Cakelaw writes the story of her life, through her food adventures. She is an Aussie lawyer who loves to cook. She started her blog back in 2007 to share her efforts in the kitchen with those who would like to hear them. She says: “cooking evokes fond memories of my childhood and allows me to connect with my heritage by using the same recipes that my mother and grandmother used”. There is a blog focus on baking, but other culinary treats can be found as well!

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.

I NEED NOMINATIONS!!!!!! I know we all have our favorite blogs that we read everyday, and I would love to know about them. We have a very diverse food community, and I would love to see more of the blogs you love featured. We also have a lot of humanitarians out in the Foodie Blogosphere. If you think there is a food blogger out there that deserves a little recognition for their culinary skills, or what they are doing to help the world through the lens of food, please tell us about them!!! Please post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

Also we all love to know how people came to find our blogs, so please visit all of our featured bloggers today and don’t forget to tell them that you found them via Finest Foodies Friday! They would love to have your feedback.

Beans and Rice: The Ultimate Leftover Meal

The Leftover Queen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:12:38 +0000

I got a comment recently from a new reader. She said she was enjoying my blog, but didn’t see many recipes for leftovers. That comment kind of surprised me, because most of the food I make uses some kind of leftover component. However, I don’t always specify that when writing my posts. So I want to make more of an effort to point out the leftover components I am using, and to talk about other ways that my food philosophy extends, but yet still encompasses “leftover qualities”. Things like making food from scratch using what it in your pantry or fridge, making things you eat often like bread, cheese and yogurt, or preserving seasonal vegetables and making your own condiments. This is all part of the Leftover Queen philosophy – use what you have on hand, make substitutions whenever necessary, to be able to focus on what using what is on hand, and make as much as you can from scratch using wholesome basics.

In this vein I want to talk about beans and rice. I love beans and rice, and it is certainly a meal that embraces leftovers. Beyond the basic components of beans and rice (and even within those two ingredients there are many varieties), you can throw anything you have lying around in the fridge that needs using up. As usual I always soak my rice and beans ahead of time. I generally take a day during the weekend, and do large batches of soaking - grains, flours and legumes, and then cooking til almost done, so I can just package them up and throw them in the freezer for quick yet nourishing meals later on.

The week before vacation is always a busy time, so I was happy to be greeted by beans, rice and other grains when I opened the freezer that I could throw together for a quick meal. For this particular batch of beans and rice I added some chopped up organic kielbasa and sauteed it with the rice. Then I added about 2 cups of chopped kale, some spices like New Mexico green chili powder, cumin and coriander, a few tablespoons of homemade tomato sauce (also from the freezer) and water. I let everything come to a boil, and cooked on low heat for about 25 minutes, adding more liquid as necessary.

Beans and rice is a combination dish that is eaten all over the world. It is frugal, healthy and delicious, and you can constantly change it up to suit your tastes! Make it with leftover meat, or keep it vegetarian - the choice is up to you! Top it with shredded cheese, yogurt (or sour cream), salsa or even guacamole!

So enjoy some beans and rice for lunch, dinner, or even breakfast, today!

Stay tuned for some posts about The Foodbuzz Food Bloggers Festival that I will be attending this weekend! Looking forward to meeting many of you there!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Leftover Queen — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:08:26 +0000

Halloween is my second favorite holiday, after Thanksgiving. They are the two holidays that fall in my favorite season of the year, Autumn! So I guess it makes sense. Even though I am traveling during All Hallows, Halloween, Samhain, etc. this year, I am looking forward to spending the holiday with our friends Nicki and Lisa in Vermont

I would like to re-post something from a few years back, early in my blogging career, some special treats I made a few years ago for a Halloween Party! Enjoy! Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone!

Spindly Spiders:

I thought I would make these guys using black licorice gumdrops and black shoestring licorice. However, according to the manger at the Publix grocery store we went to, black licorice is not popular in Florida, therefore they do not carry it, even at holiday time. Bah! So I had to come up with a different plan!

You Will Need:
Dried Plums
Blackberry Fruit Leather
Toothpicks
Red Tube Icing

METHOD:

To make the spider, roll the plums in the palms of your hands to form them into balls. Cut the fruit leather into very thin strips (using the shortest side). Using toothpick make 4 small holes on each side of the plum (spider body) and poke the fruit leather strip into the holes. Spiders have 8 fruit leather legs in total. Then using the tube of red icing, place two eyes on the top of the spider! Great for decoration and a very healthy fruit snack!

