November's YBR Roundup, Simply Amazing!

So here we are on the second edition of our YBR roundup. Again I'm just amazed at all of the scrumptious foods being cooked all over the world by so many talented cooks. My thanks to each an everyone of you for participating and sharing your culinary talents with us. I'm having such a blast hosting the YBR and I will be looking forward to it each and every month! On that note I have to ask you something. Since 2010 is coming to an end, how would you feel about December being dedicated to your best or favorite recipe or post of the year? You can pick anything published on your blog in 2010 and the rest would work the same. Please comment and let me know if you like the idea or would you like to stick to the monthly restriction? Thanks and I'm looking forward to your thoughts. Here are Your Best Recipes for November!

Sandra, Sandra's Easy Cooking, Chocolate and Cranberry Love Affair

Belinda,Zomppa, Tamales Here, Tamales There

Jaime,Lady Fromage, Apple Ginger Pork Chops

Kimberly, Kimba's Kitchen, Choc Mint, Hazelnut and Raspberry Layer Cake

Tam, A Little Bit Burnt, Bollito misto or boiled dinner

Rachel, The Pleasure Monger, Spanish Paella

Anncoo, Anncoo Journal, Mango Mirror Cake

Julie, Gourmet Getaways, Gorgonzola Tagliatelle

Natalie (aka foodblogandthedog), Cook Eat Live Vegetarian, Indian Dhal Soup with Potato Stuffed Parathas

Mj, Cardamom Hills, White Bean Ice Cream with Coconut glaze

Priscilla, She's Cookin', Olive-encrusted Pacific Seabass with Provencal Vegetables

Roxana (aka GreenGirl) , A Little Bit of Everything, Candy Cake

Maya, Foodiva's Kitchen, Matcha and Black Sesame Spiral Ravioli

Evelyne, Cheap Ethnic Eatz, Best Thai Curry Tofu EVER

Laura, Family Spice, Lamb Meatballs with Pomegranate-Tomato Sauce

Liv Wan, Egg Wan's Food Odyssey, Crystal Dumplings

Gina, What's For Dinner Across State Lines, Eclairs Filled with Pumpkin Cheesecake and Bathed in Dark Chocolate!

Anamaris, Chef It Yourself, Sweet Potato Cream with Chorizo

Stella, The Witchy Kitchen, Old Style Sweet Potato Pie

Heather, Girli Chef, Gnocchi w/ Mizirthra in Brown Butter & Sage

Lisa, Sweet As Sugar, Pumpkin Cornbread

Carolyn, All Day I Dream About Food, Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake with Spiced Pecan Crust

Magic of Spice, The Ardent Epicure, Baked Brie Croissants with Cranberry Sauce

The Paper Princess, Create With Joy, Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Chef Dennis, More Than a Mount Full, Turkey Pot Pie

Rocio, Apicius' Apprentice, Friendship Bread

Nancy, Spicie Foodie, Cajun Trinity Rice

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Trinity Rice, A Reminder and An Update

Hello everyone, I hope your tummies are all healing nicely after your large Thanksgiving feasts. This month has been so hectic and busy for me (and all of you) that I just noticed I have not shared enough recipes and felt like I didn't have enough of a choice for my November YBR recipe. So I'm posting a new recipe to try to squeeze in right before the YBR roundup. See you're not the only ones who waits to make your final choices. So this brings me to the reminder.


The reminder: REMINDER if you want to Participate in this month's YBR round up please email me your photo and information by MONDAY NOVEMBER 29, (for people in Asian and Australia that would be early Monday morning for you.)


The update: My cookbook, An Epiphany of The Senses, has had a special holiday price reduction. The new price is only $21.99! I'm not sure how long the lower price will last so I hope you can take advantage of the lower price.

