Perfect pizza

Perfect pizza, a photo by SeattleProPhoto on Flickr.

I recently came back from a trip to Italy. What blew me away is the food. It was amazing. One dish I could not get enough of was the pizza. First of all they make it in a fire oven. The crust is thin and crunchy, there is a thin coat of tomato sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. I only wish I could find pizza like that in Seattle.

Roasted Tomato Egglant

One of my favorite eggplant dishes, is the Tomato Roasted Eggplant. It's a really easy dish to make and is perfect for as a "make-ahead" dish.

Time to prepare: 1.5 hours (including prep time)
Ingredients:

• 2 eggplants
• 2 cans of diced tomato
• 2 tbls ketchup
• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbls olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

Directions:

• Pre-heat over at 350 degrees. Wash the eggplants and poke them with a fork all around. As I have learned the hard way, if you do not poke the eggplants, it might explode in the oven. 
• Roast the eggplants on a cooking sheet for 45 min.
• Take the roasted eggplants, and take off the skin and chop into cubes.
• In a food processor combine: 1 onion, 1 green pepper, and the eggplant
• In a deep pot, heat the olive oil. Add the mixture from the food processor. Add the 2 cans of diced tomatoes.
• Stir, all of the ingredients in the pot. After about 10 minutes, add ketchup, salt and pepper, dill. For additional spice, add some red chili sauce (1 tsp)
• Cook for about 40 minutes on medium temperature. Stir occasionally. Let it cool down, prior to serving

New Kitchen Gadget

I've recently  found my kitchen filled with new fun gadgets.  This slow cooker is fantastic.  Now I've had slow cookers before, and I have never been satisfied.  It over cooks, it under cooks, the timer isn't built in.  This guy, is great.  I didn't realize that what I was doing wrong is just using the wrong model. The best thing I like about this model is that it has a rack. Definitely a keeper.  So get ready for some fun slow cooker recipes.

10 ways to use digital channels to grow your business

1. Create a blog
You can use easy tools like blogger or wordpress to create your blog. You should update your blog at least 3 times a week. Make sure that you have content that is not stale. To allow your blog to be searchable, make sure that you register your url with the main search engines (google, bing, yahoo).

2. Create a twitter
In today’s age, Twitting is a necessity to help build your brand, but as you have probably noticed, everybody is on Twitter. Since you only have 140 characters, use them wisely. For your links, substitute them with short links. Make sure that you maintain good list hygiene. Follow people who follow you back. Use tools like Huitter.com. Make sure that you are twitting daily several times a day. If you don’t have time to tweet daily, write the content ahead of time and then use tools like SocialOomph.com to post it for you throughout the day.

3. Create a fan page on facebook
You can use facebook to help with your online brand. The facebook page is a great channel to help tell your customers what’s new. The key thing to remember is to not overwhelm them with information. Use the same rule of thumb for status updates as you use for Twits. They should be short and sweet. Consumers do not like reading long messages

4. Business online channels
If you sell your products online, make sure that you use the social media channels to help build your online identity.

5. Measure your channels
I like to use google analytics. They allow you to see your online traffic to your site, blog, online channels. They aslo allow for you to see your traffic sources. If you receive any traffic from search, it allows you to see what search terms lead to your site. As you create new content, you can keep this information in mind.

6. Integration between channels
It’s imporatnt to connect the dots for your consumers. You can integrate your twitter with your facebook. Push your facebook to your business channel. Integrate up to date widgets on your blog. Channel integration allows the dots to be connected for the consumer, without them having to think too much about what you want them to do.

7. Don’t be lazy
The mistake a lot of people make is they don’t go the extra mile, and it shows. Don’t be lazy. For your blog page, buy the domain name and transfer it. For your twitter page, create your own background, it’s easy enough. You can use Twitbacks.com. These little things will make a difference.

8. Brand consistency
Many business fail in this area. They either have not thought about their overall brand identity, or they change their brand too often and thus confusing their consumer. Create one brand; keep it consistent cross all channels. Use the same naming convention, icons, and consistent images across all of your channels.

9. Online website
As part of your online identity, build a website. Who are you, what do you offer. This will help with building your online reputation. As your online brand grows, this will help with building you credibility in the community.

10. Keep your content up to date
Most important of in all of these areas, is keep your content up to date. As they say, out of sight, out of mind. Be consistent in what you are doing, than your audience will be looking for content that’s coming from you.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potato is a great alternative if you are trying to avoid high starchy food like potatoes.
Time to cook: 35min

Ingredients:
• Sweet potato 4potatoes
• Olive oil (2tbls)
• Chicken broth 1cup
• 1 twig of thyme
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Salt &peper

Directions
• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
• Clean and cut the potatoes in cubes
• Add potatoes, chicken broth, S&P, thyme, and minced garlic to oven safe caserol dish. Cover with foil. Bake for 25 min
• Remove the foil, drain the remaining liquid, sprinkle olive oil and bake for 10 more min
 

New Slow Cooker

My new slow cooker is coming next week!!

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-PSC-400-Programmable-Brushed-Stainless/dp/B000VA7JL2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1264299224&sr=8-3

I am so excited.

Me like Bacon

So I will be honest, I love bacon, but for a variety of reasons I don't eat bacon. :( So, I was really excited when a friend recommended BaconSalt

http://www.jdfoods.net/products/baconsalt.php

I used the original flavor and added it in my scramble eggs this morning. Very yummy, who knew I would have a tasted of bacon in my breakfast once again. :)

I plan on trying this stuff in some chocolate chip bacon cookies. Doesn't that sounds good? I am so excited right now.