The Left Over Queen

Finest Foodies Friday: November 21, 2008

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:42:39 +0000

Good Morning/ Afternoon/ Evening to you all out there. This is the last FFF of the month. We are going to be traveling to visit my Dad and Stepmom for the Thanksgiving Holiday this year. I wish all the Americans a Happy Thanksgiving and to everyone else, the same, even if you do not celebrate this holiday. Today I am going to give thanks and gratitude to all the food bloggers out there who are part of The Foodie Blogroll, for making it such a wonderful community! We have a lot of exciting things in store for the coming year and we thank you for making this one so great!

As always here is what the FFF is all about. Finest Foodies Friday! FFF is a weekly Friday post featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites and yours!
What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is the first and fastest growing free membership blogroll for food bloggers and has become a wonderful community (just over 2500 strong) to share ideas about all things food related.

The only requirement to be featured here on FFF is to be a member of The Foodie Blogroll and be displaying The Foodie Blogroll widget on your blog. If you are not yet a member, but you have a food blog and would like to join us, please click here!

If you have a favorite foodblog on The Foodie Blogroll, that you would like to be featured here on FFF, please join us over on The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum, and post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

As I often say there are certain blogs that are just so great that I assume I have already featured them. Here is another such blog, my friend Sam’s Blog The Greek Gourmand. Sam subtly hinted to me, that I must be saving the best for last, and that is when I realized that I hadn’t yet featured this very interesting blog. Now Sam is a great cook and makes lots of wonderful Greek dishes that are just mouthwatering, but the best part about his blog is the history. Every recipe Sam features on his blog is set in historical context, which is so interesting from an anthropological and historical perspective. Something I am way into! So if you want some history with your Greek food, you must stop by and say hi to Sam!

Another great Greek food blog that I have failed to feature yet is Ioanna’s blog: Food Junkie, Not Junk Food. Jo, as she is also known by, is a Greek archaeologist living in Athens, so you can bet she and Sam would have a lot to talk about! She is very talented speaking at least 3 languages that I know of, and a phenomenal cook. Her food is always fresh and bright and full of those tantalizing Mediterranean flavors! She writes her blog in both Greek and English, so don’t be intimidated if you stop by and see lots of Greek. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Arfi from HomemadeS has a wonderful blog. She is an Indonesian living in New Zealand and you really get a perspective of both cultures and their foods while perusing her blog. Her photographs are outstanding, she has won many awards in the blogging world for her beautiful photos. So please go visit her blog, not only because it truly is a work of art, but because all the food looks delicious too!

La Fuji Mama
I love this blog! This is the blog of La Fuji Mama who from Southern California, has lived in Japan with her adorable daughter (and I believe France as well?). I really enjoy this blog because it is a wonderful way to raise children - by showing them the world, giving them a real appreciation for other cultures from a young age. There are so many great traveling trips for traveling with kids as well as anecdotal snippets about an American’s life in Tokyo, Japan. It is a great read!

Paula’s Blog, It’s All Gouda makes me laugh with the name. This is a phrase I often use in my life, not because I love food, but because I really love cheese. But this blog is not all about cheese - it is named for its play on words. So don’t worry, even if you don’t like cheese (and I know there are some of you blasphemers out there!) you will still find some great recipes on here, especially some really great kid friendly recipes, for the kid in all of us!

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them. I NEED NOMINATIONS!!!!!!

Also we all love to know how people came to find our blogs, so please visit all of our featured bloggers today and don’t forget to tell them that you found them via Finest Foodies Friday!

Pistachio-Pomegranate Chicken with Mint and The POM Wonderful Featured Blogger Contest ($5000)

The Leftover Queen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:27:41 +0000

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to post this lovely dish I made last year to celebrate the Winter Solstice. It was so good, I decided it was worth entering in the POM Wonderful Featured Blogger Contest going on this month. If you have not heard about it, food bloggers can submit an original recipe featuring pomegranates and have a chance to win $5000 from Pom Wonderful!

Now that is what I call wonderful!

