Crushing On Maria & Josh Lichty of Two Peas and Their Pod, Plus Holiday Cookie Recipe Submissions

Honey is what brought us together. Naturally sweet. Golden. Goodness. Ironically, the same words I used to describe the blogger I had approached to help with a food feature I was working on.

My idea was to introduce a local food blogger to the audience of the magazine where I worked. To show the traditional print magazine readers that there was a culinary evolution occurring on the world wide web and that food loving bloggers were becoming as authoritative and revered as traditional culinary-educated chefs, cookbook authors and Food Network TV stars.

It started the way so many relationships do these days. I contacted her on Twitter. We e-mailed back and forth. We talked out ideas and discovered what each of us could bring to the table.

Maria & Josh prepping for our shoot in 2010; the first time we met in person
photo > foodiecrush

We met at my house, in person, face to face for the first time. She created the recipes, her husband did the cooking, I did the prop styling and the photo taking. And we created a story. A story about food that became a story about food inspiring friends.

Because what started for that blogger and her husband as a personal blog, just for close friends, has become one of the most popular baking blogs on the net today.

Maria and Josh‘s fan-favorite-foodie blog, Two Peas and Their Pod, has evolved into a sweet tooth fairy’s dream, with recipes that focus on delicious sweet treats, plus thanks to Maria’s health degree background a few healthy dishes sprinkled among her cookie obsessions, like her current Two Peas favorite of Toasted Coconut Toffee Chocolate Chip cookies.

Maria’s current cookie favorite: Toasted Coconut Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

And now with the eagerly anticipated addition to the Pod family arriving this September, Maria and Josh have many new adventures coming their way. We wanted to learn more about what some of their current favorites are and how a new cook in the kitchen, plus a few newborn sleepless nights, might change their blog for the better.

Maria shows off the hand-knit sweater given to her by fellow blogger Elaine of The Italian Dish

Thank you Maria and Josh for being our foodie crush. And for being a part of our exciting announcement below.

1. Describe your blog in 3 words:
Fun, simple, tasty.

2. If you could be one food blogger other than yourself, who would you be?
Tough question. I admire so many of our food blogging friends. Can I be all of them for a day? Today, I’ll pick Todd and Diane from White on Rice Couple. I’ve met them several times in person and they are genuine, giving, and humble. They’re always willing to share their talents with others and are always trying to make the food blogging community and world a better place. They inspire me to be a better food blogger and more importantly a better person all around. Plus, they are loads of fun and a joy to be around.

On the New York baking tour, from left, Jenny of Picky Palate, Maria, Lori of Recipe Girl and Amanda of Kevin & Amanda
photo > Two Peas and Their Pod

3. Which 3 blogs do you follow/are obsessed with/can’t live a day without?
Another tough question. That is like picking my favorite cookie, which can’t be done. I have too many favorites! Three that I really enjoy are:

Brown Eyed Baker-Michelle shares my love for baking and I can always count on her blog to give me a sweet craving.

Eat, Live, Run-I love Jenna’s recipes and sense of humor. She makes a mean sweet treat, but also knows how to cook a delicious healthy meal.

Dana Treat-Dana is also a vegetarian and makes the most fabulous meals. I think I have bookmarked every recipe on her site. She recently started teaching cooking classes and I hope to travel to Seattle someday to attend a class.

Dorie Greenspan, author of Maria’s favorite cookbook, with Maria at Blogher 2010 San Francisco

4. What is the one kitchen tool you could never give up?
We recently remodeled our kitchen and I am in love with all of our Thermador appliances, but on a smaller scale, I would have to pick my Microplane. We make a lot of lemon and lime recipes, and the Microplane works wonders when it comes to zesting.

5. What dish are you obsessed with mastering that you just can’t get quite right?
We were trying to master French macarons for a long time. Josh is allergic to nuts, so he can’t even eat them, but he was obsessed with making the perfect macaron. We made several batches and they turned out great, but not perfect. Helene, from Tartlette, recently came to visit and taught us how to make the perfect macaron. She is the master and made it so easy. Thanks Helene!

6. What did you have for dinner last night?
We had my new favorite pizza: Peach, Basil, Mozzarella, and Balsamic Pizza and Lemon Blueberry Bars for dessert.

Cookies and Tiger Tails at Disneyland

7. What’s one secret talent outside of the kitchen nobody knows about you?

This is not really a talent, more of an obsession. I’m a March Madness junkie. When March rolls around, watch out. I am glued to the TV and obsessed with my bracket. Josh has learned that if my favorite team loses (University of Illinois), it’s best to not talk to me for awhile.

8. You’re happiest when cooking/eating:
I am happiest when I’m baking and eating cookies with my handsome husband. He always gets out the glass of milk for dunking:)

9. You and Josh started your blog as a personal blog about goings on in your lives that has since evolved into the popular food blog it is today. With the arrival of your new baby in September, how do you think having children will influence your blog in the future?
This is our first baby, so we really have no idea what we are in for:) We’re very excited and can’t wait until our little guy gets here. We make a great team in the kitchen and plan on using that same teamwork to be good parents. We plan on still cooking, baking, entertaining, and blogging. We are anxious to introduce our son to a variety of foods, flavors, and can’t wait to teach him how to cook and bake. Our kitchen is going to be filled with even more joy and love.

10. The one secret ingredient to your success is:
Enjoying the journey. We didn’t intend to start a food blog, it just sort of happened. Now, we have been blogging for 3 years and it is my full-time job. I feel very blessed to be doing what I love. We hope our readers can sense our love and passion for food, blogging, and life.

Thanks Maria and Josh, we’re so excited for your new pea to join the pod. And while you’ll be busy with pre-baby prep, blogging and delivering, we’re so pleased to make yet another special announcement that’s been in the works for even longer than Maria’s been pregnant.

And sorry, no, we aren’t announcing the new pea’s name. Yet.

Food bloggers, it’s time to warm up your ovens and start your mixers. Announcing…Call for Submissions: FoodieCrush Magazine’s 50 Best Holiday Cookies

This selection of cookies will be the centerpiece of FoodieCrush Magazine, the online magazine that loves food bloggers, their recipes and photography. We’re thrilled to announce that Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod will be the contributing editor for this special holiday section. We’ll showcase the best holiday cookie recipes and photography from food bloggers across the www with Maria wrangling submissions, reviewing recipes and heading up the final selection of the sweetest treats for this holiday article.

The article will be a round-up of our favorite 50 food bloggers holiday cookie recipes. Whether you’re a seasoned blogger or a novice newbie, if you have a great recipe and pretty picture we want to see what you’ve got. Selected recipes will be featured in the holiday story.

How to submit:

E-mail the following to [email protected]

1. E-mail us your holiday cookie recipe
2. E-mail us up to three versions of the photograph of the cookie at 300 dpi or the highest possible resolution photo that will woo us into a sugar coma, saved as a .jpg. Vertical orientation of your photo is preferred.
3. E-mail us a photo of yourself in the high res form listed above—one that you’ll be happy to have the food loving masses ogle over (same style that you would use for a profile photo)

And now for the fine print: Submitting a recipe does not guarantee being featured in the article. All submissions will be reviewed and selections will be made based on the quality of recipe, number of recipes submitted within categories and quality of photography. Submissions will be accepted via e-mail only and must be a recipe that you, the submitter, have created and/or adapted with appropriate accredidations. NO SWIPED RECIPES OR IMAGERY ALLOWED! We want to celebrate your creativity, so let’s see it!

Submissions end September 1, 2011. Thank you for submitting, we’re so excited to feature the web’s best food blogging holiday cookie recipes in our debut issue launching in November of 2011.

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