stories

A Nip Here, A Tuck There, FoodieCrush Got a Makeover

Hey! Would you lookie there. Things for 2015 are looking a bit different around here.

Yep, just like every one of my favorite Housewives of Beverly Hills, FoodieCrush went under the knife and is looking all the better for it.

But this is more than just a facelift for FoodieCrush. We went under the hood, kicked the tires, tidied up a bit and added some new features to take us into 2015 and beyond.

Much of what you expect from FoodieCrush is still exactly the same. But now we’ve added a few new features and functions that will make this site run faster, be easier to navigate on your desktop, handier to reference on your mobile (take THAT Facebook!) and help you get into the kitchen and ready to cook with even more inspiration than before.

None of this could have been possible without my cracker jack design and html team of WoodenSpoons Kitchen. Melissa took some of the flair and design from my online magazine and integrated it into the design of the site to show off it’s more playful side with fonts and a bolder typographic feel. And Erin dealt with me and my crazy, I-so-don’t-get-html-but-can-you-make-this-happen requests and somehow (calmly and lucidly) made them happen.

So how about we take a tour of what’s new! continue to the recipe… about A Nip Here, A Tuck There, FoodieCrush Got a Makeover

5 Food Bloggers’ Weight Loss Success Stories

Just about all of us have experienced frustrations with weight gain. We’ve seen the numbers on the scale creep up, instead of going down. We’ve started and stopped every fad diet imaginable and declared ourselves vegan, carb-free, protein only and we’ve even tested the limits of our wallets (and our patience) on the latest juice cleanse.

I once tried giving up sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and dairy for an entire week, just to see if I could do it and if I’d lose any weight. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. I was not a happy person without my morning cup of joe—let alone without all of the other things that make me happy. And neither was anyone around me. I almost made it a week…almost.

That’s why our hats are totally off to these five empowering women, each of which has an incredible weight-loss triumph and unique story to share and inspire on their individual food blogs. Their dedication and successful accomplishments are proof that weight can be lost, goals can be achieved, and you can in fact create food for others, plus have your cake and eat it too.

continue to the recipe… about 5 Food Bloggers’ Weight Loss Success Stories

4 Food Bloggers Who Changed Their Diets and Saved Their Lives

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you a pesky, complicated, hard to pronounce health diagnoses, and doctors don’t have the answers, you take your health into your own hands. You do your own research. You experiment. Often starting with changes in what you eat. At least that’s what these bloggers did.

What these Wonder Women have learned is how to overcome their health adversities, not just with medicine alone, but by altering what they eat. They discovered that food can be one of the best medicines and that even with a limited diet, what you eat and how you prepare it doesn’t mean you have to go without flavor. Their patience and creativity has been challenged, but they’ve learned to improvise, adapt, and most importantly, get healthy. Their resilience has clearly paid off—just take a look at their blogs.

continue to the recipe… about 4 Food Bloggers Who Changed Their Diets and Saved Their Lives

Friday Faves and What I Learned at Blogher Food 2014

I’m never sure how much to write so it’s just enough or when to stop so it’s not too much. I don’t back up my blog until I have a really big scare when my site goes down and I get prickly heat and I’m convince it will never come back. I procrastinate about answering the hard emails. I have a hard time working ahead and I don’t keep a strict editorial calendar because when I do, I usually blow it because of my recipe whims. I suck at SEO. And I really suck at accounting. I do however remember to save all of my work related receipts. Thanks dad, you can’t say I didn’t listen to you.

Hello, I’m Heidi and I’m a blogger. But obviously not a very efficient one.

These are just some of the reasons a bevy of food bloggers descended upon Miami, FL for the 2014 BlogHer Food conference, to learn from those in the know and get secret insight to the magic that will make us all work smarter. harder. better.

As if.

Me, not looking in the camera but instead at an invisible spider on the wall, Lauren of Climbing Grier Mountain, Annalise of Completely Delicious and Cassie of Bake Your Day

But like nearly every conference I’ve been to, I end up learning a lot more from my fellows in the field, my blogging buddies in the line of fire with the oven burns to prove it. Comrades who I can ask questions of and advice on how in the heck to do it all.

