Winner of Bertolli giveaway is.........

I have received all the answers and am ready to name a winner. But first I will prolong the agony (for those who do not read ahead like I would) and tell you the answers to todays questions.

1. http://www.myspicesage.com/  This is an excellent resource for spices. But the best part is they typically offer a free product of significance with purchases over $20. I have received 10 Madagascar vanilla beans free before. And Spanish superior grade saffron. But on top of their deals they also provide you, no minimum required, to receive a free 1oz sample of any product they have on their website. I assume this is to get you hooked, but still....its fun to try out new stuff like that.

2. Top Chef. I currently own all the seasons out on DVD. I just wish they would put out the first 3 seasons on DVD.

3. Alex's Grandmother. To be fair, she got it from her husbands mother. But it is printed on a cannoli form box. Cool huh?

4. I accepted any answere that pertained to homemade stock. Heres the reason. I thought in one of my blogs I had stated the key to a good broth soup. But when I looked back, after writing and posting the Day 5, I put asterisks and stated it was a secret ingredient. But if it ever comes up.........lemon zest......shhhhhh our little secret!!

So heres how the scores stacked up

1st: Eddy                                                          18pts
2nd: Veronica                                                    16pts
3rd: Ashley                                                       14pts
4th: Bobbie                                                        13pts

So Eddy is the winner!! Congratulations! I will be sending Bertolli your address and they will be sending out your free kit. I hope you enjoy it like I am going to enjoy mine!

I want to personally thank you guys for playing. It kinda strokes my ego a little bit to think that yall would care enough about me to play this silly little game for a small giveaway. It shows you care. And I do not want yall to think it goes unnoticed. I just hope one day I can return the favor by stoking your ego someday!

Giveaway Day 5: Xandrea

So a big suprise came in the mail today. Well I suppose its not really a suprise if you know its coming, but I got in my Bertolli kit like the one yall are playing for. I was super excited!! The ladle is made by Crate and Barrel and has a reinforced and sturdy handle while being suprisingly light. So I love it!! And the coupons are for free frozen soup meals. It was suprisingly quick to get here too. So it should come to the winner quick.

Are you getting excited? Are you nervous? Well here are the standings so far:

1st Eddy                                                     14pts
2nd Bobbie                                                  12pts
3rd Ashley                                                  10pts
4th Veronica*                                               9pts
5th Melinda*                                                6pts

*these people have a pass and will be submitting their answers late.

So here we are on the final day of the contest. I hope that everyone has had at least a smidgeon of fun during this process. I have thoroughly enjoyed this, but then again I am in the position of the giver and the one in charge. And thats always fun! So today's questions are going to focus on me. And yes it is a little egotistical, but hey that's life. lol! I thought about asking questions based on me because it might help broaden the gap between the leaders. And since there may be people playing that do not know me as well as my husband or immediate family I am only asking things that can be found throughout my blog. It's only fair that way. So here's to hoping for a great sprint to the end!! If all the answers are in before the deadline then I will go ahead and announce the winner. If not then I shall do it on Saturday morning.

1. I frequent an online spice site for most of my spice needs; what is the name of that site?

2. What TV show is my favorite, culinary wise?

3. There are lots of cannoli recipes out there but I have only ever used one recipe. Where did I get that recipe?

4. What is the key to a good broth only type soup?

Well there you have it. Questions are over and now it is your turn to take the baton and finish the race. May the best person win!!

Bertolli Giveaway Day 4: Italian Food

I will not be posting the answers to yesterdays questions today. Two people playing were detained in other matters and could not answer, so I am allowing them to submit their answers to me later. And for that reason I will not post the answers. But I believe the ones who did answer, I sent you a private message to let you know how many you got and what the correct answers were. But heres how the scores shape up

Tied for first: Veronica and Bobbie                                   9pts
Tied for 3rd: Eddy* and Ashley                                       7pts
5th Melinda*                                                                     6 pts

*these two will be submitting their answers later

It looks like I stumped you pretty good yesterday. Sometimes it is hard for me to realize that not everyone loves food like I love food. And even if they do love food, they do not follow it as enthusiatically as I do. Ah the price you pay when you have a passion!


