I am really excited to present to Foodie Blogroll members this awesome giveaway we are doing with in conjunction with FromTheFarm.com in March and April. The giveaway winners will be able to choose any ONE product from their website (www.fromthefarm.com) at a cap of $50!!!!! How cool is that?

Also, as an incentive for others, you can get 10% off your order cost, just by filling out a simple survey at checkout!

FromTheFarm.com is an amazing company that I can really get behind.
Here is their philosophy:

Two generations ago, milk and eggs were delivered to the home.
Our grandparents either grew their own produce, or knew the
farmer who did. FromTheFarm.com™ is bringing home delivery
back, full circle. We work with the same family farms on which
the very foundation of this country was built. We believe in
knowing the people behind the products. And supporting the
people who produce the very best.
Each and every commodity in our store has a family story behind it,
stories that our generation has either forgotten, or never known.
We believe it is time to rekindle that relationship with the families
who are feeding our world.
It is time, once again, to do business together.

The beauty of the FromTheFarm.com philosophy is that if you want to purchase products that are more local to you, you can. If you want to expand your search, and explore a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, organics and gourmet foods, even meats and cheeses, that is open to you as well. But in any case, you know the products you are getting are top quality and from American farmers. I can attest to this because they sent me boxes and boxes of products all week so that I could get an idea of what they have available. I was really impressed with the quality, the information and the company. And receiving all these goodies, I was very inspired to cook! Which is wonderful!

From their website:

“One of the joys of shopping at farmers markets is getting to know the grower who carefully nurtures, then hand-picks and packs those luscious peaches, tree-ripened pears and colorful heirloom tomatoes. These growers sell their products with pride and most often include a few tips about how to store and prepare their beloved items. You leave satisfied knowing you’ve purchased fresh, nutritious products picked at their peak of flavor and ripeness, and that you’ve helped support your community farmers – all at the convenience of being in your own home.
FromTheFarm.com was designed to mirror the flavor, quality, service and grower commitment found at traditional farmers markets. We at FromTheFarm.com both come from several generations of family farmers, so we know what freshness and quality tastes and looks like. What’s more, we use our decades of experience in produce buying, shipping and inspecting to search out top growers who can provide the finest items available throughout the country.”

To learn more about FromTheFarm.com’s Growers, click here

Bloggers are urged to sign up for their newsletter (on the home page) to be included in their monthly e-newsletter and e-mails for specials (ie: flowers for Valentine’s Day, Avocados for Super Bowl, etc…)

Here is how the contest works. To be eligible, you must reside within the continental USA and you must be an active member of The Foodie Blogroll. All current active Foodie Blogroll members are automatically enrolled in the contest. A random winner will be chosen every other week, for a total of 8 weeks (meaning 4 prizes will be given out). That’s it, nice and simple.

Here is some additional incentives for Food Bloggers:
* There is a 5 question survey offered at checkout which entitles the user to a 10% discount upon completion
* FromTheFarm.com is also looking to get the word out about their unique site and product – anyone who is interested in advertising revenue is welcome to contact Christy Farris cfarris@FromTheFarm.com

Please look forward to the following recipes in the next week featuring these fabulous products:

* Simple Tomato Salad featuring Santa Sweet Grape tomatoes and Ugly Ripe Heirloom variety tomatoes

* Washington Pears from EW Brandt & Sons – Wine Poached Pears using Blackberry Cream Honey from Honey Ridge Farms

* Balsamic Strawberries over ice cream using Balsamic Honey Vinegar and Clover Honey Creme from Honey Ridge Farms

* Roasted Chicken (in a Tagine) with Fennel rubbed with Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Olive oil from Sierra Olive Oils and Garlic Dip Seasoning Blend

The Foodie Blogroll, in partnership with MiniMates is giving away 5 MiniMate Refrigerator Deodorizers. MiniMates are little devices that sit in your refrigerator and fight off any bacteria that might be living on the surface of your food. Through the use of activated oxygen (which breaks down odors and kills microbials leaving only pure oxygen with no residue), the MiniMate helps eliminate harmful pathogens like E.Coli and Salmonella. That way, your food lasts longer and is safer for you to eat.

This is a wonderful giveaway to anyone that cooks – I mean who wouldn’t want a device that keeps your food fresher for longer? The MiniMate is about the same size as a box of baking soda, and the only maintenance is changing the batteries every few months.

To read more about this product, please check out their webpage and watch the video.

So please be sure to sign up for The Foodie Blogroll so you can be eligible to win!

Eligibility: You must be and active and eligible member of the Foodie Blogroll, residing in the US. If you are not a member yet, all you have to do in order to be eligible is sign up for the Foodie Blogroll, be approved and have the latest version of The Foodie Blogroll Widget on your blog. You will then be put in the random pool to win !

Dates of Giveaways:
Friday February 6
Friday Feb 13th
Friday Feb 20th
Friday Feb 27
Friday March 6

Also a reminder that we are giving away a free month’s membership to Sensei for Weightloss next Monday. So please check out the rules for how you can be eligible!

