My Kitchen To Yours

She Saved Giveaways

2010-06-13T19:10:00.002-06:00

I LOVE to find good deals, as you should know... and a friend of mine is doing a GREAT giveaway! Check out She Saved for some fun Father's Day giveaways! There are 12! WOW!!! You can win things like a video camera, gift certificates, grilling stuff, hotel stays, computer software! It is amazing- The ones I would like to win are:

The Bed & Breakfast and Country Inns Book with 2 nights stay. Can't beat a getaway (especially when it's free!!)

Easy Lunch Box giveaway. The Hubby is so good to take leftovers for lunch everyday. He would really like this!

$100 Gift Certificate This one is cool, because it comes from an on-line place with LOTS of different choices. This site lets you purchase a gift card, and have it e-mailed to the recipient. Convenient for a last minute gift (which is the name of the site- Last Minute Gifts)!

Go check out She saved!! You'll love these giveaways (and so much more!)

Gift Card Winner!!

2010-05-19T11:07:00.005-06:00

The winner of the $25 American Express Gift Card is Nicole! Congrats Nicole! Get me your mailing info and I will have this sent to you by MyBlog Spark. And another BIG THANK YOU to SuperValu and General Mills! Enjoy your box tops!

FREE Groceries & Box Tops

2010-05-11T11:20:00.007-06:00

I am a Box Top Cutter! I love earning money for my kid's school, for buying food that we LOVE to eat! So... when I was offered this GREAT deal, I took it! And so should you (keep reading- you'll love it)!

Now through May 31, 2010- SuperValu and Box Tops are giving you a chance to win 50,000 box tops for your school! That's $5,000!!!! WOW!!! Register at http://www.growinglocallearning.com/ You will earn 5 BONUS box tops just for signing up! (Check their website for official rules.) There are other great things at this site too! Check out their coupons and promotions. There is no excuse. This is such an easy way to earn $$$ for your school!

SuperValu and General Mills gave me a $25 American Express card to go buy Box Tops products (I am giving one away! Keep reading). My local SuperValu store is an Albertson's. Al's has some pretty good box tops promotions, but this week, wasn't as a great a week as I've seen. But I still came away with a deal. Here's what it looks like-

4 bags of Chex Mix Snacks, 1 Cheerios snack bag, 1 24.9 oz. box Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 1 Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffin Mix (the hubby's fav!), 2 pouches Betty Crocker potatoes, 2 Betty Crocker Warm Delights (My Fav!), 1 package Pillsbury Refrigerated Cookie Dough, 2 boxes Pillsbury Toaster Strudel (the kid's fav!)

I did go a little over- I couldn't decide which flavor of Chex Mix to buy, so I bought one of each. That put us about $5 over. So I paid the difference with cash.

And.... a catalina printed out for 50 Bonus Box Tops!!! How cool!! So.. I earned 14 box tops from the packages + 50 from the catalina- That's 64 box tops for my school! Not as good as the 50,000 box top sweepstakes, but it's pretty good! I also got a catalina for $5.00 off my next order thanks to General Mills!

Here's that lovely $25 American Express Gift Card! Thanks My Blog Spark, SuperValu, and General Mills!

Here's how you can win a $25 American Express Gift Card (leave a separate comment for each entry):

1. Tell me how many box tops products you think you could buy for $25. Be realistic, but think of those good deals and coupons!

2. Subscribe to my blog e-mails (look to the left). Check your inbox and confirm your subscription, then leave a comment with this entry.

3. Register at http://www.growinglocallearning.com/ to start earning box tops and enter into the sweepstakes. Come back and leave a comment, when you have done this.

4. Receive an entry for every friend who enters and leaves your name! (one entry per friend) So start telling EVERYONE!!

You have until Sunday May 16, 2010 at 12midnight to get your entries in! I will announce the winner on Monday May 17. Thanks for visiting. Wishing you luck on the gift card, the sweepstakes, and all your weekly deals! And thanks again to SuperValu, General Mills, and My Blog Spark.

Cake a la Paris

2010-04-22T15:47:00.003-06:00

I participated in a cake decorating class with some of the girls from our church. We were learning how to take a printed picture, and pipe it onto our cake. It would have been easier to take the clip art and do a snake or flower, like the gal said to do... but no... I brought a picture of the Eiffel Tower, to put on my cake. Actually it wasn't hard, but because of the angle I took the picture, it looks funny in icing. ??? But it was FUN and I enjoyed it!

I think the cake would have looked fine, if I had left it at this.
But I didn't... I tried to get the whole picture on there!

I stopped here, I could tell it wasn't working out. Oh well. It tasted GREAT. My boys never complained!

Thanks Ashley for teaching us! It was a GREAT class!

Cooking Together

2010-03-22T08:42:00.005-06:00

So... The Hubby is off work every Friday. We were watching Food Network while eating lunch. We thought the recipes they were making sounded SO good. We ran to the store, and a couple hours later...
We made Empanadas, Chicken stuffed potato balls and Fire and Ice sauce. YUMMY! And so fun to cook with the Hubby! I LOVED IT! I can't wait to find another recipe he will get excited about, so we can cook together again!

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-18T12:51:00.006-06:00

The Leprechaun didn't do any pranks. I only did one meal for the holiday. And of course, like I said, the Rainbow Cupcakes. I got this "Taste A Rainbow" recipe from Family Fun.

Here are my six colors. I didn't follow the food coloring guide from Family Fun. I used Wilton Gels instead of the liquid. My red was a liquid, and it turned out pink. I even added extra. But the other colors came out VERY vibrant. I was pleased.

Here is a look at the layers. This was tedious work. My back was sore, and it took a lot longer than I had expected. One big cake in a Spring form pan would have been better. Layering 16 cupcakes was too long.

Here's a look at the cupcakes when they came out of the oven. Cool Red color on top, despite the pink batter.

Now... taking them out of their paper liner was a trick! I only ended up with about 7 cupcakes that had flat bottoms. I almost think that you need spray the liners with non-stick spray. And some of the liners bunched. So they left creases in the cupcake. See two pictures above for an example. You can see the gap between the liner and the cupcake pan. Anyway... those ones were harder because of the way the cake baked around the bunched part. Too much? Sorry, let's move on...

Here's the finished product. I added the green sugar, because I was on a green kick. Go figure! Note the ones that were decorated upside down. The tops were flat enough to hold the cupcakes up. It made for a fun twist to this fun dessert!

Here's one of the cupcakes cut in half. So you can see what the middles look like. This is a fun recipe! We gave some to friends. One of them said their girls enjoyed the colors and wants these for her birthday party. This would be a fun treat ANYTIME of the year!

So the meal I made was far from Irish. But it was GREEN!

Spinach Ravioli with Pesto Sauce. Sorry nothing too fancy as far as cooking directions. Frozen Ravioli, that I boiled. Then fried in Olive Oil for about five minutes. Covered with Pesto from a jar, and warmed on Low/ Medium for a few minutes, until the Pesto was heated.

Green Jell-O with Gold Coins (Bananas)

Green- Green Salad

Leaf Lettuce, Broccoli, Sweet Peas, & Green Apples

Green Kool-Aid

And that was our St. Patrick's Day. What did you do? Share your ideas, and I will give you a Pampered Chef Cookbook! Leave a comment with an idea and a way to contact you. You don't have to know me, or live by me. I know how to use the Post Office! Thanks in advance for sharing.

What a DEAL!!

2010-03-17T10:31:00.003-06:00

I was at WinCo this morning. They have their Betty Crocker Cake mixes and Tub frosting on sale. The cake mixes are only $0.78 and select varieties of the frosting are $0.98. PLUS the coupons!! If you have coupons from the ads, or printed on-line that's great. But the Milk Chocolate and the Vanilla frosting have a SAVE $0.25 NOW coupon right on the packaging!! WOW!!! Saved my coupons for the frosting that didn't have the coupons. This is especially exciting today, because I am making these, from Family Fun:

Don't they look so fun?! I will post pictures of our finished product. But for now... go get some cake mix and frosting! Don't forget your coupons!

Attention Cereal Lovers!

2010-01-21T09:43:00.003-07:00

Thanks to General Mills and My Blog Spark, I'm excited to share some great news for cereal lovers. A few weeks ago General Mills announced a commitment to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain.

Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children’s diets.

Other cereal benefits:
*Ready-to-eat cereals, including pre-sweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children’s diets.
*Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child’s diet today.
*More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.

Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office. For more information about kids and cereals, please visit Cereal Health and Wellness.

Right now if you visit here you will find a $1 off coupon for one of four General Mills cereals.

Thanks to General Mills and My Blog Spark for sending my 4 VIP coupons for my family to try their cereals. We REALLY enjoy cereal at our house. It saves me time and my kids get a good breakfast before they head off to school. Our favorites are:

*Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs

*Lucky Charms

*Cinnamon Toast Crunch

*Golden Grahams

I hope you use your coupons and your cereal. I know we do!

Pillsbury Winner!

2010-01-18T07:47:00.007-07:00

Using random.org- I have selected a winner. #7-

' I'm leaving an entry for my sis, Erika Rose. She could use a win this week! She was having a hard time leaving a comment. She likes all The Pampered Chef's recipes that use Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. No promises, but Good Luck sis. '

Congrats to Erika Rose! She has won:

*2 VIP coupons for Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dough (the coupons are only valid in the U.S.)

*Great holiday platters to serve your new creations to your guests

Thanks to Pillsbury and My Blog Spark for offering this wonderful prize! I have e-mailed the winner. Winners have 24 hours to respond with their mailing info, or a new winner will be selected. Thanks for entering and viewing my blog!

Pillsbury Giveaway

2010-01-11T11:55:00.006-07:00

WOW!! Again, something I didn't get done BEFORE Christmas hit. Thanks to My Blog Spark and Pillsbury for some GREAT recipes, serving dishes, and this giveaway.

No holiday celebration is complete without appetizers made with flaky crescent dough. Here are some easy, yet impressive recipes to try that call for either Pillsbury® Refrigerated Crescent Rolls or the newer Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet.

Crescent -Wrapped Brie

Crescent Bacon- Cheese Tartlets

Crescent Holiday Tree

My Family voted to try the Crescent Bacon-Cheese Tartlets

We LOVED the food and the serving dishes are so nice. They are a basic white, very simple, oblong, and look great with my Pampered Chef Simple Additions.

Thanks again to Pillsbury and My Blog Spark. Here's what they gave me- and will give one of my lucky readers:

*2 VIP coupons for Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dough (the coupons are only valid in the U.S.)
*Great holiday platters to serve your new creations to your guests

Here's how you can win:

1. Share your favorite Pillsbury crescent appetizer creation (something from above, or something else you have tried- psst- Pampered Chef has some REALLY good ones)

2. Share me on Facebook (leave me a link!)

3. Share me with your friends-tell them to leave your name for an extra entry!

4. Share me on your blog- grab my button- leave a link.

4 ways to enter, 4 ways to win. Because I was late posting this, I am not leaving it open for very long. I will close entries on Friday January 15 at 11:59pm. GET YOUR ENTRIES IN FAST! Tell your friends and family to come check out these great recipes and giveaways too. Thanks for reading and sharing. And Good Luck!

D

2010-01-08T14:35:00.006-07:00

How did I forget to post "D"? I didn't realize it, until AFTER I posted E! Well, for our "D" dinner we ate:

Dijon Mustard Chicken

Dill- Buttered Veges.

Doughnuts

The chicken and vegetables were SO DELICIOUS! The Hubby said that it tasted like something at a restaurant. The boys agreed. I LOVE it when I get compliments like that! The Doughnuts were store bought. I would love to make homemade doughnuts some day. And don't worry, some day I will!

MMMMmmmmm....

E

2010-01-08T14:22:00.002-07:00

WOW!!! I can't believe how Christmas Break just took over. Kids and hubby home, no schedule, we enjoyed it! We did manage to have an "E" dinner during it all. I didn't think it was too exciting, but the hubby REALLY enjoyed it.

Egg Salad Sandwiches (hubby's favorite part)

Egg Nog (Big Dude's favorite part)

and (this is a bit of a stretch) an EDIBLE Gingerbread House for dessert (dude's favorite part)

C is for...

2009-12-15T08:15:00.004-07:00

We ate Chili with Cornbread muffins and Cocoa for dinner and a Carrot Cake for dessert. My boys LOVED all the "C" food this day! What other foods could we all enjoy that start with "C"? I'm interested to hear! Don't worry there's more!

B is for...

2009-12-15T08:11:00.004-07:00

For the letter "B" Dinner we ate:

Beef Stew
Breadsticks
Banana Pudding
Blueberry Sparkling Cider

What a feast! What foods do you like that start with B? More to come!

A is for...

2009-12-05T14:58:00.004-07:00

Our Family's "A" dinner was Alfredo Sauce over Angel Hair Pasta. We also had Acorn Squash, Apple Cider, and Apple Pie.

My kids enjoyed everything except the Acorn Squash. I LOVE Acorn Squash! It is my favorite squash. I really had hoped they would like it. I baked it with one tablespoon butter, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, and 1tsp. cinnamon- in each half. I thought it was YUMMY!!! Anyway... other "A" ideas are:

Apple Juice

Angel Food Cake

What would you serve? I would LOVE to hear!

ABC Dinners

2009-12-01T13:34:00.004-07:00

One night I made Pizza, Pear Salad, and Pie. My 2nd grade dude pointed out that all our food started with "P". This sparked conversation and fun at our dinner table. Which of course led to a GREAT idea. We decided that for the next 26 weeks we will have a dinner themed with the letter of the alphabet. This may vary from simple names to becoming very creative with our food. We have been doing this for a few weeks now, so I will have to catch up on our A B and C dinner. So if you have a fun idea that will inspire a letter dinner, please share!

Halloween Dinner

2009-11-03T12:10:00.006-07:00

We actually had a few Halloween Dinners. And Breakfast, lunch, and snacks! I have been storing up the recipes and pictures for this one last Halloween Post.

We had Cheese Pizza. I used my Pampered Chef Creative Cutters to cut out pumpkin and leaf shapes. We ate Deviled Eggs and Vampire fangs with Werewolf blood.

For dessert I decorated Halloween Cupcakes. We ate the monster ones. And gave away the jack-o-lantern and bug ones to our neighbors.The night BEFORE Halloween we had Bat Wings, Monster Toes, Jack-o-lantern salad (these were easy, fun, and yummy. I will do it again!), and graveyard pizza.

Snack-o'-Lantern

Ingredients
Navel orange
Canned or fresh fruit salad

Instructions
1. To make one lantern, use a small knife to slice the top off a navel orange and cut around its interior to hollow it out. Scoop out the orange segments, chop them, and mix them with canned or fresh fruit salad.
2. Carve small facial features in one side of the orange, then cut a slit in the lid to accommodate the handle of a green plastic spoon. Fill the lantern with fruit salad. Insert the spoon and set the lid in place.
( I didn't cut a slit and put in a green spoon. I didn't think ahead to go buy green utensils.)

Baked Chicken Wings ("Bat Wings")

Prep Time: 30 min

Total Time: 1 hour 15 min

Makes: 24 wings

2 pounds chicken drummettes (24)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon red pepper sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Paprika
2/3 cup ranch dressing

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Line jelly roll pan, 15 1/2x10 1/2x1 inch, with aluminum foil. Remove skin from chicken. ( I used my Rectangle Baker- There was no sticking to my stoneware, and they baked GREAT!)
2. Mix honey, ketchup, pepper sauce and Worcestershire sauce in resealable plastic bag. Add chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate, turning occasionally, at least 15 minutes but no longer than 24 hours.
3. Place chicken in pan; sprinkle with paprika. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until crisp and juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Serve with dressing. (we called it Swamp Dip)

Nutrition Information:
1 Serving: Calories 70 (Calories from Fat 36 ); Total Fat 4 g (Saturated Fat 1 g); Cholesterol 20 mg; Sodium 90 mg; Total Carbohydrate 3 g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 5 g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 2 %; Iron 2 % Exchanges: 1 Medium-Fat Meat *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Long and Short Monster Fingers Recipe
Yield 24 long; 36 short

Nutrition Facts
· Amount Per Serving · Calories 192 · Total Fat 7g · Saturated Fat 1g · Cholesterol NA · Sodium 391mg · Total Carbohydrates 26g · Dietary Fiber 2g · Protein 6g

Active Time: 45 minutes Total Time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

2 cans (11 oz each) refrigerated bread stick dough (I used one, and cut the bread sticks in half for skinny fingers)
Orange, yellow & green food color sprays (I didn't use this)
White from 1 large egg, lightly beaten
60 whole natural almonds (I used slivered almonds since I was going skinny)
Poppy seeds

PREPARATION
1. Heat oven to 375°F. You'll need 2 large baking sheets lined with nonstick foil. Unroll 1 can bread stick dough and separate along perforated lines into 12 strips. For long fingers, halve strips crosswise into 24 pieces. Roll pieces into 10- to 12-in.-long ropes. Transfer to prepared baking sheets, spacing ropes 2 in. apart. Shape ropes into fun curves.

