OPA!

A few weeks ago, I attended the annual Food Fete in San Francisco, and as usual, got to taste all kinds of delicious foods. There was chocolate and cheese and meat and nuts and champagne and don't worry, I'll write about some of those things later, as I receive samples and arrange giveaways for you lovely people. For now, I present Litehouse. These guys do great dressings, made with greek yogurt so they're lighter and healthier, but still thick and creamy. I've been serving them as dips with carrot sticks, celery...and buffalo wings...mmm wings...ahem. I don't feel so guilty indulging, since they're made with yogurt and all :)

Feta Dill, Ranch, Caesar, Blue Cheese
Blurry, but delicious.

Litehouse also makes these dehydrated, "instantly fresh" herbs. When I first saw them, I figured they were just dried herbs. No big deal. But these herbs are much more flavorful than your typical dried herb, and they rehydrate and fluff up like fresh! The basil basically turns right into pesto if you add olive oil and garlic. Magic. I can't wait to try the ginger and garlic, which are some of the most frustrating things to chop and peel...rehydrating is much easier!

Ta-da!

And they're available at most markets, too (I found them at Safeway), which makes restocking quite handy...not that I'll need to restock for a while :)

Litehouse is letting me give away a package of their 10 most popular herbs, so lucky you! Get yo' Rafflecopter on below, and enter away! Contest will remain open until Friday March 7, and you can enter as many times as you want! It's not often I become an insta-fan, but I hope you enjoy Litehouse products as much as I do.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Full Disclosure: Litehouse sent me free samples of their products, but did not otherwise compensate me for this post. While I love receiving free treats, my thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Santé Nuts!

At this year's Food Fete, I stopped at the Santé Nuts table for...quite a while. These are some delicious nuts, you guys. And I feel great supporting them -- Santé is the brainchild of a single mom whose kids suggested she sell the delicious spiced nuts she often made for them at home. They're roasted in organic canola oil, made locally in Santa Clara in a peanut-free environment, and are all natural, gluten-free, and vegan. And they're delicious. Santé sent me a sample pack of their snack-size bags, and Will has been eating them so quickly that I'm having to fight for my own! 

I did take a picture of the bags
they sent me, but this one by
Susan Burdick is way nicer.

To celebrate National Almond Day (which was yesterday, when I was originally going to post this), Santé is giving away 2 full-size bags of their Chipotle Almonds and Garlic Almonds. There are lots of ways to enter, so check out the Rafflecopter below!

They're also offering 20% off their almonds Sunday 2/16 – Saturday 2/22. Head to their online shop and use promo code ALMOND214 to get the discount on super tasty sweet or savory nuts!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post: Delicious Ways to Serve Fruit

Hi friends,

I'm pleased to introduce you to Blake Daniels, a stay at home dad and blogger from Upstate NY. Blake reached out to me recently, hoping to post a guest-post on Kim's Kitchen Sink as he plays around with a new subject (food!) before launching his new blog in the Spring. Why not? :) I'm pleased to present his first guest post, about making use of a fruit-of-the-month gift...feel free to say hi and ask questions in the comments below! - Kim

Delicious Ways to Serve Fruit

I am thrilled to have received a very thoughtful Christmas gift from my wonderful aunt. She knows how much I love food, which makes this gift even more welcome. Every month for the year, I will receive a shipment of fresh fruit from Shari's Berries.  With a variety of fruit coming I now need to find different ways to use it rather than just serve it in its raw state. As a stay at home dad my primary goal is to create healthy dishes for my family with the delicious fruit coming my way.  Here are a few of my ideas.

Right away next month in February my delivery will be of Bosc Pears.  For some reason I am excited to try a new dip for the big game, a Pear Salsa. This side dish takes advantage of the juicy and mellow components of the pears.  If there is any leftover I think a pairing with roast turkey or chicken might work.  Adding some nice acidity and brightness of flavor to the savory roast bird. The recipe uses simple ingredients and is easily prepared. I will be using this recipe from Epicurious.com for my salsa. 

Tangerines come “March”ing in next.  This will be a difficult month because tangerines are delicious and I tend to eat three or four of them at a time.  But I will have to restrain myself for the sake of Aunt Alice’s gift.  After trolling the Internet I came across this amazing sounding salad with my featured fruit of the month.  An Avocado and Tangerine Salad with Jalapeno Vinaigrette.  That sounds amazing and right up my ally.  I’m thinking I’ll save this recipe for an intimate night with my beautiful wife.  I found it on Bonappetit.com so feel free to look for yourself.  

With the showers in April come Strawberries.  They are the perfect ingredients for delicious and healthy strawberry smoothies. My kids love the flavor and they provide a healthy drink for any meal or snack.  We like to add almond milk and yogurt to thicken ours up and add even more flavor and texture.  I simply just throw everything in the blender and let ‘er rip!

