I’m BlogHerFood Bound

The annual BlogHerFood conference is taking place in Austin this Friday and Saturday and I cannot wait to attend. That’s right. I’m going!
BlogHerFood

I’ve never been to Austin and I have already hit social media for recommendations on the best places to eat while I’m there. Here’s the list so far:
1. Easy Tiger Bakeshop and beer garden
2. Enotica Vespaio Bistro
3. Hop Doddy Burgers
4. Chuy’s Tex Mex
5. P. Terry’s more Burgers
6. Parkside  Gastropub
7. Ironworks BBQ
8. La Condesa Mexican

The closing key note speaker will be restaurateur, cookbook author, and “The Chew” co-host, Carla Hall.

Carla Hall BlogHerFood

She’s also a very snazzy dresser. Check out that unique style on her site.

I’m ready. I’ve downloaded the BlogHerFood mobile app, and scheduled all my breakout sessions. Follow my live tweets @Kitoula with the hashtag #BlogHer2016.

Austin, here I come.

Freelance food writing

I did some freelance food writing work recently and contributed to “In Good Taste” magazine for Spring. Check out page 9 for the article: “How to Make Your Life More Fruitful”. It was a fun experience and I hope to do more writing for this local publishing agency that focuses on custom food marketing for many high-end grocery stores and markets.

Are you looking for a food writer? I have quite a few articles that have been published online. I would love to write for you. Ping me! I’ll send you links to the work I have done.

Freelance food writing for In Good Taste Spring 2015

 

Kitoula.com Facebook page embed posts

I am testing the new embed code provided by Facebook. I still needed a WordPress plugin to make it work on this page. I cannot see the actual Facebook post in my blog’s content editor through WordPress. I can only see it on the site’s page once it is published. That made editing the blog post more frustrating. I found that setting it up was rather tedious and complicated.

This post was a PicMonkey photo collage I created about making the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond’s Homemade Applesauce recipe.

 

This post was also a PicMonkey photo collage I created about making Nigella Lawson’s Happiness Soup recipe.

 

Anyone reading this post that has used this new Facebook code? I’d luv to learn about your experience and any tips or tricks to make it easier to use.

 

Cooking Matters Mango Salsa

My new friend, Dorothy Hernandez, is the social media coordinator for Cooking Matters Michigan. It’s a cooking based nutrition education program operated locally by Gleaners Community Food Bank. She found my blog when she was looking for local bloggers who have a passion for food and cooking. That’s me.

Dorothy and Cooking Matters Michigan invited me to participate in a special event created for Detroit’s food blogging community. Dorothy wants to encourage local food bloggers to share their strengths with one another and learn a wealth of valuable food tips from professional chefs and dietitians in the process.

On Monday, July 16th we were invited to join other Detroit food bloggers for a Cooking Matters for Bloggers mock class. Cooking Matters is an interactive, hands-on six-week cooking based nutrition education program that aims to empower low-income families with the skills, confidence and knowledge to prepare delicious and nutritious meals at home. These courses are taught by volunteer chefs and dietitians who teach food safety, culinary skills and nutrition information. This national program is part of Share Our Strength‘s campaign to end childhood hunger in America, began in 1993. It has grown to serve more than 12,000 families a year. In southeast Michigan, the program has grown to serve more than 1,000 adults, teens and kids every year.

We talked to Dorothy before the class. Here’s a video of part of our discussion.

Dorothy shared this great mango salsa recipe with all the bloggers.  It’s delicious! So, now I’ll share it with you.

INGREDIENTS
2 large ripe mangoes ( I used 3.)
1 small cucumber
2 medium green onions
1 medium jalapeño pepper
2 medium limes
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup fresh cilantro ( I used mint.)

DIRECTIONS
1. Rinse mangoes, cucumber, green onions, jalapeño pepper and limes.
2. Peel mangoes. Cut mango flesh from the pits.

Mangos
3. Cut cucumber in half lengthwise.

Diced cucumbers
4. Remove seeds.  ( I used a English cucumber and skipped the seeding but I did peel it.)
5. Dice mangoes and cucumber. Finely chop green onions.

Diced mangos

Green onions
6. Cut jalapeño pepper in half lengthwise. Remove stems and seeds and dice.

Jalapeno

Diced jalapeno
7. Rinse and chop cilantro. (Or in my recipe, mint.)

Mint

Chopped mint
8. Cut limes in half. Squeeze juice from each half into a medium bowl. Discard seeds.

Limes
9. Add mangoes, cucumber, green onions, jalapeño and salt to bowl with juice. Add mint. Mix well.

Mango Salsa
10. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

I used this mango salsa as a side dish for grilled skinless chicken breasts. Yianni loved it.

Grilled chicken breast & mango salsa

You can follow Cooking Matters Michigan on Twitter and on Facebook. Thanks Dorothy. I’m looking forward to more events with Cooking Matters Michigan.