Although New Years Eve 2012 has come and gone we have developed a tradition in our home that I wanted to share. It is a tradition that would be fun to incorporate any time of the year and I hope you can find something useful in this post.
In our house New Years Eve is all about the finger foods! Every year we get together with our good friends, play games and EAT! We cover the kitchen table with all kinds of delicious finger foods, sweets and punch. There are a few must-have foods on the list but each year we always try to throw in something new. The great thing about finger foods is that many things can be made in advance, you don’t have to make a lot of anything, and everyone can find at least a few things they love.
Over the years our selection has grown from a few items (pictured below) to a big selection which this year included pigs-in-a-blanket, potato skins, Duck nuggets, spicy crescent cheese poppers, a cheese platter, veggies and dip, shrimp cocktail, cheese dip and chips, mushroom wellington cups, Christmas Punch, and chocolate mousse! The trick is to include some old favorites (pigs-in-a-blanket and potato skins) and swap in a few new things each year. Pinterest is a great place to search for new things to make.
The Super Bowl is coming up as is Valentine’s Day. This would be a great time to get together with a few friends you enjoy spending time with and have a finger foods party. Ask each family you invite to bring 2-3 favorite finger foods. Lay them all out on the table and dig in buffet style. Gather around the living room with your plates and enjoy spending time together. Playing games is also another great addition to a Finger Foods party. Some of our favorites include Mexican Train Dominoes, Taboo, Catch-Phrase and Funglish.
As this new year broadcasts its frantic message of resolutions and fervent hopes for tomorrow, twitter and the blogosphere is abuzz with diet tips, calorie counters, and an overall confusion of diet, diet, diet, and denial.
A healthy diet doesn’t have to mean denial.
A healthy diet should mean eating for pleasure.
First, let’s talk about the word “pleasure.” Webster defines “pleasure” as desire, inclination; a state of gratification; sensual gratification; frivolous amusement; a source of delight or joy.
These are strong and healthy phrases. Pause and dwell on them.
When we talk about eating for pleasure, it means that we should not focus on the guilt of eating. Eating is a privilege and should be a source of delight or joy for us.
It’s all about mindset.
Sometimes we just need a little tweak or reminder of our priorities!
The RIGHT mindset when eating
1) Slow down.
2) Engage all of your senses.
3) Consume half of what is on your plate.
4) Savor by taking time to chew.
5) Give thanks.
The WRONG mindset when eating
1) Fret about calories.
2) Fret about fat grams.
3) Don’t pay attention to what just went into your mouth.
4) Shove.
5) Regret another dissatisfied meal.
Let’s face it. We all have gone down the wrong mindset path a time or two. But that’s okay because that was yesterday. Today we start anew…
Which would you rather choose?
Eat well, my friends. Eat well.
Lyndi
Lyndi of NWAFoodie is a girl who just happens to live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas. Much of her blogging inspiration comes from this gem of a place which she refers to as the proverbial land of milk-and-honey.
My name is Dana, and I am the author and creator of Gluten Freedom. I am a student at the University of Arkansas, a substitute teacher, a wife, a blogger, and will soon be a certified early childhood educator. I live in Fayetteville, and you can find me calling the hogs at football, basketball, and baseball games! PIG SOOIE!
As I think back to this time last year, when 2011 was fresh and new, I realize how much my life has changed. I have lost thirty pounds. I have started a new blog. And I have been diagnosed with celiac disease. So bring it on, 2012! I am ready for anything!
For those of you not familiar with celiac disease, I will give you the basics:
Celiac disease – an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. What does this mean? Essentially the body is attacking itself every time a person with celiac consumes gluten (National Foundation for Celiac Awareness)
Cooking, eating out, traveling, and holiday get-togethers are just a few of the things that I used to love doing and have had to completely overhaul. I was diagnosed two days before Thanksgiving, and with no time to learn or prepare, I found myself eating only turkey, turkey, and more turkey. I even had to check the label on the bird!
