Foodbuzz 24x24: A Pie Party!

I was selected by Foodbuzz to participate in the January's 24x24. That means 24 bloggers (me included) were chosen to have dinner or a social gathering revolving around food. The chosen 24 will blog their meals or creations within the next 24 hours. This is documentation of my party- A Pie Party to be exact!

For the last few weeks I've wanted to have a pie party. I blabbered on about it at the turn of the new year to my family. They listened, nodded in agreement and probably thought I was nutso, but to me it sounded like great fun. Chicken pot pie for dinner and sweet, creamy, dreamy pies for dessert. What's not to like about that?! On Saturday, my dream of a pie party came true. Friends and family came to join us for pie. A few of the guests even came bearing their own pie creations. Then after stuffing our pie holes, we played board games, hung out and watched television.

For dinner I made 4 chicken pot pies and my mom put together a big green salad. My aunt and uncle brought a Spinach and Mushroom Quiche and my friend Maranda brought a Barbecue Pork Shepherd's Pie.

For dessert I made a Pumpkin Pie using homemade pumpkin puree, a Key Lime Pie, a Banana Cream Pie, A Chocolate Macaroon Pie and mini Cherry Cream Cheese Pies with two different crusts. My brother bought a Reese's Peanut Butter Pie and Maranda made an Apple Pie with a Cheddar Crust. All were delicious but my favorites were the banana cream and the key lime pies. They were also the first ones to go.

Autumn even got in on the fun. I made sweetened whipped cream to top a couple of the pies and threw the disposable piping bags in the trash when I was done. When I wasn't looking Autumn stuck her snoot in the garbage and started licking the cream off the bags! My mom caught her in the act so I snapped a few pictures of her. She looks quite pleased with herself :-)

So that wraps up my pie party. I hope I've inspired you to invite some friends over and have a pie party of your own. I've linked to a few of the recipes in this post and have shared my very easy recipe for chicken pot pie. Over the next few days I'll share the recipes for the other dessert pies. Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie from Monica h

Printer Friendly Version

• 1 pkg. (2 crusts) Pillsbury Roll Out Refrigerated Pie Crust
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
• 1 bag frozen vegetables (I used peas, corn, carrots and green beans)

Roll out thawed crust into pie dish. Place half of your chicken in bottom of dish, top with half your veggies and 1 can cream soup. Layer remaining ingredients. Top with additional pie crust (you can do fancy lattice work or simply lay rolled out dough over pie) and crimp the edges to seal in filling. Be sure to make vent holes in your crust if you roll out your top crust. Brush with melted butter or egg wash (optional). Bake on cookie sheet in a preheated 425 degree oven for 60-75 mins.

Foodbuzz Fest: The People

This is my last Foodbuzz Fest post but this time it's not about the food or the sights, it's about the people. Without the people, there would be no Foodbuzz Fest.

Sadly, I have to admit, that I met a few trolls at this event, but for the most part the people that I met were really nice and friendly. They are the reason that I want to go to Foodbuzz Fest 2011.

Rather than listing all the wonderful things about each person, I'll just link to their blogs and let you discover them for yourselves. Here they are in no particular order:

• Debby from A Feast For The Eyes
• Allie from All I Eat Food!
• that's me :-)

• Becky from Growing Into Rebecca
• Ashley from The Edible Perspective
• Sarah from Undercover Caterer
• Val from More Than Burnt Toast

• Brian from A Thought For Food
• Gina from Skinny Taste
• Joel from Six by 10 Tiny Kitchen

• Julie from Willow Bird Baking
• who's that on the right?

• Casey from Eating, Gardening and Living in Bulgaria

• Darlene from My Burning Kitchen
• Jenn from Just Jenn Recipes

• Lisa from Snack Girl
• Hilary from Nosh With Me
• Sarah from Daily Nibbles
• Allie from All I Eat Food!

• Astrid from I Have Two Feet and Ten Toes

• Laura from Hey What's For Dinner Mom?

______________________________________________

Not pictured:

• Kimmie from Full Circle
• Julia from Jogging My Memory
• Annelies from Attune Foods
• Melissa from A Fit and Spicy Life
• Joan from Foodalogue
• Jared from Entertaining Food
• Ginny from Food-G

I also want to thank Foodbuzz for all their hard work and of course all the sponsors who made this event what it was. Thank You!

_____________________________________________

One more thing...

I did an interview with Julie from Sporadic Cook a few days ago. If you'd like to check it out click HERE. Thanks Julie for the interview!

And if you'd like to see more of LTBG, I am guest blogging at Eat at Allie's today. Wontcha stop by?! Click HERE to visit Allie and see my recipe.

Foodbuzz Fest and San Francisco: Day 3

I'm sure you're quite tired of seeing Foodbuzz pictures all over the place, but I still wanted to share my perspective with you. I'm sure you've seen the same plated food pics, but after the farewell brunch we explored the city and I want to share that with you. Hope you don't mind :-)

The farewell brunch at The Sir Francis Drake was plentiful. I believe it was sponsored by Nature's Pride bread, so it appeared a few times on the buffet tables. We had mini fritattas with stuffing, mini grilled cheese with pork sausage gravy, french toast with strawberry basil butter, thick cut bacon, fresh fruit, panzanella, frisee salad with pears and almonds and yogurt parfait cups. It was good!

Shortly after brunch, my favorite person in the whole wide world arrived!

Then we went to the flagship Williams-Sonoma store. Talk about 4 levels of kitchen bliss!

