Blog recommendations !

Hey guys,

I love finding new blogs, especially insipiring food and nutrition blogs to keep my meals interesting.

Here are my top three favourites. All three feature delicious, healthy and quick recipes that are sure to delight your taste buds. Add them to your RSS feeds.

Vitamin G, Everyday Food, In Good Taste

Gingerbread House

Christmas is getting closer (17 days and counting!)

I must admit , with all these exams I definately have not had time to build my own gingerbread house but I did find a fun video online. It shows Martha Stewart and designer Isaac Mzrahi building an entire town-square out of gingerbread !


Check it out, it is sure to make your mouth water !

Ricotta and Herb Spread

I stumbled upon this recipe in Real Simple magazine. I have yet to try it , but it seems pretty much fool-proof.

Ingredients

- 2 cups of fresh ricotta cheese

- 2 tables spoons of fresh chives

- a dash of salt and pepper

- 1 small baguette, sliced and toasted

Directions

- Mix the ricotta and herbs - place in a serving bowl

- lightly toast the baguette slices under the broiler

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Sticks

These pretzel sticks are always a crowd favourite. The combination of sweet chocolate and salty pretzels tastes like heaven!

What you'll need

- pretzel sticks

- large milk chocolate chips or melting disk chocolate

- white chocolate
- baking sheet lined with wax paper

Steps

1. Melt the chocolate- boil water over the stove or in the kettle and pour into a large stainless steel bowl, then add a smaller bowl with the chocolate in it. Allow the hot water in the large bowl to melt the chocolate in the smaller bowl & stir so that it is melted evenly.

(do NOT put the chocolate directly over heat in a pot, it will burn, and smell bad, and taste worse)

2. line the baking sheet with wax paper and lay the pretzel sticks out on it.

3. Pour the milk chocolate over the top half of the pretzel stick (so that you can hold the bottom with your hand)
4. let it cool for about half an hour , and drizzle the melted white chocolate over top of the milk chocolate.

You can also be creative and add chopped nuts, or candy cane pieces for a different taste!

Impressive Holiday Recipes

Now that the holiday season is officially upon us, so is the holiday party circuit. Stay tuned to The Plastic Spoons for some of the most simple, yet impressive holiday recipes ever.

Prosciutto & Parmesan Pinwheels

These pinwheels are super easy but look very professional. Show up all of your friends at your next holiday party by arriving with these savoury h'ors D'eurves


Ingredients

- 1 package of thinly sliced prosciutto
- 1 package of FRESH Parmesan cheese
- Dijon or Honey Mustard
- 1 package of pre-made puff pastry

Assembly

- follow instructions on the puff pastry for de-thawing (it typically takes about 2 hours to de-thaw a frozen roll of pastry) - Makes sure that you are working with the pastry while it is still cold.
- Roll out the pastry on a cold baking sheet and spread the mustard evenly across the surface
- sprinkle cheese and lie strips of prosciutto evenly across pastry
- roll pastry so that it forms a spiraled tube (along the long side)
- cut tube into 1/2 inch pinwheels with a cold knife

Bake at 350 degrees F on a lightly oiled baking sheet for 10-12 minutes (watch them closely!)
heat them in the oven for a few minutes before serving and watch your guests swoon!

The End of the Mass Media?

As a student of media studies, I was at first concerned when I read the description of the special CBC program The End. It concerns me because I have spent the past three years learning about the mass media, and for someone to say that it is going to soon be irrelevant is almost offensive.

Upon watching the three part series on Radio, Television and Print, I understand where the producers of this program are coming from. Conventional and traditional forms of media are changing but they will never be obsolete. There will always be a need for informative and entertaining content. People will always watch, listen and read. But younger generations are much more media savvy that previous, and they are asking for more.

What are we asking for?

Well I cannot speak for the collective youth. But if someone were to ask me what the main things I look for in my media my answer would be simple. I want a choice in my content, and I want to be able to access it quickly and easily.

Sifting through pages, waiting for my show to come on, and listening to 5 songs I don’t like before I hear one that I do is not my idea of good communication. The End uses the examples of satellite radio, Wikipedia and PVR to prove that users are becoming more motivated by their own interests, rather than turning on the 6’ Oclock news and passively watching whatever is thrown at them. The hypodermic needle model has its flaws, and those who believe that audiences of the future will be that easily persuaded are naive.

I also see that a lot of this need for choice is a result of people who are sick of being taken advantage of by the mass media. I absolutely hate having to sit through 10 minutes of commercials each half hour, and if it can be avoided I most certainly will. T

This CBC program encapsulates many ideas that we learn about in mit. It seems that the winds are changing direction in the media world, and those who fail to acknowledge that are going to be left behind.

SOUP!

All this gloomy weather is making me want nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a bowl of soup and crackers. Here are my favourite veggie soups , all with less than 5gs of fat per serving.

Chunky broccoli soup with no artificial flavours or colours. 1.5 gs of fat per serving

Pumpkin, carrots, potato, tomato and onion combine to make this creamy soup. 4.5 gs of fat per serving

A twist on the classic tomato soup, with a bit of red peppers. 3 gs of fat.