You may or may not have noticed that things have been changing a bit around here. That’s because I found myself getting bored with the same old, same old happening in the world of food blogging. I love to cook and I love to write — so food blogging is a given but when I started this blog I had HUGE ideas about what it would house and cover, how I would approach the recipes and the site. But as I moved through the process, day-by-day and week by-week, taking opportunities as they came, I found myself moving away from those plans into others territories, some I liked and others — I most definitely did not. As John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

So I took a break — no new posts since October and over the course of that time, I learned a lot about myself — about what I want for the blog and what I don’t.

What I DO and DON’T Want for this Blog

• I don’t want to look or sound like everyone else — no matter how popular they are.
• I don’t want to cover the same recipes, as many in the world of food blogging do over and over. There’s a LOT of copying of the same recipes or hot food trends going on, albeit with the intention of everyone to add their own unique “spin” on something. But when your inbox is inundated with the domino effect of won ton wrapper pizza bites — it’s time for something fresh.
• Though I am a sucker for FREE stuff and will gladly accept most things that companies send me to try or review, I really HATE the way the food blogging world works now. Companies making assumptions about what you will do for them and how you owe them for the sample bag of granola they sent or even worse, the PR people that approach us having never read the blog, asking us to pimp their product, sight unseen, untasted, unused — for FREE. (SIDENOTE: If you sent me a product and found I didn’t review it, feel lucky — it means I didn’t love it, so it doesn’t belong on my blog!) Anyway, it all just feels kind of sleazy.
• Just as I am not one-dimensional (and I’m sure you aren’t either) neither is what I eat. Yes, I am the inventor of such concoctions as Spicy Vanilla Mushroom Risotto and I try to eat healthfully MOST of the time (have you seen my quinoa recipes?!), but I am also a girl that enjoys a good hot wing, a warm bowl of rice cereal or a heaping helping of the nearly nutritionally devoid Tater Tot Casserole (I promise to post this gloppy mess some time in the future.)
• I love writing and food — I also LOVE movies — especially Food Movies! Since I was a kid, watching old Danny Kaye flicks, I have loved movies and no matter how intellectual and “Kill Your Television,” we’re all supposed to be, watching a good movie or even a TRULY bad one, can be just as transcendent an experience as getting lost in a book, listening to a great song or eating the perfect coconut cupcake.

In the end, I realized something was just not right with how things were moving along with my blog. I no longer wanted my blog to feel like something I have to check off my list. I want to look forward to it with excitement. I write all day long for a living, so in order to be pushed forward to write yet another thing (this time for myself) the idea of it has to thrill me, otherwise, I might just tuck into a good movie instead.

Movies and Food and Food Movies

As I was marinating on how I would change the look of The Groovy Foody site and what I wanted to change content wise, I did just that — watched some truly great movies some of them food related (It’s Complicated, Dumplings, The Recipe) and some were not (This Must Be the Place, Interiors, Silver Linings Playbook.) A couple of them moved me to want to write about the movies themselves (look for my reviews of Sean Penn in This Must Be the Place and a side-by-side comparison of both versions of True Grit, on my lovely life-long friend Tracy’s movie and TV site, Reel Goddess) and one even made me want to not only write about it, but also to perfect my recipe for its subject — Dumplings (though using more culinarily appropriate ingredients – wink.)

This  is what lead to the idea for changing this blog — movies. I have an entire list of Food Movies here on the site already, I’m always watching them and always getting inspired to cook something from them. The same goes for Food Books — I’m always reading them and getting inspired to cook something from them (this list isa little anemic as it’s just being started.) So I thought, “Why not do like that old TBS show from the 90′s Dinner and a Movie and provide a movie description or review along with a yummy recipe?” Turns out that “old TBS show from the 90′s,” ran all the way until 2011 (just sans the charmingly acerbic Annabelle Gurwitch) — who knew, right?

Inspired Again, Wild and Beguiled Again . . .

Suddenly, I felt inspired again. Coming up with blog topics and recipes seemed endless (as usual) but somehow more manageable. It’s as if I just needed a lens through which to filter all the recipe ideas.Yay!

To those of you who like the blog just the way it is and who have followed it for the last few years, rest assured that the same great recipes and stories will still pepper these posts but now you’ll get movie (and sometimes book recommendations to go along with it) and maybe, occasionally, a little shorter post length — though you know I love to write long.

The site now has a more nighttime feel, as if you’re hitting the town for a dinner and movie date (my favorite!) and the logo has changed ever-so-slightly to include the tagline: Dinner and a Movie but overall, I’m still The Groovy Foody — now with just touch more groovy.

Watch for all the changes and NEW and IMPROVED posts and remember to comment because your support and participation will help make this the absolute grooviest place to pick up tips for a night in — just you, me and dinner & a movie.

I’ve missed you all. After a horrific month of ridiculous medical issues for the whole fam (my sweet toddler even had pneumonia!) and a very messy transfer from WP.com to fully hosted (My top links got hacked and I lost a ton of READERS due to rerouting issues!! YIKES!!!) I am now back on track and so is the blog.

I hope you haven’t forsaken me.

So to kick things off in style, I have a giveaway in appreciation of all of you that have stuck by me and continued to check  back for new posts.

I know how much it sucks when your favorite cooking blog goes on hiatus.

I wanted to reward all you diehards with something fun and this new cookbook certainly fits the bill, it’s called:

Bacon is his jam!

Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking’ by Kevin Gillespie

This book is chock full of recipes that will knock your socks off — even for food you swore you didn’t like. I can’t wait to try the sage-battered mushrooms with cheddar fonduta and the savory fig tart. But lest you think Gillespie has abandoned his southern roots or swung into “modern southern” fare (he hates that label!) Fear not. The book is jam-packed with southern classics like Granny’s banana cream pie, pole beans, one-pot “hog supper,” and cocoa cola pot roast.

sage battered mushrooms with fonduta

Gillespie, a Top-Chef contender and fan favorite, as well as a former transplant Portlander, is farm-to-table all the way. In fact, he is so committed to getting you to LOVE real food the way he does that he opens the book with a chapter titled, Food You Thought You Hated. It’s everything you’d expect from the man who uttered, “Man, bacon is my jam!”

Savory Fig Tart

Enter to Win Your Copy of Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking’ by Kevin Gillespie

If you get the chance check out the book (there are some sneak peak pages at Amazon to give you taste) I highly recommend it and if you want a copy for yourself then enter here because one lucky blog reader will win a spanking new copy of Fire in My Belly, just by leaving me a comment below and telling me your all-time favorite southern or comfort food dish — the one you just can’t live without!

Additional entries:

Follow Kevin on Twitter

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Retweet this message:  Just entered 2 win Kevin Gillespie’s New #cookbook Fire in My Belly on GroovyFoody Hope I win http://wp.me/p2Gj5K-tN @nessnix @topchefkevin

Congratulations to Denise Nickerson, winner of Kevin Gillespie’s “Fire in My Belly,” enjoy the southern comfort food!

Best of luck!

Ready for a taste of fall’s bounty

A Taste for Fall

Fall is beginning its descent all across the country. Here in Portland, it’s not coming fast enough for me. I’m ready for it to kick into high gear — maybe even wanting to force it a little before its true time.

As a fall baby, I’ve always had a great affinity for my birth season. Even in the midst of a 80 degree day, I can feel myself wanting to bake more. (I’m working on perfecting a super-moist, gluten-free pumpkin cream cheese muffin with candied pepitas right now. Look for it here on the blog soon!)

While we’re still ending our days by running the in-window air conditioner to get our room cool enough to sleep in the evening, I have a taste for the crunch of leaves under foot, the orange globes of ripened pumpkin flesh floating in Thai curry and the sweet, silken flavors of rich chestnut and vibrant butternut squash soups served with a crunchy baguette and a creamy shmear of  triple cream brie.

An Apology

Things have been a bit slow on the blog lately. For that, I apologize to you my Groovy Readers. Besides the usual balancing act of  running a freelance writing business and the needs of an extremely active and talkative toddler, I’ve been juggling two major ghostwriting projects due before the end of the year,  a visit from the mother-in-law, my son’s 4th birthday, the addition of  a bit of summer fun and the delicious foodie-focused events (IFBC and FEAST Portland) descending on Portland lately.

All of this has left little time for blogging, hence the wonderful guest post by my dear friend Brad over at Cast Iron Stomach last week. Brad has inspired me to purchase my own canning supplies and make my own fresh jam with the last of summer’s berry bounty, crisp homemade pickles and juicy bright flavors of homemade pasta sauce.

A FEAST to Kick-Off the Fall Season

In fact, over the course of the next couple months you can expect to see all of these recipes and more as I enter my favorite season for cooking — Fall.  Kicking things off in a big way is Oregon’s first-ever food culture festival, FEAST Portland: A Celebration of Oregon’s bounty.

It’s four days (September 20-23, 2012) of foodie bliss that promises to not only set foodie hearts aflutter with the likes of Mark Bittman, Food Editors from Bon Appetit and Portland Monthly and top chefs from around the country giving cooking demonstrations, talks and serving up some the best food Oregon has to offer, but all net proceeds will go to help end childhood hunger in our area.  Win, win, WIN!!

Check out my FEAST Preview Post on Oregonlive.com later in the week to plan your schedule of all the action.

RIP old friend

The Loss of a Few Trusted Old Friends

Two years ago, my toaster oven died and I didn’t have the funds to replace it, so we began using the oven for our toast in the morning. We found it worked just fine as long as you kept an eye on the toast and remembered to flip it.  I had loved using my toaster oven in the summer for baking fish and other foods. It kept the heat in the house down and it did a great job at keeping the fish juicy too!  I’ve improvised without it for the last two years.

Then, last year, unexpectedly, as I was making a beautiful tomatillo sauce in my Cuisinart Classic Pro, I heard this VERY BAD sound in my processor, like metallic ricocheting off the sides of the bowl, as the blade in my processor whirred. I immediately stopped processing and found that a small chunk of metal had come off the blade and was being whipped around in my sauce. The blade and the sauce both went in the trash. When I contacted Cuisinart about it, they said they’d never heard of someone having a problem like this and that I could PURCHASE a new blade in their online store (the machine was like 10 to 13 years old and I didn’t even remember where I bought it, let alone had a receipt.)

A replacement blade was $40 a pop, but a new Cuisinart in the same model was selling for $89 on Amazon — but, I just couldn’t do it. I’d wait until I could afford a new machine (especially when pleas to Cuisnart’s marketing department for a partnership with my blog fell on deaf ears.)