Here are some of the symptoms of celiac disease, but please be aware that the symptoms are a mile long, and this is just a list of some of the common complaints:
abdominal pain and bloating
diarrhea
anemia
gastric ulcers
Crohns disease
skin rash
muscle cramps
osteoperosis
depression
malabsorption
bruising
I also have some great resources for you to check out if you have, or think you might have, celiac disease!
I have found, through blogging, that there are people everywhere facing this, and although it can be frustrating, resources, friends, and supporters are around every corner! If you or someone you know is going through life changes due to celiac disease, or a gluten or wheat allergy, come by and visit me in my gluten free world! In the meantime, here is a recipe that I have embraced in my gluten free lifestyle!
GLUTEN FREE HAM AND CHEESE QUICHES
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
4 ounces shredded cheese
1 tbsp minced dry onion
1/4 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cups diced ham
*AS ALWAYS, CHECK INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT LABELS TO ENSURE EACH INGREDIENT IS GLUTEN FREE*
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray muffin tin with non-stick canola oil spray.
2) Combine all ingredients besides ham.
3) Spoon 1-2 tablespoons into each muffin cup.
4) Sprinkle ham evenly on top of each muffin cup of mixture.
5) Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean.
6) Broil for 2-4 minutes to brown tops of quiches.
7) Serve and enjoy!
New Year, New You is the Arkansas Women Bloggers topic of the month for January 2012. If you have a story to share with our readers please check out our Guest Post Guidelines and contact julie@arkansaswomenbloggers.com.
“Our bread it is white and our ale it is brown…” Ok, I’ll stop. In case you’re wondering, those are the words from the traditional English Gloucestershire Wassail song. Come on, indulge me, you’ve got a minute to explore that link and the background on wassail!
Gloucestershire Wassail (on Youtube)
Apparently, my high school years of performing in a Madrigal dinner had quite an effect, and now those around me must also endure it. If you don’t feel like delving in, here’s the gist of it: today’s definition of a madrigal dinner is a multi-course, Medieval-style meal served by costumed performers singing traditional (old English) Christmas carols. (“The boar’s head, in hand bear I…” Ok, sorry – I’ll really stop this time.)
So, why does this matter on foodie Friday? Because wassail (literally “waes hael” or “be you healthy”) is a foodie tradition you should most definitely explore! Before we go further, though, I need to offer my standard disclaimer from The Food Adventuress: I’m quite horrible at precisely following directions and tend to just do whatever I want in the kitchen and wait to see how it turns out. So, if you’d like a real recipe for wassail, you’d best go elsewhere. Just do a quick search on the Interweb and you’re sure to turn up lots of lovely options. Now, don’t tell my Mom, but here’s what I do:
Grab crock pot a little too late in the day for 6 p.m. wassail readiness.
Have a glass of wine or your relaxing beverage of choice.
Recollect that you were going to make wassail and get back to it.
Fill said crock pot about 2/3 full of apple cider.
Top it off with generous pours* of orange juice (I like pulpey for this!) and pineapple juice.
Add a good amount** of lemon juice and honey.
Start adding spices to your taste. I choose cinnamon (lots!***), ground cloves, freshly grated nutmeg and sometimes ginger and allspice depending on my mood/desire to exert myself.
Decorate your wassail. I typically add a cloved orange (sliced or not, per your own desire to exert yourself) and some apple slices from near the core along with a cinnamon stick or two.
Let simmer for several hours and return to your aforementioned beverage.
Serve to standing ovation (or at least a few compliments).
* In this case, generous pours mean probably a cup or two each, but let’s not get too precise.
** Under duress, I would probably estimate that a good amount means half a cup?
*** I’m pretty sure my favorite measurement is “to taste.” That’s what you do here – you won’t mess up!
A couple of notes that will increase your cool factor: first, everybody has a scratchy throat around the holidays. Wassail is the guaranteed fix-it and soother – offer it to everyone who enters your home. Of course, your home smells completely fabulous because you made wassail! Also, I recommend not adding alcohol. Shocking, I know. Wassail is enjoyable by all… the kids and those who abstain should enjoy it as much as everyone else, and anyone who wishes to doctor (ahem) their drink may do so with ease once in the mug.
