Feastie Photo Contest: Eat Write Retreat 2012

As I look through my four years of food photos (too many to count!), I am amazed at the variety of foods I've cooked at home. From sushi and tempura to smoked meats to sinfully gooey Flour sticky buns. I"m practically clawing at the screen wishing it was scratch and sniff!

I'd love to go back to Eat Write Retreat again this year to continue to expand my horizons. New photography skills, writing tips, cooking techniques, and especially new friendships. While I have many favorite photographs, I'll enter this one into the ring and hope that you enjoy it as much as I do!

Besides being a picture that deserves scratch and sniff, this was one of my favorite things I've baked. I present to you Flour Bakery's Throwdown winning sticky buns right from my kitchen. For the original post, click here.

Thanks Feastie for the opportunity to share my photo and have a chance to head back to Eat Write Retreat!

If you are looking for recipes, check out Feastie for a fun way to browse and find delicious new recipes to add to your collection! If you are looking for a fabulous food blogger conference, don't miss the fun at Eat Write Retreat.

Back in the Kitchen: Lindsay Black Ripe Olive-Crusted Salmon served with Green Olive Cous Cous

This is my entry to the contest hosted by Lindsay Olives to win a conference registration to Eat Write Retreat. I had a fabulous time last year and would love to attend again. I hope that you enjoy my post and that I am able to attend EWR12 thanks to Lindsay Olives! 

Eating olives in Spain!

I have never met an olive that I didn't like. From eating them off the tips of my fingers growing up in St. Louis to small plates at the Mercado San Miguel in Madrid, I love olives. Family get-togethers aren't complete without a relish tray of pickles and olives to start and our pantry is never short of them. They are a constant in our house and make appearances in many meals.

Lindsay Olives Naturals

Have you ever met someone with olives framed on their dining room wall? Many people hang vacation photos of people, we hung vacation photos of olives.

I challenged myself to use often-used ingredients in a new way to create something delicious for the Lindsay Olives scholarship contest for Eat Write Retreat. After a few months of not cooking, I'm back in the kitchen enjoying the time to be creative. While I don't have unlimited time to spend concocting in the kitchen, with a little bit of planning it is possible to create delicious new dishes to enjoy. I take advantage of  the little guy's nap time and daddy time to prep my ingredients. Then the little guy gets some attention and at the next nap time I cook!

This recipe was a one nap and after bedtime meal. Even though the hubby and I did not eat until almost 9 p.m. we still enjoyed the delicious new flavors of the dish. The flavors and textures created a balanced dish that was, according to the hubby "tasty". He called the salmon "scrumptious" and liked that he got an olive in every bite of the salmon. The olive crust was a little salty, a little sweet, a little tangy, and a little spicy. The creamy flavor of the sockeye salmon was a perfect contrast for the crunchy complex flavor of the olive crust. The sweet and tangy flavor of the cous cous was an excellent complement to the salmon. We both cleaned our plates and wished that there were seconds.

Thanks Lindsay Olives for this opportunity to cook with your delicious olives. And thank you for your generous sponsorship of Eat Write Retreat and scholarship contest. I had a wonderful time meeting you last year at Eat Write Retreat and learning about your family-owned company and 100 years of producing delicious California olives!

Lindsay Black Ripe Olive-Crusted Salmon served with Green Olive Cous Cous

Serves 2
1/2 teaspoon Lindsay black ripe olives, diced
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 teaspoon orange juice (fresh squeezed)
1 teaspoon chopped thyme (stripped from stem and chopped)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (depends on your tolerance for spice)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
3/4 - 1 pound salmon fillet
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the broiler in the oven
Place oven rack 6-8 inches below broiler
Line a baking sheet with foil
Spread 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil on the foil
Place salmon skin side down on the oiled foil (if salmon has skin)
Rub the top of the fish with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
In a small bowl, mix together olives, orange zest, orange juice, thyme, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt

Add breadcrumbs and use your hands to combine the mixture well
Spoon mixture onto the top of the salmon and press down with hands, covering the entire piece of fish

Broil for 4-6 minutes for a 1-inch thick fillet (check after 4 minutes)
Fish should be opaque on the outside, it will continue to cook after coming out of the oven


Green Olive Cous Cous

Serves 2
3/4 cup plain cous cous
1 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup chopped green olives (Lindsay Naturals)
1/4 cup golden raisins
Approximately 2 tablespoons of orange juice (fresh squeezed)
1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme

Measure raisins in a measuring cup, pour orange juice into measuring cup with the raisins and set aside

In a medium saucepan, bring water and olive to a boil over medium-high heat
Add cous cous, stir, cover and remove from heat
Let stand five minutes and then fluff with a fork
Stir in chopped olives, thyme, and the raisins and orange juice
Serve warm with salmon

Making Memories with Jarlsberg

This is my entry to the contest hosted by Jarlsberg USA to win a conference registration to Eat Write Retreat. I had a fabulous time last year and would love to attend again! However with a new baby, a new kitchen, and lot of other things going on it just isn't in the budget to go this year. I hope that you enjoy my post and that I am able to attend EWR12 thanks to Jarlsberg! 

Last year at this time I was signing myself up for my first food blogger conference - Eat Write Retreat. I didn't know anyone else going, but I was sold on the combination of location, workshops, hotel, and the promise of a fabulous weekend. Leading up to the conference I kept checking the attendee list and adding new people to my twitter list and 'meeting' my fellow conference attendees. May arrived and I boarded the plan with fellow Boston food-blogger Kimmy. We met up with Mike at the baggage claim and started our weekend adventure! A quick stop at the hotel and we were off to lunch with Meghan, Ethan, Isabelle, and more. It was like meeting up with old friends!

We spent the weekend building friendships, knowledge, skills and connections. Connections with like minded passionate bloggers, connections with experts, and connections with brands, and more.

Through the connections made at Eat Write Retreat, this month I was invited to participate in an online celebration to help introduce Jarlsberg's new cheese dip. To prepare for the post I picked up both the dip and a few wedges of classic Jarlsberg cheese. Being home on maternity leave, I had plenty of nap-time opportunities to create Jarlsberg inspired meals. Everything from breakfast...

Cheesy spinach omelet

to lunch...

Roast beef melt with Jarlsberg and spicy mustard

to snack time.

Jarlsberg slices with crackers

Plus the delicious dishes I created for the event "29 Ways to Leap into Jarlsberg Dip".

Thanks to Jarlsberg I will have tasty memories of beign home with my little guy in my new kitchen. As I head back to work and leave my little one at daycare, I hope that sneaking Jarlsberg into my lunchbag will remind me of the fun three months spent with the little guy, and the fun with friends that I had at Eat Write Retreat. Here's hoping that I'll be lucky enough to win a trip to Eat Write Retreat to create even more wonderful memories!