A couple months ago we took the day to sign books (thanks Ann for the photo) at a cute little book store called Salt and Pepper Books in Occoquan Virginia with the Paleo Parents. While we were there we met some wonderful people who were incredibly supportive of our book and our website. Two people in particular that we got to meet really made an impact on us, Dave and Ann Wendel. They are an active couple in the Paleo community (Ann is a new member of the Whole 9 team), as well as the D.C. Meat Up group, and if you are attending AHS this year, you will get to hear this lovely couple speak! They spoke with us like we had been friends for years, and gave me personally some insight on my current thyroid journey.
Before we said our goodbyes, Dave asked if we would be interested in trying out some cooking items. Dave works with International Gourmet Foods, and told us there were some products that he really wanted us to try because we would LOVE them. We told him we would love to try them out, and he sent them to us right away. We received a jar of coconut oil, a bottle of balsamic vinegar, and a bottle of moscatel vinegar, and saffron. We ate through the jar of coconut oil in no time, and it was quite tasty! The balsamic is the most amazing balsamic I have EVER tasted, and makes any salad delicious. We have yet to get to the moscatel vinegar or the saffron, but my guess is that both of those will be just as amazing.
Last week Bill was craving a spaghetti squash pasta with meat sauce, and announced to me that he wanted to make a sauce using the balsamic vinegar from Dave. It sounded wonderful to me, so we gathered some impromptu ingredients at the grocery store, and headed home to throw together a meaty masterpiece.
I knew Bill was the creator behind this dish, but I couldn’t help but join in with creating this recipe. As he picked fresh herbs from our garden, I chopped onion, and started browning the ground beef for the sauce. We each threw in a few ingredients, gave the sauce a taste, and dug in. It was fantastic! It had a sweeter flavor than a typical pasta sauce, due to the sweet cherry balsamic that we added in.
Thanks Dave for letting us taste test some fantastic products! We really appreciate your generosity!
Aw, you guys are too sweet! We really enjoyed meeting you too and look forward to talking some more at AHS12. Glad to see that you created a tasty recipe with the Balsamic Vinegar. I keep eating it off a spoon…..perhaps I should try being more creative! LOL
Ann (and Dave)
First, I think this dish looks amazing, we’ll have to try it as soon as we find some cherry balsamic. Second, I almost marked your pingback on our post as spam, because the title was “Cherry Balsamic Pasta.” I thought you were some dirty grain-pushers trying to spam us with your spaghetti… then I realized it was you, and it all made sense. Ha!
Melissa & Dallas
That’s us! The dirty grain pushers…haha (no thanks). Funny thing, I almost forget people eat wheat pasta. I only really think of noodles now as being made from squash…
I ordered a bottle of this balsamic vinegar. It’s true…it is the most amazing balsamic vinegar. It is pricey so unfortunately, I can’t afford for it to be an everyday thing, but for the occasional special occasion…it is a must! I love this stuff!