I just stumbled on the best early birthday present evah! 30 Days 30 Ways with Macaroni and Cheese.

This might be the most creative marketing slash collaborative project I’ve seen in quite some time.

Welcome to 30 Days, 30 Ways a blog brought to you by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. We’ve collaborated with 30 different food bloggers to create 30 inventive recipes for the classic dish — Macaroni & Cheese.

Nice going Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board! They are currently on Day 11 of their 2nd Annual 30 Day cheesefest.

I think I am most excited to try these from this year:

and these from the 2010 series:

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Sage, Gingersnap-Pecan Crust

Cedar Grove Smoked Salmon and Dill Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese

Do you have a favorite mac and cheese recipe? Jamielovely sent me an awesome one several months ago. You can probably bribe her into sharing with you.

This is the 3rd post in December’s Top Tens in 2010 Series. This guest post was written by Rory Ellis, an internet marketer who has been known to play with fire.

As you find yourself making the transition from living off of fast food and ramen noodles in college, it becomes apparent that some expertise in the kitchen will help ward off the weight gain, and the strain on your wallet that restaurant food can cause. I often hear the phrase “I can’t cook” and simply shake my head in disagreement. Cooking is not hard, it’s just a matter of learning how.  When you break it down and take a look at a few recipes, you will see that the majority of the meals that you find are created using only a handful of techniques that are easy to master with a little practice. I’ve come up with the top ten cooking techniques that I’ve found will allow you to make just about any meal you can dream up, and on occasion impress those who see cooking as a challenge reserved for short-order chefs.

1. Standard Kitchen Cutting Techniques: A chef’s knife is one of your most versatile tools in the kitchen. Slicing, chopping, dicing, and mincing are a few of the cuts that you should learn to make when preparing a meal. A quick search online will provide the necessary specifications for each, but in reality, they are in essence increasingly smaller increments of cutting your ingredients into the consistency that you need for the dish you’ve chosen. Cutting & Chopping. Got it.
2. Browning: Many individuals start their cooking journey by using the “Just add meat” meal in a box solutions. These are quick, easily prepared with a single skillet and require minimal effort on your part. The main technique to master when cooking these dishes is called browning. When preparing this dish, you must begin to cook the meat before the other ingredients to ensure that the finished product is fully cooked; however, it’s important not to overcook the meat to avoid a tough or dry final product. Browning is simply partially cooking a meat while stirring (typically ground beef or ground turkey) until there is no pink left on the outside, but it is not fully cooked on the inside. After draining the fat from the meat, it will finish cooking with the other ingredients to produce a savory meal.
3. Frying: Whether it is deep vat or pan frying, the idea is the same. Frying uses hot oil to cook your ingredients. This technique generally produces a much juicier meal (albeit not quite as healthy) than some other cooking techniques. It even allows you to coat your meat or veggies in some other ingredient (think fried chicken) to give it the crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside experience.
4. Roasting: Similar to baking (see #10 below if you are impatient), Roasting involves cooking with a dry heat, often in an oven. This technique is usually used for larger pieces of meat such as the traditional thanksgiving turkey. Since you use a dry heat, it is often a good idea to baste your meat with it’s own juices and other flavoring ingredients to ensure that it doesn’t get too dry.
5. Saute: By mixing ingredients in a pan with a little oil at a high heat, you can create many sizzling concoctions and flavors. This type of cooking allows you to caramelize ingredients like onions with a meat of your choice to maintain a tender texture and infuse flavors together. It is a common practice to use what is left of the drippings as a sauce for the dish.
6. Stir Frying: Stir frying is a technique similar to sauteing that brings together many ingredients into a dish that is cooked at high heat with constant stirring (usually faster than a sauté) in a wok. It is commonly seen in Asian dishes but the idea can be used to make any variety of quick and easy dishes. This is one of my favorite techniques to experiment with for new flavors. Bite sized chunks of meat make this an easy meal to eat whether using a fork or chopsticks; and fresh veggies are almost always a necessity with this technique, so stay away from anything in a can that could come out squishy after cooking.
7. Grilling: The long time favorite of Sunday afternoon cookouts and tailgaters alike, grilling involves cooking directly over hot coals or a gas flame (coal is my favorite btw). This is usually reserved mainly for meats, but grilling also gives vegetables like corn or potatoes a wonderful smoky flavor that is sure to please everyone.
8. Slow Cooking: There are a lot of ways to cook slowly (in some cases a hot summer’s day in Texas could work), but a crock pot or similar device is far more efficient. This technique works well to produce a delicious meal that is ready when you get home from work. Often used for stews, roast beef, or poultry, by placing your ingredients in a slow cooker you allow the meal to soak in it’s own juices while it is slowly cooking all day long to produce an incredibly tender and flavorful dish.
9. Poaching: When working with a delicate food, or when attempting to create a healthy dish without the use of oil, you can actually cook with another liquid. Water provides a great cooking method for many ingredients that you wish to remain juicy, or if it is something delicate, remain intact. My favorite use of this method is the poached egg. One of the finest breakfast dishes around is Eggs Benedict which cannot be produced without learning to poach an egg to the perfect consistency.
10. Baking: At some point in your life you will probably know someone who has a birthday (or if you have no friends, you can substitute your own). On this wonderful occasion, cake is customary. I however, personally hate most cakes that people pick up at the grocery store bakery for birthday parties. I’m a pie fan myself, but there is a wide variety of amazing baked goods that are sure to wow everyone when presented at your next gathering. I will admit that I like to cheat and buy the boxed cake mixes, but even if you want to try your hand at making something from scratch, baking simply requires that you mix together a few ingredients and stick them in the oven at the predetermined temperature and set a timer so you don’t forget about it. (I cannot stress the timer part enough! The biggest problem I have found with baking is getting sidetracked and forgetting about it until it’s too late). After that, you can get creative with icing or other garnishments to make your creation pretty to look at and add some flare!