2. Lightly tint the dough ropes in blotchy tones using the spray colors with short, quick spurts (use all three colors on each finger).

3. Lightly brush with egg white and press an almond onto each for a fingernail. Sprinkle with poppy seeds.

4. Bake 13 minutes, or until puffed and lightly browned on bottom edges. Cool on sheet on wire rack. Wipe foil on baking sheets clean.

5. Unroll remaining bread stick dough and separate into strips. For short fingers, cut each dough strip crosswise into thirds for 36 pieces. Roll dough pieces into 5- to 6-in.-long ropes and make fingers following the same procedure as for long fingers above. Bake as directed.

Plan Ahead: You can make 1 day ahead and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Reheat in oven about 5 minutes before serving.Note: Color Mist food color sprays are available from Wilton.com and at most crafts stores.

Haunted Pizza

1 18 oz. roll refrigerated sugar-cookie dough
4 3 1/2 oz. containers vanilla pudding
2 C. chocolate cookie crumbs or 20 chocolate sandwich cookies with white filling, finely crushed
Assorted whole vanilla wafers or graham crackers or chocolate-filled oval shortbread cookies
Black, green, red, and white decorator gel icing
Assorted candies, such as fruit-flavored jelly worms, candy-coated chocolate-covered peanuts, and gumdrops
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-inch pizza pan or 3 baking sheets. With lightly floured hands, pat the cookie dough into prepared pizza pan. If using baking sheets, divide dough into thirds and pat each third into a 7-inch circle onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes for pizza pan or 8-10 minutes for smaller circles of dough, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.
Spread vanilla pudding over baked cookie. Sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Cover and chill. Meanwhile, decorate cookie tombstones. Press cookies into pudding layer of pizza. If necessary, support back of cookies with some of the candies. Decorate "graveyard" with candies. Create peering eyes with candy-coated chocolate peanuts make shoes, feet, and hands with gumdrops; and arrange jelly worms. Cover and chill up to 4 hours before serving.
Yield: 16-20 servings

Halloween Breakfast was Pancakes (colored orange- I know, I needed more orange) with decorated faces. And Cinnamon Roll Eyeballs. I used M&Ms for the center and red decorating icing for the bloodshot effect.

Lunch was Hot Dog Mummies and Creepy Jello. For a Snack I made Crispy Ghosts.

Hot Dog Mummies
Feast your eyes, if you dare, on these Hot Dog Mummies. They're the perfect energy food before an evening of collecting candy.

Ingredients
1 11-ounce can of refrigerator bread sticks
1 12-pack of hot dogs
Yellow mustard
Instructions
1. For each mummy, separate one bread stick from the roll and use kitchen shears or a knife to slice it in half lengthwise to create two thinner strips.
2. Wrap one strip at a time snugly around the hot dog. Depending on the size of the hot dog, you may not need all of both strips. Leave about 1/2 inch of hot dog exposed for the face area and continue wrapping the top of the hot dog.
3. Bake the mummies on a cookie sheet at 350º for 15 to 18 minutes or until the bread stick wrapping is golden brown.
4. Remove the mummies from the oven and cool them for 5 minutes. Add yellow mustard eyes just before serving.

Makes 12 mummies.

Halloween Crispy Marshmallow Ghosts
1/3 C. butter
6 C. miniature marshmallows
1 tsp. vanilla
8 C. crispy rice cereal
2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

Pallor Icing:
1 C. granulated sugar
3 Tbs. water
1 egg white
Pinch cream of tartar
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions
In saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; stir in marshmallows until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Scrape into large bowl; stir in cereal until coated. Set bowl over saucepan of boiling water. Using rubber gloves, shape cereal mixture into 4-inch long ghost shapes. Let stand for about 30 minutes or until firm.
To make icing, in top of double boiler over boiling water, combine sugar, water, egg white, cream of tartar and salt. With electric mixer, beat at high speed for 7 minutes or until stiff glossy peaks form. Fold in vanilla.

Halloween Night is VERY busy for us. Getting into costumes. Going to parties, trunk-or-treats, trick-or-treating, going to see Grandma. This night we didn't do as much for dinner. I put chili in the crock-pot, baked Bread stick Bones, and had another crock-pot of Hot Cider. No dessert. We had so much left over from the previous nights, and they were going out to get candy!

The Bread stick Bones are refrigerated bread stick dough, separated at the perforation. I cut a slit in the ends and spread them apart. I baked as directed, and coated butter on them, just as they came out of the oven. I also read that you can tie a knot in the ends of the dough and spread egg white on them. Bake as directed. Another recipe said to sprinkle Parmesan cheese over them.

I hope you have enjoyed the Halloween Food ideas! I have some more posts planned for Left Over Halloween Candy Recipes. And Holiday entertaining ideas. And there will be more GIVEAWAYS, of course! Check back soon.

Old El Paso Giveaway Winner

2009-11-02T11:36:00.003-07:00

The winner of the Old El Paso Taco Night Game is #6-

JC said...
http://tcarolinep.blogspot.com/ button addd.
October 28, 2009 11:16 PM

Thank You JC for stopping by! I have sent you a message and you have 48 hours to respond, before I pick a new winner.

I had some entries after closing, sorry you missed this giveaway- check back for the next one! I am REALLY excited for another giveaway, and more Holiday fun!

Halloween Parties and Treats

2009-10-30T20:21:00.005-06:00

This post is coming late because I spent my day at my children's elementary school doing their classroom parties. These are the crafts and snacks we had...

Ghost Prints

Ghosts and bats magically materialize upon paper with this simple paint craft.

Materials
Black construction paper
Orange construction paper
White tempera paint
Black tempera paint

Total Time Needed: 1 Hour

Instructions
1. Fold a piece of black construction paper in half.
2. Dribble the white paint into the crease and briefly press the paper back together.
3. Open the paper up -- a ghost will appear!
4. Try the same technique with black paint on orange paper to make creepy bats and bugs.

String of Jack-O'-Lanterns or Ghosts

Make a string of jack-o'-lanterns or ghosts to hang around a room. These simple-to-make strings make a great Halloween decoration. You can drape the strings across rooms, over windows and from the chandeliers.

Supplies needed:
Construction paper (orange and black for pumpkins, white and black for ghosts)
Crayons or markers
Scissors
Glue, tape, or staples
A long piece of green or black yarn or string

Draw a jack-o'-lantern's face on a piece of orange paper, or a ghost on white paper. Make sure to draw a long stem on the top (your pumpkin or ghost will hang from this stem, which will be folded over).

Cut out the pumpkin or ghost. Make eyes, a nose, and a mouth from black paper (or use a black crayon or marker).
Fold the pumpkin's stem in half. Fold the ghost's "stem" completely behind the ghost.

Attach the pumpkin or ghost to a long string. Use green yarn for the pumpkins, black string for the ghosts. Attach them using tape, glue, or staples.

Hang your string of jack-o'-lanterns or ghosts across the room for a wonderful Halloween decoration.

Haunted Forest Centerpiece

Black licorice, threaded with wire and shaped to make a forest of spindly trees, makes this creative Halloween table topper. Snip off the ends of six pieces of black licorice and push heavy-gauge wire through the holes of each piece. Holding the pieces together in the middle, bend the ends to form a tree trunk. Bend the opposite ends to form gnarled tree branches and wrap black wire around the center of the pieces to hold it all together. Repeat for each tree. Place each tree atop a chocolate-frosted graham cracker, add a candy-corn fence, and arrange mini artificial pumpkins under the trees to complete the landscape.

We used Chocolate Licorice and the pumkin candies. The kids had to take them home to show their families. We reminded them to take the wire out, before eating!

Witches and Worms

2009-10-29T08:19:00.002-06:00

Witches' Brew

2 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cloves
3 tablespoons finely chopped and peeled fresh ginger
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 chilled bottle (25.4 ounces) sparkling cider (about 3 1/4 cups)
1 quart chilled cranberry juice cocktail
1 liter chilled club soda or seltzer

In small saucepan, bring cinnamon, cloves, ginger, water and sugar to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved, and simmer, covered, 5 minutes. Cool syrup. (Syrup may be made ahead up to 1 week and chilled, covered).

In punch bowl, combine remaining ingredients and strain syrup through fine sieve into punch. Stir punch and add ice blocks.

Makes about 13 cups.

Wormy Apples

6 large golden delicious apples
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 gummy worms
Heavy cream for accompaniment

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C).
2. Core apples from blossom ends, leaving stem ends intact.
3. Mix raisins and walnuts and stuff into cavities of cored apples. Set apples, stems up in a 7x12-inch baking pan .
4. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg; stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils. Pour hot syrup around apples.
5. Bake, uncovered, basting occasionally with syrup, until apples are tender when pierced and skin begins to crack, about 30 to 35 minutes.
6. Remove apples from oven; cool in pan for 10 minutes or cool to room temperature.
7. Place each apple in a small serving bowl and spoon syrup around fruit. In the top of each apple, cut a hole large enough for one of the candy worms and tuck one end into each apple, leaving most of the worm dangling. Offer cream to pour over apples.

Serves 6.

Ghoul Brains and Spider Hats

2009-10-28T15:11:00.006-06:00

Ghostly Green Brew

1/2 gallon lime sherbet
1 (2-liter) bottle lemon-lime soda, chilled

1. Allow sherbet to soften for about 1 hour in bottom of punch bowl.

2. Pour ginger ale over and stir until all sherbet is dissolved.

Makes 16 1/2-cup servings.

Note: I actually did one scoop of sherbet in each glass, and poored the lemon-lime soda over the top. Careful not to overflow! I also found some brain gummies at our local WINCO and dropped one into each glass. But they just sank to the bottom. So it didn't have the visual effect I was hoping for. But the boys enjoyed finding them after the drink was gone!

Spider Party Hat

This party hat is so fun---you really can't get the idea of the bouncing legs until you put him on!!!
Materials needed:

Black and orange construction paper

Ruler

scissors

glue or tape

Cut eight strips of black paper 1-1/2" by 9" (these will be the legs). Cut two strips 2" by 11" (these you will need to glue together to make the 2" by 22" hat band). Cut two 2" black circles, two 1-1/2" orange circles, two 1" black circles (these are the eyes).OR you can print and cut out the colored eyes pattern.

Follow the sketch for the placement of eyes. Fit the 2" wide strips, that were glued together, around the person's head-- overlap and glue ends together. Glue the eyes to the hat band with the eyes touching as shown. Fold the leg strips in half, then fold one end of each leg strip back 1" for the foot. Glue the straight end to the inside edge of the hat band. Fold and glue remaining legs. You will have four legs on each side of your hat as shown.

Put it on and have fun bouncing up and down!!!!

Here's another link for REALLY detailed instructions

Halloween, tacos, games, and GIVEAWAY!!

2009-10-27T09:15:00.007-06:00

It's FINALLY time! The giveaway I have been SO excited about! And some Halloween recipes and ideas to go with it! Let's start with the recipes, then I'll give you the details of the giveaway!

We had Tarantula Tacos for dinner and Witch's Hats for dessert!

I got the taco recipe from Betty Crocker

1 box (4.7 oz) Old El Paso® Stand 'n Stuff® taco shells
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 package (1 oz) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix
2/3 cup water
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
1 1/2 cups shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped (3/4 cup)
1/4 cup sour cream
20 extra-large pitted ripe olives
1. Heat oven to 325°F. Heat taco shells in oven as directed on box.
2. Meanwhile, in 10-inch skillet, cook ground beef over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix and water. Reduce heat to medium; cook uncovered about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until water has evaporated. Remove from heat.
3. Spoon beef mixture into heated taco shells. Top with cheese, lettuce and tomato.
4. Spoon sour cream into small resealable food-storage plastic bag. Seal bag; cut tiny hole in corner of bag. Pipe sour cream over top of each taco to resemble spiderweb.
5. For each spider, top taco with 1 olive, pitted end down. Cut second olive lengthwise into 8 pieces; place around whole olive for legs. For eyes, squeeze 2 dots of sour cream onto top of olive.

Nutrition Information:
1 Serving (2 tacos each): Calories 440 (Calories from Fat 250); Total Fat 28g (Saturated Fat 12g, Trans Fat 1g); Cholesterol 90mg; Sodium 1150mg; Total Carbohydrate 22g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 3g); Protein 24g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 15%; Vitamin C 6%; Calcium 20%; Iron 15% Exchanges: 1 1/2 Starch; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Medium-Fat Meat; 3 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 1 1/2 *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

I bought all the ingredients the day of (with my promo package coupons!). When I opened the sour cream, it had a chunk of green mold. So... that's going back today! And we didn't get to have the spider webs or eyes. That was a bummer, 'cause I think it completes it!

The Tacos tasted great! Everyone had seconds. Then, for dessert...

Teeny Weeny Witch's Hats
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 C. butter, softened
2/3 C. powdered sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1 oz. squares semisweet chocolate, melted
36 milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine butter and powdered sugar in large bowl; beat until well blended. Add egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Stir in melted chocolate until blended. Gradually stir in flour mixture until well blended.
Shape dough into 36 balls; place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each ball to 1/4-inch thickness; press chocolate candy into center. Bake 6-7 minutes or until cookies are set. Cool completely on wire rack.
Yield: 3 dozen

I thought I had semi-sweet chocolate morsels, but they were actually milk chocolate. So the cookies didn't end up as dark as they probably should have. We ate the cookies, and enjoyed them, but the right chocolate probably would have made them better.

Now... the moment I have been waiting for... THE GIVEAWAY!!!

As if Taco Night wasn’t the best night of the week already, Old El Paso is giving it a whole new flare. El Tacodor™, the world’s only Family Taco Night Game, is a fun and easy way to keep your family laughing at the dinner table. Challenge family members to quick fire trivia, wordplay and pantomime, and share a laughter filled night at home.

Some examples of the challenges include:
* Crunch Time: Name at least 10 animated movies within 1 minute
* Meat-N-Greet: Name 5 things that you’d bring home from your favorite vacation place and let the table guess where you traveled
* Lettuce Play: Act out different animals – no noises! Your partner must guess 3
* Lime Light: Cheer, “We love tacos, yes we do! We love tacos, how ‘bout you?”
* Say Cheese: Pronounce the name of everyone at the table backwards!

We played the game, and had some laughs. Some of the challenges were hard for the kids. But they said it was still fun. The Hubby, who has a hard time being goofy, even did a couple challenges, before excusing himself.

And if that wasn’t exciting enough – you can also enter the Old El Paso El Tacodor Sweepstakes for a chance to win $5,000 just for having fun with your family. Other prizes include monthly giveaways of $300 cash cards, and weekly giveaways of gift certificates for Old El Paso products for the next five months. When you visit El Tacodor you will also find a link to coupons, a calendar to schedule your next taco night, topping choice chart and more!

You can download the game and go buy all your taco ingredients and have a Family Taco Night and Game Night or... You can win it all!!!

If you win, you will receive information and a link to the El Tacodor game, as well as (2) two coupons to purchase Old El Paso dinner kits and a $10 gift card to purchase any additional meal needs (i.e. meat, cheese, lettuce, etc).

Here's HOW you can win:

Entry #1: MANDATORY ENTRY. Tell us what your favorite part of Taco Night is with your family.

Entry #2: Blog about this giveaway. Leave a link to your blog.

Entry #3: Become CHEF LIKES friend on Facebook. Then come back and leave a comment with your Facebook name.

Entry #4: Post this giveaway on Mr. Linky or other sites that promote giveaways. Leave the link.

Entry #5: Subscribe to my feed or PUBLICLY Follow this blog. Be sure to confirm it, if I don't see your name, this comment won't count!

Entry #6: Grab my button, post it on your site, and leave me the link!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. And make sure I have a way to contact you, when you win! I will accept entries until Oct. 31- Halloween night at 12 midnight (MDT). I will post the winner either Sunday night or Monday morning.

*YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A BLOGGER ACCOUNT TO ENTER* YOU CAN CLICK OPEN ID IF YOU BLOG WITH A DIFFERENT PUBLISHER OR CLICK ON NAME/ URL AND LEAVE ME YOUR NAME AND IF YOU HAVE A WEBSITE, YOUR WEBSITE*

Old El Paso provided me with free product, information, and a prize pack through MyBlogSpark™. Thanks for participating!

Halloween Countdown

2009-10-26T18:25:00.005-06:00

I meant to post this earlier. Sorry... I am hoping that each day this week, I can inspire you to have a little Halloween Fun in your kitchens and with your families! I have come across A LOT of FUN recipes and activities. I have so many ideas, I can't try them all. So here are some ideas that I like, but won't be using, this year. Maybe you can share how it turns out, if you use them.

Spooky Brownies

Spooktacular fun and scrumptious eating are coming your way! Gather your goblins to share lots of baking tricks and treats.