So what would a Bertolli giveaway be without questions on Italian food? And I LOVE Italian food. Pasta, sauces, tiramisu, braised meat in red wine, braciole, its all delicious!! And I think I have an aptitude for it too. So why not do questions on something Im pretty good at?

1. Who is considered to be the Queen of Italian cuisine in America (it is not the obvious answer)?

2. Meatballs seem to be a staple in the Italian genre of food. But where did they originate?

3. When using tomatoes in sauces what is the best kind to use?

4. Name 3 common dried beans in Italian cooking.

5. What is the name of the popular Italian festival in America, most notably NYC?


So good luck to all and I hope that you are enjoying this as much as I am!

Bertolli Giveaway Day 3: Famous Chefs

So yesterdays questions were kind of easy I see! Well its gonna take a smartie to get these right! The answers were elbow, fusilli/rotini, bucatini, farfalle/bowtie, gemelli. I accepted both rotini and fusilli because you couldnt determine length from the picture and thats what differentiates the two. So heres our standings!

1st Veronica                                            8pts
tied for 2nd Bobbie and Eddy                7 pts
4th Melinda                                            6pts
5th Ashley                                              5pts

Its a close race so this may break someone away or may break your all! HAHA!!

There are lots of famous chefs out there these days. Some in the public eye that are known worldwide. For example there is Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, Sandra Lee, etc. Most of these people are seen daily on the Food Network. But there are others that are not on Food Network and are known in the chef world, Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller, Wylie Dufresne, etc. Then there are some that are known because they were innovators like Julia Child. I love a range of these chefs and their styles of cooking. I love others that are not completely on everyone's spectrum like Rick Bayless who is the authority on Mexican cuisine in America. Then theres Hubert Keller who has a background in French food but owns the famous Burger Bar in Las Vegas. There is Anthony Bourdain with his quirky sense of humor and demeanor on his show on the Travel Channel. Roy Yamaguchi and his Hawaiian/Asian style food (BTW I have eaten at one of his restaurants and did not leave unhappy!!) But my all time favorite person has to be Jacques Pepin. I adore this 75 year old Frenchman. So todays questions will center on some of the chefs that are famous in their own rite and adored by me. Everyone has their favorites so feel free to let me know who your favorites are! Oh and I do not expect you to  forgo using a search engine on these. I designed them specifically with that in mind!!

1. What are Jacques Pepin's prized culinary possessions?

2. Anthony Bourdain in one of his books endorses the best Chef's knife. Name that knife brand.

3. According to Roy Yamaguchi there is a culinary landmark in the city of Honolulu that still exists today. Name that landmark.

4. Julia Child was hot stuff when her book hit shelves but before she was "Julia Child" she wasn't a good cook and ate rather typical American style meals. She states at least 3 typical Sunday meals growing up in California. Give me one of those Sunday meals (mostly looking for the protein/meat).

5. Wylie Dufresne may be relatively unknown to most of you. He is a chef in the realm of molecular gastronomy. There was a discussion among Wylie and a few other chefs on the topic of ingredient driven food. According to others this means taking 3-4 really good ingredients and doing as little as possible to them. Wylie calls this something else. What does he call this?

Giveaway Day 2: Pasta

Well it looks like there are only 4 people playing so every point counts! Hope everyone enjoyed day one. I realized I made a mistake in working on #1 which resulted in the next two questions getting wrong. I amended the question and gave you a chance to re-do your answer. However, only one person came up with the one I was looking for. The current spokesperson is Fabio Viviani and he was on Top Chef. His foundation is Firenze4Kids. Everyone got Fransesco Bertolli and he started in Lucca, Italy. The 5 herbs some people got them all and some people missed just one. They were Basil. mint, parsley, chives, and dill. Not my favorites, but they didnt ask me now did they?? So heres how everyone stands.

1st: Bobbie                                                4pts
2nd: Veronica                                            3pts
tied for 3rd: Melinda and Eddy                 2pts

There is still plenty of time for scores to change so keep the faith!! I had hoped for some more people to join in our little games, but it is what it is. So if yall are still up for it, I will continue on with our game!!

