First, make sure to email me your recipe submissions! The deadline is Sunday, 2/8! You can check out the submitted recipes on the announcement post here.
In leiu of a breakfast / lunch post right now (work is too busy, unfortunately), I am quickly posting the prize I’ve selected :)
As long as the winner likes these and has no allergies that conflict with the prize, I will be sending the winner their choice of 4 items from The Chocolate Spike!
They have:
– truffles
– fudge
– nut clusters
– chocolate dipped fruit
– plus some vegan choices, I believe
I’ve done 2 reviews of them so far (here and here), and my header picture is their Lavender Berry Truffle.
I don’t believe they have every flavor listed on their website, but you can check it out to see what they do have!
Happy Hump Day! I’ll be back later for a marathon post of the day :)
I’m so glad to hear that people are excited about this week’s ingredient! I can’t wait to see all the recipes :)
Today was pretty good, but busy and a little crazy – all is good, though!
Lunch today was some of the leftover chili mac – it was just as good today :) I love good leftovers!
A mix of green and yellow wax beans and peas
AND a clementine – you’re not surprised, are you? :)
I’m so glad work wasn’t like it was yesterday – it was much calmer and didn’t frustrate me! I can’t handle days like that in a row, so today was much nicer.
After work, Nick and I went to the gym to go running and we walked right up to the treadmills! No waiting around, which was so nice. I ran for about 27 minutes and it went by fast today! I wish every day on the treadmill was like today. It seems to get a little less boring each time – it’s just hard to get used to it compared to running outside, I guess.
On the way home, Nick suggested going to The New River Grille, which is the place with my favorite onion rings. Of course, that automatically made me not want to cook tonight.
Quick change of plans, though! Nick suggested a new restaurant that was supposed to have opened soon, so I looked it up online and it was!
To start, I got a side salad – it was a normal salad, but good to me because I was hungry and needed some more veggies! The little radish slices looked cool.
For our main meal, we decided to try one of their pizzas. We got the BBQ Chicken Pizza on their Honey Wheat crust – it was really good!
It was a smaller pizza, probably a little less than the size of a “medium” at most places, but I really liked how small the slices were! I felt like I could eat “more” without really eating too much, you know? It’s kind of crazy how weird our minds are sometimes.
This is one of my slices right beside my fork so you can see the size comparison :)
I had about the equivalent of 1.5 “normal” slices of pizza.
And…..then we saw the dessert menu and could NOT turn down the homemade truffles!
These were so good and the perfect ending to the meal.
We split each one in half so we could each try all 4 flavors! They were small, but so rich and decadent.
I was given the pleasure of hosting the Blogger Secret Ingredient contest this week, and I am SO excited to see what recipes are sent in!
My choice was based on the following:
• This is an ingredient that everyone has access to, in some form
• This ingredient is affordable
• This ingredient is versatile
If you’re not familiar with the BSI contest, I’m about to announce the ingredient and you can create a recipe using it for a chance to win a prize!
To enter, you can:
• Email me the recipe and photos to branappetit@gmail.com
• Post it on your blog (if you have one) and send me the link
The DEADLINE for this week’s contest is Sunday, February 8th. I will be announcing the winner (and the prize!) sometime on Monday, February 9th.
Okay, enough rules.
Are you ready for the big reveal????
The BSI this week is SPINACH!
Photo couresty of http://www.muranakafarm.com/img/inside_products_spinach.jpg
Spinach is thought to have originated in ancient Persia (Iran). Spinach made its way to China in the 7th century when the king of Nepal sent it as a gift to this country. Spinach has a much more recent history in Europe than many other vegetables. It was only brought to that continent in the 11th century, when the Moors introduced it into Spain. In fact, for a while, spinach was known as “the Spanish vegetable” in England.
Spinach was the favorite vegetable of Catherine de Medici, a historical figure in the 16th century. When she left her home of Florence, Italy, to marry the king of France, she brought along her own cooks, who could prepare spinach the ways that she especially liked. Since this time, dishes prepared on a bed of spinach are referred to as “a la Florentine.
• Calorie for calorie, leafy green vegetables like spinach with its delicate texture and jade green color provide more nutrients than any other food.
• Spinach helps protect against osteoporosis, heart disease, colon cancer, arthritis, and other diseases at the same time.
• Researchers have identified at least 13 different flavonoid compounds in spinach that function as antioxidants and as anti-cancer agents.
• The vitamin K provided by spinach-almost 200% of the Daily Value in one cup of fresh spinach leaves and over 1000% of the Daily Value in one cup of boiled spinach (which contains about 6 times as much spinach)-is important for maintaining bone health.
• Spinach is also an excellent source of other bone-building nutrients including calcium and magnesium.
• Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin A, These two nutrients are important antioxidants that work to reduce the amounts of free radicals in the body.
• Spinach is also an excellent source of folate.
All in all, spinach is definitely a super food and one that I should be eating more often!
One reason I picked this ingredient is because I don’t cook with it very often, and I want to see what you all come up with! I love spinach salads, but I know I need other tasty ways to eat it.
I don’t care if you use fresh, frozen, or canned as long as it’s spinach ☺
I’m looking for creative recipes that are also ACCESSIBLE for most people – I live in a pretty small town without a TJ’s or Whole Foods (gasp!), like a lot of other people in this country, so I want some awesome recipes that use ingredients I can buy!
I can find some exotic stuff, and we do have a few little health food stores here – just don’t go too crazy ☺
I’ll be posting the entries on this page as I receive them.
Happy Cooking!
(lunch and dinner will be posted later, as I have a very busy and exciting afternoon ahead)
Photo couresty of http://www.muranakafarm.com/img/inside_products_spinach.jpg