Prep Time: 30 min

Total Time: 3 hours 10 min

Makes: 24 brownies

Brownies

1 box Betty Crocker® Supreme brownie mix (with chocolate syrup pouch)

Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for in brownie mix directions

Decorations

1 container Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy creamy white frosting

Neon green, pink and blue food colors

24 large marshmallows

Miniature candy-coated chocolate baking bits

Betty Crocker® black decorating gel (from 0.68-oz tube)

1 roll Betty Crocker® Fruit Roll-Ups® chewy fruit snack (any red variety)

Gummy worms candies

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Make and bake brownies in 13x9-inch pan as directed on box, using water, oil and eggs. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut into 6 rows by 4 rows, making 24 brownies.

2. Divide frosting among 3 small microwavable bowls. Heat frosting as needed: microwave 1 bowl uncovered on High about 10 to 15 seconds until frosting can be stirred smooth. If frosting becomes too firm while decorating, microwave on High an additional 5 seconds; stir.

3. Decorate as directed below, using 8 brownies for each bowl of frosting.
Franken-Brownies Add 5 drops green food color to frosting in 1 bowl; mix well. Top each of 8 brownies with 1 large marshmallow. Spoon 1 tablespoon green frosting over each marshmallow to coat. Decorate with green baking bits for eyes and ears. Use black gel for mouths and centers of eyes. Cut fruit snack to use for hair.
Boo-Brownies Top each of 8 brownies with 1 large marshmallow. Spoon 1 tablespoon white frosting over each marshmallow to coat. Use black gel for eyes and mouths.
Spider Brownies Add 5 drops pink food color and 3 drops blue food color to frosting in 1 bowl; mix well. Top each of 8 brownies with 1 large marshmallow. Tuck gummy worms candies under each marshmallow for legs. Spoon 1 tablespoon purple frosting over each marshmallow to coat. Use orange baking bits for eyes. Use black gel for mouths, centers of eyes and eyebrows.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Follow High Altitude brownie mix directions.

Make the Most of This Recipe With Tips From The Betty Crocker® Kitchens How-To

Line the baking pan with foil for easier cutting and quick cleanup.

Purchasing

Look for neon food colors next to the standard food colors in your supermarket.

Nutrition Information: 1 Brownie: Calories 250 (Calories from Fat 80); Total Fat 9g (Saturated Fat 3g, Trans Fat 2g); Cholesterol 20mg; Sodium 150mg; Total Carbohydrate 40g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Sugars 31g); Protein 2g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 2%; Iron 6% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 2 1/2 *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Spiced Hot Apple Cider
1 gallon apple cider

1 (6-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate

3 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

1. Combine all ingredients in 6-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until heated through and flavors are blended (15 to 30 minutes).

Makes 21 (6-ounce) servings.

Cook's Tip: To keep cider warm, hold in slow cooker on Low Heat setting.

Chocolate Haystacks

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 1 hr 10 min
Makes: About 22 servings, 2 haystacks each

What You Need!
1 cup BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
1 cup butterscotch chips
2 cups chow mein noodles
2 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
1/2 cup PLANTERS Salted Peanuts

Make It!
MICROWAVE chocolate chunks and butterscotch chips in medium microwavable bowl on HIGH 2 to 3 minutes or until almost melted, stirring after 1-1/2 minutes. Stir until completely melted.
ADD remaining ingredients; stir until evenly coated.
DROP teaspoonfuls of the chocolate mixture onto large sheet of wax paper. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Size-Wise
Looking for something sweet? One serving of this crunchy treat will hit the spot when served with a cold glass of low-fat or fat-free milk.
Variation - Chocolate Critters
Prepare as directed. Insert additional chow mein noodles into the haystacks for the critters' "antennae" and "legs". Press small colored candies onto the heads for the "eyes".

Nutrition Information
Calories 160 Total fat 8 g Saturated fat 4.5 g Cholesterol 0 mg Sodium 50 mg Carbohydrate 21 g Dietary fiber 1 g Sugars 16 g Protein 2 g Vitamin A 0 %DV Vitamin C 0 %DV Calcium 0 %DV Iron 4 %DV

Monster Mash Party Mix
10 cups popped popcorn

1 (16-ounce) bag plain M&M's

1 (14-ounce) jar dry-roasted peanuts

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup Reese's Pieces

1. Mix altogether in a large serving bowl and enjoy the party!

Makes 15 cups.

Ghost Wind Socks
These spectral porch decorations flutter and float upon the breeze.

Materials
White construction paper
Black permanent marker
Stapler
White crepe paper
Tape
String

Total Time Needed: 1 Hour

Instructions
1. For each wind sock, decorate a 6-by-18-inch piece of white construction paper with ghostly eyes and a horrific mouth.
2. Roll the paper to form a tube shape and staple the ends together.
3. Cut eight 8-foot-long strips of crepe paper and drape them over the top edge with both ends hanging down to create "tails." Secure with tape.
4. For a handle, cut a 30-inch piece of string and staple the ends to opposite sides of the top of the decoration.

Tips:
As an interior decoration, have a fan blowing lightly in the room for the same effect as a breeze.

Darth Taters

2009-10-25T13:58:00.005-06:00

For our Star Wars dinner this past week we had Darth Taters- Thanks Amber, for your WINNING suggestion!

Our menu was:

Bossk Broccoli

Chewbacca Cheddar

Sugi Cream
Aurra Apples

and Embo Salad

This has been fun for our boys! We are taking a week off from the Star Wars fun. There won't be another new episode until Nov. 6. And... I am planning some fun Halloween and Spooky dinners and treats. So... stay tuned... I'm hoping to post a new Halloween idea every day. We'll see... Thanks again to Amber and our other Star Wars contributors.

WINNERS!!! WINNERS!!!

2009-10-23T13:30:00.003-06:00

Okay... time to announce the winners of our Star Wars Food Ideas and Giveaway. I am a little disappointed in my readers. I was expecting a bigger response. I need to increase my reader base. So tell all your friends about this site. I will have to add some extra entries for telling your friends about my next giveaway. So... this giveaway... the winners are:

The boys voted for their favorite food and name and:

Amber- ID said...
I'm sure you have heard this one, living in Idaho and all. I've seen it on t-shirts. But since I haven't seen it yet... Darth Tater.

Tonight we are going to have a Darth Tater Bar. I will post details of the toppings in my next post!

Random.org picked #8

Half A Dozen said... Chewbacca Noodle Soup (I came up with this one on my own)

And #10:

Jenna-UT said...
OK- here's one you probably all ready heard, since it's in a Star Wars Cook Book. Hon- Burgers. I thought that was clever!

Congrats! Now, it's first come, first serve. Again you can pick from-

* A set of Star Wars crayons and mini Star Wars notepad.

* 10% off your total Pampered Chef order coupon (redeemable only through me).

* A Pampered Chef kids gift set (put together by me- My Safe Cutter; Cut-N-Seal; Stoneware Heart Mold; and a reusable Pampered Chef Shopping Bag) valued at about $20.

Thanks for participating! Stay tuned for the next giveaway. I received my package today from My Blog Spark. This is going to be SO COOL!!! And tell your friends to come check me out too!

Pears... Pears... Pears...

2009-10-22T15:08:00.006-06:00

Wow!! There are so many different kinds of pears. I never realized... I know silly. I learned from USA Pears, that we grow Green Anjou, Red Anjou, Bartlett, Red Bartlett, Bosc, Comice, Concorde, Forelle, Seckel, and Starkrimson in the US. I have also learned that there are about 30 species of pear around the world. More include Asian Pears, Callery Pear, Plymouth Pear, Algerian Pear, Snow Pear, Willow-leafed Pear, and many more.

All this learnin' got started because our local grocery store was having a sale on pears. They were offering four different kinds, Red, Bosc, D' Anjou, and Bartlett. Now, I know what Bartlett Pears taste like. These are the most common pears in our area to buy and eat. But what about these other "flavors"? I wasn't sure which to buy. So... I bought one of each!

Our family did a taste test to see what the different pears taste like, and which ones we like best. Here's the line up with their results:

This was described as Sweet and Juicy by the boys. But my hubby and I didn't think had much flavor at all.

The boys described the Bartlett as Juicy and Good. The Hubby said, "it tastes like a pear, it's familiar". The little dude said this was his favorite.

The store listed this as "Red". So I don't know if it's Red Bartlett, or Red Anjou, or what exactly. But, we thought it was Juicy, soft, and the taste was a little sharp. It would be GREAT with cheese! We had one vote for the Red Pear as the best.

Last, but not least, the Bosc Pear. I REALLY liked this one! The boys said tart and juicy. The hubby and I said Crisp and Sweet (like candy). It was really good. I would declare this as the winner. But... we had four taste testers, one couldn't decide, and as you saw, we had one vote for two other pears.

Now I am wishing I had done this taste test earlier, so that I could go back and buy more at such a GREAT price! But it is the prime harvesting season, so I'm hoping to find more good deals on pears. Keep an eye open and taste test for yourself. Find that pear your family loves and savor it!

Some of these results could be skewed because of my lack in knowledge for picking the "perfect" pear. So I did some research on that too. Here's what I found (and where I found it).

Produce Oasis had great tips for individual types of pears.

How to Pick Ripe Pears: Most pears in the supermarket are not yet ripe, so choose those that are firm (but not extremely hard) and free from dark soft spots (brown speckles, though, are OK and may signify a better flavor). Once you get the pears home, leave them on the counter to ripen for a few days (or put them in a paper bag to speed things up).

Utah Fans- Haunted Heber Creeper Giveaway!

2009-10-16T19:04:00.004-06:00

Hey Utah Fam and Fans- check out this giveaway at Fahrenheit 350- They are giving away 4 tickets to ride the Haunted Heber Creeper! I wish I lived in Utah to go! So... I'm letting you know, and entering my sis and her kids in to win! I hope they get it! Her boys would have so much fun! I know it's not food related. But I have to pass on fun stuff from home.

I'm taking this blog to a new level!

2009-10-14T13:55:00.004-06:00

After watching blogs about couponing, freebies, and giveaways, I was introduced to My Blog Spark. This group has a program that will help me offer my readers new ideas and giveaways. I have all ready received my first challenge. So stay tuned... more to come! And it will be BIG! I'm talking- you will have a Family Fun Night idea, just from reading the post. And possibly a FREE meal! YEAH!!!! This is going to be so FUN! Thanks for reading!

Is there really a difference?

2009-10-11T15:59:00.006-06:00

I have always used all-purpose flour for everything. It is the least expensive, and we are on a budget. It doesn't matter... it always works out. Well... sometimes works out. My sister, who has A LOT of allergies at her house, was taught a recipe for Milk and Egg Free bread. She shared this recipe with me. I have hesitated to make this recipe, because it uses Soy Lecithin in place of the milk and or eggs. It also calls for A LOT of Bread Flour. So I had to ask-

"What is the difference between All-Purpose, bread, and cake Flour?"

I've heard the density, the gluten. But honestly, I didn't understand. So I am hoping to shed some light and experience on this subject.

I looked it up on O Chef and learned this:

"Bread flour is a high-gluten flour that has very small amounts of malted barley flour and vitamin C or potassium bromate added. The barley flour helps the yeast work, and the other additive increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes. Bread flour is called for in many bread and pizza crust recipes where you want the loftiness or chewiness that the extra gluten provides. It is especially useful as a component in rye, barley and other mixed-grain breads, where the added lift of the bread flour is necessary to boost the other grains. All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high- and low-gluten wheats, and has a bit less protein than bread flour — 11% or 12% vs. 13% or 14%. You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour, although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped. There are many recipes, however, where the use of bread flour in place of all-purpose will produce a tough, chewy, disappointing result."

I also went to HubPages for the facts, and here they are:

"... The primary difference between different types of flour are the quantity of the wheat germ and bran that are milled with the flour, and the type of wheat used for the flour, and the relative protein content of that wheat.

Whole wheat flour is simply wheat that has been milled into flour with some, or all, of the germ and bran still attached...

The higher the protein content, the more gluten can be developed. These chains of gluten are important for bread, as they are what allow the dough to capture the created gasses during the cooking and leavening processes, and expand from dense to light. High gluten is not considered an asset when making pastries, pie crusts, biscuits etc, as the gluten can make these tough and chewy...

Cake flour is a low gluten flour that has also been chemically altered slightly for better use in cake baking.
Self raising flour is generally all purpose flour that has had baking powder mixed in, and do not require any additional baking powder to be added when making biscuits, pancakes or muffins.
Always look for flour labeled unbleached, as it tastes better, and store whole wheat flour in the fridge or freezer."

I went ahead an made the recipe using a mixture of White and Wheat flour. Hoping that the extra wheat would help in the lack of gluten in the all-purpose. But lo, I read on, AFTER I mixed, and found out that the proteins in Wheat don't have the same reaction as the gluten added to the bread flour. But... oh well, all ready done, let's see what happens?

This recipe makes about 4 loaves of bread. But can be used for things like rolls, bread sticks, cinnamon rolls, pizza dough. This recipe comes from Pantry Secrets.

I made rolls, bread sticks, and 2 loaves of bread. Some of them rose really well, others, not so well. As you can see in the next two pictures.

I think that using the Wheat flour usually makes the bread/ rolls hard as rock. But this time, they were fluffy and soft, even the ones that didn't rise so well.

My family gave me another idea for a food investigation. I enjoy learning. So I may do more Food Investigations again, soon.

More Birthday Cakes

2009-10-10T09:18:00.007-06:00

In reviewing my blog I noticed I never posted with my boy's birthday cakes. I don't know that you care, but I love to share!

The baby turned one. It has become tradition to do a Baseball cake. Not fancy, but we enjoyed it!

The little dude turned 6. He wanted a Transformers birthday. I cut out a stencil of the Autobots sign. Looked up the colors. Made the colors. Decorated. Looked at the example, and realized I did the colors backwards. Red should have been on bottom. I don't know how I managed to mess that up. Luckily, little dude didn't care, and everyone still knows it's the autobots sign. And it tasted GREAT!

Big dude wanted a Harry Potter Party. We actually had two parties, one without a theme for family. And one Harry Potter Party with friends. Here's the no theme cake. Sprinkles and candles.

I had fun with the food ideas for the Harry Potter Party.

We had Magic Wand Pretzels (Log Pretzels dipped in white and dark chocolate with sprinkles on the end). We set up jars with Candy for Honeydukes. There was Berttie Bott's Every Flavor Bean (Jelly Bellies), Gummy Lizards, Chocolate Covered Cockroaches (choc. covered cinnamon bears), and Sour Worms (sour gummy worms). We also had Butter Beer. The cake was Wizard Hat cupcakes. Those were fun to make. The kids ate the cones first, and then couldn't finish the cupcake! That was great! I can't find where I saved the Butter Beer recipe. I did and on-line search and found quite a few ideas. If I find the recipe I used, I will post it.

Our Birthday cakes! YEAH!! Until next summer!

Star Wars Food Ideas and Giveaway

2009-10-10T08:38:00.005-06:00

Okay... FINALLY a week later, I have an idea for a giveaway.

Last night we had Tatooine Toast (French Toast), and C3PO.J. It was simple, but fun. I am hoping to do a Star Wars themed dinner EVERY Friday night that we watch Clone Wars. See my post about our Clone Wars party. I realize almost any food could be adapted with a Star Wars name, but I could use come creative help! Here's how it's going to work:

I will give away 3 things-

* A set of Star Wars crayons and mini Star Wars notepad.

* 10% off your total Pampered Chef order coupon (redeemable only through me).

* A Pampered Chef kids gift set (put together by me- My Safe Cutter; Cut-N-Seal; Stoneware Heart Mold; and a reusable Pampered Chef Shopping Bag) valued at about $20.

Here's how to win:

1. MANDATORY ENTRY- Leave me a comment with one idea for Star Wars Food. I will let my boys pick their favorite, and that will be the winner of ONE of the prizes.

The other prizes will be drawn RANDOMLY (using random.org). Here's how to get more entries:
2. Leave more comments with more Star Wars Food ideas. There is NO limit to how many idea comments you leave.

3. Blog about this giveaway to all your friends and fans. Leave me the link so I can check you out too!

4. Add the link to this giveaway on a Mr Linky or a blog giveaway site, forum, carnival. Be sure to leave the link.

5. Subscribe to my blog or become a Follower. Be sure to confirm your e-mail, if you subscribe. Don't forget to leave a comment letting me know. If you all ready do/ are you can leave a comment to.

I will accept entries until Thursday October 22 at midnight. That way I can start using the new ideas for Friday's episode. I will post the winners and they can choose their prizes. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you in your comment. If I don't hear back from the winners in 48 hrs. a new winner will be selected. Thanks for visiting and for sharing!

Wilton Review and Giveaway

2009-10-10T08:27:00.004-06:00

Check out Energizer Bunny's Mommy Reports for a FUN giveaway. There's a Wilton mini- cupcake pan, Silicone Bear cupcake molds, Sprinkles, and baking cups. I LOVE everything Wilton makes! And it's so fun to make cakes and cupcakes when you have their cool stuff too!

