Giveaway Results

Congratulations Misty!

The magic number straight from my boss, Dannie is #49.

I'll be emailing you tomorrow to get your info to send you your brand new Le Creuset spatulas!

A Ramble Plus A Giveaway!

My husband’s 14 year old cousin Jamie was in town this past week. It’s been years since I spent any time around a teenager, and good God. The entire week has been spent entertaining Jamie. Trips to King’s Island (an amusement park), to the outlet malls, to the zoo, go-carting, and to see GI Joe, and that's just the stuff I know about. I haven’t had a vacation like that in my life mostly because my mom and I were pretty poor when I was growing up. Not poverty level poor, but pretty poor. My mom was a secretary, and for most of the time I was growing up we lived on less than $25,000 a year. Looking back on it from the perspective of a grown up with bills to pay, I really don’t know how she did it. I make more than that, and I sometimes have trouble making ends meet. And that’s without a child to feed and clothe. In case I haven’t said it lately, good job Mom. So, being poor we didn’t get to take many vacations. We went to Florida when I was 7, but that was only because my grandmother paid for it. After that, I didn’t have a real vacation until I was 19, and could pay for it myself. Some friends and I went to England and Ireland for a week. And by pay for it myself, I mean put it all on my brand spanking new credit card. That was the week that I was introduced to a little something called credit card debt, but that’s a story for another time. That week was a blast though, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, not even a perfect credit rating. Along with keeping Jamie entertained, this is the week that I discovered that my sister in law who is Ms. Super Cool when it comes to music tastes has an even worse guilty pleasure than I do. I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone hers, so I’ll tell you mine. Fall Out Boy. Although honestly, FOB is actually really good music, so I don’t know if that actually counts as a guilty pleasure. I would say Britney, but it’s almost cliché to have Britney be your guilty pleasure these days. Maybe My Chemical Romance. Inside the heart of this 30 year old woman lies a true blue emo kid. No one understands me.

Today is a big day for artichokesandgarlic.com, and I owe it all to Jamie. I’m having my first giveaway. I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, but I was having problems finding something that I wanted to giveaway. This weekend I found my thing. We went to the new outlet mall north of Cincinnati, and there it was: Le Creuset. A Le Creuset outlet store. The sky opened, the angels sang, and candy rained from the sky. And then I went inside and realized that “outlet store” does not mean the same thing to Le Creuset as it does to the rest of the world. Things were still outrageously expensive, so far out of my price range it was laughable. Also, there aren’t enough gadgets. I really like gadgets. Beautiful cookware, but where are the gadgets? There were a few things that I managed to snag though. One is a French rolling pin(that’s for me, you can’t have it), which is something I’ve been wanting for ages. The other is what I’m going to pry from my unwilling fingers and give to one lucky reader.

I found these:



A mini and small size silicon spatula from Le Creuset , color: Flame. These are awesome for a few reasons. They’re heat resistant up to 800 degrees, so if you’re ever in a fire, you should be fine as long as you have these spatulas.* The heads come off of each of them, so you can remove them to wash them(dishwasher safe, by the way) and not have to worry about bacteria. Also, look how cute pretty!

So here’s how you win. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite cooking gadget is. That’s it. You don’t even have to tell me why it’s your favorite. You can if you want to, though.
The winner will be chosen randomly by me asking my boss(who doesn’t read this blog) to pick a number between blank and blank(the blanks being however many comments there are).
Rules:

1. Open to US citizens only
2. One winner will be chosen on 8/22/09 using the My Boss method above, and will be announced on 8/23/09.
3. Make sure that you leave me a way to contact you, either through email or your blog.
4. More than one comment is permitted and even encouraged, but only one comment will count toward the possibility of winning.
5. I will contact the winner either by email, or by posting on your blog.
Good Luck!


*Please don’t actually use these to ward off fire. I was joking.

Monkey Bread

Here’s something you might not know about me...I can’t whistle. I’m a huge disappointment to my dad who can whistle a damned aria if he wants to. I’ve tried, believe me I’ve tried. I just can’t get my mouth and my tongue to do what they’re supposed to do. I can make one note. It’s not loud, and it’s not pretty, and it never varies. My uncles can whistle, my cousins can whistle. It seems like everyone in the entire world can whistle except me. Also, I couldn’t snap until I was 11. I just taught myself how by doing it over and over again, but I’m still not great at it and my snaps never get anyone’s attention. That’s a good thing though, because I hate hate hate people that snap to get other people’s attention. It’s just rude. I really hated it when I was a waitress...that’s a surefire way to get bad service, just so you know. Snap at your waiter once, and you will wait forever for your drink refills and anything else you ask for. Servers know that you’ll tip badly, but sometimes it’s worth it.