So I began using my $10 blender for sauces and soups. At first,  everything seemed fine, I could still use my old Cuisinart to grate cheese, shred potatoes for hash browns and slice veggies — that is, until, rather suddenly, one day a big chunk of plastic to the locking mechanism on the machine’s lid flew off as it was grating some cheddar. The machine immediately stopped and so did my dreams of fast, easy cooking. I could not afford to replace the machine at the time. I was smack dab in the middle of launching my own writing business, in the most competitive writing market ever and the worst economy since the depression. Convenience was a luxury my family could NOT afford.

My third birthday with the cake my momma made.

The Cooking Lesson

What I learned from this experience is that poverty is something that can keep your cooking lean, mean and unpretentious. I grew up poor. My mom used the same dented, banged up and chipped pans and bowls my entire childhood. She never knew anything about Henkels or Wusthof knives, she didn’t use specialty avocado tools like those made by OXO, she didn’t own a food processor or an ice cream maker. There were no ricers, salad spinners or meat grinders.

My mother rolled and cut her homemade egg noodles by hand and then hung them on string throughout the house to let them air dry. The fanciest tool in her kitchen was an old stainless steel french fry cutter she picked up at an antique store around the corner from our apartment. She had only four cookbooks to her name — 2 classics (one of these a Betty Crocker), 2 obscure (including one that was just a collection of army wives’ recipes from my dad’s troop in Germany).

None of it mattered — what she didn’t have in tools, she made up for in tenacity, skill, love for her family and her love for cooking. Her repertoire included many Mexican favorites (she grew up in Los Alamitos, California) like chile rellanos and enchiladas, as well as dishes like lasagna, fried chicken, chicken fried steak, eggplant parmigiana, chicken and dumplings (with those homemade egg noodles) and dark chocolate satin pie (I swear, I requested this for my birthday every year for like 10 years!)

My mom’s kitchen tools may not have been worthy of the likes of Gordon Ramsay, but they made great meals, just the same.

Without the fancy doohickeys and time-saving devices, you learn how to cut, grate, chop and pulverize with much more efficiency – real chef skills. You learn that even a $10 blender can help take the place of a $150 food processor for soup,  sauce, and quinoa cupcake batter and that a cute and willing hubby can grate cheese just as fast.

My new baby!

Tickled Pink: Welcome Home New Besties

Still, when I received my advance for the book I’m working on, among the first purchases I made were those to replace these kitchen convenience items. After much research (looking at competing brands, reading reviews and talking to fellow food bloggers) I PURCHASED the new Cuisinart 12 cup Elite food processor in hot pink, the matching blender, and a Cuisinart toaster/convection oven.

I didn’t set out to buy Cuisinart again but when the feedback you get is this resounding (and the color is so sassy!) you just have to go for it. The great thing about the fact that I purchased these myself is that my readers (you guys) will know with 100% certainty that I have no feelings of obligation towards this brand and that over the course of the time that I use these on my blog — I will give you the straight dope on whether the purchases were worth it or not (so far it’s been bliss.)

Mama’s lil helper

Mama Needs a Little Help in the Kitchen

Why’d I go back to the tools? Because, when you’re busy juggling it all — a little help and a little speed are a welcome reprieve.  But the lessons I learned by first not having, then having and losing, will remain with me as a cook. They are the same lessons I take with me in life:

• You can do a lot with a little
• With a little ingenuity, a dash of commitment and fueled by love you can make magic happen
• It’s not the tools, it’s the heart
• Money can buy ease and convenience but not true joy

Tell me what your favorite tool in the kitchen is and what you love to make with it in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

Happy Cooking!

It’s mate. . .

Related articles

• Kitchen Gadgets You Can’t Live Without: Part 1 (cookingcellastyle.com)
• 6 Best Kitchen Gadgets for Small Kitchens (apartmentguide.com)

Today’s guest post is courtesy of my friend Brad. Brad is my oldest friend in life — which is saying a lot for a girl who attended 4 elementary schools, 4 junior high schools and 2 high schools. I have known him since I was 14 years old, where we met under our desks during a disaster drill (remember those?) in Mr. Seifert’s class.

The way they were . . .Brad and Karen in 1988 from our high school yearbook (Aren’t they adorable?!)

Brad and his BFF Karen (who also attended our old alma mater) are just kicking things off at their new foodie blog Cast Iron Stomach. (Check out his post on The Bad Egg– great primer on how to tell fresh eggs.)

Just one of the many glorious tables at Brad’s famous wine and cheese party

Anyway, I LOVE Brad (and by proxy Karen, too!) The man has always had a great sense of style (Generra and Swatch in the 80′s anyone?), an awesome sense of humor (he once bought me a can of Pringles for my birthday because I loved them so much!) and a flair for the written word (you should see the poems we co-authored in journalism class!)

When the “oh so very rad,” Brad (Yes, I am a product of California circa the 80′s, lol) told me that he and Karen were starting a new food blog and I found out that he’d recently spent a day making homemade jam, I begged for a guest post to share with you all.

So, without any further adieu, I give you my dear friend Brad and his out of this world jam (one jar of each flavor, I hope is on its way to my house right now. Hint, Hint, Brad!)

In the interest of fairness — me in 1989 (I’m in the black and white skorts.)