Clone Wars Party

2009-10-04T14:44:00.006-06:00

There are 4 boys (yes my hubby counts as one) at our house, who LOVE Star Wars. Especially the new Clone Wars. Cartoon Network has a Clone Wars animated series. Last season it became a tradition for the boys to watch it every Friday night. They were so excited for the Season 2 premiere. We decided to make it a party. I, of course, mean fun food and watch the cartoon. Our menu was:

Naboo Nuggets- Chicken Nuggets. I cut chicken breast into finger size pieces. In a gallon size baggie, crush up 3 cups of Corn Flakes, mixed them with 3 tbsp. flour (you can add salt, pepper, and other dry seasoning). Break 1 egg into a shallow dish ( I used one of The Pampered Chef's coating trays). Coat the chicken pieces with egg. Add them to the baggie with crushed mixture. Seal the baggie and shake, until the chicken is well coated. You can lay them out on a cookie sheet (stoneware bar pan) and bake them or fry them. This night I opted for frying them in vegetable oil in my Stir-Fry Skillet. We dipped them in BBQ, Honey Mustard, and Ranch sauce.

Palpatine Pizzas- English Muffins, pizza sauce, cheese, Canadian bacon, more cheese. Bake @ 350 for 15 min.

Jabba Jell-o- Blue Jell-o made with Orange Juice. It doesn't have the "see-through" look. It looks thicker, like slime. I added a couple scoops of canned fruit cocktail and swirled whipped cream over the top (using my Easy Accent Decorator).

Ventress Vegetables- Bought mixed veggies in cheese sauce. Microwaved in my Large Micro-cooker. I was in a hurry, and didn't plan ahead on the veggies.

Yoda Soda- 1 scoop Lime Sherbet, topped with Lemon-Lime Soda

Hoth Asteroids- Cookies N' Cream Ice Cream

Hoth Chocolate- Hot Cocoa (to warm up after the ice cream on the cold Oct. evening)

It turned out to be pretty fun. The food was easy, and it was fun to think of Star Wars names. We might have to have Star Wars themed dinners every Friday Night, before watching Clone Wars! How Fun! Hey... now there is an idea for a giveaway! Stay tuned...

Quilt Cake

2009-10-04T13:24:00.010-06:00

Again, yes I have been cooking, just nothing too exciting to post. I have REALLY gotten into the Couponing, so we eat based on what's in our pantry. Unfortunately that's not always a Pampered Chef recipe, or a gourmet dish, or even something blog worthy. I need to find a balance between the two. I know it's there... I'm getting it.

In the meantime, I did make a pretty fun cake for my Sister-in-law's 30th Birthday! 30 is a good time to evaluate where you are in life, look at the goals you have accomplished, and where you want to go from here. This was a hard birthday for her. She is single, and between jobs, and having some financial struggles. She wasn't sure how "happy" she really is at 30. So, I thought it would be fun to make a cake that showed all the "happy" things in her life. (This sounds kind-of like a personal ad... well, if you know any singles guys around 30, that would be interested...)

The Cake

Our Family. Can you tell whose who?

She is a school teacher.

She LOVES to swim, and is a GREAT swim instructor!

She has a Samoyed named KONA.

She is VERY musically talented.

And she is a quilter. Actually she is very creative, and good at sewing.

I found the icing writing pens and thought it would be fun to try them. I HATE them! It doesn't look good at all! I wish I had piped HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE. That is the only part I am really disappointed about. That and how skinny the cake is. There is more frosting than cake! We don't have a large family, and I knew doing two layers would be way too much cake. But I needed the large surface area to put everything on the cake!

I REALLY enjoyed this cake. I got my ideas from on-line, Wilton's Cupcakes Catalog, and Cupcakes!. They were all great for generating ideas and how to put it onto a cake! I would love to do more cakes that are so personal! If you or someone you know, needs a personalized cake, let me know. I would be happy to brainstorm ideas, and decorate a cake for you!

Giveaway Winner

2009-07-18T20:37:00.002-06:00

I can't believe I have let the whole day go by without posting the winner! SORRY! I used random.org to select the winner. I took out the first comment, because it was my hubby being a smarty pants! So... Random.org selected #4. Which was:

Half A Dozen said...
Hey Alyson,Sign me up that I was here, and I will try to be at the cooking class on Thursday- R has swim @ 1130, then E @ 1200 followed by B @ 1230.See you!

Crystal

Thanks Crytsal. I know you will enjoy the BBQ Basting Brush.

Check back for more recipes and another giveaway. Thanks to all who participated!

DON'T FORGET!

2009-07-16T08:08:00.001-06:00

Don't forget, I am inviting everyone to the park TODAY for play dates and grilling tips. Check out the details HERE. See you there!

Have you been to Shoplet.com?

2009-07-16T08:02:00.002-06:00

Shoplet.com is a newer online office supply store. And they have all kinds of fun contests and promos...that is how I won a stuffed energizer bunny. Fellow blogger She Saved... is doing a giveaway. You could win a $10 gift certificate to shoplet.com. Go check her out, and go check them out!

Desserts on the BBQ?

2009-07-15T22:24:00.005-06:00

Yes! You can cook dessert on the BBQ too! But make sure you have cleaned the rack REALLY well. Unless you like BBQ sauce on your dessert! Fruit is the easiest, healthy, and yummy. Peaches, Pineapple, Bananas, Apples, Pears... Cut them up in somewhat of a cube shape and put them on skewers for a kabob. Or slice them and add a sauce.

Grilled Apples with Streusel Topping from Barbeque Bob

1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

4 large baking apples, cored and cut in half

melted butter

1. Make the topping ahead of time buy oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the butter and work it in evenly with a fork or your fingertips until it is pea sized. Stir in the pecans and refrigerate until you are ready to make the dessert.
2. Brush the cut side of the apples with the melted butter. Arrange the apples cut side down on the grill and cook over medium heat for twenty minutes. Turn them once after ten minutes.
3. Spoon the topping onto the cut side of the apples. Cook for another five minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and glazed. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Grilled Peaches with Berry Sauce from allrecipes.com
Submitted By: Nancy Johnson

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 30 Minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries in syrup, slightly thawed
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 fresh peaches, peeled and halved
5 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter or margarine

Directions:
1. In a blender or food processor, process raspberries and lemon juice until pureed. Strain and discard seeds. Cover and chill. Place the peach halves, cut side up, on a large piece of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. x 12 in). Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle into peach centers. Sprinkle with vanilla; dot with butter. Fold foil over peaches and seal. Grill over medium-hot coals for 15 minutes or until heated through. To serve, spoon the raspberry sauce over peaches.

Printed from Allrecipes.com 7/15/2009

Sweet Grilled Peaches from allrecipes.com
Submitted By: GILSDORF Photo By: pomplemousse

Prep Time: 5 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 15 Minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package frozen peach slices
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat a grill for medium heat.
2. Place peaches onto a large piece of aluminum foil. Use two if necessary to hold in all of the peaches without spillage. Drizzle the honey over the peaches, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Close up the foil, sealing tightly.
3. Place the foil packet onto the preheated grill, and cook for 10 minutes, turning once halfway through. Carefully open the packet, and serve.

Printed from Allrecipes.com 7/15/2009

And it's always sure to be a "cool" treat when you add ice cream. I LOVE homemade ice cream the best. I might have to do some homemade ice cream recipes... stay tuned!

Seafood in the backyard

2009-07-13T14:30:00.006-06:00

I am a BIG Seafood fan. But the boys in this family don't care for it. I think seafood is REALLY good grilled. Here are some ideas I want to try. Maybe the boys will like it this way! Watch out, there are a lot of ideas!

Shrimp on a Stick from Family Fun

A simple skewer recipe for some extra goodies on your hot grill.

1 pound uncooked medium shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Step 1 Peel, devein, and rinse the shrimp, then place them in a bowl with the olive oil and garlic. Add the breadcrumbs and toss until the shrimp are evenly coated.

Step 2 Thread the shrimp onto skewers, then grill them over medium heat for about 2 minutes per side, or until they are opaque in the center and the crumb coating begins to brown.

Step 3 Transfer them to a platter and remove the skewers. Squeeze on some lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Serve plain or with dipping sauce.

For you fishermen/ fisher women, or makers of the fresh catch- here's one to try. Careful the conversions aren't all there. And I didn't even try, eyeball it. You can't go wrong!

Grilled Catch Of The Day

Ingredients:

250 gram king fish -- cut into pieces

***THE MARINADE ***

20 grams green pepper

2 teaspoons ginger paste

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon chopped celery

salt and pepper to taste

***THE HERB RICE ***

100 gram rice

parboiled butter

1 teaspoon garlic -- chopped

1/4 teaspoon oregano

10 grams scallion

chopped fine salt to taste

Instructions:

MIX all the marinade ingredients and marinate the fish in this mixture for a few minutes. Grill the fish till tender.

To prepare the herb rice : Heat butter in a pan. Saute garlic, oregano and scallion for one minute. Add rice and salt to taste and saute till done. Place the fish on a bed of ragout of grilled vegetables and herb rice. Converted by MC_Buster.

Grilled Shrimp and Scallop Kabobs from Betty Crocker

Prep Time: 10 min Total Time: 25 min
Makes: 4 servings

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound sea scallops
12 uncooked large shrimp in shells
8 medium whole fresh mushrooms, (about 6 ounces)
8 cherry tomatoes
1 medium zucchini, (about 1 inch in diameter), cut into 1-inch slices

1. Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat.
2. Mix lemon juice, oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Cut scallops in half if over 1 inch in diameter.
3. Thread scallops, shrimp, mushrooms, tomatoes and zucchini alternately on each of four 10-inch metal skewers. Brush with lemon juice mixture.
4. Grill uncovered 4 inches from medium heat 10 to 15 minutes, brushing frequently with lemon juice mixture and turning once, until scallops are white and shrimp are pink and firm.

Nutrition Information:
1 Serving: Calories 220 (Calories from Fat 135 ); Total Fat 15 g (Saturated Fat 2 g); Cholesterol 50 mg; Sodium 310 mg; Total Carbohydrate 7 g (Dietary Fiber 2 g); Protein 14 g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 12 %; Vitamin C 12 %; Calcium 6 %; Iron 14 % Exchanges: 1 Vegetable; 2 Lean Meat; 2 Fat *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

My favorite seafood is Halibut. I LOVE this funky deep sea fish. But we don't eat it very often. I'd even say it's been about 6 years since we have prepared this in our kitchen. And about a year since I've eaten it at a restaurant. Not a cheap fish, unless you catch it yourself. And even then, I can guarantee the adventure came at a price too!

Grilled Halibut With Lemon Sauce

Ingredients:

3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon fresh parsley -- minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary -- crushed

8 halibut fillets -- 6 oz each

vegetable cooking spray

Instructions:

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan; stir well. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley, salt, oregano, and rosemary; set sauce aside, and keep warm.

Prepare grill. Place fillets on grill rack coated with cooking spray; cover and grill 6 minutes on each side or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with the warm sauce. Recipe By: Cooking Light-9/95

BBQ Salmon from Just Add BBQ

Contributed by John

Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 17 min
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup KRAFT THICK 'N SPICY Original Barbecue Sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 green onion, sliced
4 salmon fillets or steaks (1 lb.)

Directions:

HEAT greased grill to medium-high heat.
MIX first 3 ingredients until well blended.
GRILL fish 4 min. on each side; brush generously with barbecue sauce mixture. Grill 2 to 4 min. or until fish flakes easily with fork, turning occasionally and brushing with remaining sauce mixture.

Links for MORE grilled seafood recipes:

allrecipes Top 20 Grilled Seafood

She Saved... Giveaway

2009-07-13T14:26:00.002-06:00

Fellow blogger She Saved... has a "blog box" giveaway, every week. It is pretty cool. Go check her out. Make some entries, and maybe you will win! Be sure to mention that "Chef Likes" sent you, and we both could win!

Chicken on the BBQ

2009-07-11T22:54:00.005-06:00

Perfect Grilled Chicken by Kraft Foods

Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 24 min
Makes: 4 servings

What You Need
1/2 cup KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

Make It

PREHEAT grill to medium heat. Pour dressing over chicken in resealable plastic bag. Seal bag; turn to evenly coat chicken with dressing. Refrigerate 5 min. to marinate. Remove chicken from marinade; discard bag and marinade.

GRILL chicken 5 to 7 min. on each side or until cooked through (165°F).

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Substitute
Prepare as directed, using Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing.

Cooking Know-How
Set the timer in the kitchen for 5 min. on each side so you don't forget to turn the chicken. Don't overcook the chicken - grill just until the juices run clear.

Use Your Oven
Grill runs out of gas unexpectedly or it starts to rain? That's easy. Just place the chicken on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until cooked through (165°F).

Nutrition Information: Calories 170 Total fat 5 g Saturated fat 1 g Cholesterol 75 mg Sodium 240 mg

Cajun Chicken Salad from Pampered Chef

Ingredients:

Spiced Pecans

3/4 cup pecan halves
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Pantry Cajun Herb Seasoning Mix

Salad
1 small yellow summer squash, scored, sliced and cut in half
1 small green bell pepper, seeded, cut into rings and quartered
1 cup cherry tomato halves
1 package (10 ounces) mixed salad greens with romaine and leaf lettuce
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (4-6 ounces each)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 teaspoons Pantry Cajun Herb Seasoning Mix
3/4 cup ranch salad dressing

Bountiful Bread Bowl (optional)Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. For spiced pecans, toss pecans with oil in Small Batter Bowl. Sprinkle with combined sugar and seasoning mix; toss until coated. Spread pecans in single layer over bottom of Small Bar Pan. Bake 10 minutes until lightly toasted. Remove from oven; cool pecans in bar pan.

Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium coals. Meanwhile, for salad, score summer squash lengthwise using Lemon Zester/Scorer. Slice squash using Ultimate Slice & Grate fitted with v-shaped blade; cut slices in half. Cut bell pepper into rings; cut rings into quarters. Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Toss vegetables with greens; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Rinse chicken; pat dry with paper towels. Brush with oil using Pastry Brush. Rub with seasoning mix.

Place chicken on grid of grill. Grill, uncovered, 12-15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center, turning occasionally using Barbecue Tongs.

Remove chicken from grill. Cut chicken crosswise into slices on Cutting Board using Carving Set. Arrange chicken over salad on Oval Platter. Sprinkle with spiced pecans. Serve salad using Large Serving Tongs; drizzle with dressing.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 520, Total Fat 39 g, Saturated Fat 4.5 g, Cholesterol 85 mg, Carbohydrate 15 g, Protein 32 g, Sodium 570 mg, Fiber 5 g

Cook’s Tips: On hot summer days, conserve energy and keep your kitchen cool by using a toaster oven to prepare the spiced pecans. Bake at 350°F for 8 minutes. The Small Bar Pan is a convenient size for all your small-scale cooking in any toaster oven. The chicken can also be prepared using the Professional Grill Pan. Heat pan over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Prepare chicken as directed in Step 3. Place chicken in pan. Cook 5-7 minutes; turn using Nylon Tongs. Continue cooking 5-7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

So-Easy BBQ-Glazed Chicken by Kraft Foods

Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 30 min
Makes: 4 servings

What You Need!
1/2 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing, divided
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1/4 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce
2 Tbsp. orange marmalade

Make It!

HEAT grill to medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup dressing over chicken in shallow dish; turn over to coat both sides of each breast. Refrigerate 10 min.

MEANWHILE, mix barbecue sauce, marmalade and remaining dressing.

REMOVE chicken from dressing; discard dressing. Grill chicken on covered grill 12 to 15 min. or until done (165°F), turning occasionally and brushing with barbecue sauce mixture the last few minutes.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Serving Suggestion
Serve with Fantastic Grilled Corn on the Cob and hot cooked rice.
Make Ahead
Chicken can be marinated in refrigerator up to 24 hours before grilling as directed.

Nutrition Information: Calories 250 Total fat 10 g Saturated fat 1.5 g Cholesterol 65 mg Sodium 800 mg Carbohydrate 14 g Dietary fiber 0 g Sugars 10 g Protein 24 g Vitamin A 0 %DV Vitamin C 0 %DV Calcium 0 %DV Iron 6 %DV

Sweet and Sour Barbecued Chicken by Family Fun

Tasty sweet and sour barbecue chicken that will be a party pleaser.

2 garlic cloves, crushed through a garlic press
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
juice of 1/2 lime
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half

Step 1 In a shallow bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegar, lime and lemon juices, brown sugar, mustard, honey, and salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil (a fun job for kids).

Step 2 Reserve two portions of the mixture for basting and for dipping sauce, then add the chicken to the dish and turn it to coat.

Step 3 Grill the chicken for about 4 minutes per side or until the juices run clear. During the last minutes of cooking, baste the chicken with one portion of the reserved sauce to glaze it.

Step 4 Garnish with chopped Italian parsley, if desired.