Kitty Kupcakes:

Cupcakes with character. I have a black kitty and I had to pay homage to her especially on Halloween - so she is my inspiration for these cupcakes! You could change it up and do orange kitties if you prefer.

You Will Need:
Halloween Cupcake Wrappers
Cupcake Baking Pans
Chocolate Cake Mix
Chocolate Icing
Pastry Bag
Star Tip
Dark Chocolate M&M’s or Reese’s Pieces
Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
Chocolate Chips
1 cup Chow Mein Noodles
1 TBS Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
1 TBS Sugar
Red Tube Icing

METHOD:

Prepare the cupcakes according to the cake package directions. Once they have cooled put the icing in the pastry bag using a star tip. Pipe the icing on the cupcakes.

In a small bowl combine chow mein noodles, cocoa powder and sugar. Place two small pieces or blue corn tortilla chips as ears, M&Ms for eyes, chocolate chip for nose , chocolate covered chow mein noodles as whiskers and a red mouth.

Dark Chocolate Pretzel Wands:

Bring a little magic into Halloween with these delicious dark chocolate pretzel wands!

You Will Need:
1½ package of Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
Package of Pretzel Rods
Halloween Sprinkles
Microwave Safe Mug
Parchment Paper
Cookie Sheet

METHOD:

In a microwave safe mug melt the chocolate chips (you want to use a mug so that when you dip the pretzel rods, the chocolate will go about 1/3 way up the stick).

Dip pretzel rods in chocolate and sprinkle them with sprinkles over parchment paper (you can also roll the sprinkles if you prefer, but you will use a lot more). Lay on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper until chocolate has hardened.

Eerie Eyeballs:

These were a HUGE hit at the party! Everyone loved the peanut butter surprise inside! Yum!

You Will Need:
Mixing Bowl
2 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
1½ Cup Creamy Peanut Butter (I used Organic and did not mix the oil in, that way the PB itself is harder)
3 TBS Unsalted Butter, softened
Parchment Paper
Cookie Sheet
1½ Lb. White Candy Coating (like Dolci brand for covering fruits)
24 Dark Chocolate M&M’s
1 TBS Water
¼ to ½ TSP Red Food Coloring (I had less and my icing turned out pink, so I used the leftovers of the red icing from the cupcakes).

METHOD:

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, peanut better and butter. Shape into one inch balls. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Chill for 30 mins or until firm.
In a microwave safe bowl melt white candy coating and stir until smooth. Be careful not to burn. Dip PB balls into coating and place on parchment paper. Immediately press M&M (M side DOWN) on top of each ball for a pupil. Let stand in fridge for 30 mins or until set.
In a small bowl combine water, food coloring and remaining confectioner’s sugar. Transfer into a re-sealable bag and poke a small hole into the corner of the bag. Pipe wavy lines downward from pupil creating the look of bloodshot eyes. Store in fridge until ready to serve.

Finest Foodies Friday – October 30, 2009

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:48:58 +0000

First off, I would like to wish my mom a Happy Birthday today! She has started her own adventure in blooging fairly recently and is doing a great job! If you want to wish her a happy birthday too, go check out her blog posts on Travelcloseup.com. She has taken over my first blog, a travel blog and is making it her own! So go check it out, and don’t forget to say Happy Birthday! I am sure subscribing to her blog would make her day too!

IF YOU LIKE FOOD BLOGS, THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE EVERY FRIDAY!

Milk & Honey

This blog is written by The Milkman’s Wife – a nod to her husband’s dairy farm upbringing. This blog is the food journey of a suburban girl turned “country guy’s wife”. She says: “ To me, food and life are so intertwined, they simply can’t be separated. Food brings back happy memories, keeps the spirit of those who have passed alive, and starts new traditions. Inside this blog, you’ll find the real stories behind the food I make and you’ll learn a little about me in the process.”

Sour Grapes

Michael Elliott is a classically trained chef who has worked with food since the age of 13 as an apprentice to Chef Susur Lee in Toronto. After completing his BFA in Art History and Studio Art at Concordia University in Montreal, he continued to work as a chef in some of the city’s best restaurants. In 2002 he began his career as a food stylist working on the popular French language cooking show “A la Di Stasio”. Since then, he has worked as a stylist, recipe developer, and writer in both North America and Asia. He has experience in television, film, and print media. This blog is his take on all things food – from recipes, restaurant reviews and food styling.

