July 2011 ~ Fresh Bites

Hey, Grillmeisters! Grab this eCookbook Now!

12:34 PM Fresh Bites 1 comment

Are you wandering in the wilderness and just grilling the same-old, same-old? Then this snazzy new eCookbook is for you: Grilling & BBQ—100 Best Recipes. Talk about yumm-o grilling ideas! 100 of the best—even three for dessert! (Who knew you could grill s’mores?) You won’t have to search around to find them, just browse your iPad or Nook or Kindle. You like burgers? How do Tex-Mex Burgers with Cajun Mayo sound? Steak? Check out Grilled Delmonico Steaks or Korean BBQ Short Ribs. Lots ‘o kabob and seafood recipes included, too. They didn’t forget vegetarians either. Portobello Mushroom Burgers? Delish!

Oh, man! The screen for this eBook practically sizzles with ideas! Rubs, marinades, homemade BBQ sauce! I couldn’t shut it down, and I got really hungry looking at all the photos and reading the tips and reviews—from home cooks who love to grill. I never knew the difference between direct and indirect heat—and why you might want one over the other—but now I do. You’ll find that with a lot more handy, practical info in the front of the book.

It’s super easy to download this eCookbook—and take it anywhere. (Tell your in-laws you’ll cook dinner!) Click here to find an online retailer and buy. While you’re at it, check out all the other delicious Allrecipes eCookbooks, too.

Happy grilling!
-Judith

From Meatloaf to Sweet Potato Burritos

11:31 AM Fresh Bites 2 comments

Have you tried to cut meat out of your diet at least one day a week? From what I’ve seen on the Allrecipes.com Facebook Fan Page, many of our community members have found that it’s a great way to add more vegetables into their diet, helpful when it comes to budgeting, and a great opportunity to try dishes outside of their comfort zone. There’s an Allrecipeep here in the office that always has amazing meatless dishes during lunch. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to pick up on a few of Richard’s favorites and for you to get a chance to know a ’Peep here at the office!

Richard is the director of our Site Operations team, which is part of the Creative group. His team is responsible for the nuts and bolts of content integration. The most glamorous thing his team does is publish all the recipes and recipe collections on the site. He’s been at Allrecipes for 11 years, and loves creating a great site experience for every one of our millions of daily visitors.

Read why he became a vegetarian, meat dishes he misses, and what he likes to snack on at a Seattle Mariners game.
-Jen

Why did you become a vegetarian? To not get too serious about it, I’ll just say I like animals.

Is it hard to not eat meat? It’s really, really easy not to! I generally don’t even have to think about it.

Where do you get protein? I’m not a vegan, so I get plenty of dairy; nuts, tofu (love it!), and soy-based meat substitutes (some are great, some are not). Experimenting with legumes is a fun way to get protein, too. This year I grew shelling peas in my small garden. I have been adding them to pasta dishes and salads (the ones I don’t snack on when I am out in the yard, that is).

What meat dishes do you miss? I miss salmon! Sometimes I crave my grandmother’s meatloaf from when I was a kid. I also miss turkey on Thanksgiving (but I still get to eat tons of great stuff).

Have any suggested vegetarian recipes we should try? There are a lot of great recipes in the Allrecipes vegetarian collection. One of my favorites is the Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos. I used to make them all the time, but it has been a while. I think I will make them again this weekend!

I know you’re an avid Seattle Mariners fan, what is your go-to snack item when you’re at a game? There are a lot of tasty vegetarian options at Safeco Field. I almost always grab a slice of gourmet cheese pizza down in the new bullpen food court. I finally tried a veggie crepe—it was good! The veggie sushi rolls are good, too. I know crepes and sushi at the ballpark aren’t exactly baseball traditions, but they make sense in Seattle. Don’t worry, baseball fans, the BBQ, fish and chips, and the new “Hamburg and Frites” stand provide superior non-vegetarian choices. Mariners’ fans of all dietary persuasions love to rally around our famous garlic fries. Oh, and beer is vegetarian, right?

