Wait No Longer! Buy your Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook TOMORROW (...November 3). You could win a prize! You know you like prizes.

Why Nov. 3, you ask?  Because that's my birthday!  Okay, that's not why...although it is my birthday... Because aside from getting a fabulous cookbook filled with 100 different recipes from bloggers just like you if you're a food blogger, that is, you are entered into a drawing to win fabulous prizes if you send in your order confirmation to Foodista. I think that's more than enough of a good reason.  Plus, I don't think it's possible to have too many cookbooks.  Mexi tends to disagree with me when I say this out loud...but I think he's just trying to push my buttons...

 

The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook came out on October 19th.

How to win fun prizes just by purchasing your own copy.  Or copies to give as gifts.  Or copies to share with strangers on the street...

Buy your copy on:

November 3rd, between 10:00 and 11:00am Pacific Standard Time*.

ENTRY DETAILS:

Your order must be placed within this specific time period in order to qualify as a valid entry.

*Refer to your specific time zone below:

  Pacific (PDT): 10 - 11 am

  Mountain (MDT): 11 am - 12 pm

  Central (CDT): 12 - 1 pm

  Eastern (EDT): 1 - 2 pm

Every book you purchase gives you an entry into the prize drawing (for example, buy 10 books and get 10 chances to win).

Offer not valid where prohibited by law.

To celebrate the release of the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook (from Amazon...simply click on any of the Foodista Best of the Food Blogs Cookbooks links anywhere on this post to get there!), Foodista is giving you the opportunity to win some fabulous prizes!

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TO ENTER:

1) Buy the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook on November 3, between 10 and 11 am PDT* from Amazon (click on any link in this post to get right where you need to be...like the one at the beginning of this sentence...).

2) Forward your order confirmation email to book@foodista.com.

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Soooooo.....you wanna see the prizes up for grabs, dontcha???  Check it out....

A $200 Gift Card from Amazon

A $100 Gift Card from Mad Wine

Zojirushi Rice Cooker (I'm not sure of exact model) & Roger Ebert's The Pot and How to Use it

Other Andrews McNeel Cookbooks

...plus there's more!

Pretty awesome prizes, huh?

For those of you who didn't know, I am one of the authors in the book...

...but I have the cookbook and think that it is AMAZING and well worth the small investment...even if I wasn't in it!  Best of luck to those who enter....and enjoy your book!

A Couple of SNEAK PEAKS and WOO HOOS!!! FOODISTA Best of the Food Blogs Cookbook & WIKIO Food Blogs rankings update

Sneak Peak Numero Uno

Just throwing some fun stuff out here today.  I found out yesterday that one of the recipes I submitted to The Foodista Best of the Food Blogs Cookbook contest was a winner!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  Raise the roof!  Fist Pump!  High Fives all around!  Happy Dance!  I'm also ecstatic to see some of my blogger friends have also made the cut...take a look at that picture down there and tell me you don't recognize some of those mugs (see mine...2 down, 2 in...on the right)!!  I see LeaAnn, Malou, Katie, Jamie, Nancy, Mathea...who else?  Give me a shout if I missed ya.  I'm going off the pictures I can decipher...wanna wait to go through all of the recipes when I have the evidence in my hot little hands!!! My soup is in stellar company to say the least!  A huge congrats to all of the winners! 

Over 1,500 recipes were submitted, voted on, and whittled down to 100 winners!  Andrews McMeel will publish "the winning blog posts and recipes in a beautiful, full-color, internationally distributed cookbook, set for release on October 19, 2010." ~from Foodista  Thanks so much to Foodista for giving us all this wonderful opportunity...and to everybody who voted!  You can pre-order your copy by clicking on the link below!

Sneak Peak Numero Dos

When I was contacted by Wikio to see if I'd like to put up a sneak preview of the newest Food Blog Rankings on their site, I thought...why not!?  I'd just recently heard of Wikio when somebody pointed out that girlichef was listed there.  All I can say is...very cool!  I love finding new places for girlichef to gain exposure...and I happen to see a couple of other sites in the upcoming top 40 that I read.  I even have some friends and bloggy pals on there go, Deb & Priya ...woot!

"What is Wikio?

Wikio is an information portal with a news search engine that searches press sites and blogs.

