If you can’t decide on a single gift to give, Foodzie has another solution for you.  You can give the gift of Foodzie’s Tasting Box, a monthly sample of five different food products from Foodzie vendors.  You can select from a 3 month, 6 month, or year subscription.  This way your gift recipient gets to try out a fresh rotation of new products, possibly discovering new favorites each month.  We were able to check out a Tasting Box courtesy of Foodzie that was packed with the following:

Alfajores Cookies by Maitelates
Heirloom Cranberry Beans by Zürsun Beans
Bacon Peanut Brittles by The Headhead
Parmesan Flatbreads by Little Ragghi’s
Fleur De Sel Caramel Popcorn by 479° Popcorn

As you can see, you get a good variety of samples.  

The Tasting Box is the perfect gift to give any foodie.  It even makes a great gift to give yourself.

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PAMA sent me a sample to try out and I began to think what would be the best way to enjoy it. A pomegranate martini maybe? Although I’ve always had a cocktail shaker and martini glasses tucked away in my cupboard, I never really put them to use. I checked out PAMA’s website and saw that they had a wide selection of drink and food recipes that called for their liqueur. They featured a Pomegranate Martini recipe that I was inspired by. I just substituted the orange liqueur with a small amount of orange juice for my version. Just combine the following:

2 oz. PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur
1 oz. Premium Vodka
1/2 oz. Orange Juice

I combined all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shook it up, and poured it into a martini glass.

It’s simple and easy way to enjoy PAMA Liqueur. If you don’t feel like making a cocktail, go ahead and get creative by cooking a dish using it.

Also, PAMA is being featured by more Cupcakes in Chicago with their cocktail cupcakes. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, you can enjoy the combination of Belgian chocolate, Valrhona pomegranate mousse, pomegranate buttercream – all using PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur. You can order a dozen of these delectable cupcakes on the more Cupcakes website. They will ship them out, just in case you can’t pick up these treats yourself. These cupcakes shy away from traditional flowers and boxed chocolate Valentine’s Day gifts, making them a bit more unique and memorable.

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With the First Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival approaching, an opportunity arose to become Nature’s Pride brand ambassadors. To become eligible, we had to come up with a recipe featuring slices of Nature’s Pride bread. Rose and I sat around thinking how we could best feature the bread by making it one of the major components in the recipe. Then, Rose suggested a recipe for a dish that she did years ago for Roll-Ups. Her description of Roll-Ups reminded me of Pigs in a Blanket, but instead of using regular hotdogs, it uses classic Filipino hotdogs. Filipino hotdogs have a distinct sweeter taste and just catch your eyes with their bright red color.

With this recipe, we ended up using the 100% Whole Wheat bread.

Ingredients
2-3 Slices of Nature’s Pride Bread for Breadcrumbs
3-5 Filipino Style Hotdogs
3-5 Slices used for the Wrap
2 Shallots
Mayonnaise
Your Choice of Cheese
1 Egg

Steps
Begin by first preparing the breadcrumbs. Take your slices of bread and cut it into smaller pieces. Preheat your oven to 350°F and bake the bread pieces for 10-15 minutes or until they’re toasted.

Grind the toasted bread pieces in a food processor until they become breadcrumbs. Spread out the breadcrumbs on a flat baking tray and set them aside for later.

Next, it’s time to prepare the wrap, which is made by using a flattened slice of bread. With a rolling pin, take a slice of bread and flatten it as much as possible. For every hotdog you have, make the same amount of wraps.

After you have the wraps done, in a pan, cook the hotdogs and shallots together over medium high heat. Once they are cooked, set those aside and prepare for the rolling.

It’s time to assemble the final Roll-Up. Take a wrap and spread it with a layer of mayonnaise. Then, take a slice of your choice of cheese and place that on the wrap. Place the hotdog and some shallots on the edge of the wrap and begin to roll it tightly together.

In a large bowl, beat one egg. Dip the Roll-Up into the beaten egg, coat it on all around, and roll it onto the breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs should begin to stick to the Roll-Up and will be ready to be fried.

In a pan, fry the Roll-Ups until they are a golden brown. Try to make sure it fries completely all around. You will notice that the cheese will begin to melt and the wrap begins to get toasty. When that happens, the Roll-Ups should be ready.

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Tammy and I met this weekend at the Connoisseur’s Marketplace in Menlo Park. The array of salts that Tammy had on display was enough to stop me in awe.

