I recently found out about an opportunity to be on Grill It with Bobby Flay on the Food Network. The network is currently looking for guests to appear on the show for its 3rd season and asking for recipes and 3-minute video clips of contenders doing their thing on the grill.

While getting on TV or having a cooking show had never been a particular aim or objective of mine since I began my journey into food blogging, when this opportunity arose, I thought, why not? Making a TV appearance with Bobby Flay would be a great experience and way to share my recipes with a broader audience as well as learn from a great chef and one of the best food TV personalities around.

So I created my recipes all centered on a Moroccan theme because I love various cuisines from around the world (Moroccan being one of them) and this North African country is known for a fragrant herb marinade (chermoula sauce) that goes deliciously with fish.  Grilled mahi-mahi with grilled shrimp and vegetable kabobs along with a fruity couscous and an appetizer of grilled roasted red pepper pita wedges is a tasty and interesting menu that I think will be great for TV and your grills this coming spring and summer.

Thanks to the generous help of my tech and video savvy uncle, I was able to put together a brief clip of me demonstrating the main dish of Moroccan-Inspired Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Chermoula Sauce.  Take a look at the video and let me know what you think! We’ll see what happens, but either way, you’ll get the recipes soon – either on the Food Network or FlavorDiva.com.

Familiar foods, recipes and approaches to cooking are a real comfort to most of us. They remind us of home, childhood, and good times with loved-ones. They’re guaranteed to satisfy our taste buds and “hit the spot.” However, I’ve realized through my passion for adventure and exploration, that flavors and cuisines from other countries can add a new enjoyment to our meals and even provide a window into understanding other people of the world and their cultures.

The recent disaster in Haiti has me thinking about their foodways and dishes, which you don’t usually hear much about. Despite this, I’ve discovered that this tiny Island country has a diverse, yet simple, flavorful cuisine that reflects the country’s Caribbean heritage and historic ties to Africa, France and Spain.

If you look at the names of dishes from cookbooks like A Taste of Haiti by Mirta Yurnet-Thomas and Fine Haitian Cuisine by Mona Cassion Ménager, you’ll see chili pepper spiced dishes, quiches, plantains, sweet potatoes, breadfruit, salt cod, and other seafood listed. Fowl, pork and beef, and a variety of rice and beans dishes are also major contributors to Haitian cuisine.

I found a simple Haitian red beans and rice recipe online that I made in thinking about the people of Haiti, their cuisine, and those in the country who currently don’t have the food and resources to fully nourish themselves or enjoy their familiar homeland’s dishes.

Although I already made a donation for Haiti’s recovery a while back, I plan to give more. As we all know, the need for aid continues. This Sunday, February 21st, food bloggers in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and L.A. are uniting to sponsor Stir It! 28, an evening of good food and cocktails where foodies contribute their best dishes to raise funds for Haiti. All of the proceeds will be donated to Yele Haiti and Share Our Strength.

While, I can’t be in attendance at what I’m sure will be deliciously entertaining events, I encourage anyone who’s in New York, Atlanta, Chiciago or L.A. to purchase a ticket and join in the efforts. If you too can’t attend, consider giving or giving again to organizations working for Haiti’s recovery (see below). And when you’re back home in your own kitchen, try out a Haitian recipe to remember the people and connect with their culture in a different way.

Haitian Recipe Resources

A Taste of Haiti (Book)
CaribbeanChoice.com – Haitian Recipes
Fine Haitian Cuisine (Book)
IslandFlave.com – Haitian Recipes

Organizations Acception Donations for Haitian Earthquake Recovery

American Red Cross
Salvation Army
Share Our Strength
Yele Haiti
Many others

When you’re stuck in the house during a major snow storm, you definitely want to make sure that your kitchen is well stocked with ingredients for warm comfort foods! As I write now cuddled up in the house with nearly 20 inches (if not more) of snow on the ground outside, I’m enjoying all the snacks one would need on a snowy day – cookies, fruit, popcorn, hot tea, and warm soup.

Little did I know when I prepared a hearty beef stew last Saturday, during another snowy day inside, that I would be snowed in once again while writing this blog post. So for those of you who may be snowed in as well, perhaps you have some beef, broth and vegetables on hand to whip up this filling stew. Regardless, beef stew makes a deliciously warm and cozy meal for any winter day.

I hardly ever eat beef, but in preparing a meal for a meat-loving friend, I decided to try my hand at the classic beef stew and share FlavorDiva.com’s first beef dish with you. I started the stew with browning the pieces of beef in a little oil and then setting the meat aside to lay the foundation for the dish with a sauté of onions and garlic. Next, adding the meat back in along with beef broth, tomatoes, chopped vegetables, and spices, I lowered the heat and simmered all of the ingredients for one to two hours. This slow cooking gives beef stew a tender bite and allows the flavors to intensify and permeate throughout the pot.