Now on to the recipe. Today I'm going to share my recipe invention called Trinity Rice. Nope not in a religious sense of name, and no it's not a dish named after Trinity from The Matrix trilogy, but rather a reference to "The Holy Trinity" of Cajun cuisine. For those of you not familiar with the word Cajun it is used to describe the French speaking immigrants that settled in the southern US state of Louisiana. Cajun cuisine is for lack of a better word AMAZING! There are so many dishes that I could tell you about (and drool all over my keyboard while I type) but it's best for you to just do a Google search on Cajun cuisine and you'll see what I'm talking about. OMG! Who's craving Crawfish Étouffée now? me me me! Back on subject, Cajuns were immigrants that were expelled by the British from the northern and eastern coastal areas of Canada. When these French speaking people settled in Louisiana their foods were influenced by all of the local mix of people. It is said that Cajun cuisine has elements of French, Spanish, African, Portuguese, Native American and even South Asian Indian cuisine.* So you can see that this exotic mix of culinary ingredients can only have spectacular results!

What is "The Holy Trinity" of Cajun cuisine? It is onion, bell pepper, and celery. These three ingredients, or the trinity, makes the foundation for Cajun cuisine. (You will find a trinity of sorts in many world cuisines but today I'm just going to tell you about this one.) I came up with this rice when I made Emeril's crab cakes and I had leftover onions, bell peppers and celery. I wanted to make a tangy rice to go on the side of the crab cakes. It's a very simple dish that is super easy and quite fast to prepare. But let me tell you the taste couldn't be further from simple. My husband liked it so much that after he took his first bite he asked if I had written down my recipe so I could make it again very soon. So with a request like I wasn't going to deny him and yes I wrote it down as I went along. (Sorry I didn't do the metric conversions for this recipe.)

Trinity Rice (serves 2)
Ingredients:
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 medium bell pepper, finely chopped ( I used a red bell pepper)
1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup long grain rice
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
pinch white pepper
1 3/4 cup vegetable broth, low sodium (I dissolved 1 cube in warm water)

Optional:
fresh Lime or Lemon juice

1. Finely chop the vegetables. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in large pan. Saute the vegetables until they are translucent and soft. Add the rice to the pan, stir and brown the rice for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning and the rice from sticking to the pan. Next sprinkle in all the spices, stir and cook for another 2 minutes.
2. Pour the vegetable broth into the pan and stir well. Turn the heat up to medium high and allow the rice to start to boil. Once the rice begins to boil turn heat down to a low setting cover and cook for another 15 minutes or until the rice is soft and cooked through. About halfway through the cooking time check the rice and make sure the water has not completely evaporated, if so stir in a little more. You can add a tablespoon at a time if needed to continue cooking the rice until it is soft.

If you would like to give the rice a little tangy taste add the juice of a small lime or lemon, or you can adjust to your taste. Serve as a side dish or double the recipe for a large main portion. You can also sprinkle some cayenne or chile powder over the dish to give it a little extra spiciness.

The photo you see above this text show the Trinity rice with a fish fillet. The fish is Pangasius in Chili Lemon Sauce and the recipe can be found in my book on page 22. I think this rice is another great way to enjoy that fish recipe as it gives the fish more depth but all of the spices and the ingredients really compliment each other. Plus both the Trinity Rice and the Fish recipes are really healthy and have only a small amount of healthy fats. See eating healthy food does not by any means equate to bad flavorless foods, just take a look.

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A Very European Thanksgiving

I hope all of my readers in the US and Americans abroad had a lovely Thanksgiving day. I can't wait to read and look at all of the photographs that will be posted about your Thanksgiving feast. As you can see we ended up having our own little Thanksgiving dinner. This is the first Thanksgiving dinner we've had in many years. Being that it's an American (and Canadian on a different day) holiday it just seems silly for us to celebrate it in Europe. I know many expatriates have parties and celebrations at home, but for us this has been the first Thanksgiving we have celebrated in a very long time. I think that since we are not in the US and not seeing and hearing all of the Thanksgiving adverts and buzz is another reason why we don't get into the "Thanksgiving" holiday mood. But since I have Spicie Foodie I am constantly reminded of all of the holidays (around the world) and all of the food that goes along with the holiday celebrations. About a week ago I mentioned to my husband that seeing everyones photos and recipes for Thanksgiving was making me crave those big American Thanksgiving dinners.

