Love Me Tender(loin)

In honor of the National Stock Show here in Denver, I'm paying homage to my favorite fare: BEEF!

Did you know that:

• Sixty-two percent of Americans profess their love for steak as their most desired Valentine’s Day meal (according to a recent survey conducted by Pelegrin Gray for The Beef Checkoff Program).

• Nothing says love like beef and backrubs: Forty-three percent of Americans said they would choose a steak meal to kick off a romantic evening of hot tub time, back rubs and champagne.

• They call me Dr. Love: Americans associate steak as a “best match” for love (44%), romance (42%) and passion (41%)—more so than chicken, pork or fish.

• Let’s meat: Beef (36%) is more often associated with “magnetism” than fish (22%), pork (21%) or chicken (21%).

• 50 percent of Americans associate beef with celebrations, compared to chicken (18%), pork (17%) or fish (15%).

• An Impressive Selection: Sixty-two percent serve a beef dish if they are hoping for their partner to express gratitude or appreciation for their efforts.

• The Perfect Pick: When choosing a meal for a significant other, 61 percent say they would order beef at a restaurant to express how much they care.

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for the meaty statistics. For more news on beef and recipes galore, visit BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com

Coooooooool Whippppppp

salad with marshmallows? snickers?

This Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to be included as "family" at our good friend's house. They would do the turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing and some other traditional sides. We would bring our own family traditions to the table as well.

Not necessarily on every American's dinner table at this food-centric holiday is the salad/dessert we call "Fluffy Green." I encountered the delicacy a few years ago when I celebrated my first Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's (now husband) extended family. I was a bit wary of the green goo but went for it with an aggressive spoonful. Oh. Wow.



Fluffy Green
Two 8 oz. containers Cool Whip
One pack mini marshmallows
Two boxes (1 oz. ea.) pistachio Jell-O instant pudding
One can mandarin oranges (drained)
One can pineapple tidbits (drained)
One jar maraschino cherries (stemless)
Two bananas (sliced)

Mix Jell-O into Cool Whip, add everything except the bananas (be sure to drain fruit). Add bananas just before serving.

Now, it doesn't look amazing, or even sound like something gourmet. And it's not. But it's tradition and tasty, and on Thanksgiving you can't ask for more. In my searching for other people who share this meal on Thanksgiving I came across many opinions. Some balked at the idea of a "marshmallow salad" and others said their grandparents introduced it into the family during the Depression.

To our hosts, we were honored with surprising them with how great it tastes! Even the 11-year-old finicky child took multiple servings.

Another great Cool Whip salad often served in wintertime in the Midwest is the Snickers salad. Snickers AND salad, you ask? Trust your taste buds. Trust me.

Snickers Salad
Cool Whip
Granny Smith apples
Frozen Snickers candy bars
Vanilla pudding mix

Mix Cool Whip and pudding mix. Add chopped snickers (about a 1/2 inch thick each) and chopped apples. Mix and serve chilled. Kids love this one, too!

Dear Stomach,

keeping a food diary

I've tried to record every spoonful and nibble of my consumption before, and every time I fail to keep up with myself. The "Whole Story" blog by grocer Whole Foods this week shared some tips on how to manage your food diary. If you don;t subscribe already, sign up for The Whole Deal e-newsletter.

By Alana Sugar
(Reprinted from the "Whole Story" Blog)

Plenty of experts agree that keeping a food diary is a great way to help you lose weight. But did you know that it can also give you incredible insight into your cravings, moods, snacking habits, and even help you determine if you have a food allergy or sensitivity?

Here are the many reasons I suggest keeping a daily food diary, at least until you gain some insight, make some new habits, and meet your goals:

• Helps with weight loss or weight gain
• Keeps track of how much water (pure water!) you drink
• Helps you determine if you are allergic or sensitive to a particular food
• Shows you what you are craving and when you are craving it
• Helps you figure out your personal connection between food and mood
• Helps you get a grip on excess snacking
• Helps you meet your goals for getting in those veggies, whole grains, and other important foods
• Keeps you accountable (to yourself) – a food diary can be a real eye-opener!

Putting it all down on paper keeps it smack-dab in front of your face! And this can be the first step you need to make healthy changes. To get started, all you need is a notebook and a pen, computer or a PDA. Just make it something that you can keep with you throughout the day so you can remember to write down the pertinent stuff.

Here’s a simple step-by step guide to make a food diary:

• Write down the day and date at the top. This will help you track different patterns depending on whether it’s a weekday or weekend.
• Record the times you eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and all snacks.
• List the foods you eat and your serving sizes. Serving sizes are important if you want to lose or gain weight, or if portion control is an issue for you. Check out the serving size info later in this post.
• Note where you are eating: at home, work, fast-food, restaurant, friend’s house, etc.?
• Wrote what is your reason for eating? Are you hungry, bored, foggy-brained, tired, upset about something, craving something?
• List your beverages as well. How much water? Soda? Coffee? Tea?
• Write down your mood and/or how you feel about an hour or two after a meal. This can help you figure out if you are eating foods that may not agree with you or did not work best for your body.