Grilled Chicken Fajitas from Pampered Chef

Ingredients:

Marinade

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 teaspoon Pantry Southwestern Seasoning Mix

1/2 teaspoon salt

Fajitas

1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2 medium green or red bell peppers, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

8 (7-inch) flour tortillas

Suggested toppers (optional): salsa, shredded Colby & Monterey Jack cheese blend, sour cream

Directions:

For marinade, combine olive oil, lime juice, garlic, Seasoning Mix and salt in Small Batter Bowl; whisk until blended. Place chicken in resealable plastic bag. Add 1/3 cup of the marinade to chicken; reserve remaining marinade. Seal bag; marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.

Prepare grill. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Grill chicken and vegetables over medium coals 12-15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are crisp-tender, turning once using Barbecue Tongs. Baste chicken and vegetables with reserved marinade using Barbecue Basting Brush during the last 2 minutes of grilling.

Wrap tortillas in heavy aluminum foil; place on grill to warm 5-7 minutes using Barbecue Tongs. Remove chicken and vegetables from grill and slice into strips.

To serve, place chicken and vegetables in tortillas. Top with salsa, shredded cheese and sour cream, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 280, Total Fat 12 g, Saturated Fat 1.5 g, Cholesterol 50 mg, Carbohydrate 19 g, Protein 23 g, Sodium 360 mg, Fiber less than 1 g

Cook’s Tips: Substitute 1 teaspoon chili powder for Southwestern Seasoning Mix, if desired.

BBQ Burgers

2009-07-11T22:23:00.005-06:00

Here are some ideas and recipes to try. We are a burger family. My boys would eat hot dogs and hamburgers every day and night, if only I would let them.

Inside-Out Bacon Cheeseburgers from Kraft Foods

Prep Time: 15 min Total Time: 33 min
Makes: 4 servings

What You Need!
1 lb. ground beef
3 Tbsp. KRAFT Ranch Dressing, divided
4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, cooked, crumbled
2 KRAFT Singles, cut into quarters
4 hamburger buns, lightly toasted
4 lettuce leaves
8 slices tomato

Make It!

HEAT grill to medium heat.

MIX meat and 2 Tbsp. dressing; shape into 8 thin patties. Combine remaining dressing and bacon. Spoon onto centers of 4 patties; top with Singles quarters and remaining patties. Pinch edges together to seal.

GRILL 7 to 9 min. on each side or until burgers are done (160°F).

FILL buns with lettuce, burgers and tomatoes.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Serving Suggestion
Enjoy this summer favorite with a skewer of grilled vegetables.
Substitute
Substitute 1/3 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack Cheese for the Singles.
Storing Ground Beef
Store ground beef in the coldest part of the refrigerator for up to 2 days. (The refrigerator temperature should be no higher than 40°F.) For longer storage, wrap the meat tightly in foil or freezer-weight plastic wrap and store in the freezer. When thawing, place the meat on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to prevent any drippings from cross-contaminating other foods.
Nutrition Information: Calories 490 Total fat 26 g Saturated fat 9 g Cholesterol 90 mg Sodium
770 mg Carbohydrate 33 g Dietary fiber 2 g Sugars 2 g Protein 30 g Vitamin A 20 %DV Vitamin C 8 %DV Calcium 20 %DV Iron 25 %DV

Best-Ever Hamburgers from Family Fun

1 lb. lean ground beef
4 drops Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. crushed oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
6 hamburger buns, split

Step 1 In a large bowl, combine the beef, Worcestershire, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well and form the meat into 6 patties. When the coals are hot and evenly distributed, place the burgers in the center of the grill and set the buns, open-face down, to the outside edge. As soon as the buns are toasted, flip the burgers and place a bun top on each. This will help the meat cook through while the bread soaks up juices.

Serves 6.

Set out with your favorite condiments.

Healthy Grilled Burgers from Family Fun

Introducing strong-flavored vegetables is easier if the vegetables are not really seen. Here, the sharpness of watercress is lessened by mincing and combining it with sweet grated carrots.

3/4 lb. ground round beef
1/2 lb. ground turkey
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup tofu
1/2 cup carrots, grated
1 cup watercress, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp. olive oil

Step 1 Place all the ingredients except the olive oil in a large bowl and mix with your hands until well combined. Shape into patties 3/4 inch thick by 4 inches across. Lightly rub each side of the patties with the oil.

Step 2 Heat a grill until very hot. Cook the patties 5 minutes on each side (because of the turkey, they should not be pink). Serve immediately on hamburger buns or rolls. Makes 6 servings.

Step 3 Variation: In winter, use the same recipe to make meatballs. Form tablespoon-size meatballs. In a skillet, saute several at a time until all are brown. Remove and drain off fat. Line the bottom of the pan with 1/2 cup chopped cabbage, arrange the meatballs on top, and cover with 3 cups of good-quality tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over very low heat for 35 minutes. Serve over pasta or rice.

A.1. Sing for your Beef Contest

2009-07-10T11:56:00.003-06:00

We are big A.1. fans at our house! I came across this contest they are doing. I figured it would fit in with the grilling theme. Check it out, maybe you will enter, maybe you will win!

Yeah it's that important!

More Grilling Recipes

2009-07-10T11:42:00.004-06:00

Here are a few more recipes to try on or with the grill. They are from The Pampered Chef.

Asian Pork Ribs

Ingredients:
4-4 1/2 lb (1.8-2 kg) country-style pork loin ribs
8 cups (1.8 L) water
3/4 cup (175 mL) apricot or peach preserves
3/4 cup (175 mL) barbecue sauce
1/4 cup (50 mL) reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tsp (10 mL) peeled fresh ginger root, finely chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) thinly sliced green onion with tops
2 tsp (10 mL) sesame seeds

Directions:

Place ribs in (8-qt./7.6 L) Stockpot; add water. Cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour, 15 minutes or until pork is tender. Remove ribs.

Meanwhile, prepare grill for direct cooking over medium coals. Combine preserves, barbecue sauce, soy sauce, garlic and ginger root. Place ribs on grid of grill; brush with sauce. Grill, uncovered, 10-12 minutes or until well glazed, turning frequently and brushing with sauce.

Remove ribs to serving platter; sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds. Serve; use Steak Knife Set to cut ribs into bite-size pieces.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 460, Total Fat 20 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 145 mg, Carbohydrate 24 g, Protein 45 g, Sodium 600 mg, Fiber 0 g

Classic Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons chili powder

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in Small (2-qt.) Saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When getting ready to grill, portion out just the amount of sauce needed for brushing on meat. Cover and refrigerate unused sauce for later use.

Using Barbecue Basting Brush, brush sauce over surface of meat every 5 minutes during last 10-15 minutes of baking, broiling or grilling. Discard any remaining sauce used to baste raw meat.

Yield: 2 1/2 cups

Nutrients per serving: (2 tablespoons): Calories 40, Total Fat 0 g, Saturated Fat 0 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Carbohydrate 10 g, Protein 0 g, Sodium 260 mg, Fiber 0 g

Cook’s Tips: This recipe makes enough sauce to baste 4-5 pounds beef or pork ribs or cut-up chicken pieces.

Keeping it Cool Cooking Classes

2009-07-09T14:22:00.003-06:00

So... random thought... I was asked to help with the "College of Cooking" as part of a year long church activity. I need to do more classes. So... I am planning a cooking class and I am inviting all my friends, neighbors, and readers!

No one wants to heat up the house with cooking. So lets share some cool recipes. It will be pot luck optional. If you have a NO BAKE recipe, prepare it and share it. We will exchange ideas, recipes, chatter, and fun.

We will meet on Thursday at Hill Road/ Guerber Park in Eagle at 11am. The other part of this class is to let the kids get together and play. I am always up for play dates, especially when they are not at my house!

Here are the theme ideas:

Thursday July 16: Grilling. Bring a dish to share, or at least the written recipe, of your favorite food to grill. It can be a main dish, side dish, or dessert! Don't forget, if you are bringing your kids you will need enough for them, or their own separate lunch.

Thursday July 23: NO BAKE. Bring a dish to share, or at least the written recipe, of your favorite NO BAKE food. It can use minimal heating from the stove or microwave, but NO OVEN!!!! And bring enough for your kids, or a separate lunch.

Thursday July 30: CROCKPOT. Bring a dish to share, or at least the written recipe, of your favorite CrockPot recipe. Don't forget Crockpots usually take awhile, so this may require some planning the day before. Make sure there's enough for the kids, or bring something else for them.

I think these play date/ classes/ adult social time will be GREAT!!! Let me know if you have questions and if you are planning to come! Thanks!

BBQ Giveaway

2009-07-09T13:54:00.005-06:00

It's time for another giveaway! Because I am going to take the next week or so to write about Grilling, I thought a BBQ themed giveaway would be fun.

Here is the prize:

BBQ Basting Bottle

And here's how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment so I know you were here.

2. LOCALS: Come to a Summer Cooking Class-

Thursday at Hill Rd./ Guerber Park @ 11am. Leave me a comment that you are coming.

Out of Towners: Create your own cooking class. Leave me a comment with a date you are getting together with your friends to exchange recipes.

3. Subscribe To or follow this blog. Leave me a comment letting me know that you are.

4. Blog, tweet, or facebook about this giveaway, refer your friends in other words. Leave a comment that you did, with a link, if possible. When your friends enter have them mention your name, and if they win, you will receive a coupon for Pampered Chef product.

There are four ways to enter! Make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry! This giveaway will be open until Friday July 17th at midnight. I will use Random.org to select a winner from the comments. Good Luck and Happy BBQing!

Great Grilling Recipes

2009-07-09T13:11:00.004-06:00

A friend of mine and I were discussing how much we dislike cooking during the summer. For so many reasons. It heats up the house, we want to be out playing in the sun or at the pool, and the everyday reasons of feeling unappreciated. But it does not have to be this way. There are other options.

We are going to start with The Grill! There are so many options. Meats, veges, pizzas, desserts! YES! All this! The BBQ is for more than burgers and steaks. I all ready posted about the Asian Grilled Chicken Rolls. Here are a couple other ideas to get you started.

Italian-Style Marinated Steak from Kraft Foods
Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 50 min
Makes: 4 servings

What You Need
1/2 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
2 boneless beef sirloin steaks (1 lb.)
1/2 cup A.1. Original Steak Sauce

Make It

POUR dressing over steaks in resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Turn bag over several times to evenly coat steaks with dressing. Refrigerate 30 min. to marinate.

PREHEAT grill to medium-high heat. Remove steaks from marinade; discard bag and marinade.

GRILL steaks 4 to 5 min. on each side or until medium doneness (160°F.) Brush steaks with steak sauce; let stand 10 min. Cut into thin slices to serve. Garnish with grilled cherry tomatoes, if desired.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Serving Suggestion
Balance this grilled steak with smart side dishes, such as grilled vegetables and a mixed green salad for a delicious summertime dinner.

Make Ahead
Place steaks in large freezer-weight resealable plastic bag. Add dressing; seal bag. Freeze up to 2 months. Thaw in refrigerator, then grill as directed. The meat marinates as it thaws.

Nutrition Information
Calories 230 Total fat 12 g Saturated fat 2.5 g Cholesterol 60 mg Sodium 870 mg Carbohydrate 8 g Dietary fiber 1 g Sugars 6 g Protein 21 g Vitamin A 2 %DV Vitamin C
0 %DVCalcium 0 %DV Iron 15 %DV

Quick BBQ Pork Sandwiches by Kraft Foods
Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 21 min
Makes: 4 servings

What You Need!
1/2 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce, divided
4 boneless pork chops (1 lb.)
4 slices onion
4 kaiser rolls, split
4 lettuce leaves
1 large tomato, cut into 4 slices

Make It!

HEAT grill to medium heat.

RESERVE 1/4 cup barbecue sauce for spreading onto rolls; set aside.

PLACE chops on grill; brush lightly with some of the remaining barbecue sauce. Grill 6 to 8 min. on each side or until done (160°F), brushing occasionally with remaining barbecue sauce and adding onions to the grill for the last 4 min., turning after 2 min.

SPREAD rolls with reserved sauce; fill with chops, onions, lettuce and tomatoes.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Substitute
Prepare using BULL'S-EYE Original Barbecue Sauce or KRAFT Hickory Smoke Barbecue Sauce.
Substitute
Substitute onion rolls for the kaiser rolls.

Special Extra
Add a KRAFT Singles to each sandwich.

Nutrition Information
Calories 340 Total fat 7 g Saturated fat 1.5 g Cholesterol 55 mg Sodium 870 mg Carbohydrate 42 g Dietary fiber 2 g Sugars 10 g Protein 28 g Vitamin A 20 %DV Vitamin C

I have so many other ideas I will post everyday until I've completed about 10 or 12 more ideas! Then I will move on to other ideas for keeping the house cool, but the food cool too! I hope you enjoy cooking this summer!

Asian Grilled Chicken Rolls

2009-07-09T10:05:00.003-06:00

Carrot and zucchini ribbons are too pretty to hide, so they are rolled on the outside of these grilled spirals.

Ingredients:

Glaze
3 tbsp (45 mL) honey
2 tbsp (30 mL) soy sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) rice vinegar
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tbsp (15 mL) Asian Seasoning Mix

Chicken Rolls
12 chicken tenders (about 1 1/2 lb/750 g)
1 tbsp (15 mL) Asian Seasoning Mix
2 tbsp (30 mL) soy sauce
2 large carrots, peeled
2 medium zucchini

Rice
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) uncooked jasmine rice
3 cups (750 mL) water
2 green onions with tops (about 1/2 cup/125 mL sliced)Directions:

Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium-high heat. For glaze, whisk together ingredients in Small Batter Bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH 1-2 minutes until mixture comes to a boil and is slightly thickened. Set glaze aside for serving.

For rolls, flatten chicken to an even ¼-in. (6-mm) thickness using flat side of Meat Tenderizer. Combine chicken tenders, seasoning mix and soy sauce in Stainless (4-qt./4-L) Mixing Bowl; stir to coat.

Cut carrots and zucchini into long ribbons using Vegetable Peeler. For each roll, stack a wide carrot ribbon, zucchini ribbon and chicken tender. Roll up and secure with wooden pick. Repeat with additional carrot and zucchini ribbons and remaining chicken tenders. Spray rolls with vegetable oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Thinly slice remaining carrot and zucchini ribbons crosswise to measure about 1 cup (250 mL).

For rice, combine rice, water, remaining vegetables and green onions in Rice Cooker Plus. Microwave according to package directions. Meanwhile, grill rolls, chicken end down, 3 minutes or until grill marks appear. Turn over using BBQ Tongs and grill 2-4 minutes or until Pocket Thermometer registers 170°F (77°C) when inserted into center of each roll through side.
To serve, divide rice among serving plates; top with rolls and drizzle with glaze.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 370 (2% from fat), Total Fat 1 g, Saturated Fat 0 g, Cholesterol 100 mg, Carbohydrate 48 g, Protein 45 g, Sodium 1060 mg, Fiber 3 g

U.S. Diabetic exchanges per serving: 2 starch, 1 fruit, 1 vegetable, 5 low-fat meat (3 carb)

Cook’s Tips: Stack a wide carrot ribbon, then a zucchini ribbon and a chicken tender, then roll it up wide end first and secure with a wooden pick. When grilling, stand rolls up and place them onto the grid of the grill, chicken end down. This prevents the vegetables from sticking to the grill grid and tearing. If desired, 1 tsp (5 mL) grated fresh ginger root and an additional garlic clove, pressed, can be substituted for the Asian Seasoning Mix.

Other Giveaways

2009-07-07T09:00:00.002-06:00

So I keep reading links for giveaways. I like this one, because I LOVE Chex Mix Bars! So I, of course, entered.Here is some info on the Chex Mix Bars. And here is the link to enter into the giveaway. Thanks Energizer Bunny's Mommy Reports!

More Independence Day Recipes

2009-07-02T08:23:00.005-06:00

Patriotic Parfait from Recipe4Living

Ingredients
1/2 pt./125ml heavy cream

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 qt. strawberries

1 qt. blueberries

1/2 pt. red raspberries

Directions
Whip cream with sugar (or omit sugar altogether and it will taste even better); set aside. Wash fruits and spread out on a terry towel to dry. Puree raspberries in the blender and chill. Slice strawberries. Place some blueberries in the bottom of parfait glasses then add some strawberry slices. Drizzle with a small amount of raspberry puree. Top with some whipped cream. Repeat layers until the glasses are full, ending with whipped cream. Make sure to keep some of the raspberry puree. Just before serving, drizzle the remaining raspberry puree over the whipped cream.

Here is the recipe I am going to try this year, with my kids:

Uncle Sam Ice Cream Cones by Family Fun

This 4th of July, invite your kids to turn ice cream cones into edible, festive Uncle Sam top hats.

1 Wafer ice cream cone
White frosting
Blue fruit leather
Red and blue decorating gels
Red and blue M&M's
Canister of ready-made whipped cream

Step 1 Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a plate and return it to the freezer to harden. Meanwhile, construct an Uncle Sam hat out of a wafer ice cream cone. (I am going to use my Simple Additions, small square plate. That way I can decorate the edge of the white plate with some blue and red sugar!)

