Tell All - White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Almonds

No "best of" this week - sorry :(

How is this one going for everyone?

I think I am going to make this as a nice light lunch on Sunday, since we are going to this on Sunday evening.

New Members

Hi All,

4 new members this week!

Teresa of I'm Running to Eat:

I like to run and I like to cook, though lately I'm doing more cooking than I am running and a lot more cooking than I am blogging about. I live in the Midwest and cook for a family of 5 kids, one husband, two dogs and a cat and usually a couple of stray teenaged boys. I'm trying to cook healthier meals for my family and I spend a lot of time online searching for recipes my family would like.

Amy of Playing House:

I'm a beginning cook and baker who can't get enough of experimenting in the kitchen (and taking photos of the things I cook). Lately, I've had a tendency to make delicious but unhealthy things to blog about. I've been on Weight Watchers for several months and it's going well, but I could use some extra structure to incorporate more healthy dishes into my routine.

My main criterion for buying a cookbook is whether, when I flip through the pages in the bookstore, I'd like to make/eat the majority of the recipes. When I picked up The Food You Crave, I literally wanted to make every single thing I saw! I can't wait to get started with my new favorite cookbook. Thanks for having me!

Mary from Popsicles and Sandy Feet:

Hi! I am a stay at home mom of two and three year old boys. I live at the Connecticut shore and love to cook. I am a member of Tuesdays with Dorie and wanted to balance all the chocolate and sugar with something more healthy. I own the Ellie book and thought that being in this book would help me to make more of the recipes.

Maria from Half Meatball Half Matzoh Ball Children:

Right now, I have a simple food blog about ANYTHING food related. It's more of a diary for me at this point. I read the Tuesdays with Dorie baking posts each week and love them but I'd like to participate in more of a cooking group. And so, I'm here.......

Welcome to all of you. We are happy to have you join the group!

Tell All - Cripsy Fish Fingers

Crispy. Fish. Fingers.

How could this possibly be bad?

Some of the reviews on the Food Network site said they were a bit bland, so consider adding some extra spice and flavor to the flour and/or breadcrumbs.

I also think I am going to try to bake them on a raised baking rack in the oven. This idea came from our own Aggie's post last week about her air baked crispy chicken bites.

Best of CEiMB - May 21, 2009

Thai Style Halibut with Coconut Curry Broth:
Meaty halibut poached in a flavorful Thai red curry and coconut milk broth served over a bed of brown rice and spinach.

This recipe can be found on page 232 of The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger or it can be found here.


BEST PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

This week best photo goes to Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen. Liz was also our host this week and picked this fabulous recipe for us to try.



Runner up photo goes to Andrea of You Eat Now. Andrea made her curry with chicken and she added peanuts and mushrooms.



BEST POST OF THE WEEK

This week best post goes to Natalie of What's for Supper?

Natalie's husband Ben does not like cilantro (clearly Ben is a very intelligent man with proper taste buds), but Natalie still thought she could sneak it into the dish without him knowing. Silly silly Natalie.

Apparently Ben came home and commented that the kitchen was smelling of deliciousness.

Ben took a shower and Natalie covertly added cilantro to the pot.

Ben came back into the kitchen and informed Natalie that the kitchen now smelled like a urinal (Amen Ben!)

Furthermore, he said he liked the dish but thought that something in the sauce on top of the fish was not quite right.

Ben was a trooper though and ate his supper. If it were me, I would not have been able to finish this if it had cilantro. I think it is so offensive and totally ruins otherwise tasty things for me. I know so many people love it, but I just don't get it. It's just one of those things I guess.

So thanks to Natalie for making me smile by retelling her semi successful attempt to trick her husband into eating the evil herb.

Great job to everyone and enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!

New Member

Our new member this week is Lauryn from Bella Baker.

I have a constant conflict going through my head; the conflict between wanting to cook and eat in the healthiest way possible and wanting to bake up as many sugary, chocolaty desserts as possible! I suffer from your classic case of health nut with a sweet tooth. So when I found out about CEiMB a light bulb went off in my poor, conflicted head! I will commit to making at least one healthy-well rounded meal a week! I am hopeful that cooking along with this group will inspire me to stay healthy, help me to improve my cooking skills and push me to try new things. I am looking forward to cooking along with everyone!

Welcome!

Best of CEiMB - May 14, 2009

Jerk Chicken with Cool Pineapple Salsa

Sorry this post is a bit late this week. One of our friends got married on Saturday so I didn't have much time to put this together.

BEST PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

This week best photo goes to MacDuff at Lonely Sidecar for her vegan jerk tofu.



Runner up goes to Farah at Confessions of a Novice Baker.




BEST POST OF THE WEEK

This week best post goes to Joanne of Apple Crumbles. I think we all got a good laugh when Joanne had to do some improvising while making this recipe in her mother's kitchen because

Mum apparently doesn’t beat her meat…hmmm, should I change the wording on that last sentence?…ANYWAY…she just doesn’t have the “gadgets” I have so we made do…

Can you guess which kitchen tool her mother was missing?

Great job to everyone this week!

Tell All - Thai Style Halibut with Coconut Curry Broth

Hmmmm. Curry.

Nick and I hate curry, actually. Anyone else? I know it is like a love or hate thing for most people, kind of like cilantro.

I guess I will just leave it out...as well as the cilantro.

What does everyone else think about this one? It has gotten great reviews on the Food Network site.

Any suggestions on changes for the non curry lovers?

New Members

Hi All,

This week we have a mysterious new member, Anonymous New York. She is a

New Yorker who has fallen off the food blog wagon, trying
to get back into healthy cooking at home instead of ordering out delicious Thai food or going out to eat!

Let's also welcome Jen of A Mid Life Culinary Adventure.

