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OXO Digital Food Scale Giveaway and Some News

May 15, 2012 by

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I’d been busy working on an exciting adventure for The Chef and I. Well, my friends, eveything has now fallen into place, and I can share the exciting news … The Chef and I are building a house!

Yes, The Chef and I are building the house of our dreams. It’s exciting, scary, and nerve-wracking all at the same time, and needless to say, getting everything together to even begin this adventure has kept me busy … and now that the ball is rolling, I’ll be spending my evenings packing up our belongings, which will sit in storage while we live with my parents for the next few months waiting for the house to be finished (and, yes, that’s a whole ‘nother adventure in and of itself).

Of course, I’ll still find time to get in the kitchen to whip up some recipes for my faithful readers … and chances are you’ll see a few posts about our home-building adventure too. But, today’s post? Today’s post is an awesome one, in which you have a chance to win a fabulous kitchen tool that I think everyone needs to own.

I recently began participating in the OXO Blogger Outreach Program. I use a variety of their tools and gadgets already, so I jumped at the chance to try one of their new products out … and not only did I get to try out their 5-pound digital food scale with pull-out display, they also sent me a second scale to give away to one of my lucky readers too!

Through their Healthy Eating campaign, OXO has decided to make eating healthy as easy as possible with an assortment of tools that not only simplify the process, but make it fun as well … and their user-friendly digital food scale with pull-out display fits the bill.

As long-time Rhubarb and Honey fans know, The Chef and I try to eat healthy as often as possible, and for us, having a food scale is a must. Appropriate portion sizes can often be difficult to determine, but using the OXO digital food scale makes it a snap. Want to nibble on a few ounces of sharp, white Vermont cheddar for your afternoon snack? No need to guess how much is enough … just throw a few slices on the scale to make sure you’re not overdoing it.

But, not only is the OXO digital food scale great for maintaining your waistline, it also comes in quite handy when you find a fabulous-looking recipe, but all of the ingredients are listed in ounces and grams. Just weigh them out using the OXO digital food scale … problem solved. Finally, we all know that baking is a science … using this scale to make sure you have just the right amount of flour and sugar means that your cakes and cupcakes—heck, even your cake pops—have a better chance of coming out of the oven just right every time.

The Chef and I use our OXO digital food scale a few times a week, and no surprise, it works great. But, I think my favorite part of this scale is the pull-out display. No more peeking under large plates and bowls to see if you’ve reached the right amount! There’s also a convenient indicator that displays how much capacity is left on the scale, and the “Zero” function allows you to zero the scale before adding additional ingredients, which means you only need to use one bowl to weigh multiple ingredients. It’s thin profile is also a plus because it doesn’t take up much room in the kitchen drawer … and if you’re like me, your kitchen drawers are already brimming with multiple gadgets!

So, want to win an OXO 5-pound digital food scale with pull-out display for yourself? Here’s how to enter!

Leave a comment below telling me how you would use your new OXO digital food scale. Please make sure to leave a valid email address as well.

For additional entries, complete as many of the following as you like then come back here and leave a separate comment for each entry. If you’ve already done any of the below, just leave me a comment letting me know!

  • Like Rhubarb and Honey on Facebook.
  • Like OXO on Facebook.
  • Follow Rhubarb and Honey on Twitter.
  • Follow OXO on Twitter.
  • Tweet the following: “I just entered to win a new @OXO digital food scale from @rhubarbandhoney and you can too! http://bit.ly/JRUN68″

The fine print: This giveaway begins now and is open until midnight {CST} Tuesday, June 12th, 2012. One winner will receive a 5-lb Digital Food Scale with Pull-Out Display courtesy of OXO. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be notified via email so, again, make sure you leave a valid email address. This giveaway is open to residents of the United States only; no P.O. boxes, please.

Disclosure: While I received this product from OXO for free, all opinions are my own.

Good luck!

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An Evening With Eric Schlosser

May 9, 2012 by

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently helped organize an intimate, 55-person dinner for esteemed journalist Eric Schlosser, who was visiting nearby Lebanon, Illinois, for a speaking engagement at McKendree University. How was I so lucky to be part of such a special event, you ask?

Faithful readers of Rhubarb and Honey know that I have volunteered for Slow Food St. Louis for over six years and spent the last three years serving as one of three co-leaders for the organization. So, when Slow Food was approached by the good people at McKendree about hosting this once-in-a-lifetime dinner, I jumped at the chance to help.