Finally (insider tip!) just store the wassail outside between servings, assuming it is even mildly chilly at night in your neck of the woods of Arkansas (and beyond). Just slowly warm it up starting a little earlier on subsequent serving days. The wassail gets a little thicker as the spices mull, so just add some more of the juices prior to simmering and the original batch should get you through several servings.
Again, this is all highly unscientific but fairly popular Chez Stephens, and it’s standard fare throughout the month of December from tree-decorating through New Year’s. I hope you’ll try it, and maybe add a few of the old English carols to spice up your holiday tunes as well! Give some background to your family and your kids may be the smartest ones on the block. Mine is definitely the one who knows about wassail, which either makes her incredibly cool or highly nerdy. I’m ok with both.
Beth is the marketing maven and one of the four founding members of Arkansas Women Bloggers, but her real job is as executive director of the Ozark Natural Science Center – a nonprofit field science, environmental education, camp and conference facility in northwest Arkansas. She blogs over at The Little Magpie and The Food Adventuress and finds herself eating far more of her mother’s rum cake around the holidays than she would care to admit.
Please note: all images and links are public domain from the web, and used only to illustrate topics for your personal use.
Approx. 2 cups Chardonnay, Champagne, or other white wine
Sugar to taste
1 cup Heavy Cream
Instructions
Combine cubed peaches and wine in a medium saucepan (there should be just enough liquid to barely cover the peaches.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and allow to simmer until peaches a tender throughout, approx. 35 minutes. Remove from heat and mix with an immersion blender (you can use a table-top blender but be careful, as hot liquids in a blender can be dangerous).
When thoroughly blended and all peach cubes are blended, add just enough sugar to remove any sour from the fresh peaches.
Stir in the cream.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.
This soup can be served hot or room temperature as well, but is best served cold
By Chef Hall -- Winthrop Rockefeller Institute
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/
Fried Green Tomatoes 2 Green Tomatoes, sliced ¼ – ½ inch think 1 cup Buttermilk 1 cup Course Corn Meal 1 TBL Cajun Seasoning 2 tsp Granulated Garlic
Slice tomatoes.Prepare two bowls – one with the buttermilk and the other with the corn meal and seasonings.Dredge the tomatoes in the buttermilk then the corn meal.Immediately transfer to a skillet prepared with 1 inch vegetable oil over medium-high heat.Deep fry until golden brown.Remove from hot oil and drain on a paper towel.Serve immediately with remoulade.
Last week the four ladies who make up the Arkansas Women Bloggers Leadership team (Stephanie, Fawn, Beth and Julie) had the opportunity to get together at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain for a whirlwind overnight planning session. We were treated like royalty and were able to develop a plan for the growth of Arkansas Women Bloggers. We have LOADS of exciting things in the works and look forward to presenting them to you. We will be making some changes in the next couple weeks and hope you continue to check in on us and see our progress.
Our time at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute was well spent but was not ALL business! On Monday, we, along with a few lucky members of Arkansas Women Bloggers, were treated to a culinary demonstration in the Institute’s state-of-the-art kitchen. We were treated to a five course meal prepared by the institutes Culinary Programs Director and admitted social media skeptic, Chef Robert Hall.
Chef Robert L. Hall, CEC Biography Robert Hall began his culinary career in 1991 as a prep cook at A Place To Eat, a locally owned, family dining restaurant in Conway, Arkansas.The restaurant’s chef noticed in Robert a culinary aptitude, the willingness and desire to learn, and the creativity required to become a successful culinarian and arranged for him to apprentice at The Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas.After relocating in 1996 to the beautiful Wasatch Mountains of Utah, Robert continued his culinary training at the Sundance Resort, home of the Sundance Film Festival.It was in Utah that Robert branched out on his own with his catering company – Signature Catering – and his restaurant – Dixieland Jazz.