Last month on FoodieBlogroll.com we ran a ginger holiday cookie recipe contest to get the buzz going about The Ginger People. An awesome company from California that specializes in high quality ginger products for baking, drinking, eating and enjoying. The winner of this contest was Betherann from Muffin Love with her Gingerlicious Biscotti. She won an awesome gift basket from The Ginger People, you can read about it on her blog here.

The Ginger People were also gracious enough to also give away a weekly treat to a lucky random winner from our membership! For 4 weeks a different winner received ginger cookies (Ginger
Shortbread and ANZAC Cookies). We always have contests and giveaways going on at FoodieBlogroll.com, so be sure to check out our website’s Contests & Giveaways page or check The Forum, here for what the current contests are.
You don’t want to miss out on all the great events!

So, I was also lucky enough to receive a box for partnering with them in this giveaway. I received 2 boxes of ANZAC cookies and 2 bottles of Ginger Gizer. I had never heard of ANZAC cookies before, but they are a historical cookie that is based on a Scottish Oat Cake (which I do love), that was introduced to Australia by early Scottish immigrants. During WW I, loved ones of Australian and New Zealand soldiers were concerned about the nutritional value of the food being supplied to their men (love that!). So they created these cakes that could survive the long journey by sea to the war front. Today ANZAC cookies are known as Australia’s national biscuit. ANZAC stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps.

I am a huge fan of ginger, so I knew I would love these cookies. I love oat based cookies, cakes and biscuits, and these ANZACS were sweet, but the oat flavor really comes out. There is also a really nice ginger punch. Roberto says they remind him (in texture and shape) of a ginger version of an amaretto cookie, which is one of his favorites. Just like pumpkin, he isn’t really too into ginger, but he seemed to like these cookies.

The Ginger Gizer is a triple ginger energy drink. It is made with apple juice, honey, ginger concentrate, ginger syrup and filtered water. It is warming and delicious and suitable to drink either hot or cold. It is the perfect beverage for the cold days we have been experiencing lately. Also very helpful in dealing with any stomach ailments, which I had the unfortunate chance to experience last week. But this drink really did the trick and helped enormously.

So if you like ginger and are looking for some awesome ginger products, please check out The Ginger People!

Hi Everyone. I have some really exciting news to report! We are getting ready to launch a new month of fabulous Foodie Blogroll random giveaways in February, sponsored by Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods, Inc. It will be called “Mediterranean Monday’s Foodie Box Giveaway”.
Inside will be packed with samples of their newest products and a Cedar’s T-shirt!

If you don’t know about Cedar’s, here is some info to get your mouth watering and your stomach rejoicing. Cedar’s is one of the nationally leading manufacturers of Mediterranean Foods, and some of their products recently won 2008 American Masters of Taste Gold Medals for the best tasting in America. These foods include hommus, tzatziki, and pita chips. The people at Cedar’s believe strongly in the Mediterranean Diet and are working with other companies, like The Mediterranean Food Alliance and Oldways to try to teach consumers about the health benefits of eating a diet filled with fruits, vegetables and healthy fats. All things we love here at The Leftover Queen. I was very honored and excited to find out that The Leftover Queen blog was mentioned in an interview of Nicki Heverling, the Program Manager at MFA as a source to find information on eating the Mediterranean way.

Speaking of good fortune, yesterday I was the lucky recipient of one of these Mediterranean food boxes – because you know, I want to sample this great food too – and I can tell you right now that you do not want to miss your chance to be eligible for this giveaway. Inside my Mediterranean box of goodies was pita chips, 2 varieties of hummus, 2 varieties of tzatziki, spinach dip and a very cool t-shirt. Yum yum yum. So you all can guess what we had for dinner, right?…I thought so – a lovely meze/antipasti of all this great stuff. Everything was delicious. Roberto’s favorite was the pita chips and spinach dip and I loved the tzatziki the best – especially the roasted red pepper flavor, which I have never seen before. The baked pita chips are super crisp and the dips all had great flavor.

Also on this plate of food is some delicious chorizo (back left corner of picture) that I received as a gift from my good friend Nuria who blogs Spanish Recipes all the way from Spain! She was kind enough to award me and a few other with this tasty treat by way of saying thanks for bringing extra traffic to her blog this past year. I would have thought just a thank you email would have been enough. But if you know Nuria, you know she goes out of her way to be thoughtful and generous. So thank you Nuria! It was delicious and tender. We loved every bite and we can’t wait to enjoy the rest.

Well, we wanted to involve the whole family in this treat, so we let Pepino lick the plastic seal over the Cedar’s hummus. I am not sure which he preferred, as he was too busy licking to tell me

So, if you are not an active member of The Foodie Blogroll(meaning you are not displaying a new personalized Foodie Blogroll widget), please go sign up today !

We will be featuring 4 giveaways like this – one per week during the month of February and you really don’t want to miss out!

I love puddings – rice, bread, custards, you name it, if it is creamy and flavored with vanilla, I am all of it! I also love buckwheat, it has pretty much become my favorite grain of all time. I am not really big on the grains unless we are talking about bread, but there is something about buckwheat that I just love. Maybe it is all the protein or just the nuttiness of the flavor. Whatever it is, I decided to make a pudding, starring my favorite grain, humble buckwheat.