It was such a pretty store and I was impressed with their content. They even have a good selection of Williams-Sonoma Home products. Very expensive but nice to look at. Anyone want a $500 lamp? My favorite part was the wall of silicone spoonulas!

Click on the picture below to enlarge the detail.

Our room at the hotel wasn't quite ready yet, so Debby drove us to the wharf for a light lunch and to sight see. Mr. H ordered a lobster tail and shrimp salad and I had shrimp cocktail. It was as good as it looked. The seagulls thought so too.

Then, because it was wet and drizzly outside, we headed to the Ferry Building for an indoor market. ooh, it was foodie heaven.

One of the first places we discovered was Miette- a beautiful bakery. I could have stayed in there and taken pictures all day, all the while sampling as I saw fit.

Debby purchased an old-fashioned cupcake with sticky marshmallowy frosting topped with a candied peanut, which she kindly shared with me. It was quite the tasty treat. The carrot cupcakes were stunning as well.

While there, I purchased my very first French macaron. I got the Chocolate Lavender and the Coffee macaron. The coffee was superb. If you've never had one, they're chewy and light and delightful. get one. eat one.

We browsed a bit more til I ran into a sweet little puppy...

And some even sweeter Beekind Honey. I got a teeny bottle of Lavender honey, while Debby purchased the Tupelo honey. The guy there was really nice and helpful and let me sample several different flavors.

From there, Debby and I said our goodbyes and shared a hug. We had a wonderful time together and I feel like we've known eachother for ages. Until next time...

Mr. H and I returned back to our King corner room on the top floor for a little relaxation. We were tired after walking all over the place and carrying heavy shopping bags and it was nice to return to the hotel and find a note from the hotel staff, as well as a complimentary box of fresh coconut macaroons and a bottle of water. nice touch SFD.

Our room had a bigger brighter bathroom but the room was even smaller than the first. The natural light that came into that room was beautiful though since we had windows on 3 walls. Very nice and bright, though it was a very tad blinding come 6 am :-)

The view of Union Square from our room. Ahhh!

Thanks for joining me on my journey to San Francisco! I hope you've enjoyed it.

Foodbuzz Fest: Day 2

Day 2 of Foodbuzz Blogger Fest in San Francisco was a busy one! We crammed quite a bit into our day. Saturday morning, Debby and I walked across the street for breakfast at Sears' Fine Foods. They're known for their small Swedish pancakes and they're just as tasty as they are cute -served with butter and lingonberries.

Back at the hotel we went to a photography workshop. I was hoping to learn more about the camera and the settings, but it was more about how to make things pretty with placement and dishes. We then got to take pictures of food in different light settings. Not really sure what the purpose was, but the pictures turned out nicely.

The second breakout session I went to was sponsored by Fresh Express. I wasn't too thrilled about taking a class on bagged salad greens, but I was told that that Chef Todd Fisher would be there and that he was funny as well as being Debby's friend. So I was in. He also wears funky red clogs and I like that :-)

The salad that he made was a recipe from Ashley from The Edible Perspective. It was mixed greens, with roasted butternut squash, the creamiest goat cheese I've ever eaten and caramelized onions. It was very pretty and it smelled great.

Breakout session 3 was about writing and trying to avoid cliche words like "yummy", "delicious" and "creamy" to describe foods. I wrote about the luscious strawberry you see here.

Midday, we went to the Tasting Pavilion at the Metreon. It was full of vendors offering tastings, coupons and freebies for the taking. Here is Julie (on the left) from Willow Bird Baking showing off her winning Nature's Pride recipe. How cute is she?

It was a mad house at the Tasting Pavilion! And there was major food paparazzi going on in there. The lines were long and I was getting grumpy, so Debby and I took off to discover the city, but not before we had cupcakes from Mission Minis. The ones I had are Cinnamon Horchata, Pink Lemonade and Aztec Chocolate.

And because I have no self control I had a Ghirardelli S'more!

We needed some fresh air, so we headed to The Palace of Fine Arts. And let me tell you, it is grandiose and detailed beyond belief. I was in awe of this structure. My photos don't do it justice. If you're ever in the area, pack your camera and a picnic lunch and head over there. It's gorgeous.

Another magnificent sight- I'm talking about myself, not The Golden Gate Bridge. ha ha!

This is a view of San Francisco from Vista Point. A lovely place to be standing. Except for the fact that is smelled like urine. ewww!

I could look at this view all day long.

I know it may sound silly, but I had to make a trip to Trader Joe's! We don't have them in Texas so it was on my list of things to do. Gratefully, Debby was happy to fulfill that request. I got a couple things but there was only so much I could take back with me. I LOVED their orange juice though and we enjoyed that back in our room for a few days!

As the night fell, we headed to the gala dinner at The Ferry Building. We had passed hors d' oeuvres and free flowing wine. I had a Coke :-)

It was quite elegant and classy and I showed up in jeans! I know! But at least my shirt matched the table linens. ha!

The dinner was sponsored by The Cooking Channel and featured 4 courses along with wine pairings. The first course was a Golden Beet Tart, second course was seared scallops, third course was lamb chops with butternut squash puree and mushrooms and we wrapped it up with an almond cake.

Dinner was good but it ran way later than expected and we were tired beyond belief. We had to get some rest to start a new day. Day 3 of Foodbuzz fest is coming soon!

Thanks for following my Foodbuzz Fest journey!

If you missed it, here's Foodbuzz Fest: Day 1.