As an incentive to Foodie Blogroll members, in conjunction with the lovely POM folks, we are giving away cases of POM Wonderful products for the next 2 weeks, while the contest is going on. For more details on how you can enter to win either of these contests, please check out the Foodie Blogroll/ Leftover Queen Forum!

Now onto my recipe! This chicken dish was prepared in a cast iron skillet, first browned over high heat and then finished off in the oven. The chicken breasts were so juicy and tender coupled with the tartness of the pomegranates that explode in your mouth after being heated up, mixed with the salty pistachios and green mint was a wonderful unexpected flavor combination! This dish is simple to prepare, yet so elegant. This is also a great dish for the season, that is sure to impress at any holiday gathering.

INGREDIENTS:

2 TBS olive oil
2 organic, free range chicken breasts
1 fresh POM Wonderful Fresh Pomegranate
1/4 cup red wine, like shiraz
1/2 cup pistachios, shelled and toasted
1/4 cup fresh mint

METHOD:

Heat up a cast iron (or oven proof) skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in 2 TBS olive oil. Place chicken breasts in pan and cook over medium heat, searing each side.

Preheat oven to 425 F.
While chicken is cooking, cut open pomegranate and remove the seeds.
Add wine, pomegranate seeds and pistachios to the pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes. Place 1/2 the mint into the pan and stir. Transfer pan to the oven. Cook for about 15- 20 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. To serve sprinkle with remaining mint. I served this with some rice pilaf. Enjoy!

Buckwheat Pudding with B. Lloyd’s Nuts

The Leftover Queen — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:36:29 +0000

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. 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!

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups milk (I used 2 cups, whole milk and 2 cups almond milk)
1 TBS of pure vanilla extract
4 TBS butter, plus (2 tsp to butter the dish)
1 c. buckwheat
4 eggs
1 TBS maple sugar
1 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup Lloyd’s nuts

METHOD:

Put milk, vanilla and butter into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the buckwheat and cook for 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Whisk eggs in a bowl and add about 1 cup of buckwheat mixture to them to temper. Then add the egg mixture to the pot. Add the maple sugar, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into a buttered, glass baking dish and cover the top of the pudding with the nuts. Cook for 30 minutes. Serve topped with almond milk, regular milk, vanilla yogurt, honey, maple syrup, agave, whatever your poison!

Foodie Blogroll Contests and Giveaways!

The Leftover Queen — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:29:28 +0000

Hello Everyone!

It has been over 2 months since we launched the new and improved Foodie Blogroll website and widget! Things have already grown so much in these past 2 months and we are thrilled. Thank you to all the valued members of our community!

We are pleased to announce 2 great contest giveaways going on right now.

POM Wonderful

The folks at POM Wonderful are asking bloggers to submit an original recipe that includes pomegranate for a chance to become the POM Wonderful featured blogger and enjoy a $5,000 prize! Click here for contest details.

As a special incentive for Foodie Blogroll members, for the next two weeks, all our members who enter a recipe in the contest and post about it on their blog (and right here on this thread of the Foodie Blogroll forum ) will have a chance to receive 1 case of POM Wonderful Juice and 1 case of fresh pomegranates! The Foodie Blogroll team will randomly select one member winner per week.

In order to be eligible to win the free cases, all you have to do for your chance to win, is post your pomegranate recipe on your blog and on the Foodie Blogroll/ Leftover Queen Forum! Be sure to mention both the POM Wonderful and Foodie Blogroll contests in your blog post. You must be a member of the Foodie Blogroll (make sure you have your widget up and running, or you will not be eligible) to enter the chance to win the free case prizes, but any blogger is eligible to win the POM Wonderful featured blogger contest!!!

Remember please post your recipe on The Foodie Blogroll/ Leftover Queen Forum and on your blog, and make sure to enter the recipe on the POM WONDERFUL contest page. Then please discuss both contests on your blog post! Thanks!

**************************************************************

Timberland Pro Giveaway

The Foodie Blogroll, in partnership with Timberland Pro is giving away 10 FREE pairs of new Timberland PRO BLACK Series shoes (valued from $75-$95)

Eligibility: You must be and active and eligible member of The Foodie Blogroll. 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 a pair of your choice!