Actually, becasue of the long simmering of the stew, this is a great dish to prepare and then leave the low heat to do it’s work while you relax and watch a movie or cozy up with a book. I hope this recipe gives you a little inspiration to prepare a warming stew for your next snowy (or simply cold) day inside. Enjoy!

Beef Stew1/4 cup canola or sunflower oil
1-1/2 to 2 lbs. stew beef (chuck or other stew cut)
1 tablespoon flour (optional)
2-1/2 cups beef stock
1 28-oz. can of whole, peeled tomatoes (keep juice)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, plus more to taste
5 carrots, roughly chopped
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (red or yukon suggested)
1 cup frozen green peas 

Heat oil in a heavy soup pot or dutch oven. Season beef with salt and pepper and add to pot to brown on all sides. Remove the beef and set aside. Leaving only 3 tablespoons of oil, drain off the remaining oil from the pot and discard. In the 3 tablespoons of oil, sauté the onions and garlic for about 8 minutes. Then, add the meat back into the pot along with the tomatoes (chopped and with its juice), carrots, potatoes, broth and seasoning.

Bring the stew to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. After an hour, add the frozen peas and taste the stew for seasoning. Add more salt, pepper or other seasonings if desired. Simmer for another 45 – 50 minutes. Serve with a side of cornbread, rolls or over rice.

Staring in my cabinet at two cans of pumpkin puree that were left over from my holiday baking, I asked myself, “what can I do with this besides wait until next holiday season to bake with it, or cheat on my New Year’s resolution to cut back on sweets with an attempt at pumpkin cheesecake?” The answer: a warming and slightly spicy pumpkin soup.

Leaning on my love of coconut, cilantro and fragrant curry powder, I looked to those ingredients to add full-bodied flavor to this vegetarian and vegan friendly soup. A sauté of diced onions and garlic in coconut oil provide the foundation for the soup followed by the pumpkin puree, which is then made rich and smooth with coconut milk and vegetable broth. When creating this recipe I used full fat coconut milk that includes the thick cream, but light coconut milk will work perfectly fine as well.

I shared this pot of soup for lunch with my fellow classmates in my yoga teacher training program and it was a big hit! Not to mention, just what we needed on a cold January afternoon. I hope you enjoy it too!

Note: There’s a debate among health and nutrition circles as to whether or not coconut oil should be a part of a healthy diet. I tend to lean toward arguments for coconut oil’s health benefits, but here are some helpful links – one of which discusses the arguments against coconut oil – so that you can inform yourself.

• MSN Health & Fitness on Coconut Oil
• A New Look at Coconut Oil

Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup
Serves 8

3 teaspoons coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon curry powder (mild or hot)
2 15-oz. cans pumpkin puree
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
1 quart (4 cups) vegetable broth
4 cups water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Squeeze of  juice from 1/2 lime
3 teaspoons salt plus more to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat coconut oil over medium heat, then add onions, garlic and curry powder and sauté stirring occasionally until onions are soft (about 8 minutes or so). Next, add pumpkin puree, then stir in coconut milk, vegetable broth and water followed by salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and add cilantro. Allow soup to simmer for about 25 minutes. Add lime juice and taste for additional seasoning. Serve and enjoy!

Over the holidays I hosted a get-together for a few high school friends when I went home for Christmas. My menu consisted of chicken saté with peanut sauce, water crackers topped with thin slices of smoked salmon and parsley cream cheese, spiced roasted nuts, herb-seasoned olives, an assortment of holiday cookies, St. Germain cocktails (my favorite drink right about now) and this orange-pecan wild and long-grain rice.

Given that I was rushing around trying to put together this impromptu gathering to reconnect with old friends, while still enjoying some of my much needed vacation downtime, I definitely looked for delicious, yet quick short-cuts in preparing my entertaining menu. That’s when I thought about this wonderful rice I recently tasted from The District Chop House in D.C., which was flavored with a light hint of orange and toasty pecans throughout a bed of fluffy wild and long-grain rice.

Looking to recreate this dish without a lot of ingredients and in a short amount of time, I reached for a box of wild and long-grain seasoned rice mix from one of the few boxed rice brands that I like – Near East. I like Near East’s products because they tend to have the least amount of additives and preservatives (if any) when I compare ingredients lists.  In fact Near East marks all of their boxed mixes as 100% natural.