Now go experiment with what’s in your fridge and try not to burn the house down! Share your favorite cooking technique/recipe/or recipe resource in the comments.

Love this! Who can resist… food + photos + tumblr = awesomesauce.

Make your Labor Day delicious and easy on the eyes with Recipics.com, a collection of “visual recipes” created by Lauren Bugeja. The Australian user experience designer developed a system to translate written recipes into a diagrammatic form that simplifies the preparation of labor-intensive dishes ranging from Eggs Benedict to rigatoni sardi a mari—even if you’ve never poached an egg and would be hardpressed to pick rigatoni out of a pasta line-up. We recommend kicking off your long weekend with a “Jug of Danger,” Bugeja’s pictographic take on the famous and fruity British summer drink known as the Pimm’s Cup.

(via Liquid Treat)

Happy Labor Day weekend y’all (feelin’ a little Texas today)!

It’s been a while since I did any food/cooking related posts and I figure since it is the weekend before Christmas (crazy) I would do a little round-up of some recipes that sounds ohh so yummy to me.

Recipes:

• Crispy Chrismas Sashimi
• Turkey White Chili
• Christmas Breakfast Sausage Casserole
• Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
• Applesauce Pie
• Thai Basil Chicken
• Grandma’s Half Moon Spiced Cookies
• Pumpkin Cheesecake

Other Food Related Finds:

• Study Shows Girls Have Superior Taste to Boys
• 2008 Best Online Recipe Resources

PS- For those of you viewing this in a reader, click over and check out the new face of GenPink (new logo & new look). You can browse by topic, see popular posts you may have missed. And if you’re a newcomer come by & introduce yourself.

Also, check out some of my previous Foodie posts:

• Skip the restaurant, make it yourself
• Yum Saturday Roundup
• Yum Saturday
• Gastrosexcual – New Generation of Men Who Cook
• K is for Kitchen

What is your favorite holiday recipe?

I am in love with the Sugar Network – GeekSugar, YumSugar & CasaSugar are my regular reads. I do keep up with the other areas as well but those are my favorite. So on this beautiful Saturday I thought I’d do a round up of my saved things from YumSugar recently (or not so recently).

I haven’t actually tried any of these recipes yet but I do plan on it soon.

• Fast & Easy Dinner: Black Bean and Corn Tacos – as a single twenty something I like food that is easy to make and can be made in single servings that can easily be reheated later
• Healthy Snack: Cucumber Cream Cheese Nibblers – this is technically from FitSugar but it is food related and it sounds so yummy
• Fast & Easy Dinner: Turkey Burgers With Feta and Herbs – I don’t really like red meat so I’m always looking for fun recipes that don’t make me feel like I’m eating the same thing every day. Hey plus this says fast & easy those are two of my favorite words in the kitchen.
• Peach Rice Pudding Pops – Seriously, these look so good. They might be worth investing in popsicle mold
• Watermelon Gelatin Cups – Yum! this is from the collection of 7 Unconventional Watermelon Recipes
• Roasted Corn, Black Bean & Mango Salad – again, did I mention I’m not much of a meat eater? This is also from a collection, that’s very 20something-able 8 Great, Brown Bag-able Lunches
• Cold Southwestern Corn and Shrimp Soup – I love no-cook recipes! If you’re looking for other Summer Soup ideas you should definitely check them out.
• Meatloaf Cupcakes — hmmm, what do you think?