*Night photo of Safeco Field courtesy of David Irons Jr

Does Andrew Zimmern Have the Stomach for Your Bizarre Foods?

11:35 AM Fresh Bites 4 comments

TV host Andrew Zimmern is in Seattle this week, eating strange items at local restaurants for his Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods. Now, bizarre is in the eye of the beholder, but we think America’s home cooks have come up with some pretty weird dishes. We’re offering Andrew a date in the Allrecipes downtown Seattle kitchen to try them—if he dares.

There are a variety of recipes from the site to choose from:
•Braised with bacon, you can’t go wrong with this recipe for Squirrel Legs.
•Fish Smoothies. Raw Pacific Northwest salmon pureed with seasonal strawberries, yum!
•Yummy bear in a stew—Big Bear Stew.
•Pig tail and ears are paired with garbanzo beans to create a tasty Guisado de Cerdo dish.
•Antelope Goulash is available for those who have some extra antelope on hand.
•Add some flair to your recipe with Majorcan Style Brains.
•Add Lamb Fries to your next entertaining menu, you’ll be sure to get the food conversation started.
•If you haven’t tried durian yet, perhaps start out with a Durian Puree Cheesecake.
•Alligator Chili can be your next comfort food dish!

If you’d like to see Andrew Zimmern try out one of the Allrecipes bizarre recipes, be sure to let them know on their Facebook page. Bizarre Foods is not currently scheduled to swing by the office but we’d love to see them here! Wouldn’t you?

We wanted to know what else our community has tried outside of their comfort zone. Asking the question “Alligator Chili, Slow Cooker Squirrel, Big Bear Stew, or Antelope Goulash—what are some of the bizarre dishes you’ve tried?” on our Facebook page, there were a lot of adventurous eaters out there!

Have a bizarre recipe you’d like to add to the collection? Tried a bizarre dish lately? Tell us about it!

-Jen and Seth

Would you like a cupcake?

1:12 PM Fresh Bites No comments

Have you noticed the rise in popularity in cupcakes? We certainly have!

Cupcakes have definitely taken Seattle by storm. It’s the dessert of choice at many of my friends’ bridal showers, weddings, cocktail parties, birthday parties, and get-togethers. Why cupcakes? Perhaps it’s the ease of creating different flavors for one event or when you eat a cupcake (or two) you don’t feel as bad as eating a quarter of a whole cake? Whatever the reason, this delicious bite-size treat seems to be here to stay.

Some of the favorite flavors here at the Allrecipes’ office include: German Chocolate, Carrot Cake, Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Funfetti Cupcakes with Funfetti Frosting, Pandan Cupcake, Yellow Cake Mix with Homemade Butter Cream, Carrot Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake, Pancakes and Bacon Cupcake, Chocolate with Coffee Frosting, Salted Caramel Cupcakes, Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo Vegan Cupcakes, Triple Chocolate, Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes.

Here’s a fun stat for you (I love a good stat, especially if it’s about dessert): In the last month, searches in the food/beverage industry for “cupcake recipes” nearly tripled! Check out some of our Top Rated Cupcake Recipes!

Have a craving for a cupcake now? We have a perfect sweet date night plan for you. We’ve partnered with the movie Mayor Cupcake to bring you a delicious Twitter giveaway! Starting Thursday, July 21st we’ll give away 10 copies of the movie. How do you enter? Starting on the 21st, follow us on Twitter (@Allrecipes), tell us your fav #cupcake flavor, and include #MayorCupcake in the tweet. We’ll announce winners at 3 p.m. PT on the following days:

•Thursday, July 21st
•Tuesday, July 26th
•Thursday, July 28th
•Wednesday, August 3rd
•Friday, August 5th

Be sure to check out our Top 20 Cupcake Recipes to find a recipe you’ll bake as a movie treat.

Want to watch Mayor Cupcake now? Mayor Cupcake is available now on DVD and On Demand. The DVD was released today!

