Here’s a link I found that has a nice long list and descriptions of flowers that can be eaten.  It’s on about.com, the Edible Flower Chart.  

Let me list a few examples of flowers that are edible are: Basil, Chamomile, Carnations, Chrysanthemum, Dandelion, Fuschia, Jasmine, Marigold, Rose, Sage, Squash Blossoms… Also the site gave a few tips on what do and not do with the edible flowers, which I’ve listed below.

Edible Flower Tips:
• Place a colorful gladiolus or hibiscus flower (remove the stamen and pistil) in a clear glass bowl and fill with your favorite dip.
• Sprinkle edible flowers in your green salads for a splash of color and taste.
• Freeze whole small flowers into ice rings or cubes for a pretty addition to punches and other beverages.
• Use in flavored oils, vinaigrettes, jellies, and marinades.
• One of the most popular uses is candied or crystalized flowers, used to decorate cakesand fine candies.
• Asthmatics or others who suffer allergic reactions to composite-type flowers (calendula, chicory, chrysanthemum, daisy, English daisy, and marigold) should be on alert for possible allergic reaction.
• Never use non-edible flowers as a garnish. You must assume that if guests find a flower on a plate of food, they will think it edible.
• Use flowers sparingly in your recipes, particularly if you are not accustomed to eating them. Too much of a pretty thing can lead to digestive problems

Do you have any recipes that include edible flowers?  Have they been a big hit at a family get together, a fancy dinner party, just a regular old family dinner?

Photo:  HarlanH

Edible Flowers

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How to Contact a Food Blogger

1. Do not tell me how much you love my site.  This one pisses me off more than any other.  About 95% of the emails I get from PR people start off like this: “Hey, my name is X and I love your site!  I especially like your post on (insert post topic from 3 days ago), I do that all the time too!”

Guess what?  If as many people from PR firms that told me that they read this site actually did, I be making a ton of money and I’d probably have a spot on Oprah talking to her about my weight problem.

Be straight up and tell me you found my site while doing a search for food blogs, I’ll have a lot more respect for you.

2. If your product is not related to food, don’t bother. This website is about food, not animals, not sports and certainly not cars.  If you can’t find some way to tie your product to making my belly full, you probably need to do another Google search.

3. Be brief.  I won’t recognize your name so the chances of me deleting your email are good.  The faster I can read it, the better. So spare me the history of the company you’re pimping, the amazing things your product can do and all the locations near me where I can buy it. Get to the point.

4. Tell me who you really are. Don’t hide who you are.  It’s lame and I can find out who you are in about 10 seconds.

5. Tell me what you want me to do. If I have to respond to your email to find out what exactly it is you’re looking for me to do, chances are I won’t bother.  Be upfront and tell me exactly what you’re looking for.

6. Tell me why it’s worth my time. Am I helping a good cause?  Are you going to send me some samples?  My free time is limited and most of my writing schedule is filled up for the next few weeks, why should I fit you in?

7. Be polite. But not too polite. I know we’re not friends, but that’s no reason to be rude.  At the same time, too many compliments and superlatives make me think you’re a fiduciary.  You don’t want to be a fiduciary.

How to Contact a Food Blogger

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For those of you planning on being regulars at the ballpark this season you of course are not only look forward to awesome games, but you also are looking forward to food… YUM!!!! There’s hot dogs, soft pretzel, nachos,  bags of peanuts, and of course if you drink, you look forward to that nice cold beer.

There are a variety of different places to eat in the ballpark; the terrace club, club lounge, and the luxury suites.  Not only do they serve food the many many fans who come on out to root for the Indians, but they also have a catering service for those who come to the ballpark for a special event.  They have all types of events at the ballpark; from business meetings, special events, to weddings.  (If anyone reading has gotten married at Progressive Fields… we’d love to know about it, and hear your story.

I found a Menu of what they serve all throughout the ballpark as well as what they have on their catering menu on the Progressive Field’s website.

Food Court
Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, and Bratwurst with a Variety of Toppings
• Possible salads include: Fresh Fruit, Chop Salad, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad, Macaroni Salad, Garden Salad, Tomato Cucumber
• Traditional Caesar Salad
• French Fries and Onion Rings

Mini Marche
Ball Park Nachos with Jalapenos, Salsa and Sour Cream, and Hot Dogs

Club Lounge West Kiosk
• Homemade pizzas including Cheese, Pepperoni, Veggie Pizza, Chef’s Specialty Pizza and Assorted Antipasto.
• Pasta Action Station (located in The Club Lounge on the upper dining level). Possible pasta combinations include: Italian Sausage and Marinara, Provencal, Tortellini w/ Proscuitto and Peas, Prima Vera.