Skipping ahead to November we get my favorite apple, the Fuji Apple.  They have a great firm texture and a sweet almost pear apple hybrid flavor.  They are an ideal baking apple.  But I don’t want to make the conventional pie.  I still have time to decide about these apples but some ideas I am tossing around are homemade chunky applesauce, doughnuts, turnovers, Apple Dessert Nachos?  I haven’t decided yet!

I love this gift and am very thankful to my aunt for thinking of it. I look forward to the exciting dishes I can create. Each month brings a new fruit and a new adventure.

Bio:

Blake Daniels is a native of Upstate NY and is constantly trying new things in the kitchen. His newly started “hobby” has slowly evolved into a full-on obsession overflowing the pantry and refrigerator (according to his lovely wife) with fresh produce and new exotic ingredients. He's still learning the ropes but is lucky enough to have plenty of willing friends to serve as taste testers (or guinea pigs) for his latest recipes.

Superb Owl

We hosted a last-minute Super Bowl party, and you guys, I think I've figured this thing out. Turns out, if you have a party where all the guests are going to be sitting in one room watching something on the TV that you don't care about, you can spend the party cleaning, and then only have like 1.5 hours of cleaning to do when the party's over!

Ok, I realize that I sound pretty lame, and I'm probably angering feminists everywhere by admitting I spent the party in the kitchen. But honestly, I had so much fun hanging out in the kitchen and guest room, chatting with girlfriends and doing dishes. Tidying the living room and clearing trash as it accumulated, instead of waiting until the party was over, and bringing out more food when we ran low. And sure, I watched the game here and there. I caught the halftime show. I socialized. I held a baby. And then, by 8:45pm, I was on the couch with my feet up, catching up on Saturday Night Live all alone in my quiet apartment.

Yes, again, I realize that I sound really. super. cool. like. someone. you. totally. want. to. party. with.

But hey, I do throw a mean party. The food was killer, folks had a good time, and I even tried a new recipe for Sriracha hot wings (pictured, top row and left) that is a definite keeper. Will smoked ribs, and even though they took nearly 6 hours, they were worth it. Gorgeous, delicious baby back ribs.

I really need to take better photos.

Folks filed out at the end of the game around 6:45, Will left for his hockey game about half an hour later, and by 8:45, I was relaxing in the quiet, with furniture all put back in place, and dishes done. Usually, it takes us a few days to recover from a party, so this was hands-down the fastest post-party turnaround ever. I love throwing parties, and I consider myself a damn good host, but there's something peaceful about having the house back in order before you go back to work on Monday. 

Someone (besides my mom, who I know feels the same way) please validate these feelings and make me feel like I'm not the only one who would be so thrilled about this. 

YoCP: Bye Bye, January, Hello Love

My Year of the Clean Person is off to a great start. Not only did I make my January list and blog about it, I worked in a couple of bonus projects, and I calendared the SHIT out of my year! Check it out, guys. 

I know, I'm a little insane. But it's so pretty! It's so easy to see what's planned for when...and I'm hoping it'll be easy for us to pick things to do each month. Just grab a card and get to work!

And bonus: once you're done, you get to flip the card over to reveal a congratulatory note. Some of them are even themed to the project (ie: "clean out fridge > tasty!" or "hang bedroom mirror > lookin' good!"), because like I said, I am a crazy person. 

Onward to February...and here's a sneak peek of the "before" pictures. February's a busy month, and we've definitely got our work cut out for us.

You can see the "bins by the couch" on the left there, and
just the piles and piles of books that can't fit on the shelves.
Oh boy.

Cowl me anytime

This blurry picture represents the beginning of a new knitting project. What? Knitting? I know, it's been a while. But semi-regular crafting club lunches at work have gotten me in the mood.  Besides, it's...cold? ish? Ok it's not that cold out in California these days, but it is technically Winter, and there are days where it's cold enough to wear knits. 

So I'm making a cowl. It's my first cowl, and in true Kim fashion, I'm not going off a pattern. I have a hard time paying attention to patterns, since I usually knit in short spurts while on public transit, and also? I kind of like just knitting and seeing what happens. I'm doing a seed stitch, and Kath helped me guesstimate how many stitches to cast on (we settled on 111). And we'll just see how it goes!

My first round was nearly impossible to knit. I cast on pretty tightly, and the yarn (Waverly for Bernat) isn't very stretchy. Honestly, I almost quit and tore the whole thing out, vowing to cast on more loosely next time. But I persevered, and I'm glad I did, because once I got past that first awful row, it was a lot easier to knit. My seed stitch pattern is a little wonky - it was hard to tell which stitch I was on because it was so tight and I was blinded by frustration - but I'm not worried about a few mistakes on the end, and I'm back on track now!

I haven't made much more progress, not enough to photograph, but I'll keep posting pictures as I go. This thing will take a while, I'm sure, but maybe I'll finish it in time to wear it before summer?