Happy New Year

Hope everyone has a really wonderful Happy New Year.

I was just wondering, do any of you foodies make New Year's resolutions for your blogs? I made a few for mine. When I first began this blog, I thought it would be mostly about how to write a cookbook and get it published, with a few really good recipes thrown in from time to time and an occasional cookbook review. Then I started visiting a lot of foodie blogs and decided to post more recipes.

I've strayed from my original purpose and plan to get my blog back
on track in the new year. I'll still be posting recipes, but I'll also be taking you on a journey of writing and publishing a cookbook. Don't want to let the cat out of the bag yet, but there's a cookbook in the making that you all can be part of; I'll give you details on another post. I'll also be featuring a few guest bloggers who have written
and published cookbooks and they'll be telling you their story.

Speaking of cookbook reviews, would any of you like to review my new cookbook, Foods and Flavors of San Antonio, on your blog? The book will be published in March. If you're willing to review the cookbook on your foodie blog, make a recipe from it and blog about it, my publisher would like to send you an
advance copy of the cookbook. Please
visit Foods and Flavors of San Antonio
for more information.

So, I'm really curious. Did you make New Year's resolutions for your foodie blog?

Gifts and Awards

Hope everyone had a really wonderful Christmas, but it's not over yet. I have a few more gifts to give and would like to share some awards.

Thanks to everyone who left comments on A Gift for a Foodie about the cookbook they'd love to write. They all sound like terrific ideas. The winner of Recipe for a Cookbook is Tiersa at Chef Bliss. She loves to cook and is following her bliss in the kitchen, cooking and creating new recipes. She plans on writing a healthy comfort food cookbook. Check out her blog and be sure
to look at the picture of her dog, Koda. She looks just like my dog, Moki.

Everyone (at least everyone I know, including me) can use a little--or a lot--more Coffee, Coffee, Coffee plus a whole lot of calm in their life. Now I'm not saying that Teresa at Mexican-American Border Cooking could use some calm; she seems pretty laid back but I know she loves coffee and
is the winner of Zen Coffee: A Guide to Mindful Meditation, my new book which offers a way to look at coffee and meditating a bit differently than you might have thought of it before.

Ladies, please send me an email at gloriachadwick@gmail.com with your address so I can send these gifts to you.

Now, on to the awards: Teresa, at Mexican Chocolate Lore and More, gave me the Friendship Award. I really value this award because it came from my favorite foodie friend.


I'd like to pass it along to a few new friends and some that I've known for a while:

Deeba, at Passionate About Baking because she combines coffee and chocolate into many of the wonderful cakes she makes and besides that, she's a really nice person.

Reeni, at Cinnamon, Spice, and Everything Nice because she writes nice, thoughtful comments on almost every post here and besides that, she also comments on my new blog, Foods and Flavors of San Antonio.

Arlene, at The Food of Love, because how can you not like someone who gags on her mother's meatloaf? LOL. This is my kind of friend and besides that, she loves to play with words.

Sanghi, at Sanghi's Food Delights, because the first time I visited her blog, she already had me on her blogroll and besides that, she is so appreciative of her friends.

Last, but definitely not least, Aggie, at Aggie's Kitchen, because she posts the kind of recipes that I love to cook. (I've already made two of her recipes and they were both delicious.)

I especially love this Inspiration Award because it's a happy face coffee.

I'd like to pass this award on to Natashya at Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. She inspires me because she can really cook and all her food looks really good! She's a dedicated foodie who cooks and blogs every day. I really admire that. Besides that, she has two adorable dogs. I have two dogs and they are always in the kitchen trying to cook with me--well, actually, they're just there for the food that falls on the floor!

Have a happy day and for those of you that are still snowed in, stay warm!

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Menu for Hope

Menu for Hope is a huge fundraiser to help feed hungry children by raffling off lots of fabulous prizes for $10.00. If you're wondering how you can help, please visit Chez Pim for a complete description. Some of the prizes include coffee for a year (my favorite), a trip to Napa Valley, a judge's seat at a chili cook-off, cookbooks, culinary classes, kitchenware, chocolate, and so much more. My humble contribution is two of my books.

UE 36: Recipe for a Cookbook: How to Write, Publish, and Promote Your Cookbook.


UE 37: Foods and Flavors
of San Antonio, my new cookbook which will be published in March, 2009.

To see the complete list of all the prizes and how to bid on them, visit Chez Pim. A lot of hungry children will thank you.

A Gift for a Foodie

Want to give the foodie in your life the perfect Christmas present?
Or maybe you're the foodie in your life and you want to give yourself the perfect present? It's my feeling that all you foodies with your great blogs showcasing your recipes would love to have the recipe
for a cookbook--a how-to on writing, publishing, and promoting
your cookbook.