When my family moved to the states we gladly incorporated all of our Mexican traditions, holidays and foods with those of our new home. We celebrated both Mexican but mostly American holidays. Thanksgiving dinner was no exception we had turkey (sometimes 2 different flavors), ham, all the trimmings, pumpkin pie, pies, cakes, flan, Mexican breads, tortillas,dinner rolls, pastas, both American and Mexican beers and soft drinks, well it was a pretty American meal with a hint of Mexican. Sometimes there would even be turkey tamales, so yummy! If I remember the only thing that was different was that our dinner hour was later than an American home. My poor husband was used to eating around 6 and any holidays at my parents he was always ravenous by the time we sat down to dinner. At my house holidays were also more routy but very laid back, kids all over the place running and yelling, loud conversations, loud laughter, Mexican music in one room, televisions blaring in another, most of the adult woman gathered in the kitchen preparing tons and tons of food, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, neighbors, the family friends that became our tios y tias (uncles and aunts) and then those non-blood relations that became family. Celebrations also went on longer into the evening (or early hours of the morning) than at most American celebrations I attended. What can I say Mexicans like to party.

Both of our families are back in the US and so our little family that is my husband, Panchito and I often have our own little celebrations. Sometimes when we think back of all those hectic holidays where we had to split between 3 family celebrations. At the time it was so stressful trying not to hurt one parent's feelings by not attending their dinner. We used to say next year we are going away or staying home. But now we can think back and appreciate them and even think about how nice it would be to go back just for the holidays, perhaps next year. A couple of days ago my husband said lets have those open faced turkey sandwiches for a Thanksgiving dinner. You know those sandwiches from the greasy spoon diners that give you a mountain-full of food and for dessert you get a slice of pie free, oh don't forget the endless coffee refills too. I miss those places, there isn't anything like that here. This was our delicious European Thanksgiving dinner.

A whole turkey is just too big for 2 people and a hungry terrier, so I slow roasted 2 huge turkey drumsticks. They were so tender that the meat just fell off the bone and all of the fat had melted away.

My husband also wanted cranberry sauce so I made it for the first time in my life and from scratch. I bought the organic cranberries from a Russian specialty shop. So glad they had them, I couldn't find them any were else.

These beautiful and buttery sweet cookies are traditional Czech cookies. The variety boxes of these cookies always starts to show up this time of year. They are so delicious and addictive, you have to eat a couple at a time.

These little turnovers are also Czech and they are filled with a quark cheese. The pastry is buttery and flaky and they are a little bit sweet, delicious.

And this is what my plate looked like, open faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. My husband didn't want me to bake fresh homemade bread he wanted the same bread used in those diners, sliced toast bread.

But for his plate he wanted me to place the drumstick directly on the bread, "Nope, don't slice the meat off. Just like that!" He's hilarious and I think his plate looks just a little cavemanish, lol.

Oh I forgot to tell you for the wine we had a Beaujolais, a French red wine produced each year. Maybe not the fanciest of wines but because "Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!” and one mustn't resist it. After diner we enjoyed the rest of our Beaujolais by sitting down and watching Sideways, we love that movie. I am so glad Panchito is all stomach because I could have never finished the drumstick myself. I had a lovely evening surrounded by the person I love most in the world and by the puppy that I love most in the whole world. I have so much to be thankful for and my family is the number one reason.

P.S.
In case you missed it please stop by The Ardent Epicure to see my guest post.

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A Guest Post and A Wish

Hi everyone, today I'm really happy to announce that I was invited to do a guest post. My good friend Alisha invited me and is hosting me on her beautiful blog, The Ardent Epicure. I'm sure most if not all of you know both Alisha and her blog. You've heard me talk a little bit about her before so you may remember that The Ardent Epicure is one of my favorite blogs and Alisha is one of my favorite foodie bloggers that I have been lucky meet. This guest post is particularly special to me because it is the first time I have done a guest post for a blog. Also because I am being hosted by a blog I genuenly love. The Ardent Epicure team Alisha, Adam and Grely have been so supportive and have never had more than kind comments to give from the first day they visited Spicie Foodie. Alisha is now someone I can gladly call a friend, and that is not a word that I throw around easily. Please stop by and say hello to Alisha, take a look around their 5 star worthy recipes, and take a peek at my guest post.