For those of you who don’t know Mr. Schlosser, he’s an investigative journalist whose 2001 bestseller, Fast Food Nation, brought to light the impact of the fast food industry on America’s diet, landscape, economy, and workforce. He began his career as a playwright and later wrote for The Atlantic Monthly, reporting on a variety of subjects from migrant farm workers to the nation’s prison system. Mr. Schlosser also co-produced two award-winning films, Food, Inc. and There Will Be Blood.

I first heard Mr. Schlosser speak a number of years ago at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco; listening to him talk about the plight of migrant farm workers brought home for me just how deep the issues in our industrial food system run, and I returned to St. Louis empowered to tackle the issues in our local food system. To get the chance to honor this man and his amazing work was a dream come true for me.

Farmhaus Restaurant

The dinner was held at Farmhaus, who graciously loaned us their restaurant and staff for the evening, and the meal was prepared by Chef Josh Galliano, who was recently named Food and Wine Magazine’s People’s Choice: Best New Chef Midwest.

Chef Josh Galliano

Our evening with Mr. Schlosser began with a round of appetizers, which included delicate, delectable egg custard cups topped with pickled black walnuts and radishes and Chef Galliano’s classic praline bacon. Brown sugar, pecans, and bacon? There’s nothing wrong with that … especially when paired with a local craft beer, Perennial Artisan Ale’s Black Walnut Dunkel Weiss, brewed with 250 pounds of Missouri black walnuts.

Egg Custard Cups and Praline Bacon

What followed was a stunning five-course meal, each dish exquistely prepared using fresh, local ingredients from a variety of Illinois farms and paired with a glass of classic Missouri wine:

Dinner with Eric Schlosser

FIRST COURSE
Ike Jime Tilapia, Beets
Josh Davis Farm, Doublestar Farm
Paired with Chaumette Winery Traminette

SECOND COURSE
Roasted Chicken, Asparagus, Stinging Nettle Cavatelli, Grated Egg, Pecan Soil
Circle S Farm, Scharf Farm
Paired with Bethlehem Valley Vineyard Chardonel

THIRD COURSE
Sorghum Glazed Pork Loin, Butter Roasted Radish, Sorghum Gastrique, Turnip and Mustard Puree
Black Spring Farm, Prairie Apiaries, Doublestar Farm
Paired with Sugarcreek Winery Chambourcin

FOURTH COURSE
Spring Lamb, Purslane, Spinach, Soft Herbs, Persillade
Liske Family Farm, Doublestar Farm
Paired with Mount Pleasant Winery Norton

FIFTH COURSE
Young Chevre, Rhubarb Chips, Sweet Pea Ice Cream, Whipped Honey, Mint Oil
Prairie Fruits Farm, Simonton’s Orchard, Doublestar Farm
Paired with Augusta Winery Vintage Port

Every course was as delicious as it sounds. The tilapia? Incredibly unique. The roasted chicken? Comfort perfected. The pork loin? Happiness on a plate. The lamb? Simply divine. The dessert? Spring personified.

This truly was a perfect meal, celebrating both the high-quality food produced by small Illinois farmers and the fabulous wines produced by small Missouri winemakers. I can’t thank Chef Galliano enough for all he did to make the evening a success.

In addition to enjoying this amazing meal, our guests were able to chat with Mr. Schlosser, who couldn’t have been nicer or more easy to talk to. He’s an extremely humble man who believes in just doing the right thing, and by the end of the night, I felt as if we’d been friends for awhile. I’m thrilled that he enjoyed our company just as much as we enjoyed his.

 
 
 

P.S. Writing this post was a bit bittersweet for me as I recently decided to step down as co-leader of Slow Food St. Louis, but my love and admiration for all that the organization is and does will always carry on … and I suspect that they haven’t seen the last of me yet.

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Chocolate Cranberry Crispies

May 4, 2012 by

A few days ago, I recapped the amazingness that was the 2012 St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale, but I failed to include one little detail … the recipe for the treats I made. Which leads me to a confession … I actually didn’t bake for the bake sale.

Between organizing the bake sale AND a 55 person dinner honoring Eric Schlosser for Slow Food St.Louis (a recap of which will be coming soon) PLUS working on some exciting adventures for The Chef and I (yes, an announcement about this will also be coming soon), I just didn’t have time to bake. So I did the next best thing … I made no bake treats!

Enter my “Chocolate Cranberry Crispies,” a quick, easy, and yummy treat that can be whipped in about 10 minutes the night before—or even the morning of—your next charity bake sale. Adapted from this recipe from Family Circle, these simple bars contain just five ingredients, one of which is the key to making these simple treats simply amazing … Askinosie Chocolate’s natural cocoa powder.