Just so happens I've written a book about this and I'd like to give you a copy. Please leave me a comment telling me about the cookbook you'd love to write. I'll pick a random winner on Christmas Eve. For an extra chance to win, place the book cover on your sidebar with a link to this post. Then leave me another comment with the link to your blog.

If you're ready to get cooking on your cookbook, and you can't wait to win the book and you want it right now, it's available at Amazon. There's still time to order it and have it under your tree on Christmas.

Want to have a look inside before you buy? Please visit Recipe for a Cookbook to read lots more about it, including an overview and the table of contents.

Last Chance for Chocolate

Marye, over at Baking Delights, is offering you lots of chances this week to win the Hershey's Chocolate Basket. Filled with lots of chocolate goodies, this
is guaranteed to bring out the chocoholic in you. This is the last week of her giveaway, but not to worry: She has another chocolate giveaway in the works.

In the spirit of giving, since it is Christmas-time, I'm giving Marye (who I know is a chocoholic; you can tell by reading her blog) the I'm a Chocoholic award given
to me by Teresa, at Mexican Chocolate Lore and More a few months ago. (I know I've given this award before and I'm not sure if you're allowed to--or supposed to--give it again after you've posted about it the first time--but, hey, it's Christmas and I feel like giving Marye a chocolate gift. (And no, I'm not trying to earn brownie points to win the chocolate gift basket--the winner is chosen by a random generator.)

Speaking of chocolate and brownies, how does a Creme de Menthe Brownie sound to you? It sounds delicious to me and is my pick this week for the Hershey's holiday recipe.

• 35 HERSHEY'S BLISS Creme de Menthe Milk Chocolates, divided
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Remove wrappers from chocolates. Cutting from corner to corner, cut each chocolate into 4 triangles; set aside.

2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and cocoa; stir to blend. Remove from heat. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Stir together the flour, salt and baking soda; stir into chocolate mixture. Spread in prepared pan.

3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the brownie starts to pull from edges of pan and is set. Cool 25 minutes; sprinkle chopped candies over surface. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into squares or triangles. About 36 brownies.

Applesauce Raisin Cake

With all the holiday cooking and baking--all those cookies and cakes and pies--there's a whole heck of a lot of refined sugar flying around. Too much sugar is not a good thing for anyone. The holidays can be especially difficult for people with diabetes because of all the sugar temptations, but there are lots of recipes you can make and eat that won't raise your blood sugar through the roof. I like to eat healthy and I had a taste for applesauce raisin cake so I looked around the web for a low-sugar alternative. I found a recipe for Raisin Cake at Dlife--a really wonderful website with tons of recipes to help you eat healthier. (I've rewritten parts of the recipe to make it clearer.)

• 1 cup seedless raisins (I used 3 of the red (1-1/2 oz.) Sun-Maid Raisins boxes; this equals one cup)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 3/4 cup granulated Splenda
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cups white all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. low sodium baking powder
• 1-1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Cover the raisins with water and let stand for 5 minutes. (I heated 2 cups of water to boiling in a small saucepan, then I took the pan off the heat and added the raisins. After 5 minutes, I drained them in a colander.) (This will plump up the raisins.)

Drains raisins well and mix with Splenda, egg whites, oil, vanilla, and applesauce at medium speed to blend. (I didn't mix the raisins with the ingredients shown in this paragraph because I wanted them whole and kept intact.)

Mix the remaining dry ingredients together and stir into the raisin mixture. (I folded in my plumped-up raisins to the batter.)

Spread the batter in the prepared baking dish. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, remove from oven and let cool before serving.

I added a dusting of confectioners' sugar and enjoyed my Applesauce Raisin Cake, warm from the oven, with a cup of coffee.

Makes 20 servings. Nutritional information per serving: Calories--132; Total Carbs--18.3g; Dietary Fiber--1g; Sugars--7.1g; Total Fat--5.7g.

I'm submitting this to the Monthly Mingle: Low-Sugar Sweet Treats hosted by Meeta at The Daily Tiffin and to Ruth at Bookmarked Recipes.

Christmas Chicken Chili

To get into the holiday spirit,
I decided to come up with a Christmas chili and decorate
it with red and green for a Christmas Chicken Chili.

This is the perfect time of year (or any other time) for chili; it warms your soul as well as your stomach. And if you put enough chiles into it, it will warm you all over. I marinated my chicken before cooking it to give it an added dimension of flavor--and because I'm so used to marinating chicken for fajitas.

