I'm very honoured to be the cover story for the new magazine Balance My Life.  Take a sneak peek at the cover and don't forget to get your copy starting Nov 6th!

http://www.balancemylife.ca/contactalias/balance-the-magazine.html

Learn How To Turn Tweets, Fans & Followers into Growth, Sales & Success!  Join me on Nov 9th at a BitNet breakfast where I'll explain how I've Turned Tweets, Fans & Followers into Growth, Sales & Success! 
http://www.bitnet.ca/events/details/13

Summer Seasoning

Read what Julia Aitken of The Toronto Star has to say about perfecting your cooking skills in beautiful cottage country - we're not all about burgers and dogs!

Don't start your summer off with lighting your bbq on fire like I did one year (that's another blog post!) - get your BBQ ready to do the lion share of the cooking.  Read my tips for a safe season at WonderMoms!

Escape to the Islands with my review of Palm Bay Coolers at the always outstanding Balance My Life (and a few coolers now and then can do that!!).

Nothing can replace teaching your children about a proper diet and exposing them to a wide variety of healthy fresh food but starting their day off right with all the essential vitamins and minerals that their growing bodies need can help ease the everyday concern about what goes into their bodies.  My whole family (husband, 5 year old son and 9 year old son) take 2oz of Vemma and Vemma Next Children's each morning.  The kids ask for it each morning and has become as much a part of their morning routine as brushing their teeth!

No preservatives, no artificial colours and no artificial flavours, all the essential vitamins and minerals along with antioxidant powerhouse mangosteen, aloe vera and organic green tea make it a winning formula for my family.  And if that wasn't enough, for every case of Vemma Next that is sold, one case is donated to children in need in the country that it was purchased in - now that's dedication to children's health!

Contact me to find out more or visit http://www.nadinehughes.vemma.com/ to see the complete Vemma line. 

Last week I stumbled across a radio interview with Neil Pasricha, the author of the new book, "The Book of Awesome". The book is a result of his fantastic website, http://www.1000awesomethings.com/ , which he created at a low period in his life when he wanted to be reminded of the small things that made him smile. Things like,

 

• The cool side of a pillow
• Opening and sniffing a pack of tennis balls
• The smell of rain on a hot sidewalk
• Dancing when you're home alone
• Popping bubble wrap
• Laughing so hard you start crying
• And 994 other awesome things

While I listened to Neil speak about what made him smile, I found myself nodding and smiling too. That great feeling was contagious as I pictured my favourite simple food things. I started to compile a list and was grinning the whole time. Go ahead and try thinking of your own awesome things, the sillier the better, and I dare you not to start smiling like the proverbial Cheshire cat! In the meantime, here are some of my awesome favourites: 

 

• The smell of fresh basil
• The crusty top of melted cheese
• The taste of the first ripe tomato in my garden
• A frosty glass from the freezer  
• The granular icy part of a Lola  
• The cork popping on a champagne bottle
• The way the bubbles from the above champagne feel on my tongue
• Eating summer cherries and spitting the pits as far as I can
• My first coffee of the day

Have an awesome day! 

FOOD STYLING
Date: Tuesday April 20th

Time: 7:00 pm
Location: The Cookbook Store
850 Yonge Street at Yorkville Avenue
Tickets: $20.00 Please call to register




Ever wonder how those glorious photos are styled in your favourite cookbooks? Want to be taken behind the scenes in a food stylist's day? Then let two of Toronto's most talented stylists show you tricks of their trade and tell their hilarious stories of working as a food stylist. Sandra Watson has worked on Food Network shows as well as with many renowned local and international authors. Ettie Shuken works with corporate clients as well as magazines. This dynamic duo brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from all facets of the food world for those looking to spruce up their food presentation skills or those just curious about the world of food styling.

Pre-registration is required. Please call the store to register. 416-920-2665

Celebrate Earth Day's 40th anniversary with the Town of Oakville (and me)!

April 22, 2010

6-9 p.m. (my workshop starts at 7 p.m.)

Town Hall, South Atrium

1225 Trafalgar Road

There's no better way to celebrate Earth Day in Oakville than by learning how to live greener every day! There's something for everyone:

• Workshop on cooking local food with Nadine Hughes of The Cook's Companion
• Earth Day cake cutting with Mayor Rob Burton
• Hands-on demos of energy-efficient technology and green gardening
• Town hybrids, Smart Car and state-of-the-art street sweeper
• ... plus raffle prizes and free giveaways of great green products!

