Crunchy Avocado Salad

 

I'm afraid of avocado's. Well, I guess it's not the avocado I'm afraid of but the act of getting to the avocado. A few years ago, I was attempting to get the pit out of the avocado, which any of you who have tried know that this can be a challenge at times. Well in my effort to stab the pit out with a knife,  I missed the pit and ended up slicing open my hand. I'm sure there are others of you who know my pain, at least I hope so.  The problem is that I love avocado's, so I continue to risk bodily injury to enjoy this great food.

Meringue Coffee Cake

I mentioned earlier this month that I had joined the Daring Cooks when I created the Papas Rellenos. Well there's a second side of the kitchen that's called the Daring Bakers and I also joined that group! That means I've got two chances a month to try something new and challenging.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Cinnamon Pecan Caramel Popcorn

I have to admit I'm not really a popcorn fan. At least not the buttered popcorn while you are watching a movie variety. However, if you take that popcorn, cover it in sugar and bake it, it's general appeal to me seems to increase dramatically.  This variety is my personal favorite. I've made four batches in the last week and eaten a large share of each one. The cinnamon in this recipe really makes it and I use a Vietnamese variety that has the perfect sweet-hot taste, providing just a little bit of bite to the finished popcorn. The pecans add a more refined taste but you could substitute them with any nut variety that you have on hand. Finally, I suppose you could use a microwave popcorn that was light in butter and salt but making your own popcorn on the stove is so easy and fresh popcorn really has no comparison.

Minnesota Food Bloggers and Corner Table

 I had the honor of spending the evening with a group of Minnesota Food Bloggers and Chef Scott Pampuch at Corner Table Restaurant in Minneapolis. It was a great experience spending time with some other bloggers and getting to learn more about what Scott has planned at Corner Table.

Papas Rellenas

The challenge I face with blogging and cooking now is constantly trying to think of new and fun things to make. Usually it's not very hard and I have a good stream of ideas but other times it's a challenge to think of something blog worthy. So last month I joined a group called the Daring Kitchen. It has two sides, the Daring Bakers and The Daring Cooks. Each month a challenge is hosted where all the participants are challenged to make a specific dish and then post about it on the same day.

Triple Berry Shortcakes

It's about that time of year in Minnesota that we have to start pretending it's spring to keep ourselves sane. Winter is still dragging along here with more cold and snow in the coming weeks. I took my six year old skiing this morning and we made it about an hour before we gave up and headed home. We're going to some friends house for dinner tonight and they asked us to bring a dessert so I thought I'd make these berry shortcakes as it was as close to summer as we're going to get for awhile.

Spicy Filet Mignon Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing

I had some filet mignon left over from when I made Beef Wellington a few weeks ago and I wanted to make something a little different with it and I came across this salad from Bobby Flay. It just sounded good so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Mardi Gras King Cake

We've lived quite a few places around the country since we've been married but one of our favorites is certainly our time spent in New Orleans, Louisiana. We were there for just a year but we fell in love with the people, culture and of course the food. One for the best events we were able to participate in was the fantastic series of parades leading up to Mardi Gras. We lived in Mandeville and they hosted some great family friendly parades that the kids loved to go to. It was so much fun standing alongside the parade route cheering and trying to get the best toys and trinkets from floats. We still have bags of beads and trinkets that the kids love to play with just from the one year that we were there.

Family Pizza Night with Newman's Own

I had a great surprise yesterday when I got home from work yesterday. A box full of Newman's Own Products and a new flipHD video camera! As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program they had sent me the products and asked that we make a family friendly meal with some of the ingredients. So tonight was Pizza night!