Carvery Station
Located in the Club Lounge on the upper dining level. Roasted Turkey (every day) and a second meat choice (rotated between other meats such as beef strip loin, pork loin, corned beef, bbq brisket, top round, smoked pork shoulder, salmon, lamb, pit ham)

Chef’s Action Station
Made from the freshest ingredients, this station changes daily and consists of: Green Curry Chicken Stir Fry with Steamed Rice, Fajitas, Jambalaya, Mashed Potato Bar, Kielbasa and Pierogis, Mussels

Snacks
Hot Pretzels, Whole Roasted Peanuts, Popcorn, Cracker Jack, Cotton Candy and Hand Dipped Ice Cream

Catering Menu (click for PDF link)

So, if you live in the Cleveland area, or are coming to Cleveland just for a visit, I suggest you make your way to see the Indians a Progressive Field…  get a ticket and of course…. buy yourself something to eat!!!  Cause, it’s all about the food folks. 

Food at Progressive Field

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• Mayfield Catering and Restaurant – Go! Bistro
• Casa De’angelo – Mentor, Ohio

The inherent problem with most cookbooks though is this: The recipes are in control.  So what happens if you don’t have that recipe anymore? Or what happens if your recipe calls for white wine and you’ve only got red?  Then what?

Well, in my wife’s case, she usually throws up her hands and says she can’t do it. She has to have that recipe because it’s safe for her.  What she really needs though is confidence that she is the one in control, not the recipe.

In Mark Bittman’s book How to Cook Everything, he puts the person in control of the meal, the recipe is simply one of the many tools at their disposal.

I’ve been a fan of Mark Bittman with his Minimalist column in the New York Times and I’ve enjoyed his shows on PBS.  His straightforward, no B.S. style really appeals to my tastes and I like the fact he can have a good laugh in the kitchen.  There are way too many people who take cooking too damn seriously. 

How to Cook Everything celebrated its 10th anniversary last October with its 15th reprint and the addition of some new material.  It’s almost unbelievable how big this book is with over 1000 pages!  The book covers subjects from meats to sweets, and everything in between.

While the book does have over 2000 recipes in it, it is far from a recipe book.  Each chapter is filled tons of useful information so even a kitchen novice can cook like a pro. For instance the chapter on chicken shows how to safely and easily remove the bones from a chicken leg and thigh and the bread chapter explains how yeasts work to make bread rise. It’s all there amongst the great recipes.

Bittman’s true genius is evident in the way he addresses recipes.  Instead of a long complicated list of ingredients followed by detailed tasks, his recipes are relatively short and simple creatures aimed at providing a culinary base in the cook’s mind.

Take for example risotto.  A normal recipe book might have a 2-page “Mushroom Risotto with Seared Scallops” recipe that would contain 50 ingredients and almost as many steps.  Bittman grinds his recipes down to the most basic incarnation, in the case of risotto it’s a short and sweet recipe for a plain risotto, taking up less than half a page.

The benefit of this is that might actually remember how to make it without having the book in front of you.  A real bonus as I see it. 

Bittman also encourages creativity by offering suggestions on how to make variations of the dish after each recipe.  After risotto he offers tips on how you can make risotto with lemon, risotto with herbs, risotto with 3 cheeses and risotto with seafood. It doesn’t take much imagination to move beyond those variations and make something truly unique, because you’ve now got a solid foundation.

And guess what, that means you’re cooking!

Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything is truly a cook book, because his simple techniques and foundational recipes will allow you to be in control when you cook. He provides a straightforward way to gain a great deal of confidence in the kitchen, something anyone from a novice to a pro can always use.

This is truly a great book, I have it in my library and you should have it in yours.

How to Cook Everything – Book Review

• I�m Just Here for the Food – Alton Brown
• Michael Symon’s Live to Cook – Book Review
• White House Cook Book
• Chefs, Foodies and Food Writers on Twitter
• 2006 Eatingcleveland.com Holiday Gift Guide for Cooks

My adventure to Maggiano’s began one Thursday afternoon when my friends from work invited me and my little one to go out to eat with them that coming Saturday.  Me being a ‘crazy’ girl accepted the invitation. Let me tell you that their website is very user friendly.  It even allows you to make online reservations for parties with less then 8 people. Maggiano’s is located at 26300 Cedar Rd. #1103, Beachwood, OH, 44122-1190S. Not being very familiar with Beachwood I followed my girlfriend out there.  Easy enough to find… the exit we got off at is the exit right after the “Microcenter” exit.  (If you are reading this and you know my husband you know that we visit there quite often). 