 Child minding is available on site, so bring the whole family!

Raisins are a nice way to add a serving of fruit to your diet. From breakfast to dinner, and everything in between, you can find recipes that include raisins. For example, this free Fruit & Sunshine Recipes book has some nice raisin recipes that you can incorporate into any meal plan.  In my family raisins are added to cereal, pancakes, banana bread, couscous, carrot salad or alone as a snack.  They're versatile and easy to pack on the go as well.  I remember giving them to my toddler one by one ever so slowly on plane rides for the take off and descent to help him chew, swallow and keep his ears clear.  Now there's a marketing angle for Sunshine!


Want more than the 17 recipes that are included in the above book? Sun-Maid has been sharing their raisin and dried fruit recipes with families since 1912, almost 100 years. In celebration, they have created a collection of 34 free recipe books that span (to date) from 1915 to 2007.

Head over to Holiday with Matthew Mead to find out how you can win the opportunity to have your blog or online shop mentioned in the magazine. Holiday with Matthew Mead ( http://www.holidaywithmatthewmead.com/ ) is a "book-azine" celebrating and offering inspiration for the Christmas holiday season. To be released in October 2010, Holiday is offered via online orders only - in limited quantities - and will not be sold on newsstands. But, by simply following the BUY HOLIDAY MAGAZINE link below their banner, you can reserve your own copy of this beautiful magazine, with guaranteed delivery of the magazine straight to your mailbox! Holiday with Matthew Mead is144 pages of holiday inspiration with well-known and admired designers, bloggers and top-notch features, printed on beautiful paper and not drowning in ads!


Now, head on over for your chance to win!

This should be a great evening.  Please join me and Dare To Dream!

InsideHalton Article: Business Excellence Awards announce 40 nominations

InsideHalton Article: Business Excellence Awards announce 40 nominations

Great to be amongst so many awesome entrepeneurs. Best of luck to everyone!

CTS Television: Online Video Player

Check out my segment on yummy no back Chocolate desserts on Real Life. I'm the first segment after the intro (about the 3 min mark). Enjoy! CTS Television: Online Video Player

CTS Television: Online Video Player

Great kids Valentine's Day crafts from The Groove Mamma.

CTS Television: Online Video Player

The Groove Mamma is now on Facebook.  Become a fan and get access to more yummy food photos and news.

February has our thoughts turning to romance with the approach of Valentine’s Day. This year picture yourself romantically holding hands across a beautifully prepared meal while the flicker of candles light up your loved one’s smile. Can you see it? No? Could be the two kids crawling under the table and your exhaustion from preparing the meal alone blurring your vision!

For some, preparing a meal at home has all the romance of a crowded bus stop. But it doesn’t need to be if you take a different approach and look at it as a way to spend quality time with your loved one. One of you not a cook? Don’t worry, there are always simple things to do in the kitchen such as boiling water, setting the table or opening the wine!

To help create a romantic and fun atmosphere in the kitchen here are a few tips to help get you on your romantic journey.


• Banish the bright lights. Dim the switch, choose the under the counter lights or light candles to help with the relaxed mood.

• Prepare a special drink to enjoy together while cooking. My recipe for Sgroppino below is a perfect starter with fresh oysters. Give the non-cook the task of keeping these flowing!

• Play a collection of your favourite and most memorable songs to reminisce about together.

• Feed the kids early and rent their favourite movie for them to watch; it should buy you a few hours at least!

• Keep your menu simple and easy to prepare. Cooking together should be fun and enjoyable, now is not the time to try complicated recipes. Chicken Piccata and Creamy Brown Sugar Strawberries are simple yet delicious.

Sgroppino
Serves 2
Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250ml) of chilled Prosecco (or any sparkling wine)
• 2 tbsp chilled Vodka
• 1/3 cup frozen lemon sorbet (or gelato)
• ¼ tsp chopped fresh mint leaves

1. Pour the Prosecco and vodka into 2 champagne flutes dividing equally.
2. Spoon a scoop of the sorbet into each flute.
3. Top with fresh mint and serve immediately.


Freshly Shucked Oysters and Mignonette
Serves 2
Notes: If you don’t want to shuck the oysters, pick shucked ones up from your local seafood store on your way home and keep them on a plate of ice in the back of your fridge until ready to eat.

