Vegetables

By Gwen Ashley Walters | JANUARY 15, 2012 | BOOK & PRODUCT REVIEWS

UPDATE: Who says 13 isn’t a lucky number? The random number generator spit out 13 and the 13th commenter was Krissy, who says “pulled pork is the BEST!” Congrats, Krissy, the signed copy of Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue is on its way to you!
Last month we gave you a sneak peek into Chef Bryan Dooley’s brand new cookbook featuring stories and recipes from his award-winning BBQ joint, Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue in Cave Creek, AZ.

We think you’d really like to have this book, so we bought you one. We’re thoughtful that way. And, we also had the chef sign it!

(Fess-up time — actually, we only bought one of you a copy (we’re thoughtful but we’re not rich).  However, YOU might win the book. All you have to do is leave a comment telling us what your favorite BBQ dish is.)

Maybe you like ribs. Bryan’s BBQ ribs were featured in Grub Street’s Big-City Barbecue: 101 Places to Satisfy Your Urban ‘Cue Craving.

Or maybe you love brisket or pulled pork or who knows what you like? Tell us and we’ll put your name in the drawing for the signed copy of the book. If you entry is the random number winner, we’ll mail you a copy of Bryan’s book. It’ that simple.

Fine print: Only one entry per person. Deadline to enter is Friday, January 20th, 2012, at midnight (EST). Winner will be notified via email on Saturday, January 21, 2012. USA addresses only for shipping.

While you mull over your favorite BBQ dish to share with us, here’s a recipe from the book to whet your whistle.

Six Pack Cowboy Beans

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
4 oz diced smoked sausage
1 clove minced garlic
Olive oil as needed
1 ea beer
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup Bryan’s BBQ Sauce
2 tbsp chili powder
4 ea 15 oz cans of cooked wite means, drained and rinsed

Method:

Add a little olive oil to medium pot. Add celery, onions, and bell pepper. Cook until vegetables begin to soften. Next, saute garlic and sausage in mixture. Then add beer and simmer for a couple minutes to cook off alcohol. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until sauce thickens.

By Gwen Ashley Walters | JUNE 20, 2010 | NEWS & NIBBLES

We have a winner in the Best Pen & Fork Photo contest!

We drew a name out of a hat from the entries, and the winner is….

….Jessica!

Thanks to everyone who voted. The favorite photo, by a landslide, was the Buttermilk Pancakes with Quinoa.

That’s not motor oil (although I guess that’s been done before, by some food stylist.) I assure you that it was Trader Joe’s Grade B Vermont syrup…I keep it in the fridge, so it’s nice and thick. And I held the camera (Canon 20D on a tripod) with one hand, and poured the syrup with the other. The light coming from the left of the photo is natural window light. The pancakes were immediately consumed after the shot by my husband. OK, I had a bite first, then he finished them.

Official Vote tally:

16 votes: Buttermilk Pancakes with Quinoa
4 votes: Crazy for Zucchini
2 votes: How to Seed a Pomegranate
1 vote: Cafe Bink Hosts…
1 vote: Mandarin Orange Dust

Jessica wins a copy of Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods by Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian.

Thanks again to everyone who voted, and thank you all for coming along on this journey with me, pen & fork in hand.

By Gwen Ashley Walters | JUNE 14, 2010 | NEWS & NIBBLES

And they said it wouldn’t last. I’m kidding, no one said that. Except me. But hey, I was wrong.

Not that I would spit on anyone’s food before I served it or anything remotely violent if they had said that.

Most likely, I’d just cry. And there’s no crying in food blogging…unless onions are involved…and in that case, I have my trusty onion goggles.

Last year, I handed out completely unfounded awards to celebrate the 1st anniversary (or birthday?) but this year I have a much better idea.

In the interest of short attention spans (my own), I’m going with only one category:

Best Pen & Fork Photo.

And, more importantly, I want you to vote.

Sure, I could pick one, but that’s almost as lame as last year’s awards (except… shortly after that self-aggrandizing post, Pen & Fork did pick up it’s first, non-aggrandizing award…coincidence? Yeah, probably.)

Anyway, here are this year’s nominees for best photo:

#1 Buttermilk Pancakes with Quinoa

#2 Crazy for Zucchini

#3 Cafe Bink Hosts…

#4 How to Seed a Pomegranate

#5 Mandarin Orange Dust

Cast your vote and you’ll be thrown into a hat (not you literally — your entry) and my trusty assistant (or dog, depending upon who is available) will draw an entry out of the hat.