We pulled into the parking lot around 12:15 p.m. heading to eat with the lunch crowd.  We walked into the restaurant and I was first of all impressed with the very nice waiting area (or lobby like area).  My baby girl made sure to say HI to everyone who walked through the door.  I thought about asking them to hire her as a ‘welcoming committee’ but then I thought twice and decided against it.  As we were waiting for the rest of our party to arrive I noticed the valet seemed to be very nice, and quickly took cars away and brought cars to guests. 

So about 20 minutes go by, our party arrives and they seat us immediately for our 12:30 reservation. When we sat down at the table there was already glasses of water, menu’s, and the waitress was right there ready to take our drink order.  Most of the party choose water, but a few of us got something else to drink. It seemed like very few minute went by and our drinks were on the table.   She gave us a few minutes to look over the menu, and of course since non of us had been there it took a few extra minutes. We decided to order our appetizers, and then continue to look at the menu for what our entree’s would be. I ordered the kids meal too, so my girl could eat right away and not get hungry. So this part amazed me even more… As soon as we gave her our appetizer and kids meal order I headed upstairs to use the restroom and change a diaper, and when I came back the food was there. The same speed was given as we ordered our entree’s while we ate our appetizers and as soon as we were done it seemed that our entree’s were ready to be served.

So, what is it that we ordered you ask… here goes.

For a kids meal I ordered the ‘Grilled chicken breast served with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli florettes.’ All the kids meals are 1 price, $5.95.  They come with a drink of your choice; milk, lemonade, pop, etc and dessert; lemon cookies or ice cream. Now, you may say all kids meals are the same, but let me tell you , that this kids meal portion was that of an adult.  It was a very large serving of food, which my baby eat half of, and then her daddy ate the other half we brought home as leftovers…

Appetizers were served right a long with the kids meal, so we were all eating something. A few people ordered a side salad, I ordered a creamy potato and chicken soup which was $4.95 for a very large bowl, and few people ordered fried zucchini – Strips of zucchini hand battered w/Japanese bread crumbs and fried to a golden brown, served with a zesty lemon aioli cream sauce, definitely not your normal fried zucchini you would get anywhere else.  It seems like they serve you a whole zucchini, and I didn’t order it, but I believe it was between the $5 and $6 range.  (One of my friends said that could have been her whole meal…) 

Everyone seemed to order a different entree.  I can’t remember everything ordered, but I know for sure that I went with the Chicken Pesto Linguine- Linguine pasta tossed with roasted chicken, pesto, and pine nuts in a parmesan broth with a hint of lemon. This serving fed me lunch and then I took the rest home and my husband and I were able to get two more plateful’s out of it for our dinner.  This dish was priced at $10.95.  Well worth it!  

All in all the whole experience was just top notch.  So make sure you head to Beachwood and visit Maggiano’s Little Italy for lunch or dinner, or call them to reserve a banquet room for your next party.

Maggiano’s Little Italy – Beachwood

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• Cleats Club Seat Grille – Wickliffe, Ohio
• Tommy’s – Cleveland Heights, Ohio
• Colonel Sanders Can Kiss My Drumstick

A little history…

Known also as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, National Pancake Day dates back several centuries to when the English prepped for fasting during Lent. Strict rules prohibited the eating of all dairy products during Lent, so pancakes were made to use up the supply of eggs, milk, butter and other dairy products…hence the name Pancake Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday.

Since beginning its National Pancake Day celebration in 2006, IHOP has raised nearly two million dollars to support charities in the communities in which it operates. With your help, we hope to raise $1,000,000 for Children’s Miracle Network in 2009!

National Pancake Day – Tuesday, February 24, 2009

• Pepperoni Pancakes
• Free Breakfast at Denny’s
• Rachel Ray, Ingrid Hoffmann Thinks You’re Fat
• Hi, I’m Mark, and I’m a Fatty
• Win Tickets to the 2009 Food & Wine Celebration

For dinner, you can pick from some of these delicious recipes I’ve found.  For those of you that love doing breakfast for dinner, you can try this delicious take on breakfast, French Toast With Raspberry, Chocolate and Cream Cheese.  If you are looking for a more dinner type meal instead of going the breakfast route. Here’s a recipe that will do just that, and won’t make you spend forever in the kitchen, try making Tropical Baked Chicken.  And finally, if you are someone who enjoys cooking and spending taking your time making a delicious meal, take a stab at Sirloin Steak with Garlic Merlot Sauce and Fresh Green Beans with Bacon Dressing Recipe.

