I have no idea how it got to be May and over a month since my last post. It is not like I stopped either cooking or eating, but the stimulus money and glut of proposal deadlines has taken up every free moment (and there weren't that many to begin with!) of my non-working time.

I will try to catch you up, and make a real effort to be a better citizen of the blogosphere despite my other commitments. So, here is a brief summary of what has been going on in my culinary (and otherwise) life:

• We had a wonderful St.Patrick's Day complete with lots of family,lots of corned beef, and of course, the delicious corned beef hash the next day (my favorite part!)
• For the past several months I have been preparing to officially become a Catholic. That journey culminated at the Easter Vigil when I celebrated the sacraments of initiation. My entire family was there except for my son Gavin, making it really special (it would have been perfect if he had been there too!). It was really an amazing experience, complete with a celebratory reception and champagne punch. The team at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel helped to make this process meaningful, providing opportunity for fellowship, introspection, and celebration.
  
• I have been cooking a lot with just quick and easy in mind since I am in the middle of grant season, particularly with the stimulus funds out there. But I do have some good pictures on my camera and recipes up my sleeve due some other friends and family and their culinary inspiration. And I promise not to be away so long again...
• One of things I love about being a foodblogger is getting products to try and blog about, but I have to admit that sometimes life overwhelms me and I am a little slower than I should be and such is the case with Country Bob's who sent me two bottles of their all-purpose sauce to try and blog about. While the sauce tasted great, it took me awhile to figure out how best to use it.I was in the mindset of a steak sauce, and for me a good steak really doesn't need any steak sauce.But recently, I had some beef short ribs and I though maybe Country Bob's would be great for cooking those ribs in. The result...ribs with meat falling off the bone,perfectly seasoned in a way that highlighted the flavor of the meat, not the sauce. My success led to numerous other uses of Country Bob's as an ingredient. I have used it in ground beef when I made burgers, and it was terrific. So even if you are not a steak sauce fan like me, you can find a place for Country Bob's in your pantry (at least as long as it lasts!)

While it doesn't happen every day, I occasionally am approached to review new food and food-related products in exchange for a sample. Right before the holidays I was approached by a representative from Emily's Chocolates asking if I would like to try and review their chocolates. Well, that was a no-brainer. However, holiday mail played havoc and I didn't get my package, so when they found out, a new box full of Emily's Chocolate was at my door in no time. I unpacked the box and set the containers on the table until I could get around to photos, tasting and posting. I honestly thought my chocolate samples would be safe since chocolate covered nuts and fruits are more my thing than that of other people in my household.

So imagine my surprise when I came downstairs to find that three of four of my Emily's packages had been raided!! In a house with three women, the idea that someone would hit the chocolate is not really surprising, but I was shocked to find that the real perpetrators were the male members of our household! Now that is an endorsement for chocolate.

My son Andrew was drawn to the milk-chocolate covered graham crackers, which came individually wrapped (like that would help your self-control!), while my husband headed for the dark chocolate covered cherry-hazelnut mix, very strange since he normally is not a big fan of chocolate-covered fruit. This alone was enough to make me take my own taste test, and I was so impressed! There was just enough chocolate to compliment the nuts and fruit inside. The chocolate had just the right amount of sweetness, and was wonderfully creamy. My favorite was the pecans that were covered in chocolate and dusted with cocoa- they were sophisticated chocolate perfection!

Needless to say, with so many fans, Emily's Chocolates did not hang around very long, and I have to admit, I have already hit the website to try the chocolate-covered blueberries... and the chocolate-covered fortune cookies... or maybe the cranberries bathed in chocolate... Anyway, check out Emily's for yourself, her chocolates can be your chocolates at their website, at amazon.com, and a variety of retail partners (if you can't wait for the mail). And don't forget, Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

While I really love Christmas, it is truly the worst time to be a working mom. There is so much to do and so little time and all the holiday duties are in addition to all that you do in your normal life. In addition there is so much pressure- to choose the perfect present, to plan the perfect meal or party, to have the perfect family get-together, or the perfect holiday outfit. I have to admit, I have been caught up in this a bit and while I have been eating and making good food, blogging about it has suffered as a result.

While I may not be the perfect food blogger,I do want to catch you up on some recent food happenings and connect with the food blogosphere where many of you are also dealing with the pressure to be perfect!

After Thanksgiving, we got together with friends for a Thanksgiving leftover cook-off. It was great fun and while some unadulterated leftovers were on the table, our host used her leftover turkey to make a Thai dish that had coconut milk and a bit of spice that was delicious, and was a complete change of pace. I had decided to make an appetizer of baked brie topped with leftover whole berry cranberry sauce I had made, mixed with a little hot pepper jelly to add heat, but I wanted to do something unique with turkey as well. For inspiration I had to go no further than the free cookbook that was handed out at Costco earlier in the day. If yougot this cookbook, there are a lot of great ideas for food for the holidays and beyond! There I saw a recipe for a turkey pizza, so I fooled with the ingredients a bit and made my own version that used Pillsbury Recipe Creations for the crust, pesto, leftover turkey, craisins and smoked gouda cheese.

Recipe Creations were one of the products I was sent to try at the time of the Iron Chef pizza challenge, and this was my chance to give them a try. It is like crescent roll dough, but without the perforations so you have many more options when using it as a basis for a recipe. My version based on the Costco recipe was a big hit- even at room temperature. If we had eaten it hot from the oven it would have been even better. This is a great product that you can use to put together a quick appetizer, main dish or even dessert, and perfect for kids who want to play with food.

Give it a try, and take a break from trying to do it all - the best way to a perfect holiday season is to forget about perfection and just enjoy!!