Having recently gone to pick blueberries I am now in the process of  using them for as many meals as possible. We try to get enough to last an entire year but we may be a little short this year. In any case I could not resist attempting to create a sauce for meat. I had originally been thinking of pork medallions for this sauce because it has some presence.  I had chicken breast so that is what I used but I think that  the pork is the better choice due to the fact that it has more flavor.  I also think this would be great with wild caught fowl, turkey, or even a fish like salmon.

The sauce is spicy. If you don’t like it spicy then adjust the amount of habenero or change the peppers totally. You could go with a chipotle, a jalapeno, or a serrano. It is hard to say how much to use because each person seems to have a different opinion as to what is spicy and the peppers can vary in heat from pepper to pepper. Let me tell you what happened to me.

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I was asked to review some Pourfect products and I agreed. I mean, I dont know about you but measuring cups, spoons and such disappears around here. It ends up in Kyrie’s play kitchen, or in the dirt in the driveway, or…God forbid, in the kitty litter. I ALWAYS need measuring cups so of course I said yes.

Let me just say..first of all…there are alot of them. The cup sizes are from 1/8 of a cup up to 2 cups. The measuring spoons go from unbelievably tiny to two tablespoons.

When I say unbelieveably tiny I mean it. Their specialty sizes are listed as such:

• drop 1/64t
• smidgeon 1/32t
• pinch 1/16t
• dash 1/8t

There is also a leveler included. I liked these spoons alot. They are easy to use, red (they match my laptop) and come in a enough sizes to make anyone happy. The only downside to the products, at least the red ones, is that it is hard for me to see the measurements on them. They are embossed but the same color as the spoons. I would prefer that companies give a nod to those of us with high ceilings, eco-friendly lightbulbs, and less than perfect eyes by making the numbers easy to read. I will be getting around this with a bottle of nail polish or a sharpie.

The cups are fantastic. The have a lip on them that allowed me to pour some expensive balsamic vinegar (special occasions only) back into the bottle when I had mis-poured…and nary a drop spilled. It all was saved. The bottoms have a no skid band so that they sit firmly on your counter. You are not going to knock them and have them race across the counter toward the inevitable floor like lemmings. Nope.

The bowls are polished so ingredients slide out easily. Again, the numbers are hard to read but other than that this product is one of my favorites. I will be ordering bowls for sure.

You can find more out about the product and the company, including how to buy, at Pourfectbowl.

image:maryeaudet

If you don’t know how to freeze blueberries don’t worry! It is so easy!  Most blueberries, at least in Texas, do not have natural pests so they are usually grown without pesticides. That is how the place we pick them does it anyway. The easiest way to keep blueberries, strawberries, and other berries for long term storage is to flash freeze them.

To freeze them just put them straight into a ziploc type freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer. Don’t rinse them, or clean them other than pulling out any obvious stems or leaves.  They will keep for more than a year..One year we had them for 18 months. It just can’t be easier than that!

I am working on a post for later…but I wanted to post this while I was thinking about it.

image:marye audet

Saturday we went to a pick your own blueberry farm in East Texas. Located in Edom, it is about 1 1/2 hours from us and we have been going since I was pregnant with Matthew.

Matt will be 17 on July 11. In other words we have been going a very long time.  Now, you can’t just go blueberry picking, there is a ceremony that must be carried out.

Blueberries for Sal must be read aloud the night before. You must get up while it is still dark and eat breakfast in the car on your way there…and at least one teenager must complain that they would rather be doing something with friends…at least until they get there… You must eat as many as you can and still fill your basket before the sun gets too hot..and then you must fight to stay awake on the way home, and figure out that you should have used sunblock. You must then end the day with blueberry pancakes for dinner.

If you do it any other way you are just not doing it right. Pick your own farms are a wonderful way to eat local, support the local economy and build family relationship all at the same time. I intend to do a couple of searches to see what is available in my area besides blueberries.  It is great for kids to be part of gathering food and interacting with it in it’s natural setting, rather than assuming that blueberries grow in pint containers in the back of the grocery store.

Here are some pics of our day…It was great!

The bushes were full of blueberries this year.

Nick finds the perfect berry.

It doesn't take too long to fill the baskets.

Full baskets...

Nick and Sean rehydrate

images:maryeaudet

I had my thyroid biopsy this morning so I don’t feel like talking much. Wow. I was expecting the procedure to hurt but it was a piece of cake. It is afterward, with the swelling and bruising that makes you feel like you were hit by a mack truck carrying Sumo-wrestling elephants.

I wanted to get this recipe up in time for you to consider it for Fourth of July though.  I know, I know, you always have the same potato salad and it is tradition…well yeah! Me too, but you have to try this because it is addictive. Have I ever lied to you? I am telling you that this potato salad is absolutely my favorite now, and although I grew up on the traditional Midwestern style potato salad with a tiny touch of mustard, boiled egg, and celery, THIS blows my Mom’s potato salad out of the water. Sorry Mom.