Italialicious

“Everything Italian Tastes Better.” This blog is all about the simple, fresh and regional cooking of Italian cuisine. Also discussed at length on the about page is Italian- American cuisine, and how it is so different that what is eaten in Italy, regionally. This is a topic I have always been interested in, since it is the cuisine of my relatives and ancestors. Immigrant food, is a wonderfully diverse topic. This blog shows you traditional Italian cuisine, where it comes from and how it changes as the people change.

Kitchen Butterfly

The butterfly is Nigerian-born, Liverpool-schooled (in part) and now an expatriate living and working in the Netherlands. This now foodie, hated food until she was 9 years old! To read about the day that changed it all, see her about page. Why Butterfly? : “I am flighty. I am constantly seeking…. content with my life but still in search of more. I am big on combinations – cross-pollinating and cross-fertilisation. I’m big on flavours and textures. I love pretty. And colour.”

I Ate That

Ben blogs so he can combine his two favorite things – food and photography. He has a wide variety of interests, but his love for food and cooking has never waned. He started taking photos of the food he and his wife would make, and these photos would make their way onto the internet, where friends would make encouraging statements of jealousy and drool; thus, I Ate That! was born!

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.

November 2009 Foodie Blogroll Giveaways!

The Leftover Queen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:08:04 +0000

It is another month, which means we have another new round of great giveaways and contests to share with our Foodie Blogroll members blogs! If you have a food blog, and are not a member of The Foodie Blogroll, what are you waiting for? Please join our community of over 5500 food blogs!

This is the last time I will be posting about Foodie Blogroll Giveaways on The Leftover Queen blog, as a rule of thumb. In case you haven’t heard, after a year of listening to your feedback and developing a band new software program, we launched a new and improved Foodie Blogroll website this month!!!!

The new website is much more interactive than the old site was, and so after this month, I will be posting all the giveaway news on The Foodie Blogroll website! So if you have not been there yet, please go over and check it out!

In order to promote the new website and its interactive features, we are working with Regional Best this month. Regional Best features artisan foods. You can purchase handcrafted local foods directly from artisans, family farms and small companies. They have everything from chocolate and confections, to gluten free foods, condiments, cheeses and meats. They are giving away three (3) $25 shopping sprees a week, through the month of November, to Foodie Blogroll members located in the continental US! In order to be eligible you must go and comment on the post about the Regional Best Giveaway on the Foodie Blogroll website on our Contests and Giveaways Page. You can begin commenting on this contest entry starting next week.

You can now comment on all posts, articles, blog and member pages! Please come and check out our new features, and be sure to comment on the Regional Best contest post!

We have 2 other exciting giveaways to offer you this month directly from Foodie Blogroll members! Two cookbooks – The Adaptable Feast by Ivy Manning of Ivy’s Feast and Poor Girl Eats Well - To Go! By Kimberly Morales of Poor Girl Eats Well !

Adaptable Feast by Ivy Manning is about cooking in mixed-diet families, where there are hearty and satisfying meals for everyone at your table – vegetarians, vegans and omnivores. Inspired by her own background as an omnivore married to a vegetarian, Manning has developed a diverse and delicious collection of 90 recipes, each adaptable to yield a few vegetarian servings of a meaty dish, or a few omnivore servings of a vegetarian one. Typical entries in this beautifully illustrated cookbook include elegant Japanese Eggplant and Halibut with Miso Glaze, and a sumptuous Spaghetti Carbonara for gourmands of all persuasions. Ivy says that it is a great book for the holidays, giving you ideas of how to feed the mixed crowds of eaters that may be dropping by for festivities. To be eligible to win Ivy’s book you must have a verified active blog featured on Foodieblogroll.com.

Poor Girl Eats Well – To Go! is Kimberly Morales’ self published book about eating well on a budget. You can order her book on her website. Her very popular blog Poor Girl Eats Well, has been nominated for a Foodbuzz blog awards nominee in the category of “Blogger you’d most like to see have her own show on the Food Network”. So be sure to congratulate her on her nomination. Her blog is dedicated to those who can’t always afford the best but still expect the best. “Often imitated, never duplicated, I will show you how you can stretch your dollar while making delicious, good-for-you meals”. You can enjoy her tips, tricks and delicious recipes in her book! This 46-page mini-book features top favorites like the Caprese Omelette, Shrimp with Pineapple-Pepper Relish, and the Mushroom Asiago Quesadilla. A few of the most popular tips are featured too, with the bonus tip on how to have a successful $25 Shopping Cart trip A perfect holiday gift for anyone that loves food! To be eligible to win Kimberly’s book you must have a verified active blog featured on Foodieblogroll.com.