Todays center on pasta! I adore pasta in all shapes and sizes. I do not think I have met a pasta I did not like. I could eat it every day in fact. And I know you might say I would get tired of pasta all the time, but no I genuinely think I could do it. But man what kind of weight would I gain?? So don't dare me to....ok? Lol! Well pasta is easier to do when you see pictures, so today you shall look at pictures and identify them. This also makes it a little harder to google! That's right.....I am conniving!! On that note...here we go!

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Giveaway Day 1: Bertolli

So here we are, day one. And I wanted to go back over the format of the week. I will be giving a couple of questions per day on a particular subject. I thought it would help to spread out the scores a little more with mutliple questions rather than one a day. These questions will be harder than you would expect due to the fact it is a google kind of world. Each question right will be counted as one point. I will do my best to keep a running tally of who is playing and their scores. I have also decided to accept answers on facebook. If you do not have a google account and do not want to create a google account just to play some little contest, then you can always post on facebook. I will post this blog every day on facebook. I will accept answers for the days questions until midnight Central time. The person with the most points at the end of the week will be the winner of the Bertolli giveaway. Bertolli was kind enough to give me one as well, although it has not come in the mail yet. When it comes I am going to try the meals and post a review on my blog. Figured I could give some love to Bertolli! This giveaway in case you have forgotten is:

-stainless steel soup ladle
-4 tasting coupons for the new frozen soup line

What better way to kick off the week contest than to start with the company who is providing the gift, Bertolli.

In case you are curious about learning more about Bertolli you can click here. So without further delay, here we go! Good luck to all!!

1. Who is the spokesperson for the Bertolli company?
** It has come to my attention that there are multiple people that could fill this answer. I am looking for the most current spokesperson**

2. What famous show was this spokesperson on?

3. What foundation is this person setting up?

4. Who was the original founder/owner of the Bertolli company?

5. Where was this person originally from (city, country)?

6. According to Bertolli there are five herbs every chef loves, what are the five herbs?


Good luck to everyone playing!! Hope we have a fun week of food!!

Bahn Mi

So last nights dinner was Bahn Mi. This is a Vietnamese style pork sandwich. The very first time I saw the recipe I fell in love and after making it, I was not disappointed. I have since made it several times and for various people. They all seem to enjoy it. I got a hankering for pork tenderloin and this recipe popped in my head and I realized I hadnt made a post about this and that is a crime against food humanity! So now I will share with you a wonderful and different type of sandwich that will impress all of your friends and family. And to be honest it is so simple.

Recipe:
1 pork tenderloin
chili garlic sauce*
1 pkg broccoli slaw
1 radish, sliced thin
1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced thin
2-3 green onions, sliced thin
bean sprouts
1/2c apple cider or red wine vinegar
1t sugar
1t salt
1/2c mayo
6 sub rolls or large french baguette cut into 4-6inch lengths

*Chili garlic sauce is exactly what you think it is, a blend of chilies and garlic into a paste that can be rubbed on meats, placed in skillets and cooked with, added to mayo for a spicy condiment...it is a great little sauce to have on hand. I prefer the Lee Kum Kee brand the best. But sometimes you buy what you can find!

Season your tenderloin with salt and rub chili garlic sauce all over the pork. Place your pork tenderloin on a pan lines with foil and cook at 325 degrees for about an hour or until cooked through. Remove from oven and let rest. You could even do this step the night before and place in the fridge until ready to slice.

Slice the meat into 1/2inch thick medallions.

 Place in a skillet and if you like heat, add some more chili garlic sauce to each medallion as it heats up. Remove from pan and place all medallions on a plate.

Place vinegar, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk together to mix. Add your broccoli slaw and sliced radishes. This needs to marinate 30 minutes to 3 hours before you are ready to eat. Cover and place in fridge until ready to assemble.

Mix 1/2c mayo and 1t chili garlic sauce in a small bowl. Mix together well and cover and place in fridge.