Sure I was familiar with a few special salts like Fleur de Sel and Pink Hawaiian Salt, but nothing like what Spice Hound had on display. More exotic choices like Porcini Mushroom Sea Salt, Black Truffle Sea Salt, and Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt, is a sample of what kind of salts you can expect from Spice Hound. To know that Spice Hound had salts that were infused with these amazing flavors was incredible. You don’t have to be a gourmet cook to try out these salts either. Just let your creative cooking self out or follow what the label suggests. I was tempted to buy a jar of the Porcini Mushroom Salt after reading that it would be wonderful for risotto. I could only imagine the aroma that the salt would have created.

Tammy and I talked about how her interest in salts before the food trend of specialty salts being the “it” thing. Whether it’s being ahead of food trends or just having a genuine passion for what she does, Tammy is in the right business. It shows. I said to myself, “Who else better to talk to than the team of Spice Hound, when you’re in search of specialty salts or spices.”

You can check out some of Spice Hound’s offerings on their website. Or better yet, try to see Tammy in person at one of the following farmers markets:

Thursdays 4-8 P.M. in San Carlos (on Laurel St. between Cherry and Olive St.)

Fridays 10 A.M.-2 P.M. in Downtown San Jose (San Pedro Square)

Saturdays 8 A.M.-1 P.M. in Palo Alto (Gilman between Hamilton and Forest St.)

Sundays 9 A.M-1 P.M in Campbell (Campbell Ave. at Central Ave.)

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The man behind the pizzas was Roland Konicke, a New Yorker who moved to Santa Cruz to share his passion for pizza. It was here he founded Uncie Ro’s Take and Bake Pizza. First thing to keep in mind is Roland’s pizzas are far from being an ordinary take and bake pizza. I had a chance to talk with Roland about why his pizzas are so special.

I found out that his pizzas are focused on using locally available organic ingredients. Roland pointed towards the pizzas he had on display and said, “I just made these pizzas yesterday.”

His hand crafted pizzas use flour from a company out in San Francisco. What’s more impressive is that the toppings he uses are purchased at local farmers markets. His vision of supporting local farms seems to be the driving force behind the company. “Everything, but the cheese is locally grown. The cheeses on these pizzas were imported from Italy,” said Roland. I was sold. I took a Sausage & Pepper pizza home with me to try out for dinner.

The pizza was topped with four different cheeses – Provolone, Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Romano. The sausage was made from grass fed pork. What really catches your eye are the bright red bell peppers on the pizza. I was anxious to see how the flavors would marry together. I threw the pizza into oven and soon enough, the smell of the sausage and fennel filled the kitchen.

The taste of the sweet tomatoes complemented the light flavors of the sausage. I enjoyed each bite down to the crispy crust.

Currently, you can find Uncie Ro’s Take and Bake Pizzas at seven farmers markets from Santa Cruz to Menlo Park. The best way to find out if he has pizzas at your local farmers market is to email Roland and ask.

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To celebrate the relaunch of Mother’s Cookies, I received a sample of the newly relaunched Circus Animal Cookies from Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker Program. They taste the same as I remembered back in the day. These lightly sweet frosted cookies took me back. Being grown up, it’s a good feeling that you can still enjoy something fun like pink and white animal cookies.

If you haven’t done so already, head to your local grocery store and pick up a bag of Mother’s Cookies. Special thanks goes out to Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker Program and Kellogg’s for the sample of Circus Animal Cookies.

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For now, I sampled the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond. I couldn’t say no to the combination of chunky bittersweet dark chocolate and granola. The first bite was a chewy one. The granola was slightly sweet and had hints of raspberry throughout. I enjoyed the chunks of raspberry and almonds as well BUT, I would have preferred more almonds and raspberry chunks and a little less chocolate. I assume health conscious foodies might agree with me on that. Overall, the combination of all of the flavors meshed well. It seems like I made a right choice sampling the one I did for this quick review.

Little granola bars like these are perfect for when I’m in a pinch and need a quick bite for breakfast. Tomorrow will give me a chance to try out the two other flavors.

If you’re interested in reading more about these little snackers, visit the Quaker True Delights Website.

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Tarte Alsace. It’s a flatbread tart that is topped with caramelized onions, ham, and gruyere cheese. You could say that it’s almost like a pizza. All you have to do is pop it and in the oven for 10 minutes and you’ve got yourself a delicious snack, appetizer, or dinner. This thing is so good that I always pick one up whenever I stop by Trader Joe’s.

The combination of all the ingredients is a kick in your mouth flavor of goodness. If you haven’t heard about Trader Joe’s, we’ve got it listed as a spot to check out. Just follow this link.

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