We Moved

Hi All,

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we’ve moved. We’re now at http://blog.cookmarked.com/ .

For those that are curious, we made the transition from a WordPress.com blog to a WordPress.org blog for the added features. We’re quite happy with our move so far!

Hope to see you there!

RoW: Strawberry Balsamic Sherbert

I have a confession to make. This week’s recipe of the week search was solely focused on things that had a Valentine’s Day flair. But, I don’t think that you’ll be disappointed to try this, Strawberry Balsamic Sherbet, regardless of the season.

Photo by: pastrystudio

This super easy recipe that only requires 4 ingredients and a blender was submitted by one of our Level3 Chefs, XT.

All RoWs (Recipes of the Week) will be created/submitted by user’s like you and will be posted each Friday, both here and on our Facebook page! Keep your eyes peeled, yours could be next!

KISS Beauty Products

KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid. I don’t really like the last “S” but I do like the acronym, so I’ve made an exception.

It’s a phrase I keep in mind in all aspects of life: work, cooking, decorating, etc. I’m all about buying less and using a little creativity to save money and keep things natural. I’ve especially been using it with regard for beauty products lately. Click links below for details on the recipes and to copy them to your own cookbook.

Body Scrub – Grab a bowl and combine any oil you like, brown sugar, fine sea salt, and an essential oil you love. Vanilla seems to me the can’t-beat option for smell, but go with your favorite. And if you have dry skin, a sunburn, or eczema, leave out the salt and double up the sugar.

Face Exfoliator – In the palm of your hand, combine a tablespoon of raw, unfiltered honey with a half a tablespoon of baking soda, mix it together, and apply to damp skin. The honey is antibacterial while also soothing dry skin, and the baking soda is gently exfoliating without tearing or irritating your face.

Moisturizing Mask – Combine yogurt with raw, unfiltered honey. Leave it in for 15 minutes, and rinse.  The lactic acid in the yogurt softens skin gently, and can be great for dehydrated and congested skin.

Every Day Face Wash and Makeup Remover – Using warm water, wet face and washcloth. Add a 1-3 drops of Jojoba oil to washcloth and use to clean face. Oils on your face might seem like a bad idea, but if you use a skin-compatible oil like jojoba, it won’t clog pores or cause breakouts. In fact, some people find the opposite happens!

Warming Mustard Bath – Mustard’s abilities to stimulate sweat glands and increase circulation in the body draw out impurities and toxins. These baths have been used for centuries, equally employed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as by Native Americans and practitioners of ayurvedic medicine.

After all, the skin is the bodies largest organ. Why would we want to lather something all over it that we wouldn’t be willing to eat or drink?

RoW: TexMex Calzones

This week’s recipe of the week, TexMex Calzones, was submitted by Brad S. of Atlanta. In the spirit of full disclosure, he’s a good friend of ours. In fact, he made this dish for us on Friday night. There was a special meat-free one for this gal and  it was delish!

Photo By: Sunset.com

 

I don’t think I’d ever really appreciated the calzone before. All it needs is a simple side salad and you have a great meal. You could easily customize this recipe and stuff the calzone with whatever protein, veggies, and spices you like best.

 

All RoWs (Recipes of the Week) will be created/submitted by user’s like you and will be posted each Friday, both here and on our Facebook page! Keep your eyes peeled, yours could be next!

January Roundup

Hi Friends,

Super Bowl XLV is coming up fast! I love my fair share of football; but I’ll be honest, I have no real preference in this game. I’m mainly just excited to hang with some good friends this weekend and eat some good food.

We wanted to quickly share our Newest Developments and give you a recap of the great January Recipes of the Week.

New Stuff:

• Achievements - Chef Level 1-3, RoW Winner, Mexican Master, American Commander.

• Enhanced Browsing Options – By moving your friends to your homepage, it’s easier than ever to see what they’re cookin’ up.

• Enhanced Category/Tagging Options – From your home page, click any column header to reorganize by: Title, What, When, Where.

January Recipes of the Week Recap:

• 1/03: Amber’s Ethiopian-Inspired Red Lentil Soup
• 1/10: Cornmeal Pancakes with Honey, Salt, and Cracked Black Pepper
• 1/17: Lynda’s Meatloaf with Tomato Relish
• 1/24: Alexandra’s Ginger Steak Salad

If any of you are feeling particularly ambitious or are looking to “wow” at your Super Bowl party, I suggest giving this edible stadium a try. Let us know how it works out! I’ll be sitting on the sidelines. Happy Game Day!