Hi I'm Jennifer. I'm a native of San Diego and I occasionally give tours of the city to visiting groups. Before that I took groups to Ireland and throughout the Western US. Since I've been off the road working a real 9-5 job I've been taking culinary classes at my local Jr College, and have been baking along with the group at TWD. Many of the bloggers I follow from there are here, and I've so enjoyed their posts and lusted after their creations, I decided to join this group. I'm looking forward to some healthy cooking to balance out the desserts!

We are happy to have you both!

I also want to take this opportunity to announce a small administrative decision that we have made. Since we seem to be adding new members on a weekly basis (which is awesome), I have been concerned about when we will be able to get back to the top of the list for recipe picking. I am so happy to see so many fellow bloggers joining our group and hope that new members continue to come. I also want to make sure that some of our older loyal members have a chance to pick another recipe.

So, I have decided that starting July 1st I will restart at the top of the blogroll. This allows for us to complete the blogroll as it stands today, including our 2 newest members. Any new members added after today will definitely get a chance to pick their recipe as we make our way down the blogroll again. I hope this is agreeable to everyone and I also hope that this will reinvigorate some of the older members interest in the group.

Tell All - Jerk Chicken with Pineapple Salasa

How do you feel about this week's pick? What are you going to serve with it?

This will be different for Nick and I, the flavors of the chicken, a fruit salsa. I think I am going to have the pizza delivery number ready, just in case. The rule in our house is you can make anything your heart desires, but if nobody likes it, you have to order the pizza.

Our lovely host this week, Jen from Notes From The Table, is getting out of dodge and going on vacation to San Diego this week. Lucky! She was gracious enough to post about her pick before she left, so check that out here.

Best of CEiMB - May 7, 2009

Garden Risotto

Well, the pool for choosing best of's this week was small. There were only 12 posts (including myself) this week out of our blogroll of 29. What's up everyone? Do I smell? Is it my breath?

Anyway, I am sure that everyone is busy doing this or that. I hope nobody is dealing with anything too serious that is keeping them from our blogiverse. That said, I hope to see many of you back soon. It is much more fun when everyone participates.

Mini guilt trip over. Now onto the accolades.

BEST PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

This week best photo goes to Andrea of You Eat Now for her spoonful of risotto.



Runner up photo goes to Mary Ann of Meet Me In The Kitchen. If you read Mare's blog then you know that her photography is always top notch.



BEST POST OF THE WEEK

This week, best post goes to 2 ladies, Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen and Peggy of Pantry Revisited.

I know that there are two schools of thought when it comes to making risotto - some people find it enjoyable and relaxing and some people find it enraging and stressful. Jen and Peggy really illustrated those differences in their posts and I found it quite entertaining.

Peggy had this to say:

I love to eat risotto. I always hesitate to make it though. It is just the “time” thing. You cook, you stir, you cook, you stir, you cook some more...Having said that, with a glass of wine in hand, there is something incredibly relaxing about making risotto. Add a little broth, drink a little wine, stir. Add a little more broth, drink more wine, stir. Add wine, drink broth, stir. Taste risotto, slide down on floor where wine spilled, stir. Stir, drink wine, broth add. Yeah, you can tell I had fun with this one!

And on the flip side, Liz shared her frustrations:

I tried to enjoy the process of making it. I tried, but I’m now convinced that risotto and I are not compatible in any way. I do not find joy or peace in the process nor am I able to appreciate the steam facial I receive while standing over a pot of rice that simply refuses to absorb all the broth I’ve poured into its pan... Try as I might to convince the rice to be more absorbent, try as I might to convince it that it was taking too long, I just could not get this done in 18 minutes. I decided not to time myself, but I felt like I was in the kitchen for days, and I’m pretty sure I got carpal tunnel from all the stirring. The thing I hate most about making risotto is that I feel chained to it, like I can’t stop stirring for even a moment or it starts to bubble at me in anger.

Awesome job everyone! Have a wonderful weekend :)

New Member

Let's welcome Tessa from Handle the Heat. She just started her blog a few weeks ago and it is adorable. Check it out!

Hi, I'm Tessa. I love cooking and baking (especially Italian food and desserts!) with health in mind. Sometimes.

Tell All - Garden Risotto

Is everyone ready to stir, stir, stir, stir, stir, and then stir some more?

Well, I am. I absolutely love risotto and I have a whole freezer full of homemade chicken stock to use for this. I will be leaving out the peas since when it comes to peas, Nick and I are like children and refuse to eat them. I will definitely be adding some garlic to this, and maybe some leeks, and perhaps some nice meaty mushrooms, too.

How do you feel about risotto - love it, hate it (is such a thing possible)? I have read that some people are intimidated/afraid to make it. Any risottophobes out there? Will this be anyone's first time making it?

Happy risotto eating to everyone ;)

Best of CEiMB - April 30, 2009

Turkey Meatballs with Quick & Spicy Tomato Sauce and Whole Wheat Spaghetti

BEST PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

This week best photo goes to Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen. This photo is exactly what I picture when I think spaghetti & meatballs.



Second runner up goes to Jessica of Johnstone's Vin Blanc. Another perfect bowl of pasta!



Great job ladies :)

BEST POST OF THE WEEK

This week best post goes to Joanne of Apple Crumbles. Joanne seems to be our resident vegetarian, and every week she shows us how to make our favorite (and sometimes not so favorite) Ellie recipes vegetarian friendly. As if that wasn't enough, she almost always also cooks the original recipes for her meat eating husband Ted.

This week, Joanne made turkey meatballs for Ted and "turkey" meatballs for herself using Quorn. I can't vouch for how they tasted, but I can say that you really could not tell the difference in the picture. Impressive! Check out Joanne's post to see if you can pick out the real meatball.