Go-Go Mommy

Friday's Findings: 08.14.09

The easiest salad ever!  

Who doesn't like to make good-tasting and simple recipes?  Here's one that will have you literally licking the bowl.  It's from the newest Food Network Star, Melissa d'Arabian, of "Ten Dollar Dinners."  Check out her Cafe Green Salad recipe here and enjoy.  

Thanks for the incredible recipe, Melissa!

A Girly Playdate

What better way to celebrate having new friends over for a playdate than to share beautifully made desserts?  I certainly can't think of a better way to say: "We really appreciate having you here and I would love to be able to make something like this myself but since I have two girls under 5, it's best just to go right to the source."  And I think these raspberry mousse delicacies speak for themselves! 


I found a wonderful local bakery called City of D'Lights, and it is truly a perfect bakery to stop by if you are ever in the area.  They have a wonderful coffee house selection along with the most delicious looking pastries, cakes, and cookies.   When you combine this incredible selection with its cozy atmosphere and colorful artwork, the result is a great find for the recently relocated Go-Go house.  It's sure to be a regular haunt for our food-lovin' household! 

BTW, the playdate went so well the girls didn't want to stop playing to eat, but once they saw these "Princess Cakes" they didn't need any more coaxing!

National Chocolate Cake Day

January 27th is National Chocolate Cake Day... need I say more?  Visit this page to review some fun ways to celebrate as you homeschool your children or if you just want a fun picture to color on the computer - I had a blast with it!

http://allrecipes.com/Feeling creative?  Go to one of my new favorite sites called All Recipes.  You'll find hundreds of chocolate cake recipes from real people.  You'll even find reviews and star-ratings for each recipe so you can get a variety of opinions on whatever recipe you are thinking of trying.  Some reviewers even tell how they changed the recipe which is inspiring too.  I could spend hours reading about all the yummy recipes on this site but if you don't have the time (and with Poppy and Sweet Pea I never do) here's a link to the top 20 chocolate cake recipes.

If you don't feel like messing up the kitchen or don't have time to run out for ingredients, why not treat yourself and head to your favorite bakery to pick up a little chocolate cake today?  While I no longer live near Cupertino, CA, I must say that if I did, tomorrow would definitely include a detour to La Patisserie on Stevens Creek Boulevard.  You could ask my mother-in-law (who, by the way makes the most incredible carrot cake on the planet) that this is a bakery that is head and shoulders above the rest.  Whenever my in-laws come into town, we seem to find some reason to have something to celebrate just so we have an excuse to stop by and pick up one of their most popular cakes which just happens to be entirely make of chocolate.  I'm talking chocolate cake, chocolate icing, chocolate filling...what could be better?!  I know, maybe their individual desserts....

Whatever your chocolate cake obsession, enjoy and happy Chocolate Cake Day!

The Foodie Is Back!

While at Whole Foods the other day, I found a very interesting and valuable freebie: a wonderful guide called "Edible East Bay."  It's published seasonally and the Fall/Winter 2008 edition that I picked up had a great sauteed turnip and bosc pear recipe that I tried and just had to share.  Just check out Barbara Kosbar's article; "What's In Season? Root Vegetables".

Simply put, sliced turnips and pears are sauteed in butter with some sliced shallots.  Then salt and pepper are added with walnuts and a squeeze of lemon.  Thank you Barbara Kobsar for the awesome recipe!  Very yummy!  Hope you like it too.

Any root veggie recipes to share this season?  I'd love to try them.

Photo Friday! 01.04.08

Starting off the New Year right - with a good helping of Smoked Salmon Chowder.
Cheers everyone and best wishes for a spectacular 2008!

It's Cookie Time - Happy Holidays!

Hope your Hoildays are just as sweet!

A Procrastinator's Holiday Shopping Tip

I know I'm not the only one out there that promises each year to begin shopping for the holidays earlier. Here in California you'd think it would be a piece of cake. After all, with each city holding multiple art/wine/something-or-other festivals throughout the year, I should be finished with my shopping long before the holiday season even begins in October (and don't get me started on that subject). Needless to say, it is now December 16 and I still have about 1/3 of my shopping to finish.

