Sunday, March 31, 2013
Burgers: Tex-Mex Patty Melts
Meatless Main Dishes: Rich Pasta for the Poor Kitchen
Sandwiches: Croque Madame
Pizza Sauce Meat Loaf Topping
The Best of POPSUGAR Food This Week
- Re-create the Governors Ball menu with easy-to-follow recipes
- We're at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival and have pictures to prove it!
- Put away the Cheetos and reach for cheesy kale chips instead
- The 10 international cook books your kitchen shouldn't be without
- Celebrate any occasion, big or small, with nine unique cupcake recipes
- Think of it as the ultimate soup bowl: a homemade bread bowl
- Enjoy Florida's famous foods with classic Sunshine State dishes
- Don't be intimidated by cooking bone marrow at home - it's easier than you think
- You'd be surprised at what this year's Oscar nominees call their favorite foods
Meatballs: Chinese Pearl Meatballs
"These tasty meatballs are easy to make. Wonderful for your Chinese New Year celebration or as an addition to a holiday buffet. Some folks dye the glutinous rice with red or green for a holiday touch. Another serving idea is to whisk together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and garlic to taste and sprinkle over the meatballs, rice, and some steamed vegetables." — Mom2MMJ
Main Dish Salad: Seafood Pasta Salad
Quiche Recipes: Crab Quiche
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Grilled Turkey Tenderloin
Meatloaf: Incredibly Cheesy Turkey Meatloaf
Orange-Pecan Salmon
Pizza Recipes: Pizza Crust for the Bread Machine II
Our 7 Favorite Burgers at Burger Bash
How do you pick a favorite older brother? That's kind of how it feels to choose a winning burger between the likes of Morimoto, Bobby Flay, and Michael Symon at Burger Bash. As Rachael Ray promised, this year's event had the most competing patties of any Burger Bash - 34, to be exact - and festivalgoers were obliged to make a Sophie's choice of sorts to pick the winner.
We didn't get around to trying all 30-plus burgers, so we can't confidently say that one was best. Attendees seemed to have a favorite - Bobby Flay took home the People's Choice Award and Jeff Mauro the Judges' Choice Award - but we did select seven burgers to showcase as our favorites of the night. Read on to get inspired - and hungry.
Toast to the Oscars: 4 Hollywood-Inspired Champagne Cocktails
Looking forward to watching Seth MacFarlane ham it up for the Oscars this weekend? If you're tuning in, then you might as well celebrate the award show's 85th anniversary by ringing it in with a few drinks.
Toast to the show's winners and nominees with one of these four Hollywood-inspired sparkling cocktails when you read more.
Parmesan-Coated Brie
Friday, March 29, 2013
Slow Cooker Recipes: Simple Beef Tips and Noodles
Ribs: Glazed Country Ribs
Steaks and Chops: Honeyed Pork Chops
Main Dish Casserole Recipes: Old Fashioned Mac and Cheese
7 Decadent Bite-Size Snacks to Serve on Oscar Night
Don't have time to prepare your own Oscars Governors Ball menu à la Wolfgang Puck's signature dishes? Don't sweat! If you're hosting an Oscars viewing party and still want to impress, we've got you covered with a roundup of elegant bites. They might be tiny, but they sure are filling and guaranteed to keep guests satisfied through the latest afterparties.
5 Interesting Facts About the Restaurant Business
Think eating out nightly and watching episodes of Kitchen Nightmares has given you a grasp on what it's like to run a restaurant? Then think again: owning a restaurant is serious (and tough) business. While the tough landscape is nothing new, you might be surprised to learn what factors are directly related to success - and which ones aren't. At day three of the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, a number of culinary heavyweights came together to demystify the biz: New Orleans stalwart John Besh, Top Chef and Chicago favorite Stephanie Izard, Portland restaurateur Jenn Louis, and Miami mogul John Kunkel. Here are five points they hit upon that might surprise you.
Restaurateurs are, first and foremost, businessmen.
Kunkel shared one revelation: "A line out the door does not guarantee a profit." Understanding a balance sheet, on the other hand, might help. "I opened a restaurant . . . by basically pulling a Ponzi scheme on myself," he told the audience only half jokingly. The biggest amateur mistake is "not knowing all the costs that go into opening," Izard said. Or for that matter, the amount of work: "I have no other hobbies," Louis admitted. They all went by the wayside once she committed to opening her own restaurant.
Juggling more than one restaurant can be hugely complicated.
