Oh man, I’m so excited about everything happening on the blog this week! (Have you entered my giveaway yet?).  Well, here’s one more thing to add to the list – the very first NoshGirl Chef Challenge!

Introducing the contenders!
(Pop on over to their blogs and say hi!)

The premise is quite simple, really…

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…(and I mean EVERYTHING)

via Mark Bittman

I am SO EXCITED to be doing this giveaway!  Let’s face it – I have a tiny apartment kitchen and limited time.  As much as I’d love to prepare a 4-hr meal, I won’t.  Enter Mark Bittman‘s How to Cook Everything (Tenth Anniversary Edition!).  Mark Bittman, my beloved New York Times food writer, is known for his non-fussy but super-yummy approach to food.  This book was recommended to be my three separate individuals, and once I purchased it, I was hooked. I read this book like a novel – it is that good.  Seriously, you learn how to cook EVERYTHING – and it’s quick, easy (no really) and delicious.  Right after I made a few recipes from this book, I knew I wanted to host a giveaway for it as well!

Would you like to WIN your very own copy?  Here’s how to enter:

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Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had a great weekend.  I’ve got some exciting stuff on the blog this week (including a giveaway!) so stay tuned!  But first, I was digging though my photo folders just now, and I realized I never wrote about these luscious cupcakes – a TRAVESTY!!! As you may know by now, I LOVE cupcakes.  I can’t resist popping into a cupcake store when I pass by one, as recently was the case.  My little detour into Butter Lane proved to be well worth it.  Located smack dab in the East Village, Butter Lane screams super-cute the minute you walk in:

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I ask Ted Allen about his food phobias! Enjoy!

So I think by now you know I looove kitchen gadgets – sieve? Sweet! Silpat? Sign me up.  One appliance that I had been neglecting was my brandy-new slow cooker.  There it was on the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet, woefully biding its time.  My feelings towards it were four-fold:

1. I LOVE kitchen gadgets.
2. But I don’t know what to cook in a slow cooker.
3. Well, I can learn.
4. But it takes up space. (My motto for 2011 – no appliances that make only one thing!  Ok, no more appliances that make only one thing)

In the end, Points 1 and 3 won out, especially after I saw my friend Cathy’s recipe for Chile Verde. I followed her recipe to the word except for some toppings at the end and some creative ingredient substitution.

You will need:

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As I had previously mentioned, I’m currently in the final round of the Marx Foods Ridiculously Delicious Challenge.  For the finals, we have to use the super-secret ingredient provided by Marx Foods to create a ridiculously delicious recipe! I’m so excited that the secret ingredient is fresh wasabi (I wrote about its unique properties here) and had such a tough time narrowing down my options to just one recipe.

So I didn’t…

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I recently checked out Hill Country Barbecue with a meat-loving eating buddy.  Loud, casual and lively, Hill Country Barbecue had a reputation for good meat, good music and a fun atmosphere.  But would it live up to its reputation?

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So guess what? I’ve made it to the fourth and final round of the Marx Foods Ridiculously Delicious Challenge!  Whee!  As part of the final round,  a super secret mystery ingredient was overnighted to me. If you follow my Tweets, you’ll have read my guesses on what it could be.  Well, guess no longer – the secret ingredient is WASABI!

Wait a minute – isn’t it supposed to look like green paste, accompanied by some DayGlo ginger?  Well surprise, surprise – the wasabi that accompanies your California roll oftentimes is not actually wasabi…

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Who loves salted caramel? (I do, I do!)

It’s no mistake that this is the third recipe on this blog to feature caramel + salt (Check out my posts on salted caramel brownies and salted caramel bread pudding!).  One of my blogging buddies, Layla could really use your support – read about her story here.  Since Layla and I share a mutual love for salted caramel, I whipped up a batch of chocolate caramel cookies with sea salt for her.  Keep an eye on your mailbox, girl!

I used this recipe, which has been making the rounds.

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Yes, I’ve made it to Round 3 of the Ridiculously Delicious Challenge! A huge THANK YOU and big intrawebs hugs to all of you for voting for me!  For Round 3, we have to “make over” any of the other 14 recipes that also made it to this round, using any 3 remaining mystery ingredients (except the ones we already used).  After reading through all of the yummilicious contenders, I went with Katie’s Cucumber Cups with a Feta-Dill Stuffing and Lemon-Szechuan Dressing – I loooove the cucumber dill combo!  AND I’m totally counting this as one of my Veggie Resolutions (this would be #4) – I like to think of it as just being efficient

Rather than cups, I decided to re-interpret this recipe as a chilled cucumber soup – perhaps longing for summer a little early?

I had already used the tart cherries and the Szechuan peppercorns, so those ingredients were out of contention.  I decided to go with the dill pollen (of course), the saffron threads, and the Tepin chile.  The saffron threads tie back into the Persian culinary use of yogurt and cucumbers, and the Tepin chile gives a brief but intense kick to the otherwise cool yogurt.

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