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Showing posts from September, 2014

#10DaysofTailgate Winners!

The event is over! The winners have been picked and notified. Phew.  Thank you, again, to our #10DaysofTailgate Sponsors in alphabetical order with links to their homepages Bob's Red Mill El Diablo Hot & Spicy Mustard FireWire Grilling Gourmet Garden Intensity Academy Maple Leaf Farms Mr. Bar-B-Q Not Ketchup Pick Your Plum Quirk Books The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen Bake Shop ThermoWorks And... the winners of the giveaway are... a Rafflecopter giveaway

#10DaysofTailgate - Thanks Again!

I will be doing a few wrap-up posts over the next couple of days. But as the end of our rafflecopter approaches, I just wanted to take another moment to thank our sponsors and the bloggers. Our #10DaysofTailgate Sponsors in alphabetical order with links to their homepages Bob's Red Mill El Diablo Hot & Spicy Mustard FireWire Grilling Gourmet Garden Intensity Academy Maple Leaf Farms Mr. Bar-B-Q Not Ketchup Pick Your Plum Quirk Books The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen Bake Shop ThermoWorks Our #10DaysofTailgate Bloggers in alphabetical order with links to their homepages A Day in the Life on the Farm  A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures CafeTerraBlog Cheese Curd In Paradise Cooking In Stilettos Culinary Adventures with Camilla Curious Cuisiniere Debbi Does Dinner Healthy Eliot's Eats From Gate to Plate girlichef Love and Confections Making Miracles Miss Laura's Kitchen OnTheM

#10DaysofTailgate: Grilled Clash of the Seasons Panzanella

On this final day of #10DaysofTailgate, I decided to do a double-post to squeeze in just one more recipe with a thank you for another sponsor  Mr. Bar-B-Q *.  I was trying to create a good recipe to highlight their stainless steel mesh grill skillet...and I finally did it. Eureka! Dear readers, enter the giveaway (below) to see if you can win a grill skillet, a grill cover with the collegiate team logo of your choosing, and a propane tank refill. Panzanella is a Tuscan salad that I normally make during the summertime, showcasing sweet tomatoes from friends' gardens and our High Ground Organics CSA. I had seen 'grilled panzanella' on a menu somewhere and decided to create my own version with some late summer tomatoes and early autumn oyster mushrooms. Hence the 'clash of the seasons.' Summer produce collides with Autumn. The grill skillet allowed me to toast the bread cubes over a grill and add some amazing smoky flavor without mangling my bread cubes on s

#10Daysof Tailgate: Grilled Lemongrass Lamb

As this marathon tailgating event - #10DaysofTailgate - draws to a close, I decided to celebrate by handing off some lamb chops to my Grill Master and kicking up my feet with a cold beer in my hand! Works for me! And Jake was excited that he finally got to use his new ThermoPop from  ThermoWorks .* Ingredients makes 2 2 lamb chops 1 t lemongrass, recommended  Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices 1 T garlic, recommended Gourmet Garden freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper sesame oil for drizzling 1 T fresh parsley Procedure Let meat come to room temperature. In the meantime, rub each lamb chop with 1/4 t lemongrass on each side and 1/4 T garlic on each side. Sprinkle with freshly ground salt, freshly ground pepper, and fresh parsley. Drizzle with sesame oil. Let meat stand while you heat the grill - at least 10 to 15 minutes. Grill till desired doneness. For lamb, that meant (for medium well) 165°F; USDA recommends 170 °F. Thanks to the Thermopop...it was

#10DaysofTailgate: Smoky Karma Stovetop Beans

Thanks to a trio of sponsor deliciousness, I am bringing these Smoky Karma Stovetop Beans to our #10DaysofTailgate party. You can heap these onto to hot dogs or spoon them over nachos. We just ate them straight from a bowl. Thanks to event sponsors:  Bob's Red Mill ,  Intensity Academy , and Not Ketchup *   for the great ingredients to make this dish extra special. Ingredients 1 lb 13 oz dried beans (I used  Bob's Red Mill  13- Bean Soup Mix) water 4 oz pancetta 1 onion, peeled and diced 4 C vegetable broth 4 C beef broth 1/4 C Not Ketchup 's Smoky Date 1/4 C raw agave nectar 2 T apple cider vinegar 1 T Carrot Karma Hot Sauce by  Intensity Academy freshly ground salt, to taste freshly ground pepper, to taste Procedure Place your dried beans in a pot and cover with, at least, 2" of water. Let soak overnight. Drain the beans and rinse them. Slice your pancetta as thinly as you can. In a large souppot, saute your onions

Monterey Beer Garden 2014 Tasting Notes

Having won the #peterbsbrewsandbitescontest with my Legend of Laguna IPA-braised Carnitas over Polenta Cakes , I received 2 tickets to the 2014 Monterey Beer Garden, a night at Portola Hotel & Spa, and a growlette from Peter B's Brewpub. And thanks to a tag-team effort by my parents and the Novaks, we were kid-free for the beer garden portion of the day. Ulla offered to keep the boys all night, but I knew that I would not be forgiven for staying at a hotel without them...when it's not a birthday or anniversary celebration. But we thoroughly enjoyed our kid-free date to drink beer! We've been to a couple of other beer festivals and I have to say that this was the nicest one we've attended. The two main reasons: (1) it features truly local (at least Bay Area-local) breweries and (2) the crowd is comprised of actual beer enthusiasts. While people can drink as much beer as they desire within those four hours, I think attendees were there to really enjoy th

#10DaysofTailgate: Ketchup & Mustard Glazed Meatballs

A couple of years ago, we discovered 'mustard grilled' burgers on In'N'Out's secret menu. Not being in the In'N'Out's kitchen, I can only guess as to what they do with the mustard. But I guessed that it probably had to do with brushing the meat with mustard while it cooked. Whatever they do, it adds something amazing to an already good burger. So, for today's #10DaysofTailgate post, I bring you: mustard and ketchup glazed meatballs. Jalapeño Mustard and Date Ketchup. Yep, these are fancy. Mustard and ketchup are integral part of a tailgate party and I love that El Diablo Hot & Spicy Mustard and Not Ketchup got into the game by sponsoring our event.* Thank you!! Ingredients 1 lb ground beef 1 lb ground pork 1 onion, peeled and diced 1 T  Not Ketchup 's Smoky Date + more for brushing on while cooking 1 T  El Diablo Hot & Spicy Mustard 's  Jalapeno  + more for brushing on while cooking freshly ground sea salt

Vegan Pumpkin-Potato Gnocchi {Eat a Rainbow}

It's always a challenge to pick a recipe that can be done by a dozen kids - start to finish - in just less than 90 minutes. And, this time around, I have one vegan. But as one of my students, who happens to be a good family friend, rightly commented: "Without challenges, teaching this class would be too easy for you." Okay. I have to embrace that sentiment. It's pumpkin season! So during this 'Orange' week of our 'Eat a Rainbow' class, I knew that we had to make something with pumpkin. First up: make pumpkin puree. Click to see how to make pumpkin puree . For my 'Eat a Rainbow' class, I roasted the pumpkins night before and let them cool completely. Then, the kids scooped and mashed the pumpkin flesh to get about 2 cups of pumpkin puree. Ingredients 2 C pumpkin puree 2 C mashed potatoes (we used Yukon gold to stay with the orange theme) 3/4 C flour 1/4 C olive oil vegetable stock + water for cooking gnocch