I have just, however, come up with the perfect solution which will start me on the right track for "Happy Holidays in 2008." I found my gift idea while I was on PhotoWorks website as I finally designed and ordered our family's 2007 holiday photo cards: I'm going to create a 2008 family recipe book!

Okay, so a recipe book may not sound very exciting but just take a look and you'll see it's not your everyday cookbook. I've put photobooks together on other websites but I never thougth of doing this until I saw how beautifully it could be done on PhotoWorks. They already have a template for the cookbook so all I have to do is collect a few favorite recipies from everyone in the family, try them out throughout the year, take photos of my yummy creations to upload to the photo cookbook, and enjoy my homemade creations. Then, at the end of my year in the "Go-Go Mommy Test Kitchen" I can simply print and ship the books to my family/contributors. I heart PhotoWorks!

I'm already so psyched to get started that I'm sending out the "call for recipies" after I finish this post. Wish me luck with my 2008 gift resolution! I'll definitely keep you all posted on the progress and I'd love to hear about your own gift ideas!

Foodie-Licious

CALLING ALL FOODIES! You know who you are...

You may be a Food Network Foodie, characterized by the following:
- a viewer of "how to entertain" shows like Barefoot Contessa, Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello
- a fan of pop culture and food history: Good Eats with Alto Brown, or Unwrapped
- a reality junkie like The Next Food Network Star or the ever-popular Iron Chef.

You may be a Snail Mail Foodie and subscribe to magazines such as Gourmet, Food & Wine, Cook's Illustrated, or The Art of Eating (look here for a top 10 list.)

Or you might be a Tech Foodie and follow great food blogs such as Gluten-Free Girl, Orangette, or Aapplemint.

Whatever your calling, in honor of the upcoming food feasting holidays, it's time to share the love and send your favorites. What makes you a foodie? Do you have a new "Foodie" category? What are your favorite food magazines, blogs, cookbooks (now there's another Foodie Category) or favorite recipes?

Thanks for sharing - can't wait to broaden my horizons!

"Women with Good Taste"

Back in 2004, a friend of mine and I had our first daughters around the same time - hers was born about 7 weeks before mine. The great thing was that as new mothers, we always compared notes. Notes about feeding and sleeping schedules, motor development, toys, and when the time was right, foods. That's when I first really thought about "partially hydrogenated oils." Funny how I'd never really been concerned for my own health but now that I was responsible for the growth and development of my little one, it was time to pay attention to what I'd been eating all these years. As our daughters were ready for "finger-foods" she warned me to look at the labels and not choose anything with "partially hydrogenated" in the list of ingrediants - and avoid them like the plague.

Since that time about 3 years ago, I have gotten a bit lax. Now that my second daughter is at the "finger-food" stage, another reminder has been sent my way. Eric Armstrong has written a great article about "What's Wrong with Partially Hydrongenated Oils." It was a great wake-up call for me (literally read it at 5:15am since Sweet Pea has been awake since 4:20am today - but that's another blog), not only for my concern for my little ones, but myself and my husband as well.

And what did I discover? I little history and what what I hope will be a tasty find. Welcome to the world of Laura Scudder. Not only was she Ukiah, California's first female attorney, Laura Scudder moved to Monterey Park, California in 1926 and was the first chip manufacturer to pioneer packing chips in bags to seal in freshness rather than use the standard barrel or tin packaging. And to top it all off, Scudders chips are one of two on the market today that are free of hydrogenation! (Click to find a retailer near you.)

I was also reminded by Armstrong that products may contain partially hydrogenated oils but still state they have 0% trans fats. As always, the key is the label. Since the food labels are based on a "standard" portion size, a portion could contain up to 2 grams partially hydrogenated oils (2.2 grams is the highest amount of trans fat permitted per serving) so it can still say "0% trans fat." Who knew?! I'm probably the only mom on the planet who has been looking at the calories/fat ratio but totally missing this important point.

Here's my question for those of us looking for tasty snack foods without partially hydrogenated oils: do they exist or are they merely an oxymoron?

Cross-posted at Silicon Valley Moms Blog.