Another thing you might not know about me is that I basically grew up on a horse farm. It wasn’t my permanent address, but it might as well have been. My paternal grandparents have a small horse farm in western Pennsylvania. And while my mom and I might have actually lived about 2 hours away, that farm was and always will be home to me, no matter how long I live anywhere else. We spent at least one weekend a month, and sometimes more at the farm. All holidays from Christmas to Groundhog’s Day were spent there. It was an amazing place to grow up. There’s a ton of room to run, a pond to swim in, dogs and cats to play with, horses to ride. It doesn’t get any better. My grandparents have this big old white farmhouse with blue shutters and a screened in front porch with a porch swing. It’s not fancy it’s just comfortable, like your favorite pajamas. There are beautiful flower gardens in back, and the horse pastures are set up so that you can cozy up on the couch, and watch the horses run and play. There are always aunts and uncles and cousins to play with.

The feeling I get when I drive to the farm is like no other feeling in the world. You make that last right turn, and start up the mile long gravel drive, and you’re in this tunnel of old graceful trees that have been there forever, and you come around the bend, and there’s the paddock and the old metal barn and the big red wooden barn, and then there’s the house. It’s like being able to breathe after holding your breath for a minute. Like, “Oh yeah, that’s what was missing.” It’s just relief to be home. Just thinking about it now, I’m experiencing hard core pangs of homesickness, because I know it will be at least another year before I can manage a trip home. And I know I have another year of holding my breath, waiting for that feeling of relief to hit me. I miss my family so much sometimes it hurts. We were so close when I was growing up, and now that I’m grown and gone, I worry that they’ll forget about me.
I was always very possessive of the farm. It took me awhile to bring friends home with me, because I couldn’t bear it if they didn’t love it there as much as I did. My friends all knew that it was a big thing to be invited to the farm. It meant that I was inviting you to be a part of my family, because once you go to the farm, you don’t stop going. Birthday’s, holidays or just to visit, after one trip, you were invited to them all, because now you’re another cousin.

I brought my husband home with me for the first time just last summer. I was a nervous wreck about it for a week before hand. If he didn’t like the farm, could I still marry him? Could I spend the rest of my life with someone who didn’t get it? The best memories of my life are tied up in that 80 acres of land in western Pennsylvania, and if he didn’t see if like I did, does that mean he’s not the right guy for me? He did, in fact, love it there...or if he didn’t he’s smart enough not to say so. So, I married him, but there’s a part of me that, even though I had a beautiful wedding, still mourns the fact that I didn’t marry my sweetheart under an arbor in my grandparents backyard with the smell of grass and horses and my grandma’s award winning gardens all around. I know that most people don’t like the smell of horses, but to me it’s one of the best scents in the world.

My grandma’s kitchen is one of my favorite places in the whole world. It’s not a fancy kitchen by any means, and in fact, the layout of it is terrible for cooking, but it’s a true country kitchen. My grandma had a country kitchen long before Martha Stewart ever even dreamed about good things. There are always cookies to be eaten, and fruit plates in the fridge. The big meals were always eaten here. The turkey at Thanksgiving, and ham on Easter. It’s the in between meals, though, that I remember the best. Springetti, which is a casserole made with rotini pasta. And Ranger Cookies. We’ll get to those at some point on this blog, I assure you. Monkey bread is one of those things that feels like it could come from my grandmother’s kitchen. Homey and easy, and enough to feed an army. My husband didn't really like this version, because apparently chocolate chips don't belong in Monkey Bread. I liked it though, and so did everyone I work with, so my husband can suck it.

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 stick butter
1 cup chocolate chips
2 16 oz tubes of buttermilk biscuits


To Make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly cover a bundt pan with butter or cooking spray and set aside. In a ziplock bag, combine the white sugar and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Remove the biscuits from their tubes, and cut them into quarters. About 10 at a time, drop the biscuits into the ziplock bag, close and shake to coat. Layer the pieces in the bundt pan, randomly adding the chocolate chips.

In a small saucepan heat butter, brown sugar, and the other tsp of cinnamon until the butter is melted and the mixture is combined. Pour over the dough in the pan, making sure that all pieces get coated. Bake for 30-40 minutes until puffy and golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

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White Chocolate Macadmia Nut Cookies

I'm about to say something that might be shocking to some people. I'm not really a cookie person. I know what you're about to say. "How can you not like cookies?" That was it, right? That's the reaction I usually get, anyway. A slice of pie, a wedge of cake, a bowl of ice cream, all of these get raves when set down in front of me, but a cookie? A cookie is a tease. You get one, maybe two bites, and then it's gone. If I'm going to eat something, I want to know that I've eaten something. Cookies just don't cut it. They leave you craving more and the next thing you know, you've eaten five cookies ten cookies half a batch of cookies an entire batch before your husband comes home from work, and now you have to make another batch because you promised him cookies. (This is just an example....I've never actually done that.)