Yours in Food,

The Foodie Blogroll Team

Finest Foodies Friday - November 14, 2008

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:11 +0000

As always here is what the FFF is all about. Finest Foodies Friday! FFF is a weekly Friday post featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites yours! What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is the first and fastest growing free membership blogroll for food bloggers and has become a wonderful community (just under 2000 strong) to share ideas about all things food related.

Venny from Sanctuary from the Mad World

Venny’s blog was re-introduced to me via the Nominations Thead on the Forum. As soon as I loaded the page I knew I wanted to feature this blog. The photos are just beautiful and all the food looks incredibly yummy! She has lived all over the world, this love of other cultures is reflected in her simple, yet delicious recipes. She is also a bookworm, which is a trait close to my heart! I am sure she has found some great book in all her travels….probably even cookbooks!

I really knead to feature Knead for Bread

as I am always looking for inspiration when it comes to bread baking. Right now I am very happy with my no-knead bread method, but sometimes I am looking for new ways to flavor up my favorite breads, and also to get ideas for how to sculpt the bread to make it not only delicious, but beautiful also. If you have also joined the Bread Revolution, I encourage you to seek your next bread recipe here!

This blog Hunter-Gathering: wild & fresh food

is one that I am in total awe of. I just love everything about it. These guys take local eating to a whole other level. I really wish my life was conducive to learning more about wild foods and how to forage for them. After this year’s foray in local foods and trying to make more of my own food all the way from scratch (like bread for example), I think this is the next step for me in my food journey! I am looking forward to it!

My love for Greek food is no secret and so I love it when new Greek blogs come on the scene (or at least ones I wasn’t familiar with before) and the latest one I have come across is Maria’s blog Kali Orexi, which means Good Appetite. Maria is a first generation Greek American who grew up with her family’s recipes from the Old Country. Although I am the first one to check out a blog from Greece itself, I really love immigrant blogs, because it is something I am familiar with. I love to see how families take traditional foods and then adapt them based on the ingredients available in their new home country.

Another cuisine I make no secret about loving is Moroccan. So I got really excited when I saw Do It The Moroccan Way! make its way onto the Foodie Blogroll! It is one of the few blog on the Foodie Blogroll dedicated to Moroccan food. This blog is authored by a Moroccan woman living outside of Morocco with her American husband. She cooks up really delicious and flavorful foods in her kitchen. So go check it out!!!

Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them. I NEED NOMINATIONS!!!!!!

Also we all love to know how people came to find our blogs, so please visit all of our featured bloggers today and don’t forget to tell them that you found them via Finest Foodies Friday!

Fall Harvest, Part 2

The Leftover Queen — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:59:36 +0000

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.

Jenn’s Roasted Root Veggies

INGREDIENTS:
(There are no real amounts here)

These are the different veggies I use, try any combination!

carrots
turnips or rutabagas
sweet potatoes
red skinned potatoes
garlic
beets
red onions
shallots

olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh sage or rosemary (still on the branches)
pure maple syrup (optional)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Chop all your veggies into bite sized pieces. In a gigantic mixing bowl place all the veggies and herbs and pour a healthy amount of olive oil on top. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with maple syrup. Mix well.

Pour veggies evenly on cookie sheets. Place in oven and cook for 35-40 minutes. Turn veggies over and continue to cook another 35-40 minutes or until they are fork tender and browned!

Maple Sage Pork Chops

Basically, I just throw my pork spice rub (cumin, coriander, cinnamon, salt, pepper) on the chops with some fresh sage in a smoking hot pan. Brown the chops quickly on each side and then de-glaze the pan with a maple-water mixture. Throw a lid on the pan and in the oven for about 5-10 minutes to finish them off.

Pumpkin Soup
(adapted from Dishing Up Vermont)

INGREDIENTS:

2 small pumpkins (5-6 lbs.), roasted
4 oz. butter - preferably from VT
2 sweet onions
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
2 TBS fresh sage, chopped
couple shakes of nutmeg
2 quarts of chicken or veggie stock
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup heavy cream (you can also sub plain yogurt)
salt and pepper

METHOD:

First I cut up the jack-o-lantern pumpkins and drizzled with with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them in the oven at 400 F for about an hour. I skinned it and put it to the side.