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 T. dried minced garlic
• 1 T. chili powder
• 1 T. fajita seasoning
• 1 T. cumin
• 1 T. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 tomatillos, coarsely chopped
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (4 oz.) can fire-roasted green chiles
• 1 (15.5 oz.) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15.8 oz.) can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup chili powder (add more or less to suit your taste)
• 3 T. cumin (add more or less to suit your taste)
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
  
• Sliced green onions for garnish
• Mexican Blend cheese (also called Fiesta cheese)

Place the chopped chicken in a gallon-size Zip-lock plastic bag. Add the vegetable oil, dried minced garlic, chili powder, fajita seasoning, cumin, and black pepper. Seal the bag, letting most of the air out and then mush the chicken around in the oil and spices so all the pieces are covered. Marinate in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

When you're ready to start making your chili, heat a 12-inch, deep, chef's saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown it on the first side. (No need to add oil to the pan; the oil you marinated it in works just fine.)

Add the onions and tomatillos. Continue browning the chicken while the veggies get limp.

When the chicken is a nice, brown color and the veggies have softened, add the green onions and garlic to the pan. Saute for a minute or two, just until the fragrance of the garlic is released.

Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, green chiles, red kidney beans, and the great northern beans. Season with the chili powder and cumin, then give it a good stir.

Bring to a boil, stir, then reduce the heat, cover, and let the chili simmer for 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

Add the corn, give it a stir, then cover the pan and let the chili cook for 10 more minutes.

I adorned my red-and-green Christmas Chili with sliced green onions and Mexican Blend cheese.

I like quesadillas with my chili, so I warmed up a corn tortilla in a dry, 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When it browned on the first side, I flipped it over and added the cheese. When the second side browned, I folded it in half, removed it to a plate and cut it into quarters.

If you have a favorite, original chili recipe, please come over to my Foods and Flavors of San Antonio blog and enter it in this month's Chili Cook-Off Challenge. There are prizes for the best chili.

Mediterranean Chicken Pasta

Since my last disaster with two of Tyler Florence's recipes, I wasn't real keen on continuing to participate in Tyler Florence Fridays, but since I was planning to make Stuffed Mediterranean Chicken this week--I had all the ingredients on hand--I decided to veer from my planned dinner and try his recipe for Mediterranean Pasta in Minutes. (My changes are in blue.)

• 3 T. olive oil (I used the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes; it added a lot of flavor)
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced diagonally
• 1 small onion, slivered (I added it halfway through browning the chicken)
  
• 1 (8-1/2 oz.) jar sun-dried tomatoes, julienned (1 cup)
• 2 T. garlic, minced
• 1 pound fresh angel hair pasta (I used whole grain thin spaghetti)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil (I had to substitute 2 T. dried basil because my fresh basil had turned brown and wilted; it was not a pretty sight)
• 1 (8-1/2 oz.) can artichoke hearts in water, quartered and drained (1 cup)
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted (1/4 pound) (I used chopped black olives)
• 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (I used half-and-half)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• Salt and pepper, to taste (I omitted the salt and used freshly ground black pepper which I sprinkled on the chicken while I was browning it)

Boil water for pasta in a pasta pot, fitted with a strainer. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken strips until no longer pink -- about 3 minutes each side. Add sun-dried tomatoes and garlic to skillet. Saute for 2 minutes. In the meantime, add the fresh pasta to boiling water, cook until al dente, about 5 minutes.

Now add the basil, artichoke hearts, olives and feta cheese to the skillet. Saute 1 minute then stir in the cream. Strain the pasta and transfer to a large pasta bowl. Add the chicken saute to the pasta and toss. Season with oregano, salt and pepper before serving.

This was absolutely delicious (the picture doesn't do it justice). It came together quickly and easily, and was a wonderful weeknight dinner. Tyler, you've redeemed yourself. I'll definitely make this again.

I'm also submitting this to two foodie blog events: Ruth at Bookmarked Recipes, who
hosts a weekly round-up of recipes which
are bookmarked and made from cookbooks, magazines, TV shows, foodie blogs, and other online sources.

And to Presto Pasta Nights, created by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast, a weekly round-up of pasta recipes which is being hosted this week by Marye at Baking Delights.

Tis the Season for Giving

Christmas is the season for giving lots of wonderful presents, love, and joy. When my daughters were little and we didn't have much money, we'd make each other "love presents" for Christmas. These love presents consisted of notes we'd write to one another, offering something we could give during the year.

My daughters would write me notes like, "I promise to give you a
big hug when you're sad," or "I promise to clean my room when you ask," stuff like that. And they made me amazing things out of paper. Jennifer made me a beautiful house out of notebook paper and tape. She even made a paper garden with flowers to go in front of the house, complete with a little paper hose to water the garden. Jaime drew me a picture of herself, surrounded by red paper hearts which said "I Love You" and a colored frame.