However, since I found my new best friend I've had cookies on the brain. All I want is cookies. Specifically those cookies. As much as I might want to though, I can't just make one type of cookie for the rest of my life, so I set about finding a new cookie to make.

I happened across a recipe for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies over at Brown Eyed Baker
and they looked simple enough, so I thought I would give them a shot.

I've never had homemade macadamia nut cookies before. I've had the store bought variety, and those were always pretty good, so I figured a homemade version would be awesome.

I was right, and I was wrong. I didn't really care for these cookies. They were great straight out of the oven, but after a few hours they just didn't do it for me anymore and my husband hates nuts, so he wouldn't even try them. Luckily I know several people who are big fans of these cookies, and they seemed to really like them so they didn't go to waste.

I did change a few things. I only added about half of the macadamia nuts and chocolate chips that the recipe called for. Even cut in half, there were so many nuts and chips that it was hard to keep the cookies together. I don't know if that's because I did something wrong, though. I would say when making these, start out with half the recommended amount, and add more if it looks like it needs it. Way easier to add more than to take away what's already been added.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies(adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)

Ingredients Needed:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, chopped
2 cups white chocolate chips

To Make:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat together the melted butter, and both sugars. Once mixed, add in the egg and the egg yolk, then add the vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until just combined. Add in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips.
Roll one inch balls in your hand, and flatten just a bit. Place on baking sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

So, like I said, I didn't really love these cookies, but I'm not done with the cookie train. Any ideas for cookies that will blow my socks off? I would love some new recipes to try!



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I'm back.

Hi everyone ! It’s been awhile since I posted anything. I’m really sorry about that. Life has been crazy, but that’s not really an excuse, is it? Life has been crazy before, and I still managed to post. Honestly, I’ve been suffering from an acute case of writer’s block. I don’t normally plan out my blog posts. I usually just sit down at my computer and start typing away. That’s why my early blog posts were nothing but spelling and grammar errors. I’ve slowly learned that proofreading is a bloggers best friend. For the last two weeks, every time I sit down to post something nothing comes out. It’s really frustrating. The most frustrating thing about it is that I have no idea where it’s coming from. I’ve never had this problem before. So, I spent some time thinking about it, trying to figure out what’s happening and I think I finally figured it out. I got caught up in the whole blogging thing. You know the thing. Popularity. The world of food blogging is like high school. You’ve got the head cheerleader in Smitten Kitchen; the class president in 101 Cookbooks; and of course the most popular girl in school, Pioneer Woman. And I’m the awkward girl with glasses and braces who’s always looking in from the outside trying to hang out with the cool kids. See, in the movies, the awkward girl usually only takes about 40-50 minutes before she becomes the new hot girl. And that’s kind of what I expected. That my blog would take the internet by storm, and within months I would be the new hot girl, the new Pioneer Woman. Wow, I was stupid.

This isn’t the movies, it’s the internet. Things don’t work that way. As with anything else in life, you have to put in the work, and 6 months of blogging isn’t work. I mean, it’s work. But when you come right down to it, what I’ve done over the last 6 months doesn’t come CLOSE to what Pioneer Woman and Smitten Kitchen have been doing for years. So I came to realize that I need to just suck it up, and put in the time and the work required to get this blog where I want it to go. It’s not going to just magically happen overnight.

This post might strike some people as kind of whiny. The reason I say that is because as I write it, I’m hearing it in my head, and to my own ears (or “mind ears” I guess, since I’m not reading it out loud) it sounds whiny. And God knows I don’t mind sounding whiny in real life but on the internet, I hate it. I figure there are enough people out there whining about their lives, you probably don’t need to read anymore. But the reason I started this blog originally was to basically let my mom see what I was making for dinner each night, and I just got caught up in it. How many page views did I get, how many subscribers do I have, and why did that person unsubscribe from my blog? Is TasteSpotting going to accept my picture, and why didn’t they accept my picture, my picture is at least as good as that other one that’s on there. I was concentrating so hard on trying to make my blog popular that it just stopped being fun. And if something like this stops being fun after only 6 months, then something is really wrong. I was trying to copy what was working for other people, and that never works. In the words of the great Tyra Banks (don’t laugh she’s awesome) "if you’re going to copy someone, you have to do it better than they do." And I wasn’t doing that. So, I’m going to get back to doing it for fun. I’m going to write what I want to write, not what I think people may want to read --- if people like it, great. And if not, well, I’m pretty sure my mom will still read this, even if no one else does. Love you, Mom.

Now, on to more foodie type things.

I haven’t been posting these past few weeks, but I have been cooking and baking. There’s a lot of really delicious stuff coming up in the near future. The blog has gotten a face lift, and I'm totally in love with my look. Also, I’ll be having my very first giveaway in the next few days, so stay tuned for that!

See you on the flip side!