National Pasta Month

One Whole Month Devoted to Celebrating Pasta?

                                 Yes, Please!

2010 National Pasta Month Coming In October

NEW YORK (September 28, 2010) — Pasta has been around since the fourth century BC, yet there is still no food more versatile and modern – or more delicious – than pasta. It is the perfect foundation for a healthy, easy and impressive meal for you or the entire family, as well as a special date night, dinner party or get-together with friends.

Pasta lovers across the country will be honoring their favorite cuisine this October as part of National Pasta Month. You can celebrate by participating in one of the many fun activities the National Pasta Association offers in celebration of pasta, the perfect food, or by simply enjoying your own delicious pasta meal!



Show Us Your Perfect Pasta for a Chance to Win a Cash Prize!






Enter your favorite original pasta recipe for a chance to win a cash prize worth enough to buy a week’s worth of groceries for a family of four! Visit www.eatpasta.org to enter. Four pastaphiles will win big, and one winner will be selected each week in October, starting October 4. Each randomly selected winner will receive a cash prize of $250.

 Pasta Personality Quiz


If you were a pasta shape, which would you be? Are you a conservative penne or a free-spirited rotini? Maybe you’re a strong-willed lasagna noodle or a stylish gemelli. Perhaps, an easy-going spaghetti? Take the quiz and find out what shape you most resemble! Visit facebook.com/NationalPastaMonth to take the quiz and find your pasta personality. You can also visit www.eatpasta.org to learn how to make delicious and healthy recipes featuring your personal shape. By taking the quiz, you’ll also be automatically entered to win a gift certificate from delicious pasta restaurants Carino’s Italian Restaurant or Noodles & Company.




Learn To Cook Pasta Perfectly


At its most basic, pasta is an easy meal to assemble. But, by mastering a few easy tricks from all-star Chef Cesare Casella, dean of the Italian Culinary Academy, you’ll be on your way to creating gourmet, restaurant- worthy meals at home. Visit www.eatpasta.org to learn how to make his favorite recipe, Pesto Alla Cesare, and watch cooking videos of Chef’s cooking tips that you can execute in your own kitchen.














EatPasta.org






Did you know there are more than 100 shapes of dry pasta? You can celebrate Pasta Month by trying a new shape or updating your favorite sauce by adding a different herb; you can also try a brand new recipe featuring one of the many ingredients that make pasta recipes delicious. www.EatPasta.org is your one-stop source on interesting pasta news and facts, delicious and seasonal pasta recipes, helpful cooking tips and nutritional information . You can also follow National Pasta Month on Twitter @Eat_Pasta or on Facebook by becoming a fan of National Pasta Month to receive daily updates from EatPasta’s blog.

Eating for Beginners Review and GIVEAWAY! Plus Fit Family Challenge Post #2

Hello Everyone!  The Foodie Mommie Fit Family Challenge Post #2 is upon us and with this I have an EXCELLENT giveaway!


Eating for Beginners by Melanie Rehak is a wonderful book about one woman's one year journey discovering how be an eater and a parent to a picky child in today's increasingly complex world of "food rules."  In this book, Rehak works at a restaurant for one year called applewood (the name of the restaurant is not capitalized), which specializes in seasonal selections as well as buying a huge majority of its food locally.  In addition to working in the restaurant, Rehak takes time out work on local farms and even goes out to sea on a commercial fishing trip to find out not only about organic versus not organic but also about sustainable sources of food.  


This book was an absolute delight to read.  Not only is Melanie Rehak very informative in the book, she is also extremely entertaining.  We follow her life for one year, through the ups and downs of being a restaurant chef, to trying to get her toddler to eat foods that are not only good for him, but good for the environment.  This book really made me want to get out there and work on a farm.  I loved how she described each and every experience in a way that made me want to try it too.  I learned so much from this book about the source of our food in this country and why it is so important to buy local.  That being said, I really liked how this book also allowed for a balance between buying local and buying from other places when something is not in season.  The message of this book is not that it has to be all or nothing, but a delicate balance between the ideal and reality.  There are several places in the book where one of the farmers or the restaurant owner mentions buying something from California or Florida when it is not in season and that being OK.  The point of the book is not only about WHAT you eat, but HOW the food was grown, raised, fished, etc.  The source of the food, the treatment of the food, if you will.   Rehak gives us an added bonus by including some of the recipes she learned along the way at the end of each chapter.  I can't wait to try some of those! 


This is probably one of the best food books I have ever read and so I give KUDOS to Melanie Rehak for doing the research to write this amazing book!  Throughout this book I kept thinking, "my goodness, I think she and I would get along so well! "  This is my kind of book!


So, now that I have reviewed the book for you, I have a really great giveaway in store!


Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has offered to give 10 of my readers copies of Eating for Beginners!  Giveaway ends on Sunday August 1st at midnight.  Winners will be chosen at random, announced and informed by e-mail on Monday August 2nd.  Here's how to win (please leave SEPARATE COMMENTS for each entry):

• Basic Entry - Leave a comment on THIS POST with your e-mail address and tell me about your favorite seasonal fruit or vegetable
• Join as a follower - 1 additional entry
• Follow me on Twitter - 1 additional entry
• Follow me on Facebook - 1 additional entry
• Grab my button and post it on your homepage -3 additional entries
• Refer a friend, if that friend becomes a follower, you both get 3 entries (be sure to let me know which friend you referred or referred you! Separate comments for each referral please!)
•  Linky up to the Fit Family Challenge -3 additional entries
• Write and link a Challenge Post #1 or #2 (see below for details on the Challenge Post) - 10 additional entries  

Fit Family Challenge Post #2 -

Not only will linking a challenge post win you 10 extra entries in the Eating for Beginners Giveaway, it could also get you featured as a guest blogger on The Foodie Mommie!  This weeks challenge:

Go to your local farmer's market, CSA, or anywhere that sells local meat, fish, and produce.  Buy ingredients to cook a completely local meal and blog about it!  Linky up to have your post entered to win!  

 I have also extended last weeks post for another week, so you can definitely visit the challenge page to check out last week's challenge post.  

Have a great rest of your weekend and until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!

Baked Crunchy Pesto Chicken

This has to be one of the easiest and most delicious chicken recipes ever.  I make this ALL THE TIME not only because it is so yummy, and so easy, but it is also really economical!  The prep is virtually hands off and it is a very good "make once, eat twice" recipe.  I usually cut up leftovers and use them in sandwiches, salads, pasta dishes, and more.  On Saturday, I will be using the leftovers in my Chicken, Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Wrap (CBLT).  This is a total favorite in my family.

Baked Crunchy Pesto Chicken

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin (about 1/4 inch)
• 1 cup homemade or store bought basil pesto (you may not need all of the pesto)
• 2 cups bread crumbs seasoned with italian herbs
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or italian cheese blend), grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 13X9 baking dish generously with cooking spray.  Mix the bread crumbs and the cheese in a shallow bowl or dish, place some of the pesto in another shallow dish (I use a pie plate or pasta bowls- you can add more pesto if you need it).  Coat each chicken breast in the pesto, then the bread crumb mixture, then place in the baking dish.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the chicken is fully cooked (no longer pink in the thickest part of the breast).

I usually serve this with some pasta coated in the remaining pesto and a steamed vegetable, tonight it was carrots.  You can also serve this with rice, or with a nice tossed salad.  You can change up the flavors by using a nice tapenade or a different type of pesto to substitute for the basil pesto.  

On another note, I did not receive any entries for this weeks Fit Family Challenge so I am extending it for another week.  If you would like to be featured for a week on my blog please visit the Fit Family Challenge Page to enter a post in the challenge!  I look forward to hearing your great ideas!  

Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!

30 Day Foodie Mommie Fit Family Challenge

Hi Everyone!  I would like to announce my 30 Day Foodie Mommie Fit Family Challenge!

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a healthy family.  I have come to realize that even though a healthy lifestyle has a lot to do with a healthy diet, it also  has a lot to do with spending quality time with you family, building relationships with those who are closest to you.  My family has been through a lot in the last couple of years, namely with moving to the Midwest.  Daniel has Sensory Processing Disorder and could potentially have Asperger's and David works a tremendous amount.  This has put a strain on us and so recently we have decided that we really need to engage in activities that build us up as a family.  This has inspired me to create the Foodie Mommie 30 day Fit Family Challenge.  I am asking all of you to join me in participating for at least 30 days in this challenge.  


Here are the rules:

• If you have a blog, grab the Fit Challenge Button and post it, either on your site or in a post and post the Fit Challenge Promise (you can copy and paste):  

I/we______________(your name here) am/are participating in the 30 Day Foodie Mommie Fit Family Challenge.  I promise:

•  to spend time with my family cooking at least one healthy meal made from whole foods
•  engage in at least one physical activity with my family
• sit down to a family meal                                                                           

         at least once per week for the next 30 days.  I encourage you to join me too!

• Link your blog to the challenge at the end of this post.
• Keep a journal of your activities and be sure to come back and share in the comments, or post about your activities and recipes and link them back to The Foodie Mommie on the Challenge Page so that we all can share our ideas with each other.

Please note that you can still participate even if you don't have a blog.  Be sure to share your ideas in the comments section of the challenge page, or in the comments section of this post.  You can sign the creed by posting it in the comment section! I am really looking forward to participating in this challenge with all of you and hearing your wonderful ideas!  

This challenge ends on August 13th. If this is successful, I will probably do another one!