Get your paring knives ready because this month Baking Delights is hosting the Potato Ho Down..the brilliant, if somewhat starchy, brain child of Cathy over at Noble Pig.  The round up will be posted next Wednesday so you have an entire week to come up with the recipes, make them, post them and send me the links.

There are certain rules to be obeyed which you can find here.  If you don;t usually participate in these events…why not? It is fun.  And remember, a potato is a terrible thing to waste.

I have all ready begun to get the entries and I can tell you that they look ….delicious.  So… ready? set! Go Idaho!

Image:Homemade Chips,  (c) Marye Audet

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o.k..so I had a rough day.  I am sitting here at midnight, should be sleeping, but decided to go ahead and post my Saturday Surfing because I am such a creature of habit.

If you must know, my computer is down for the count and I am on the slower, less cool, less helpful computer usually relegated to the kids reports and school stuff.  We are a paperless homeschool as much as possible.

However I am going to prevail on this behomoth. So…

One thing I have not posted about is the blog challenges and roundups that happen regularly.  DaringBakers is only one of the very cool activities that happen every month.

The first is the Royal Foodie Joust  by Jenn, the Leftover Queen.  Every month the winner from the previous month chooses three ingredients that the contestants have to use in their entry.  It is great fun.  For February I entered a Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Orange Honey Sauce

O.k…Next on the list is RootSource Challenge.  The ingredient this month is ..mmm…Orzo!

Almost too late for Master Baker.  March 2 is the last day.   The ingredient is  Cinnamon.  My entry is the Rose and Cinnamon Scented Scones on Kettle and Cup.

An Apple A Day is March 3rd.  You must use apples and one other item from  the following list:

•  Almonds
• Black Tea
• Cinnamon
• Dark Chocolate
• Fish
• Peperoncino
• Tomatoes 
  

You can bake something for International Women’s Day…March 8 but it MUST be yellow!

One Dish Dinners is the theme for this months Monthly Mingle at What’s For Lunch Honey? You have until March 10 to come up with something incredible.

Kitchen Parade has a special round-up happening for Pi Day March 14…Yep..it’s homemade PIE.

Culinography dishes out Homegrown Gourmet #6..Breakfast.  Mmmm….entries are due March 13.

What’s Cooking is doing a change of seasons theme with Food for Plastic II- A Taste of Spring or Fall March 14

Who can resist cupcakes? And what is more important, who would want to? The Cupcake Spectacular is March 15.

Art You Can Eat has a very cool competition.  This month it must be egg shaped or made with eggs.  Last month Inge of Vanielje Kitchen won it with an incredible creation. Due March 19

Festa Italiana is a celebration of Italian food and drink. Entries are due March 22.Check out the details at  Finding La Dolce Vita

Inge is a host of Apples and Thyme which is due the 20th of every month.  It is a celebration of the generations of women who cook and their impact on our lives..It is a fabulous thing..I can’t do justice to it in explanation so just go check it out.

If you like to read and you like to eat you need to check out Novel Food, a quarterly roundup at Champaign Taste.  Entries should be posted by March 22.  Just make something related to a literary work. Fun!

Stephanie is always doing something at Dispensing Happiness, true to the name of her blog.  This month it is a blogwide pizza party! .  Also 3/22

The Heart of the Matter is doing heart healthy party food. Entries due March 19.

And don’t forget Ruth’s Presto Pasta Night every Friday night! There are some incredible pasta recipes on the roundup every week.

This is not nearly all of them but it is many of them!  Enjoy checking them out, and get brave and enter a few!

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I love the challenges set forth on the different blogs. Challenges..well..challenge me! I find I am challenged to try new things and to stretch in my cooking skills..to think outside the box. This weekend was no exception.

  You can find the information at

and the deadline is tomorrow so if you are really quick you can enter it!

  The subject was cornmeal. How mediocre, how boring..how challenging and intriguing! I collect vintage and antique cookbooks so I was determined to find something there.

In the pages of my 1940’s copy of Ida Baily Allen’s Money Saving Cookbook-Cooking For Vicory I found what I was going to base my recipe on.. Sweet potato corn bread.

 I tweaked it to make it less dense, a litle sweeter and more a breakfast/brunch offerning than a lunch or dinner one. I added a praline topping..It is unique and delicious with a faint taste of sweetpotato.  I hope you enjoy it.

1 egg

1 1/2 c mashed sweet potato (don’t whip, this was from the 40’s so be authentic and ue a masher)

3/4 c milk

4 Tbs melted unsalted butter

3/4 c corn meal

3/4 c flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

 Topping

1/4 c unsalted butter melted in the bottom of a 9″ round cake pan

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c chopped pecans

Melt butter in pan as you are preheating oven o 375. Do not let brown. Remove from oven. Sprinkle brown sugar over melted butter and mix, then mix in pecans so the are coated with the brown sugar butter mixture. Spread evenly over bottom of the pan.

beat the egg in a bowl. Add the sweet potato, milk, sugar, and butter.  Stir in flour, corn meal and baking powder.

Spoon batter over the praline in pan and bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool slightly and invert pan on plate.

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