It doesn't have to cost anything to give a present that gives all year round. This is why they're called love presents--because they come from the heart and show that you care. There is a present you can give every single day that is filled with love and joy both for yourself and for the person who receives it. It won't cost you anything but a few seconds of your time every day.

Here's a love present you can give to someone you've never met that will put the spirit of Christmas into their heart all year long. Put this badge from The Hunger Site on your blog where you and visitors to your blog can click it every day. Every click helps to feed a hungry person.

Mucho Meatloaf

I was in the mood for meatloaf the other night. I was really hungry and felt like experimenting so I threw together a bunch of ingredients and made a big meatloaf; hence the title "Mucho Meatloaf" because there was a lot of good stuff in there and there was a lot of meatloaf to go around. While the meatloaf was cooking, I also made a lot of Cheddar-Garlic Smashed Potatoes to go with it. I love making big meals because they make lots of leftovers. A meatloaf sandwich the next day, served on whole wheat bread with Dijon mustard, is just about the best lunch in the whole world.

I like to cook everyday kind of family meals--nothing fancy or pretentious for me--just good, homey, comfort food. If I were to invite you over for dinner, I'd probably make you meatloaf. I love meatloaf. It's a wonderful comfort food and it has my favorite ingredient: hamburger. I have two favorite meatloaf recipes--which I'll share in another post or two--but I like to change things around once in a while just to keep life interesting. Meatloaf recipes are so versatile. You can put just about anything you want in a meatloaf and you don't have to worry about whether it will turn out okay because it always does.

Mucho Meatloaf

1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 (8 oz.) container button mushrooms, chopped
1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 medium egg
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 heaping T. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 T. dried oregano
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce, divided
2 T. Worcestershire sauce, divided
2 T. tomato paste
3 T. ketchup
3 strips turkey bacon, cut in half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 12-inch skillet with butter flavored nonstick cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat.

When the pan is hot, add the onion, red bell pepper, carrot, and celery. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are limp.

Add the garlic and mushrooms. Saute for one more minute. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to let the veggies cool a bit before you mix them in with the meat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Dijon mustard, parsley, oregano, 2/3 of the tomato sauce, 1 T. Worcestershire, tomato paste, and ketchup. Add the reserved veggies. Mix really well. There's no getting around it; you have to get your hands into the mix.

Plop the mixture into a 9 x 5 glass baking dish. Smooth out the top
a bit. Place the slices of turkey bacon evenly over the top, put the meatloaf into the oven and let it cook for 30 minutes to crisp the bacon.

While the meatloaf is cooking, mix the remaining 1/3 of the tomato sauce and the remaining 1 T. of Worcestershire together in a small bowl. Take the meatloaf out of the oven and spread the tomato sauce mixture on top. Return to the oven and cook for 30 to 45 more minutes.

When you take the meatloaf out of the oven--when it's finished cooking--let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. This will actually make the meatloaf warmer than when you first took it out of the oven and it also makes slicing the meatloaf into uniform pieces easier that won't fall apart.


Cheddar-Garlic Smashed Potatoes

6 red potatoes, scrubbed (leave the skin on) and cut into chunks (butter reds are the best)
1/2 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 T. dried minced garlic
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat a large saucepan filled halfway with water over high heat. When the water boils, add the potatoes and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are soft. Drain in a colander and return to the pan. Add the Cheddar cheese, garlic, sour cream, butter, and milk. Smash the potatoes to a coarse consistency. Chunks are good here. Take a taste, then season to your liking with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To make my meatloaf meal complete, I also served green beans topped with shredded Cheddar cheese.

It was a mucho good dinner! And I have lots of leftovers!

Chocolate and More Coffee

Marye at Baking Delights is again offering you a chance -- five chances -- to win the Hershey's Chocolate Gift Basket this week. Go on over to her blog and leave your comments.

One of the chances to win is by going to Hershey's Kitchens and choosing your favorite recipe. The first thing that caught my eye was the Cocoa Café Olé since I just blogged about Coffee, Coffee, Coffee. Chocolate and coffee is such a beautiful combination.

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 3 tablespoons powdered instant coffee
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 cups milk

Combine sugar, cocoa, instant coffee and cinnamon in large saucepan. Gradually stir in milk; heat stirring occasionally, to serving temperature. Pour into mug or cup. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

The only thing I'd add to the directions is to tell you to simmer your drink. If you boil it, the coffee will taste bitter. This is a quick and easy way to make a Mexican Mocha and is also a way to achieve instant Zen.