Happy Thanksgiving from my blog to yours!

I'm saying an early Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blogging friends! I'll be back posting again on Friday!

Have a happy and safe holiday wherever you are spending it.

Tami

Food for Thought Book Club ~ Vote for the December/January Book!

Hi to all of my fellow book worms!

With everything going on during December, it was decided that we will read this book over the next 2 months (Dec & Jan).

I am honored to have been chosen to pick the books that we will be voting on for the next Food for Thought Book Club book.

It was hard to narrow my choices down to 3 picks - I actually had 5 picked out. :)


Here are the 3 that I've chosen:

Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

Talking with My Mouth Full: Crab Cakes, Bundt Cakes, and Other Kitchen Stories by Bonnie Wolf

Candyfreak : A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond


Please cast your vote here by November 29 by simply posting your name/blog and your pick. I will announce the winning book on November 30!


If you would like to join us in the Food for Thought Book Club, you can check it out here.


I hope that everyone has been enjoying November's book!

TWD ~ Chocolate Arborio Rice Pudding

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Vanilla and/or Chocolate Arborio Rice Pudding, chosen by Isabelle from Les gourmandises d’Isa . You will find this recipe posted on her blog so be sure to check it out!

After reading over the recipe, I set out to cook it. I started out deciding to make the batch 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 chocolate. Once I mixed up the vanilla, I didn't like the way it looked so I stirred it into the chocolate, added another ounce of chocolate to the whole mix and stirred it altogether. I used semi-sweet chocolate because that's what I had on hand.

When the pudding didn't get thick like I thought it should've, I searched out the link for it on TWD to read the comments by those who had previously made it. (Quick thanks to everyone who posts what works for them and what doesn't on those links!!) I realized that I hadn't cooked it long enough ~ there's an error posted for the cooking time - it should be 55 minutes instead of the posted 35 minutes. So I took my liquid pudding out of the refrigerator and returned it to the pot to continue cooking it. I cooked mine for another 30 minutes and by then, it had turned into a creamy pudding that smelled like hot chocolate! I cooled it for about 1o minutes before dishing it out and setting it in the refrigerator to chill.

Wanna bite?

I am so happy that this turned out to be yummy!



Here you can read about all of the comments on this week's recipe and see the TWD blogroll, too.

November Cookie Carnival ~ The Ultimate Chewy & Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

November's Cookie Carnival recipe, The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies, comes from Regan Daley's book "In The Sweet Kitchen".

These cookies turned out to be very well liked by my family - so much so, that I'm working on a second batch for tonight. I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips in my cookies because the store I was in didn't carry chocolate chunks and I didn't feel like chopping up chocolate at the time. These chips worked just fine but I do think that the chunks would give the cookies a prettier appearance. For my next batch, I'm going to use the chunked chocolate and then I will post pictures of them for a comparison.

To me, there's nothing better than a soft, chewy chocolate chip cookie that is full of chips that are soft when you bite into it. These cookies met my requirements - they were chewy, ooey and gooey! YUM!

The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsps. pure vanilla extract
3 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
16 oz. flavorful bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped


INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly butter them, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add
the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until just
combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

3. Using your hands, shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. (I use a small cookie scoop). Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking. Bake 12-15 for smaller cookies, 14-17 for larger ones or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft. Cool the cookies on the sheets
for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool
completely.

If somehow they don't get inhaled immediately, they may be stored airtight at room temperature for up to one week.

No way are these going to last for a week unless you hide them from everyone! lol!

New Blog Award & I've been tagged for a Commenters Meme!

WooHoo! Check out my new award! My good friend Amanda from Amanda's Cookin' gave it to me. She actually gave it to me a couple of weeks ago but then I got sick and was out for a while so I'm posting it now! She is such a sweetie! If you haven't checked out her cooking blog yet, do so now because she whips up some great stuff! She's also one of the most crafty people that I know. Check out her craft blog at Amanda's Crafty Creations. Thanks bunches, Amanda!

It wouldn't be too nice of me to hold onto this award and not share it with anyone, right? Since I am totally into "sharing the love", I'm sharing this awards with these fellow bloggers:

Maier Memories because her blog makes me smile. I can totally relate to some of the things that's going on in her life! :)

Barbara Bakes because she has a great blog with lots of great pictures to go with her recipes. It's hard to resist trying to reach through the screen to grab something that's laying on a plate!