The texture and flavor of the rice with this mix from Near East is delicious and the addition of the orange zest contributes an interesting and unexpected flavor that you might not have considered putting in rice before. I hadn’t before tasting the combination from The District Chop House.  And of course if you’re a nut lover, the crunch of toasted pecans adds both flavor and texture.

Using the short-cut of a high-quality seasoned rice mix with natural ingredients and adding just a few other fresh flavors can allow you to have a delicious side dish on your table quickly!

Orange-Pecan Wild & Long-Grain Rice … Quickly!
Serves 2 – 4

One 6oz. box of Near East brand wild and long-grain rice blend (original)
1-3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus more to drizzle
1-1/2 teaspoons orange zest (preferably in thin strips)
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare the wild and long-grain rice blend as directed according to the package. While the rice is cooking, spread pecans in a single layer over a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 5 – 6 minutes or until pecans become fragrant and turn a rich, toasted brown color. (Don’t burn them! Let your nose be your guide.)

Once the rice is cooked, fluff and gently stir in orange zest and pecans. Drizzle rice with a little additional olive oil if desired and serve! It’s that simple.

What’s a Thanksgiving without sweet potato or pumpkin pie? Pies and tarts are actually quite similar so you can feel good about using this tart recipe as a substitute on your table if you want to add a slight change to your Thanksgiving dessert routine.

The filling for this pumpkin tart is pretty much interchangeable with a pumpkin or sweet potato pie filling. I love the look of tart shells and I especially love graham cracker crusts, so I combined the two for this easy-to-make recipe that I hope you will enjoy.

I’m keeping the writing as short as possible today because I have cooking and baking of my own to do before tomorrow’s day of giving thanks. As always, I’m thankful to all of my readers for your support and comments, and I hope you all have a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Tart with a Graham Cracker Crust

Graham Cracker Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (see note below)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)

Note: Using about 12 – 13 graham crackers, finely crumble them up in a food processor or place them in a closed zipper plastic bag and smash the bag with a rolling pin to break up the crackers into fine crumbs.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, add all ingredients for the crust and stir well to combine. You should have a wet crumb mixture that looks like wet sand. Evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture into a lightly greased two-piece tart pan.

Using the bottom of a flat-bottom measuring cup or glass, press the crumbs into the tart pan (including up the sides of the pan) to make a tart shell that’s about 1/4″ thick. Bake for 10 minutes and then set aside to cool.

Pumpkin Filling
1 15-oz can of pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see below to make your own)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pumpkin Pie Spice
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Dash nutmeg

Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer or just your own strength and a spatula, mix together the pumpkin puree, condensed milk, eggs and sugar along with the spices and salt. Incorporate all ingredients fully.

Pour the filling into the graham cracker crust tart shell and fill to the top (but not overflowing). Set the filled tart pan on a cookie sheet and place it in the oven to bake for 40 – 45 minutes. The tart will be done when it starts to brown lightly around the edges of the filling. Allow tart to cool completely and remove tart pan ring before serving.

Note: The tart will have a slightly glazed  look when you pull it out of the oven, but that will set further and diminish later once the tart has cooled. This is a great recipe to make the night before you intend to serve it.

My Mom’s side of the family makes the best cornbread dressing, hands down – at least according to my taste buds. And yes, we say dressing not stuffing, we’re from the South. It’s so interesting how different regions and families have different food traditions for the same dish. I recently discovered that some folks have only seen dressing served mashed/fluffed or in a mound rather than in squares the way my family and nearly everyone in my parents’ hometown serves it.

So what makes our dressing so good? I believe it’s due to the variety of flavors that come from the sage and various herbs in the poultry seasoning. The sweet cornbread base, as well as the moisture from just the right amount of delicious broth are also key. These are all common, basic ingredients in dressing, but there’s still just something special to me about our dressing! 

Perhaps it’s the nostalgia from having that same great consistent taste no matter whether it’s my grandmother’s or great aunt’s dressing, which we devoured several times a day for several days each Thanksgiving and Christmas years ago, or whether it’s from the modern kitchens of my aunts and mother. Overall, I think our memory of how it’s supposed to taste is what allows us to get it right every time.

Despite the culinary tradition our cornbread has in our family, I made the bold move to change it up just a little bit by adding some diced apple and chopped pecans (fall flavors I love). I also made my cornbread base from scratch instead of relying on the ole’ handy Jiffy Mix.

Usually we make our dressing by taste and look alone (no measurements), but as I made my version to share with you, I measured most of the ingredients. Still, you have to rely on your own judgment to get the seasoning just how you like it. That’s the great part about cooking — the flexibility to come up with your own flavor traditions. Enjoy!

