2012 – Fervent Foodie

Cooking with Chobani {giveaway}

December 31, 2012 7 Comments

It’s NEW YEAR’S EVE! Which means everyone’s focus has shifted from Christmas cookies and eggnog to carrot sticks and excessive exercise. Well, that’s where our heads will be after one last night of cocktail wieners and glasses of bubbly, that is.

This past month has flown by. I guess that’s typical for December, isn’t it? From Thanksgiving to Christmas, it’s all about squeezing in time with friends and family and bouncing from one party to the next. The end of the year always leaves me with a bit of PHD (post-holiday depression). You too?

One of my favorite holiday get-togethers this year was a cooking event at the Chobani offices here in Charlotte. Several local food bloggers and friends joined up for a night of wine, laughs, and yogurt-filled recipes cooked under the supervision of Chobani’s own chef, Tim Reardon.

If you aren’t familiar with Chobani, stop what you’re doing and head to the grocery store. Chobani makes some of the best Greek yogurt on the market. I’m partial to the pomegranate.

Food Articles, Urbanspoon

16 Gifts for Foodies

December 21, 2012 No Comments

Judging by the creative parking I saw at the mall today, not to mention the mile-long lines in the stores, I’m not alone in my shopping procrastination this year. As the days tick by, people everywhere are frantically searching for last-minute gifts. Just the thought is making me sweat!

Chances are you’ve got a few foodies on your list. So, before you surrender to buying everyone a gas card, take a deep breath and a big sip of eggnog and check out this list of gift ideas for every type of foodie.

16 last-minute gift ideas for foodies

Fervent Foodie is a contributing writer for the official Urbanspoon blog.

Recipes

Caramelized Onion & Sausage Frittata {recipe}

December 17, 2012 3 Comments

If you’ve checked out my Facebook page, you already know I’ve got a thing for Sunday breakfast. You’d also know what I cooked this week, and that I sliced half of my thumb off with my mandoline over the weekend. See what you’re missing?!

But I digress. Let’s get back to breakfast.

Six days of the week, I eat plain ole eggs with toast for breakfast, and I’m more than ok with it. But things change when Sunday rolls around. That’s when I start to crave something special–maybe a breakfast burrito or home fries or a big fat Belgian waffle. Despite this urge for decadence, nothing makes me happier than enjoying my lavish breakfast spread from the comfort of my pj’s, in my own house, sipping my own coffee.

Recipes

Beans and Bulgur {recipe}

December 11, 2012 3 Comments

I had some free time over the weekend, so I sat down with my laptop, opened up Excel, and scheduled out every hour of my work week in a beautifully color coded spreadsheet.

Did I mention I’m an accountant?

Right.

Anyway, once I factored in sleep, work, exercise, commute, time to eat, and bathing/primp time, I found I have about three hours of “free” time each work day. THREE. I have big aspirations each week—home cooked meals, coffee with friends, blogging, Wheel of Fortune, flossing, plus 30 minutes of reading before bed—but with these dismal findings, it’s clear I can’t squeeze all of that in every night.

Years ago, in an effort to increase my workweek free time, I started batch cooking food on Sundays. Sunday morning, while I sip my coffee and listen to NPR, I get to work in kitchen cooking meals for the workweek and portioning them into single-serve containers. The single-serve containers are KEY.

A typical Sunday cooking session includes:

5 servings of steel cut oats with almonds, blueberries, and cinnamon
2 servings of quinoa (for sprinkling on salad)
2 salads. Lately it’s mixed greens, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, feta cheese, and half a serving of cold quinoa plus balsamic vinaigrette (in a separate container). I only prepare salads two at a time because I HATE soggy veggies. Blegh.
5 snacks. My go-tos are hummus & veggies, Greek yogurt and fruit, or a loaf of sprouted bread that I keep at work along with some PB to make sandwiches at my desk. Don’t judge. I also keep a container of almonds in my desk drawer.
The wild card: something, ANYTHING, I can use for workweek dinners

On a normal work day, I make myself eggs and toast before heading to the office, but when I’m really crunched for time I’ll cook a large batch of scrambled eggs or an egg casserole on Sunday that I can quickly heat up each morning before heading out the door.

I can get by eating the same breakfast, lunch, and snacks most days of the week, but when it comes to dinner I honestly get depressed if I eat the same boring thing every night.

Dinner ideas usually come from brainstorming ways to use up leftovers from the weekend. Other times I’ll cook a big batch of something that I can use in many different ways, so I don’t get stuck eating the same thing four nights in a row. That could be a giant roasted spaghetti squash, a batch of black bean burgers, or a pot of some sort of grain. This week, my dinners will revolve around a big ole batch of beans and bulgur.

Restaurants

Two soups, two salads, two trips to Panera

December 7, 2012 3 Comments

I’m sick.

And not just in the present sense of the word, but also the past. And the forseeable future. It’s been a WHOLE week of sniffing and hacking topped with days of my voice cracking like a 13 year old boy on the verge of the big change. You know. The change.

And then my voice just up and left, which has made work rather interesting. I swear, I’m not ignoring my ringing phone for any other reason. Promise. Twice this week as I walked out of the office all I could think about was soup. Hot steamy soup to soothe my sore scratchy throat. So, twice this week I walked over to Panera and whispered my order to two very patient employees.

I’ll have the you-pick-two please *cough* *cough* (while holding up two fingers for emphasis).

I always go with the you-pick-two at Panera, which gives you the options of half sandwiches, salads, and soups. I’m a creature of habit, so I usually go with one of two soups: the Vegetarian Black Bean, which is a teeny bit spicy with garlic and cumin, OR the Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice.

1 2 3 … 18 Next »