But…

I did come home with a few takeaways I’m happy to share with you here.

However…

So not to bore my non-food blogging friends, my Blogher blogging tips are at the end of this post.

First up, my list of this week’s foodie crushes in the form of my Friday Faves.

continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves and What I Learned at Blogher Food 2014

These Kids Only Get One Meal a Day. Help Make It Be One that Counts.

I’m just one of many content creators who create recipes, take drool-inducing photos of their inspired dishes (hopefully) and share it with the world through blogs.

The ingredients we shop for and the food we make is readily accessible and plentiful. Shopping at the grocery store is just a car-ride /subway stop /quick walk away from our fully-functioning kitchens.

A visit to the weekend farmer’s market with morning coffee in hand is a social event, not a matter of life or death.

And the happiness of sharing a leisurely Sunday dinner with those you love makes it all the more easy to forget that there is a whole other side of the world out there. To forget that hunger plagues too many of those less fortunate.

And that too many of those who are less fortunate are innocent children.

On February 10, 2014, food bloggers are putting their words and photos to work. Food bloggers are coming together for a nationwide fundraiser with the goal of raising funds to provide one daily meal to 100 South African schoolchildren for one year. If you are a food blogger, you can join us in making a difference. If you are a reader, you can donate and do your part. It’s a win-win for each side of the globe.

continue to the recipe… about These Kids Only Get One Meal a Day. Help Make It Be One that Counts.

Roasted Turkey Breast with Lemon and Oregano

This post is presented in partnership with Swanson. Thanks for supporting companies I believe in, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you.

This time of year always brings out the party bug in me and the holiday season and entertaining go hand in hand. Swinging their joyously clasped palms in unison as they skip along and infest everyone they see with a big dose of cheer.

Parties. Entertaining. Friends and family. When the party bug in me invites the cooking bug to the festivities, that’s when I get busy in the kitchen.

I’ve always been a holiday cook. As a kid I would bake for days, striving to create the best lemon bars on the planet while snacking on my Mom’s Best Homemade Fudge. As an adult, I’m now the hostess hoping to be the mostess for Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas brunches where without fail, we make this every single year.

But it wasn’t always that way.

As a kid, our family almost always did the same celebratory traipsing when it came to holiday time together. Christmas brunch was always at my mom and dad’s house and Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve were always at Grandma Mary Jane’s. It’s so funny to me that we all referred to it as “Grandma’s house” even though Grandpa was always there too. Maybe because she was the heartbeat of the family, adored by her husband, children and their children that the label just stuck.

Grandma was one of those women who just had the “it” factor. Call me biased, but it’s true. The woman possessed poise in the most genuine and accessible way possible, making everyone around her feel instantly part of the fun.

continue to the recipe… about Roasted Turkey Breast with Lemon and Oregano

Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White on Rice Couple Plus Homemade Sriracha Sauce and a Cookbook Giveaway

With the release of their cookbook, Bountiful, Recipes Inspired by Our Garden, foodies Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White On Rice Couple invite us to share their insanely delicious seasonal recipes, including a condiment I can never get enough of, Homemade Sriracha Sauce. And you have the chance to win a copy of their cookbook for yourself.

Todd and Diane are often referred to as one and the same, White On Rice/Todd and Diane/Diane and Todd, most likely due to the fact they are equally talented and share duties both in the kitchen and behind the camera.

They take turns clicking the camera for print and video, they both cook, create and style their photos and recipes (Todd is often found as the author of most of their baking posts while Diane has a penchant for spring rolls) and they share a passion for gathering people around food they love.

But before there was a cookbook, Todd and Diane created a following of faithful food blogging novices, eager to listen and learn about food photography and styling at food blogging conferences across the country.

continue to the recipe… about Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White on Rice Couple Plus Homemade Sriracha Sauce and a Cookbook Giveaway

Big Traveling Potluck 2013 Recap and Friday Faves

I spent last weekend in the hilly wine and avocado country of Temecula, California, about an hour outside of San Diego. I was there for a food blogging conference cum retreat founded by Maggie and Pam of Three Many Cooks and Erika from Ivory Hut. Founded two years ago in Philadelphia as the Big Summer Potluck, the ladies have taken their show on the road and foraged their way west, in the incarnation of the Big Traveling Potluck.

This event is far from a traditionally architected blogger conference. Absent are formal seminars, sponsor booths and non-engaged attendees wondering what to do next. It’s less about what to wear and more about connecting over food, drink and the occasional chia seed pudding.

We were all there for the same purpose, to contribute to one another in a less formal, more intimate environment.

Let me make one thing clear: less formal does NOT mean less grand in scenery, attention to detail or heart.

I’ll be detailing far more about both conferences in the Summer issue of FoodieCrush coming this June. Until then, you truly owe yourself a read of the following recapif you’re of the food blogging variety. Or self-growth variety. Or if you’re just curious what happens when food bloggers gather together.continue to the recipe… about Big Traveling Potluck 2013 Recap and Friday Faves

Cheers! Pippa Gets Married (Video)

In exactly 10 years from now, when my Smudge turns 18 years old and is itching to flee the nest her daddy and I have so happily crafted for her, there will be a flood of memories that will make the separation just a little bit easier.

Narrowing those memories down to a list of even the top 50 is nearly impossible. But I can certainly try. At the top of that list so far would be: The snuggles she shares with us each and every morning in “the big bed”; Swing dancing about the living room as we belt out One Direction songs in our pre-teen, boy-band dance-a-thons; The smell of her strawberry red hair that frames her sweetly freckled pug nose.

There will be plenty of other memories that will emerge over the next decade, new flights of fancy that will bump one or two award winners from the top ten list. And I can’t wait for all of us to experience each and every one of them together.

But when I think about my girl and her pre-teen years I will always be struck by the amazingly strong friendships she’s already developed at this oh-so-young of an age. I seriously don’t remember having such a gaggle of besties before hitting the halls of junior high school as a 5’10” 7th grader whose best friends topped out at 5’4”. At least she and I will have that in common.

Smudge and her pals are an energetic and creative group who are all about gathering at our house. Hello to pre-teen “hang outs.” Goodbye to “play-dates” that are so first grade.

Dress up, role-playing and lots of boy-band music, this exact scenario honestly happens just about weekly at our house. I had to capture it on video because soon enough they’ll have moved onto yet another pre-teen lark.

This time around, the plans have been set, the invitations have been made and the dresses have been chosen. These ladies are nothing if not detail oriented.

Now all that’s left is to put the guests in their places and share a chocolate-flavored toast to Pippa’s big day.continue to the recipe… about Cheers! Pippa Gets Married (Video)

Escape with Ghirardelli Intense Dark: Unexpected Rewards

In a world where work is sometimes hard, long and sometimes unappreciated, it’s important to give—and get—unexpected rewards along the way.

My workplace has changed in a big way over the past year. I’ve transitioned from 20 years of working for someone else to finally taking that plunge and working for myself. I don’t have a commute—except from the kitchen where I do most of my foodie creating, to my office where I get the design work done.

I can wear what I want, even though I pretty much did that anyway. When I run out of olive oil or am craving a new white dish for a photo, I can run to HomeGoods in the middle of the day and not feel the least bit guilty about it. Hey, I may even stop at 7 grocery stores on the way home. Yes, I do that too.

Working for myself is something I wouldn’t change for the world. But I do sometimes miss the company camaraderie, the daily interaction with co-workers (read that with a big emphasis on ‘sometimes’) because I really have the best set-up I could ask for. I work from home but I have the support of fresh ideas, willing hands and not yet jaded minds who are eager to learn.

I have interns.

