Well here I am guys, trying to get back in the swing of regular, full-time food blogging. I am pretty caught up with emails from all you lovely folks out there - thank you for all your well-wishes, they are much appreciated. I have been hanging out and catching up with my peeps on the forum - we have this month’s Royal Foodie Joust underway. The voting has started, and as always, it is our biggest competition yet. You have one more day to cast the vote for your favorite.
Some lucky winner will not only get their personalized apron, but also some Tupperware prizes from Ben at What’s Cooking,
who is not only sponsoring the Joust this month, but also hosting it in my stead. So big props to Ben. *woohoo*

Now on to the food, because that is why we are all here isn’t it? For the food? Well I am going to start at the end - the honeymoon and work my way back to the wedding food and the week before the wedding. I am still waiting on pictures from the wedding, so it kind of defeats the purpose to discuss lovely food without proper documentation. So alas, we start at the end of this adventure into marriage.

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Last week, my good buddy Dharm hosted the April edition of The Royal Foodie Joust. His post about itwas the funniest thing I have read in a long time, and I thought it would be fun to emulate his style of writing, but a little different genre. But after re-reading this post I just wrote, I should have just asked Dharm to write it for me! Anyway…

Can you see me waving the Queen’s wave to all of you?

“Hear Ye, Hear Ye! It is decreed that the The Queen of Leftovers is officially beginning her Royal Tour of the provinces. She will be stopping first in the Southern Coast provinces of San Augustino, where she will marry the beloved Lord Roberto, Duke of Technical Support. They will be attended by her retinue of their family and friends on the white sandy beaches where their joining will bring much food, libation, merriment and technical where withal to the land. After a few days of rest and enjoying the salty ocean breezes they will leave and head on to the Land of the Turquoise Waters, The Caribbean Island of Jamaica, for their Moon of Honey (or should we say, their Moon of Pina Colada)”.

Sadly it will not last a moon, just a quarter moon, but any moon is a good moon in my book!

I promise to bring back delicious tales of food and adventure!

As an appropriate farewell for now, I will share something with you that we do every Spring Solstice (which was a few weeks ago). We plant a little garden. This time due to the fact that we have very little outdoor space we planted a little herb garden. Spring is a time of renewal and birth. It is when the earth wakes up and life starts to rise up all around us. It is the perfect time to reflect on the things you want to be born out of your own life during the next year. So with a wedding coming up, it was especially focused this year. So with every seed we plant, we make a wish on it - like:
“this seed is for a beautiful wedding day”, “this seed is for a happy marriage”, “this seed is for many more wonderful meals”, “this seed is for lots of love and kisses”, “this seed is for continuing down the right path”, “this seed is for the health and happiness of our loved ones”, you get the picture. It is a great way to plant your seeds for the future both figuratively and in reality! If you wish it, is will be so.

Another declaration is that this month’s Royal Foodie Joust has begun. Michelle from Thursday Night Smackdown won this past challenge with her Coconut-Yellowtail Lollipops with a Trio of Spicy Lime Dipping Sauces. Her choice of ingredients for this month’s Joust are Mango, Brown Sugar and Cardamom. You can join in on the fun here! This month’s Joust, in the Queen’s absence, will be overseen by Ben the Brave from What’s Cooking? Ben will also be sponsoring the Joust this month by giving away prizes to the first, second and third place winners this month from his Tupperware business, in addition to the personalized apron for the first place winner! So go check out the forum to get more details!

Thank you Ben!

See you soon!

Well it is that time of the month again! Time to announce the winners of this month’s Royal Foodie Joust!
Last month’s Joust was won by Heather of
Gild The Voodoolily . So she not only won her own personalized apron but she also picked this challenge’s 3 ingredients: Pork (or Barley), Citrus (any kind) and Pink or White Peppercorns. Every month this challenge gets bigger and better with the contestants bringing their best and most creative energies to the floor! If you are not familiar with this event – 3 ingredients are chosen by the previous month’s winner. All the contestants must use those 3 ingredients and any other ingredients to create a new signature dish. We have had some very creative entries each and ever month!

So if you have not joined us in the past, please stop by the forum today and sign up, so you can participate as well and get our chance to win the Queen’s Favor and your own personalized apron!

Now for the winners:

In FIRST PLACE we have Valli of
More Than Burnt Toast with her succulent and tender Citrus Spice-Rubbed Baby Backs Ribs.

Valli has been a participant in the Joust since its earliest days and came this month with a real knockout! Everyone’s mouths were watering with her entry! Way to go Valli! Well deserved indeed!

In Second Place we have Michelle aka Us vs. Food from Thursday Night Smackdown with
Five-Spice Pork Tenderloin with Blood Orange Gastrique and Carrot-Squash Puree

A real show stopper, with beautiful presentation! Great job!

In Third place we have Allen of
Eating Out Loud with his Pork Adobo.

Allen is new to the competition but wowed everyone with his use of the ingredients! Thanks for participating Allen and we’ll see you in the next Joust I am sure!

My thanks to all the participants – everyone did a great job and I hope to see everyone in the next addition of
The Royal Foodie Joust!
To see all the entries, click here.

Click here for more information on how you can participate in this month’s event!

Hi Everyone! Time to announce the winner of February’s Royal Foodie Joust! This month’s ingredients of Eggplant, Lentils and Cinnamon were chosen by last month’s winner, my buddy Dharm at Dad~Baker & Chef. If you want to check out all the really really wonderful entries, go to The Leftover Queen Forum. If you want to check out pictures of Dharm’s adorable kids in his new Royal Food Joust Apron, check out his blog.

Now for the WINNER! This month’s winner is Heather of Gild the Voodoolily.
Heather’s dish Lentil Fritters with Venison Chorizo, Eggplant Sofrito and Cinnamon Aioli looked absolutely fantastic! So creative! Wish I could have been there for the taste testing!