I thought it would also be the perfect dessert to showcase some delicious B. Lloyd’s nuts that I was asked to try by the folks at Komet Marketing. They’re all natural glazed and salted nut salad toppings, that are really delicious! Great health benefits of nuts with a great flavor, made with certified organic non-hydrogenated oil. Right now the nuts are available in grocery stores in California, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana. I have been enjoying them on top of salads, or just right out of the canister. There are at least 6 different varieties to chose from. Great to have in the pantry whenever you need to add a little crunch to your dishes.

We ate the pudding warm, as a dessert, with a pool of almond milk and honey on top, but it could just as easily be served up for a hearty breakfast!

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The other day I talked about what to do with tons of fall veggies! Today there is more. As soon as the weather starts to get cooler I start thinking about roasted root veggies, it is kind of like my signature fall dish. There is just something so satisfying about the caramelization that happens when these beautiful veggies, glistening with olive oil, go in a hot oven together. I could live off different combinations of these veggies all autumn and winter long, and often do. This time I served the roasted veggies with Maple-Sage glazed pork chops and the rest of the greens.

The other thing I love to make when the weather turns cold are squash or pumpkin soups. This delicious pumpkin soup I made from the leftovers of those lovely jack-o-lanterns that we made for Halloween based on a the recipe from Creamy Vermont Winter Pumpkin Soup from Dishing Up Vermont.

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Well no post today from an American can be without a few words about the profound change that has taken place in this country of ours. Coming from someone who had all but given up on national politics, I must say that I do feel a sense of hope. For once, in a very long time, I feel proud of my country, proud that as a people we rose up and were heard. Proud that so many of us knew that change was needed and we got out there and made it happen. Like the saying goes: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”, and it is in the spirit of that saying that I write this post.

I talk a lot about local and seasonal eating on this blog, and that is because I believe that it is so important to the health and well-being of this planet to sustain itself. I believe that we must have a deep and profound respect for nature and her bounty and follow her example to keep the balance and our bellies filled and nourished over the long haul. To that end, I believe that it is vital to support local agriculture. Having a direct connection between consumer and producer fosters trust, the understanding of what goes into food production and how the mass production of food will never work forever. It also leads to better products and accountability on a local and personal level.

I have been so inspired this past year, since I started my own quest to eat seasonally local, to see so many others taking up this cause and doing the same. I like to avoid politics as much as possible, but it seems near impossible not to be involved when we see what is happening in our world. So I always start small, where I feel I can make the most difference. Roberto and I decided the best way to make a change was to start voting with our money…even on vacation! We support farmers markets, local businesses and local economy as much as possible. This has become a new way of life for us, a life that I can feel good about. I am no where near perfect, and I am not sure that I ever will be, but I have a new consciousness and awareness about who I am, what I believe and what is important.

I discovered while we were in Vermont that there are places that are just light years ahead of our corner of the country when it comes to local produce and products. Where sustainability is a common goal and where people as a whole have made this a priority in their community. Where “Green” isn’t just a buzz word, but a way of life that has become ingrained into everyday living. It made me realize how living in a place where people share the same values can be so fulfilling and so it didn’t surprise me in the least when Vermont was the first state to go blue last night for Obama, giving him his first 3 electoral votes in his path to victory, or when looking at our local stats this morning the revelation that our county supported McCain, at least the rest of Florida made up for it. But enough about politics and onto the food!

In Vermont there is a wonderful grassroots movement happening called The Vermont Fresh Network which is an alliance and partnership between local farms and chefs. In the mid 1990′s Vermonters got together and coordinated a series of events to bring together local producers and chefs to see how they could best work together to support local agriculture. To be part of the network, farmers must partner with at least one restaurant and restaurants must have working connections with at least 3 farms.
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I have been seeing a lot of savory cheesecakes out in the blogosphere and they always look so nice. Every time I see one, I always said to myself that I will make one soon! Until I see another one a few weeks later and I kick myself under the table because I haven’t made one yet. Well the other day I was going through my cookbook collection and I came across one of my old favorites:
The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen of Moosewood fame.

I just love her rustic, yet, experimental way of cooking. Her recipes are just perfect for the New England climate that I spent most of my adult life in. So different from Florida. But as I was thumbing through the pages, reminiscing, and trying to mentally bookmark some ideas for the 2 weeks of cold weather we get here in the Sunshine State, I came across a recipe for Savory Vegetable Cheesecake!!!!!

My mom was coming into town for a visit that weekend, so I thought, it would be a nice, delicious, and “beautiful to look at” meal. Which is why it is my contribution for Dhanggit’s Event: Perfect Party Dishes!

She is hosting a special birthday party for her daughter who is turning one this year! She needs help with coming up with great dishes for the part. This is my contribution because it is elegant and it was actually so good that we ate the leftovers for lunch the next day – cold. Which was also an awesome way to enjoy this dish! I am sure that you can change some of the vegetables and cheeses around to suit your own tastes, as we did from the original recipe.

Happy Birthday Baby Dhanggit!

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