Izard, who has just opened a second spin-off restaurant, Little Goat, put this out there: "It's hard at restaurant number two, learning how to divide your head, when you can't do all the details. I don't know if I'll ever get to that point where I have more than two [restaurants]. I'm kind of a control freak." On the contrary, Besh pointed out that "to go from one to three restaurants is more difficult than to go from three to nine. You have to have managers that understand it, get it, and have the soul." To keep everything consistent across his Louisiana restaurants, Besh has implemented across-the-board rules. "You have to create a standardization of everything," he said. One way he does it is by sharing information with other similarly sized restaurant groups elsewhere in the country, like the Philadelphia-based Vetri Family or Chicago chef Paul Kahan's One Off Hospitality Group.
Local and sustainable is not always practical.
"Farm-to-table is not always possible," Kunkel admitted, explaining that there's a tightrope to walk between top-quality food and what the customer perceives to be a reasonable price point. "There is a balance between providing the absolute best product as a restaurant and . . . staying in business."
Main Dish Seafood: Tequila Shrimp

Ham & Cheese Stuffed Potatoes
Roasts: Garlic Top Sirloin Pot Roast
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Ribs: Chinese Spareribs
Burgers: Best Hamburger Ever
Creamed Turkey over Rice
Main Dish Seafood: Anaheim Fish Tacos
Chicken Divan Macaroni and Cheese and a Friday Faves Academy Award Round-Up
It’s been a bit of a pasta week around here, so let’s end it with a favorite.
I was asked a to contribute to Wisconsin Cheese’s 30 Days 30 Ways with Macaroni and Cheese, and oh man am I glad that I did. Mainly because I was introduced to this trove of recipes created by some amazing food bloggers. And I got to dress up some tasty elbow macaroni.
I gussied up large elbow macaroni with creamy fontina and a little salty parm to mix up a classic casserole in our family, Chicken Divan—or as some call Broccoli and Chicken—to create my Smudge’s new favorite Chicken Divan Macaroni and Cheese.
Since big Daddy—my husband—was out of town and it was just me and my gal, I had ssseeeeveral servings left over. So I packed it up and took it to one of her friend’s houses—ya know, scoring points with the mom’s because you never know when you’ll need a favor—a house of five who I hoped would give it the passing grade. You never know with kids.
So did it pass? Oh yes. With flying colors. In fact it just may have been dubbed the best mac and cheese they’d eaten and put me in the ranks of Spongebob and iCarly. Watch out Hollywood here I come.
Chicken Divan Macaroni and Cheese
Speaking of Hollywood, after last year’s Academy Awards post honoring my beloved Brad Pitt who was nominated for Moneyball, I wanted to continue the theme with a fresh take on this year’s award nominees, including the object of my new celebrity crush, ie: Bradley Cooper who is the one actor who has finally stolen Brad’s crown in my book.
Brad for Brad. A good trade after watching Brad take himself far too seriously as spoofed on SNL.
So to continue the Academy Award glitz, here are a few tips to make you feel a little more glammed up.
Trade out your yoga pants and pony tail for a special outfit to add some bling to light up the night.
Gussy up your table with some glitterazzi.
And for keeping score of the winners and the ahem, losers, give this free Academy Award nominees printable a run through the laserjet and put all that time you spend watching E! Entertainment to work for you.
And now it’s time to get to the guts of every party: the food. Thanks to my great interning contributor sweet Hayley, we have a new Academy Awards recipe round-up for you to enjoy. Feel free to take a page from her ‘Silver Lining Playbook’ and come up with your own list of must eats while watching the must sees.
Break a leg Hayley.
Ever since I was little, I’ve been fascinated by the movies. My earliest and most vivid memories of them are when I went to see The Little Mermaid in theaters and the first time I saw The Wizard of Oz. I recall getting hysterical every time I watched that scene where the lion runs into the mirror after encountering the great and powerful Oz.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been watching The Academy Awards—the only awards show I ever deemed worth watching. I loved seeing my idols and crushes gliding across the red carpet, pausing for photo ops and interviews and of course I enjoyed critiquing their fashion triumphs and faux-pas. When I was younger, I was never able to make it through the entire ceremony because often it fell on a school night and ran long past my bedtime. Finding out the winner for best picture the next morning was like waking up to see if it snowed over night and discovering school was canceled.
About six years ago, my family inadvertently started what has now become one of my favorite traditions. We began Oscar dinners, where we devised a menu centered around puns of the nominated films—“Brokeback ribs” and “Crash”ed potatoes, “Into the Wild”-salmon and “the Wrestler’s” mussels. We’d start scheming months in advance, testing rhymes and challenging our inner nerd. Over the years, we’ve added our very own “red carpet,” ballot contests and Hollywood trivia to the mix and as Oscar grows, so does our guest list. It’s something I look forward to every year. It’s my Superbowl.