Our second place winner is SuperChef of Mirch Masala, with her flavorful dish of Eggplant in Lentils and Salsa. Comfort food, for sure!

In Third place we have Peter aka Protos of Souvlaki For The Soul, with his absolutely gorgeous Moroccan Style Spiced Lamb with Lentil Pilaf and topped with creamy Baba Ghanoush! That lamb looks perfect.

If you would like to join the Joust this month, Heather’s choice of ingredients are:

Pork, any variety (may be substituted with Barley - for any with dietary restrictions)
Citrus, any variety
Pink or White Peppercorns

Please post your entry here!

There is some steep competition in these contests - we had almost 20 participants this time! So please join is for your chance to win your own very fabulous and increasingly popular personalized apron!

Hi Everyone!

I have a few updates to share with everyone. Number one, I was adding new blogs to the ever growing, ever popular Foodie Blogroll this morning. Can you believe we have over 900 blogs now and that I get more and more requests everyday? It is amazing. I don’t talk about it much on this blog, because it speaks for itself, really, but it is really such a wealth of information. It features blogs from all corners of the world. Such an amazing tool for the food blogger, home cook, chef and anyone who just loves food. There is so much there, it is hard to keep track of everyone. I think as a community it is important for people to share with each other what is going on and inform us all about really great blogs out there that we might be missing. For example…

One of the newest members of The Foodie Blogroll is Priya, from 365 Days Pure Vegetarian, had a recipe for Tamarind Date Chutney on her blog! Many of you who enjoyed my post on Tamarinds were wondering how to make this on your own - well here is how! There is a link to it imbedded in this recipe.
So in order to help us all find these hidden treasures, I am going to begin featuring a Foodie Blogroll Blog of The Week to show the variety we have in this part of the blogosphere. If you would like to nominate a Foodie Blogroll Member for this honor, please post it on The LeftoverQueen Forum here. If you are not yet a member of The Foodie Blogroll, Join Us Today!

We also through the blogroll, have a wonderful forum to discuss foodie things - topics range from help with ingredients, to your favorite food celebrities, and The Royal Foodie Joust - a wonderful event that really gets your food mojo on!

This is a monthly event that just is full of fun, creativity and lots of great ideas and takes on how to create dishes from the same ingredients. It is so inspiring. Please check it out if you haven’t. Click here for more info. Remeber, only 2 more days to get your entry in there!

Since I am all about Foodie communities, as some of you may have noticed, I have recenlty joined one myself. There is a banner on my right sidebar for FoodBuzz. I am now a Featured Publisher for Foodbuzz and as I make my way through the blogosphere I note that I am in very good company, as many of my favorite blogs are also on the team. Please spread the word. My ratings depend on people looking at the site, voting, and also writing reviews/rating my site on the Foodbuzz site. Please click on my “vote for me!” badge on my right sidebar, about midway down. Or go to my profile on FoodBuzz by clicking on my Featured Publisher Badge or here is a link to where you can find me on FoodBuzz and leave your comments, feedback and ratings. I am not usually crazy about self-promotion, but this is very important and your support means a lot! Thanks for supporting your friendly, local LeftoverQueen!

Hi everyone, it is Royal Foodie Joust time again! This month the competition is FIERCE. It is going to be our biggest joust yet!
This month the ingredients are: Eggplant, Lentils and Cinnamon.
Please post your entry here, on the LeftoverQueen Forum by Friday so you can have a chance to win your own personalized apron!

This is our first Royal Foodie Joust of the year! We had a very special list of required ingredients - perfect for the holiday season: Pomegranate, Mint and Pistachios. Not only are the colors beautiful in a dish, but the ingredients seasonal in much of the world at this time. These ingredients were chosen by Emiline at Sugar Plum, last month’s winner. Every month it seems the ingredients for The Joust get more an more challenging and I am always impressed with how many are up for he challenge. Due to this, 2 months ago I decided that the winner of each month will win a personalized apron as first prize! So please do not miss your chance this month to participate, flex your foodie muscles and win yourself a very cool apron. To learn more about how to participate in the monthly Royal Foodie Joust, please visit the Leftover Queen Forum.
Now for this month’s winner - to start of the new year.

Drum roll please………

Dharm from Dad~Baker & Chef with his dish: Chicken Pilaf with Pomegranate, Mint and Pistachio

CONGRATS to Dharm! You will be recieving your apron as soon as possible!

Now for our second and third placers:

tie for second:

Valli from …More Than Burnt Toast with Baked Salmon Tarator

&
Heather from Gild The Voodoolily with her Pistachio-Crusted Lamb with Mint Pistou and Pomegranate Reduction

Third place is Peppermint Tart with Pomegranate Glaze by Katy from Sugarlaw!

Congrats to all the winners!

If you would like to win a personalized apron please join us for this month’s Royal Foodie Joust!

December is drawing to a close, which means we are almost at Royal Foodie Joust time! Be sure to get your entry in by January 1, 2008!

This month our ingredients were chosen by Emiline of Sugar Plum, who was the winner of last month’s joust. She picked these ingredients Pomegranate, Pistachios and Mint, to showcase the colors of the season. I love the flavors that all of these components bring as they are all featured heavily in the foods of the Mediterranean. I created this dish to celebrate Yule, or Winter Solstice which was on December 21st.

You too can create your own pomegranate, pistachio and mint recipe for your chance to WIN A PERSONALIZED APRON! For details - check out The LeftoverQueen Forum.

Also, I have been featured on GlamNest and wrote an article about how to use those holiday leftovers! So please check out this article too!

Best wishes to everyone for a healthy and food-filled New Year!

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