#FreshTastyValentines: Individual Tarte Tatin

So.

It's the last day of #FreshTastyValentines. I'm shocked at how much I've posted for this event.  Really, I think it's more a case that I've actually sat down and written up my posts.  There's lots on the camera to come in the coming months.
First things first, we need to recognize all the amazing sponsors who have helped to make the event such a success!

(Have you entered the Giveaway yet?  You totally should.)

Today, the recipe includes a sponsor item, Envy Apples.

You know how those little cooking hack videos keep showing up on Facebook, demonstrating in 90 seconds how to make something totally drool-worthy and gorgeous?

J has taken to sending them to me.  I watch them and think, "I could do that."  and then I don't.  

But when I saw this video, and I knew that I was going to have some Envy Apples to play with, I thought that it would be worth a shot:

When I lived in France, I learned from my host mother to make a tarte tatin in a 9" cake pan.  This is just on a smaller scale.  My recipe also makes 2 - 1 for you, and one for your loved one.  Or 2 for you.
I present to you now Individual Tartes Tatin:

#FreshTastyValentines: Balsamic Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Stew

So.

Welcome back to another issue of #FreshTastyValentine!  Food to tempt your loved ones that is healthy and delicious.  Here's something delicious.  I believe my exact words to J were that we were having a "bowlful of yum" for dinner.
The beauty of Looneyspoons recipes is that they're delicious, made from staples in your pantry, and they work.  When I saw this stew, it sounded wonderful.  With Robert Mondavi as a sponsor of the blogging event, it just made sense to make something with wine.  Bowlful of yum indeed.
I present to you now from the Looneyspoons Collection, Balsamic Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Stew:

#FreshTastyValentines: Cinnamon Bun Oatmeal

So.

#FreshTastyValentines has been way fun, and I have recipes all weekend to get everything in!  Here's a delicious idea for a quick breakfast that uses a heart-healthy product that I'd never tried before.
Hulled Hemp Seeds are packed with protein and omega -3 and -6 fatty acids.  When I opened my bag from Bob's Red Mill I thought they looked a lot like ground nuts.  The little bit I tried tasted a lot like nuts.  Yum.
I wasn't sure what I was going to do with a bag of hemp seeds until I got my Janet and Greta newsletter for January.  The recipe included either chia seeds, ground flax seed or hemp seeds.  Decision made.  Then I doubled the recipe so J could have a bowl.
On a cold damp Sunday morning, this was welcome and delicious.
I present to you now from Janet and Greta Cinnamon Bun Oatmeal:

#FreshTastyValentines: Pistachio-Crusted Tilapia

So.

I know I've expressed before my love of the Podleski sisters and their cookbook series, Looneyspoons.  J's and my commitment to healthier eating means that I've spent more time leafing through the pages of my copies, looking for new things to try.
With my promise, I spend lots of time looking for ways to cook fish.  I can't make blackened tilapia every week!  This crust for fish was great on tilapia, but I'd like to try it on salmon too.  Versatility.  That's what we're all about around here.
I present to you now from the Looneyspoons Collection, Pistachio-Crusted Tilapia:

#FreshTastyValentines: UnCommon Goods

So.

While I don't have a recipe today, I've had so much fun going through this sponsor's website.  Today, we talk about barware.  Specifically, my life and relationships through glasses.  You'd think the people I know and I were lushes or something:

#FreshTastyValentines: Tex-Mex Stuffed Butternut Squash

So.

One of the promises that I made to J with his new healthy eating outlook was that I would cook 1 meatless dinner a week.  This was probably one of my less popular promises, seeing as my husband is big on meat.  Big.  As in if I cooked it 3 times a day he'd be all good.
But I went looking for some dishes that contained more beans and less animal protein on my favourite source for such things - Pinterest.  I even created a new board so that I could find things more easily.  This is one of the first things I pinned, knowing full well how much my husband wouldn't be in favour.
While J likes way more vegetables than I do, he's not a fan of squash - except as pumpkin in baked good form.  I like it, but never cook it as a result.  However, I had high hopes for this as really the squash was a vehicle for the Tex-Mex flavours that J is a fan of.  I was wrong.  It's too bad, really; seeing as this is delicious.  I made the stuffing for 4 (I didn't want to use half a can of black beans and have half a can leftover) and took it to work for lunch for a few days afterwards.  It's filling, and so, so good.
I scraped my squash half clean.  J?  Well, he ate the filling and said it was good.  I personally would recommend both.  I present to you now from Life Tastes Good, Tex-Mex Stuffed Butternut Squash:

#FreshTastyValentines: Tomato Tart

So.

Welcome to #FreshTastyValentines, a week's worth of recipes that are healthier for tempting those you love!  I'm thrilled to have joined with the other bloggers and our sponsors for a fun event!

