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Archives for June 2012
2012 WILD HARVEST Blogger Recipe Contest
The best thing about the Healthy Living Summit 2012 (so far) is receiving a big box of goodies from SUPERVALU INC. and being encouraged to get my bake-on, stat! The Summit is nearly six weeks away and, already, there’s some bonding action going on among the attendees that opted to participate in the WILD HARVEST Recipe Contest. I can’t wait to see what my blogging buds come up with, but in the meantime, this is what I’ve been working on!
The big ol’ box contained so, so many goodies! Animal crackers, granola, raisins, peanut butter, apple sauce, spices, beans, salsa. Upon opening the box, I immediately started snacking on animal crackers while brainstorming potential breakfast ideas. Moments later, Courtney warned me via Instagram that the animal crackers were no jokin’ good and to beware. It was too late, half the bag was already gone!!
The basis of the contest is to create a fun, healthy breakfast using at least three of the provided ingredients. My initial reaction was to bake some sort of protein cookie using the peanut butter, granola, and raisins. But after further thought, that recipe wouldn’t be very me. A more me recipe would be a savory, eggy breakfast.
A savory, eggy breakfast using using some of the leftover pie crust from last weekend!
FoodFash Black Bean Quiche with Mango Peach Salsa (yields 6 servings)
1 batch of your favorite pie crust
1 can of WILD HARVEST black beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch of green onions, finely sliced
2 packed tablespoons of chopped, fresh cilantro
3 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of WILD HARVEST cayenne pepper
salt to taste
serve with WILD HARVEST mango peach salsa
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill an uncooked pie shell with black beans, green onions, and cilantro. Add eggs, milk, cayenne pepper, and salt into a blender and blend until slightly frothy. Pour egg mixture over beans, making sure that most of the filling is covered with egg. Bake for 50 minutes, rotating quiche once mid-way through baking. Let quiche stand for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with WILD HARVEST mango peach salsa and enjoy!
Man oh man am I happy I went the savory route. The cayenne pepper adds that kick (that I find so necessary) and the mango peach salsa satisfies that sweet/salty craving that is so appropriate for brunch. And not only is this breakfast such a weekend treat, it’s also filled with loads of protein and fiber – the perfect fuel for a weekend adventure!
*SUPERVALU INC. provided the above WILD HARVEST products for free for the purpose of this blog entry and the 2012 WILD HARVEST Blogger Recipe Contest.
Meringue Madness
Ever since licking the bowl and beaters when I baked that lemon meringue pie, I’ve had meringue on the brain. And since I was not going to tempt myself with another whole pie just to get a meringue fix, I figured meringue cookies would do.
FoodFash Mocha Meringue Cookies
3 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coffee extract
6 tablespoons white sugar
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and extracts at medium speed until eggs are frothy and forming soft peaks. Gradually add sugar and then beat for 4-5 minutes at high speed, until meringue is stiff and looks like the picture above. Scoop all of the meringue into a large ziploc bag (or pastry bag) and cut off the corner of the bag. Squeeze meringue onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet into whatever shape your heart desires. Bake for one hour, turn off the oven, and allow the cookies to stay in the oven for a few hours. Store in an air-tight container, separated by parchment paper, at room temperature to prevent cookies from getting sticky.
I left the cookies in the oven overnight and when I popped a few in my mouth as I rushed out the door this morning, they were perfect! Light and airy with a hint of coffee flavor, I was down with it. But when I arrived at home after working all day (sooo excited for a cookie), it was a totally different story. You see, in my 7:30 AM frenzy, I figured the cookies would be just fine stored in the oven all day. I figured wrong. Meringues and the slightest bit of humidity equal marshmallow taffy-like things. No bueno.
As I hesitantly tossed them into the trash can, I was already thinking of new meringue flavor combinations. New flavor combinations, how I need to buy a pastry bag, how similar baking meringues are to baking macarons. Lots and lots of thoughts going on as each fluffy fail found its way to the bottom of the bag.
Meeting @JoyTheBaker!
Last night was full of firsts. First book signing, first time meeting Joy the Baker, first time meeting up with other members of the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance. It was…. overwhelming, full of hiccups, but totally good. As Joy would say, it was real life.
Julie and Jessica met me at BookPeople about an hour before the event was scheduled to begin. We chatted it up, aware of any movement behind the curtain that could have been Joy. Meanwhile, Megan and Steff held down a table at Contigo. We coordinated through Twitter and concluded that it was up to me to invite Joy to dinner. Uh oh, yikes, WTF, why me? All thoughts that cruised through my head at an unimaginable pace.
When I approached the signing table, the only words word I could manage to squeeze out was “hi”. Then silence. Thankfully Joy is, self-admittedly, no stranger to awkward, and was able to get a mini dialogue going. Mini, mini, I mean mini. But! I was able to use Megan as my crutch and let Joy know that we had a table at an Austin hip spot off the beaten path and that she should join.
I headed to Contigo to make sure we had enough space and Julie and Jessica stayed behind to assure Joy I wasn’t a creepster re-invite her to dinner. Julie and Jessica arrived at Contigo, sans Joy, and we ordered food and cocktails and began to get merry. Shortly after, Megan informed the table that Joy was on her way. Really!?!? Perhaps the awkwardness was more endearing than creepy… Perhaps.
Joy plopped right down next to us as if she was meeting old friends. And in a way she was. After all, we knew years and years of Joy the Baker’s story. But what we got for the next few hours was a bit of Joy Wilson’s story. I will remember last night as the night I sat next to Joy Wilson on a picnic bench, slurping cocktails, sharing stories. And for that memory, my friends, I am thankful!