If you’re thinking of hosting your own Academy Awards party, here are a few ideas to add some glimmer and bright lights to your party.
So in the spirit of that little gold man, here’s a menu inspired by all nine of this year’s nominees:
Red Carpet Cocktail Hour
Dark and Stormy cocktail from The Clever Carrot in honor of Zero Dark Thirty. This movie was dark. And stormy.
A Good Old Apple cocktail by Cook the Story for Lincoln, who was very fond of apples.
An Aged Cheese Plate by In the Little Red House for my love, Amour
Previews
Silver-Lined Crabby Snacks by Eatori for cute Bradley Cooper’s Silver Linings Playbook
Mini Lamb Curry Meat Pies by The Cuisinerd for….wait for it….wait for it….Life of Pi Supporting Cast
Hushpuppies from A Spicy Perspective for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Peasant Bread from Honey & Jam with a whole lot of singing en honour of Les Miserables
Feature Presentation/Main Feature
Coq au Vin from The Year in Food with a little more singing, or a lot more singing in Les Miserables
End Credits
White Cake from Willow Bird Baking to unchain the sweetness you know is somewhere within Django Unchained
Nanaimo Bars, a classic Canadian dessert, from Cooking Classy for Ben Affleck’s Argo
Thanks for reading and please keep in touch. This post may include affiliate shopping links of which I receive a small percentage of sales to help keep this blog and magazine going so thanks for your support. Subscribe to FoodieCrush and follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and check out FoodieCrush magazine.
Pin It Tagged as: broccoli, chicken, macaroni and cheese, recipesCreamy Slaw
Meatloaf: Beef Loaf Deluxe
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Cold-Water Test for Candy
(230°-233°). Dip a metal spoon into the hot candy mixture. Hold the spoon over the cold water. The mixture should fall off the spoon in a fine thread.
Self-rising flour-3/4 cup
Meatless Main Dishes: Summer Vegetable Ratatouille
Quiche Recipes: Surimi, Spinach, and Roasted Red Pepper Quiche
Tacos, Burritos and Enchiladas: Fabulous Wet Burritos
Sausage and Marsala Pappardelle Pasta
We all have our favorite recipes. And we all have vices. This recipe combines the best (best?) of both of them in my little world.
I’ve been sitting on this recipe ever since I started blogging. It’s one of those recipes I make it at least once a month, a favorite staple in our house and one I break out when company shows up unexpectantly because I always have the ingredients on hand.
But because it’s such a favorite for dinner, it’s usually dark by the time I’m done cooking and we’re hungry and there’s no light to take a pretty picture or any pasta left anyway. Oh, the life of a food blogger, balancing hunger pains of the family for you my lovely readers.
I change this recipe up by using different sausages, different color peppers or sometimes none at all, thick cut pappardelle, rigatoni or fetuccine, whatever I have in the pantry. But I always make sure mushrooms and marsala wine are included.
The marsala wine is the key ingredient here. Simmered with fresh rosemary the marsala creates a flavor that doesn’t compare. Like I said, it’s my favorite and I use it in place of white wine all the time, with sautéed chicken dishes, in gravies and even in desserts like in my Mascarpone Pumpkin Mousse Cups. Obsessed I tell you.
Five tips for making and adapting my favorite pasta:
1. If you want to watch your cream intake, substitute it with 1/4 cup or so of mascarpone or another creamy cheese to help thicken the marsala sauce.
2. Make sure your pasta is al denté when adding it to the sauce as you’ll want to cook it for a minute or two it it to soak up all of the winey/creamy notes.
3. If I don’t have rosemary in the fridge or its too snowy to snip some from the garden, I’ll toss in fresh basil or even thyme to keep it on the savory side. An added sprinkle of parsley adds a freshness before serving.
4. If you’re looking for a purely vegetarian version, ditch the sausage and use sliced portobello mushrooms to give some girth to the meal. Or if you’re a chicken lover, toss in a few slices or dices of uncooked chicken breast in the first step then add an additional tablespoon of olive oil with the peppers and onions and follow the directions from there. When adding the marsala wine, be sure to scrape up the flavor bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Be careful not to add the tomatoes too early or they’ll bleed and begin to disappear into the sauce and leave nothing but a tomato skin. If using a tomato other than whole cherry tomato, be sure to seed it first and cut into a nice dice.