Once you’ve got your food diary in front of you, now you can look for patterns. If you have a suspicion about a certain food not working for you, try a different food. For example if you notice you don’t feel well after eating wheat or rye and you suspect you may be sensitive to gluten, try a gluten-free grain such as brown rice or quinoa. Check to see where you can make improvements. And be aware of your eating habits and patterns. Depending on what you find, you may want to consider consulting with a qualified health care professional. Many doctors these days are paying greater attention to nutrition, and some are incorporating more holistic ways of healing into their practice.

I am a big believer that not everybody needs to eat the same way; what’s right for one may not be right for another. I’ll use myself as an example: Many years ago, it was my daily habit to eat 2 slices of whole grain toast with butter and a little fresh fruit for breakfast. As I would go through my morning, I noticed I wanted to go to sleep or at least close my eyes, and I felt hungry about 2 hours after I ate. I also noticed that I was craving something sweet about 4:00 in the afternoon. I began to journal my food. I learned that when I ate bread or bagels in the morning, I didn’t feel well. What I quickly discovered about myself was that I needed protein such as eggs in the morning to feel my best. This gives me good energy, focus, and clarity.

Here’s that serving size info I mentioned earlier.

• One Vegetable Serving Equals: 1/2 cup cut-up raw or cooked vegetables; 1 medium-sized carrot, 1/2 cup vegetable juice, 1 cup raw leafy salad greens
• One Fruit Serving Equals: 1/2 cup cut-up raw or cooked fruits; 1 medium-sized apple, orange, pear, banana or kiwi fruit; 1/2 cup fruit juice, 1/4 cup dried fruit
• One Whole Grain Serving Equals: 1 slice of bread, 1 cup of ready-to-eat cereal, 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta, 1/2 cup cooked cereal

Keeping a food diary will give you the insight you need to make changes. And remember: If something doesn’t work for you, change it around until you find what works best for you. Try to remember that no macronutrient food group (proteins, carbs, or fats) are bad. We just need them in different amounts. We are a melting pot of different ancestry. We are at different phases in our lives, we live in different climates, and we are all of different ages and stages of health; as such our dietary needs can vary greatly.

If you have some ideas for keeping a food diary, or you are already doing it, I would love to hear how it works it for you!

Tweeting With Glee

did you know i’m on twitter?

@GourmetGlee is my new handle on Twitter. I really am getting addicted to how connected I can be with food writers, cooking magazines, recipe Web sites and people who adore food/beer/wine/flourless chocolate torte with raspberry coulis! Recent intriguing tweets from around the cyber-sphere:

From Denver.org: Denver foodies speak out about their fav spots
5280 Magazine's Amanda Faison highlights Root Down, Elway's chef highlights Vesta Dipping Grill and Panzano's lead kitchen hand taps Osteria Marco. Each of these three spots exemplify why Denver's food scene is cutting edge without without being presumptuous.

Food & Wine’s blog “Tasting Room” on Dogfish Head's Peruvian Chicha Brew
Dane and I tried this at the Great American Beer Festival last month. Talk about a redefining brewski! Would you be willing to drink a beer knowing that someone spit in it?

Cafe Society Blog: Anthony 'No Reservations' Bourdain lectures in Denver Nov. 18
Anthony Bourdain comes to Denver for a lecture on Wednesday, November 18 at the Temple Buell Theatre. Tickets start at $35 each and are on sale now.

Martha Stewart made Giant Cheese Popovers this past weekend…who knew?
Which reminds me, I need a popover pan. I love, love, love these eggy delicacies that my family often served at Thanksgiving! Here's her recipe.

Gourmet Magazine is well-done. Literally.
Leaving a long legacy as a personable and creative editor is Ruth Reichl — also the former New York Times restaurant critic. She has been pretty honest via Twitter recently with how hard the news is hitting her: Gourmet Magazine is ceasing publication. At the airport this morning I had to buy the last-ever issue. Sad and shocking for the foodie world.

Related Gourmet news: Reichl is doing “Gourmet TV” and the question “What does the closing of Gourmet mean for the food scene?” is addressed.

More related TV food news: "Fine Living Network" will become the "Cooking Channel" in 2010.

Other notable people/entities to follow on Twitter:

@newbelgium
@draftmag
@CafeWestword
@dogfishbeer
@hotdishblog

Lastly, a worthy "tweet" to share from Denveater:

Finally opened that jar of pickles that've been sitting in gin for 2 mos. The gin-flavored pickle's foul, but the pickle-flavored gin's AOK.

GABF: Thursday Night

Volunteering in the Brew Crew: One for you, one for me.

Dane & I were stationed with Diamond Knot Brewing Company. I loved their blonde ale, Dane dug the Shipwreck XXXIPA. Here he's with co-owner and founder Brian Sollenberger.

Madison, WI's Great Dane Brewing Company got a visit from the greatest Dane there is!



