The perfect weekend . . . and a special announcement!

Can I just say how perfect this past weekend was? Minus having to come into work on Saturday for a few hours, of course! 🙂

Saturday afternoon after I got back from work, I relaxed a little and dozed off for a bit. Then Mr. Spice and I attended a Thrashers hockey game — we haven’t gone to a sporting event in a while. It was great! We splurged and got seats that were in the middle section, which I felt made a difference, since I was actually able to see what was going on! The energy at the game was great and what made it even better was that we managed to win during the last minutes of the game.

Sunday as you know, we had a bit of thunder snow to liven up the day. It was the best kind of day to stay in and do absolutely nothing. I cooked a little and watched a LOT of TV. I also did some yoga and felt fabulous afterwards, I’m really glad I decided to take part in the 31-day yoga challenge at Carrots ‘n’ Cake. I’m looking forward to getting back into yoga and hopefully being more consistent with it.

Oh right, I promised you a special announcement!

I was very pleasantly surprised and honored when Sweetie Pie at Just Sweet Enough asked if I would like to host the next BSI! I’ve just recently begun participating in BSI and it’s so much fun! What a great way to challenge one’s culinary creativity! Not to mention it’s a great way to discover other people who love food as much as I do.

It was really hard deciding what ingredient to pick for this week’s contest. In the end, I decided that this week the ingredient will be BASIL!

Basil not only smells and tastes great, but it is also good for you! I did a little research at The World’s Healthiest Foods site and was surprised to learn that:

• The flavonoids in basil provide DNA protection and may also have anti-bacterial properties
• A component of basil’s volatile oils may have anti-inflammatory effects that may provide relief for people suffering from such problems as rheumatoid arthritis or IBS.
• Basil is a good source of vitamins A, C, and K, as well as a good source of iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium!

Here are the rules for this week’s contest:

• You can use basil in fresh or dried form
• You can use basil seeds

To enter the contest:

• email your recipe and photo to spiceaholic80 @ gmail.com OR
• post the recipe on your blog and email me a link

The deadline to sumbit an entry will be midnight, March 8th — which is also when we start Daylight Savings Time, so I guess that means that’s one hour less to submit an entry!

I’ll update this post with submissions as I receive them — please check back for updates!

The prize will be an assortment of Indian spices as well as a surprise!

I’m really excited to host this week’s contest and cannot wait to see what everyone submits!

Sorry for the lack of pictures — I’m typing this up at work. Shhhhh!

** Like I promised, here are the current entries for this week’s BSI contest:

Mara at What’s For Dinner: Basil Chavrie-Stuffed Burgers

Sweetie Pie at Just Sweet Enough: Sunny Basil Orange Salad

Beadie at What I Ate Yesterday: Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Shells

Laura at Hey What’s For Dinner Mom: Pesto-Glazed Vegetables over Feta Infused Polenta

Brandi at BranAppetit: Basil and Strawberry Scones