Now that everythings prepped and ready to go, you are ready to assemble your awesome sandwich!!

Take your bread and cut it in half, if its not already done. Then slather with chili garlic mayo. Layer in some slices of pork tenderloin medallions. Then top with pickled broccoli slaw, cucumber slices, green onions, and bean sprouts. Try your best to shut the sandwich and enjoy!!

I hope that everyone enjoys this sandwich as much as we do. I didnt have cucumber so I used the bean sprouts only. You just want to cooling crunch from those items to counterbalance the heat from the chili garlic sauce. Asian style food is a good combination of heat, sour, sweet, crunch, soft, color. And I think this sandwich enbodies all of that. So try something different with that pork tenderloin in your freezer and get out of your own food rut.

Bertolli Giveaway

So hopefully by now yall are intrigued and interested in winning this Bertolli giveaway. But perhaps you are wondering what you are going to have to do. And I have finally decided. It is not fair to have someone cook something and send a picture for me to judge. Some of you dont cook all that much due to time, just the one of you, energy, or youre just not good....no one I know of course :)....so I have devised a series of questions to be answered. And since it would not be fair for the first one to answer to win with people ranging across time zones and varying schedules, so we are going to do a week of questions. Each correct answer will result in a point and the person with the most points at the end of the week will win the giveaway. I am going to make the questions relatively hard since this is the age of Google and I am sure you will all use it to gain an answer. In the event of a tie I will have a tie breaker to determine the winner. I will submit your address to the Bertolli company and they will mail out your giveaway.

Again the giveaway is for:

           -stainless steel soup ladle
           -4 tasting coupons

Now I have not tried them yet, but Bertolli is sending me a free package as well. They look good though. And so far there is no soup in their collection that I make myself. I have a kind of rule not to eat anything out of a can or frozen that I can make myself because it is normally a let down after trying it.

So I am going to sit down and write out some questions or a scavenger hunt of sorts and the games will begin Monday morning. I will take answers for the days questions until midnight. If my computer says you posted before midnight, and I am assuming central time here, then it will be counted toward that days points tally. I will officially close the contest at midnight on Friday and announce a winner on Saturday, provided there is no tie. I will also keep a running tally of the leaders every day.

I hope everyone finds this a fun way to win something, as well as fair. I have too many friends and family members on here that it would not be fair any other way. I will also try to make my food journals during the coming week as well so looking forward to sharing some tasty food! So into my BatCave I shall adjourn to plot my next moves!!

Gnocchi with Butternut Squash and Spinach

Well today officially kicked off fall and I decided to celebrate with cooking butternut squash. I love butternut squash. It just screams fall to me. It can be done in hundreds of preparations but I thought I would try out my new culinary creativeness and do something different. So I saw a recipe for butternut squash and gnocchi and I modified it. I dont like kale so I used spinach and I also added some other herbs as well. Be warned that while this dish is perfectly fine, its not the best it could be. I had this dilemma when coming up with my Italian Wedding Soup recipe. I had to make it a couple of times with different things in it before making sure it was perfect. Although I do remember Alex loving it the way it was and being upset with me for adding some other things to my soup, but he enjoyed the final product much more than the original. So I guess its okay to change good recipes so they can be the best they can be. So if you try this and do something different than I did, I would love to hear it. I will add my own notes and notations on the dish after I have told you about it.

Recipe:
1 butternut squash
1 pkg dehydrated gnocchi (I used whole wheat)
1 bunch baby spinach or other green, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 1/4c chicken broth (the recipe stated or water but I used water since my chicken broth was frozen and I would have preferred broth)
salt
pepper
cayenne
sage
1/4-1/2c grated parmesan


Take your butternut squash and lets break it down. Some of you may not have used fresh squash and may not know the best way to do this. Here is my own personal method. I cut the squash in half around its waist. Then I take the bottom half, the part with the seeds, and cut that in half lengthways. Scoop out the seeds using a spoon. I prefer to use a peeler but other people prefer to use a knife, so its your choice here. Peel or cut the skin off the squash. .