In 2004, Robert returned to Arkansas to pursue graduate studies at his collegiate alma mater – the University of Central Arkansas – where he accepted a position with Aramark as the pastry chef at UCA and later, in 2006, took over culinary operations as the Executive Chef.May 2011, Chef Hall joined the staff at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain in Morrilton, Arkansas, where he serves as the Culinary Program Coordinator.He is responsible for planning and executing a wide variety of culinary programs such as the popular Saturday Chef Series, Chef On Call, and Taste of Teamwork.Inspired by his mentors and his own experiences traveling the world, Chef Hall calls his food “global fusion,” an amalgamation of flavors and textures influenced by the regional flavors of the United States and the global flavors of the world.
Robert has earned several culinary awards including a silver medal in the 2007 Southwest Regional ACE Challenge and gold medals in the 2009 and 2011 Southwest Regional ACE Challenge, as well as a bronze medal in the 2009 National ACE Challenge.Additionally, Robert was honored with the opportunity to work in Beijing, China, as an Executive Chef for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.Robert appears with Heather Kendrick on a recurring cooking segment, 5 Minute Dishes on Living Local, on Conway Corporation’s local cable channel 6.Chef Hall is a member of the American Culinary Federation, International Association of Culinary Professionals, Confectionary Artist of Arkansas, and other professional organizations.He is also an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Robert is married to Sara Olds of Conway and is the father of three:Christian (17), Kaitlyn (16), and Ashley (14).
Chef Hall Thoughts on Social Media During the course of the culinary demonstration Chef Hall admitted that he had a little bit of skepticism when it came to believing in the importance of social media. I asked him to share his before and after thoughts with us. Here is what he had to say:
Prior to last week, I was one of those “what’s the big deal” guys. I got on My Space when it was launched and it quickly lost steam. Like everyone else, I replaced my MySpace with Facebook. In the beginning, I got on Facebook everyday, sometimes several times a day. I thought it was cool using this technology to reconnect with friends from the past and to take occasional, leisure strolls down amnesia lane. Facebook quickly became annoying to me, with its own language – OMG and LOL. I speak other languages, but am having difficulty understanding @TEOTD, AMBW, LFD, and UKTR. I kept a blog during my time in China and posted on it daily, but stopped when I returned to the US because of the time commitment. Understand, a chef’s like is nonstop, from morning until night; every 2 or 3 minute window was precious; I barely was able to keep up with email, much less updating my status or creating a blog post.
Well, my eyes have been opened, at least a little, to the power and impact of social media. As a social networking tool, I understand the ease of connecting with others; distance and even time are no longer issues in our communication with each other. As a business networking tool, I can see how social media can be even more powerful; keeping people informed about what’s going on and what’s coming up, creating a unified brand identity on the many different social media services, and promoting that brand to a captive audience who have essentially asked for your information is powerful indeed. Gone will be the days of spam and junk mail. I hate the pizza flyers and weekly ads that I received in my mailbox; however, I appreciate the fact that the only messages I get on Facebook.
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Look out, here I come…
Recipes Chef Hall has graciously agreed to share his recipes from the event with us. We will be featuring them all week beginning on Tuesday.In the meantime, you might want to check out these bloggers who attended the event last week.
The Park Wife got to hang out with a New York Times food writer even though I am not a great cook!
It was a hot day in Arkansas watermelon fields, but I got to watch a professional at work. I was in awe of Kim Severson’s journalistic ability from writing and uploading a story in a 30 minute time that would be printed in THE NEW YORK TIMES to listening to her exceptional interviewing skills. The biggest lesson of the day, oh my goodness, you have to watch what you say to big city reporters. See, I found out that when you rant about peddlers who sell produce at a farmers’ market trying to pass it off as Arkansas grown and produce that is heavily sprayed with cancer causing chemicals that you refuse to use, you should choose your words wisely or you could be labeled as someone who hates hypocrites. Read the article to understand that. Everyone that knows me knows that is so far off.
