Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tracey Medeiros. I received a complimentary book for the purpose of review, but all opinions are honest and they are my own. No additional compensation for this post was provided; this page may contain affiliate links. When I received an email from Tracey Medeiros, asking if I might be interested in reviewing her cookbook - The Vermont Non-GMO Cookbook: 125 Organic and Farm-to-Fork Recipes from the Green Mountain State* - I agreed immediately. I am always interested in any inspiration for farm-to-fork recipes. And, truth be told, I don't know much about Vermont. So, I was excited to see what sorts of produce would be featured. On the Page image courtesy Tracey Medeiros Medeiros writes in her introduction that the book "takes you on a culinary journey through the tiny villages, quaint towns, and bustling cities of our Green Mountain State to meet the people that have helped make this book a reality. ...[The]...

This sponsored post is written by me on behalf of  Sun Basket . All opinions are my own.  Several months ago, when I was approached by  Sun Basket  to do a product review of their meal kits, I can admit that I was more than a little skeptical. I had tried a different company's ingredient delivery service prior to that and was completely underwhelmed. I had almost sworn off ever trying another, but  Sun Basket 's message intrigued me. photo courtesy Sun Basket Their meal kits include organic, non-GMO produce from West Coast farms; the meats and seafood are sustainably sourced and hormone-free. Additionally, unlike another ingredient delivery service I tried before, all of the packaging is returnable or recyclable if you prefer.  photo courtesy Sun Basket And I am thrilled that  Sun Basket   agreed to sponsor my #FreshTastyValentines online blogging event. They will be giving one of our readers a week's box del...

This sponsored post is written by me on behalf of  Sun Basket . All opinions are my own.  photo courtesy Sun Basket When I was approached by Sun Basket to do a product review of their meal kits, I will admit that I was skeptical. I have tried an ingredient delivery service once before and was completely underwhelmed.  However,  Sun Basket 's message intrigued me. Their meal kits include organic, non-GMO produce from West Coast farms; the meats and seafood are sustainably sourced and hormone-free.  photo courtesy Sun Basket Based in San Francisco, the promise of healthy meals with organic ingredients appealed to me. Even better: the recipes are created by Executive Chef Justine Kelly, formerly head chef at The Slanted Door in San Francisco. I love that restaurant!  Chef Justin e founded  Sun Basket  in 2014 to combine seasonal produce with globally inspired flavors into 30-minute recipes that you make in y...

Just before we were running out the door for our weekend camping trip, I saw a box on our doorstep. I grabbed it and ran! Turns out it was my thank you package from Susan at The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen ; I had donated - happily - to her kickstarter project awhile back and have watched her progress from idea to implemention. She's awesome, by the way. Here's her Bake Shop ... First, I have a funny story about Susan, given that we've never met in person, but I've been following her for a couple of years online. I was binge-watching  Best Food Ever  and it was an episode about food trucks; they were talking about a truck that does Belgian waffles in Brooklyn. I was listening, but not totally watching. I glanced up from my laptop and saw Susan and her husband taking a bite out of the same waffle,  Lady and the Tramp  style. It was adorable. I think I must have shrieked 'I know her!' because my husband woke up with a start. Whoops. It was just so...

When I had the chance to test out the new(-to-me)  Tasting Room , I did. I was intrigued by the 'personalized' wine experience. Click here to read about their WinePrint™ personalization technology. Pretty interesting, right? Here's what we did and how it worked. First, we received our package... ...which had six 50mL bottles of wine included, two white and four red. We read the instructions and set up the tasting as directed. These are photos from the red-tasting portion, tasting wines #3-6.   We poured the wines and logged in to the website. Then we tasted, in order, and logged our preferences. As you can see, Jake didn't care for Wine #4. It wasn't my favorite either. Wine #5 was our second favorite, but Wine #6 was not delicious either. In the end, Wine #3 was our preferred red. The verdict: "You love bold, fruit-flavored red wine with significant body - wines exploding with flavor." That is not really news...

The Invitation "Would you like to go with me on a date?" I asked the little Wom, my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf. Where are we going? "I want to take you to see a movie about cooking." He looked at me skeptically. Where are Daddy and R- going to go? Darn this kid knows me too well! "They are going to see a movie that is not appropriate for you." There, I admitted it. Our movie date was to distract him from the fact that he was being left out of a big-boy movie. Great. Okay. Are you taking me out for dinner first? "No, we're all going to have dinner together at home. Then we're all going to the theatre. You and I are going to see one movie and Daddy and R- are going to see another movie." Okay. We were there on opening night for our area and the theatre was packed. D looked around and noticed that he was the only child in the entire room. And, really, I was probably one of the youngest adults by at least ...

Several months ago, I took part in an online chat about whole foods and was contacted by a gal at Attune Foods who asked if I might be willing to try their product. Absolutely! But it slipped through the cracks (totally my fault, not hers) and I neglected to write a review. Yikes! I apologized, did more reading on my own, and located a few of their product lines here locally. I don't typically purchase boxed cereals for my family; I usually make homemade granola once a week for a quick grab-n-go breakfast. So, my boys were excited to help me test these out. We tried Peace Cereal 's Cherry Almond Clusters and Flakes. And we tried Erewhon 's Crispy Brown Rice Cereal.  What I loved... They passed my label test. Every ingredient is pronounceable and recognizable - not just by me, but by my 10 and 11 year olds. This is the list for the Crispy Brown Rice cereal: Organic brown rice, Organic brown rice syrup, Sea salt. Yep. That's it. They use who...

I have had Laurey Masterton's  The Fresh Honey Cookbook: 84 Recipes from a Beekeeper's Kitchen *  on my bookshelf for an embarrassingly long time. After my cover and article on honey -  Bee Yourself  - was published in  Edible Monterey Bay 's Summer 2013 issue, a few publishers sent me honey cookbooks to review. Storey Publishing was one of those and this is one of the books. The photos - by Johnny Autry - are vibrant and make you wish you could stab your honey-dipper straight into the scenes. And Masterton's recipes? Well, read on. I procrastinated on cooking from this book not because it wasn't inspiring, but because it was too intriguing. Is there such a thing? Yes. Precision procrastination. Is that a real thing? No, I just made that up; but after months of holding on to this book, considering the recipes, and drooling over the photos without ever taking out a pan, that's what I'm calling it. Masterton guides the reader through an entire year ...