Mom's Fridge because she has the best laid out menus that I have ever seen. When I get stuck in a rut for dinner ideas, I always pop over to take a look at Barb's blog. She gets rave reviews from everyone who tries her recipes!

Amanda's Crafty Creations because this blog is full of beautiful crafts that show off Amanda's talents, plus she add easy crafts that Parents and Grandparents can do with their kids!

The Omnomicon because her blog is waaay out there and she tells it like it is! Definitely not for the timid! Her writings crack me up but her pictures are what drew me in to begin with.

I hope that all of you enjoy your new award! Now it's your turn to share the love!

**********

Tonight I was tagged by Barbara from Barbara Bakes to do a Meme! :)

Being fairly new at this blogging stuff, I will admit that I had no idea what a Meme was - but knowing Barbara's blog and the way she comments on my blog, I knew that it had to be something fun.

I Googled it and found out that a meme is: An idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve. For more interesting info. on this, check out The Daily Meme. Ok...interesting! On to Barbara's blog to see what I have to do.

The Commenters Meme
This is a great idea for a Meme because it shows commenters that you care about the people who visit your blog and take the time to leave comments!!

The rules:
1. List the last ten people who have commented on your blog
2. If you’re on my list then you should do the meme on your blog, too

10 Blogs, 15 Questions.

The last 10 people to leave comments on my blog:
1. Stephanie from Ice Cream Before Dinner

2. Queen B from Cozy Kitchen by the Sea

3. The Maier kids' Mom (**blushing** I just realized I don't know your first name) from Maier Memories

4. Amber from This Crazy Life

5. Barbara from Barbara Bakes!

6. Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod

7. Maryann from Finding La Dolce Vita

8. Aggie from Aggie's Kitchen

9. Michelle from Something New is Cooking

10. Aleta Meadowlark from The Omnomicon

1: What is your favorite post from number 3’s blog? I swear that if you change the ages of the kids in My Girl's... Don't Be Fooled and make the older one a boy, she was writing about my kids!

2. Has number 10 taken any pictures that have moved you? The food pictures throughout her blog move me ...right into the kitchen to look for something to eat! No kidding! The food pics are great!

3. Does number 6 reply to comments on their blog? I'm not really sure. I've just recently found her blog and haven't had a good chance to check it out. My quick look over though, I've been missing a lot!

4. Which part of blogland is number 2 from? Queen B. is lives in the U.S. by the sea! lol!

5. If you could give one piece of advice to number 7 what would it be? My advice to Maryann would be to never stop blogging about real Italian food! I'm from up north but I live in the south now. I MISS real Italian food!

6. Have you ever tried something from number 9’s blog? Not yet but I plan on trying her recipe for Creamy Chicken Pockets real soon. I'm pretty sure that I will find a lot of recipes on her blog that my family will enjoy!

7. Has number 1 blogged something that inspired you? Stephanie has a quote in her profile that holds so very true to me... "Sometimes the things that you liked the best and that have meant the most to you are the things that meant nothing at all to you when you first heard or saw them." - Red Grooms

8. How often do you comment on number 4’s blog? Not nearly enough but I do get to talk to Amber through a local Moms group website that we both belong to! In fact, that's where I met her!

9. Do you wait for number 8 to post excitedly? I've just recently found Aggie's blog but I am really looking forward to checking it all out. Her recent recipes look great!

10. How did number 5’s blog change your life? It's funny that Barbara should work out to be #5! She is the first person to send me a Meme and that pushed me into learning something new today. :) Her blog is great and I look forward to reading it when she posts new recipes.

11. Do you know any of the 10 bloggers in person? I know Amber from a local Moms group website but we haven't met in person yet. :) I hope to meet her one day soon, though!!

12. Do any of your 10 bloggers know each other in person? I don't think so but I'm not 100% sure about that.

13. Out of the 10, which updates more frequently? The Maier kids' Mom and Amber have been posting nearly every day with one or more updates!

14. Which of the 10 keep you laughing? Maier Memories and The Omnomicon. It's great because they both make me laugh for very different reasons! How lucky am I to have many reasons to laugh and smile!

15. Which of the 10 has made you cry (good or bad tears)? I've shared some prayers and some tears with some of Maier Memories family stories.