Super Bowl Skillet Gathering

Our Super Bowl Skillet Gathering was held on February 1, 2009 and it was the perfect opportunity to focus on men and enjoy the Super Bowl! On the men’s team: a college student, a recent college graduate, two college professors, a construction and trucking contractor. On the ladies team: a doctor, a writer, an entrepreneur, a retiree, and Hot Pepper & Thyme. As usual, we outnumbered the men! Go Team Ladies! I (Thyme) digress and got a little carried away, excuse me.

During the course of our conversation, the men’s team let us know that they do cook. They are trying to get a balance between eating out and eating at home. They are interested in eating healthy but it’s hard due to work schedules. They expressed interest in cooking at home more often and cutting out fried foods. Even though the guys were there to watch the game, they knew they had to be engaged in a conversation about food. It turned out to be a lot of fun and was quite revealing for them and us.

Thyme: I hosted this Skillet Gathering in my home because of my love for men and sports. I chose a menu that would be appropriate for the occasion. Burgers and hot dogs are sports food, but to put a spin on it with mini burgers and hot dogs made them a little more “healthy”. Smaller portions of any food is better than supersizing your food. To make sure everyone had their veggies, I disguised them in the pasta salad (black beans, corn, red peppers, green peppers, onions, olives, green peas), and no one was the wiser. Then just in case they didn’t eat salad, everyone was encouraged to decorate their mini burgers with little tomato slices, little lettuce slices, and little slices of cheese. The mini burgers looked so cute when they were done up like that. Stay tuned for our next skillet gathering which will be held March 20th.

Menu
Appetizers
Pickled Okra
Chips & Salsa
Guacamole
Cheese & Crackers

Main Course
Green Salad
Pasta Salad
Lemon Pepper Wings
Mini Burgers (turkey & sirloin)
Mini Salmon Burgers
Mini Hotdogs
Condiment tray (lettuce, tomato, pickles, and cheese)

Beverages
Modela Negra
Citrus Punch

Inauguration Skillet Gathering - Some Additional Tidbits

We chose our menu because we wanted it to be healthy, colorful, and most of all, delicious. It was cold that day! But, Hot Pepper still ran in and out of the house to grill the chicken. To her surprise there was no barbecue sauce in the pantry. But you can’t keep a good cook down, so she whipped up some, “not on your neighborhood grocery shelf” barbecue sauces. This meant combining ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, hot sauce, garlic powder, a little red wine, and chili powder for the chicken. Not to be outdone, Thyme hooked up her version of barbecue sauce for the salmon. This meant combining chili powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, cumin, salt, and lemon zest. Needless to say, and not to brag, everyone licked all 10 of their fingers over our masterpieces.

Menu
Appetizers
Roasted garlic hummus & pita chips
Pickled Okra
Olive mix
Boursin Cheese & Crackers

Main Course
Barbecue Chicken
Barbecue Salmon
Green beans with garlic
Roasted Root Vegetables (turnips, butternut squash, and yams)
Roasted Peppers & Onions
Salad with Mandarin Oranges
Cornbread

Beverages
Sangria Punch
Juice
Modela Negro

Hi! I’m Hot Pepper – the senior voice more so in terms of professional years :-) I chose this name because I’m spiceeecy…. I like all things hot, probably because of my Louisiana roots.

Hi ! I’m Thyme – this is a most appropriate name for me since I love all things that have to deal with food and cooking. Herbs are the way that I give spice to each and every dish that I cook. My friends always say that I infuse love into food that I prepare, and I would say that it is so true. I chose the name Thyme because this is my time --- my time to shine and to show the world what I am made of.

Welcome to our blog. This is our first attempt at writing a blog, so please bear with us as we fine tune our entries and get this dish cookin’. Please excuse the play on words related to food, but we’ll probably be doing some of that unless it gets obnoxious or boring. However our desire to use food metaphors is very much connected to reasons for this blog. Let us explain.

Hot Pepper: We both are nutritionists by training with academics, research, science, dietetics, doctorates and other initials out the ying-yang behind our names. A few years back, I started this non-profit, the Community Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI), to begin doing some programs and activities outside of my real job. I’m a frustrated bureaucrat, who wanted to give back to my community hopefully in a meaningful way. Needless to say life took over and for various reasons my dream didn’t really take off. In 2008, I decided no matter what, I was going to start back on CFNI, come hook or crook, cohorts or not, money or not. I thought the best way to get started was to create a website and web-based activities that could be done in addition to working for food and a roof over my head.

I started talking to Thyme who’s the more technologically astute among the two of us. She was game and off we went. The goal was to establish the website by the end of 2008 ---- mission accomplished. A major, major objective was to have fun. Thyme suggested writing a blog and now with this entry ---- mission accomplished. With that said, let us tell you a little bit about how we hope to plan the menu, shop for the ingredients, cook up a storm, lay the table, and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Again the food metaphors, but thru this blog we plan to:

1. Journal the development of CFNI.
2. Highlight our Skillet Gatherings.
3. Feature recipes.
4. Describe visits to local food venues (i.e., farmers’ markets, farms, interesting places to eat) so look out for Hot Thymes in the City!
5. Provide food and nutrition information.
6. Display lots and lots of pictures.

Thyme: Our first Skillet Gathering was a dream come true --- a forum where we blend food, conversation, and community. We invited those who came from far and near to share in our first Skillet Gathering on January 20, 2009. This marked a new beginning for us. A time when we celebrated the inauguration of our first African American President, and it was important for us to celebrate the launching of the CFNI website, this marks the dawn of a new day. Through Skillet Gatherings we hope to share food, recipes, and great meals with friends, new and old --- a format that we hope to share with the world. Gone are the days of what not to eat, but here comes a fun way to share and live a life full of enthusiasm for what food can be. Food was meant to nourish our souls and heal us from within. If this is what you are looking for, then you have come to the right place.

It’s our thyme!