Synopsis: Mary Maroni (Lea Thompson) is a loving wife, a caring mother of three, and Bridgestone’s finest cupcake baker. Her simple life becomes a lot more complicated when her daughter secretly nominates her to run for mayor. Before she can react, an unfortunate accident involving the incumbent mayor sends her straight into office. With the love and support of her family to guide her, it is up to Mary to prove that she has the right ingredients to clean up the town. All rise for Mayor Cupcake!

Grab your favorite cupcake and be sure to enter the Twitter giveaway!

-Jen E

Congrats to all our winners: @TheBusyCrab @thegingercook @uniontownlions @Reservations42 @ImCinder @7u3sday @AngeButterfly @mickme19 @VeeBear @AyeAye_Capn

A Climb for Clean Air

2:05 PM Fresh Bites No comments

On Friday, July 22, at 6AM, when most of us are turning over or turning off our alarm clocks, if all goes according to plan, Yanni will be standing on the icy crest of Mt. Rainier. That puts her three miles above sea level after a 12-hour hike carrying a 45-pound backpack for most of the trek! Her climb is with a 36-person team participating in the American Lung Association’s Climb for Clean Air event. It will be her second Mt. Rainier summit (her first was in 2005). You’ll be able to follow her climb, step-by-step, by clicking here to her progress page, which will be updated throughout the day by connecting her GPS tracker location via satellite to the server.

A mom who’s happily married with two young daughters, Yanni is also Allrecipes’ senior SQL Database Administrator, managing the team responsible for the backend databases supporting the Allrecipes site . She grew up in Indonesia, moved to Florida in 1997, and eventually found her way to Washington State—because of the Pacific Northwest’s great outdoors. “I’m a hiker, a mountaineer,” she explains. Her Mt. Rainier climb is as much as celebration of the outdoors, which she adores, as it is proof that she’s a thriving asthma, lung disease and cancer survivor. “This climb is a personal challenge,” she says. “I love it. It’s been my love, not a job.” She’s documented her intense 16-week training program in a blog. She’s also raised more than $9,000 in three months for ALA. Her daughters call Mt. Rainier, “Momma’s mountain.”

Daily gym workouts and eating high protein foods have been an essential part of her preparation for the climb. “I have a few favorite recipes from the site that I’ve made over and over for my slow carb diet,” Yanni says. These include Flatlander Chili, Jay’s Jerk Chicken, Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast, and Colleen’s Slow Cooker Jambalaya. What’s really been helpful to her has been Allrecipes’ Menu Planner. “I love it! I’m a planner,” she reports, “and the ability to plan what I’m going to eat for an entire week is awesome.” She also deeply appreciates her Allrecipes’ colleagues support for her involvement in the ALA Climb for Clear Air.

Her next outdoor challenge? Yanni will be running a half-marathon October 9th in Portland, Oregon, for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “Nothing really stops me. I’m a little stubborn,” she says with a smile.

-Judith D

Photos from Yanni's practice climbs:

Supper in the Market

9:46 AM Fresh Bites No comments

The Pike Place Market Foundation has become our philanthropy partner here at Allrecipes. We started the summer off by volunteering at the Downtown Food Bank. Throughout the summer, we have employees volunteering with their FoodLink program. Many of us at the office are able to visit Pike Place for lunch or on our way home, grabbing seasonal fruits and veggies as part of our dinner menu. We love the vendors, atmosphere, and community that Pike Place brings to Seattle.

On Friday, August 19, the Pike Place Market Foundation will host its 16th annual Sunset Supper at the Market fundraiser benefiting Pike Place Market’s human service agencies (preschool, clinic, senior center, food bank) for low-income and senior residents of downtown Seattle. Sunset Supper is one of Seattle’s most anticipated and unique summer events, and this year’s soiree is particularly special as it marks the milestone 25th birthday of Rachel the Piggybank, Seattle’s beloved civic symbol and the Market Foundation’s chief fundraiser. @Allrecipes and @MktFoundation are excited to announce a fun opportunity for six lucky people to win free tickets to the event! The Market Foundation and event sponsor Allrecipes.com will host twice-weekly trivia contests on Twitter from July 11 through 29. Each winner will receive one (1) free ticket to the event to represent the VIP Twitter Lounge.*

Perks of VIP Twitter Lounge:
•One (1) free ticket to Sunset Supper ($85 value) and access to unlimited food & beverages while supplies last
•Admission to event 30 minutes early—so you can beat the crowd and start the Twitter conversation about your favorite food and drinks
•Guaranteed seating

So brush up on your Market Foundation knowledge, follow @MktFoundation and @Allrecipes on Twitter, and get ready for the first trivia contest on Monday, July 11 at 11 a.m. PT!