Melt butter in a large stock pan or Dutch oven. Add onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft. Add pumpkin, spices and herbs and stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the soup with an immersion stick or in batches in the food processor. Pour back in the pot and sautee for another 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in maple syrup and heavy cream and continue to cook until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Fall Harvest, indeed

The Leftover Queen — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:56:42 +0000

I am so in love with the seasonal foods at this time of year. For me fall is all about renewal, it is about bounty and it is about comfort, slowing down the pace a little, turning more inward and enjoying quiet times with loved ones. I love fall foods so much that most of my clipped recipe notebooks have a special section that I call “autumn foods”. Our trip to New England was especially inspiring being that it was full of this delicious bounty. So what does one do when you come home from a vacation full of meals consisting of seasonal vegetables and fruits, celebrating autumn? Well one goes to the farmers market to get some more. What does one do with loads of turnips, carrots, potatoes, squash, pumpkin and greens procured from said farmers market? Well one get their butt in the kitchen, makes a big mess and eats the rewards of one’s labor for days and days, of course!

When we got back from our trip, we had barely any food in the house, and nothing fresh - no veggies, no dairy and no meat. So we headed to the Farmers market. Now I knew we couldn’t get everything there, but I wanted to see what I could get there and then go to the grocery after. For me the grocery store is always an after thought. The farmers market and all the goodies there are the inspiration and fodder for week’s meals and we go to the grocery store to fill in the blanks. I enjoy letting the seasonal bounty dictate our menu more and more.

I ended up getting so many greens (kale, chard and turnip greens, as well as lettuces) because they came in such huge quantities from one of the produce stands that we love, that we literally brought home a GARBAGE bag full for about $9. I had so much that I gave half to the gentleman who does the landscaping for our condo. But there was still so much leftover, I knew I just had to start getting creative. So what came out of it was sauteed greens with garlic and citrus champagne vinegar, stuffed acorn squash, roasted root vegetables and pumpkin soup ( as well as Judy’s roasted pumpkin seeds). I also made bread, Pumpkin Oatmeal, from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day book. Here are the recipes for the sauteed greens and stuffed squash.

Also if you want to learn tips on how to make your kitchen more Green, check out this article

Sauteed Greens with Citrus Champagne Vinegar

INGREDIENTS:

8 cups of greens (I did a mixture of kale, chard and turnip greens)
1 yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 TBS olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup citrus champagne vinegar

METHOD:

Heat up olive oil in a large pan. Sautee onion and garlic until browned. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add in greens about 2 cups at a time until wilted and keep adding. Total cooking time for greens about 7-10 minutes. Salt and pepper everything to taste and then mix with the vinegar. Serve warm.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

INGREDIENTS:

4 small acorn squash
1/2 bottle of beer
3 cups day old bread cubes (I used a combination of pumpkin-oatmeal and whole wheat)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 TBS fresh sage, minced
1/2 cup veggie stock
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut squashes in half. Place cut side down in a large glass baking pan. Pour in beer and bake uncovered for about 45 minutes or until tender.

In a large skillet heat up olive oil - sautee onion and garlic until soft. Add sage and bread cubes. Sautee until bread is browned. Add veggie stock and simmer until liquid is gone. Salt and pepper to taste. Fill acorn squash halves with bread mixture. Grate parm over top and stick back in the oven for about 15- 20 minutes. Eat immediately!

November Royal Foodie Joust Winners & Ingredients for This Month’s Joust!

