Bake A Difference!

Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is a national effort that everyone can participate in to help stop childhood hunger. Bake sales are being hosted by everyone from 5 year old kids, to high school students, to National organizations, large companies, and everything in between this Saturday (May 14, 2011).

Together we can bake a difference!

Click to find a Bake Sale near you.

All proceeds go toward Share Our Strength, a national non-profit dedicated to fighting hunger. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign is working to ensure that no child in the United States goes hungry again. One dollar can help connect a child with up to ten healthy meals.

Once again the #ATLBakeSale will be hosted by Atlanta Food Bloggers. We are joining together to bake and share our sweet treats for this important cause. Join us Saturday, May 14, 2011  from 10 am – 2 pm at Phipps Plaza,  in front of Williams-Sonoma, in conjunction with the Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Luxury Living Show.

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Atlanta Food Blogger Bake Sale
Saturday, May 14, starting at 10 a.m.
Phipps Plaza (in front of Williams-Sonoma)

See you there!

Wishing you a new year filled with good health, laughter and the pursuit of your dreams.

Graphic Credit: © Lili Rozet | Dreamstime.com

Help Them Chef-Up Healthy Meals

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Not every kid is cut out to be the next Top Chef. Some fledgling cooks need a little motherly advice in the form of easy-to-follow and achievable recipes in order to chef-up fast, fresh, healthy and delicious dishes.

The Mama Says, “No More Frozen Pizza!” recipe collection features delicious, nutritious and budget-friendly recipes for main dishes, sides and salads. Each recipe includes a photo of the completed dish, clear instructions and an ingredient list that combines pantry staples with fresh ingredients to create wholesome meals.

There’s no reason to give the twenty-something in your life another music gift card when you can help them feed their hunger or wow their friends with a streamlined cookbook targeted to their needs.

The Mama Says “No More Frozen Pizza!” Recipe Collection is available at target.com and amazon.com.

View at Picasa It only looks like a pizza box! Inside are nutritious, delicious and affordable recipes designed for busy, new cooks – from Mama Says.

Order today for holiday delivery.

• Bonus Feature: From the Mama Says website, users can download suggested list of Pantry and Kitchen Essentials along with grocery lists for the recipes!
• The easy-to-follow directions and photos of the completed dishes inspire them to turn fresh (and affordable) ingredients into healthy meals.
• Designed to encourage young adults and busy professionals to put down the take-out menu and pick up a spatula.

Help the new cook in your life say “no” to processed food and “yes” to cooking quick and nutritious meals.

View at Picasa Happy Halloween from Mama Says (www.mamasays.us)29-Oct-2009 03:04, 3.2, 5.9mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 400

Happy Halloween! Hope your treat bags are filled with the goodies you crave.

Wishing you fast, fresh and healthy meals,

Mama Says

I just returned from an incredible and inspiring week of Mediterranean Cooking Culinary Boot Camp at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY.   One of the week-long continuing education courses that they run there is Mediterranean Cooking.  It was unbelievably cool to be in a professional kitchen for a week with our professional lead Chef, Michael Skibitcky, and my 9 new kitchen best friends.   Every day, we went into our classroom for a quick lecture and recipe review at 7 am with Chef, then into the kitchen to prepare our  15-20 course lunch for that day.

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Each day was a different Mediterranean region – Southern France, Southern Italy, Greece & Turkey, the Middle East and Northern Africa,  Coastal Spain. Each of us got the chance to cook 1-3 dishes per day, and Chef always did some demos for us.   We had cheese tastings, wine tastings, and of course, dinner most nights in the CIA’s signature restaurants, Caterina d’Medici, Escoffier, and American Bounty.   The campus is a absolutely beautiful, set in the lush Hudson River Valley.

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So what did I learn at Boot Camp?  I’ll share recipes and photos in the next couple of weeks – so come back and visit the blog often.  Here are some other things I learned:

1. It’s really fun to be in a professional kitchen and to have a big rack to put all of your dirty dishes on (no dish washing on vacation!!), several student helpers to get things for you and help with technique, and new friends who are just as excited as you about being in the kitchen.  It’s also really nerve wracking.

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2. You don’t need fancy knives, pots and pans, or equipment.  You do need the right equipment, but it doesn’t have to be new and shiny and fancy.  You also don’t need fancy, expensive spices, oils, or vinegars.  What you need is technique, great recipes, and practice practice practice.

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3. It’s even more fun when you have a friend who works there.  My friend, Lynne Gigliotti, one of Season 7′s Top Chef contestants, is an assistant professior at the CIA.

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4. Having this kind of experience isn’t cheap, but it is absolutely positively worth the price of admission.  It was a super fun week, one that I highly recommend!!! An absolute must-do if you love to cook and eat.

Recipes and more photos to follow – check the blog during the next couple of weeks.