*Computers will not be provided at the VIP Twitter Lounge—you’ll need a smartphone to live-tweet at the event.

For those of you interested in attending the event, be sure to get your tickets before they sell out! For a current list of participating vendors, click here.

If you’re not able to make the event but would like to see all the great food and drinks, follow #SunsetSupper on Twitter.

Good luck and happy tweeting!
-Jen E

Monday, July 11 - Ticket Giveaway #1
Q: What year was the Market Foundation established?
A: 1982
Winner: @MikeUnited

Wednesday, July 13 - Ticket Giveaway #2
Q: Who does the Market Foundation raise funds for? (Note: must list all 4)
A: Preschool, Clinic, Food Bank, Senior Center
Winner: @hhubacker

Monday, July 18 - Ticket Giveaway #3
Q: What @mktfoundation & @pike_place icon turns 25 the week of #SunsetSupper?
A: Rachel the Pig
Winner: @reddeliciousbag

Wednesday, July 20 - Ticket Giveaway #4
Q: How much $ has @RachelthePig raised since your arrival in 1986?
A: @RachelthePig has raised approx $200K since 1986.
Winner: @PureSongIsHere

Monday, July 25 - Ticket Giveaway #5
Q: What was the '01 @mktfoundation event where 170 fiberglass pigs adorned the streets of Seattle?
A: Pigs on Parade.
Winner: @hopeless11

Wednesday, July 27 - Ticket Giveaway #6
Q: What is @RachelthePig's cousin's name who joined the @mktfoundation piggybank team in March?
A: Billie the Piggybank.
Winner: @dogmountainfarm

News from the Ever-Moving World of Mobile: Allrecipes Releases Windows® Phone Mobile App

2:33 PM Fresh Bites 5 comments

If you’re a Windows® Phone fan, grab this new app and start cooking! Allrecipes.com and [wire]stone—an integrated digital marketing agency—have unveiled Allrecipes Dinner Spinner™. It was developed exclusively for the Windows Phone—a different kind of phone designed to bring together what you care about most, including Microsoft® Office, Xbox Live® and thousands of exciting apps. The brand new mobile application provides intuitive access to the complete, delicious database on Allrecipes.

"Allrecipes has a high bar for consumer satisfaction, and we are pleased to have worked with [wire] stone to deliver a full-featured and unique version of the award-winning Dinner Spinner mobile application to serve the growing audience of Windows Phone users,” said Scott Scazafavo, vice president of product management at Allrecipes.com.

Taking full advantage of the innovative Metro design language for Windows Phone, which operates using Windows Phone OS 7.0, favorite features for the new Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app include:

Exclusive Features to Windows® Phone
•Recipe of the Day: A new recipe is highlighted every day on the Live Tile page and within the application.
•Disable Screen Lock: An option to disable screen lock while viewing a recipe allows uninterrupted viewing of a recipe while preparing a meal.

Top Allrecipes Dinner Spinner Features
•Spinner: Select a main ingredient, dish type and cook time, then shake the phone to activate the Dinner Spinner’s slot machine-style action for surprise dish ideas.
•Search: Search by ingredient or dish name and add dietary filters (vegetarian, vegan, non-dairy, gluten-free, low carbs, low fat and more).
•Recipes: Recipes include a photo, nutrition information, ratings and reviews.
•Social Media Sharing Integration: Share recipes with social networks via Facebook and Twitter integration.

-Judith

Windows® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.