To my American readers and foodie pals I would like to wish all of you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you holiday is full of love, happiness, great company, and of course scrumptious food :) I can't wait to see all of your Thanksgiving feast blog post. We haven't decided if we will be doing a small celebration (for the 2 of us), but if we do I will definitely be sharing our mini-feast with you. Warm wishes and regards to all of you.

To my international readers, Thanksgiving is an American holiday for giving thanks. (Like that wasn't obvious from the name, duh:) ) You can read the holiday's history on Wikipedia. Regardless if you celebrate the holiday or not, I also wish you love and happiness on this day.

I'll be back in a couple of days with a new recipe. The photo is a bit of a sneak peek at what's coming next.

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10 min. Soup and $75 CSN Giveaway!

Last week I told you guys that as a way of celebrating the release of my cookbook CSN was going to sponsor a giveaway, and here it is today. They are sponsoring a $75 gift certificate giveaway!! It couldn't come at a better time of the year. Christmas is right around the corner and CSN is such a great place to get so much of your holiday shopping done. They cover everyone on your list like that business woman or man in the family. You simply must look at CSN's briefcase collection, they have a large collection of classic, fashionable, feminine, manly and even a heavy duty briefcase. The collection offers these gorgeous and sexy red briefcases that I have my eye on. I better be nice so Santa can bring me a sexy red briefcase.

I'm making it easy and trying to give each of you many opportunities to win. Here are the rules to participate:
The giveaway is only open to USA participants, if you win you will have to create a post on your blog saying you won a gift certificate from CSN and tell us what you bought. The winner will be announced Thursday the 2nd of December. The winner will be chosen through random.org

Opportunity 1. Pick a number between 1-1000 and post a comment giving your chosen number.

Opportunity 2. Follow my blog on Google Friends, then leave a comment saying "I follow you with Google Friends" and choose a new number between 1 & 1000.

Opportunity 3. Add me on Facebook, then leave a comment saying "I follow you on Facebook" and choose a new number between 1 & 1000.

Opportunity 4. Follow me on Twitter, then leave a comment saying "I follow you on Twitter" and choose a new number between 1 & 1000.

Opportunity 5. Add me on Foodbuzz, then leave a comment saying "I follow you on Foodbuzz" and choose a new number between 1 & 1000.

Opportunity 6. Subscribe with Google Reader, then leave a comment saying "I subscribe to Google Reader" and choose a new number between 1 & 1000.

Opportunity 7. Tweet about the giveaway, then leave a comment saying "I Tweeted" and choose a new number between 1 & 1000.

Opportunity 8. Tell your Facebook friends about the giveaway, then leave a comment saying "I told my Facebook Friends" and choose a new number between 1 & 1000.

Get those comments posted below and Good luck to everyone!

Speaking of the holiday season and Christmas list, this means many of us don't have a whole lot of extra time to cook. Unfortunately this can mean making bad or unhealthy choices and peoples good eating habits turn bad. But I have the perfect recipe for those lunches or even diners when you are really short on time. It's cold now in many parts of the world and soup is a great way to get those vitamins, nutrients and minerals on to our tables. This soup is healthy because it doesn't use fatty ingredients, it tastes great, and it takes 10 minutes to prepare! Here it is and I hope this helps some of you that are going crazy with all of the holiday plans :)

Healthy 10 Minute Creamy Vegetable Soup

Ingredients for 2 large or 4 small servings:
1 bag (350 grams or 3/4 lb. ) of frozen mixed vegetables (like broccoli, cauliflower, carrot,green beans,peas etc.)
2 large garlic cloves, whole and peeled
1 vegetable bouillon cube (No MSG and low sodium)
11/2 cups or 350 ml water
1/4 cup or 60 ml whole milk
1 tbsp. flour
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the frozen vegetables and garlic cloves in a pot with a couple of tablespoons of water. Cover the pot ad under medium low heat allow the vegetables to defrost. Once defrosted place the vegetables, bouillon cube, water, milk, flour, salt and pepper inside a blender. Blend and puree until the consistency of a thick creamy soup puree. If you would like a more watery soup add more water to the puree.