Ingredients:
• 12 freshly shucked oysters on the half shell
• Lemon wedges, to serve
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 125ml (1/2 cup) red wine vinegar

1. For the Mignonette sauce, stir the shallot and vinegar together in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Note: the sauce can be prepared the night before and kept in the refrigerator to let the flavours infuse.)

2. Serve the oysters with the lemon wedges and the sauce for drizzling. Enjoy these casually in the kitchen with the Sgroppino while you are preparing the main meal.


Chicken Piccata
Serves 2
Notes: To butterfly a chicken breast, lay the breast on a cutting board. Using the edge of a sharp knife parallel to the cutting board, begin cutting down the length of the side of the breast. Carefully slice the breast in half widthwise almost to the other edge. Keep that edge intact and open the breast along the "fold."

Ingredients:
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, butterflied and then cut in half
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 65ml (¼ cup) fresh lemon juice
• 125ml (½ cup) chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons capers (from jar), brine rinsed off
• Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place the flour on a plate and dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes or until chicken is browned. Turn chicken over and cook for 3 minutes. Remove, transfer to plate, cover to keep warm.

3. Into the same pan, add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Season to taste. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.

4. Serve with rice, roasted potatoes, steamed vegetables or green salad.


Creamy Brown Sugar Strawberries
Serves 2

Ingredients:
• 12 large strawberries, cleaned with stem still attached
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup brown sugar

1. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream and vanilla.

2. To serve, using the stems as handles, dip the strawberries in the sour cream and then into the brown sugar. Enjoy!

Tune in to CTStv Real Life with Sharon Caddy today (Feb 9) at 4:30pm EST to learn about fun Valentine crafts to do with the kids as well as some yummy no bake sweet treats for your sweetheart!

For a great romantic and easy meal this Valentine's Day check out my Food & Wine Pairing Column at BalanceMyLife.  Remember to check back each month for a new beverage and my top food pick to go with it!  Tough job, but someone has to do it!

My Free Recipe of the Week is now available and you're going to love this one! If you dothen be sure to sign up to receive these great free recipes each week at http://www.thecookscompanion.ca/

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I love the versatility of this coffee cake not only in when you can enjoy it but what you can add to it to make it your own! Throw in some raisins, dried cherries or chocolate chips to change up the flavour. Enjoy it with a scoop of ice cream for dessert or indulge in the afternoon with a cup of coffee. Pair it with sliced fresh fruit and call it breakfast! Any way you slice it (no pardon on this pun!) you'll love the flavour of Sourcream Coffee Cake. Enjoy!

Upper Canada Cheese Company Wants YOU to Vote in the Guernsey Girl Cheese Recipe Challenge

Guernsey Girl is the proud new addition to the Upper Canada Cheese Company’s family of artisanal quality offerings made in Jordan Station, Ontario. Created by cheese maker Lauren Arsenault, this fresh cheese is loosely modeled on both a Cypriot style cheese and, more precisely, a Scandinavian Bread Cheese, which has a deliciously salty flavour and squeaky bite. The Upper Canada Cheese Company invites you and the general public to vote in the “Guernsey Girl Cheese Recipe Challenge.”

The “Guernsey Girl Cheese Recipe Challenge” asked fourteen of the area’s top toques to get cooking with our Girl! The result? Fourteen edible masterpieces created by the pros, from chefs to bread makers, in an application they best thought suited the cheese. Entries include: Lynn Crawford‘s Chicken Cutlet Milanese with Lynn’s Crunchy Vegetable Salad and Guernsey Girl Cheese, Lora Kirk’s Slow Braised Short Ribs and Guernsey Girl Cheese Poutine, Anthony Walsh’s Warm Salad of Winter Radishes and Legumes as well as baker Andrea Damon Gibson’s Guernsey Girl Goes Mediterranean. From starters to mains, desserts to apps – our participating chefs went the whole cow!

Upper Canada Cheese is asking the public to Vote for its TOP THREE choices to be eligible to win a coveted spot for a winner and guest at the Final Cook-Off where the voting public’s top three chefs will compete for our girl’s unwavering affections. Location and date to be determined – but don’t worry – our Girl never stands anyone up! Go here to have your say: http://www.uppercanadacheese.com/

A Bit About Our Girl:

As noted by Toronto-based cheese sommelier Julia Rogers (http://www.cheeseculture.ca/), Guernsey Girl holds its shape when fried or grilled, the surface caramelizes evenly and quickly, and the interior becomes wonderfully supple.