The Way of the Jam

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve always been surrounded by fresh produce. Every year my parents would plant a summer garden consisting of everything from zucchini, yellow squash and tomatoes to green beans, corn and peppers. There was always an abundance of produce when growing up.

When my parents were not growing produce in the back yard of our house in San Lorenzo, the family would often make trips to Brentwood for U-Pick produce: Tomatoes and peaches were always on the list, but we always came home with a trunk full of different fruits and vegetables.

Since we couldn’t possibly eat all this produce before it went bad, my mother would turn to what every mother at that time and before hers turned to; home canning. When she made homemade jam, my brother, sister and I could hardly wait for it to cool. We just wanted to dig in.

Twenty-something years later, I decided to give canning a try of my own. About 10 years ago, I started canning tomatoes and peaches (separately of course) with my mom in my tiny apartment kitchen in Alameda, producing excellent results.

The tomatoes I canned were great in soups and stews as well as tomato sauces for pasta and chili. The peaches were fantastic in peach cobblers or straight from a bowl. Yummy.
A few years have passed since I’ve pulled out the canning equipment, but this past Spring I decided to haul it out and start making jam.

Jam Research & Equipment

I did a good amount of research, turning to my mom for advice as well as talking to others about the process. I had almost all the equipment I needed, but one thing I ultimately desired was a French, unlined copper confiture pan, which I quickly went out and purchased at my local Williams-Sonoma. Note: You do not need a copper pot. A stainless pot, or any non-reactive pot, will work just fine.

Over the next several months, I made several batches of jam: Apricot, Strawberry, Fig and Blackberry. Each batch turned out wonderful. (I credit the copper pan for that.) My favorite, however, has to be Apricot.

Apricot Jam — YUM!

As summer 2012 winds to an end, summer’s produce will soon be replaced by autumn’s fresh citrus. My father’s favorite marmalade will be my next canning journey. I hope I’ve inspired you to make some jam for yourself. Jam making is a comforting and enjoyable process — definitely worth the extra effort.

Cheers,

Brad Michaelis

Cast Iron Stomach

Brad’s Tips for Beginning Jammers

How to Make Apricot Jam

Adapted from The Blue Chairs Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders

• 6 pounds Patterson apricots, pitted and halved
• 2 1/2 pounds cane sugar
• 2 1/2 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice

Slice the apricots in half and remove the pits.
Divide the apricots and sugar in two separate bowls.
Mix well.
Cover and let macerate in the fridge for at least 12 hours or overnight.
The next day, remove the apricots from the fridge.
Uncover and pour one bowl of apricots into the jam pot.
Reserve the second bowl for your next batch.
Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat stirring frequently.
After the apricots have boiled for three or four minutes, begin skimming off any foam that forms on the top of the mixture.
Decrease heat and continue to cook for about 30 minutes or until thickened.
When the jam seems ready, test it for doneness. (Refer to the Ball Canning cookbook for specifics.)
If not set, cook the jam for another couple of minutes.
If the jam is set, pour into sterilized canning jars and process as recommended by the manufacturer’s instructions.
Cool and enjoy.

Some serious foodies – NOT! Had the Best time with Table 22 (Janelle from Talk of Tomatoes and Jacquelyn from Gourmet Housewife)

This weekend I attended the International Food Bloggers Conference held this year, right here in Portland. It was three days of work (I volunteered), networking, and learning.

This post is from a crazy attempt at “live food blogging” during a speed tasting event we did on day 1. By the end, I was too hopped up on sugar and coffee to make any sense of anything. Though there were 21 vendors present, each table only made it through about 10 vendors each in the time allotted.

Here is my valiant attempt to blog live, as I tasted and conferred (with the lovely Janelle over at Talk of Tomatoes), listened and was brochured, typed and procured (goodies for my temporarily absent table mate, the irascible, Vicki Winters over @mybigmouth on Twitter, who was checking into the hotel downstairs.) In the end, I got a little too loud and silly (after 2 extremely small cups of coffee and about 5 pieces of chocolate — I am such a lightweight!) with the wonderful ladies at Table 22!! Cheers to Janelle, Miss Vicki, Megan, Jacquelyn and the gorgeous gals of Maxwell PR – had a blast with you all.

Enjoy!

First up: Oregon Blackberry-Ginger Dressing over Salmon and Summer Vegetable Salad

Served: by the Chef from Adalu Stew (uses food as the foundation for cancer care to optimize health) on a small bamboo app spoon

IMPRESSION:Delish, fresh, light, clean and with a clear asian influence

Second: Silverspot IPA (Pelican Pub and Brewery)

IMPRESSION: This beer is 6%ABV English style IPA, not hoppy, the IBU is 55 (not gluten-free)

BONUS: Portion of the proceeds goes to collaborative habitat restoration for the threatened species of Oregon silverspot butterfly

Buffalo Tartar – delish!

3rd: Nicky USA Purveyors of specialty game and high quality meat (local PacNW)

Dish: Tartar Water Buffalo on a cracker, Jacobson’s sea salt, lemon, capers

IMPRESSION: So delicious, fresh and savory, yet light with the lemon

FOURTH: Rockfish Bakery Cafe, Lincoln City, Oregon

DISH: Sourdough Bread

IMPRESSION: I didn’t taste it (not gluten-free) but tablemates say it’s very good bread, great chew, good crackle,and a mild sour flavor. “It’s worth the carbs to eat bread this good!”