Step 2 Use frosting to attach a blue band of fruit leather around the bottom of the cone. Squirt vertical stripes of red decorating gel down the sides and blue gel on the top.

Step 3 Using a star tip, squirt on white frosting stars around the blue fruit leather, if desired. TIP: To avoid smudging the Uncle Sam hat design, have your child hold the cone from the inside while decorating it with fruit leather and icing. (My kids will use the Decorator Bottle Set. The accordion style "bags" are so much easier for kids.)

Step 4 Remove the ice cream-scoop "head" from the freezer and top with the Uncle Sam hat. Working quickly so the ice cream doesn't melt, add blue M&M's eyes and a red M&M's nose. Finally, add a whipped cream beard. To do this, have your child hold the canister upside down while squirting on a long white beard. (I am going to use whipped topping from the freezer section, thawed, and put it in my Easy Accent Decorator. Easier for my kids to use and Cheaper!)

Step 5 Serve up your Uncle Sam ice cream cone immediately. Makes 1

Kids' Strawberry Daiquiris by Family Fun

While you enjoy a true daiquiri, offer your kids this innocent version of the grown-up drink.

6 ice cubes
16 strawberries
1/2 cup frozen concentrated limeade
1/2 cup water

Step 1 Place the ice cubes in a blender or food processor and pulse until they are crushed. Add the strawberries, concentrated limeade and water. Puree the mixture until smooth and thick. Pour into tall glasses with flexistraws. Makes 2 servings.

Berries ‘N Stars by The Pampered Chef

This beautiful, fruit-filled pastry makes a spectacular star-spangled finale.

1 pkg (17.25 oz) frozen puff pastry sheets (2 sheets), thawed
2 lemons
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 qt. strawberries
½ pint blueberries (about 1 cup)
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F. Unfold one pastry sheet onto lightly floured Rectangle Stone. Roll into 13 x 10-in. rectangle using lightly floured Baker’s Roller®. Move pastry into one corner of the stone, leaving open space along two sides. Unfold second sheet of pastry onto smooth side of Large Grooved Cutting Board; roll to a 13 x 10-in. rectangle. Cut four 1-inch-thick strips lengthwise from second sheet using Pizza Cutter; reserve remaining dough for decoration.

Brush outer edges of pastry on baking stone with water using Chef’s Silicone Basting Brush. Arrange and press strips around edge of pastry, forming an even border. Trim off any excess
dough. Prick entire bottom of pastry with pastry tool.

Cut 16 stars from remaining dough sheet using Creative Cutters (discard remaining dough). Arrange stars in open space along edges of baking stone. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. (Center of crust may puff up slightly, but will flatten out as it cools.) Cool completely. Remove pastry stars from baking stone; set aside.

Meanwhile, zest lemons with Microplane® Adjustable Grater to measure 1 tbsp zest. Juice lemons to measure ¼ cup juice. In Classic Batter Bowl, whisk together condensed milk, lemon zest and juice. Gently fold in whipped topping. Attach desired tip to Easy Accent® Decorator; completely fill with filling mixture (1¹ cups) and set aside for garnish.

Fill cooled pastry shell within border with remaining filling. Hull strawberries using Core & More; slice using Egg Slicer Plus®. Arrange strawberries and blueberries over filling. Garnish with rosettes of reserved filling and pastry stars. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Lightly sprinkle pastry with powdered sugar using Flour/Sugar Shaker.

Yield: 16 servings
Nutrients per serving: Calories 260, Total Fat 13 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 10 mg, Carbohydrate 31 g, Protein 4 g, Sodium 180 mg, Fiber 1 g

Cook’s Tip: Thaw puff pastry sheets at room temperature about 1 hour before using or microwave on 20% power for 3-4 minutes until thawed but still cold. Puff pastry that is too warm is difficult to work with.

Trifles, Trifles, Trifles

2009-06-30T20:45:00.004-06:00

I have come to enjoy making, looking at, and eating Trifles. They are some pretty fancy looking desserts. And they are an easy way to layer some red, white, and blue. I LOVE my Trifle Bowl. This is one of my funnest investments. Here are a couple recipes you could try:

Summer Berry Trifle from Family Fun

Serving this traditional English dessert in a glass pedestal bowl shows off its impressive layers of ladyfingers, pudding, and colorful fruits. If you don't have one, a regular glass bowl will also do the trick.

1 package (3.4-ounce) instant vanilla pudding
4 cups fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries), washed and hulled, plus extra for garnish
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 to 36 ladyfingers

Step 1 To make the fillings, prepare the pudding according to the package directions and chill it.

Step 2 Slice the strawberries, then toss all of the berries with the lemon juice and the 1/4 cup of sugar. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the berries to release their juices.

Step 3 In a medium mixing bowl, whip the cream, vanilla extract, and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar until soft peaks form. Set aside.

Step 4 To make the layers, set a layer of ladyfingers (around 7 or 8) on the bottom of a trifle bowl (ours was 4 quarts). Top with the berries with half of the pudding.

Step 5 Add another layer of ladyfingers, another third of the berries and juice, and the rest of the pudding. Add a final layer of ladyfingers and berries. Top with the whipped cream and a berry garnish.

Step 6 Refrigerate until you're ready to serve. Serves 8 to 10.

Red, White & Blueberry Trifle by Pampered Chef

Juicy berries and delicate angel food cake mingle in this impressive and patriotic summer dessert.

1 prepared angel food cake (13 oz)
1 qt. fresh strawberries
3 cups blueberries
1 container (16 oz) frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, thawed

1 lemon
3 containers (8 oz each) blended strawberry yogurt
1 pkg (3.4 oz) white chocolate instant pudding and pie filling
2 cups thawed frozen whipped topping, divided

Cut cake into 1-in. cubes using Color Coated Bread Knife; set aside. Hull fresh strawberries and cut into quarters. Set aside ½ cup of the strawberries and ½ cup of the blueberries for garnish.

In Classic Batter Bowl, combine remaining fresh and frozen strawberries; mix well. Juice lemon using Juicer to measure 2 tbsp juice. In Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, whisk yogurt,
pudding mix and lemon juice until smooth using Stainless Whisk; immediately fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping.

To assemble trifle, place one-third of the cake cubes into Trifle Bowl. Top with one-third of the strawberry mixture and one-third of the blueberries, pressing down lightly. Top with one-third of the yogurt mixture, spreading evenly. Repeat layers two times, spreading last layer evenly using the Small Spreader to create a flat surface.

To garnish, fill Easy Accent® Decorator fitted with open-star tip with remaining whipped topping. Pipe whipped topping over top of trifle; garnish with reserved strawberries and blueberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yield: 16 servings
Nutrients per serving: Calories 210, Total Fat 2.5 g, Saturated Fat 2 g, Cholesterol 5 mg, Carbohydrate 44 g, Protein 3 g, Sodium 280 mg, Fiber 2 g

Cook’s Tip: Cheesecake pudding and pie filling or vanilla pudding and pie filling can be substituted for the white chocolate pudding, if desired. If using vanilla pudding, add 6-8 drops of red food coloring for a pinker color, if desired.

Some more tips for a trifle: Be careful of the sides. Don't let any layers run down the sides as you put it in the bowl. The sides of the bowl need to be clear, to see all the layers. Placing the berries against the bowl, or standing them up (see first picture), help to define the red layer. Trifles will taste GREAT no matter what the layers look like. But if you can be careful with the layers, the presentation is really what the trifle is about. You want to see each defined layer.

Good Luck! Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!

"Cool" 4th of July

2009-06-30T15:07:00.004-06:00

I am always planning holiday fun around food, and kids. Here are some Family Fun red, white, and blue recipes to cool you off.

Patriotic Pops

2 cups blue Powerade, Gatorade, or Kool-Aid
12 5-ounce disposable cups
1 cup frozen whipped topping
1 cup vanilla yogurt
12 craft sticks
2 cups cran-raspberry juice

Step 1 To make the pops, equally divide the blue juice among the plastic cups, then place the cups in the freezer until the juice is partially frozen, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Step 2 Mix together the whipped topping and yogurt and divide this mixture among the cups.

Step 3 Set a craft stick in the center of each pop and return the cups to the freezer for approximately 45 minutes.

Step 4 For the final layer, add the cran-raspberry juice to the cups and place them in the freezer until solid.

Step 5 To remove the pops, run warm water over the outside of each cup.

Frosty Fireworks (Flavored Ice)

One way to make a splash this Fourth of July is by treating your kids to tall glasses of Patriot's Punch. Simply fill an ice cube tray with a red or blue fruit-flavored beverage (such as Powerade, Gatorade, or Kool-Aid) and let the cubes freeze solid. Then drop three or four colored cubes into each glass, pour in flavored seltzer water or clear soda, and watch the special effects. As the cubes melt, colored bubbles will swirl through the seltzer.

This Family Fun recipe reminds me of an old Pampered Chef recipe.

Star-Studded Fruit Jewels
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups water
2 packages (3 ounces each) any flavor gelatin
10 small pieces of fruit such as maraschino cherries or grapes, cut in half, or

20 whole blueberries

Directions:

Lightly spray Star Cube Trays with nonstick cooking spray.
Pour water into Small Micro-Cooker®. Microwave on HIGH 2-2 1/2 minutes or until boiling. Add gelatin to micro-cooker; stir until gelatin is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes.

Place 1 piece of fruit in each well of ice cube tray. Pour gelatin evenly over fruit. (The fruit will float to the top of the well.)

Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Run flat end of Citrus Peeler around edges of gelatin stars to release.

Yield: 10 servings

I hope you enjoy a "cool" holiday.

Birthday Cakes

2009-06-28T17:28:00.006-06:00

June is a popular birthday month for our family. I made a few cakes for these occasions. I took a few pictures too. I realize the cakes may leave a little to be desired. I have taken a basic cake decorating class, and hope to expand my decorating knowledge soon.Last year for my birthday, my mother-in-law gave me this adorable cake pan from William Sonoma. I used it for my brother's birthday cake. We did a John Deere theme party. But I didn't have enough time to actually make a tractor cake. So I baked a cake in the cupcake pan and decorated it with yellow and green frosting. Sorry, this one I forgot to take a picture. Not that it was all that exciting.

I made this baseball cake for our baby's 1st birthday. Again, not really fancy, but fun! I used one 9-inch cake pan from The Pampered Chef to make the big ball, and baked the rest of the batter in a cupcake stone from The Pampered Chef. After all was decorated and the party was about to start, I thought of another idea. I could have made the big cake into a baseball mitt and the cupcakes as baseballs. That would have been cute! I will try that for the next baseball party!

Then my 6 year old chose a Transformer theme party. I made him an autobot cake. I actually was pretty excited about the way this one turned out. I didn't leave myself with enough time to do any extra decorating. But he was happy with it.

I found some great ideas at Family Fun and Coolest Birthday Cakes. I am happy to brainstorm ideas. I LOVE to plan parties! Contact me or leave me a comment if you are in need of ideas.

i-slice giveaway winner

2009-06-28T00:04:00.004-06:00

Okay, I actually stayed up (blogging on our family blog and posting about puppies!), just so I could do the random.org selection for the i-slice winner. And here it is:

True Random Number Generator Result: 4 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

So comment #4 was:

Kary B ID said...
Hey! I want to get in on this. I think I will order from She Saved too! Thanks!
June 25, 2009 8:43 PM

Kary from Idaho? Contact me through my contact submission at the bottom of the page, or leave a comment. Get me your info, or if you did order, I will add it to your order! Thanks for checking me out!

This was fun. Check back in July, I've got another idea for a giveaway! Thanks to everyone who came to the blog, and advertised my blog, and checked out She Saved and Franny Frugal. Don't forget to check back (at all three sites) for more deals and giveaways!

Nothing to do with the Kitchen

2009-06-27T23:10:00.004-06:00

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with cooking. But I am going to share, because it is exciting, and it will be consuming my family for the next 6-8 weeks. Our Chocolate Labrador had puppies two days ago. 7 female chocolate labs. We are so happy. This was planned. We mated her with our male chocolate lab. We are selling the puppies. Check out Chocolate Labradors for more info on our puppies.

Leftover night

2009-06-27T08:03:00.006-06:00

So a lot of Fridays become "leftover night" at our house. After cooking a weeks worth of meals, and not finishing ALL of it every night, our refrigerator becomes full and needs to be cleared out. So we have leftover night. This got me to thinking about the yummy stuff I have been cooking, but didn't bother to blog about! So here it is, our last weeks menu, perhaps could become your menu this week!

Sunday- In-laws for a Father's Day BBQ (my sis-in-law made DELICIOUS Strawberry Pies- I will have to get the recipe)

Monday- Baja Chipotle Chicken Salad with homemade tortilla bowls.

Tuesday- Homemade Pizza ( I love the recipe for pizza dough in the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook or The Pampered Chef's Pizza Crust Mix)

Wednesday- Cheesy Chicken and broccoli over rice

Thursday- Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

Friday- Left Overs!

Saturday- Sloppy Joes

Sunday- Beef Fajitas

We really enjoyed our meals, so far, this week. May you be inspired to enjoy some too!

i-slice giveaway

2009-06-22T19:40:00.003-06:00

With the help of my blogging friends I am offering a GIVEAWAY. I am giving away ONE i-slice, to the readers of my blog. You can win by leaving me comments on this post. You get one entry just for visiting. You can receive an entry for checking out Franny Frugal and/or She Saved (great money saving tips!), come back and tell me you were there, and what you liked about their blog (possible two entries)! Subscribe to my blog feed (look to your left, it's there!), and leave me a comment, for another entry. This is open for the rest of the week. Midnight on Saturday June 27th I will use random.org to select a winner. Good Luck! And happy coupon clipping!

Couponing

2009-06-22T08:36:00.005-06:00

Okay, so I have another obsession in life. But this obsession actually saves me money! I have become a coupon clipper. I never fully understood the meaning of this, until a friend of mine explained how to make coupons REALLY save you money. Check out Franny Frugal and She Saved. They have great tips for saving money, couponing, and other freebies! My other obsession (Pampered Chef), is actually contributing to my new money savvy ways. I use my "i-slice" to clip coupons quickly. And I use our $2/ serving recipes to save more money on food! Who would have thought? I get so excited when I see the ads and look through my coupons and see FREE or close to free deals! You should check it out!

Here's a recipe to get you started:

Mexican Chicken “Lasagna”Recipe

1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
2 cups (8 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1 medium onion (about 2/3 cup chopped)
1 can (28 oz) enchilada sauce
12 (6-in.) corn tortillas
3 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken
Additional chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional)

Chop cilantro with Chef's Knife. Place cream cheese in Classic Batter Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30-45 seconds or until very soft. Add cilantro and 1 1/2 cups of the Monterey Jack cheese; mix well using Small Mix ‘N Scraper®. Chop onion using Food Chopper; set aside. Spread 2/3 cup of the enchilada sauce over bottom of Deep Covered Baker. Pour remaining enchilada sauce into Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl; set aside.

To assemble lasagna, using Sauté Tongs, dip four tortillas into enchilada sauce in mixing bowl and arrange over sauce in baker overlapping as necessary. Scoop half of the cream cheese mixture over tortillas using Small Scoop; spread using Small Spreader. Top with 1 cup of the chicken and one-third of the onion. Repeat layers one time. Dip remaining four tortillas into sauce and arrange over second layer. Top with remaining chicken and onion. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over lasagna and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese.

Microwave, covered, on HIGH 12-15 minutes or until center is hot. Let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with additional chopped cilantro. Cut into squares using Utility Knife; serve using Mini-Serving Spatula.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 390, Total Fat 22 g, Saturated Fat 10 g, Cholesterol 105 mg, Carbohydrate 25 g, Protein 26 g, Sodium 710 mg, Fiber 2 g

Cook's Tip: This recipe can be assembled up to one night in advance. Prepare through Step 2; cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve, let baker stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Microwave, covered, on HIGH 21-23 minutes or until hot. Proceed as recipe directs.

Spicy enchilada sauce can be used for more kick.

Shopping List
1 small bunch fresh cilantro leaves

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese

2 cups (8 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 medium onion

1 can (28 oz) enchilada sauce

12 (6-in.) corn tortillas
3 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken

Additional chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional)

Back in the Kitchen

2009-06-19T20:18:00.002-06:00

Sorry I disappeared for a while. I had some "technical" difficulties with... life? blogging? business? Don't ask! But I am back. I will try to catch you up on some things. And hopefully do a lot more posting.

So I last left you with some menu ideas. We LOVED the Sweat & Saucey Meatballs. I might have to make those again. Where did I find that recipe? I will post it when I find it. My boys LOVE the Cheesy Tortellini Bake. This is the second time I made this. It is easy and yummy.