Julia Roger’s Tasting Notes:

· Guernsey Girl is a delicate shade of ivory, with a pale lemon undertone. (Its colour will vary with the seasons as the herd’s diet changes.)

· The surface has a slightly porous texture, while the interior is dense and completely smooth.
· Muted on the nose, but with aromatic interest on the palate, Guernsey Girl expresses savoury, herbaceous and mineral notes, and a subtle melted butter finish.
· Acidity is low. Salt is in balance, adding zest but not dominating the flavour profile.
· The curd is squeakily resilient, but not rubbery, and leaves the palate clean.

Like all of the Upper Canada Cheese Company cheeses, Guernsey Girl is made only from the pure rich milk of a single herd of Guernsey cows on the Comfort farm. This and every Upper Canada Cheese expresses the unique terroir of the heart of the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Region.


So get voting and please, let your friends and cheese-lovers in on the action. This is, after all, one very popular Girl!

For more information, to interview Upper Canada Cheese Company or any of our participating recipe challenge chefs, please contact:

Mary Luz Mejia of Sizzling Communications

Email: maryluz@sizzlingcommunications.com // Cel: 416.992.2644

I was honoured to speak last night to a great group of people at the Canadian Club of Halton Peel.  Topic of discussion was how I built my business by using Social Media as part of an integrated marketing plan.  A testiment to the powers of Social Media and how we share information today - here is a photo taken by Sonny Jelinek, Chair of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, during my talk.  He was tweeting as I was talking tweet!!  Love it!

http://snap2twitter.com/SonnyJelinek/photos/319115

Canadian Club of Halton Peel

Thursday, January 21, 2010
Oakville Conference Centre
2515 Wyecroft Road, Oakville, Ontario (QEW & Bronte Road) L6L 6P8
Registration/Cash Bar 6 pm Dinner 7 pm Students $15 Members $30 Non-Members/Guests $40

Nadine Hughes
Entrepreneur, Chef, Award-Winning Author & Television Personality
“Tweeting My Way to Success”

Nadine Hughes is a renaissance woman whose forté is making food fun again. Mother of two young boys, wife, serial entrepreneur, world traveler and food expert extraordinaire, Nadine is a woman who literally walks the talk. Nadine frequently appears as a television and radio guest discussing food, entertaining and how family fits into all of it. Nadine started her circuitous journey towards running her own food-related business after having successfully operated her first start-up, a third party logistics company in Australia, with her husband and business partner. After selling the company to Shell Petroleum in 2005 and moving back to Oakville, Nadine has taken all of the business savvy she acquired over the years and merged that with her passion – Food!

Today, Nadine is the owner and creator of The Cook’s Companion (www.thecookscompanion.ca), through which she offers kitchen consultations and menu planning services. She also runs a hands-on cooking and entertaining school offering classes to adults and teens throughout Southern Ontario. A published writer and avid social media user, Nadine recently published her first E-book: “The Groove Mamma Goes Gourmet: Easy Ways to Put the Fun Back into Entertaining” (www.thegroovemamma.com). In addition to The Cook’s Companion, Nadine created the internet based The Menu Companion, (www.themenucompanion.com) that markets and sells comprehensive menu planners focused on the planning and preparation of dinner parties.

Nadine has single-handedly built her successful brand by economically using today’s internet and social media marketing tools. Learn how one savvy woman’s journey to success happened one tweet at a time!

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

Registration Form – January 21, 2010

Reserve places for ____ Students ($15) ____ Members ($30) ____ Non-members ($40)

Name(s) ______________________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________

e-mail: (optional) _____________________________________________

Telephone __________________________ amount enclosed $ ____________

Reservations made by telephone or e-mail – non-members please provide Visa, M/C, Amex information
Cheques should be payable to The Canadian Club of Halton Peel

P.O. Box 52148, Oakville, Ontario L6J 2W7 Tel: (905) 827-6302
Email: bwylie@globalserve.net (Barry Wylie, President)
Memberships (12 months rolling): $30 Single; $55 Family; $75 Corporate

Mad Men Martinis

We might have just come out of the holiday season but it's never too early to think about your next party!

When was the last time you had a cocktail party and by that I mean a true cocktail party in the Mad Men sense?

Read more of my "stirring" article at Balance My Life.