Sausage and Marsala Pappardelle
Related Recipes
Dinner is for Kids: Spaghetti Tacos
Chicken Piccata Pasta
Pasta with Marinated Tomatoes
Thanks for reading and please keep in touch. This post may include affiliate shopping links of which I receive a small percentage of sales to help keep this blog and magazine going so thanks for your support. Subscribe to FoodieCrush and follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and check out FoodieCrush magazine.
Pin It Tagged as: dinner, entrees, italian, mushrooms, onion, pappardelle, pasta, recipes, red bell pepper, sausage, tomatoes, wineFilm and Fare: Memorable Oscar Movie Food Scenes
When it comes to many of this year's Oscar best picture nominees, we can certainly bank on loads of drama. But something else we can count on? Memorable food scenes. Food and drink feature prominently in some films more than others, but certain parts, with everything from crab to hummus, even change the course of the plot. Click on for some of the most noteworthy moments, and let us know if you have any favorites of your own.
Savory Pies: Tater Tot Bake
Easy, Breezy, Cheesy: Cheddar, Bacon, and Leek Frittata
We may still be in the throes of wool coat and tights weather, but I'm already eagerly anticipating warmer days for one frivolous but fantastic reason: with Spring weather comes picnic season. Generally, these blissful afternoons spent relaxing in the park are fueled by a stop at my favorite specialty foods shop to pick up some cheese, bread, wine, and fruit, but occasionally I prepare a slightly more involved, less spontaneous spread. Often this centers around a portable, low-fuss, room-temperature-friendly, and - most importantly - delicious dish: the frittata.
This bulked-up, bacon-studded iteration will be no exception. I can already picture it: me, a few friends, a bottle of rosé, hearty slices of this frittata, a basket of berries, and, ultimately, sun-drenched bliss. Until then I'll have to satisfy my craving table-side, but hey, with a dish as lovely as the one at hand, I'm hardly complaining.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Main Dish Salad: Seafood Salad II
Main Dish Casserole Recipes: American Shepherd's Pie
Stuffed Cabbage: Stuffed Cabbage
Cincinnati Chili
Have you ever been to Cincinnati? If so, you’ve probably had their very unique chili. It’s like eating chicken wings in Buffalo or lobster in Maine—if you want to experience a regional favorite, it’s a must-try!
A couple years ago I had Cincinnati chili while visiting a friend in Cincinnati. Since then, I’ve only dreamt of having it again. For a while now, I’ve been looking for what looked like an authentic version; that is, a bean-less version (you can serve it with beans on the top if you go five-way, but I’ll get to that in a second) that has chocolate. I was pretty excited when I found Tasty Kitchen member Dax Phillips’ recipe for Cincinnati Chili!
First things first, a little bit about how they do chili in Cincinnati. It starts with a complex, rich-flavored, warmly-spiced meat sauce that has a touch of chocolate added, usually in the form of unsweetened cocoa powder. Then that incredible sauce is served one of the following “ways”: two-way (chili over spaghetti noodles); three-way (chili over spaghetti noodles topped with shredded cheese); four-way (chili over spaghetti noodles topped with shredded cheese and diced onion); five-way (chili over spaghetti noodles topped with shredded cheese, diced onion, and kidney beans). And there you have it. Deliciousness in chili form, Cincinnati-style.
Ready to get started?
There is minimal prep work required for this recipe! Just dice 2 cups of onion (which is about 2 medium-large onions).
Then get out all your ingredients. Here we have: a plate of spices (cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, cumin, salt, and bay leaves), ground beef (I used 90% lean, but 95% lean would be even better), unsweetened cocoa powder, diced onion, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, honey, chili powder (the original recipe calls for 5 tablespoons of chili powder, but I will only use 4 tablespoons next time), crushed tomatoes, and water. I only have 4 cups of water pictured, but I actually did use another 1 cup to make it 5 cups total, like the recipe says, so that the beef was fully covered. Oh, and next time I will add 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice as well.
The first cooking step is the initial boiling of the beef. This is the most hands-on part of the cooking process, since it requires you to skim off the fat/other stuff that floats to the top. Not to worry, the chili is worth this extra work!
Here’s how the beef looks after boiling uncovered (and skimming off the fat) for about 45 minutes.
Now you can add all the other chili ingredients …
And give it a good stir.
Bring the chili to a boil, cover the pot, turn the heat down, and simmer for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, stirring every so often.
Here it is after cooking for 90 minutes.
