The Nifty Foodie

Since it’s almost Fall, I thought I’d post a picture of this pumpkin bread for y’all.

This post serves as my entry into Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog: Project Food Blog is the first-ever interactive competition where thousands of Foodbuzz Featured Publishers are competing in a series of culinary blogging challenges for the chance to advance and a shot at the ultimate prize: $10,000 and a special feature on Foodbuzz.com for one year. Starting next week, Foodbuzz will start the voting for the next food blog star, and I’ll repost a link for y’all to vote for me, if you think I should advance. Thanks in advance for all of your support!

Most people think of cooking and baking as simply putting food on the table. I’ve been there. I used to think that way and just dreaded it. I started this food blog after I graduated from college, because I moved back in with my family and wanted to help my parents with dinner. My first ever blogged recipe was for turkey meatballs.

Those meatballs were quite the chore. I dirtied up tons of dishes, which I had to clean, and while my family appreciated the meal, we all knew it wasn’t mouth-watering, amazingness on a plate. It was discouraging, to say the least. Oh, and obviously, I really didn’t care how the photo looked. I just took a photo with my point and shoot and uploaded it.

After blogging for a while, I hit a point where I thought this was really boring. I got maybe 1 comment in a week’s time, I felt as unpopular as the last picked kid on the kickball team and just got super jealous of popular bloggers. I knew nothing big would ever come of this blog, so I just sort of lost interest.

After a couple of years of on and off blogging spurts, I realized that I shouldn’t blog to be popular. The competition out there is crazy, and I should do this for me. I thought back to the days when I could barely form a turkey meatball and looked at how far I came. I came to the conclusion that blogging isn’t about popularity….it’s about the moments you have in the kitchen and sharing them with others.

I remember the moment when I made my first batch of biscotti from scratch. It felt so amazing that something as simple as flour, butter, and sugar could come together to form biscotti. I always made bought them, and thought you had to be an authentic Italian bakery to get those to come out right!

I remember how proud I was when I made that first buttercream rose.

I was so excited when I didn’t make anyone sick after making my first pot roast.

I remember when the yeast actually rose for my first batch of rolls.

I remember hosting my first family get-together.

I found that blogging was so much more fun when I was able actually meet a personal challenge and bask in the moment, whether it be taking that perfect picture of a cupcake or making a dish I found to be intimidating.

While I’m not very well known in the blogging community, I feel that I should be considered to be the next food blog star. My blog is here to show everyone that recipes are completely approachable. Anyone can make an amazing meal or dessert for their families and friends.  Before I ever blogged, I considered my kitchen accomplishments to include heating frozen skillet meals and baking rolls of cookie dough. I didn’t know the names of most ordinary produce. I thought a cup was a cup no matter what type of measuring tool you use. I’ve been there. I’ve messed up, and I still mess up.

It took me a while, but I find that I truly enjoy food blogging now. It’s not a career for me by any means, but it’s a huge passion of mine. I love knowing that my kitchen is a place where you can take simple ingredients and turn it into a great dish. It’s a complete transformation every time, and in my two and a half years of blogging, I don’t see the fun dying down anytime soon.

So, as you may know, I’ve been on a weight loss journey for a while. I lost 20 lbs. before the wedding, and then, after the wedding, gained it all back. Typical.

I’m back to square one.

One of my biggest problems with food blogging is the insatiable urge to bake. I haven’t baked much lately, but with the Fall season and upcoming holiday season, I’m afraid the urge is going to only get greater.

This summer, I’ve really gotten into smoothies and one of my favorite things to put in there is yogurt. It thickens up a smoothie and has great nutritional value. I will admit, I’m not a fan of eating yogurt out of a cup. I find it way too tangy, however, smoothies sweeten it up and sort of mask the tartness.

When I received an email from Foodbuzz about Activia Desserts yogurt, I was all over it.

Image source

With flavors like Strawberry Cheesecake and Peach Cobbler, I was intrigued. I only tried this stuff in smoothies, but man, it really did make my smoothies seem more indulgent! It’s a definite must-try!! I think I might have to make these while I’m baking to satisfy the sweet tooth. It’s worth a shot.

Knowing me, though, I’ll probably drink the smoothie AND eat baked goods…sigh.

If you are skeptical, they are offering $1 off coupon currently. Like I said, I didn’t try this straight out of the cup…I tried it in a smoothie.

Note: I didn’t receive this product for free. I used a coupon as a discount, and am writing a post about it for the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program.

So, last week, I got an email from someone at The Cooking Channel. They mentioned that they are featuring food blogger’s pictures of Julia Child’s recipes and asked if I would be interested in letting them feature my picture of Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon. Of course I said yes, but didn’t think anything would happen, since so many bloggers are great photographers.

I did, however, like a dork, squee around the house and call my hubs and mom about it!

I checked The Cooking Channel on Monday and this is what I see. The prompt I’m pointing to says “Food Bloggers Cooking Julia“. I hold my breath…

Click through each picture and lo and behold, I’m picture #3! WOW!

I also noticed I was thanked in one of their blog entries. Lots of happy links for The Nifty Foodie, that’s for sure!

Happy Birthday Julia, and thank you Cooking Channel for featuring my lil’ ol’ blog.

**Images are from from The Cooking Channel’s website!**

I really had fun with this giveaway, but I’ll admit, I was worried no one would want these dish towels I had sewn! Y’all have some awesome hobbies, some of which, I wish I could do myself! ::jealous::

Ok, I know…on to the winner, right? Well, another extra entry won this time! It pays to do that, folks!

Congrats to Carrie!! Please email me at niftyfoodie at gmail dot com to redeem your prize! And by the way y’all, her food blog rocks, so if you have a sec, check it out!

Thanks again for participating! Hope to have another one of these sometime soon!

I love to cook and bake. It’s instant gratification to have the results of your work in an hour or so, but I’ve been wanting to branch out for a while.

I just started sewing earlier this year, and there are many times that I want to throw projects out of the window. I’m not a very patient person, and some projects take HOURS. However, I really love the results when they come out great, and that kind of keeps me going.

I read sewing blogs and look around for inspiration everywhere for great project ideas, and came across this one.

I’ve become a little kitchen towel decorating machine, and now, I’d like to giveaway a set of 2 towels to one lucky reader!

Do you want to win these cute dish towels for your kitchen? I promise they will make dish-washing a little more fun.

To win: just tell me about a hobby, other than cooking, that you’ve been giving a try lately.You have until Monday, June 8th to enter. This giveaway is only valid to readers in the continental U.S.

More ways to win (and please comment each time you do one of these)

• Follow me on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Mention/Retweet this giveaway on Twitter (leave the link of the tweet)
• Subscribe to this blog