Fine Print:
Your vote must be cast on THIS post. If you cast your vote on another post, your name will NOT go into the hat. Not that I don’t appreciate any and all comments on any post, but to get into this random drawing, you have to cast your vote in the comments on THIS post. Voting ends Saturday, June 19th at 11:59 p.m. I’ll announce the winner by Tuesday morning, June 22, 2010. Only one vote per person. No alternate entry is valid. Whining, complaining and blatant brown-nosing (although appreciated) will not improve your chances.

The Prize:

The randomly selected commenter will receive a copy of the new Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods.

(Full disclosure: I have a couple entries in this book, mentioned in this previous post, but it’s a really great book in spite of that.)

In all seriousness,  I just want to say thank you…for accompanying me on this journey, with a fork in hand, I hope. Without you? Well, I wouldn’t do this.

Let the voting commence!

Which photo will win “Readers Choice: Best Pen & Fork Photo?”

By Gwen Ashley Walters | JUNE 14, 2009 | NEWS & NIBBLES

[Contest now closed. We have a winner! Thanks to all who participated!]

CupcakeSS

Holy Crap. Cow.

Pen & Fork (the journey begins with a fork…) blog is ONE YEAR OLD!

(And they said it’d never last.)

Actually, no one said that. I made it up.

In honor of being ONE YEAR OLD, I’m handing out completely unfounded awards for some of the posts I’ve written during the past year. Oh, there’s something in this for you, too. I’m not completely narcissistic.

Drum roll, please….

First Annual

Pen & Fork Blog Post Awards

PENFORKB

♥ Most popular

50 Quintessential American Dishes

This post even spurred others to create their own list and could have been the inspiration for the festival-gone-horribly-wrong.

♦ Least popular

Sink or Swim

Pretty much anything I wrote the first couple of months would qualify based on traffic counts but Sink or Swim was really fun to write.

♦ Best Recipe

Aunt Sally’s Pork Marinade

As tempted as I am to point you to one of my own creations, like the real guacamole, or a recipe from one of my three cookbooks, like the world’s most expensive granola, I awarded the best recipe to Aunt Sally’s Pork marinade because it really deserves to be in your repetoire.

♦ Best Essay

Top Ten Kitchen Tools

I’m not surprised I picked a list of kitchen tools as my favorite essay. Are you?

♦ Best Photo

Fresh Cherry Salsa

Reading other people’s blogs about photography (Smitten Kitchen and Pioneer Woman) and a photo editing class at our community college class have helped hone my photography skills. But most of the credit goes to Arizona’s gift of sunlight.

Well, folks, that about wraps up our awards ceremony. Thank you for coming. It’s been fun bringing you completely ad free, random thoughts, recipes and kitchen tips throughout this past year.

Goodnight everyone… oh, one more thing…

The real award….

One lucky commenter will get an autographed copy of my first cookbook, The Great Ranch Cookbook.

It features 30 western guest ranches from Texas to Alaska and is jam-packed with great recipes, like my very favorite Molasses Marinated Beef Tenderloin that is our traditional Christmas Day dinner and a pretty darn tasty Molten Mexican Chocolate Ecstasy that needs no other explanation.

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your favorite Pen & Fork post is and why. Simple!

Fine print:
Here’s how this will work. Only 1 entry per valid email address. I’ll print out every qualified comment I get between now and next Saturday night, fold it up and put it in a hat. The official deadline is 11:59 p.m. Saturday, June 20, 2009. By qualified I mean you aren’t a spammer, you commented with both the name of the post and why it was your favorite, and you have a valid email address. Sometime next Sunday, June 21, between celebrating Father’s Day, bathing the dogs and doing laundry, my assistant will select a printed comment out of the hat and that’s who gets a copy of the book. I’ll email you to get your mailing address. You agree to let me post your user name (but not your email address, I would NEVER do that) in a future blog announcing the winner. As always, employees of Pen & Fork (me) will not be eligible, nor will any family members. (I’d like to say that serial killers, dog-haters, and genuinely evil people are not eligible but I don’t think I can technically exclude them. I doubt those people read my blog anyway, so I’m probably worrying about something for nothing). Odds of winning are completely dependent upon the number of qualified entries and odds of me holding another contest like this one are completely dependent upon how this one goes.


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