Here is that recipe:

Pasta
1/2 C chopped onion
1 tsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 jar (16 oz.) white Alfredo pasta sauce
2 pkgs. (9oz.ea.) refrigerated cheese-filled regular or spinach tortellini
1 1/2 C cubed cooked chicken
1 C milk
1 C water
1 C frozen peas
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves

Crumb topping
1/4 C (1 oz.) grated fresh paremesan cheese
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1 C fresh bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400F. For pasta mixture, chop onion using Food Chopper. In 4-qt. Casserole, heat oil over med-hi heat; add onion and garlic, pressed with Garlic Press. Cook and stir 2-3 min. or until onion is tender. Stir in pasta sauce, tortellini, chicken, milk, water, peas and pepper. Heat until mixture just come to a boil; remove from heart. Stir basil into mixture.

2. Meanwhile, for crumb topping, grate Parmesan cheese using Deluxe Cheese Grater. Place butter in Small Micro-Cooker; micorwave on hi 30-45 sec. or until melted. Stir in bread crumbs and cheese; mix well.

3. Spoon pasta mixture into Square Baker; sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake 15-20 min. or until edges are bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Tips: Do NOT substitute refrigerated Alfredo sauce for Alfredo sauce in a jar; it may separate and curdle during baking.

Menu Plan Monday

2009-05-12T13:56:00.005-06:00

Here's the menu plan for our house for 8 days. Leave me a comment or click on the link at the right if you would like these recipes.

Sweet & Saucy Meatballs
Oven BBQ Chili
Italian Meat Loaf
Chicken & Asparagus Risotto Skillet
Creamy Spinach Ravioli
Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake
Chiles Rellenos Chicken
Tater-topped Casserole (Beef variation)

Sunday Savings

2009-05-12T13:01:00.002-06:00

I am a little late with these posts! SORRY!!! I just had a STEAL of a DEAL at Albertsons! With the help of Coupons.com, Kraft Foods, and She Saved.... I bought $121.59 worth of groceries for only $37.35! WOW!!! Realize, I don't think that it was REALLY a $84.24 savings, like Albertsons does. I think Albertsons original price is more than most stores prices. But it was still a HUGE savings! I just have to itemize what I received FREE and at a discount-

Wild Harvest Pasta Sauce FREE
Wild Harvest Pasta FREE
Kraft BBQ Sauce (5 bottles) FREE
Kraft Miracle Whip FREE
Capri Sun Sunrise(10 pouches) FREE
A1 Steak Sauce FREE
Kraft Ranch Dressing (2 bottles) FREE

Kraft Cucumber Ranch Dressing $1
Capri Sun Sunrise (10pouches) $1.49
Yoplait Yogurt $0.40/ ea.
BAR S Franks Bun Length $0.65/pkg.
Boneless/skinless Chicken Breast $1.99/lb.
Tip Roast $1.99/lb.

Hooray for me. I always feel so good about myself when I get these deals! I can save my family so much money and stock our pantry. Check out more deals at Fred Meyer this week. They are having a "Founder's Day" Sale. There are some good deals too! Here's what I'm looking at:

Pepsi 12 packs 4/$9 ($2.25/ pack)
Fresh Express Salad 2/$1
Kellogg's Cereal 3/$5 plus coupons here
Tillamook Yogurt 10/$4
Hunt's Pasta Sauce $0.69
Fuji Apples $0.69/lb.

Not a kitchen tool...

2009-05-08T13:34:00.002-06:00

But it is still a cool tool! I have REALLY gotten into couponing, finding FREE and discounted ways to buy things. A couple friends have blogs about these kinds of things. I LOVE to follow them. Here is a deal I have to share- JVC BlogHer Sweepstakes- This is great for anyone who blogs! Check it out, you could win a FREE camcorder!

Easter Cake

2009-04-16T11:13:00.008-06:00

I made an Easter Egg Cake for Easter Dinner/ Dessert. It was so easy! Which was the point. I debated weather or not to do a bunny or some cupcakes. But this was truly the easiest. I didn't decorate it with all the cute stripes and dots I wanted to. I didn't make enough icing, and I ran out of time. So... here's what I did. I mixed up a box of cake mix ( I used yellow butter). I poured it into the Classic Batter Bowl, and I baked it at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. It was a little darker on top than I would have liked, but it was done in the middle. I let it cool, in the bowl, on the Stackable Cooling Rack for 15 minutes. Then I released it from the bowl (which had been generously greased), and let it finish cooling in the freezer. When it was cool, I cut it in half vertically. Then layed it big ends together and frosted. Now that I think about it I could have baked smaller eggs in the prep bowls.

That would have been cute! Maybe next year! I colored some flaked coconut green and put it around the sides of the egg as Easter grass, and added some Easter sprinkles to the egg. This is where I would have taken the time to decorate cute lines or dots with other colors, but didn't. What did you do for Easter dinner or dessert? I would love to hear! Leave me a comment.

April Fool's Day!

2009-04-01T21:06:00.006-06:00

You know I have to celebrate with Food! I found some fun April Fool's Day recipes and pranks at Family Fun. We had Strawberry Soda, Italian Cheesecake, and Mini Hamburgers for our April Fool's Dinner.

The Strawberry Soda was Strawberry Jell-O poored into four separate "clear" plastic cups, with straws, then set. It was hilarious! As soon as the prayer was said, both boys started drinking. They couldn't get anything to come up! It was fun. They added a dollop of Whipped Topping and ate it with a spoon. They were so sure I was treating them to Soda Pop for dinner! FUN!

The Italian Cheesecake was "spaghetti pie" The recipe I used actually called it Spaghetti Torte.

Here's the recipe:

Bet you've never had spaghetti like this before! It looks like a fancy torte, but it's still the same pasta, sauce and cheese combo that the whole family loves.
What you'll need:
· A large spring form pan, generously greased
· Your favorite pasta sauce
· A pound of pasta
· Mozzarella or provolone cheese
· Ricotta cheese or more pasta sauce for "frosting"
Toss your favorite pasta sauce with about a pound of cooked pasta.
Gently fold a couple of beaten eggs into the pasta mixture, and then spread half of this mixture into the well-greased spring form pan.
Sprinkle the pasta with shredded provolone or mozzarella cheese, and then cover the cheese with the remaining pasta mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
Allow your spaghetti "cake" to rest for about 15 minutes before un-molding it from the spring form pan. "Frost" this tasty cake with ricotta cheese or drizzle it with more pasta sauce just before serving.

Mine probably doesn't look as much like dessert as it should. But it tasted good. Except for the ricotta cheese frosting. It was cold compared to the spaghetti, since it didn't bake. I don't know how it would look if you baked it? I wonder what smaller pasta would look like?

And the other fun recipe was Mini Hamburgers.

Ingredients:
4 drops green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon water
1/4 cup flaked coconut
48 vanilla wafers
24 chocolate covered thin mints
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Red and Yellow Frosting

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, combine food coloring with a few drops of water. Add coconut and cover the container, shake until coconut is tinted. Set aside.
3. Place 1/2 of the vanilla wafers, flat side up, in an un-greased cookie sheet. Top each wafer with a peppermint patty. Place in the oven about 1 minute or just until chocolate begins to soften.
4. Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle each mint with 1/2 teaspoon coconut (for lettuce). On the "top" bun add a little red and yellow frosting for ketchup and mustard. Place this wafer on top and press gentle. With a clean paint brush, brush the top of each hamburger with just enough water to moisten so that the sesame seeds will stick when sprinkled on top of each cookie.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Cat In The Hat Cupcakes

2009-03-03T19:02:00.007-07:00

In honor of Dr. Seuss's Birthday we made Cat in the Hat cupcakes. There are a few things I would do differently, if I were to do this again.

We doubled two "Funfetti" cake mixes. I figured we needed 23 + 21 cupcakes (for both classes). So... for 45 cupcakes two cake mixes should have done the trick. Because I was mixing two cake mixes at the same time, I didn't use my electric mixer. I was worried it was too small. So I pulled out my Pampered Chef 8-qt. Stainless Mixing Bowl. Which was a perfect size. But it didn't whisk as well by hand. So we only got 42 cupcakes. 6 less than I thought! I baked them in my Stoneware Muffin Pan and I used the Large Scoop to divide the batter into each cup. After baking I cooled them on the Stackable Cooling Racks.

For the frosting I bought the Betty Crocker tubs for $1. Then I whipped them with the electric mixer. They went A LOT farther!!! That is probably the best tip for ANY cake/ frosting helps. Whether it is homemade or store bought. Whip the frosting for a while. It will be fluffy, easy to work with, and frost so much more! I colored some of it red. That is always a trick. I wanted red not pink, or dark pink. Use the Wilton coloring. It doesn't take as much. The gels are a lot less messy than the grocery store liquids. And then let it sit for a little while. After the color has had time to saturate the frosting, it will become darker.

I used graham crackers for the hats. I did red and white stripes then cut the large pieces into their perforated 4 pieces. Then cut them in half. I couldn't find black licorice rope, so we used "Red Vines- Super Straws". I bought Red Hots for the noses, and decided that was enough for the eyes too. I wouldn't be so cheap next time. I would buy mini M&Ms for the eyes.

I got my idea for this cupcake from "Hello, Cupcake!" and Wilton's- "Cupcake Fun!" I combined Uncle Sam and The Cat. Next time I would add cat ears- I would use dark melting chocolate, do they make black melting chips? And a red bow tie with red melting chips, or maybe white chocolate and red food coloring? Would the chocolate clump with food coloring? If I do it again, I'll let you know.

Our Valentine's Day

2009-02-23T12:42:00.005-07:00

I forgot to take pictures of everything we made for Valentine's Day! Sorry... But out menu was:

Breakfast we had Belgium Waffles- I made regular batter- could have added some red food coloring, but ran out and forgot to buy more- I used red frosting to pipe a heart and filled it in with whipped topping and valentine sprinkles. We had Strawberry Milk with our breakfast.

Lunch was fun, we ate BLT (Because Love is Today) sandwiches. I cut out parchment paper hearts and stuck them to the bread (with butter) before grilling. But they grilled through the parchment. Just not as much. So you could see a faint sign of a heart on the bread. And we had chocolate fondue. We dipped Graham Crackers, Pretzels, Banana Chunks, and Orange Wedges. We drank LOVE POTION.

After Dinner I remembered to take photos. We had a "nice" dinner. We had cheese fondue: I used 8 oz. Brie (no rind) and 8 oz. swiss. I added 1/2 cup chicken broth and 2 Tbsp. flour. This was an okay consistency, but it didn't stick to all the food we dipped. We dipped Lemon Pepper Chicken, Lemon butter Crab, Pretzels, and Broccoli. We have fun with Fondue. But we don't do it very often. I think we like the Cheddar Fondues better. I enjoy brie, but I like it better baked. We drank Sparkling Cider and had a candle lit dinner. For dessert we savored a Chocolate Velvet Cake with Strawberries.

Chocolate Velvet Cake with Strawberries

Cake
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1/2 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 pkg (18.25 oz) devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
3/4 cup water
1 jar (12 oz) seedless strawberry jam, divided

Glaze & Garnish
1/3 cup melted vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 qt. fresh strawberries, divided
Additional ice cream (optional)

Brush Stoneware Fluted Pan with 1 tbsp of the oil. For cake, combine chocolate morsels and remaining 1/4 cup oil in Small Batter Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, whisking after 30 seconds. In Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, water, 1/2 cup of the jam and chocolate mixture; whisk until well blended. Pour batter into pan.
Microwave cake on HIGH 9-12 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove cake from microwave. Center Simple Additions® Large Round Platter over pan and carefully invert. Without removing pan, cool 10 minutes. Remove pan.
For glaze, combine ice cream and chocolate morsels in Small Micro-Cooker®. Microwave on HIGH 20-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, stirring after each 20-second interval.
Place remaining jam into Prep Bowl and microwave on HIGH 30 seconds or until melted; brush evenly over cake, using Silicone Basting Brush. Dip 16 of the strawberries into glaze; arrange around bottom edge of cake. Drizzle top of cake with remaining glaze. Slice remaining strawberries using Egg Slicer Plus®; place into center well of cake. Serve with additional ice cream, if desired.
Yield: 16 servings
Nutrients per serving: Calories 360, Total Fat 14 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 45 mg, Carbohydrate 57 g, Protein 5 g, Sodium 290 mg, Fiber 1 g

Cook's Tip: For best results, bake this cake in a 1000-watt microwave with a built-in turntable. This cake can be baked in a conventional oven, if desired. Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes.

We REALLY enjoyed our food filled Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Recipe

2009-02-04T13:04:00.007-07:00

Chocolate recipes are GREAT! You can make the Warm Nutty Caramel Brownies and Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Trifle.

Chocolate-raspberry ganache, white chocolate mousse filling and vanilla wafers taste delicious and create a festive look that makes this trifle great for any occasion.

1 cup milk
1 package (3.3 ounces) white chocolate instant pudding and pie filling
1 container (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
1 box (12 ounces) vanilla wafers, divided
1 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 jar (12 ounces) seedless raspberry jam, divided
1 bag (12 ounces) frozen sweetened raspberries (not in syrup), thawed

For filling, in Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, combine milk and pudding mix; whisk until pudding mixture begins to thicken. Reserve ½ cup of the whipped topping in Measure-All® Cup. Gently fold remaining whipped topping into pudding mixture. Cover and refrigerate.

For ganache, combine chocolate morsels, reserved whipped topping and half of the jam in Small Batter Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 40-60 seconds or until melted, stirring after each 20-second interval. Stir until smooth. Reserve ¼ cup in Prep Bowl for garnish.

Place remaining jam into another Prep Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until melted. Place berries into Classic Batter Bowl. Pour jam over berries; stir gently. Set aside 16 cookies for garnish; break remaining cookies in half.

To assemble trifle, place one-third of the broken cookies into bottom of Trifle Bowl. Layer one-third of the raspberry mixture evenly over cookies. Top with one-third of the pudding mixture and one-third of the ganache. (See Cook’s Tip.) Repeat layers two more times, finishing with a smooth layer of ganache. Dip reserved whole cookies halfway into reserved ganache; place into top of trifle.

Yield: 16 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 330, Total Fat 13 g, Saturated Fat 7 g, Cholesterol 5 mg, Carbohydrate 52 g, Protein 2 g, Sodium 180 mg, Fiber less than 1 g

Cook’s Tip: To easily top cream layers with ganache, place large resealable plastic bag into (2-cup) Easy Read Measuring Cup. Pour ganache into corner of bag. Twist top of bag; secure with Twixit! Clip. Cut tip off corner of bag to allow ganache to flow through.

Freezer Meals

2009-01-14T08:23:00.008-07:00

These are really good recipes, they are restaraunt style dinners. Last night I made Dijon Chicken Noodle Toss. The combination of ingredients isn't exactly what I would have made, but it tasted GREAT!! I started making it at 5:45, and was done by 6:05! How cool, 20 minutes! And my boys ate it without complaining! Jeff didn't complain, but he didn't eat much either. But... There's enough for leftovers another night! Even better. Two nights of dinner for only 20 minutes of work. My kind of cooking.

Tonight I am going to try Zesty Beef Tacos. I am sure they will be fast, easy, and yummy! And... Let's see the ingredients and cost:

Chicken: $2, Crm. Chkn. Soup: $0.94, Sour Cream: $0.66, Ham: $0.70, Rotini: $1.12, Total Cost: $5.42; Servings: 8 That's only $1.47 per serving! Add some fruit and a glass of milk and you have a complete meal! WOW!!! Okay, let's try the tacos now-

Ground Beef: $1.98, Salsa: $1.50, Tomato Paste: $0.53, Taco Seasoning: $0.42, Taco Shells: $1.90, Toppings-Cheese, Lettuce, tomatoes: $3; Total Cost: $9.33; Servings: 6; That's only $1.55 per serving. Add some orange wedges with a yogurt dressing and a glass of milk. You have a complete meal! WOW Again!!! I LOVE THIS!

Torte

2009-01-12T08:22:00.006-07:00

Again, I have been cooking, but not posting. Terrible! I haven't been taking pictures of any of my creations either! I can't believe me! There are three things that were exciting for me... The Ward Christmas Party Salad, Cherry Chocolate Christmas Torte, and Pumpkin Spice Torte. All were VERY easy!!!

Somehow I was included in the group that planned the meal for the ward Christmas party. It was not on purpose! And then I was put in charge of the salad (along with a few other things). But we wanted a sophisticated salad. Not just greens and ranch dressing. Well, I figured it would be fancy to add fruit and nuts. So I did! And I LOVE poppy seed dressing! And there were the makings of a salad. I had the recipe for Strawberry Spinach Salad and improvised for a winter/ budget friendly/ large crowd version.

Romaine Greens
Red Onions
Canned Mandarin oranges
Raw cashews
Brianna's Poppy seed Dressing (not so budget friendly, but easier for a large crowd and REALLY yummy! I bought it at WinCo, but I've seen it at Albertson's and Wal-Mart too.)
The Homemade Poppy seed Dressing Recipe is Here.

I made the Cherry Chocolate Torte for Christmas dinner at my in-laws. Again an improvisation of another Pampered Chef recipe. I am LOVING The Pampered Chef Torte Pans. You can make a cake mix, add a filling and a frosting and you have an amazing dessert! I LOVE IT! Anyway... The Cherry Chocolate Torte was:
chocolate cake mix
Cherry pie filling
and I melted some white chocolate chips and drizzled it over the top.