I have long been a supporter of small, local businesses, and Askinosie is definitely one of them. Located just a few hours from St. Louis in Springfield, Missouri, Askinosie is a small batch bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer … and the only ones to make natural cocoa powder.

Askinosie’s natural, single-origin cocoa powder is made using the same beans they use to make their dark chocolate, which allows the true flavor of the beans to shine through … and it makes a rich, dark cocoa powder perfect for baking. If you haven’t had chocolate from a small batch producer before, you should seek some out … the difference in flavor and texture is truly wonderful!

Chocolate Cranberry Crispies

Chocolate Cranberry Crispies

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups chocolate-flavored crisped rice cereal
  • 1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon high-quality cocoa powder
  • 1 10-ounce bag marshmallows

Directions:

1. Coat a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cereal and cranberries; stir to ensure cranberries are evenly distributed.

3. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the cocoa powder and stir until evenly mixed. Add in the marshmallows a handful at a time; stir until slightly melted then add more marshallows, stirring until everything is completely melted, about 5 minutes.

4. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and cranberries; stir quickly to coat completely. Alternatively, spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray and use to mix the marshmallow mixture into the cereal and cranberries.

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Using a spatula or your hands coated with nonstick cooking spray, press the mixture evenly into the pan.

6. Let cool, then cut into 3-inch rectangles. Makes 10 treats.

Packaging these treats is simple; just place each square in a cellophane bag and tie with a ribbon or twist tie! Enjoy!

Packaged Treats

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The St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale: A Recap

May 2, 2012 by

The 2012 St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale has now come and gone … and if you didn’t make it to this amazing event, you certainly missed out!

Over 20 local food bloggers and avid home bakers whipped up a delicious array of goodies that blew everyone’s tastebuds away. From “Jammy Thumbprint Cookies” and “What’s Shakin’ Ma’con Cupcakes” to “Boozy Banana Bread” and “Apple Cinnamon Hand Pies,” the treats baked for this charity fundraiser raised the bar for bake sales to come! But, not only were the treats to die for, they raised so much money that we exceed our goal for this year!

Drumroll, please …

2012 St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale

2012 St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale; photo courtesy of J. Pollack Photography

I am thrilled to report that the St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale raised $1,000, all of which will be used to support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America by helping fund afterschool and summer feeding programs. Way to go, bloggers and bakers!

I’d first like to thank my fellow bake sale co-host and dear friend, Stefani, of the fabulous food blog Cupcake Project … I’m so proud to have organized this event with her!

I also want to thank everyone who baked the yummy goodies we had for sale; it’s quite an impressive list and if you haven’t visited their blogs, you must!

  • Stacy Anderson (Every Little Thing): Brown Butter Brownies
  • Rachel Bates (Crazy Cupcake Girl): Peanut Butter, Jelly, & Potato Chip Cupcakes
  • Laura Beaver (Food Snob St. Louis): Cinnamon Roll Cookies and Boozy Banana Bread
  • Vicki Bensinger (At Home with Vicki Bensinger): Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
  • Eleanor Bergquist: Cherry Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Amy Burdge (Eat It, St. Louis): Apple Cinnamon and Blueberry Hand Pies
  • Tony Busekrus (TonyLovesFood): Apple and Mixed Berry Mini Pies, Rustic White Bread, and Smoked Pugliese Bread
  • Elizabeth Cowie (Eating Local in the Lou): Rosemary-Lemon Cookies
  • Julie Edmonds (Inkredible Stamping): Pressed Sugar Cookies and Cherry Date Nut Bread
  • Kimberly Henricks, ie, me (Rhubarb and Honey): Chocolate Cranberry Crispies
  • Sandia Hoormann (Bite of Life STL): What’s Shakin’ Ma’con and Caramel Sutra Cupcakes
  • Laura Kuentzler: Chocolate Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting
  • Nupur Kittur (One Hot Stove): Jammy Thumbprint Cookies and Savory Samosa Puffs
  • Natalie McLaury (The Sweets Life): Chocolate Chip Blondies and Zucchini Bread
  • Nancy Pollack: Peanut Butter Cookies
  • Stef Pollack (Cupcake Project): Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi-Hat Cupcakes and Brown Butter Cupcakes
  • Amrita Rawat (The Sweet Art): Chocolate Sea Salt and Raspberry Key Lime Macarons
  • LaTia Thomas: Chocolate Ripple Cupcakes and Drunken Cheesy Muffins
  • Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef): Chocolate Salty Balls and Dulce de Leche Cookies
  • Amy Trapp (Special Treats): Rocky Road Cake Pops
  • Krista Wampler (Bake Me Away): Chocolate Caramel Thumbprint Cookies and White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

And of course, huge kudos also go to our wonderful volunteers who made this event even more fun … Tony, Elizabeth, Sandia, and Steph … I’m looking at you!

