Z's Cup of Tea

I love Donna Hay – before there was an iPad app, I used to have to hunt down the print issues as soon as a new one came out, or my family would find it for me, because once it was gone, it was gone. Since the iPad app, I no longer have hunt down the latest issue, knowing it is only a download away, not to mention with exclusive features like beautiful animation and videos accompanying recipes.

One of the winning streaks about Donna Hay is the simplicity of her recipes. You’ll never find anything overly complicated or fussy, only recipes that are easy to prepare and nothing short of inspiring.

Take these quinoa fritters, for example, which also work just as well as a scramble if you’re not in the mood for fritters or don’t feel like shaping fritters. Quinoa is mixed with cut up bacon, mashed white kidney (cannellini) beans, broccoli, and cheese (the original recipe uses mozzarella but the Gruyere I had on hand also worked). I was lucky to get the one photo at the top of this post, since it was all gone quickly. Everybody liked it. I know I’ll be making them again, at some point.

Read more…

I love French onion soup, but have never made it myself. (In fact, I’m not even sure if I have had French onion soup…maybe I just love the idea of it?) This is partly because I have never seen a recipe for it that doesn’t use wine. Before, when I was underage, I didn’t want to cook with alcohol or want to eat anything made with alcohol, even if the alcohol was cooked out and all that was left was the flavour. I think I had some sort of fear that I’d get drunk.

Well, I haven’t made the inaugural French onion soup yet but I have gotten closer with making these French onion soup sandwiches from Joy the Baker, which she made from Portuguese Girl Cooks (new-to-me blog that I am now enjoying browsing). It’s my favourite sandwich of the moment and it kind of reminds me of onion pizza. There’s no wine involved (I used the beef broth option) and they are seriously good. SO GOOD, as Sophia Grace would say on Ellen.

I’d never cooked down onions before but now that I have, they are being kept on the menu. Carmelized onions, onion jam (whatever you want to call it) is extremely versatile and we’ve already put it to different uses besides this sandwich. (I’ve already made more, cooked in bacon fat leftover from frying bacon.) Plus it’s easy to do, with hardly any effort involved. I can’t promise there won’t be tears, though. (Ha!)

Read more…

Hello Readers,

If you visit Z’s Cup of Tea on a computer, you’ll have noticed ads appearing above the header and in the sidebar, above all my other content. Previously I have stated that ads placed on Z’s Cup of Tea were from WordPress.com and that I did not receive any compensation for these ads. They did not reflect my personal views or what I blog about.

In November of last year, the WordPress.com team announced on their blog a new venture with their own advertising program called WordAds. In partnership with Federated Media, this offered WordPress.com bloggers a chance to make some monetary gain from their blogging, which was previously unavailable as WordPress.com doesn’t allow advertising otherwise (including Google’s AdSense).

I signed up for the program at that time and in April, last month, I received an email asking about my interest expressed in the program. Another email later, I had instructions for activating WordAds. Since then, I’ve had some back and forth emails about the ads themselves and their content as well as some other areas of the WordAds Terms of Usage, all in making sure that I was clear in my understanding.

This decision wasn’t made lightly. I am currently a student and I hope to make enough from these ads to continue my studies as well as buying ingredients for new recipes I’ve been waiting to try. It would also help me pay for domain hosting for Z’s Cup of Tea and any upgrades, which are purchased and renewed every year, in the future that I might want to add to make Z’s Cup of Tea a better experience.

In signing up with WordPress.com’s WordAds program, I now receive monetary gain from ads displayed on Z’s Cup of Tea. I have no control over the ads or their content, though I’ve been told that ads are different for US and international visitors.

Consequently, these ads do not reflect upon my personal views or interests or what I blog about here at Z’s Cup of Tea. They also have no influence on what I shall continue to blog about. So if you see an ad for a cheesy, gluten-filled pizza or a cupcake, for example – and I’ve already seen them – that does not reflect upon what I share here. The same goes for any fad diet related ads (here I am NOT referring to gluten-free or any other diet followed for health and/or medical reasons). At this time, it’s difficult for the WordAds program to match niche market ads to any individual blogger’s blog content.

If you’re on a mobile device, you may not see the ads. I can’t see them on my iPod touch or iPad, the latter thanks to the special iPad layout. You can see them if you are surfing in a browser on a computer, however.

I have already addressed this change on my FAQ page, so a post announcing compensated advertisements should be brief but I wanted to acknowledge this change and let you, my readers, know this and be aware.

Sincerely,

Zoe of Z’s Cup of Tea