A pilgrimage to Dogfish Head. You shoulda saw the line of people
waiting to taste their outta-the-box beers and of course, shake Sam's hand.



Dogfish Head taps.



The reason why we came here: Sam and his awesome beers! (Dane's hero!)

We're headed back for more this Saturday. The plan: weiss, wheat and totally-out-there brews. And handing out the GourmetGlee business card!

Fishing for Dogfish at the GABF

let the craft beer revolution commence

The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) begins tonight at 5:30 p.m. and I'm getting there at 4:45 p.m. Am I VIP? Did I receive a special invitation from Coors? Do I have "Beer Geek" tattooed across my forehead?

Nope, just good ol' American volunteerism! The hubby and I are finally making our way to the GABF and what better entry than pouring beer for 5.5 hours, schmoozing with the brewers and getting a comp ticket to enjoy the revelry of Saturday night! In addition to our "brew crew" pouring duties tonight we volunteered to distribute event posters around Denver about a month ago (don't ask about the liquor store heist on West Colfax).

Our goal of the whole event is to stop by the Dogfish Head Brewery post and meet Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head's founder and President), who happens to be a major beer hero/entrepreneur mentor to the husband. It doesn't hurt either that he's a hunk. Sam recently co-wrote a book about beer pairings, too. Watch the clip on The Today Show (wow, great publicity!).

We discovered Dogfish after seeing the documentary "Beer Wars" which pitted the craft brewers' small business plight against the corporate brewers
- such as Anheuser Busch and Coors. A kind of David vs. Goliath story. It really sparked our interest in craft beers outside of Colorado and Minnesota and introduced us to high alcohol content suds like Dogfish 90 Minute IPA and Arrogant Bastard Ale, two favorites.

The GABF brings America's best brews to Denver and I couldn't be more excited and intimidated at the same time. We've got the pretzel necklaces made, maps marked up with must-stop booths and our palates prepped. Watch for updates following tonight's volunteering and then our attending on Saturday.

Cheers!

Za, My Way

I love a good za. Pizza that is. And what a great time in history it is for the pie-lover!

The gourmet pizza revolution is up and swinging. In Minneapolis, Punch, Pizza Luce and the stand-by Red's Savoy are among the favorites branching out to several locations. Here in Denver Lala's not only has great go-to za, but I must say one of the best Caesar salads I've had in years--garlicky dressing, white anchovies and a "small" the size of most lobster platters. Among the other pizza joints we get our fill from are Basil Doc's, Two Fisted Mario’s Pizza, Proto’s and Denver Pizza Company, the last being my next stop.

Recently though our pizza and its fixins have been coming from the menu of my mind. With Pillsbury dough on sale, I picked up a couple rolls and set out for a homemade pizza pie.

Pizza #1

• Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust dough (salted and peppered)
• Homemade pesto (basil leaves—about 15-20, one handful raw pine nuts, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, olive oil, Parmesan and squeeze of half lemon)
• 2 cut-up already cooked artichoke hearts*
• 10 cherry tomatoes (sliced)
• ¼ of Columbus Salame (cut into strips)
• 5 cloves roasted garlic (peel back white skin, cut ¼ of an inch of top, put in tin foil and douse tops with olive oil, tighten tin foil and roast 30 minutes at 400 degrees)
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheese mix
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• Few springs of rosemary (chopped and sprinkled on 1st layer of cheese)

* We love, love, love artichokes. So we ate the leaves as an appetizer. My mom's recipe: chop bottom of artichoke stem and about 1/2 inch off the top, wrap in plastic wrap, microwave 7-8 minutes, remove from microwave and melt 2 tablespoons butter per person, serve hot and peel, dip and scrape off the flesh. Save bottom, or the heart, for your pizza.

Pizza #2

• Pillsbury Thin Pizza Crust dough (salted and peppered)
• Homemade pesto (basil leaves—about 15-20, two handfuls raw pine nuts, 3 cloves roasted garlic, olive oil, Parmesan and squeeze of half lemon)**
• 10 cherry tomatoes (sliced)
• 1 Russet potato (sliced, tossed in olive oil, seasoned with fresh rosemary, kosher salt and cracked pepper, roast in oven 30 minutes at 400 degrees)
• Few springs of rosemary (for potato slices, chopped and sprinkled on)
• ¼ of Columbus Salame (cut into strips)
• 10 cloves roasted garlic (peel back white skin, cut ¼ of an inch of top, put in tin foil and douse tops with olive oil, tighten tin foil and roast 30 minutes at 400 degrees)
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan, Romano and Asiago cheese mix
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese

** Our pesto the second time around was much heartier. You may want to roast the pine nuts to add more flavor. The added basil and pine nuts this time around created a nice base with some nutty crunch.

Toppings tip: Cook anything you are going to put on before you top the pizza. Make sure your toppings are dry. Anything from a jar should be well drained. Anything frozen, should be thawed. When it comes to what you put on, go wild with the toppings. It's hard to mess up a pizza.