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:30:27 +0000

Next week we will be back again with Finest Foodies Friday! It just so happens that today is the day to announce the winners of this month’s Royal Foodie Joust. I thought about featuring both Joust winners and FFF in today’s post, but I felt that it would steal the thunder from one group and I didn’t want to do that. So please forgive me and I promise FFF next week. But until then, please check out the Joust winners’ blogs to keep you tied over! I promise they are all great blogs:)

The Royal Foodie Joust is an awesome monthly peer voted competition that is hosted on
The LeftoverQueen/FoodieBlogroll Forum! It gets better each and every month as the competition gets stiffer as Jousters try to outdo each other each month! It is also one of the friendliest competitions I have ever seen. So please don’t be intimidated to come and join us this month! We don’t bite, unless of course there is real food in our faces

The only rules for the competition is that each Jouster create one dish and each entry must feature the 3 ingredients in common. This competition has been referred to many times as the “Iron Chef” of the Food Blogosphere. Each month’s ingredients are chosen by the previous month’s winner. The winner of each Joust not only wins the Queen’s favor, bragging rights and a cool icon to put on their blog, but is also awarded with a super awesome personalized apron!Other prizes too!

So what are you waiting for? Come over and join us this month!

This month’s ingredients of Acorn Squash (or winter squash), Orange and Sage were chosen by last month’s winner, Susan from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy

As always we had really awesome and inventive entries come in based on these ingredients - everything from sweet to savory and all in between!

This month’s winners TS and JS from Eating Club Vancouver stole the show with something sweet: Squash Churros with Orange-Sage Hot Chocolate.

As soon as I saw this entry I just knew it was a winner! There are always super creative entries that go into the Joust, but sometimes an entry comes in that everyone just loves - and this one featured chocolate, plus it was just so whimsical and creative! This was the one this month - so way to go girls! Look for that apron in the mail!

Second Place goes to my pal, Peter from Foto Cuisine. Peter is one half of a husband-wife blogging team - he cooks, she photographs - how cool is that?! But really this is a stellar blog full of stunning photos and gourmet food. Their entry this month was Autumn Grouper over Risotto.

Third Place is another great savory entry by Melody from Trap Door and an entry that I was hoping someone would make as I just love her 3-Cheese Squash Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter and Orange Sauce

Thanks guys for making this Joust another huge success and giving us all great ideas for how to use the abundance of squash this season!

To check out all the other great entries this month, please click here

Please join us for this month’s Joust - the ingrendients are: Coffee, Black Peppercorns and Honey. As chosen by our winning blog! December is my birthday month, so please make my wishes come true and enter the Joust! Even if it is your first time! Plus, we are going to change things up a bit!

Happy Jousting Everyone!

Great Green North Chronicles: The Importance of Eating Locally

The Leftover Queen — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:11:09 +0000

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.

Their work sure has paid off over the past 10 years, as VT has so many delicious products that are made in the state: cheese and dairy products, maple, produce, organic beer and ciders, meat and fruit and honey wines and even chocolates. There really is a local cuisine and flavor in Vermont, and boy is it tasty! You can find great local and seasonal restaurants cropping up all over the state from fine dining, to pub grub and everything in between. This is raising awareness in the public about how accessible and delicious supporting local growers and producers can be.

You hear the word “sustainable” a lot in New England, in the progressive areas, but in Vermont it really is becoming the lay of the land. There is a real commitment there to produce healthy crops without the use of pesticides while protecting the land and caring for it for future use. There is a wonderful cookbook I purchased at the Mayfarm B&B we stayed in (look for future posts about these places on Jenn’s Travel Closeup) that celebrates the regional cuisine of Vermont and the foods of those participants in The Vermont Fresh Network called Dishing Up Vermont by Tracey Medeiros.

I will be featuring many recipes from this book in the coming weeks, as my cravings for Vermont Cuisine linger.

On the way to our main destinations we stopped in Manchester for lunch and ate at The Harvest Grille on main street.
We were excited about eating some seasonal foods. I had Pumpkin Soup:

and “German fries” which were sauteed with onions and peppers in duck fat:

Roberto decided to be a good Italian and get a Caprese Sandwich:

Everything was great!

One of our destinations and out favorite place in Vermont was Middlebury. We kept saying that when we are rich and famous we will have a house there! Middlebury is a beautiful college town in the heart of all this local goodness philosophy. It is just full of the quaint scenes that everyone equates with Vermont and New England in the fall. It is about 30 minutes drive from Lake Champlain and it is surrounded by the majestic Green Mountains. Driving to Middlebury from south as we were, you pass through many small towns and villages that are worth exploring too! There is a lot of culture in Middlebury, drawn in by Middlebury College, as well as a huge agricultural base. It really is the best of both worlds and the people are warm and inviting. We had a wonderful time exploring the town after our hike to Abbey Pond and because of the hike, we were starving! We asked the clerk at the Made in Vermont store where a good place to eat was and she directed us to Tully and Marie’s, a restaurant that just exemplifies The Vermont Fresh Network. How about a nice maple smoked pork sandwich with caramelized onions and Vermont cheddar cheese?