The Bake Sale Volunteers

Sandia, Tony, Me, Steph, and Stef; photo courtesy of J. Pollack Photography

I also have to thank our gracious host, Sappington Farmers’ Market, who not only hosted the bake sale, but also donated a $100 gift basket full of local eats that was raffled off to a very lucky winner!

And finally, many thanks go to Perennial Artisan Ales who more than happily took our leftover baked goods, offered them to their patrons, and collected donations, which helped us reach our amazing total of $1,000!

I’m sure I’ve said this here before, but we’re incredibly lucky to have such an amazing food community here in St. Louis … and I’m humbled to be a part of it.

Here’s to the 2013 St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale!

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Lime and Cayenne Aioli

April 30, 2012 by

It’s that time again … Secret Recipe Club time!

Faithful readers of Rhubarb and Honey know that I’ve been participating in The Secret Recipe Club for awhile now. The idea of The Secret Recipe Club is similar to other blog exchanges in that each participating blogger is assigned another participating blog to make a recipe from, but the twist with The Secret Recipe Club is that you can’t tell anyone whose blog you have—shhhh, it’s a secret!—until you finally post about the blog you were assigned and the recipe you chose.

Secret Recipe Club

This month, my assigned blog was Fabulously Fun Food written by Melanie, who currently resides in Nashville. By day, Melanie is a biologist, but in the evenings, she’s in the kitchen, whipping up fabulously fun food!

I took a stroll through Melanie’s extensive list of recipes, and a number of them immediately jumped out to me: Korean Fried Chicken (seriously … how good does that sound?), Shredded Brussels Sprouts (I have a weakness for brussels sprouts), and Chocolate Guinness Cake (chocolate cake and Guinness, two great tastes that taste great together).

But, as amazing as those recipes sounded, I ended up choosing something a bit simpler … Meyer lemon aioli. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Aioli? Just aioli? Yes, it’s simple … but it’s also something I’ve never made! Think of this as a way to start crossing things off my kitchen bucket list.

I couldn’t get my hands on any Meyer lemons, so I turned to The Chef for some suggestions. Since we had limes in the refrigerator, we decided to go with that. And since both of us like a touch of heat, we decided a dash of cayenne pepper would complete the flavor profile.

I also asked The Chef whether he had any tips for a virgin aioli maker, and he had one main word of advice … mustard. As The Chef explained to me, there’s a component in mustard that aids in the emulisifaction process, which generally means your aioli will turn out great … and in this case, it did!

Making aioli is truly a simple process; it took less than 10 minutes from start to finish, and the resulting product was absolutely delicious. We used our lime and cayenne aioli to brighten up roasted turkey sandwiches, but you could also use it as a sauce for grilled or roasted chicken or fish, as a dressing for salad, or even as a dipping sauce for fried artichokes or zucchini … the possibilites really are endless!

Lime and Cayenne Aioli

Lime and Cayenne Aioli

Ingredients:

  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 raw egg yolk
  • 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 small lime
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon champagne vinegar
  • Dash of cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. On a cutting board, finely mince the garlic. Top the minced garlic with the salt. Using the side of your knife, smear the garlic and salt together until they form a smoothish paste.

2. Place the garlic paste in a large bowl; add the egg yolk, mustard, and the juice from the lime; whisk until combined.

3. Slowly add the olive oil to the bowl, in a light stream, continously whisking in a circular motion until smooth, creamy, and pale yellow. Repeat process with the vegetable oil until completely combined.

5. Add the champagne vinegar and cayenne; stir to combine. Taste, and if necessary, add a pinch of salt.

Notes: When I say “continuously whisk,” I mean “continuously whisk” … you’ll be whisking for a few minutes so start working out those biceps now in anticipation!

One additional note … The Chef and I use fresh farm eggs from a variety of local farmers in our recipes, and we didn’t hesitate to use a raw egg yolk from one of these eggs in this recipe. However, I understand many people have concerns or are just wary about using raw eggs or raw egg yolks in recipes. If this is the case for you, I suggest substituting a pasteurized egg product or commercial mayonnaise for the raw egg yolk or skipping this recipe all together.

To learn more about The Secret Recipe Club or to join in (you do have to have a blog with a decent number of recipes for others to choose from), click here to read about it and sign up!

 
 



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