(don’t you sometimes wish screens were scratch-n-sniff)

For all of those who are new to visiting ThatsSoYummy I welcome you with wide open arms.  For those of you who are loyal visitors I say Good Morning and Good Eats!  In case this is your first time stopping by, let me give you a brief overview of who and what ThatsSoYummy really is, its a place where beginner and advance foodies alike can come, browse and cook up delicious recipes they fall in love with.  ThatsSoYummy has not only been a great outlet for me to demonstrate all of the fabulous recipes I have stashed all over my house, for real I’m not kidding… all over… but its allowed me to share my passion of food with other people who have the same love for food.

If you have been following me on Twitter, or Facebook, or even just through Foodbuzz, you know that I have embarked on a new journey, Project Food Blog.  Project Food Blog was created by FoodBuzz, a food blogging community, where all FoodBuzz Featured Publishers are asked to test themselves in different challenges, after each challenge contestants will be weeded down to ONE winner and a grande prize of $10,000 and a special feature on Foodbuzz.com for one year.

Our 1st challenge is: “Ready, Set, Blog.”  This is our first entry into the competition, telling the public and judges, what defines me and my blog as unique and why I should win the next Food Blog Star.

ThatsSoYummy was created as a channel and a place to show my love for food.  It gave me an outlet from being a wife and mother and transported me to a whole new world full of people with my same passion, Food.  When I started ThatsSoYummy I was clueless to the blogosphere and at the beginning felt overwhelmed.  It took a long while to realize that I needed to be genuine with my feelings and give my readers a view into my life, (to learn about me click on over to here).  Bits and pieces of me are in all of my posts and recipes.  Knowing that someone is at home right now making one of the dishes they saw on ThatsSoYummy, is an AMAZING feeling.

Through my almost two years of blogging, I have met and befriended some amazing food and non-food bloggers and have learnt so much from each of them through their photography, recipes, and writing styles.  I take on their teachings everyday when I write.  I believe that I can be the next Project Food Blog Star not because I love food, but because in all that I do I make sure I put 110% and my whole heart on the line.  To expose oneself when writing gives my readers the knowledge that I am human like them and have the same fears, hopes, and dreams.  I just try to conquer mine through making a delicious meal and warming others bellies!

I ask you, my readers, new and old, why do you feel ThatsSoYummy should be the next Project Food Blog Star???  Not only leave a comment below but also make sure to vote!

**Voting opens September 20th-September 23**

**I promise cookies and brownies were not used to force readers decisions**

Love,

Tasha

The time has almost come for us to all come together and try to end childhood hunger.  If you follow me on Twitter (@thatssoyummy) then you know that I along with so many other food bloggers have been tweeting about the 1st Great American Food Bloggers Bake Sale.  If your new here and haven’t had a chance to read about it then check out our Press Release.

Here are the details:

Contact: Natasha Kennedy

Americans Rally Around Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale® to End Childhood Hunger

Orlando, FL – With spring right around the corner, it’s time to join Share Our Strength® and bake a difference!  Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States, reports that thousands of Americans are signing up to help make sure no kid in America grows up hungry by participating in Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, presented by Domino Sugar and C&H Sugar.  Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is a national effort that encourages individuals to help end childhood hunger by holding bake sales in their communities.

In these tough times, neighbors, co-workers, businesses and families nationwide are making a difference.  Share Our Strength is challenging volunteers all across the country to come together and help answer an important question.  How many bake sales can volunteers hold in three days to help end childhood hunger?  500, 1000 or maybe 2,000! Teams are forming now for the Bake Sale National Challenge, April 16-18^th.  Sign up, select a day, choose a location and be counted.

As part of the effort, the first annual National Food Bloggers Bake Sale will be held on April 17. Organized by Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com, food bloggers from across the country will unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states. Readers will have the opportunity to taste the baked goods from their favorite food blogs at each state’s bake sale location. For more information on participating in the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale, or to find a National Food Bloggers Bake Sale location near you, visit WhatsGabyCooking.com/bake-sale.

Funds raised through Great American Bake Sale support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America by helping fund afterschool and summer feeding program. “Today, more families in America are facing hunger due to the economy and rising unemployment,” said Bill Shore, Share Our Strength Founder and Executive Director.  “Summer is an especially difficult time because nearly 17 million children facing hunger in America no longer have access to the school meals they rely on,” added Shore.

Great American Bake Sale empowers individuals, including children, to make a difference in their own communities and become part of the solution. Since 2003, more than 1.7 million people have participated in the Great American Bake Sale, raising nearly $6 million.

Great American Bake Sale is also supported by Family Circle, Food Network, and Ultragrain. To register or learn more visit www.GreatAmericanBakesale.org.

About Share Our Strength

Share Our Strength^® is the leading national organization working to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. We weave together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger and ensure they have nutritious food where they live, learn and play. We work with the culinary industry to create engaging, pioneering programs like Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation; Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale^®; Share Our Strength’s A Tasteful Pursuit; Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out; and Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline. Visit Strength.org.

The Orlando Food Bloggers Bake Sale will be held at the Central Winds Park, on Saturday April 17th, from 8:30am to 2:00pm.

Guess What today is guys….

It’s World Nutella Day! That’s right a day fully dedicated to a sensational chocolatey hazelnut spread that is just unbelieveable and heavenly. Life is good, REAL GOOD with Nutella! This wonderful day was created by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso. Bloggers from all around the world post recipes made with Nutella and if you head on over to World Nutella Day and click on “Nutella Recipes“ you can see the round up of all the recipes.

Sorry I do not have a recipe ready for today guys, I am in the process of making it… but if any of you want to join me in celebrating this gloriously rich day then grab a spoon, your nutella jar and dig in!