Thanks to all our current Foodie Blogroll members for your support and ideas over the last year. Please keep an eye out for our monthly newsletter next week with all the contest details.

Chicken Soup is Food for the Soul

The Leftover Queen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:06:07 +0000

One of my favorite comfort foods in the fall and winter is a beautiful roasted chicken with roasted potatoes and carrots. There is just nothing better—except making chicken soup afterwards. This post is basically just a public service announcement to say, when you roast a chicken, don’t throw the bones away! Keep them and make stock or chicken soup!

I still have stock in the freezer from when I made bone broth the last time. This time I decided to leave some of the chicken on the bones, and boil it all to make chicken soup. I just love the smell of the house when I am making stock. It makes me feel like all is right in the world. It is a warm and fuzzy feeling. It speaks to my soul.

To the chicken and bones I added 6 cups of filtered water. I boiled it until the liquid had reduced by half – this took several hours over low heat and produced a very dark and rich broth. I let the pot cool and then threw in the fridge over night.

The next day I skimmed off the fat and took the meat off the bones. Then I looked around in the freezer and on the counter top to see what I had in terms of veggies. There were some frozen peas and summer squash, as well as a few lonely fingerling potatoes. So I chopped up the potatoes and added them to the broth with the chicken and other veggies. I let everything simmer for about 30-40 minutes, and then served.

This is such a simple, yet economic, hearty and extremely tasty meal! So the next time you have bones (of any kind) make soup!

Finest Foodies Friday – October 23, 2009

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:04:49 +0000

IF YOU LIKE FOOD BLOGS, THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE EVERY FRIDAY!

Memorie di Angelina

This blog is written by Frank who is lawyer by day, cook by night. This food blog is inspired by the wonderful home cooking of his Italian grandmother. You’ll find her recipes there, plus some of his favorite dishes from other parts of Italy, especially Rome, where he has lived for ten years!

Tiny Urban Kitchen

This is a beautiful blog with nice photos and great food. Jen cooks in her tiny urban kitchen in her tiny urban condo near Boston. She is a research chemist and at home, she loves experimenting in the kitchen and coming up with fun, new creative ways to cook.

Chat & Chew

Ali is a magazine consultant by day and fights hunger by night. After an unsuccessful journey through culinary school she is now getting a “formal culinary education from the world…wide web.” She recently made Giada De Laurentiis’ Espresso Caramel Bars. The adult version of a Twix. Yum.

The English Kitchen

This is blog that de-bunks the myths of English Cookery one recipe at a time. I definitely love learning more about cuisines around the world, and one cuisine I love learning more about is English food. I still swear that the English have some of the best desserts in the world, but despite rumors to the opposite, there are also really good meals to be had as well. Learn more about English cooking here!

Two Hungry Pandas

I picked this blog to feature this week in honor of my step-daughter Gwen, who loves Pandas! These Pandas are named Wesley and Evelina–two hungry pandas chowing their way through the San Gabriel Valley and beyond. They do mostly restaurant reviews, and their photos are superb.

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.

Holy Smoky Pile O’ Ribs!

The Leftover Queen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:01:33 +0000

I said something to that effect when we got our takeout home and opened up the package to see what you see above. We are heading out soon on our annual New England trip, and I had gone through all of the leftovers, and stuff in the fridge. So we decided to call our local BBQ joint and have someone else do the cooking for us!

We have been to Smokin’ D’s a few times in the past and each time, they had always been out of ribs. This little BBQ joint, and by little, I mean little – all they have are big wood burning smoke houses lining the pack wall, a kitchen prep area and the cash register. No seats. Just BBQ. This little BBQ joint is housed in a small shack next to a gas station. It has a huge resin pig sculpture on the outside to greet you, and basically they start cooking in the morning, and close once all the food is gone. They do pork, brisket, chicken and turkey. Their pulled pork sandwiches are heavenly, served on thick slabs on garlic toast with one side (cole slaw, beans, or yellow rice) and a beverage for only $5.95! And really, it is some of the best BBQ I have had in my life. DE-licious.

