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Last year I wrote an article; Healthier Eating with Weekly Food
Preparation, that featured a fennel and kumquat salad. On a recent trip
to Lowe's, right before my 49th birthday, I found and purchased a
variegated kumquat tree. My boyfriend had just bought me a variegated
pink lemon tree, as one of my birthday presents, so I thought the
addition of the kumquat tree to his yard would be pretty nifty.
We also have a mango tree, Florida white peach tree, honeybell orange
tree and a grapevine planted on his 1.25 acre property and are always
looking for additional fruit trees to plant. The lemon and kumquat trees
will go nicely with our collection, and I also have 3 avacados I
started from seed that will get planted outside once they get a bit
bigger.
Above: fresh kumquats
I was at the grocery store a couple of days ago and saw kumquats displayed next to the lemons and limes, so I picked up a package to bring home with me. To make the salad, I rinsed off the kumquats, cut off the ends, quartered them and removed any seeds before adding them to a mixing bowl. I added 1 fennel bulb, chopped up, then tossed it all with a bit of Wish Bone Superfruit Berry vinaigrette dressing.
Above: kumquats are tiny, a bit smaller than a normal size strawberry.
Above: any vinaigrette type of dressing can be used with the fennel and kumquat salad.
Above: the finished kumquat and fennel salad.
Let me know if you decide to make the kumquat and fennel salad. Do use kumquats or fennel? Share your recipe ideas with the Cuisine Diva and I just might feature your culinary creations in a future article.
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Christmas is just around the corner. Are you looking for a great gift idea the entire family can enjoy? Consider putting together a gift basket filled with gourmet delights. Today's article is a sponsored post brought to you by Clearwater Hampers, located in Great Britain. They can put together a gift basket for any occasion and ship it to almost any place in the world.
It’s (Almost!) Beginning to look a lot like
Christmas.
The holidays are fast approaching. The last
few leaves are falling from the trees and the crisp winter air has certainly
made its presence felt over the last couple of weeks. One of the best parts of
late autumn is the almost tangible build up to the holiday season. Working out
who’s going to host Christmas dinner and what presents to buy your loved ones
are both part and parcel of the excitement and preparation. Arguably the best
part of the Christmas holidays is having the opportunity to spend time together
as a family and see the people you don’t get the opportunity to see as often as
you’d like.
Here’s a great gift idea for those special
people in your life who may be a bit tricky to buy for. These hampers for Christmas
from Clearwater make fantastic options for a range of people as they are so
versatile and offer a little something for everyone. Another great thing is that they contain a
variety of little luxuries and are ideal for sharing. There’s a great choice
available too. Here are a few highlights.
The Australian themed baskets come complete with a lovely bottle of
wine and various tempting snacks popular with the Aussies! These little beauties certainly lead the mind
to ponder what a Christmas down under in the height of summer would be like.
Slathering on the sun cream and lighting up the barbeque for Christmas dinner
seems like a slightly bizarre concept!
On a cooler note, the Tinsel Time hamper
contains a lovely selection of winter warmers like mulled spice tea bags and
iced Christmas cake along with plenty more to make perfect additions to cosy
evenings in front of the fire.
There’s even a hamper for the ultimate
chocolate lover. Who could resist this mouth-watering selection of Belgian
chocolates and truffles? The only potential problem with these is that they may
be too tasty to share!
Hopefully that’s given some food for
thought and provided an array of inspiration for treating your nearest and
dearest this Christmas. Happy holidays!
On a recent trip to the grocery store, I discovered Jif's Chocolate Flavored Hazelnut Spread. It's one of those evil, addictive, chocolate foods that you can eat directly from the jar with a spoon. I suppose you could try and fool yourself into thinking it was a healthy snack by substituting a stalk of celery for the spoon. Celery doesn't even have any calories does it? So celery + chocolate = neutral calories. Works for me, welcome to the fantasy-land world of the Cuisine Diva!
Each 2 tablespoon serving of Jif's spread contains 230 calories, with 120 of those calories coming from fat. I probably eat more than 2 Tbsp each time I crack open the jar. Might as well spread it directly to my hips and butt, that's where it's going to end up anyways.
Hazelnut spreads have no nutritional value, the first two ingredient in the Jif spread are sugar and oil, with a bit of hazelnuts and cocoa powder thrown in for good measure. Read the post I wrote back in 2010 on a Healthier Alternative to Nutella. The article compared the pros and cons of MaraNatha Dark Chocolate Almond Spread to Nutella.
So, with the addition of Jif's entry into the chocolate hazelnut spread market, there are now 3 reasons for me to stay home and never again visit a grocery store.
ABOVE: I
don't think we have enough pies. Chocolate silk and pumpkin pies in the
freezer, chocolate mint pie in the fridge and I just made 2 pecan pies
today.
I get to celebrate Thanksgiving two times this year. My children are 17 and 21, I recently got divorced, and this is my first year celebrating the holidays since being single. My son and daughter all already booked up on Thanksgiving Day, so they are coming over to my boyfriends house on Wednesday late afternoon.
I've never had a fried turkey before, so my boyfriend is going to make one for us. He, and everyone else I've talked to, say deep friend turkeys are DELICIOUS so I hope it turns out okay. I'm making a bunch of side dishes today, Tuesday, that will be enough food to last through both T-Day celebrations. On Thursday it will probably just be me and my boyfriend, although his 22 year old son might be joining us.
The side dishes I'm making include pecan pie, sausage stuffing, cranberry pear salad and Brussels sprouts casserole. My boyfriend hates green beans so I'm substituting Brussels sprouts for green beans and hope everyone likes it. Brussels sprouts are yummy, so I think we'll survive!
1. The real reason everybody loves Green Bean Casserole. Who doesn't like a little bit of vegetable with their fried onions?
2. Everybody loves sugar. Pecan pies contain a ton of sugar. Two pecan pies have an entire 16 ounce bottle of Karo corn syrup, 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar. Can you say SUGAR SHOCKER!?!
3. Cranberry sauce that comes in a can should be outlawed. Making homemade cranberry sauce is quick and easy if you own a slow cooker. This is what Cranberry Pear Sauce looks like before cooking down in the crock pot.
Last year, I posted up an article on a Thanksgiving Menu Plan that included links to other delicious holiday recipes such as roasted sweet potatoes, cranberry pear sauce, pecan pie and sauteed mushrooms.
Take care and have a great Thanksgiving Day!
Lynn Smythe, AKA the Cuisine Diva