Cool Stuff: Naturally risen bread, takes 2 days to make, simple ingredient recipes

5th: Wild Caught Oregon Albacore (OregonCoast.org, Lincoln, City, Oregon)

DISH: Classic Tuna Salad sandwich

IMPRESSION:Yum! Looking at the fresh canned/jarred tuna and finding out how to get from my local Oregon fisherman (will fill you all in later on a future blog!)

6th: Jacobsen Sea Salt

DISH: small bites, sourdough bread with butter, honey and sea salt

IMPRESSION:Lovely seas salt, knowledgeable purveyor

7th: Happyrock Coffee Roastery

DISH: Coffee (just a taste in a dixie type cup)

IMPRESSION: nicely roasted flavor, not too acrid and it packed a caffeinated whollop!

8th: Coastal Mist Chocolates

Dish: Box of chocolates for the table to share! Yay!

IMPRESSION: Gorgeous looking chocolates, not sure if they’re fair trade or not. Some flavors were really interesting like the yuzku, others (like the marshmallow filled) left something to be desired. All were beautiful looking though and it was awesome of them to give each table a box.

We LOVED this gal from Temptress Truffles

9th: Temptress Truffles

Dish: sliced apple with truffle salted caramel sauce

IMPRESSION: Divine — this was the BIGGEST hit at our table. Not only was her truffle sauce out of this world BUT she was just too sweet and adorable to not fall in love with her! You MUST support this micro-business — she’s the real deal!

10th & Final: Fishes Sushi and Japanese Cuisine

Dish: 1 slice of a crab roll with Oregon wasabi

IMPRESSION: Yum! But I needed more and some saki.

Bonus: Blackberries are high in antioxidants and fiber

As part our family’s commitment to Build A Better Me this year, we have eliminated gluten in our diets, reduced the overall carbs in our family’s food choices, and adopted a mostly Paleo style diet. But the most compelling change in our household came for my husband. It was over a year ago now, that he drank his last soda and he did it with some help from a little herb called Stevia.

Which is why I was so excited when my favorite purveyor of liquid Stevia — NuNaturals, contacted me and offered to send me a selection of their Stevia products. After chatting with Ron over at NuNaturals, I was excited to find that he was going to send out a couple new flavors in their liquid Stevia line (peppermint and orange!) for me to try. What he sent was much more than I could have ever expected!

My all-time favorite is the alcohol-free vanilla liquid, made with Singing Dog Vanilla (in fact, it was my recent post on homemade Faux Vanilla Frappuccinos that caught their eye.) I use this regularly in my tea, Teecchino, and even in water but the most amazing thing about the vanilla liquid  Stevia is that it helped my hubby beat a lifelong soda addiction (he’s been off soda for over a year now! Yay, honey!)

How to Beat Your Soda Addiction

When I met my husband, he had a serious soda habit. His drug of choice rhymed with Hoka Hole-A. He would drink it from a can or two liter bottle if he had to, but he had a particular fancy for the soda fountain variety, with a little extra syrup in the syrup to carbonation ratio (yes, I know, he had a problem, poor baby!) The worst part is, he was buying several of these 32 to 64 ounce babies a day. He had tried to quit many times before in his life but was NEVER successful.

Then, I came into his life and naturally, as we all do, you want to be the best for the person you love, so he began focusing on his health more, cutting way back on his soda drinking (and eating more vegetables!) but still he never fully was able to wrest himself from soda’s grip (sugar has been determined to be as addictive as cocaine and heroin.) But with the birth of our son, came a new determination for my hubby to stop drinking soda. His own father had passed on at the early age of 53 from a heart attack and my husband decided that whatever he did, he wanted to be in the best shape possible to be around for his son.

Stepping Down, to Step Away

Together we came up with a plan for kicking his deadly soda habit. I call it Stepping Down, to Step Away — he used a replacement method to help him reduce his reliance and finally step away, completely, from soda — this is the most sustainable way I know to quit something. Here are the steps he took:

• Step 1 Cutback: Reduce the number and frequency of sodas that you ingest throughout the day. How many can you cut out, what meals, times of day can you skip it without replacing it? Do it.
• Step 2 Drink more water: The more you properly hydrate yourself, the less you’ll be triggered for soda.
• Step 3 Replace with the Next Best Option : My husband replaced high fructose corn syrup, caffeine and sodium benzoate drenched commercial sodas, with all natural sodas (in cola and ginger ale flavors.) The best brand, hands down, is Blue Sky Naturals which has both a regular and organic line of sodas, both are all natural nothing artificial, no preservatives and all naturally flavored. You can find these at Whole Foods Markets nationwide. They even have a new Stevia sweetened version.
• Step 3 Go Down to the Next, Next Best Option: Here, the hubs began replacing some of the natural sodas with Dry Soda, a less sweet, all natural, only 4 ingredient soda. It comes in a variety of sexy flavors from rhubarb, blood orange and cucumber to vanilla, lavender, and juniper berry. Delish.
• Step 4 The BEST level: Here’s where the hubby made the healthiest choice, he made his final step down using the vanilla Stevia Liquid from NuNaturals in his sparkling water. All he needed was 4 to 5 drops to get that sweet but deep vanilla flavor, paired with the tongue tickling bubbles of sparkling water. WIN!