Sssshhhhh…… I won’t tell anybody

Do you ever get frustrated when looking for a recipe in a cookbook but can’t ever find it? Or you think that a particular recipe is in a particular cookbook but end up being wrong?  Or do you completely live on the internet and find that you haven’t even opened up one of the many cookbooks lying on your shelf?

Well if you are the techsavvy person I think you may be then boy do I have a treat for you, what if it was possible for you to be able to see all of your favorite cookbooks online, just like a virtual bookshelf, where all the cookbooks were searchable and cross-referenced by ingredient and keywords.

That could be pretty cool… Right?

Well then let me introduce you to Eat Your Books.

Eat Your Books is a place where people who love to cook can come and cook their favorite recipes from their favorite cookbooks.  You can browse and find your favorite cookbook authors and their cookbooks with ease.  Eat Your Books (EYB) has indexed over 800 of the major cookbooks, which is more than 200,000 recipes, and are updating everyday.

As a EYB member you can virtually create your own bookshelf, called My Bookshelf,  with your favorite selected cookbooks.  If you find that you have trouble locating a certain cookbook then you can make a request for it online.  The easy thing is that all of the books can be searched for recipes by the recipe name, the ingredients it uses, the book it’s from, or the author.  You can even create your own shopping list that coincides with the chosen recipe.

This tool can really come in handy if you have a ton of cookbooks and are looking for that particular one.  Although it cannot take the place of sitting down at the coffee table with a nice cup of joe reading your cookbook, it could possible help in finding a certain recipe that has been lost and not found in months.

To use the service it will cost $25 per year, or you can buy a lifetime membership for $50.  Not bad if you think about it, a virtual cookbook shelf right at the tip of your fingers!

How do you feel about Eat Your Books? Does this interest you?

(Image: aliciagriffin/Flickr)

French macarons will be found in Starbucks from December 13 till December 25, for a limited time only.  The 12-piece macarons made by Château Blanc in France will be  gracing the states soon.  Each box includes two pieces each of coffee, pistachio, raspberry, chocolate, vanilla, and lemon.

These little babies are selling for $9.95 a box.  Now although these are not the gourmet delectable macarons you find on the Champs-Élysées, they may possibly be able to satisfy a craving you might have.

Do you think you will try these french desserts when they come out?

It’s December guys and the year is almost coming to an end.  Can you believe that already… That’s just insane.  2010 look out because we are coming!  Even though I live in Florida, I see that temperature is starting to drop as you venture north, and with the weather getting colder so many outdoor events are becoming fewer.

If you are still an outdoors person and would love to venture out of the house this week then I have just the things for you.  Don’t worry it will definitely get in you the spirit of things this holiday!

• San Francisco, CA: The State of Pastry in SF — Dec. 1
• New York, NY: Wine Down: The Holiday Party — Dec. 2
• Portland, OR: 2009 Holiday Ale Festival — Dec. 2-6
• San Francisco, CA: Slow Crab & Oyster Festival — Dec. 5
• Sonoma, CA: Sonoma Valley Olive Festival Kickoff — Dec. 5
• Washington, DC: Repeal Day Ball — Dec. 5
• Livermore, CA: Holidays in the Vineyards — Dec. 5-6
• Indio, CA: Indio International Tamale Festival — Dec. 5-6
• New Orleans, LA: San Francisco Style! — Dec. 7
• Milwaukee, WI: Friends of James Beard Benefit Milwaukee — Dec. 7

(Image: Rafa from Brazil/Flickr)

Costco will no longer be carrying Coca-Cola products in its stores nationwide because of a pricing dispute with the beverage maker. Although neither Costco nor Coca-Cola officials wanted to comment on the ongoing negotiations, a Coca-Cola official said the company wanted to work out its differences with Costco “in a spirit of fairness.”

Coca-Cola products include, not only its namesake soft drink, but also Sprite, Squirt, Dasani water and Full Throttle energy drinks.

Do you drink Coke? If so where do you buy your Coca-Cola from?

Dessine moi un Objet

Leave it to les Français to make these quite useful yummy edible utensils. These creative edible salad, spoon, and fork were created by Julien Madéro, from the French blog Dessine moi un objet, which in English means “Draw me a purpose.”

As you can see above and below Julien created these salad servers and an accompanying bowl for salad dressing out of  pâte brisée.

Check out his site to see step-by-step photos of the whole process.

Très Magnifique!

This question is being raised all over our schools due to some schools and activist groups who feel that chocolate milk should be banned from school cafeterias.

I know you may be looking at the screen asking yourself “WHAT?!?”  Ban chocolate milk…. not possible.

I know when I was a child before choosing anything I would go straight for the chococlate milk.  To this day I still love chocolate milk and so do my children.

I recognize the important role milk plays in our children’s lives today and so does Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk. Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk is a new campaign from the National Dairy Council and Milk Processor Education Program that is focused on promoting the benefits of keeping chocolate milk in schools and prevent them being banned as schools have done with sugary sodas and candies.

Top 5 Reasons to Keep Chocolate Milk:

• Milk Provides nutrients essential for good health and kids will choose it over regular milk, the majority of the time.

• Flavored milk contains the same nine essential nutrients as white milk and is a healthier alternative to soda and sugar juices.

• Drinking low-fat or fat free white flavored milk helps kids get the 3-daily servings of milk needed in their diets.

• Children who drink flavored milk meet more of the nutrient needs; do not consume more added sugar; fat or calories; and are not heavier than non-milk drinkers.

• Low-fat chocolate milk is the most popular milk choice in schools and kids drink less milk (and get fewer nutrients) in schools if it is taken away.

You can also sign the “Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk” petition to show your support to keep chocolate milk on the menu in schools nationwide.

I raised my hand!  Did You???