I learned a new word today … gastrosexual:

They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but it seems the dining tables have turned as increasing numbers of men are taking up cooking in a bid to seduce women.

Dubbed ‘Gastrosexuals‘ this new generation of men consider cooking more a hobby than a household chore and use their kitchen prowess to impress friends and prospective partners. -Mail Online via yumsugar

While, I’m not so into the sound of the word gastrosexual I am certainly into guys who can cook. This girl likes to eat! Is master chef on your list of ideal mate?

Today I learned …

the Big Apple became the first city in the country to implement a law forcing chain restaurants to post the calorie count of each food in the same size and font as the price.

In the past week I’ve moved so I’ve been learning about getting rid of items I no longer need, packing, unpacking and all those kind of fun things.

I’ve been learning something new every day in the month of July! Have you learned anything fun/random lately?

Yesterday I learned through YumSugar that several big label grocery items are shrinking in quantity yet keeping the same price. This information came from a Time magazine article stating that rising commodity and fuel prices are causing manufacters to either raise the price of food or lower the quantities. Harvard Business School Professor John Gourville explains this change to the fact that,"People are just more sensitive to changes in price than changes in quantity. Most people can tell you how much a box of cereal costs, but they have no clue how much is actually in it."

This month, Kellogg’s started shipping Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks containing an average of 2.4 fewer ounces per box.

The changing product sizes are part of the reason the Bureau of Labor Statistics says groceries cost 5.8% more than the same time last year.

For a girl who loves to eat, this is not happy news :(

Learning something new every day: I discovered that July is National Blueberry Month. This was established in 1999.

Fun blueberry links:

• 100 Recipes for July National Blueberry Month
• Blueberry Mojito
• The Blueberry Council

I love blueberries so this news/learning makes me happy!

I’d love to hear some of your favorite blueberry links!

kitch·en
noun
1. a room or place equipped for cooking.
2. a room equipped for preparing meals.

I was reluctant to use the word kitchen to be a defining point for twenty somethings because honestly I am not quite sure how I think of said word (or said room). After much debate I decided that whether I like it or not, the kitchen has some how become more apart of my life as I’ve gotten older. Something about getting my own place gave me a desire to learn to cook. Even if it was only for a little bit. When I first started blogging I found an internet buddy who had many things in common with me, including being a graphic designer. She and I have become internet/email/blogging friends and I am often quite amused at how similar two strangers can be. Michelle has a much similar few of the whole cooking game as I do, so I figured she’d be a good candidate to write about the kitchen. I was hoping maybe Michelle could shed some light on my love/hate relationship with my kitchen.

This guest post was written by Michelle of Michelle & the City, a 25 year old graphic designer living in Ohio.

There is a room in my home that I definitely have mixed feelings about. We were hot and heavy for a while, but then frozen meals came along and we just didn’t spend as much time together anymore. I’m sure he misses me, but sometimes I just can’t find the time in my busy life to spend an entire night with him. I’m pretty sure he wants to break-up with me.

Yes, I’m talking about my kitchen.

As a 25-year old single woman who lives alone, I don’t find the need to cook full meals anymore. To take the time to find recipes, go out and buy the 20 ingredients and spend the next 3 hours in the kitchen. I am content with peanut butter on toast or a bowl of cereal and cold milk most nights.

But you know what? This bothers the hell out of me.

I want to be the next Martha Stewart. Or at least a distant relative. I want to be the mother who makes the best lemon bars on the block, packs the best lunches and hosts Thanksgiving dinner. I want my pasta salad to be requested at potlucks and for my girlfriends to ask for my lemon meringue pie recipe because it’s the best they’ve ever tasted.

It’s not that I can’t cook, although I am more of an amateur. When I had a live-in boyfriend I loved cooking for him. Maybe not every day, but there was something satisfying about having someone to make a home-cooked meal for. But it was nothing fancy. (I do make a mean Tater Tot Casserole however, you should try it!)

But I want to be better.

I want to learn. In fact, the last time I had a get together with my high school girlfriends we decided to exchange recipes over email when we made something we really liked. We laughed about how this made us feel old, but we liked the fact that we can grow up and still have something to share with each other and have in common besides high school crushes.

So what do you guys think? Does this Susie homemaker wannabe feeling happen to every 20-something woman? Does it depend on your marital status? Share your feelings on the kitchen with me. I hope I’m not the only one pining away at all my un-used appliances!

I say that the Susie homemaker wannabe feelings are stronger for me when I have someone to cook for. I found myself cooking more often when I was in a relationship. When it’s just me my love of Macaroni gives me no reason to spend much time playing Martha. What about you guys?