In the beginning, there was just natural soda and that old villain, Hoka Hole-A, but the more he drank the natural soda, the less he relied on the “hard” stuff and pretty soon he was drinking only natural soda (except at the movies, where temptation was greatest!) Then we added Dry Soda to the mix, to reduce his sugar intake, and finally we introduced the vanilla Stevia (stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose levels, so it’s an awesome choice) and sparkling water.

There were times when all of them were in the mix but with perseverance, a good plan and a supportive mate (I even began sneaking paper cups, filled with ice, complete with lids and straws into the movie theater in my big purse, along with ice-cold cans of Blue Sky cola. Once inside, we’d pop the tab and pour it into the cup — he’d get the movie experience he wanted, without all the crap food temptation. Voila!) My sweet hubby became a soda-free man!

The soda-free dude himself.

There were loads of interesting side effects of his quitting soda:

• He lost weight
• He is less moody
• He has way more energy
• His seasonal allergies have gotten better
• His digestion is better
• He’s reduced his chances for diabetes (even 1 soda a day increases your risk!)
• He’s reduced his chances for heart disease

The bonus? With the Stevia and sparkling water, my hubs still gets to enjoy a really refreshing beverage that helps keep his body well-hydrated, his taste buds satisfied and his body in good health. I am so proud of him — what he did for himself and what he did for our family is significant. He made a choice for better health, to be around for his son (and for me.)

If you’d like tips on how to reduce the sugar in your diet, stop by my friend David’s blog called Stop Being Sweet and see what effects reducing the sugar in your life can make.

WIN a bottle of NuNaturals Pure Liquid alcohol-free Vanilla Stevia

NuNaturals wants to give away a bottle a post (4 total) of each of their enticing liquid Stevia flavors. If you’d like to win my favorite, the vanilla, just visit NuNaturals website’s recipe section and post a comment below telling me what recipe you’d like to use your NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia in.

Extra entries:

Be sure to let me know each of these you did in the comment section below:

• Like NuNaturals on Facebook
• Like The Groovy Foody on Facebook
• Follow @Nessnix on Twitter
• Tweet the following message: “Beat UR Soda Addiction: Find out how at The GroovyFoody & Win NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia! #sugarfree #stevia http://wp.me/p13Ign-qH”

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• Guilt-Free Summer: Frosty Faux Frappuccino (groovyfoody.wordpress.com)

Mmmmm. . . frosty, sweet and creamy — hits the spot!

Here on the blog (and more importantly, in my life) I am always striving to be better and do better. Not only am I gluten-free right now (and way low carb) I have also eliminated sugar and caffeine from the old diet as well. I never know how long this will last, I try my best, but I am far from perfect — I just think it’s important to try to be as healthy as I can be.

That said, as many of you who have tried my recipes know — I will NEVER sacrifice flavor.

That’s why as we head into summer, I have tried to come up something that will help waylay my cravings for both sweets and iced coffee that is good for me, as well as a suitable and satisfying substitute.

In the past, I’ve tried just ordering decaf and soy and sugar-free flavored iced coffee but while it’s better for me — it’s not GOOD for me. Also, it’s not great for my pocketbook AND I hate the artificial flavor aftertaste, so I usually end up ordering it without additional flavors (vanilla is my fav) or sweetness, which means it still won’t fulfill my sweet tooth.

But yesterday, I believe I found the answer.

Wake up and Smell the Teeccino!

What’s crazy is — it’s been staring me in the face all along. I’ve been drinking a coffee alternative beverage sold at health food stores called Teeccino on and off since 2001, when I managed a Naturopathic practice.  Teeccino is awesome hot and I have also enjoyed many times cold, with soy milk and ice, after storing fresh brewed Teeccino in the fridge for a couple hours to cool it down. But I’ve never done what I did with it yesterday.

Why Teeccino is actually GOOD for you!

Coffee, is highly acidic and chock full of caffeine, which can over-stimulate the digestive tract aggravating health problems for people with gastrointestinal conditions like acid reflux, food intolerances and IBS.  Teeccino helps to rebalance the negative effects of coffee. It’s beneficial for people with digestive health conditions because it is non-acidic and contains the prebiotic, inulin and inulin is soluble fiber from the chicory root that supports and encourages healthy population of beneficial digestive flora to aid in digestion. As anyone who’s been to New Orleans can tell you chicory is good and true New Orleans style coffee or cafe noir uses brewed chicory and coffee in combo for a depth of flavor that’s out of this world.

It’s also heart healthy, providing two nutrients, potassium and soluble fiber that help prevent strokes, lower high blood pressure and total cholesterol. Whereas the caffeine in coffee,  is a central nervous stimulant that makes the heart beat faster and can increase blood pressure and even decaf has been shown raise blood pressure.

It’s also gluten-free — which is wonderful because coffee (decaf or regular), though gluten-free, has been found to  cross-react with gluten antibodies producing similar reactions to gluten in people with gluten issues.

I used the French Vanilla Teeccino but it also comes in Hazelnut, Mocha, Chocolate Mint, Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate Raspberry, Almond Amaretto, Southern Pecan, Caramel Nut, Maya Chai and Maya Chocolate. Delish!

Unsweetened Coconut Milk

But I was not quite there yet, while the Teeccino was good, it still wasn’t decadent enough to feel like I was getting my sweet coffee fix and with the inflammatory response of too much soy milk, I decided to make it even better and go coconuts! So I switched out my soy milk for unsweetened coconut milk  – good fats that are great for the heart and rich creamy flavor — we’re on the right track.