Then cut into long strips and then cubes. If you plan on cooking your squash by boiling or using in soups later then you can freeze anything leftover in plastic containers or freezer bags

Once you have cubed your squash place on a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle some olive oil, salt, pepper, chili flakes, and some thyme or sage. Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minues or until soft.

In a large oven proof skillet heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until they become slightly browned. Add in your cooked squash and stir together. If the squash starts to stick to your pan, add some more olive oil or butter.

Add in 1 1/4c chicken broth, gnocchi, and spinach. Add a little more salt and pepper to taste. Also add in 1/4t cayenne and some chopped sage. (I tend to really like sage and use a lot but if you dont like that much, then dont add a whole lot.) Bring to a light boil and reduce heat until pan is gently simmering. Stir continually to make sure everything is mixed together well in the pan. Mixture will get a little goopy and soupy looking, but do not fret, it will work itself out in the end.

*Gnocchi (ne-oki) should have the conistency of a soft dumpling. Not too soft and fall apart but not too dense and dry. For more info check out this site.

Once the gnocchi is cooked add 1/2 of the parmesan and stir into the squash mixture. Add the other 1/2 of the parmesan to the top of the dish and place in a preheated oven on broil. Cook in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Remove from oven and let it cool down slightly before serving.

Spoon onto plates and serve with some crusty bread.

So what is the review on it? Well Alex liked it. He didn't think it was too sweet. I on the other hand thought it was a little too sweet. I think maybe I should have used a kale or other bitter green instead of the milder spinach. The dish was overall too sweet and needed the bitter element to balance it out. I also believe it needed the chicken stock instead of the water. So next time I will use the broth. It adds a salty savory element to the dish that water does not supply. This also would have helped to cut down on the sweet factor. I also did not have fresh sage and for some reason didn't even think of my dried sage. Once I did think of it I added a little bit to the top of my dish. It helped, but fresh and cooked with the meal would've made a huge difference as well. I also wonder if a little lemon zest would help to brighten the entire dish. But overall it wasn't bad. If you do decide to try this, make sure and not make my mistakes!

Slump

Well I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I have fallen into a food slump! Ever since getting to Florida my cooking creativity has considerably fallen off. And I am not really sure why. Sure I have made some stuff, but nothing really note worthy. It seems that lately I have been pulling out meat and then not knowing AT ALL what I am going to make until 1 minute before I make it. I keep asking Alex what to make with the meat I have pulled out. And hes just as lost as I am. And he's suggesting things that are not really inside my culinary range. They are in fact below my culinary range. And I do not mean to sound egotistical or anything, but I like to make food that challenges me. I like to take my time in the kitchen and have fun with flavors and textures and colors. And right now I am making things like: Hamburger patties cooked and served with mashed potatoes and gravy. Or simple chicken tacos. And thats just not exciting to me anymore. I need things like Bahn Mi and Thai meatballs and homemade ravioli to get me going. But even those things have become a sort of norm. So I am running low on inspiration.

That being said I was talking to Alex last night about it when I got an email from the Bertolli company. They were asking if I would like to do a giveaway to promote their new line of frozen soups. So I thought about it and why not? It kinda got me excited about food again to be honest with you. So what is this giveaway? Well they are introducing 4 new flavors of frozen soups made for 2 people to share. The varieties include Chicken and Rotini Pasta, Tomato Florentine and Tortellini with Chihcken, Chicken Minestrone, and Tuscan Beef and Vegetables. For more information and photos click here.

So I will be coming up with some sort of contest to see who can fairly win the giveaway. I will be giving away a stainless steel soup ladle and 4 tasting coupons. I can assume from my interaction with these companies that it will be good for a free one in each variety or I suppose 4 free of one variety or however you prefer. But I am very excited to be chosen to do this. I'm sure it didnt mean as much as I think it meant, but Im still excited. So this is just a little taster for my giveaway in a few days. I hope that all of yall will keep reading and posting comments and feedback. I hear around that I have people who read this that I do not know. And I am flattered. So bear with me and I will start posting my food journal again. But hopefully this is the spark to ignite my culinary creative juices again! So stay tuned for my Bertolli giveaway coming soon!!