For the past three years—has it been that long already?—I’ve been teaching Advanced Typography and Magazine Design at a local university. One night a week I meet up with senior college students about to embark on the transition of student to worker bee and teach them not only about design, but also about the real world, with real expectations and the hard work that will be expected of them once they get into it. Oh how I remember the days, my whole future was a glorious open field, ripe with opportunity. And it was so scary.

One of the reasons I enjoy working with these emerging careerists is not to teach them, but to teach me. To motivate me to be a better communicator and a wider thinker. To familiarize me with new technology I wouldn’t know was available as I work in my pigeon hole of doing the same thing the same way like I always have. To give me ideas and inspiration in an effort to keep fresh and relevant, and keep me up to date on the slang and fashion forward so I don’t seem like a total old fogie to my daughter and useful to my readers.continue to the recipe… about Escape with Ghirardelli Intense Dark: Unexpected Rewards

Seared Ahi Tuna with Asian Avocado Salsa

Are you a dinner recipe planner or do you fly by the seat of your desires once your cute striped TOD’s hit the front door of your favorite grocery store?

I wish I was a better grocery shopping planner. But then if I was, I wouldn’t have found these amazing tuna steaks at the good old Costco. And because I would have had a list I was compelled to follow, I probably wouldn’t have deviated from said written word. And then, I wouldn’t have shared these lovely meaty fishes with you. Meaty fishes? Oxymoron. But still.

When we lived in Venice, we didn’t have to buy fish from the good old Costco. We had Santa Monica Seafood which for anyone who has a crush on fish is like a the sparks that fly between Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in Silver Lining Playbook. Why oh why did he not win Best Actor. His baby blues deserve their own award, stat.

SM Seafood had a plethora of fish, every single day. Stuff you’ve never heard of. But the tuna was crazy good. But given we were on the pacific coast, we didn’t always have to get our tuna from the store.

Nope, we had Jimmy for that.

continue to the recipe… about Seared Ahi Tuna with Asian Avocado Salsa

Homemade Irish Cream

The day called for a strong cup of coffee with a little something extra.

I should have been cooking the recipe for stufffed mushrooms that I had bought all of the ingredients for and had now been sitting in the refrigerator for the past week and a half. I should have been sifting through my props, setting up my backgrounds and taking photos of that well-intended-but-now-imaginary recipe. I should have been creating my next post. And the other four I had planned to tackle over my Christmas vacation.

But I couldn’t.

It was like I was frozen—in a completely-opposite, turned-around, frenetic and scattered sort of way. That way when you know you have so many different agendas on your to-do list that you just. can’t. focus.

So what did I do? Oh, I decided that I should de-clutter the closeted cupboards in my laundry room/office. FOR TWO DAYS. Um, why? No, not because anyone else but me sees inside them nor was I looking for something I couldn’t find.

Or was I?

After an insanely intense 9-month period that included working at a full-time job, teaching as an adjunct professor one night a week, creating another start-up business, working on freelance gigs (including my first paid photo shoot), launching the blog, launching the magazine and still trying to be a semi-present mom, wife, daughter and friend, I now realize I was just plain burnt. Burnt out. Rubber on the road. Done.

I thought I could do it all. Afterall, I always had.

continue to the recipe… about Homemade Irish Cream

Craving > Family Food Flashback and Some Der Wienerschnitzel

There are precious few things that can take one right back to my childhood like food can. And when looking back on some of our childhood faves, you either crave it like its no tomorrow or laugh in hysterics at what was considered haute cuisine.

Ambrosia anyone?

So when a group of us food bloggers got together regaling stories of what mom used to make, a few of us got a little misty eyed, a few laughed with disdain, but all of us cherished the memories of our childhood faves.

photo >foodiecrush

My mom was given this recipe from my dad’s mother, Grandma Frieda, in an attempt to help this young bride satisfy my dad’s love of his German mother’s cooking. I mean the guy likes head cheese. Really dad?

continue to the recipe… about Craving > Family Food Flashback and Some Der Wienerschnitzel