(My brother-in-law, Davide in front of Smokin D’s, hangin’ with the piglet).

This time we called ahead, to make sure we had a chance to get their ribs, and we figured since they are hard to come by, we should get extra, to last us a few meals. So we ordered the rib special which is supposed to feed 3 people! So imagine our surprise to see this pile of ribs when we opened the bag!!! Not only did we each have two meals out of it, I also put at least 8 ribs in the freezer to use later this winter in soups and stews and beans!

If you ever find yourself driving through Saint Augustine, we recommend Smokin’ D’s!

110 State Road 206. St Augustine, FL. 32086 . 904-797-2050

FYI – My posts may be more sporadic over the next several weeks. We will be in New England, and also San Francisco for the FoodBuzz Food Blogger’s Festival! But I am bringing my laptop and will be working, just maybe not as much on a regular schedule! Look forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco in a few weeks!

Finest Foodies Friday – October 16, 2009

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:48:06 +0000

IF YOU LIKE FOOD BLOGS, THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE EVERY FRIDAY!

Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino
Of course I HAD to feature this blog! Not only because there are some delicious recipes and gorgeous photos, and not because it is a blog out of Rome. Those would be reasons enough, but the title also has “peperoncino” in it, which is the name of our dog! He goes by “Pepino” now because “peperoncino” was too difficult for most Americans to pronounce, but he will always be Peperoncino to us! Anyway, enough about me and more about Lola’s blog. She is an Italian-American living in Rome and her blog takes you to all the places she loves, which you can imagine, has a lot to do with food! I especially enjoyed her post about Autunno or, Autumn.

Chef’s Tales
Michael obtained his catering qualifications in his native Yorkshire, England. For 30 years he has worled and traveled the world over from Europe and North America to Asia and the Caribbean. He has cooked for celebrities, heads of state and various royal families. “As readers of this amusing and insightful journal-Chef’s Tales will discover, there is much more to being a successful international chef than just getting the cooking right!”. Enjoy this blog full of cooking adventures and delicious recipes!

Poppy Planet
This is a delicious blog that is full of step by step illustrated recipes. It is written by a native Romanian who is now living in Sweden. Every recipe that I skimmed through looks just mouthwatering! There really is something for everyone here from sweets, to appetizers and main meals. The pictures are large and extremely helpful!

Sandra Keros
“Learning how to prepare healthy meals wasn’t just a hobby for me. It was a lifeline. It helped rescue me from a serious medical condition and improved my quality of life tenfold.” For Sandra finding a way to learn how to prepare delicious, yet healthy foods was a journey to wellness. Her blog is full of healthy recipes, health tips and discussions on food related topics, such as Slow Food and Farm Aid. I especially enjoyed reading her post Top 7 Reasons Why Calorie Counting is Bogus an interesting juxtaposition to some of the theories being discussed in our Stuffed: An Insider’s Look at Who’s (Really) Making America Fat, giveaway.

Berry Blue Toes
After being diagnosed with a thyroid disorder, she began her journey into raw food, completing a 92 day Juice Feast. If you are into raw food, or want to learn more about it, or how you can add some delicious raw dishes to your diet, this is a great blog to check out!

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.

BBQ Buffalo Cheddar Burgers with Maple Caramelized Onions

The Leftover Queen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:40:50 +0000

So last week Kat from A Good Appetite won last month’s Royal Foodie Joust with her Brie Stuffed Maple Burger with Spicy Apple Bacon Compote. That got me thinking (and drooling, slightly) about burgers…and maple, one of my favoritest ingredients on the planet. She said that she thought that maple went really well with beef, so I wanted to see if it went just as well with buffalo. I suspected it did.

I love buffalo meat, it is leaner than beef and has more CLA in it, because buffalo must eat grass to survive. To read more about CLA, and why it is important, click here. I also love burgers and it is often our meal of choice for movie night. This meal accompanied the movie Appaloosa with Viggo Mortensen.

I am also a huge fan of caramelized onions. They go good with just about anything you can cook up. Seriously, I bet putting them on ice cream would be awesome. Ever had garlic ice cream? That stuff is fan-freaking-tastic. I only have had it once, but it is a food memory that has stuck with me for probably more than 15 years. So really, I might try the caramelized onion thing, but not today.