Unlike classic potato salad this shouldn’t sit around very long. The hot peppers tend to get hotter as they sit… so what seems to be mild at 10 a.m. is spicy at 4 p.m. and three-alarm by day 2, if it lasts that long. The warm flavors of the Southwest are highlighted and this is perfect with the classic burgers and hot dogs, or a brisket.

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Or something  like that.

Basically, we are talking about a butter cookie crust, filled with rich bittersweet ganache, topped with a cloud of delicately flavored lime cheesecake, and then embellished with the ripest of ripe raspberries, with a quick raspberry coulis poured over the top.

Did I say over the top?

This was better than good. The main problem was that the kitchen was hot and by the time I got the pictures taken the slice I was shooting had begun to look a little droopy. After all it was a good 95 degrees in the kitchen, and I was losing light fast.

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Now, I know someone is going to take a look at this and say, “That’s not  Feijoada!”. And of course, you would be absolutely right. And wrong.

At our house this is Feijoada. A long LONG time ago when we had very little money for groceries I wanted to make something different. I had black beans, ground beef, and rice. After much searching I found a recipe for Feijoada and even though I had few of the ingredients, I made it with what I had.

Now, argue with me if you want but that is the true spirit of Feijoada, isn’t it? Using what you have in such a way as to create gastronomic Olympus.  Rich and spicy, filled with the flavors of Central and South America this is my version of a Brazilian dish.  It is flavorful, frugal, foreign and filling and can you ask for much more than that out of a food? Really?

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Sometimes being a food writer is like Christmas everyday. Boxes come in the mail and are full of delightful things. The box from Dei Fratelli was like that. Two pasta sauces, two salsas. Yum.

Rather than doing a separate review for each I am just going to say that all  four of these products are delicious. The corn and black bean salsa was not too spicy, but had a very fresh flavor. In fact, all of the sauces had a good, fresh tomato flavor.They are not overly salty and all of the ingredients are well balanced. I really liked this brand. Give it a try if it is available in your area.

images:marye audet

I am addicted to taco salad. Seriously, who ever invented this stuff was brilliant. Meat, beans, cheese, lettuce and other raw vegetables…Just add watermelon for dessert and you have all four food groups!

Back in the day, when I forst got married everyone made taco salad the same way. Doritos, canned kidney beans, cheddar cheese, hamburger, sour cream, iceburg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and catalina dressing.  There might be a little variation on that but not much.

Well, taco salads have evolved into much more than that. They are still easy and budget friendly, but fresher and more delicous I think. If you have an electric fryer I highly recommend making your own fresh tortilla chips. They don’t take long at all and the difference is amazing. It is one of those small things that takes food from average to incredible.

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I am sure that most of you know the story of David and Goliath..The Giant that didn’t take the little boy too seriously and ended up the worse for it. I like that story. I happen to believe that most of the time Right = Might and truth will always prevail.

A couple of months ago I mentioned that one of my unique recipes had shown up in a national magazine. Both b5media and I contacted  the magazine to ask that they give me attribution for the recipe. The magazine didn’t even acknowledge our emails, or the emails of the lawyers.  If they will do it to me they will do it to any of you that are food blogging. After all, I had a network and network lawyers behind me and they still ignored us… The magazine is Tea Time, which is put out by Southern Lady.  Hoffman Media, LLC.

Recipe copyright is a tricky thing. You can’t copyright a list of ingredients…and really, the magazine was within it’s rights to publish the recipe. Legally they did nothing wrong. But the recipe was one that I had developed over a long period of time, one I had worked on to get just right..and spent money on… and it was unusual. In fact, if you list the ingredients in google, my recipe is the only one that comes up.

So, we weren’t talking about them using a recipe for chocolate chip cookies here. This was for white silk and berry tarts..and it took me a long time to get it just right. You see, just white chocolate and heavy cream, the way you would make a chocolate ganache is too rich. White chocolate and butter is too…bland…

After several tries I found that what chocolate and sour cream were just right. The perfect combination and back drop for the berries I chose. I published this recipe last May, almost exactly a year ago. White Silk and Berry Tarts.  I used premade shells because I had been concentrating on testing the filling…

Everyone that tried them loved them.  The slight almond flavor, the creaminess, the tanginess of the sour cream. Perfect.

Now, I do work for a network. I do make an income from blogging and freelance writing.  As some of you know, Marc became disabled 2 years ago and lost his job. We have been fighting with the VA to get his benefits. For awhile we were not sure where our next meal was coming from..seriously money has been tight.

This is not a hobby for me. I love it but Baking Delights, Kettle and Cup, and the other writing I do feeds my family and pays our bills.I don;t just write here. I write about 15 hours a day to make our budget.