Apple-Pecan Cornbread Dressing

1 eight inch square pan of sweet cornbread (recipe below)
3 -4 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix (regular, not cornbread based)
1 celery stalk, very finely diced
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick) 
3/4 cup diced, peeled apple (about 1/2 large apple)
1 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
1-1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste
2-1/2 cups turkey or chicken broth (plus more to drizzle)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crumble cornbread in a very large bowl. Add stuffing mix, celery, onion, sage, poultry seasoning, diced apple, pecans, salt and pepper; mix well. Add melted butter and broth and mix well again. Taste the dressing mixture for flavor and add additional salt, pepper or poultry seasoning if needed.

Spoon mixture into two lightly greased 8″ square baking pans and smooth evenly. Bake for 45 minutes or until top of dressing is golden brown and an inserted knife comes out clean.

Cornbread

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8″ square baking pan with butter or cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fully combine using a rubber spatula. Pour the batter evenly into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Okay, not yet, but I definitely hope you have a great one that’s full of joy and delicious food. To help you get prepared and inspired, I’m sharing three recipes this week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) that you might want to include on your dinner table on Thursday.

First up is a tasty and easy cocktail to get the spirit flowing among your family and friends. Last Thanksgiving, I shared my recipe for Cranberry Apple Sangria, which was a big hit among my family. Folks were giggling and talking like never before!

After coming across sparkling cranberry juice at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, I thought it would be great to use the bubbly beverage to make a refreshing rum spritzer. If possible, use a sparkling cranberry juice that’s 100 percent juice (I got mine from Trader Joe’s), but if you can’t easily find it you should be able to at least find a Cranberry Italian Soda that’s about 4 – 12 percent juice.  Sparkling pomegranate juice/Italian soda is also an option. Enjoy! By the way, what do you plan to make for Thanksgiving?

Cran-Orange Rum Spritzer
Makes one cocktail

3 cubes ice
1 oz white rum
1 oz triple sec
Sparkling cranberry juice
1 orange slice, halved

Place 3 cubes of ice in a short cocktail glass. Add rum, triple sec and top with sparkling cranberry juice until glass is full. Garnish with halved orange slice and a stirrer. Sip and enjoy!

Last week I served this tasty pulled chicken sandwich along side my bowl of butternut squash soup. With the weather getting cooler and cooler these days, hot soup and warm sandwiches are ideal for weeknight meals and leftovers to take for lunch. So what makes this sandwich or any sandwich for that matter tasty and more than just the standard luncheon meat on bagged sliced bread like the kind I grew up on (think bologna or ham and cheese)? The answer’s very simple … the bread and the extras.

I’ve found that simply making your sandwich with fresh baked bread from a bakery can add a new dimension of flavor to your sandwiches if you’re used to making sandwiches at home with your regular packaged bread. My favorite bakery breads to use for sandwiches include wheatberry, rosemary Italian or foccaccia, sunflower or multi-seed boule (like the one I used for the photos here), or ciabatta. Also, I like to buy the bread whole rather than have it sliced at the bakery. I read the tip somewhere that slicing the bread as you need it allows it to keep longer than if you have it pre-sliced, and I’ve discovered that to be true.

The extras that I speak of, another key to good homemade sandwiches include breaking out of the jar of your simple mayo spread. Instead, add a little extra flavor by using pesto or avocado as a spread on your sandwiches or mixing in seasonings to your mayo. For this pulled chicken sandwich, I added one minced clove of garlic with fresh ground black pepper to my mayonnaise and those additions alone elevated the “deliciousness” of my sandwich. You can also try dried herbs, a splash of lemon juice, or a diced sun-dried tomato. Be creative, and enjoy!

Pulled-Chicken Sandwich with Garlic Mayo

1 loaf fresh baked bread of your choice
2 – 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Pulled chicken from one roasted or rotisserie chicken
Green leaf lettuce
Vine-ripened tomato, sliced
Thin-sliced red onions (optional)
Garlic mayo (see recipe below)

Drizzle olive oil over one side of two slices of the fresh bread and lightly toast in the oven under the broiler, remove from oven and set aside. On the untoasted sides of the bread, spread a thin layer of garlic mayonnaise and top one slice with pulled chicken. Then sprinkle chicken with a little pepper. Add lettuce and a few tomato and red onion slices. Top with the other slice of toasted bread and cut sandwich on a diagonal. Serve with hot soup.

Garlic Mayonnaise

1/4 cup quality mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, finely minced (almost to a paste)
2 dashes of fresh ground black pepper

Mix the finely minced garlic and pepper well into the mayo and use on bread for sandwiches or as a dip for fresh vegetables or (eek!) … fries.