I’m so pleased, dear readers, to announce this interactive Vintage Victuals blog event.

Every year, hubby gets about ten 20-lb. bags of Vidalia Onions from his rotary club. They “sell” them as an annual fundraiser. However, we usually end up giving them away to our friends, eating onions morning, noon, and night, and still allowing some of these tasty little guys to go to waste.

But this year, we came up with a way that you, dear readers, can help us out. An on that note, I’m excited to announce the first annual Vidalia Victuals Contest!

Well, the Vidalia Onion crop is officially in! It’s a happy time for Georgians and onion-lovers all over the South. If you’re looking for these babies in your local grocery store, be sure to look for the “Vidalia” on the sticker, as shown in the pictures here.

Here’s how the Vidalia Victuals Contest will work.

1. Submit your all-time favorite vidalia onion recipes to me (either by commenting on this post or by emailing me) by Monday, May 11, 2009 at 11:59 PM. In any cases of duplicate recipes, then I will accept the one that was submitted first. Limit one recipe per person, so pick your very best recipe!
2. Then, the hubby and I will select 10 recipes that will advance to the Final Round. These recipes will be selected based on their creativity, their southern-ness, and their ability to showcase the distinctive Vidalia flavor.
3. I will make these 10 recipes (using our oodles of onions), and post a big round-up featuring all ten of them: pics, links to original recipes (if they are found online), all the goodies.
4. Then, YOU, dear readers, will vote for the winner of the Vidalia Victuals Contest. The winner will not only receive fame and glory being featured on the VV blog, but will also be the proud owner of a Vidalia Onion Prize Package including fresh Vidalia onions, some of our favorite locally-produced gourmet Vidalia sauces/dressings/relishes from our local country store, and some great goodies straight from the official Vidalia Onion Committee.

Update:
Be sure to also enter your Vidalia Onion recipe in
the Vidalia Onion Committee’s
“Sweet Times with Vidalias” Recipe Contest!
Win major cash prizes.
Submit your entries by August 14, 2009.

I know I’m going to be entering this one!!!

Thanks to Mrs. Southern Belle for the Blog Award! You rock, Candy! Thank you for thinking of me!

Here are the rules: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.

Our hope is that when the ribbon of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

I choose . . .
1. Brown Dog Boutique Blog
2. Good Things Catered
3. Project Prom Queen
4. Danni’s Soap Box
5. Finding Serendipity
6. A Fraction of Love
7. The Perfect Pallete
8. The Budget Conscious Bride

All of these ladies blog from the heart, and I have been thrilled to get to know them better – online and off!

I have complied some great recipes I’ve gotten from other food bloggers that they recommend for bake sales. I also added a few recipes from my fellow bloggers that looked extra good! Thanks to my contributors, and thank you to our volunteer bakers, too!

Dark Double Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispy Hearts

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Bittersweet Brownies

Caramel Glazed Blackberry Jam Cake

Coconut Macadamia Bars

Mini Chocolate Orange Chunk Cakes

Recently, my friend over at Mrs. Southern Belle tagged me for the Kreativ Blogger Award! I was so touched and honored – I love it when bloggers can cross genres and recognize all sorts of creativity and inspiration. Thanks Mrs. Southern Belle!!!

Here are the award rules: List 7 things you love, and then pass on to 7 bloggers that you love. Be sure to tag them to let them know that they won!

1. . . . finding creative inspiration in my friends and my everyday life.
2. . . . cooking and baking with organic ingredients.
3. . . . learning something new every single day.
4. . . . my incredibly supportive husband, who says he loves every dish I make.
5. . . . my mom and my grandmother, who taught me how to bake.
6. . . . my dad who makes the best chocolate chip cookies of all time.
7. . . . my brothers, who have always been there for me when I needed someone to lick the cream cheese icing off of the beaters.

Vintage Victuals is proud to be participating in Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale!

The City of Jefferson hosts a HUGE Egg Hunt that day hosting kids from all over Northeast Georgia. We will be set up right next to the festivities. (Heaven forbid any child go without a sugar high on Easter weekend, right?)

Proceeds from the Great American Bake Sale go directly to grants for organizations that feed hungry children in after-school and summer programs, when they may not be able to get three square meals a day. We are working in connection with the Jackson County Boys and Girls Club to ensure that the money raised in our community will go to our neighbors in need.

So, local readers, please email jeffersonbakesale@gmail.com if you would like to participate in this great event! And check out our team’s website here for more of the nitty gritties!

And far-away readers, never fear because you can participate, too! Please consider donating to our group on our team’s website or think about hosting your own bake sale! Click on the banner at the top of this post to learn more about how you can get involved with this great project.

I will be doing a BIG round-up post here on VV with pictures from the bake sale, plus recipes for those contributors who wish to share their treats with my readers!

Finally, I ask that if you are a regular reader who wants to suggest a great bake sale recipe, please post a link to the recipe in a comment on this post!

Every little thing we do has an effect on others, so take just a moment to reach out and help stop hunger for the children in our communities. Thank you for all your love and support!