I like to buy the canned coconut milk, it has that layer of sweet coconut cream on top (great in recipes that call for cream) but it’s also a money saver. You can mix one can of coconut milk to two cans of water (shaking it well to mix ) and triple your coconut milk for the money. This makes the coconut milk the same consistency as the more expensive stuff, sold in aseptics, without all the sugar and other ingredients (natural or otherwise used to preserve it.)

Sweetness is my Weakness

OK, so I need to feed the beast. Some people eschew sugar substitutes as they believe it helps you continue to have a taste for sweet but I believe in baby steps and when you’re stepping away from something, it always help to taper down by using a substitute in the interim.

In the past, when not doing refined sugar, I have substituted honey, agave and maple syrup but since the body sees these as sugar as well (just more slow burning because they’re nutritionally superior) I decided to use my favorite replacement for kicking sugar cravings — Stevia.

Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose, perfect for folks on low carbohydrate diets. I first used Stevia in the early 90′s — back when it could only be found in health food stores in it’s green powdery form and could never be used for baking without becoming bitter. This is still the most whole form, besides the leaf itself but Stevia is also available in many other, more potent forms now. From the commercial brand hybrids (like Truvia — stay away from these) to the refined pure white stevia powders, blends for baking (I haven’t tried yet but hope to soon!) and my favorite, the liquid versions that come with added flavor bonuses, like vanilla.

My favorite brand is Nu Naturals Pure Liquid™ Vanilla Alcohol-Free Stevia™ (you can find it online or at your favorite health food store or section.) It’s made with Singing Dog Vanilla (yummy and also alcohol-free and gluten-free.)

The Real Breakthrough

The real breakthrough came though when I decided to freeze my freshly brewed Teeccino in ice trays in the freezer. Once frozen, I just plunked the Teeccino cubes in the blender, poured in the coconut milk and blended until icy smooth and creamy, adding the liquid Stevia in the final blend. The result was a creamy, icy, coffee-like healthful, whole food equivalent of a Vanilla Frappuccino that I can enjoy all summer long– guilt-free!  And now you can too!

Frosty Faux Frappuccino

• 1 Ice tray filled with the fresh brewed Teeccino flavor of your choice
• 16 ounces of coconut milk (make sure if you bought in cans this is 16 oz of the diluted version)
• 10 to 15 drops of Stevia

Blend until ice is broken up and you have a smooth, icy, frappuccino-like drink, adjusting the Stevia level to your desired sweetness.

This makes an entire blender full of fraps or about 40 ounces — share with a friend or drink ‘em all day!

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Berries are nature’s candy. There is nothing better than biting into a handful of the sweetest, ripest and juiciest of summer’s bounties — the berry. Berries are so delectable and favored in our house, that my son refers to them as dessert and has, on many occasions, passed on ice cream or a cookie in favor of a juicy crimson-fleshed strawberry (his favorite.)  Not only are they delicious but — wait for it — they pack a wallop when it comes to nutrition. That is, if you eat organic.

Why Berries Kick A@#!

Berries are one of the Superfoods (do they get a cape?), those foods so nutritionally superior that adding them to your diet can do amazing things, like keep free radicals at bay, battle cancer, and slow down the aging process. How does a sweet little berry do this? Because some of them, like raspberries and blueberries are loaded with antioxidants.

Blueberries in fact, have been shown to slow down neurological degeneration and both berries contain ellagic acid — a cancer fighting compound, that helps keep free radicals from damaging your cells. Not only that but they are full of fiber and vitamin C as well as calcium, magnesium and manganese. Just one cup of berries is around 8 grams of fiber.

These berries have a high ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) value, a scientific measurement of the antioxidant power of a food. Raspberries have been found to rate at 5,065, with wild blueberries rating at 9,621 — conventional berries are about half that. If you’re eating conventionally produced berries, you’ll also be bellying up to high concentrations of pesticide (not my favorite thing to load my kid up on!) That’s why I opt for fresh organic berries in the summer and frozen organic berries the rest of the year.

Let’s Have a BerryFeast!

When Whole Foods Markets approached me and asked if I’d like to throw a berry party for me and my friends,  I, of course, said Yes! They supplied the berries and other ingredients of my choice and I got to come up with a nice array of berry dishes. Some I peppered throughout the month here on The Groovy Foody, serving up Sour Cherry and Sour Cream Milkshakes, Easy Frozen Blackberry Pops, Summer Strawberry Chicken Salad with Hazelnuts and moist and fluffy Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins. 

I even whipped up a from-scratch New York Style Cheesecake using a beauty of a recipe from Epicurious which I adapted by using gluten-free graham cracker cookies by Kinnikinnick from Whole Foods and omitting the lemon and zest and replacing it with 2 tsp of Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla and then topped with fresh organic strawberries, lining them up like little slivers of hearts for a sweet treat on Father’s Day!

Finally, the day of the backyard BBQ at my sweet friend Margo’s house (her house is MUCH bigger than mine and she has a fabulously HUGE yard) nevermind that in Portland, even in late June you CANNOT count on the weather to cooperate — we BBQ’d and Berry’d out, even in the rain. Margo and her mother sweetly put together a yummy grilled feast for us all:  BBQ chicken legs, two kinds of pasta salad (a Greek gluten-free pasta with olives, tomatoes and feta) and a bow tie fresh pesto pasta salad and beautifully caramelized, grilled asparagus — Yum!