And here it is after cooking for 3 hours. Mine was super thick and just starting to stick on the bottom at that point, so I knew it was done. (Yours might need to go for the full 3 1/2 hours, like the recipe says.) It cooks down a lot; the total volume I had after cooking was 6 cups of chili.
Here’s where the recipe gets a little time-consuming: Dax recommends letting the chili cool to room temperature and refrigerating it overnight so you can remove the fat that rises to the top the next day. This is what my chili looked light the next day—about 2 tablespoons of liquid fat that had pooled on the top that I was able to remove (and that was with using 90% lean ground beef and being very diligent about skimming the fat off during the boiling process). Even though it doesn’t seem like a lot of fat to skim off, I also recommend this step. The flavors of the spices mingle beautifully overnight.
The next day, when you’re ready to serve, heat up the chili (you can add a splash of water if necessary, if it’s too thick). If you’re planning to serve this four-way (chili over spaghetti noodles topped with shredded cheese and diced onion) like Dax and I did, cook and drain your pasta to al dente according to the package directions.
Shred your sharp cheddar cheese. I wanted a little bit of a finer shred for this (I like how it melts that way), so I didn’t use the side with the biggest holes on my box grater.
Then assemble the toppings you’ll need to serve: cooked spaghetti noodles, shredded cheese, oyster crackers, diced onion, and hot sauce.
To serve, line a shallow bowl with spaghetti noodles, top with a ladle of chili, a handful of diced onion, and a sprinkle of shredded cheese. Add a few oyster crackers and a dash of hot sauce! (If you decide you want to go five-way, you can add kidney beans on top.)
Cincinnati Chili is the perfect dish for a new twist on an old favorite, and this recipe is incredible—definitely restaurant quality! A huge thanks to Dax for a great recipe; I know it will become a cold-month regular in my kitchen. Be sure to check out his blog Simple Comfort Food for more comforting classics and fresh new flavors with a comfort spin!

A simple twist on a chili con carne, this classic Cincinnati chili will warm you from your head to your toes.
Begin by getting a large pot on the stove. Add the ground beef and water, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to medium, and begin stirring the beef, breaking it up as you stir. Continue this process for about 45 minutes. Skim off any of the crud that might float to the top and discard it.
Next, add all of the remaining chili ingredients on the above list, giving a good stir. Bring this mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and let it cook for approximately 3 1/2 hours, stirring from time to time. When done, remove bay leaves.
Now if you are living on the edge and like that fatty flavor, you could go ahead and serve this right now, but instead, I recommend that you take it off of the stove, let it cool, then place it in the refrigerator overnight. The reason you will probably want to do this is that when you remove the chili the next day, the fat that was cooked off from boiling the ground beef will rise to the top, allowing you to remove all of that fat. So do just that, and remove that thin layer of fat from the chili.
Once you have removed the fat, put it back onto the stove, bringing it up to a boil and heat throughout, then get ready to serve.
Remember now, I went four-way, which means, spaghetti, chili, onions, and cheese.
To serve, add a layer of the cooked spaghetti on the bottom of your bowl. Ladle a generous amount of the chili on top of the spaghetti. Top with onions, and a lot of grated cheese. Place a small handful of oyster crackers on the side, and dig in!
You will be surprised not only with the awesome texture of this chili, but more importantly, the flavor. You get the richness from the cocoa powder, and the clove and cinnamon really stand out. But it is also the texture you get from the onion and cheese that make this chili just melt in your mouth.
Give it a shot, and I hope you enjoy the recipe!
FOR THE CHILI:2 pounds Ground Beef5 cups Water, Enough To Cover The Ground Beef28 ounces, weight Crushed Tomatoes2 cups Onion, Finely Diced2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder¼ teaspoons Ground Cloves1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce5 Tablespoons Chili Powder1 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder½ Tablespoons Cumin Powder1 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar2 whole Bay Leaves1 Tablespoon Honey1 Tablespoon Salt1 teaspoon Cracked Black Pepper¼ cups Red Kidney Beans, Cooked (optional)TO SERVE:½ pounds Spaghetti Noodles, Cooked According To Package Instructions1 cup Onion, Finely Diced1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Grated½ cups Oyster Crackers1 dash Hot Sauce
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Faith Gorsky is the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind the blog An Edible Mosaic. She lives in Upstate New York and loves to travel, especially to places steeped in rich culture and history. She also enjoys reading, vintage shopping, watching movies, and is enamored with ancient cultures. She just released her first cookbook, “An Edible Mosaic: Middle Eastern Fare with Extraordinary Flair” (Tuttle Publishing), a collection of authentic Middle Eastern recipes handed down to her from her husband’s family.