Or perhaps maple and rosemary roasted pork with seasonal vegetables?

Both are delicious and made more so when washing it all down with a dark pint of Organic Oatmeal Stout from Otter Creek Brewing Co., located right in Middlebury!!! (Their Pumpkin Ale is great too). Oh yeah!

The next day, we decided that we really wanted to celebrate all this local eating in Vermont by creating a picnic featuring all local Vermont foods. During our travels that day we stopped by many a farm stand, apple barn and sugar (maple) shack getting provisions. We even stopped by Honey Gardens , a local apiary and picked up a beautiful bottle of traditional mead, or honey wine.

Our picnic consisted of: cheeses (hickory and maple smoked, sage and extra sharp cheddars) and venison sausage from Sugarbush Farms, local apples (oh yes, I now LOVE apples!!! Imagine that!), honey wine, apple cider donuts (local to where we were staying in MA), some locally baked bread and Lake Champlain Chocolates! We also picked up a few non-local olives and condiments from the grocery store to round it all out.

We fired up the fireplace in our little cabin at Mayfarm, put on our pajamas, grabbed books and all was right in the world.

This little trip to food lover’s paradise was all I needed to rediscover apples again (and like them!), and see what it is like to be in a place surrounded by like minded folk with similar values. It was very uplifting and nice to see and I can’t wait to go back next year!

Great Green North Chronicles: Foodie Friends From Our Home Away From Home…and the Fiddle Playing Queen

The Leftover Queen — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:30:18 +0000

As you may have guessed I am back from our almost month long vacation and trying to re-establish my regular blogging routine and all that entails. So here we go, the first installment to the
Great Green North Chronicles. I am calling this series of articles about our trip to New England,
Great Green North, because we decided to focus much of our trip around as many Green opportunities as we could discover while on vacation. In some places is was easy, in others a little more challenging, but we did the best we could!

Although this event happened towards the end of our travels, it is one of great interest because it is about hanging out with food bloggers , which is always a favorite

Now, the interesting twist to this story is that Roberto and I met valleywriter and mr. valleywriter, not through food blogging, but while in Jamaica on our honeymoons. We met them during a honeymooners event at the resort where we were all staying and had the wonderful experience of dining with them at breakfast one morning.

We found that we had a lot of things in common. We used to be neighbors and didn’t know it. Living in the same town, blocks from one another. We all met our spouses in the exact same way, valleywriter and I are both writers (duh!), we both have black cats…with asthma… and I used to take my cat to the same vet…it was uncanny and seemed like we were just meant to meet each other. We thought that we would see them again after that breakfast, but it never happened and we were sad when we left to go back home that we didn’t exchange info.

Fast Forward….

Two weeks before we were about to leave for this trip, I get a surprise email from valleywriter. We had talked in Jamaica a lot about blogging and it turns out that she decided to start a blog, about food, joined Foodbuzz and found my profile! So we exchanged several emails and decided to meet up for breakfast while we were there!

We met at The Lone Wolf, in Amherst, MA. I had been there several times when I used to live in the area and had some really fond memories of the food, especially the Chili Rellenos and Huevos Rancheros. There is a Southwest theme to this restaurant, but you can also get the regular egg and pancake breakfasts as well. This place serves real and local maple syrup, organic and delicious coffee and a lot of their specials are using seasonal veggies. I wouldn’t say this establishment is totally green, but the food is certainly above average in terms of variety, amount on the plate and taste.

I got the Chili Rellenos

and Roberto had the Lox and Bagel platter

Both were really good.

But the best part about the breakfast was hanging out with valleywriter and mr. valleywriter (who is a budding photographer for their blog)!