2. Pour the puree back into the same pot and simmer for another 5 minutes or until ready to serve. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve with fresh bread on the side. Or for a meal serve with grilled cheese sandwiches, a salad or as an entrée to a meal.

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November's YBR Signup Announcement

Internet is working at home now, wohoo! **Hi guys, my internet provider is doing maintanance and we do not have internet acess at home. So right now I am at an internet cafe, and I will get back to all of you as soon as possible.**

Hi everyone, before I get to the announcement details I would like to take a moment to thank you. On Sunday when I announced to you guys my little secret project, I was so overwhelmed with the outpouring of sweet and kind comments, so much support, excitement, congratulations and friendship. I cannot thank you enough for all of your lovely comments and emails. Every time I think about all of this I get teary-eyed, I am truly touched. From the bottom of my heart many Thank Yous and big hugs to each and everyone of you. For those of you that have already ordered your cookbook, Thank you, and I hope you get them soon. I'd love to see photos of you guys holding my cookbook. It would be a great idea to do a showcase here on Spicie Foodie of all my wonderful foodie friends with the cookbook, so send those to me if you'd like to participate and I will also add a link on the images to your blogs.

The other thing I want to tell you guys is that in celebration of the release of An Epiphany of the Senses, I will be hosting a $75 CSN giveaway. I will have more details on that as well as a brand new recipe for you in the next couple of days.

On to the November YBR announcement:

Your Best Recipe, a monthly roundup of your best recipes hosted by Spicie Foodie. There are no limitations as to what you can submit, anything goes. No limits on your kitchen nor photography skill, everyone is invited to join. This is not a competition, it is just a showcase of great food being cooked all over the world. And here is how you can participate :

Requirements to participate:
1. It has to be a recipe that you published in November, and it has to be a recipe that you feel was your favorite one posted that month. It can be anything your heart desires. Your submitted recipe can be your own creation or one that you adapted from another foodie, just give them credit on your post.

2. Sign up to November's roundup by using the Linky form provided below this post. (It is the "Click Here to Enter" button. AND please link to your blog NOT the recipe you are submitting for the YBR. Your thumb doesn't have to be the recipe you are submitting, it can be your profile or blog photo.) This is so we can get an idea of who will be joining each roundup. You can also leave a comment telling us you will be joining the YBR event.

3. You must choose and display any of the following badges to invite your visitors to the roundup being hosted here. ( I will double check to make sure everyone has added a badge to their blog.)
Right click images to save or get code to embed on your site here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/spiciefoodie/YourBestRecipes#


The badge below, you can add a small thumb of your dish. If you need help or would like the PSD file just shoot me an email, or read the tutorial here YBR Badge Tutorial (how to insert your photo). If you still can't add your photo to the badge below, you can ask me to create a badge in the same email you send in your submission. Some participants like to use this badge below on a new blog post inviting their readers to see the roundup. You can wait until I have posted the roundup to get the link for it.

This small button can be added to a post and/or your blog's side bar, if you wish.



4. By the 29th of November please email me atspiciefoodie (@) gmail.com the following:
1. Your Name, Blog Name, Name and link to your chosen recipe published in November.
2. A small image size of your dish (either 300px wide for a landscape orientation image or 300px high for a portrait orientation image). See sample below. If you do not know how to size the image, just send what you have to me and I'll size it down. You must own the photo, and it cannot be a creative commons or public domain photo.

On November 30, the last day of the month, I will post the roundup photos with a link to each of your sites and recipes. It would also be good if you invite your readers to the roundup by also posting a new blog entry or mentioning your participation in a new post (the last day of the month or after) on your blogs with a YBR badge and a link to the roundup here on Spicie Foodie. This way we can all help spread the YBR submitted love around even more!

If you need any help or clarifications post a comment on the announcement post or send me an email. I am really excited to see all of your submissions again this month. I know once again it will be a feast for our eyes! Help me spread the word and tell all of your foodie friends, thanks.

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