The past month has been a really exciting one for me and I owe some terrific food bloggers lots of sincere thank yous!
First I need to thank Jamie of Mom’s Cooking Club. I was the winner of her first cookbook giveaway, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook! Jamie has a great blog and she usually ends her posts with a fun Mom’s Cooking Club Lesson tip. Thanks Jamie!
I was really excited to receive this cookbook because I am really lousy at serving my family delicious vegetable dishes. I’d much rather be baking a cake or whipping up a nice meaty lasagna. The veggies and side dishes are usually an after thought for me. One nice thing about this cookbook is it incorporates lots of healthy veggies into hearty on dish meals so I don’t even need to worry about what veggies to serve.
The first meal I made from the cookbook was Cincinnati Chili Mac. This may be familiar to many of you, but it’s a great idea that I hadn’t heard of before. Basically you serve homemade chili over spaghetti and spice it up with a little cinnamon. I took it one step further and served it over spaghetti squash from my garden.
Also, I feel so honored to have received three blogging awards recently. It’s always so much fun to be recognized by other wonderful food bloggers.
First, my favorite French blogger and my Twitter buddy, Jamie of Life’s a Feast presented me with a Meme Award. Jamie has a terrific sense of humor and is a wonderful writer. Her recipes are always fabulous and she is the Mac Queen!.
The requirement for this award is to list 7 things about your personality and then pass the award on to 7 other bloggers. It was fun to learn more about Jamie, so here’s a little bit about me:
- I’m a bit of a perfectionist.
- Unlike Jamie, I’m not a procrastinator. I usually arrive early and well prepared. I’m a list maker like my mom.
- I’m an optimist and not too much of a worrier. I always assume things will work out for the best.
- I like to shop. Groceries, clothes, Christmas, most any type of shopping. I once thought that I should do it for a career.
- Breakfast is my favorite meal. I love breakfast foods! It’s a great reason to get up in the morning and start baking!
- I’m a morning person.
- I love to travel even more than baking. I’m always planning at least one trip.
Thanks Jamie for passing the Meme on to me. I am passing the Meme on to the following terrific bloggers:
- Edna of LaDue & Crew
- April of Abby Sweets
- Megan of Megan’s Cookin’
- Cathy of The Tortefeasor
- Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod
- Gaby of What’s Gaby Cooking
- Dara of Cookin’ Canuck
The Inspiration Award was given to me by Petite Nyonya who blogs from Singapore. I’m always amazed at how small the internet has made the world and I’m always inspired when I visit her blog. Her blog is filled with delicious, exotic dishes and I always learn something new. Thanks Petite Nyonya – I’m so honored that you find my blog inspirational too!
I am passing this award on to the following inspirational bloggers:
- Deeba of Passionate about Baking
- Jamie of Life’s a Feast
- Sara and Kate of Our Best Bites
The Neno Award was given to me by the wonderfully sweet Sweet and Savory. Her post about the reasons she loves blogging is wonderful. In addition to eating a healthier diet she says, “Thanks to the kindness and caring of bloggers, I have had a world open to me.”
I couldn’t agree more. I have made so many wonderful friends through blogging. Tweeting in the morning helps me start the day with a smile. I love all the comments, suggestions and advice fellow bloggers leave on my blog. I am a better, more adventurous cook because of blogging.
Neno’s Award—-Rules and Regulations
1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.
2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.
3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.
4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.
5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.
6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.
7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.
I’m passing the Neno award on to a just few of my wonderful blogging friends who are kind enough to stop by often and leave sweet comments on my blog.
- Katy of Food for a Hungry Soul
- Coleen of Coleen’s Recipes
- Teresa of A Blog About Food
- Shelby of Grumpy’s Honeybunch
Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Barbacoa Salad
I love to bake, especially cookies, cakes, and pies.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, Barbara! You have had quite a month. Congratulations on all your well-deserved awards. I happened to wander to your site tonight and saw that you passed the Meme award on to me (just let me know what I have to do). Thank you so much! By the way, I love your use of spaghetti squash and I'm so envious that you have some growing in your garden.
The chili mac looks delicious!! Congrats on the award; you deserve it.
Congrats on all your awards, and your win! I too have that book, and have made a couple of things from it (reviewed) and plan to make some others I marked! =)
Thank you so much for the Neno Award!! I really want to try your Cincinatti chili mac, it sounds excellent. Congrats on all of your well deserved awards.