Photo By: SeriousEats

<3,

Cookmarked

How To: Tacos – Where’s the beef?

According to an article last week, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Taco Bell by an Alabama law firm for false advertising.  Specifically, the meat mixture sold by Taco Bell restaurants contains binders and extenders and does not meet the minimum requirements set by the USDA  for “beef”. Monetary compensation isn’t being sought, they just want Taco Bell to stop calling the product “beef”.

Which begs the question… Why aren’t more people making their own tacos anyway? They’re cheap, easy, quick, and store well.

We pulled together a list taco recipes from our archives to help people get started with making their own. Whether you use beef, chicken, pork, or veggies you’ll know it’s the real deal.

Veggie Tacos

Mushroom and Chile Tacos

Beef Tacos

Chile and Pineapple Pork Tacos

Lime Chicken Tacos

Fish Tacos

And here is a round up of some great side items to round out the meal:

Black Beans and Quinoa

Mango Mint Slaw

Guacamole with Tomatillos and Lime

Restaurant Style Salsa

Corn Salsa

Chipotle Salsa

RoW: Ginger Steak Salad

Photo By: baking=love

This week’s recipe of the week was submitted by Alexandra.

Know how most salads have lots of green stuff and are then topped off with a little bit of grilled something or other; and inevitably make you wish you’d ordered a burger?

Well, Ginger Steak Salad may change your opinion on “healthy” eating all together. Soy sauce, brown sugar, and fresh ginger make up the marinade. yum!

All RoWs (Recipes of the Week) will be created/submitted by user’s like you and will be posted each Friday, both here and on our Facebook page! Keep your eyes peeled, yours could be next!

Happy (Vegan) Pizza Day

This Saturday, January 29, 2011 is  Vegan Pizza Day! The goal is to celebrate and spread the word about Vegan Pizza by eating lots of it and encouraging others to as well. It’s amazing and can be enjoyed by *everyone*!

To help everyone out, we put together a little resource guide. First, here are our favorite faux meats and cheeses:

Photo By: Peta

“Meats”

Italian Sausage – Field Roast Sausages

Chicken – Gardein

Ground Beef – Match Meat or LightLife

Pepperoni – LightLife

“Cheeses”

Mozzarella – Daiya

Cheddar – Teese

Now, it may seem that dough would be the toughest part of this equation. Not true! Most pizza doughs are already vegan. Here are some recipes and resources that fit the bill: Traditional Crust , Thin Crust, Deep Dish.

Curb Appeal

Many of you have probably been to our home, www.cookmarked.com. There is no physical address. We live online, but we do want you to visit us and to enjoy your stay.

In our world, form follows function. We started by building a system to solve a problem — not being able to keep track of recipes or easily share them with friends. Then we came up with a name, Cookmarked. Now, we’re working on giving our home some curb appeal.

Every website is an information display container, just as a home is a container. For typical websites, the basic aspects of design are:

• content: the substance, and information should be relevant and should target a specific audience.
• usability: the site should be user-friendly, with a simple and reliable interface
• appearance: the graphics and text should include a single style that flows throughout, to show consistency. The style should be professional, appealing and relevant.
• structure: the web site as a whole should depend on the content with strong consideration for usability.

We aren’t in the habit of developing an abundance of our own content here at Cookmarked. We’re leaving that up to our visitors, our audience. We know who you are. And, we want any content published by us to speak to that.

With everything we do, we focus on user-friendly experience. We are not building a Monet. Within 20 seconds, we want everyone who visits to say, “I get it”.

Our appearance and structure, have been evolving recently with consideration for improving content and usability. There are some who think that appearance is frivolous. But, we all know the guy with combed hair and an unwrinkled shirt is most likely to get the gig.

If you have any thoughts or ideas you’d like to share, give us a shout. We’re always eager to hear what you think.

RoW: Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

Ahh meatloaf…

If you’ve been paying attention to any of my previous postings, you might have noticed that I’m not a meat eater. So, you

Photo By: Food Network

may be wondering, why on earth is this gal qualified to suggest a meatloaf recipe? Well, because I’m not a hater. I respect the meat eaters among us.  Also, I grew up eating meat and on occasion I cook it for those I love.

Everyone needs a reliable meatloaf recipe in their repertoire. As such, I bring you Meatloaf with Tomato Relish, submitted by Lynda S.  Lynda credits Tyler Florence of the Food Network for this recipe; and Tyler credits his dear old dad.

All RoWs (Recipes of the Week) will be created/submitted by user’s like you and will be posted each Friday, both here and on our Facebook page! Keep your eyes peeled, yours could be next!