I was in charge of dessert — and drinks! Well, mostly — Margo whipped up some lovely “Crema — “Italian Custard Cream” from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan which she adapted by omitting the lemon peel and instead soaked freshly cracked cardamom seeds in the milk for about a day beforehand and then added rum. “I don’t know how much rum — more than a dash–I’d describe it as a pour.”  To which I added my Mixed Berry Gazpacho with Basil (from this month’s Bon Appetit recipe by Michael Laiskonis) — the pairing of these two dishes was phenomenal (the basil, olive oil and pepper added a wonderfully rich complexity to the dish that is not to be missed!) and the Crema tasted like a beautifully executed panna cotta, sans gelatin. Thanks Margo!

The other dish I made was Strawberry Shortcake Cream Puffs with Rose Water and Honey — these were devoured just moments after I placed them on the table — a clear hit!

Lastly, and of course, not least, I shook up a big Mason jar of fresh blueberry Mojitos. The Mojito recipe I use is my favorite from AllRecipes — with the addition of crushed wild mini blueberries and full size fresh blueberries for garnish. I also make a simple syrup instead of granulated sugar in which I soak lime peel and mint leaves for an extra refreshing punch of citrus and mint. These were not only deliciously thirst quenching but beautifully colored as well.

It was a BBQ and a Berry Fest to remember.  Thanks to Margo, Justin, Tula, Leslie, Conrad, Juno and Todd for joining in the cooking, planning and/or eating of the feast and thanks to Whole Foods for making it all possible!

I hope you enjoy the Cream Puff Shortcakes and the links to all the other berrylicious recipes we enjoyed that day!

Strawberry Creams Puffs with Rose Water and Honey

Use my Choux Pastry recipe at the end of the Emeril Lagasse Artichoke Soup with Oysters post to bake up the golden puffed up pastry that will cradle this simple berry preparation, then add a dollop of fresh whipped cream. The rose-water and honey is a an old friend of mine. I often eat a dish of strawberries with just a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of rose-water — together it’s a trinity unparalleled. I always say it’s something that the Gods of Greek Mythology must have eaten high on Mt. Olympus.

• 2 lbs fresh organic strawberries, cleaned, stemmed and sliced
• 2 Tbsp Raw, Wild Honey
• 2 Tbsp Rose Water

Stir all the ingredients together, adjusting rose water and honey to tastes and depending on the ripeness of your berries. Refrigerate until ready to serve at least 1 hour.

Right before serving, split the pastry, fill with a nice heaping of strawberry mixture and a generous dollop of freshly whipped organic heavy cream (no sugar necessary.) Do not fill these ahead of time because the filling is much too juicy and the pastry too delicate to last more than a few minutes, during which they are eaten, before becoming soggy.

This month Whole Foods is featuring Cherries and giving away a WHOLE CASE OF CHERRIES as part of their Cherry Fest. Just visit their blog and comment on what you’d do with all those cherries for your chance to win! (I know, I did.)

Disclaimer: As a sponsor of this blog, Whole Foods provided ingredients free of charge in order to facilitate these recipes. No monetary compensation was received for my opinions — they are, as always, truthfully my own.

It’s summer time and though the weather here in the Pacific Northwest hasn’t seemed to have received that memo yet — we at The Groovy Foody have. We’re not gonna let a little lack of sunshine ruin our summer fun, we’re celebrating the kick-off of summer with the bevy creamy treats whipped up by Adam Ried in his freshly released cookbook, Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes.

Not only is this book full of classic milkshakes you’ve always loved but it’s also brimming with party-like adult versions like the Chocolate Guinness Shake and the Gianduja (Nutella and Frangelico make this one sing!), lesser known shakes like the entire tea and coffee shake section and fruit shakes with outrageous flavor pairings  like the Strawberry Basil, Tomato-Peach  and Lemon Buttermilk. But Ried doesn’t stop there — he takes you on a world tour of frosty libations with his chapter on Shakes from Afar featuring Cholado (Columbia slurpees with fruit on top), Batidos (Caribbean drinks made from blended fruit, ice and milk) and Lassis (Middle Eastern and Indian favorites that use yogurt instead of ice cream.

Kids love a good shake!

The book is so yummy that I had a hard time not buying cases of ice cream just to try them all but my Groovy Booty doesn’t need that. So I played around with Ried’s Sour Cherry and Sour Cream recipe, making just a few healthful substitutions. I will post his recipe below unfettered, so you can try it out in all its glory.

NOTE: The changes I made put it somewhere between a smoothie and a Lassi — nevertheless, it was delicious and you can have it my way by using fresh cherries,  substituting Greek yogurt for the sour cream and coconut milk ice cream (lower glycemic index) for the dairy ice cream and adding just a dash of cardamom.

Sour Cream and Sour Cherry Shake

From Adam Ried’s Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes

• 6 Tbsp sour cherries, chopped (about 3 oz)
• 6 Tbsp light cherry syrup (from jarred sour cherries) or cherry juice (approx. 3oz)
• 3 Tbsp sour cream
• 1 Tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/4 Tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 7 medium scoops of vanilla bean ice cream, softened

Disclosure: I was provided a copy of the book for review.  No monetary compensation was provided. All opinions are truthfully my own.

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