The Cooking Dish

MacGourmet Deluxe 3 Giveaway (closed)

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**This contest has ended**
The winner was chosen via the awesome random.org, and the winner is Travis Washburn!
Congratulations, Travis. I’ve sent an email to you at the given email address. Please note that if no response is received within 7 days, another winner will be chosen.

Thanks to the generous folks at Mariner Software, I have one full license to give away for MacGourmet Deluxe 3 (a $49.95 value)! Please note that this is a Mac-only application and will not run on a PC running Windows, Linux, or anything other than MacOS 10.5 or higher.
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One More Summer Has Come and Gone

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Now that summer is over, I’ll be back to a more regular posting schedule. Every summer I have great plans for this blog. This summer was no different I planned on focusing on a billion—yeah, that’s right… a billion—ways to make incredible smoothies and post them on the blog, but I never got around to it. Do I regret it? No, not really, although I missed all of you. Even though I made smoothies nearly every night and often for breakfast, it felt good to take a break from the ordinary schedule.

This summer I spent some excellent time with family and friends, which was a lot of fun. It was a good summer for me, despite working long hours at my FTJ. We took lots of trips and spent a lot of time bonding–awwwww. Let me share with you some of our good times…

Pictures after the break.
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15 Melon Head Fruit Carvings

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It’s sad to think summer is finally coming to an end. It’s also sad that the best watermelons I’ve had all summer long were among the last I’ll have this year. At least I’m ending on a high note, right?

Over the summer, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to cut watermelon. I’ve had a blast as I’ve chopped them away, bit by bit. In hindsight, I probably should have taken a few pictures to share with you. Oh well, maybe next time. As I cut up my latest watermelon for the kids and smoothies, I ended up playing around and cutting faces into the slices, and that’s when it hit me–there had to be somebody out there who has carved a melon head.

So today, I bring you a collection of 15+ melon heads, carved by random people in random places. I’ve tried to credit original sources (as far as I can tell), but the nature of the internet is that it’s nearly impossible to track picture sources down. I’d love to keep adding to this list, so if you know of any others, let me know!
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10 Ways to Make Cooking Enjoyable for Kids

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For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while now, you know that I enjoy cooking with my family in the kitchen, especially with my daughter, Maggie. The best part about it is that Maggie enjoys cooking with me. This is a tradition I plan to continue for as long as Maggie wants to hang out with me. From what I hear, once they get into those teenager years, “dads” become nerdy. What kids don’t understand is that some of us have always been nerdy–but we can talk about that at a later time.

Today, I want to share with you some ideas to get your youngsters involved in the kitchen.

If you’re lucky, your kids will want to know what you’re doing in the kitchen and they’ll take an interest in it and even pitch in voluntarily. Maybe you’re not so lucky and your kids think the kitchen pretty much sucks and is just another way for you to torture them. Who knows, maybe they’re right–but it doesn’t have to be that way.
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Epic Monkey Dreams

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Last night I was one spoonful away from eating monkey brain soup. Apparently me eating it was a test of courageousness and honor. If I were to pass the test, I’d be well on my way to becoming a hero or sorts, capable of defeating even my worst enemies (who, by the way, I’ve never even met). So late last night there I sat next to my brother, Daniel, both of us with big 1/2 gallon sized bowls of monkey brain soup staring us in the face, wondering what we’d gotten ourselves in to.

Let’s rewind about 4 hours. Daniel and I were hauled more-or-less against our will by a dozen people to a bizarre underground house/kitchen/restaurant place. I say ‘more-or-less’ because a part of me was rather curious as to where they were taking us in such a hurry. When we arrived, we entered what looked like a mud hut, but we immediately took a long flight of stairs downward to a large dining area. The furniture was a healthy balance between my old university’s chemistry lab, an urban Swedish home, and a Victorian ranch house. Wow. Someone call the decorator.
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Fun St. Patrick’s Day Green Food Ideas

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Whenver St. Patrick’s day rolls around, inevitably I start thinking of Dr. Seuss’s book, “Green Eggs and Ham.” I’ve always loved that book; Sam-I-am is hilarious trying to get the other guy to eat the colored food. I’m sure Dr. Seuss had feeding kids in mind when writing it. But just taste it! Okay, back to food coloring…I always start experimenting with food coloring around the holidays, and sometimes end up with some pretty weird stuff, luckily though, it’s always edible and the kids still eat it.

Seeing how today is Saint Patrick’s Day, I decided I’d write down some ideas for you to mix up your food routine. Keep in mind that the possibilities are endless. I’ve taken the time to just write out a few. Think GREEN with everything you make and you’re well on your way to a festive St. Patrick’s Day meal.
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