Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Dining with the Bloggers - January 19th

Too Many Chefs used to run a weekly feature called Posts of the Week which I really looked forward to. Of course part of the enjoyment was checking to see if my favorites were among their choices (or maybe, just perhaps, one of my own...), but the best part was being introduced to blogs I knew little if anything about. In this ever expanding world of food blogs, you need all the help you can get keeping up!

I thought I’d try my hand at a weekly feature that will highlight recipes that I’ve tried and liked from other blogs. These will not necessarily be posts from the current week – not only because I like to explore the archives of blogs that are new to me, but because I’m often a little pokey in getting around to preparing the recipes I print out. So, without further ado, the first edition of Dining with the Bloggers…

First up is a wonderful Carrot Habanero Soup that Alice of My Adventures in the Breadbox found in the current issue of Cooking Light. I can always count on Alice for great bean recipes, but here’s one with no beans. I’ve been a little timid about cooking with habanero peppers because of their reputation for being so hot. This soup uses a single habanero pepper which is pierced and thrown in whole. It is then removed before serving, giving the soup the perfect amount of heat. It’s also loaded with all sorts of vegetables – carrots, sweet potatoes, leeks, and onions – so you can’t help but feel virtuous when you eat it! Best of all, it really is a great-tasting soup.

People often comment on incidents of synchronicity among food bloggers, where two or more bloggers turn there attention to the same topic at nearly the same time. It happened again when both Linda of At Our Table and Debbie of Words to Eat By posted about a delicious and healthy snack – roasted chickpeas. I happened on Linda’s post first, which included a recipe for Baked Chickpeas with Herbs. I was curious but had some doubts when I first saw the recipe. After I tried them, though, I was hooked. They are nicely crunchy, but you won't break a tooth on them. The seasoning in Linda's recipe is really wonderful - garlic powder, cayenne, oregano and salt. I kept telling a coworker about them and promised repeatedly to bring some in for her to try. I um, never did bring her any… Maybe when I get around to trying Debbie’s recipe for Curry Roasted Chickpeas I’ll bring her some. Maybe.

9 comments:

Linda said...

Thanks for including me in your first edition of Dining with the Bloggers. People do seem to love those chick peas---glad you did too!

Anonymous said...

-This Barrett from TMC

Ouch. You shame me by pointing out how lax we've been on the Posts of the Week. We kind of let it go over the holidays and haven't picked them back up yet, but I promise POTW will return!

It's gotten much harder to do consistently as there are so many great new food blogs have popped up over the last two months to check for potential POTW's. But that's no excuse to slack off. If anything, the need for regular features digesting the blogs out there is even greater.

For that reason, I think Dining With the Bloggers is a great idea, complementary to the POTW, and I'll be sure to highlight it Saturday when we (finally) post the re-boot of Posts of the Week.

Cathy said...

Hi Linda! You're very welcome - they really are good!

Hi Barret - I didn't mean to give you a hard time!!! But I am glad to hear POTW is coming back. I'm sure it's a lot of work for you, but you can be sure it is much appreciated by all your readers!

debbie koenig said...

Hi Cathy! Thanks for the nod. I'm munching on some curry-roasted chick peas right now, as a matter of fact, still warm from the oven. I can't stop eating them! Next time I'll have to try Linda's variety.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'm honored to have earned a mention! I was really missing Too Many Chefs' posts of the week, too. It's nice to have dining with the bloggers to look forward to as well as hearing news of renewed posts of the week. Also, I'll have to try those roasted chickpea recipes. I have roasted some in the past and they were delicious; it'll be fun to try them with different seasonings. Yay chickpeas! ;)
Alice

Cathy said...

Hi Debbie - you are most welcome! I confess I haven't yet tried your recipe, but I'm sure it is equally delicious as Linda's. I plan to give it a try this weekend.

Hi Alice! - I think I have made more recipes from your blog than any other, so it seems only fitting that I include you in this first "Dining with the Bloggers"! The Carrot soup really was delicious, too. Oh and yes, yay chickpeas!!! :)

Cathy said...

Hi Emily - thanks! I'm looking forward to it too - a good excuse to try more recipes!

Cerebrum said...

Cathy you are amazing! Yet more projects! I'm looking forward to keeping up on this one too!

Cathy said...

Hi Zarah! Thanks - I'm not so sure about the amazing part, though... Guess I have to balance out all those sweets with some savory dishes!