The Pumpkin Spice Torte was for a potluck dinner hosted by Jeff's work. Yah, his work party was potluck. Sign of the economy. But I dazzled with a GREAT dessert.
Spice Cake mix
I mixed Cream Cheese, Cool Whip, and pureed pumpkin together for the filling.
Topped it with Cream Cheese Frosting (from a tub). And put some dollops of the leftover filling on top with my Easy Accent Decorator. Fun!
It was yummy. EVERYONE loved it! I would change the filling for next time. I think I would mix the pumpkin with either vanilla or cheesecake pudding mix. It would be a little sweeter.

So... there you go. I wish I had taken photos. The Torte's looked professional. I am sorry I am bragging. But I love it when I make something that looks amazing, and I get a lot of compliments, and I didn't have to slave for too long. I love not making ordinary things.

I have been cooking A LOT

2008-12-03T08:42:00.012-07:00

I just haven't bothered to write about it! I can't believe I have let myself get so busy! Between Pampered Chef and Thanksgiving and going into Christmas, I haven't been so good about blogging! So here's what I've done this past month:

I LOVE OAMC. I will have to do a whole month's worth of posts on this! I could probably start a whole blog for Freezer Meals! I KNOW they are good for the budget, make dinner easier, and yummy! So... Pampered Chef has "Power Cooking" which is prepared chicken or ground beef dinners for the freezer. I am really excited to do these for shows. They are around $2/ serving. I made Chicken Stir Fry, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Beef Chili, BBQ Beef Sloppy Joes. We LOVED them!

I also tried Taffy Apple Tartlets and Peppermint Fudge Cookie Sanwiches for Thanksgiving (my father-in-law did the pumpkin pie). They were YUMMY! I LOVE to try new recipes!

For Ashton's class party we made Turkey Cupcakes. I really enjoy the recipes from Family Fun!

We also made Mashed Potatoes and Jello Salad to take to Thanksgiving Dinner. And at home I made our family homemade rolls and roasted a Turkey. We LOVE Turkey leftovers! My sister-in-law and I like to use the Stoneware Muffin Pan for the rolls. They keep their shape, don't stick, and bake PERFECTLY!

Zucchini and Cream Sauce

2008-11-04T13:02:00.010-07:00

We grew A LOT of Zucchinis this year. When they grow, they grow... I juiced some of them, and froze the juice, I shredded and froze some of them, we ate some fresh, and are still working on one. Jeff HATES Zucchini and I figured I should be creative. So I looked up Zucchini recipes on line. I tried this recipe last night, it has the BEST sauce!

Chicken and Zucchini With Garlic Cream Sauce

Ingredients:
· 1/4 cup butter
· 3 whole chicken breasts, halved
· 3 cups zucchini, sliced 1/8-inch thick
· 1/2 cup diced green onions
· .
· Garlic Cream:
· 2 tablespoons butter
· 1 large clove garlic, minced
· 3 tablespoons flour
· 1 (3 oz) package of cream cheese
· 1 can chicken broth
· 1/2 tsp. pepper

Preparation:
Chicken:In skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter; add chicken breasts. Cook, turning once, until chicken is browned and fork tender. Add zucchini and onions. Continue cooking, stirring until zucchini is crisp-tender.

Garlic Cream Sauce:In 2 quart saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter; add garlic. Cook for 1 minute, then stir in flour and cook until smooth and bubbly. Add remaining ingredients and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until sauce is smooth and thickened. This is pretty served on a bed of rice - layer the zucchini and then the chicken breasts on top then pour sauce over each chicken breast.

From Colleen Haass

I sliced the zucchini on my Ultimate Mandoline. I LOVE the way it slices! The zucchini were thin and no one had to "choke" them down.

The zucchini and green onions were from our garden.

I crushed the garlic with the Garlic Press. Again I LOVE it! I used to never use fresh garlic. But it is so much better for you! And easy with this!

I used the Stainless/Silicone Sauce Whisk to stir the sauce. This was the perfect tool for the job! I admit I don't do a lot of sauces, but this was great! My sauce was smooth, bubbly, and thick, at all the right times.

This sauce was so good. It was GREAT with the zucchini. My boys actually ate their dinner! Jeff ate some of the zucchini (when it scooped up with chicken, on accident!). Next time I am going to add mushrooms and put it over linguine noodles! I think this sauce would be great for rice, pasta, peas, broccoli, chicken, pork, and shrimp. It was so good! I will definitely be trying these ideas!

Mummies for Dinner

2008-10-30T08:07:00.018-06:00

I LOVE to do fun and spooky recipes for our family Halloween Dinner. This year was a little different. Due to scheduling conflicts we had our Family Halloween Dinner a couple nights early. It was also different because I wasn't feeling great the day of, so we had the food, but not the excitement leading up to it, and no spooky table decor. The boys were a BIG help! So, simple as it was, here was our menu:

Mummy Pizzas

Mummy Toes and Fingers

Mummy Guts and Teeth

I Love to get recipes from Family Fun. They have great ideas for kid crafts, costumes, decorations, and recipes. Check it out!

So here are the recipes I used. I did change each of them, just slightly.

Mummy Finger and Toes
Recipe Ingredients:

Cocktail wieners

2 pkgs. Refrigerated Crescent Rolls

Ketchup or mustard

Directions
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Roll out crescent dough, but don't separate it into triangles, keep them in rectangles (4 rectangles per package). Pinch seams together. Cut them into 3/4 inch wide strips.

3. Roll each wiener in a dough strip.

4. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes.

I didn't do this, but should have- Before baking, cut a wedge into the end of each cocktail wiener to make a toenail. After baking, fill the toenail with ketchup or mustard.

When I got to the last rectangle of dough I had more wieners than dough. So I actually cut the dough in half, and made smaller rolls. I think this actually looked better. They weren't so fat when they baked. But... then you would have more dough than toes...? Just a side note.

I used The Pampered Chef Cutting Board to measure and the Pizza Cutter to cut the dough strips. I baked them on a flat stone, of course.

Mummy Pizzas
Ingredients:

English muffins
Pizza sauce
Black olives
Scallions
Red or green pepper
Cheese

Step 1 Heat the oven to 350° F. For each mummy, spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half of an English muffin (toast it first, if you like).

Step 2 Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils. ( I didn't do this)

Step 3 Lay strips of cheese across the muffin for the mummy's wrappings.

Step 4 Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty.

I used the Small Scoop to scoop and spread the sauce. I grated some Parmesan Cheese over the sauce using the Rotary Grater, and added some Canadian bacon. Then continued with the face. For the cheese I used the Cheese Knife to cut it into strips. The recipe also said you could use string cheese and just peel it apart. We used the Egg Slicer Plus to slice the olives. And baked it on the new Round Stone .

I can't find where I got the drink recipe from, but I did my own version anyway.

Mummy Guts and Teeth

Ingredients:

Apple Juice or Cider

Apple- Peeled, cored, sliced, and cut

Seedless Grapes- cut in half

In a punch bowl, combine the Apple Juice, cut up apple and grapes. Add ice, if desired.

The apples should look like teeth and the grapes like eyeballs, we said guts, since our pizzas had olive eyes.

I used the Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer to prepare the apple. Then cut it into wedges for the teeth. I used the peel of the apple to drape in and out of the bowl. Cool huh? I thought I was clever!

I used the Trifle Bowl for the punch bowl. Since it is clear you can see all the "goods".

CHOCOLATE!!!

2008-10-25T21:55:00.013-06:00

OMG!!!! We just made one of the BEST desserts I've ever tasted!! It is the Peanut Butter Cup Torte. I always enjoy trying the new recipes. My family enjoys it too!

IF you are a chocolate and Peanut Butter Lover or Chocolate and Caramel, you will definitely LOVE these recipes. If not, you will like it after trying these!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte
The classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate comes together for a decadent, over-the-top torte.

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray with flour
1 pkg (18-21 oz) traditional or chewy brownie mix
3 eggs
½ cup plus 1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
¼ cup water
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
6 pkg (1.5 oz each) peanut butter cup candies
1 bag (10 oz) peanut butter morsels (12/3 cups)
2 cups mini marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray Torte Pans with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Place 8-in. circles of Parchment Paper over centers of pans; set aside. In Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, combine brownie mix, eggs, ½ cup of the oil, water and peanut butter; mix well. Divide batter between pans, spreading to edges. Bake 10-12 minutes or until centers feel firm to the touch.

2. Meanwhile, using Utility Knife, dice peanut butter cups; set aside. In Classic Batter Bowl, combine peanut butter morsels and remaining 1 tbsp oil; microwave on HIGH 1-2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring after each 30-second interval. Spoon ¼ cup of the peanut butter mixture into resealable plastic bag; set aside. Fold marshmallows into remaining peanut butter mixture.

3. Remove pans from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack; let brownies stand in pans 4 minutes. To assemble torte, invert one brownie well-side up onto Simple Additions® Large Round Platter. Using Classic Scraper, spread marshmallow filling into brownie well. Invert remaining brownie well-side up onto cooling rack; slide onto bottom layer. Evenly distribute diced peanut butter cups into brownie well. Trim corner of filled bag with Utility Knife to allow peanut butter mixture to flow through; drizzle over torte. Serve immediately.
Yield: 16 servings
Nutrients per serving: Calories 470, Total Fat 24 g, Saturated Fat 10 g, Cholesterol 40 mg, Carbohydrate 53 g, Protein 10 g, Sodium 250 mg, Fiber 2 g
©The Pampered Chef, Ltd., 2008

Warm Nutty Caramel Brownies

All nut topping, chocolate caramel candies and a chocolate drizzle top these decadent brownies with a hidden candy surprise.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided
1 package (18-21 ounces) brownie mix (plus ingredients to make cake-like brownies)
¾ cup packed brown sugar, divided
1 cup salted mixed nuts, divided
5 rolls (1.7 ounces each) milk chocolate-covered chewy caramels, divided (40 pieces total)
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly brush Large Bar Pan with oil using Chef’s Silicone Basting Brush. Chop 1½ cups of the chocolate morsels using Food Chopper. In Classic Batter Bowl, combine brownie mix, water, oil, eggs and ¼ cup of the brown sugar; mix well. Fold in chopped chocolate; pour batter into bar pan, spreading evenly using Small Mix ‘N Scraper®.

2. Chop nuts using Food Chopper. Combine half of the nuts and remaining ½ cup brown sugar; sprinkle evenly over brownie batter. Bake 20-22 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

3. Meanwhile, using Utility Knife, cut 16 caramels into quarters. Place remaining ½ cup chocolate morsels in Prep Bowl; microwave on HIGH 1 minute or until melted, stirring after each 20-second interval. Spoon melted chocolate into resealable plastic bag; set aside.

4. Remove bar pan from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack. Immediately press remaining 24 caramels evenly into brownie in four rows of six caramels each. Sprinkle quartered caramels and remaining nuts over brownies. Trim corner of chocolate-filled bag with Utility Knife; drizzle chocolate evenly over brownies. Cut into squares; serve warm using Mini-Serving Spatula. Serve with ice cream, if desired.
Yield: 24 servings
Nutrients per serving: Calories 310, Total Fat 16 g, Saturated Fat 3.5 g, Cholesterol 25 mg, Carbohydrate 38 g, Protein 2 g, Sodium 135 mg, Fiber less than 1 g
©The Pampered Chef, Ltd., 2007

Please excuse my terrible photography. This is how ours turned out. I loved that my son was able to help! This recipe was SO simple! I love it when my boys cook with me! We all have fun.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

2008-10-21T11:28:00.010-06:00

I read a blog about a Strawberry Spinach Salad and had to share my favorite recipe.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Dressing

1 lemon
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1/3 C sugar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. poppy seeds

Salad
1/4 C sliced natural almonds, toasted
8 oz. (1 1/2 C) strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced and cut in half
1/4 small red onion, sliced into thing wedges (1/4 C)
1 pkg. (6 oz.) baby spinach leaves

1. For dressing, zest lemon using Zester/Scorer to measure 1/2 teaspoon zest. Juice lemon using Juicer to measure 2 Tbsp. juice. Combine zest, juice, vinegar, sugar, oil and poppy seeds in Measure, Mix, & Pour. Blend; Cover; refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Preheat oven to 350 F. For salad, spread almonds in single layer over bottom of Small Bar Pan. Bake 10-12 min. or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven; cool almonds in bar pan.

3. Meanwhile hull strawberries using Core & More; cut strawberries into quarters.

4. Score cucumber using Zester/Scorer; remove seeds using The Corer. Using the Ultimate Mandoline fitted with v-shape blade, slice cucumber; cut slices in half. Slice onion into thin wedges.

5. Place spinach in Bamboo Bowl ; add strawberries, cucumber and onion. Stir dressing; pour over salad, gently tossing to coat using Bamboo Salad Tongs. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve immediately.

Yield: 10 servings

LOW FAT Nutrients per serving (1 cup): Calories 70, Total Fat 3 g, Saturated Fat 0 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Carbohydrate 10 g, protein 1 g, Sodium 15 mg, Fiber 1 g

Cook's Tips:
I like to use the Egg Slicer Plus to slice the strawberries instead of just quarter them.
You can sprinkle some brown sugar over the almonds to give them texture and a sweet taste. You can also put the almonds and Small Bar Pan in microwave for about 3min. to toast.
For thinner onion slices use the Ultimate Mandoline with the adjustable slicing blade.
We also carry Large Square Bowl or Dots Large Round Bowl, which are GREAT for salads too!

Homemade For The Holidays

2008-10-16T07:55:00.020-06:00

Once a month I get together with some other consultants to discuss business. We do some training from the home office, practice recipes, and give each other business tips. We enjoyed our meeting this week! I wanted to share with you what we practiced making. It was so fun, and will make a GREAT holiday show! These are fun things to do with kids, or hand out to neighbors, or have for a holiday party!

The first recipe we practiced was Candy Cane Brownie Lollipops. Here is picture of what mine looked like... be nice, the problem is more my lack of photography skills.

Here are some tips for Candy Cane Brownie Lollipops
• To keep the lollipops secure on their sticks, dip all of the brownie and
about ¼ inch of the candy cane into the melted bark.
• If desired, lollipop sticks or stick candies can be substituted for the
candy canes. For appearance sake, they look better if all the sticks are the same length.
• White almond bark can be substituted for the chocolate bark.
• From The Pampered Chef® Festive Holiday Desserts Recipe Collection.

The next recipe we tried was the Raspberry Mousse Cookie Nepoleans. I didn't get a picture of these.

Tips for Raspberry Mousse Cookie Napoleons
• The cookies will absorb moisture from the mousse, making
them soft and cakelike. These are three layers, so they are large. We had to eat them in sections. • You could use other flavors like strawberry, mint, or tangerines/ orange.

One of the consultants pre-made Peppermint Fudge Cookie Sandwiches for all of us to see and try. Sandwiching a creamy peppermint patty between warm brownie cookies creates an irresistible sweet treat.

I definitely had a fill of chocolate (and peppermint) that night! Boy was it delish!

I am so excited to do these recipes at a class or show!

Whole Wheat White Bread

2008-10-14T08:40:00.008-06:00

On Saturday I made Whole Wheat White Bread. I started it a little late, and because it was so cold, it took a while to rise. I actually fell asleep on the couch while it was baking, and let it bake an extra 15 minutes. It was in my stoneware loaf pan, so it didn't burn, of course!

Whole Wheat White Bread
from- Carolyn Hagerman

1 package yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup shortening (melted) or oil

3 cups sifted whole wheat flour
5 cups sifted all-purpose white flour

Soften yeast in 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees). Combine hot water, milk, sugar, salt, shortening or oil, cool to lukewarm. Stir in whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour, beat well. Stir in softened yeast. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Turn out on lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and satiny (10-12 minutes). Shape into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in warm place til double in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours). (You can hurry this rising a bit by placing bread in oven. Preheat oven to 200 degrees and then turn off and put bread in.) Punch down. Cut in 2 portions, shape each into a smooth ball. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Shape into loaves, place in greased bread pans. Let rise until double (1 1/4 hours). Bake in moderate oven 375 degrees about 45 minutes. Cover with foil the last 20 minutes if necessary. Makes 2 loaves. Great toasted.

My tips:

I used Prep Bowls to soften the yeast.

I mixed it in my Kitchen aide mixer with whisk attachment. After stirring in yeast I switched to dough hook attachment. I was able to add all the flour, and continue to knead with the dough hook, instead of by hand.

After putting in greased bowl, I microwaved for 15 seconds, turned the dough ball, then microwaved for another 15 seconds.

When in the loaf pans I used the warm oven to help it rise, it worked a lot faster.

I used the Stoneware Loaf Pan to bake the loaves of bread.

I think covering with foil for last 20 minutes is a good idea. If only I hadn't fallen asleep.

I will try this recipe again!