Back to the onions. Recently I had made cinnamon spiced caramelized onions to go on a spicy carrot soup. I didn’t blog about it, but the recipe is pretty much like the one I did for Yogi Times way back when. Just added some nice cinnamon to the onions as they were doing their caramelizing thing. They turned out pretty good, so I figured that adding maple to this batch would be worth trying. Top the burgers with these maple-y onions, some Vermont sharp cheddar and some local St. Augustine, FL datil pepper BBQ sauce, and see what happens. A burger of transition, one that features the local delicacies of our current and future homes.

Well what happened is that the sky opened up and…wait no, that didn’t happen… What really happened is that it was one of the best burgers either of us had in a while. Kat, thanks for the inspiration, and I am sure before the fall and winter is over, I will be taking a stab at your winning entry!

Maple Caramelized Onions

INGREDIENTS:

olive oil

½ white onion

salt and pepper to taste

½ bottle of Sam Adams Boston Ale

2 TBS pure VT maple syrup

dash of aged balsamic

METHOD:

Heat a splash of olive oil in a medium sized pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, and stir in the oil. Cook until soft. Add salt and pepper to help sweat the onions and flavor them. Then add ½ bottle of Boston Ale. Lower heat and simmer for about 30-40 minutes, adding water (or more beer) if onions begin to dry out. In the last 10 minutes add the maple and balsamic. Stir to blend and let flavors marry.

BBQ Buffalo Burgers

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz ground buffalo meat

2 TBS of datil pepper BBQ sauce

1 TBS pure VT maple syrup

salt and pepper

METHOD:

Mix the meat with the sauce, maple syrup and spices. Create two nice thick patties. Cook according to your preference. We did ours on the george forman grill. When burgers are cooked to your specifications top with VT sharp cheddar, maple onions and a little more BBQ. Mayo adds a nice dimension as well.

Serve with some nice crispy oven fries and enjoy!

Not Beef Bourguignon (in my trusty tagine) with Popovers

The Leftover Queen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:37:24 +0000

Since seeing the movie Julie & Julia, and just poking around the blogosphere the past few weeks, I have seen a lot about Beef Bourguignon. All of which I like. I have never made Beef Bourguignon, and so I wanted to give it a shot with the rest of my blogging buddies. Unfortunately at the 11^th hour I realized that I didn’t have bacon, or pearl onions, or Burgandy wine. Although I thought I was clever and had that part covered, I was even going to call this post Leftover Beef Zinfandel to be cute – cause I was using leftover (surprise, surprise!) veggies in my recipe! And Zinfandel instead of Burgundy. But much to my dismay and missing key ingredients, not even that was going to fly. So I turned my defeat around, and instead decided to make a fabulous leftover beef stew.

Now the popovers are a whole other good story. My mom was visiting and we were going to a kitchen outlet so I could finally purchase a Cuisinart stick (immersion) blender. How I survived this long without one, will likely never be fully understood. However, she was also thinking about purchasing a popover pan. She said popovers go really well with Beef Bourguignon (at this stage, I thought I was going to be making my cutesy Beef Zinfandel). But instead I swayed her to get a cast iron skillet.

Later back at my house, I was opening up my new baby (the stick blender) and noticed it came with a recipe book. In the recipe book was a recipe for POPOVERS! So it was a sign that we needed to make popovers to accompany this meal. Not only that, but this recipe said to make them in muffin pans! Which we had! Hooray! Something was finally going my way!

Back to the stew. I have been loving my crock pot recently, and have been using it as a receptacle for every leftover, adding broth and calling it stew. So I thought about using it to make this stew. But I felt that this needed to be special, and I really love how nice and browned everything gets in the tagine.

So I opted to use that.

I still browned the cubes of meat before putting them in the tagine - so that was my little nod to Beef Bourguignon!

As the stew was cooking away in the tagine the popovers were being made. And you know what? The combination was indeed fantastic! Yes, I still want to make Beef Bourguignon, and I am sure I will, but a dolled up beef stew with leftover roasted veggies, and popovers is pretty darned tasty!

Leftover Beef Stew

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup grass fed beef cubes

flour

olive oil

8 oz. Portobella mushrooms, chopped

6 carrots, peeled and chopped

½ large white onion, chopped

¾ cup of homemade chicken stock

¾ cup red zinfandel( I used Ravenswood)

1 TBS each of fresh thyme and rosemary

3-4 cups of leftover roasted veggies (carrots, turnips, potatoes, green beans, etc) - if you don’t have leftover veggies, that is OK, you can just as easily add raw veggies to your pot, trust me, they will cook up just fine!