So, I read Tea Time Magazine because I love the images, the recipes and the tea articles. I have been a reader, although not every issue, for a couple of years. Imagine how I felt, laying in bed one night and paging through my newest copy (May/June 2009) and coming upon a recipe for White Silk Tartlets.

Me:”Hey Marc! Look! Someone has a similar recipe to mine in a MAGAZINE!”

Marc:”Really? Let me see.”

We begin to read the recipe….

Marc:”Ummm, Kid? That IS your recipe.”

Me: “Seriously? No they wouldn’t do that..must be a coincidence…”

I pulled up the laptop and went to my recipe.  Here it is:

Marye’s White Silk Tarts

16 tart shells of choice (pastry, graham, puff pastry etc.)

1 c unsalted butter

3/4 c sugar

6 ozs good quality white chocolate melted in 1/3 c heavy cream and cooled to room temperature

1 tsp vanilla flavor

1/2 tsp almond flavor

2 TBS sour cream

2 eggs

1/2 pt blackberries, raspberries or both

Bittersweet chocolate for drizzle

+++++

The I looked at their recipe. Page 33.  Forgive me as I blatantly copy their recipe off:

6 oz white chocolate chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

tartlet shells

6 oz blueberries

6 oz raspberries

Melted white chocolate for garnish.

++++++++++++++

Instructions are basically the same. They sweetly used their own words.

The next day Matthew said, “Wow Mom! These tarts on the COVER of Tea Time look just like yours!

“Actually Matt, they look better, their photographer is much better than me but other than that THEY ARE MINE.”

I was astounded. I was sure that they had just made a mistake. SO I emailed them, expecting an email back. I mean, my recipe had made the cover of a national magazine that I admired! Surely I would get a quick apology and a small attribution in another issue….

They didn’t even say eff-you.  Nothing.

Nothing. It says By Valerie Kramer Davis, recipe development by Chantel Lambeth…Which is interesting since she was certainly NOT at my house while I worked on that filling…My poor family was forced to eat mounds of white silk..mounds of it I tell you!

So, am I writing this because I am angry?

Yeah, I am. I am angry that a big, profitable magazine would steal from a broke food blogger. If I had written one of there recipes without attribution I think I would have heard about it.

And you know what? I have inadvertently taken recipes from other bloggers without meaning to. Especially when I first started blogging. But as soon as I was made aware of it I apologized publicly and made it right as much as I could. Because I was raised that way.

You know, if this was a common recipe I really would not feel comfortable saying anything..but as you can see it is not. I am angry. Obviously I will NOT be buying the magazine anymore..which is kind of scary because if they will steal once what will stop them from stealing again?And if they do how will I know?

I don’t believe in signing some blogger’s ethics paper, or joining a bloggers group that has rules about what you can and can’t do. I think that everyone knows what is right and wrong and people can err on the side of caution and ask permission. You know, I would have said, “SURE! Just mention the blog!”

Several months ago a magazine contacted me by email. Niagara Magazine Group out of Canada wanted to use one of my images, with attribution. They asked if it would be ok..  I said, “SURE!” and they even sent me the magazine!

I am not a difficult person to get along with. I think I am pretty reasonable. But I have this thing about lying and stealing. I don’t like it. And I think, especially if you are a public figure, lying and stealing is…well….I don’t want to say unforgivable… but…beyond unethical. I, for one, do not want to be associated with an unethical company.

Food bloggers, really, there is no way to combat this individually. We are too small. But together we are a pretty scary force on the internet. As I told someone this morning..I have a spatuala and I know how to use it!

Try to notice what is on other blogs and then as you are looking around the internet or through magazines take note of anything that looks too familiar. Let’s help each other in this.  Also, if you find that a company or another blog has used your stuff email them. If they don’t fix it…let’s start calling them out. Do you really want to support a magazine like Tea Time that not only plagiarizes other work but refuses to acknowledge their mistake?

Another thing I do is to google my name, and Baking Delights regularly. I also run random pages through CopyScape AND I generally hide a link in the post that links back to one of my blogs or websites so I can track the blog thief.

I am very disappointed, frustrated, and hurt. I am pretty sure that they made a heck of a lot more on my recipe than I did.

Tea Time comes across as being a genteel, feminine magazine…but turns out to be little more than a bully in a frilly dress and a push up bra….. ” I can do this because I am bigger than you.”

Yep, Tea Time, you can.

You are bigger, wealthier, and more powerful than me…but I have something you will never have again. My respect, and I am guessing the respect of more than one of your readers.

Oh… and thank you for saying that this was your best dessert ever…I will take that as a compliment.

Images:(c) Marye Audet (that means I took them with my camera at my table a few minutes ago) 2009