With Wikio you can very easily create pages to follow the breaking news that interests you. Our info is continuously updated!

Wikio is a participative service: you can publish an article directly on the site or comment on an existing item.

You can also vote for an article or a group that captures your interest in order to increase its visibility on the site.

Each page offers an RSS feed that allows you to subscribe to receive the information that appears there in the reader of your choice."   ~from Wikio site

So, here's a sneak peak at the soon-to-be-released Food Blog rankings on Wikio!  If you ever see a little symbol like this......that's what it's all about- Wikio!

1	Serious Eats
2	Eater
3	Diner's journal
4	Smitten Kitchen
5	Slashfood
6	Serious Eats: New York
7	Cake Wrecks
8	The Stew
9	Eater LA
10	The Pioneer Woman
11	Tuesdays with Dorie
12	The Kitchen - Apartment Therapy
13	Eater SF
14	Daily Dish
15	Food Politics
16	101 Cookbooks
17	Orangette
18	Simply Recipes
19	Kalyn's Kitchen
20	Blondie and Brownie
21	angry chicken
22	One Hot Stove
23	The Wednesday Chef
24	Kahakai Kitchen
25	Cooking 4 all Seasons
26	The Girl Who Ate Everything
27	Michael Ruhlman - Translating the chef's craft for every kitchen
28	me-ander
29	Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
30	The Well-Seasoned Cook
31	girlichef
32	Grub Street Chicago
33	McDuff's Food & Wine Trail
34	The Tortefeasor
35	Seduce Your Tastebuds
36	Cupcakes Take the Cake
37	Cannelle et Vanille
38	The Ethicurean
39	The Blog That Ate Manhattan
40	Health Nut

Ranking made by Wikio

WINTRY VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP ....cuz baby it's COLD. OUT. SIIIIIIIIDE!

Well, it's official. It's FREEEEEEZING outside. The cold and the snow decided to takes their sweet time this year...and then slap us in the face. Hard and fast. Just last week it was a sorta pleasant 48°. Now it is a very unpleasant 5° (-7° w/ wind chill). Sure, snow's pretty...but ice and slick roads with black ice...not so pretty. I actually like being enveloped in that big white hush. As long as I can stay home all cozy and warm and see it through my window. But the minute you have to send kids out to stand at the bus stop worrying the whole time whether or not they'll make it home with all of their fingers and toes, it ceases being pleasant. Oh, or the minute you have to get on the road with all of the morons who forgot in the last 8 or so months how to drive in the snow. Um, hello...we live in Northern Indiana. It snows every year. I wouldn't mind driving so much if there was NOBODY else on the roads. Never seem to get that lucky, though. But, imagine if you will a day where you're tucked inside the house and only know it's snot-freezing outdoors by the icicles you can see hanging from the barren trees through your window. Nobody has to leave...music is playing...blankets are strewn from every available chair, table and shelf to form a massive fort...and of course, the kitchen is beckoning! This is when I don't mind it so much. A big pot of soup...bubbling on the stove...that's the stuff baby. That's the stuff.

Wintry Vegetable Beef Soup

from the kitchen of girlichef

yield ~1 gallon

1/2 Tbs. butter

1/2 Tbs. oil

~2 lbs. beef chuck (or any tougher, stew-worthy cut)

1 qt. stock/broth/water

4 slices thick-cut, peppered bacon

2 lg. sweet potatoes, peel & dice

2 lg. parsnips, diced

2 lg. carrots, diced

2 lg. sticks celery, diced

1 large onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, peel & smash

1/4 of a red cabbage, sliced thin

1/4 of a green cabbage, sliced thin

few sprigs thyme

few sprigs parsley

2 bay leaves

2 qt. stock/broth/water

black pepper

to finish:

balsamic vinegar

Parmesan cheese

chopped herbs

Begin by melting the butter with the oil in a large Dutch oven. Brown your beef well on all sides. Once all sides are browned, drain off any excess fat in pan (more than a tsp.) and add 1 qt. of stock to pot. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer. Cover pan and simmer gently for until meat is fork tender, ~2 1/2 hours. When beef is finished, transfer it to a large bowl with any juices and let cool until able to handle, then shred it. In the same pot you cooked the beef in, add the bacon and cook just done. Remove bacon, but leave fat in pan. Add veggies and cook until just beginning to soften. Add shredded beef and reserved bacon back to pot along with herbs. Add 2 qts. stock (or more to just cover) and simmer over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender, ~10 minutes or so. I let it sit, covered for at least an hour to allow the flavors to come together. Remove herb stems and bay leaves. Season with freshly cracked black pepper (and salt if needed, depends on the saltiness of the liquid you used, so taste first). To serve, drizzle with a glug of balsamic vinegar and grate some fresh Parmesan over the top. Sprinkle with fresh, chopped herbs and more black pepper, if desired.There. Nice and cozy. Indoors with a big, bowl of steaming soup. Can you see the ice on the window pain melting from the heat in the kitchen? I can.

*I am entering this recipe into the FOODISTA Cookbook entry "contest" (read about it at the top of my sidebar) and would love it if you could go rate it (click on stars) if you get a moment. And everybody is free to enter an original recipe for a chance to be in the upcoming cookbook...so what're you waiting for!?

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UPDATE

10/19/10

This recipe was chosen to appear in the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook which comes out today! Thanks so much to everybody who voted for me and made this possible! 

Popcorn & Nuts for quick Party Food!

The theme over at IHCC this week is Party Treats...and we are using Nigella Lawson recipes as our guide! Many of you know that I have been insanely busy working since college football began...and probably will continue to be until the last (bowl!?) game is played. I am trying to come around visiting as much as possible, but please excuse me if I seem absent or sporadic over the next couple of months. Sometimes I have to click, drool and move on to the next tasty spot in a speedy fashion. Although my boys are the MSU Spartans (go State!), I work for ND Fighting Irish and hope that they do well...because it means that our whole city does well...and I can continue to pay my bills. Except that they are going down this coming Saturday when the Spartans charge into town!!! I knew I wanted to make a quick Tailgating at home -slash- Game Snack and I found 2 such recipes from Nigella. I am pretty much addicted to nuts. I like popcorn. So, nuts and popcorn it is! They're both quick & easy enough that I can rush home and whip some up between the end of a shift...and the beginning of a game...about 1/2 hour, usually.

The Union Square Cafe's Bar Nuts

from Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson

2 1/4 c. assorted unsalted nuts

2 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. dark brown sugar

2 tsp. Maldon or other sea salt

1 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toss the nuts (if bought separately) and spread out on a large baking sheet. Toast in the oven till they become light golden brown, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the rosemary, cayenne, sugar, salt and melted butter. I happened to have a can of assorted mixed nuts, but they were salted...so I just cut back on the amount of salt I added in the mix...just a couple small pinches.

Thoroughly toss the nuts in the spiced butter and serve warm. And once you eat these, you will never want to stop. So true Nigella, so true. Party Popcorn ...see...party...it fits...totally

from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson

yield: 12 c.

2 Tbs. vegetable oil which I omitted because I was using my microwave air popper

1 c. unpopped popcorn

4 Tbs. butter

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. ground paprika

4 tsp. sea salt

4 tsp. sugar

Put the oil into the biggest pan you have with a lid over high heat, add the popcorn, and quickly put on the lid. Let the popcorn pop, shaking the pan every now and then to keep the kernels moving. You will hear it, but don't be tempted to look, unless you want to get shot at tee hee, and once it has stopped popping, take it off the heat. Or simply put it in your microwave popper...probably in two steps because it only holds up to half a cup...and pop it without the added oil.

Melt the butter with the spices, in another pan or microwave that too add salt and sugar and pour it over the popcorn. Put everything into a large paper shopping bag. Fold the top over to hold in the popcorn ...or toss in huge bowl covered with a large plate and held tight! Shake until popcorn is thoroughly coated with spicy butter. Serve.

Serve nice and pretty...or throw in bowls, grab a cold beer and turn on the game! If you've created one of Nigella's recipes in a Party fashion this week...or could make it relate somehow, please join us at I Heart Cooking Clubs and add a link to your post! The more people at the party, the merrier! And while you're there...check out the theme for next week.

I also wanted to take a minute to say !!!YIPPEE!!! girlichef is today's Foodista Featured Blog of the Day! Click on the button if you'd like to check it out! Many thanks to Foodista for this awesome recognition.