METHOD:

This recipe can be made in a stew pan, stovetop or a tagine or dutch oven in the oven. Preheat oven to 400F. Dust beef chunks with flour and brown in a pan until caramelized on the outside. Remove from pan and set aside. Add mushrooms to the pan, and stir around until all the juices from the beef have been sucked up by the mushrooms. Drizzle bottom of cooking vessel with olive oil. Add the beef, and mushrooms. Add the stock and wine, and fresh herbs. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Then add the other veggies. Cook in a 400 F oven for about 2 hours. Let sit with lid on for about 30 minutes out of the oven before serving.

Popovers

(From Cuisinart Stick Blender Recipe Book)

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup of unbleached all purpose flour

¾ cup of milk (I used goats milk – that is what we had)

2 large eggs

1 TBS melted butter

½ tsp salt

butter for greasing muffin pans

METHOD:

Place ingredients in the mixing beaker (you can use a bowl). Place the stick blender in the mixing beaker (you could use and hand blender and a bowl). Blend using a gentle up and down motion, until batter is blended and completely homogeous, smooth and creamy. Cover batter and let rest for 30-40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 F. Grease 6 muffin cups (½ cup size) and then divide batter evenly among the prepared cups (mine filled each cup to the top). Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Do not peek or disturb, or the popovers might fall. Lower the heat (without opening the oven) to 375 F for another 20 minutes. Remove the pans and remove popovers from the pans and prick with a fork to allow steam to escape and prevent them from becoming soggy. Serve immediately.

Finest Foodies Friday – October 9, 2009

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:45:52 +0000

IF YOU LIKE FOOD BLOGS, THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE EVERY FRIDAY!

Other People’s Food

I wanted to feature this blog today, because Katie has been around the blogosphere for as long as I have. She is just coming out of a one year hiatus, and has a new baby. So for those of you who haven’t been to Katie’s blog, you should check it out. As for those of your who know Katie, let’s welcome her back! This is what Katie B. has to say about the inspiration behind her blog: “Honestly, I would sooner open a can of soup for dinner than try to make something without a recipe. Give me some directions and I can feed you something fun and fresh and yummy… nothing to follow, no carefully measured ingredients… and you get soup. Just how it is. What this means, is that I make meals pulled from friends, family, cookbooks, recipe sites, other food blogs… other people’s food.” There are some really great recipes for just about everything you could crave.

Oh Kitchen, What Won’t You Do?

Another blogger I want to welcome back is my buddy Georgia, who just got married recently! This blog is authored by Georgia, and Randi, two girls, who much like the rest of us, are obsessed with food! These girls are part of the Daring Kitchen, and regularly participate in other online Foodie Events. Hopefully they will make an appearance soon on the Jousting fields! Looking at the attire from Georgia’s wedding, I think it is very appropriate (by the way, Georgia, I LOVE IT!!! and Congrats!)!

What Do I Want to Cook Today?

This lovely blog is written by Jan who lives in England. She and I like to talk a lot via facebook about food and the differences we have in weather! Her blog is always full of soul-warming, delicious fare. She has this to say about food: “I don’t believe that you should be too concerned with exact measurements in cooking. Within reason, if you like something put more in, if you don’t put in either less, or something else in it’s place! It will nearly always turn out fine. I love cooking and eating especially! I like almost anything - from good old English Roast Beef to Greek, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Thai and Moroccan, Mexican……..most things actually!” As you can see she enjoys many culinary influences, and I am sure that you will enjoy her blog!

Adventures of Kitchen Girl

Another Twitter buddy of mine is Jo from Adventures of Kitchen Girl. Jo is a thirty-something Mother of 3 who loves to cook and take pictures of food. She also enjoys doing product reviews, wherehonest opinions are always given… good, bad or just so so. Of course she has a lot of family friendly meal ideas on her blog, but they are perfect for everyone!

Canela and Comina

This blog is written by Gretchen, who loves to write about the flavors, markets and cuisine of Peru. She lived in Peru for 6 years as a missionary. She says: “My experiences here in Peru have taken me to 19 of the 24 departments, including the heights of the Andes mountains and the depths of the jungle. I love the variety of cultures within Peru and I find that variety so often represented in the foods of the different regions…I hope to take you on an adventure through Peru, showing you the many delicious foods found here as well as all the creative things you can do with them.”

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.