Once dinner is done, grab one of your favorite movies and pop it in the DVD player, or head to the movie theater to watch a new release.  Now remember that it’s only fair that you pick a movie you both agree on; after all it is Valentine’s Day!!

Once the movie is over head to you favorite ice cream shop for dessert.  I recommend Cold Stone Creamery.  It is some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had.  For those of you that refuse to eat ice cream in the winter time, head back home and make Indulgent Brownie Torte and a cup of warm hot cocoa. 

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!  Hope you and your other half have an awesome day!

Valentine’s Day – Last Minute Ideas

• Cream of Wheat Noodles – Special Lenten Recipe
• Fried Polenta
• GOTTA LOVE DON TEQUILA
• Candy Bar Cake
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Ingredients:

2 thawed chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
1 cup of parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 350

1.  Take the chicken breasts and cut them into small cubes. In a small skillet add a drizzle of olive oil.  Once the skillet is hot add the chicken.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  Make sure you turn the pieces every couple of minutes so they do not burn.  Remove from the heat.

2.  In a baking dish add the chicken, season with salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Stir  in 1 1/2 cups of marinara sauce.

4. Add the parmesan cheese on top.  If you feel that 1 cup is not enough, feel free to add more!

4.  Cover the baking dish with a lid or aluminum foil.  Set your kitchen timer for 20 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and serve to your starving family!

I like to serve this over pasta.  My husband would much rather rice than pasta, so I have also served it over rice.  It really is what your preference is.  And while we are on the “quick and simple” subject, here’s  Stacy’s tip of the day: 

Sunday night take a little bit extra time to cook a pot of pasta or a pot of rice.  Store it in containers in your refrigerator.  You can use it throughout the week, only leaving you to worry about the main part of your meal… a chicken, meat, fish, or simply a vegetable.

Quick and Simple Chicken Parmesan

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Looking for somewhere to go for breakfast tomorrow, or even lunch?  Look no further!!

Denny’s Restaurant is giving away a free Grand Slam Breakfast tomorrow, Tuesday, February 3rd.  They will be serving breakfast while supplies last from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm.  So, plan to head to Denny’s  tomorrow and enjoy eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes!

Photo By: Nick Atkins Photography

Free Breakfast at Denny’s

• Free Dennys Grand Slamwich on April 8th
• National Pancake Day – Tuesday, February 24, 2009
• Free Breakfast at Chick-fil-a
• Free Burritos at Chipotle Today
• Valentine’s Day – Last Minute Ideas

The same thing goes for his doctor and us.  How’s the poop look?  How much poop was there?  How many poops were there?  I can not wait for the day when I no longer am required to discuss bowel movements.

One thing I find humorous about about these conversations is the point where the need arises to compare the consistency to something as a reference.  You could say the poop was like caulk or paint, but no.  For some unknown reason, the poop always ends up being compared to some kind of food.  So I present to you:

7 Foods Doctors Have Compared My Son’s Poop To

1. Milk – Ahh, refreshing delicious cow milk.  We were told in the beginning to be on the lookout for “milky poop” as it may be a sign that he isn’t digesting his formula properly.

2. Chocolate Taffy – I remember those days when the chocolate taffy would get stuck between my teeth, I’d try and wrench it out with my tongue.  This poop is bad in bambinos because it acts like a plug and let me tell you, you don’t want to see what it’s holding in.

3. Mustard – This was one of the first stool-to-food comparisons.  I thought there might have been something wrong with our son, but the doctor assured us that at a few weeks old formula fed babies will have poop that looks like whole grain mustard.  I could go for a hot dog right now, you?

4. Peas – Baby poop with little hard peas in it is bad.  Kind of along the lines of that chocolate taffy above.  The worst part is that the doctor asked us to squeeze the peas if they ever came up, so we could let her know how hard they were.  Sounds like a Mom job.

5. Yogurt – Coming in a bit thicker milky stool is yogurt stool.  I think we might of seen this one a few times, it sure as hell wasn’t white though.  I have no fathomable idea how you can put in all white and you get a rainbow out the other side.

6. Pudding – An obvious one sure, but it is pretty scary how closely my son of three months is able to reproduce this delectable dessert.  Thick and sticky, I’m licking my lips just thinking about it.

7. Peanut butter – This is, by far, the most common food to poop comparison because it is the antithesis of baby poop perfection.  However, I consider its effectiveness as a comparative weak as my wife and I have had dozens of arguments in regards to what is in fact peanut butter like. 

Photos: Dano, Markhillary, Lin Pernille, Wordridden, Gaetan Lee, HFB, Oskay

7 Foods Doctors Have Compared My Son’s Poop To

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