It felt like spending time with old friends and although it was a short visit it sure was sweet! We look forward to spending more time with them next year! Check out VW’s post about our breakfast together here .

As a side note, after breakfast, Roberto and I decided to check out a violin store, Luthier’s Co-Op and Easthampton Violin Co. in Easthampton, MA that was going out of business. I have wanted to learn to play the violin (in fiddle style) for as long as I can remember. The owner of the store, Dameron Midgett, has been collecting and selling violins (with a focus on violins made in America and specifically New England from the 1890’s to the 1930’s) for the past 20 years. I learned so much about the history of violin playing in New England and America and it was wonderful to chat with him. I ended up purchasing a violin from him and getting my first lesson right there in the shop! I am happy to report that my first note and all those after have actually been musical!

I have also posted an article in the Great Green North Chronicles, on Travel Closeup about a wonderful hike we took in Vermont.

Happy Halloween!!!

The Leftover Queen — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:31:28 +0000

I am back from vacation and I will soon be back to posting! But in the meantime, enjoy these pumpkins that we carved today!
Hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

Also check out Judy’s blog at No Fear Entertaining for a great way to use those pumpkin seeds!

October 10, 2008 — Finest Foodies Friday

The Leftover Queen — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:24:14 +0000

Just a quick reminder, we are off soon for our annual New England Trip, so for the next 2 Fridays, FFF will be hosted over on No Fear Entertaining where my good friend Judy and Peperoncino’s friends Osso and Dakota will share their favorite blogs from the Foodie Blogroll with you!

As always here is what the FFF is all about. Finest Foodies Friday! FFF is a weekly Friday post featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites yours! What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is the first and fastest growing free membership blogroll for food bloggers and has become a wonderful community (just under 2000 strong) to share ideas about all things food related.

The only requirement to be featured here on FFF is to be a member of The Foodie Blogroll and be displaying The Foodie Blogroll widget on your blog. If you are not yet a member, but you have a food blog and would like to join us, please click here!

If you have a favorite foodblog on The Foodie Blogroll, that you would like to be featured here on FFF, please join us over on The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum, and post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

Melissa from Alosha’s Kitchen

Melissa’s blog became famous when she was singled out by ATK/CI/CC over a copyright issue that had the whole food blogging world up in arms over they way she was treated. But Melissa’s blog has so much more to share with us, like her love for the kitchen. She has a blog full of colorful and delicious dishes, so if you haven’t been over to see Melissa in a while, I suggest you go…like now.

Lisa of Jersey Girl Cooks

is indeed a girl from Jersey that loves to cook! If you have never been to Lisa’s blog, you need to go. Her blog is full of delicious down to earth foods that are always beautiful. Lately she has been doing a lot of posts about some of her own tasty travels and I have been enjoying all the great pictures and reviews. Thanks, Lisa!

Linda at Ciao Chow Linda

Linda left her job as a journalist in NYC to spend a year living in Italy with her husband. Both of her parents are from different regions in Italy, so the love of all things Italian is in her blood. Her blog reflects her passion for food, art, and a healthy life!

Valley Writer

VW is actually a friend of ours in real life who just started a food blog about living in the Pioneer Valley of Western MA where we are headed in a few days! Roberto and I actually met her and Mr. VW while we were both on our honeymoons in Jamaica. Turns out not only did we used to be neighbors in MA(pretty much literally) but we were both writers who have a lot more in common! She just started her blog and joined the FBR, so go check it out and see a part of the world that I love!

Deb of Kahakai Kitchen

Deb’s blog is about cooking, eating and living in Paradise! Kahakai means beach in Hawaiian, so you can see right there what Deb is all about. Her recipes reflect her island home, where the fish and fruit are fresh and tropical. She even talks about fresh spices - that is spices that most people only find in jars. There is a whole world of food to be learned about, so go say hi!

Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them. I NEED NOMINATIONS!!!!!!

Also we all love to know how people came to find our blogs, so please visit all of our featured bloggers today and don’t forget to tell them that you found them via Finest Foodies Friday!

Have a great weekend everyone! See you all when we return!

****DON’T FORGET!*****
Go see Judy the next 2 Friday’s for her FFF picks!