Congratulations! I think you deserve it :)
Congratulations on winning a new book, and your well deserved awards!
I have heard that Cincinnati puts chili on noodles, looks tasty!
Barbara, I truly enjoy your blog & I think you definitely deserve all the awards! Happy blogging & I look forward to more of your wonderful posts :D.
Congrats…you deserve all this and more! Can't wait to hear some vegetarian recipes now…grin!
I love what you did for the spaghetti!! Looks great. Also, thank you for the award :-)
Oh Barbara, Those are wonderful awards that you received. CONGRATS!!!I am deeply touched that you thought of me too. Thank you, thank you, thank you! How wonderful that you won such a beautiful book. I need help in the veggie department too, & that dish looks gorgeous!
I loved your meme & am happy to be friends with a perfectionist, a non-procrastinator and someone who doesn't worry! Me too!! xoxo
Congrats on your awards! That cookbook looks great, and it looks like it has a COVER recipe!! I'm going to be on the hunt for those lol. Chili mac sounds yummy.
hey, thanks so much barbara! you just made my day!
this dish looks so good, i love all those veggies. it's not always easy for me to make veggie dishes either!
3 awards and all well deserved! Thanks for thinking of me. I'm honered!
I'm a morning person too and a planner. I love to shop but I draw the line at grocery shopping. Unless it's a really cool gourmet store! Winco doesn't do it for me! ;)
Thanks so much for thinking of us Barbara! And congrats on getting those awards too- you deserve them, you have a wonderful blog!
Thanks for the award. I want to get that veggie cookbook and I love the cookies below:)
Congratulations, Barbara, on all those well deserved awards and I am honored to be the recipient of the Inspiration Award with our friend and Twitter gal pal Deeba (I must now discover Our Best Bites!). Thank you, my lovely friend! You make me smile every single day.
Too clever to eat the chili on spaghetti squash. I'll bet it was dee-lish!! Love that idea. I'm going to pass that one along to the allergic-to-everything kid' I think she'll be able to eat this.
Congratulations on your awards. Well earned and deserved; I can always come here and find something delicious cooking.
And thank you so much for passing on the lovely award to me. Your generous thoughts are humbly accepted and planted in my little ole heart. However, I do not participate in the awards thingy as I do not know how to choose one blog over another for recogition. I hold each and every one of my followers and the blogs I follow in high esteem and gratitude. You all are very dear to me. I think it's terrific that someone comes back more than once and leaves a comment! How awesome is that?! More than I thought possible when I started blogging almost a year ago.
Many hugs and blessings on your excellent work. Thank you again for your kind heart.
Congrats on your cookbook and awards!
Barbara,
I'm so glad you won the cookbook from my giveaway. I've been wanting to make that chili recipe myself. Congrats on all your awards and passing them on to all those deserving blogs. I follow several of those myself.
Congratulations on your awards…and I got to learn a little more about you :-)
The chilli mac dish looks yummie, I am always looking for more vegetarian recipes.
Congrats on all of your awards =D.
You have had quite a month and you deserve every part of it. The cookbook looks great. Enjoy using it. May you have many wonderful months and years and decades and I am not sure I should say centuries.
Congrats on all your well-deserved awards! I've never heard of that Chili Mac before either it sounds delicious, especially with the Spaghetti Squash.
You deserve all of these awards! congrats!! thanks for passing along the MEME award!!!
Congrats on the awards and winning the cookbook. I'm like you – vegetables are an afterthought, after I'm done baking
What a fun post! I loved reading and learning more about you! The Cincinnati chili mac also looks awesome! I remember having Ohio-ian chili when we first moved there and realizing what a following it has and how many people love it! What a great month for you–you deserve all those awards!
I bet it's a great cookbook! Your Cincinnati Chili Mac sounded fantastic!
Congrats on all of your well deserved awards! Although I loves vegetables, they are and after thought for me also. I usually spend so much time making other things that I just want to get the veggies on the table.
Mimi
Congratulations on your awards. You deserve them all! Your spaghetti squash dish looks fantastic too!
That chili mac looks amazing!!
Congrats!! You deserve every one of them!!!
Congrats on the awards! The chili looks so good. hmm veg is not my thing too I have to say.
It is hard to cook good vegetable-filled dishes, especially when cooking for serious omnivores. Kudos to you for giving it a shot! The dish looks great. Isn't spaghetti squash fun? Congrats on the awards and thanks for stopping by my blog to wish me luck!