My first recipe is from Rachael's blog, Pizza Rossa, who happens to be my Secret Recipe Club partner this month.  I couldn't just feature one of the recipes from her lovely blog - I featured a second that was a perfect entree for in which we didn't miss the meat.
I have made a similar tart to this in my preblogging days, but it used sliced tomatoes and minced garlic.  I was intrigued by the idea of roasting the tomatoes and garlic first.  Plus with basil and lots of cheese, how could this possibly be bad?
I present to you now from Pizza Rossa, Roasted Tomato Tart:

Secret Recipe Club: Strawberry Maple Baked Oatmeal

So.
It's been a while, but after taking a month off, we're back with a new edition of the Secret Recipe Club!  It's now been 2 years of my belonging to the club in which you're paired up with another blogger and you make something (in secret) from that blog.  Then we all reveal on the same Monday and see what we all made.  Fun, right?  I certainly think so.
This month, I was matched with Rachael from the lovely blog Pizza Rossa.  Rachael is an Australian in Switzerland who has been a vegetarian since she was 18.  J and I are...not...vegetarian.  But J's decision to make healthier choices when eating and my promise to cook a meatless entree every week meant that a vegetarian blog would be a boon to trying something new.
I perused a bunch of recipes, trying very hard to stay away from my old standby on a vegetarian blog, the baking.  Rachael has a bunch of lovely looking baked goods including Cinnamon Challah (or Raspberry Swirl!  So pretty!) and Lemon Macrons with Lemon-Lime Filling (but I'm still intimidated about making macrons.  Rachael has PB&J macrons too.  I totally want to try those as well!!).  I also debated entrees, and found one.  I'm actually sharing it later today as my first recipe post for #FreshTastyValentines!  But then I found this for breakfast, and I wanted to make it too.  Just as well I need 2 recipes for today.
I have made baked oatmeal a couple of times.  I'm always happy with the results and the fact that I then have breakfast for a week that you'd think I'd make it more.  When the weather is like it's been here for the past while - cold, damp, and with a wind that cuts through you, this is a welcome breakfast treat!
I present to you now from Pizza Rossa, Strawberry Maple Baked Oatmeal:

#FreshTastyValentines: The Intro and Giveaway!!

So.

I'm back, with a new blog event!  Welcome to #FreshTastyValentines - a celebration of healthy foods for your loved ones.
When Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla put out the call for bloggers for this event, I knew I was in!  So have fun.  We're in for a whole lot of fun with some great bloggers!
I've been teasing on Instagram for the past few weeks as things have arrived from our amazing sponsors.
#FreshTastyValentines is almost here. A group of 22 talented food bloggers who will be posting recipes for an entire week that, we hope, will inspire you to make some healthy Valentines treats for your loved ones. Here we are...

The Bloggers
(with links to their homepages, in alphabetical order)

A Day in the Life on theFarm

A Kitchen Hoor'sAdventures

CafeTerraBlog

Caroline's Cooking

Cheese Curd In Paradise

Cindy's Recipes andWritings

Colie's Kitchen

Cookaholic Wife

Culinary Adventures withCamilla

Curious Cuisiniere

Dancing Veggies

Eliot's Eats

Famished Fish, FinickyShark

Jane's Adventures inDinner

Making Miracles

Poet in the Pantry

Rhubarb and Honey

Sew You Think You CanCook

The Pajama Chef

The Spiffy Cookie

Things I Make (forDinner)

Tortillas and Honey

From February 1st through February 8th, not only will you find nearly a hundred recipe posts, but you can enter to win our awesome giveaway, courtesy of some amazingly generous donations from sponsoring companies. See rafflecopter below.

The Sponsors

(with links to their homepages, in alphabetical order)

BenBella Vegan
Bob's Red Mill

Casabella
Envy Apples

Gourmet Garden
KitchenIQ
Mann Packing

Not Ketchup
Pacari Chocolate
Sun Basket
T.Lish
UncommonGoods
Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi

The Giveaway

For FOURTEEN Different Prizes
begins February 1st and ends February 8th
If you are visiting before the rafflecopter opens, please check back!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to #FreshTastyValentines sponsors for providing the prizes free of charge. These companies also provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for #FreshTastyValentines recipe development without additional compensation. All opinions stated are those of the bloggers.

#BookClubCookbookCC: Gingerbread Pancakes

So.
After taking December off, the #BookClubCookbookCookingCrew returns in January with the Pajama Chef's invitation to make Mrs. Enger's Cinnamon Rolls with Coffee Icing and read Peace Like a River by Leif Enger.

I was excited about reading this.  I thought it sounded good from the synopsis in the cookbook.  I turned to my local library's catalougue...
...and discovered that I could only get it in audiobook form.  10 CDs.
I am not new to audiobooks.  My mom gives us one each year for Christmas, and we often read them in the fall as we go to and from football weekends.  All you need is time.  My old commute would have been perfect.  My 5 minute commute now is not so much.  I only made it through 3 CDs.
While the story was interesting, and I probably would have finished the book in paper form, I just couldn't find the time or the interest to sit and listen in the house to the book.  Not even Swede's poetry could get me into it.
I had, however, already decided what I was going to make as my recipe this month.  Pancakes!  Pancakes are mentioned a couple of times early in the story.  The first is as dinner when duck hunting, but it was the second time that cemented what I planned to make.
Reuben and his father go to a revival meeting at the local church.  Reuben sneaks out and shares an orange with his current infatuation before announcing that he can cook...and the 2 of them make pancakes in the church kitchen during the revival.  I giggled as they prayed in the sanctuary, aroma of frying batter heavy in the air, inspiring turns of phrase that were so, so awesome.
Reuben and Bethany didn't make pancakes like these, but they smelled so, so good on a cold Saturday morning in the house.  Say grace and dig in.
I present to you now from Judicial Peach, Gingerbread Pancakes: