Category Archive: Recipes

May
14

Did You Grill for Mother’s Day? #GrillingIsHappiness #CBias

Categories:

May 14, 2012

I hope every single Mom out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Mother’s Day is the most important day of the year and I challenge anyone to argue with me on that one! I got to spend my Mother’s Day recreating some delicious recipes from my cooking idol, Sandra Lee. Seriously, my dirty little secret is how much I adore her. Michael says that I have fallen into the ‘housewife‘ stereotype because I DVR all of her shows and watch them when I get a free moment. You can just assume that all I do all day is watch cooking shows, eat bon bons and drink wine. :)

Michael and I simply live for yard work so we tidied up our patio by weeding the beds surrounding it. He was such a doll because he knew I was preparing a killer spread and wanted it to look nice for our very first outside dinner and grill event. Really… we have never grilled before so this is a big deal!

We love Sears and buy our large appliances from them so naturally we checked out their Simply Outdoors catalog when we decided to buy a grill. In one year we have purchased our refrigerator, water softener and now a grill from Sears! I love that you can buy online and pick it up for free at the store. I love that you can shop through Ebates to earn cash back. I love that there are always coupon codes and I love their Shop Your Way Rewards program! Every $1 you spend you get 10 points… talk about a no brainer.

The catalog was pretty amazing because it broke everything down into layman’s terms. It is so simple that you can click on the name and it will open that item up in a new window. I like simple!

After looking through the catalog we checked out the local ad and that is what got us to stumble upon this steal of a deal grill! It was $229 in the catalog, $170 online and $149.93 at our store! We were able to use a $15/100 coupon code since we bought it online and picked it up in store. SCORE! All of their patio furniture, decor and grills are on sale so I would recommend setting your preferred store to see what rockin’ finds are at your store! I do know that you can get $80 off Kenmore 4 burner gas grills and 20% off cushions and lawn furniture right now.

We did not take advantage of the free in store assembly, all throughout May, because we were on a time table when we picked up our grill. I had no idea that Sears offers a layaway, free in-store assembly and free delivery on orders of $499.99+!

Isn’t she beautiful?! I literally could not sleep because I was so excited to have our first grilling experience! Grilling always seemed like it was so easy compared to cooking in the house and I wanted to be inducted into the cool kid club!

Part of the fun of buying your first house is getting to make it your own. I fell in love with the green themed outdoor dishes that were at Sears so I decided to use that for my tablescape. I picked up some table decorating tips from Sandra and she says to create depth by using one color and multiple shades of that color. I think her mission in life is to make me a classy lady! HA!

Michael had so much fun grilling! He was secretly uber excited just like me because we love being outside! He was the Grillmaster and did a marvelous job, with the help of some pretty awesome grill accessories! Grilling is so stinkin’ easy! I did not have to clean nearly as much as I would have making this meal in the house and if you know me, I do not clean for the life of me!!

I decided to make a menu full of Sandra’s recipes so I started with her BBQ Roasted Potatoes with Sour Cream Sauce. SO GOOD!

I am not a sauce person but O-M-G was this like heaven on earth. Michael and I just kept Mmmhmm-ing the whole meal in conjunction with the approving head bobs.

For my vegetable I went with her Bacon-Wrapped Cheesey Corn. Bacon + cheese = LOVE! I didn’t know what she meant by a cheese sauce mix so I just melted some shredded cheese and mixed it with the mayonnaise. On a side note, the Kenmore grill accessory kit we bought came with corn cob holders!

For the main course I made her Garlic, Lemon and Herb Chicken. She uses legs but I only buy chicken breasts and it still turned out fabulous. This was just amazing and Michael went to town on it! He tried some of the potato sauce on it and approved!

I made a variation of her Jazz Fest drink recipe because the recipe she uses was going to knock me on my rump and then some! I tripled the juice and I still got buzzed off of half a glass! Holy cow was it a sneak attack! For fear of getting blitzed I made a Kool-Aid and sure enough, I made it green! I had no idea that they made a clear Kool-Aid that is watermelon flavored. I boiled 1 tablespoon of lime Jell-O to give it the green color.

Sandra even has a dessert recipe that you can make on the grill! I made her Grilled S’mores Cakes and they were good enough where I ate 2! What a simple concept that is low mess, easy and scrumptious! This meal looks like a million bucks but I promise you that I prepped it in no time. Low stress is the name of the game!

Just for all of you visual people here is a breakdown of everything I bought! I am not joking that there was a killer sale because I got a 4 pack of plates for $1.99! Please disregard my tongs and applecorer because those were I have to have these now items. I will fill you in on those amazingly helpful gadgets in another post. Things like this are another reason I love the Shop Your Way Rewards program! Everything is emailed to you and everything is electronic so it is easy to find. We are taking out points and buying a grill cover since that is one thing we forgot to pick up this shopping trip.

I know this was a total photo bomb post but this was a big deal in our household and you can see EVEN MORE photos in my Google+ album. We are grillers now. We have been shown the light of low maintenance cooking and clean up so there is no turning back. You have been warned…

Follow Sears:

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric”

Tags: #cbias, Grilling, Sandra Lee, Sears

5 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/05/14/did-you-grill-for-mothers-day-grillingishappiness-cbias/

May
12

Ocean Spray Cranberry Muffins #CBias #SocialFabric

Categories:

by Mallery

May 12, 2012

Today was my Multiple Sclerosis walk and I totally felt like a schmuck for not getting shirts made 2 years in a row but I just did not ~~have the time~~ make the time to do it! The next best thing to matching team shirts happens to be baked goods and I am pretty darn good at that! I like to call myself the not so perfect Betty Crocker but since these goodies were for more than just my Husband I figured I should follow an actual recipe. He is a garbage disposal so experimenting in my house is A-OK.

I went to Ocean Spray’s site and found a couple of recipes since I wanted to use some of the jellied cranberry sauce I had in my cupboard. I decided on the Red Ribbon Cranberry Coffeecake and Hearty Oatmeal Cranberry Muffins. Yum!

The ingredients for the oatmeal muffins are simple but the recipe threw me off because it said baking mix. What in the world is baking mix??? Thank goodness I have a family member who is a fabulous cook because she led me to the Bisquick and it worked!

I made a double batch because their recipe said it would only make 6 muffins. Actually, a double batch made 18 muffins so a single batch would have made 9 muffins. The part I was the most unsure of would have been the cranberry filling. I had no idea how much to put in because I wasn’t sure how strong the muffin would be. I played it safe and put a small layer in and I think it was perfect now that I have eaten them! I am not a big fruit filling type of person but I can tell you that these are great and such a nice little surprise!

These muffins are heavy and my girlfriend, Leann, said they were dense and filling from the oatmeal. That makes them a perfect breakfast muffin! Oh so good!

The coffee cake ingredients were just as easy. In fact, I was able to use 1 can of cranberry sauce for both of my recipes! Talk about fancy on the cheap! For some reason I associate fruit fillings with hard work but that is not the case at all.

This was a first time for me making a topping like this. You take butter, sugar and flour and press it together with a fork. Intimidating for a first timer! I promise that it is easier than it sounds! I took the topping and sprinkled it on top of my muffins before baking them.

If you read their recipe you will see that it is supposed to be a coffee cake and not muffins but I wanted muffins to take to my walk. If you want muffins then you can cook them for 20 minutes instead of what they say in their instructions for the coffee cake. These are delish!

Stay tuned for a recipe using these Craisins! I am going to be making some cookies but I figured 3 desserts in 1 day was a little overkill, since it would ruin my girlish figure.

Everyone that participated in my walk today ROCKED my socks off and really liked my Ocean Spray spread. I really believe in team spirit to give people a reason to participate outside of just the cause. Make it fun, make it yummy and make it memorable. I picked out Ocean Spray singles in all different flavors so my whole team, Carpe Diem, was hydrated and full. Mama Bear has to take care of her cubs!

If you want to see all of the products I found while shopping, you should check out my Google+ album! Make sure to check out the Ocean Spray Facebook page because there are usually coupons for their juices on the web. If you are a Twitter person check them out on their Twitter page!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric”

Tags: #cbias, Ocean Spray

4 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/05/12/ocean-spray-cranberry-muffins-cbias-socialfabric/

May
06

Make The Switch From Ice Cream to Healthy Cream #JennieOCFK #CBias

Categories:

by Mallery

May 6, 2012

It is time for another challenge and this time it is the #JennieOCFK challenge! My mission is to ‘Make The Switch‘ and show you how much money you can save just by thinking a little outside the box. I promise you are in for a treat and the pun was totally on purpose! I am going to show you how I traded ice cream for something way cheaper and so healthy it will make your head spin! (You can find the full recipe to print at the bottom of the post.)

If you have followed my recipes lately you know that this Silk Fruit&Protein made a delicious strawberry cake, some adorable mini fruit pizzas and some creative Rice Krispies treats! This time I am using it to add some additional flavor to my banana ice cream. I used 2 ingredients and they were things I already had on hand so it cost NOTHING! I want you to think about this for a minute. You are actually saving money because you are going to use those bananas that you would end up tossing because no one likes eating a mushy banana.

I have a huge tip for you and your frozen bananas that I wish I would have known before this project. The bananas are going to be freezing, freezer DUH, and they will be hard. Freezing them with the peel on is going to make life a little harder when it comes time to make your ice cream. Next time I will try freezing them without the peel and in an air tight container. I ended up having to cut them with a knife while holding them with a towel. Brr!

When they got to about this point I pushed the walls down and added 1/2 cup of the Silk Fruit&Protein. I added another 1/2 after I blended some more to get the creamy consistency. I just want to say that I love my food processor!

Look at that beautiful consistency! Doesn’t it just look yummy?! I used my spatula to scoop it all out, put it into a container and popped it back into the freezer to chill again. I wanted it to get colder but I also put it back in the freezer because I had to go change a poopy diaper.

Think about this: A container of ice cream usually retails for $3.99-$5.99 and you get 7 cups of ice cream. Don’t forget about all of the sugar and the fact that you just blew your diet! My recipe created 2 cups of ice cream out of 2 bananas and 1 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein!

That isn’t all guys! With the money we are saving by making healthy switches we are donating food to Motherly Intercession for this month’s SIMPLE Service Project with Champions for Kids! This is the fourth project I have worked with them on and I must say that they are a great group of people. Champions for Kids‘ mission is to mobilize MILLIONS of people to improve the lives of children in their communities. Flint has a lot of children who could use the help and I invite you to take a minute and think about how you are able to help, however big or small it might be. The size of your donation does not matter to a child in need.

Motherly Intercession has many programs for children of incarcerated parents to hopefully break the cycle of inter generational incarceration.

325 provides children, ages 3-5, with academic support to get them ready for the classroom.

B-FAD is a twice a month jail visitation program for children and their Mothers.

N-Touch teaches children about the laws and how their choices will impact their lives.

RACS is a bi-weekly program for children, ages 6-18, that offers tutoring services along with a healthy meal.

You can see my full shopping trip in my Google+ album!

Follow Everyone:

Make the Switch From Ice Cream to Healthy Cream #JennieOCFK #CBias

2 Cups

Make the Switch From Ice Cream to Healthy Cream #JennieOCFK #CBias

Ingredients

2 Bananas
1 Cup of Strawberry & Banana Silk Fruit&Protein

Instructions

Peel your bananas and put in an air tight container. (optional)
Freeze your bananas over night or longer.
Remove the peel on the bananas if you haven’t already.
Cut up your bananas and put them in your food processor.
Blend you bananas until mixing starts to slow a little.
Add 1/2 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein, push down the walls in your processor and continue to blend.
When the bananas start to break up more add another 1/2 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein.
Put your ice cream in a bowl and put in the freezer.
Enjoy!

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/05/06/make-the-switch-from-ice-cream-to-healthy-cream-jennieocfk-cbias/

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #JennieOCFK #CBias #SocialFabric”

Tags: #cbias, Champions for Kids

14 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/05/06/make-the-switch-from-ice-cream-to-healthy-cream-jennieocfk-cbias/

May
04

Guest Recipe: Cauliflower Cake

Categories:

by Mallery

May 4, 2012

Here is an unusual recipe that is sure to surprise most people you mention it to! Having made this myself at least a dozen times I can confirm it is delicious, fun to make, and lasts a fair while too. Have fun!

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower,
1 large red onion
50g olive oil
½ tsp finely chopped rosemary
6 large free-range eggs
20g chopped basil
180g plain/wholemeal flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground turmeric
220g grated parmesan, or other mature cheese
Black pepper
Melted butter/margarine, for greasing
2 tbsp black sesame seeds (or black onion seeds/plain sesame seeds

Also Required

24cm cake tin (with a loose base)
Baking parchment

How To Make

You will need to pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Whilst this is warming up there are a number of things you can be getting on with. For ease of creation here is a step by step guide:

Break up the cauliflower into florets and boil them in water (on a medium heat) for around 5-10 minutes, or until fairly soft. Once done, leave the segments to strain in a colander.
Now it is time to prepare the batter. Slice some rings off the end of the onion (this is for decoration purposes), and finely chop the rest. Chop up some rosemary. Add the oil to a pan and heat, adding the onions and rosemary and sauté for 5 minutes. Take this off the heat and leave to cool. Now crack the 6 eggs into the oil mix, along with the chopped basil. Whisk this as furiously as you dare until blended together.
Sift the flour, baking powder and turmeric into a large bowl. Add the cheese and plenty of black pepper. Now you can pour in the oil/egg mix. Stir all of this together thoroughly!
Add the cauliflower to the mix and stir once again to get it all nicely blended.
Add the baking parchment to the cake tin. Brush the sides with margarine/butter, and add the sesame seeds. Shift the tin around to coat the sides with the seeds.
Add the cauliflower mix into the tin, adding the onion rings on top for decoration.
Bake in the centre of your oven for around 45-50 minutes.
Remove from the oven and consume. It’s enjoyable when cold, but whilst warm it really is quite excellent.
Bask in the glory of a successful cooking experiment!
Watch TV.

Alex Morris isn’t a chef, but he is a writer and researcher for Office Kitten in Manchester where he writes and blogs about office stationery supplies and business related antics.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/05/04/guest-recipe-cauliflower-cake/

May
03

My Favorite Smoothie + Smoothie Deal

Categories:

by Mallery

May 3, 2012

Get a coupon for a sixteen size smoothie for only two bucks when you become a Jamba Insider! Jamba Juice isn’t my favorite peanut butter smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe but they are nice when I want a fruity fix for cheap!

My Favorite Ingredients:

Whey protein
Peanut Butter
Bananas
Yogurt

Smoothie Tip:

If you don’t want to use ice try freezing your bananas instead and using as many cold ingredients as possible!

What are your favorite smoothie combinations?

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/05/03/my-favorite-smoothie-smoothie-deal/

Apr
27

Make Popcorn Healthier for You #unjunkyourjunkfood

Categories:

by Mallery

April 27, 2012

We all look at the nutritional labels while grocery shopping because that is how we have been trained. Think about how often you look at the ingredients? I am sure if you have your ankle biter pulling on your arms and putting everything in your cart it is easy to get distracted and want to leave quickly! Grocery shopping solo… priceless!

Unjunk Your Junk Food was a huge eye opener for me because I typically shop by price and not by labels. I conducted a challenge after reading this book on popcorn. I like my popcorn to go easy on any butter and my Husband cakes it on like he is giving himself an IV full of buttery goodness. Going to the movies with him makes me nauseous from the amount of butter that he likes.

We are a big Orville Redenbacher’s household so I had his and hers popcorn in the cupboard for my taste test!

I popped my Natural popcorn according to the box and melted down 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in the microwave. It only took 30 seconds for the oil to melt down. This was my first time using coconut oil so I had no idea how this experiment would work! I love the Orville Redenbacher’s Natural line! I tried it once and pretty much said OK I will pay for this popcorn, but I digress.

I drizzled my oil on the kernels and gave it a taste! Hmmm.. I think this is going to be an acquired taste because you can tell it isn’t the artery clogging, death by butter flavor. I gave it a couple more snacks and decided I could see myself eating this. I still prefer the just plain old Simply Salted flavor but it wasn’t me who was judging this test, it was Michael.

Michael got home from the gym and ate his dinner like a good Husband. We had tacos and taco seasoning has MSG in it, ACK! One step at a time guys! There are homemade versions out there in the blogosphere that I will whip up next time. He eats his dinner and puts the baby to bed and finally notices the bowl of popcorn on the counter.

Husband: What’s this?
Wife: Popcorn.
Husband: I can see that but what did you do to it?
Wife: I made it healthier than butter popcorn while trying to make you like it.

Crunch, crunch, crunch as the wheels are turning in his head. I always find myself holding my breath waiting for the verdict. Then he speaks and starts to nod his head.

Husband: Not bad.
Wife: Really?!
Husband: Really. It wouldn’t be my first choice when I am craving buttery popcorn but it isn’t bad.
Wife: I am really surpised you didn’t hate it.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

I HIGHLY recommend buying Unjunk Your Junk Food because it has so many tips in it. I have multiple pages folded down and so many ideas that I want to try from this book. It goes through every junk food you might want to eat and shows you the bad one and why it is bad. Then it shows you the good one and why it is good. It is full of useful information, I promise!

I received this book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are 100% my own.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/27/make-popcorn-healthier-for-you-unjunkyourjunkfood/

Apr
19

Mango & Peach Rice Krispies Treats #SilkFruit #CBias

Categories:

by Mallery

April 19, 2012

Let me just tell you that this recipe took 3 tries, 2 trips to the store from my Husband and plenty of grief because this was the last recipe I was making in my marathon day of recipe creations! I love Rice Krispies and I swear I am on a mission to create every treat combination known to man. They are just so stinkin’ easy and everyone like these buggers.

So my thought process was to add flavoring to the treat using my #SilkFruit challenge ingredient. I picked the mango and peach flavor of Silk Fruit&Protein this time because it was the only flavor I hadn’t cooked with yet. Since this was just a stage 1 experiment I stuck with the basic ingredients. Next time I will chop up some mangoes and peaches to make the treats pretty and to add even more flavor. I have mentioned I am cookie vain but I am also dessert vain unless it is just for my Husband. He eats whatever I put in front of him.

Mango & Peach Rice Krispies Treats #SilkFruit #CBias

Ingredients

1/2 cup Silk Fruit&Protein mango peach
10 oz of Marshmallows
6 cups of Rice Krispies
3 tbls Butter
Vanilla frosting

Instructions

Melt the butter and mallows in a pan.
Once melted mix in the cereal.
After the cereal is all mixed in add 1/4 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein and mix.
Spread into a pan and cool without covering it.
Mix your vanilla frosting in with about 1/4 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein. Keep it about 25% Silk unless you want a stronger fruity flavor. This is going to be a personal preference.
Cut your treats and frost.
Enjoy!

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/19/mango-peach-rice-krispies-treats-silkfruit-cbias/

I already mentioned that this took 3 tries to figure this recipe out so I had to take a comparison picture to show you what I am talking about. The top treat is the first batch where I used 1 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein… epic fail. The bottom left is round 2 where I used 1/2 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein… not epic but still a fail. The bottom right corner is only using 1/4 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein. My tip for mixing everything together is add the Silk Fruit&Protein AFTER you have mixed in your cereal!

So this version of the recipe is not going to make you die hard Rice Krispies fans happy so I feel I must put a disclaimer here. They are going to have more of a gooey texture. If you are a texture person, like me, I would not try these out. If you are just looking for some delicious sugar treats, like my Husband, please proceed.

Per the request of Michael I put some frosting on these treats. To him frosting is like the go to dessert item and he actually used to get up in the middle of the night to eat it! So I mixed some of the Silk Fruit&Protein into the frosting. It is much easier to do this with room temperature frosting so keep that in mind. It doesn’t take a lot of the mango peach flavor to mix with the frosting. I probably did a 75% frosting mixture.

Michael just kept eating and eating theses treats until he finally got mad at me and said no more. He got mad at me for him eating all of the treats!? Silly man.

(For all of you photographers please disregard the terrible picture above. I was exhausted and got lazy because my kitchen was wrecked!)

Now for all of you people like me I do have something for you. I made the treats like you would normally without anything added into the pot. I mixed 2/3 cup of frosting with 1/3 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein in a bowl. This is going to make a very runny consistency that is perfect for a yummy drizzle! This is such a good way to add flavor because it is way easy!

I just put some in a spoon and drizzled about a teaspoon on the treats and I am very pleased. This way it gives me the texture I am looking for when I eat Rice Krispie treats and the flavor I was going for with the Silk Fruit&Protein. I would have to say this is a win for all of you treat scientists out there! PS: This was batch number 4, in case anyone is keeping track.

If you want another delicious #SilkFruit recipe I would check out my strawberry cake post or my mini fruit pizzas post! Make sure you check out my full shopping trip and even more pictures of the cooking process in my Google+ album.

Follow Silk:

Silk Site (make sure to print the $1 coupon!)
Twitter
Facebook

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are 100% my own.

Tags: #cbias, Silk Fruit&Protein

4 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/19/mango-peach-rice-krispies-treats-silkfruit-cbias/

Apr
18

Mini Fruit Pizzas #SilkFruit #CBias

Categories:

by Mallery

April 18, 2012

I had another inspiration during my #SilkFruit recipe challenge and this time I wanted to make fruit pizza. During my research I read that a lot of people recommended to use cookies or cut your crust prior to topping the crust for a better presentation. Some people used a pre-made cookie dough and some people made their own sugar cookies. To save time on my big experiment baking day I used store bought cookie dough.

The ingredients are simple and there are great store bought ways to speed the process up, like the dough and frozen fruit.

Mini Fruit Pizzas #SilkFruit #CBias

Ingredients

1 c of Silk Fruit&Protein Mixed Berry
Tub of Cool Whip
8oz Cream Cheese
Sugar Cookies
Mixed berries

Instructions

Bake your sugar cookies according to the recipe/package.
Mix 1 cup of Silk with the cream cheese and Cool Whip.
Chill the frosting mixture.
Frost the cookies.
Top with berries.
Enjoy!

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/18/mini-fruit-pizzas-silkfruit-cbias/

I baked my first batch just in the little squares that the pre-made dough comes in and they came out a little ugly. To make a prettier cookie I pressed them out a little bit with a glass. (I am cookie vain) You can wet the bottom of the glass to help with sticking. Just skip this step if you don’t care because you are frosting them anyways.

While my cookies baked I mixed 1 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein with my cream cheese and Cool Whip. After I mixed it I transferred it to a bowl and put it in the fridge so it would chill before frosting the cookies. I think the Silk added a great extra flavor to the pizzas. Think of it like a ‘secret ingredient’!

I highly recommend straining your fruit to get the juice out as much as possible. You can see in my picture I just placed it on top of the bowl while I frosted my pizzas.

Another recommendation would be to use a small amount of frosting instead of using a glop. It is easier to work with and you won’t end up with a messy cookie. It is all about presentation right?!

If you want another delicious #SilkFruit recipe I would check out my strawberry cake post! Make sure you check out my full shopping trip and even more pictures of the cooking process in my Google+ album.

Follow Silk:

Silk Site (make sure to print the $1 coupon!)
Twitter
Facebook

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are 100% my own.

Tags: #cbias, Silk Fruit&Protein

5 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/18/mini-fruit-pizzas-silkfruit-cbias/

Apr
17

Free Recipe eBooks From American Family

Categories:

by Mallery

April 17, 2012

I am pretty excited for this free slow cooker recipe eBook because I am a slow cooker type of gal! Michael will be happy if I find something new because he tends to get bored with the same meals over and over again.

There is a free cupcake eBook that I signed up for too because a girl can dream about having beautiful cupcakes right!? One day…

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/17/free-recipe-ebooks-from-american-family/

Apr
16

Healthier Strawberry Cake #SilkFruit #CBias

Categories:

by Mallery

April 16, 2012

Healthier strawberry cake sounds like an oxymoron right? There are ways to bump up the health value of a cake and still enjoy your cake. (Have your cake and eat it too?) Sorry, it is still early and my Husband is full of things like that.

We have a lot of diabetics in our family so when I was presented with a #SilkFruit recipe challenge. I immediately thought about the cake recipe we use for them because it removes some of the sugar so everyone can enjoy. The ingredient this time was Silk Fruit&Protein, challenge accepted! Please note that this is not a recipe for people like Michael. He likes the heavy frosting and full of sugar cakes. This is a light cake and is great if you want to indulge without feeling too terrible guilty. I promise it tastes great though!

Here are my ingredients for the cake recipe. I am sure there are homemade recipes for a cake batter that you could modify even more for less sugar but for time’s sake I just used some handy dandy Duncan Hines. I might be getting more ambitious in the kitchen but I am not to homemade cake batter just yet.

Healthier Strawberry Cake #SilkFruit #CBias

Ingredients

1c Silk Fruit&Protein Strawberry Banana
Duncan Hines white cake mix
3 Eggs
Water
Oil
Tub of Cool Whip
1 lb Strawberries

Instructions

Mix your cake mix according to the box.
Pour even amounts of batter into your round pans.
Bake according to box.
Mix 1/2 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein with Cool Whip and put in the fridge to chill.
Cut up your strawberries so they have flat sides.
Cool your cakes in the fridge for 1 hour.
Cut the domes off of the cakes with a serrated knife.
Poke the cakes with a fork and pour 1/4 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein on each layer.
Frost the bottom layer and stack the second layer on top.
Continue to frost the cake and put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Place the strawberries around the edge of the cake.
Enjoy!

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/16/healthier-strawberry-cake-silkfruit-cbias/

While the cakes were baking I mixed in 1/2 cup of Silk Fruit&Protein in Strawberry Banana with 1 tub of light Cool Whip. I transferred it to a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to chill until it was time to frost the cakes. The Silk Fruit&Protein is an easy way add flavor to pretty much any recipe and I know because I spent Sunday cooking all day with it!

I baked the cakes per the instructions right on the box. When they came out I put them in the refrigerator to cool for about an hour while I cut up the strawberries. I had read that it is easier to cut off the dome of a cake if you start with a chilled cake.

My cakes didn’t have too much of a dome but I wanted to even things out just a little. If you are worried about crumbs make sure you flip the cake over after you shave the top off.

After I flipped my cake I took a fork and poked a bunch of holes in it. I took 1/2 cup of Silk and poured it over each of the 2 layers of cake (1/4 cup each layer). It makes the cake really moist and enhances the flavor. You could get away with adding more and it would be even moister but that is a personal preference for you.

If I had to go back and do it again I would try and put a thicker layer of frosting in between the layers. I was worried about running out and that is just silly because I had leftovers. So don’t make the same mistake as me!

You can see that I didn’t do the best job making the cakes even but when all is said and done no one can tell. I guess it just depends on how much of a perfectionist you are. Keep in mind if you are using frosting you should flip that top layer crumbly side down so you don’t get crumbs in your frosting! For me it worked because Cool Whip is really light and easy to spread.

I used a spatula to frost the cake and once that was done I grabbed my strawberries from the fridge to place on the cake. You might want to put the cake in the fridge once you are done frosting to get it cold again but that would depend on the temperature of your house. Unless you have the most perfect strawberries you are going to have to play around with the sizes around the edge of your cake.

Make sure you check out my full shopping trip and even more pictures of the cooking process in my Google+ album.

Follow Silk:

Silk Site (make sure to print the $1 coupon!)
Twitter
Facebook

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are 100% my own.

Tags: #cbias, Silk Fruit&Protein

7 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/16/healthier-strawberry-cake-silkfruit-cbias/

Apr
07

Shrimp Scampi Bruschetta #EasterMeals

Categories:

Giveaways,
Recipes

by Mallery

April 7, 2012

We love seafood in our house and Michael is in love with shrimp. If someone has a shrimp plate at a party you better believe that he eats 80% of it and he especially goes crazy for jumbo shrimp. I made bruschetta for his birthday party but I didn’t think to make shrimp bruschetta. So I am taking the foundation of my previous bruschetta recipe and tweaking it to make a happy Husband!

Shrimp Bruschetta

Ingredients

1 Ecce Panis Ciabatta Bread
12 ounce box of Gorton’s Shrimp Scampi
5 Roma Tomatoes OR 3 Slicing Tomatoes
2 Garlic Cloves for mixture
Garlic Cloves for rubbing on the bread
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil for mixture
Additional Olive Oil for coating the bread
7 Fresh Basil Leaves OR 1 Tablespoon of Basil Seasoning

Instructions

Cut up tomatoes into tiny pieces.
Cut up Basil Leaves.
Mix 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil, Basil and Tomatoes together in a bowl.
Add the Garlic to the mixture.
Bake the bread according to the package.
Slice the bread ends off and continue slicing the rest.
Place the slices on a baking sheet and place pieces of garlic on top of the bread
Drizzle about 1/2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil for each slice.
Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes.
Prepare the shrimp according to the package
Add the cooked garlic pieces from the bread into the cooking shrimp
Remove the big pieces of garlic once done cooking
Mix the shrimp scampi in with the Bruschetta
Top the warm bread with the mixture and enjoy!

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/07/shrimp-scampi-bruschetta-eastermeals/

Your ingredients are simple as you can see. Again, I prefer Roma tomatoes but you work with what you have. (Olive oil not pictured)

Instead of rubbing the garlic on the bread like I did in the previous recipe I just sliced it up and baked the garlic right on top of the bread. I found this to be way easier if you have enough garlic.

I started cooking the shrimp according to the package and decided not to waste the garlic from the bread. I tossed it right into the pan for more garlic flavor! Mmmhm garlic!

Once the shrimp was done cooking I removed the garlic pieces and mixed it in with the Bruschetta. I can’t tell you how delicious this smelled! All you do from here is top your bread with it and eat up!

Side Note: My Husband had Good Friday off from work so he was home and got to see what I do all day since he swears I sit around and twiddle my thumbs. I told him we would be trying a new Bruschetta recipe and he was not excited. That was until the house started to fill up with the aromas of garlic and shrimp. Silly man. He could barely wait until I had taken my photos to try it out. Then as he was working throughout the day I would here him open the oven and the fridge to make a new snack! I told him he would be fat if he stayed home with me all day because this is what takes up most of my days. Needless to say, he approves.

Now that I have shown you that Gorton’s is more than just fish sticks you have a chance to win 2 free product coupons from them! There are going to be 3 winners so your odds are good! (See Rafflecopter below)

To sweeten the pot even more Gorton’s is running a Fisherman’s Friday Sweepstakes, through May 8th, where they will draw a weekly winner to win a TOP SECRET prize. As long as it is some sort of seafood our house is happy. They just introduced a new product called Skillet Crisp that I would be interested in trying out. We stick with their shrimp and grilled fish products just because I am not a big batter fish kind of gal. They also run coupons on their site that you can print out and save some cash on dinner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received my own free product coupons in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are 100% my own.

This post has no tag

1 comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/07/shrimp-scampi-bruschetta-eastermeals/

Apr
06

Quick & Easy Bruschetta #EasterMeals

Categories:

Recipes

by Mallery

April 6, 2012

I made a super simple Bruschetta for Daddy Michael’s birthday party that I wanted to share. I had been reading up on traditional Italian Bruschetta and apparently simple is the better way to go. I don’t like tomatoes and I liked this recipe so that is saying something! I tried to save Michael a bite so he could taste it before the party but he wasn’t quick enough and I devoured it! The after taste was divine!

Quick & Easy Bruschetta

Ingredients

2 Loaves of Ecce Panis Ciabatta Bread
3 Slicing Tomatoes OR 5 Roma Tomatoes
2 Garlic Cloves for mixture
Garlic Cloves to rub on the bread
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil for mixture
1/2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil for each slice of bread
7 Fresh Basil Leaves OR 1 Tablespoon of Basil Seasoning

Instructions

Cut up tomatoes into tiny pieces.
Cut up Basil Leaves.
Mix 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil, Basil and Tomatoes together in a bowl.
Add the Garlic to the mixture.
Bake the bread according to the package.
Slice the bread ends off and continue slicing the rest.
Place the slices on a baking sheet and rub garlic on one side.
Drizzle about 1/2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil for each slice.
Place the oil side of the bread face down on the sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.
Repeat the garlic and oil for the other side.
Top the warm bread with the mixture and enjoy!

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/06/quick-easy-bruschetta-eastermeals/

The ingredients are simple because you only need 5 things! (The Olive Oil isn’t pictured)

I prefer Roma Tomatoes because they are easier to work with since they don’t have as many seeds and juice inside but when you send a man to the store you never know what he will come home with!

I wanted to cut off the ends of my bread just so they would lay flat and so I could eat them! It is such a yummy bread!

I used 2 loaves of the Ciabatta bread and it gave me a sheet full of slices.

Rubbing the slices with garlic was just as tedious as cutting the tomatoes up into little pieces. I found that if I took a knife and made little slices in the end of the garlic clove that more of the yummy juices came out on the bread.

Since I don’t have a cooking brush I had to make do with just drizzling the oil on the slices of bread. It worked but a brush would be quicker.

Once both sides are cooked it the bread has a nice golden and crunchy texture to it. Yum! From here you just top it with your Bruschetta mix and enjoy! I promise you that you will be happy with it!

This post has no tag

2 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/06/quick-easy-bruschetta-eastermeals/

Apr
03

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats & Colorful Cupcakes

Categories:

Recipes

by Mallery

April 3, 2012

We all know Pinterest is full of inspiration and I love finding new things to try. For this recipe my ‘Pinspiration’ is from GimmeSomeOven who found it from HowSweetEats who found it from the BACK OF THE CEREAL BOX! Thank goodness for the internet sending something so delicious viral!

It is so simple to make because Rice Krispies are simple to make. I tweaked mine a little to what I had at the house.

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of butter
10 ounce bag of marshmallows
1/3 cup yellow cake mix
6 cups Rice Krispies
Candy of choice (optional)

Instructions

Melt the butter and marshmallows in a pan.
Add the cake mix while melting to prevent overcooking
Mix in the cereal
Mix in the candy (optional)
Put into a pan and let cool
Top with candy while still warm (optional)

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/03/cake-batter-rice-krispie-treats-colorful-cupcakes/

Melt the butter and marshmallows together. I was reading through some of the comments on both of the above sites and people say they can come out hard. (my first batch did) The suggestion given was to not overcook the mixture. Her recipe said to slowly add the cake mix into the melted mixture by spoonful and mix it in. On my second batch I just put the mix in while the butter and marshmallows were melting. I didn’t want to have hard treats again! Those suckers were hard to get out of the pan! Adding the cake mix while the marshmallows and butter are melting did help prevent hard treats.

You can then add sprinkles or candy but I had to skip that because I was using Nerds and not everyone likes Nerds. I just added the Nerds to the top of my treats once they were in the pan. My second batch I just sprinkled them with blue sugar crystals.

So what to do with the remaining cake mix? I knew what I wanted to do with the cupcakes but I didn’t know the best way to go about it. So I jumped on Pinterest again for some ‘Pinspiration’ and found exactly what I wanted to do on CosmoCookie! So I only had yellow, green and red food coloring at the house but that gave me enough colors to do what I wanted to do.

Colorful Cupcakes

Ingredients

Remaining Cake Mix
Oil
Eggs
Water
Food Coloring

Instructions

Prepare the mix according to the box.
Scoop out even cups of cake batter into bowls.
Add food coloring to the bowls to make the colors you want.
Spoon a tablespoon of each color into your cupcake sleeves.
Bake according to the box.

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/03/cake-batter-rice-krispie-treats-colorful-cupcakes/

I mixed the ingredients up in my Kitchenaid Mixer. (I don’t know what I would do without it!) If anyone wants to give me the tip to keeping your cupcake wrappers in a perfect circle I am ALL EARS! Silly wrappers are going to make my cupcakes ugly.

I added 1 cup of batter to each bowl then put about 10 drops of coloring per bowl. Make it what you want because you can pick whatever color floats your boat really. I had black in the cupboard but that is not a fun color so no thank you.

I filled my cupcake wrappers up with a spoonful of each color and baked it for 350 degrees for 18 minutes, just like the box said. Why did I make the mix just like the box even though I didn’t have the right amount of batter? I personally think they turned out delicious because they were nice and moist.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/04/03/cake-batter-rice-krispie-treats-colorful-cupcakes/

Mar
31

Gourmet Leftover Fish Sandwich Using Ecce Panis Bread #EasterMeals #CBias

Categories:

Recipes

by Mallery

March 31, 2012

So I was given the #EasterMeals challenge to make something using leftovers and this delightful Ecce Panis bread. Challenge accepted! I had to sit down and think about this one because to me it had to be straight from the fridge except for the bread, I bought that for the challenge.

It worked out well that we had fish filets for dinner earlier this week because that makes it a little easier to create something delicious from our leftovers. So I started at a fish sandwich, Tilapia to be exact. I cooked the fish according to the package.

The bread cooks at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes and smells wonderful! Bread, cheese and bacon are my favorite foods so having fresh bread without making it myself is a treat! Doesn’t it just make you want to eat it? Mmhmm! When it came out I sliced it and then cut it in half for my sandwich bread.

I had a Mommy’s Night Out the weekend before so I had what was left of a cheese ball in the fridge and wanted to incorporate it into my sandwich. I didn’t think cheddar would be good on Tilapia but I would give cream cheese a try for the sake of the challenge. Boy am I glad I did! It was so good! All I did was scoop some out and put it into the microwave so I could spread it on the bread.

I am super picky so this is the sandwich I ate and the sandwich above is the one my Husband ate, yes I took a bite out of it before I realized I should take a picture. He liked his and said it was hard to eat because it was tall and I was in love with mine and ate 2! I regretted it later because I had that too full feeling but it was good going down!

Ingredients:

Ecce Panis Ciabatta Loaf
Iceberg lettuce
Gorton’s Garlic Tilapia
Tomato
Red Onion
Cheese ball (block of cream cheese, shredded cheddar and garlic powder)

Ecce Panis Bake at Home comes in 4 varieties even though my Walmart only had the Ciabatta loaf in stock.

Neo-Tuscan Mini Boule – Elegant mini round boule with a mild flavor and crackling golden crust
Ciabatta Loaf – Thin crust demi bread with a light, airy interior and a hint of olive oil
French Demi Baguettes – Twin demi baguettes with a golden brown crust and an airy open texture inside
French Dinner Rolls – Authentic artisan rolls with a crunchy crust and soft interior

You can bake these breads in minutes and it even freezes for up to 2 months. That is music to my ears because I am a freezer gal to the end! This bread is $1.88 at Walmart and there is a .55 printable coupon HERE! Don’t forget to check out my Google+ story for my shopping trip!

Stay tuned for me Breschetta recipe that I made with this bread too! I made it for Daddy Michael’s birthday party so you will have to wait until after this weekend. I tasted it and it is well worth the wait because I don’t like tomatoes but this was delicious. I was trying to save Daddy Michael a few taster bites but he took too long and I ate them myself!

I leave you with this funny picture! Michael decided he wanted to cook as well so he grabbed the Rice Krispies off of the shelf and dumped them everywhere! Then he proceeded to slobber on his hand and get the Rice Krispies stuck to it. It was adorable but a big fat mess!

Follow the Recipes:

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are 100% my own.

Tags: #cbias, Ecce Panis

5 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/03/31/gourmet-leftover-fish-sandwich-using-ecce-panis-bread-eastermeals-cbias/

Mar
29

Tyson Bread Bowls For Dinner #TysonBreakfast #CBias

Categories:

Recipes

by Mallery

March 29, 2012

I could eat breakfast food for every meal of the day if possible. One day I will probably have to switch to egg whites if I want to keep up my egg addiction. For now my cholesterol is A-OK and I go to the gym plenty… eat on! I am a little backwards because I don’t eat breakfast foods for breakfast. I eat them for dinner. The Tyson Bread Bowls did let me eat breakfast for lunch though. I am one of those work, work, take care of baby, work and then I remember I need to eat. So a Tyson Bread Bowl it is!

These are super simple to make and are packages in pairs which I was grateful for. I live out of my freezer and there was no way I was fitting that enormous box in there! These little buggers are actually filling so one is all I need. I found that I prefer the temperature of them if I cook them for 60 seconds versus the 50 seconds recommended on the package.

The inside of the bread bowls is a delicious mixture of egg, cheese and sausage. I would have preferred the bacon one but our Sam’s Club didn’t have them. I still can’t believe that one bowl fills me up (I know I already said that but really I can’t believe it). I didn’t want to make a bunch of food to go with our bread bowl dinner because of how filling it is so I picked some fruit.

I had some leftover fruit in the fridge so I threw together some skewers for a balanced meal. Not to mention some juice. What is breakfast without juice?

Send me to Mommy jail if you don’t agree but my 8 month old LOVED LOVED LOVED the bread bowls! I am starting to introduce more of the solid foods so I thought, ‘What the heck lets try this’. I was so surprised that he was grabbing and pulling the bread bowl into his mouth! The insides of the bowl are nice and soft so there aren’t any choking hazards, I swear.

So since we were on a taste testing kick I tried some cantaloupe. Can you tell if he liked it or not?! HAHA! He HATED it and this is the first food I have found that he won’t devour. I swear he is a bottomless pit!

I am so pleased with the Tyson Bread Bowls and will buy them again. I really want to try the bacon once because I ADORE bacon. Sam’s Club hear my cry! These are perfect for when we do gym nights because we get home about 9:00 pm and are starving. I can’t let my Husband wither away to nothing while he waits for dinner to cook! Silly men.

You can see my full shopping experience in my Google+ album.

Follow #TysonBreakfast :

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are 100% my own.

Tags: #cbias, Tyson

2 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/03/29/tyson-bread-bowls-for-dinner-tysonbreakfast-cbias/

Mar
28

Recipe: Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli

Categories:

by Mallery

March 28, 2012

This is a freezer crock pot meal the is scrumptious! If you haven’t figured it out yet I love cheese. It is yummy yummy yummy and was even better the next day! I did top off my leftovers with cheese though.

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli

Ingredients

2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
8 ounces of Cheddar Cheese
1 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
2 lbs Chicken Breasts
1 Bag of steamer frozen broccoli
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)

Instructions

Cut the chicken breasts into strips.
Mix all ingredients in the crock pot.
Cook on high for 1 hour to melt the frozen food so it fits into the crock pot.
Cook on low for 4 hours
Let cool completely
Top with shredded cheddar cheese. (optional)

http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/03/28/recipe-cheesy-chicken-broccoli/

The ingredients are SIMPLE because that is how I roll.

1 Teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup
1 Block of cheddar cheese
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)
(added broccoli later in the recipe but you will see)

As you can see, I cut the chicken up into strips about an inch wide.

I cut my block of cheese up into cubes so they would melt better when I tossed everything into the crock. When I make my bags of freezer meals I mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and then add the bowl’s contents to the bag. It can be messy but it keeps me organized. I have Michael help me with the transfer.

My tip for taking a frozen bag and putting it straight into the crock pot is to just rip it right open like I did in the picture above. There is no way you can save and reuse a bag with this cooking style.

I use an oval crock pot so the frozen shape doesn’t really fit. I put the frozen food in the crock pot for 1 hour on high to melt it down so I could put the lid on it. I did put the lid on it, even though it wasn’t flat, to keep some of the heat in the pot. After it melted down I turned it down to low for 4 hours.

I decided I wanted to add some broccoli to the meal after I transferred it to a Corningware dish. When I make this dish again I will make sure to take it out of the crock to cool completely before serving it. As you can see in the above picture, it was a little runny because it was so warm. I think that is the main reason it tasted so much better the next day.

The next day I put some in a bowl and topped it with shredded cheese before I warmed it up in the microwave. It was so divine! I wanted to keep eating and not share it with Michael!

This post has no tag

4 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/03/28/recipe-cheesy-chicken-broccoli/

Mar
22

Country Bob’s Recipe & Giveaway

Categories:

by Mallery

March 22, 2012

I was sent some Country Bob’s to review so I wanted to make a recipe out of it. What do you make with All Purpose Sauce, besides everything? The first thing that came to mind was some type of BBQ chicken. Hmm. *thinking cap on*

Don’t forget that I am a 90% crock pot/freezer meal gal so I have to take that into consideration. Well I hate onions but if I had to eat them I prefer red onion. I like potatoes and that reminds me of BBQ chicken so lets try that. From there I just got in a rut on what else would taste good so I rolled with another simple recipe. You know me, simple is better.

Ingredients:

half red onion
3 lbs red potatoes
2 lbs chicken breast
1 bottle of Country Bob’s
2 garlic cloves

I just had to highlight this picture because I don’t know what I would do without my Garlic Press! I live by this handy dandy tool.

I added all of the ingredients right into the crock pot and turned it on low. It is pretty standard that I cook everything for about 6 hours. I always check to see if the chicken breaks apart when I jab it with a spoon. I like yummy tender chicken breasts!

Moving forward I think that less potatoes would be better. I would have been happy with 1-2 pounds of potatoes but cooking is all about trial and error unless you are using someone’s recipe who already did the trial and error. I like to think of myself as the not so perfect Betty Crocker. I have a fabulous Husband who tolerates the errors and tells me what he likes and dislikes with each meal. Not to mention he puts up with all of the pictures I take of our food!

After I cooked it in the crock pot I threw it in a freezer bag for a meal later on in the week. When I want to cook a freezer meal I pull it out in the morning and let it thaw on the counter. Then when Michael is on his way home I put it into the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes depending on the ingredients. This dish was still a little cold after 15 minutes because of the potatoes so we nuked it for another minute or so. Just keep that in mind.

So what was the verdict?

Michael: He liked the chicken but not the potatoes because they were too squishy. I made them squishy because that is how I like them silly man!
Me: I thought the onion was really strong but I don’t like onion. I am the worst judge of food because I am so picky. Michael LOVED the onion flavor so use your own judgement.
Sister: My Sister came over and ate the leftovers and she loved the chicken but not the potatoes. She thought they were too sweet because they weren’t white potatoes. I really can’t please every can I?

I have only found Country Bob’s at Walmart in our area but my Step-Dad LOVES this stuff. Let me explain just HOW much he loves this stuff.

I had just gotten my bottles to review in the mail so they were sitting on my counter when he stopped by one day. He immediately asked me where I got those bottles. So I told him I needed to review them for my site. “So do you need to review both bottles?”, he asks. I gave him one of the bottles because he gave me some insight for my post.

He was telling me he can eat this sauce on anything. He mentioned all sorts of meats: chicken, beef, etc. He even said he will eat it on chips! I wish I could have recorded his enthusiasm because he was all about the Country Bob’s!

Lucky for you 2 readers are going to win their own 2 bottles right here, right now! You can create your own recipe or try a recipe from their site.

I received my own product in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are 100% my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post has no tag

2 comments

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/03/22/country-bobs-recipe-giveaway/

Mar
14

Recipe: Kraft Fresh Take Meatloaf

Categories:

Recipes

by Mallery

March 14, 2012

With all of the Kraft Fresh Take I have been getting for rock bottom prices I decided to try something out! I was going to try to make meatloaf with it. Kraft Fresh Take is advertised for fish, pork and chicken but I had beef to cook from my Zaycon Foods order and you cook with what you have to save the most money!

I had two things of beef so I made two meatloaves at once. The cheddar and bacon is a lot simpler than the Rosemary and Garlic, even though they are both easy. Easy is my middle name but it could also be mistaken as lazy. Whichever works.

Ingredients for Rosemary & Garlic:

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup carrots
1/2 cup onion
1 Kraft Fresh Take Rosemary & Garlic
2 eggs
1.25 pounds 93/7 beef

Ingredients for Cheddar & Bacon:

2 eggs
1.25 pounds 93/7 beef
1 Kraft Fresh Take Cheddar & Bacon
Kraft Cheddar Shredded Cheese (optional for topping)
Bacon pieces (optional for topping)

I mixed up the ingredients for each meatloaf in their own bowl. I used a spoon just to keep my hands cleaner since I am taking pictures but using your hand would be a lot quicker to get everything mixed up.

I then greased up a loaf pan and the closest thing I could find for the second one, it happened to be a piece of my Corningware. I put both into the oven to cook at 350 for 60 minutes. I toyed with the idea of putting tomato paste on them but it didn’t sound like a good combination so I waited until I tried them first. I am so glad that I didn’t because it would not have fit with the tastes of the loaves.

Cheddar & Bacon Thoughts:

Next time I am going to top my Cheddar & Bacon loaf with cheese while it is in the oven! I didn’t think about doing that until it came out of the oven so I topped it off with some shredded cheese and nuked it to try it. Oh my was it the best idea EVER! I will add the cheese about 10 minutes before the loaf is done so it gets a nice melt but isn’t burnt.

Any cheese lover is going to love the Cheddar and Bacon meatloaf! I thought it was so yummy and you could probably fancy it up with bacon pieces on top of the melted cheese. Or better yet mix bacon into the loaf! Oh my goodness, that sounds so good! The flavor was great for me and I was surprised that Michael liked it more with the cheese topping. He likes fancy tastes like the other meatloaf.

Rosemary & Garlic Thoughts:

This one was delicious too! I couldn’t believe how great the flavors were in this one. I actually tolerated the onions and that is very rare for me. I only cook with them because Michael loves onions. I guess you could try paste on the top of this one but there are so many great flavors going on that it might take away from that. Use your own taste discretion but I won’t be adding it to mine next time.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/03/14/recipe-kraft-fresh-take-meatloaf/

Mar
09

Crock Pot Recipe: Black Bean Chili

Categories:

by Mallery

March 9, 2012

If you know me then you know I typically cook from my stockpile and it is either a crock pot or freezer meal. That means I am frugal, lazy and creative!

Ingredients:

2 cans of black beans
2 cans of tomatoes
3 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves
small onion
green pepper
red pepper
1 can of corn
1.25 pounds of 93/7 beef

Since this is a crock pot meal I put all of the ingredients into the crock pot, including the raw beef. I wasn’t too worried about any ground beef grease because the beef was so lean. I picked black beans because they were free and I had to use one can of stewed tomatoes and one can of diced tomatoes because those were the only cans I had left in my stockpile. I did add a can of corn at the last minute because I forgot I had it and I like to put corn in our chili.

I cooked it on low for about about 6 hours from a raw state. I am sure if I tossed this into the pot straight from the freezer I would have to cook it on low for 8-10 hours or let it thaw before cooking it. If I hadn’t cooked this immediately this day I would have taken all of the ingredients and put them into a freezer bag to put it in the freezer. So this would double as a freezer meal!

Michael loved the chili and that is good because it made a large batch that he was eating for lunch and dinner for close to 3/4 days! He did add hot sauce to it because it needed something. I had run out of chili powder because I made this during a marathon cooking day and it was the last recipe. Next time I will add a tablespoon of chili powder to spice things up a little. Keep in mind that I don’t really care for spicy foods but this needed something ever so slight.

This post has no tag

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.mallerysdeals.com/2012/03/09/crock-pot-recipe-black-bean-chili/

Feb
21

Kraft Fresh Take Chicken Review

Categories:

Recipes

by Mallery

February 21, 2012

So I couldn’t resist a good deal on the new Kraft Fresh Take when one of my girlfriends shared a $1 coupon with me! I love cheese and I love bacon so I was thinking it would be a match made in heaven. I eat a lot of chicken since I am on a lean protein eating kick and there are only so many ways to cook chicken.

First I cut up my giant chicken breast from Zaycon Foods so that it would be easier to coat with the mixture.

Next I combined the cheese and crumb mix in the plastic bag that they provide in the package. I really was so easy because I just had to open in and pull apart the middle divider.

It was so simple to coat the chicken. I got home from the gym and had dinner coated by the time my oven heated up!

As you can see from the picture above the breasts don’t get coated as nice as the picture on the package but I didn’t expect them to be.

I took the rest of the mixture and put it on top of my breasts so that it would at least cook onto the breasts. I cooked my chicken breasts for 30 minutes and I must say the house smelled delicious!

In the end this is what my chicken breast looked like. The coating did a good job of staying on the chicken breast. I would say this is fantastic for someone who likes bacon because it has a great hint of bacon when you are eating it. It was yummy!

The next night we tried the Rosemary and Roasted Garlic flavor and it was just as good as the previous night’s dinner. I really love how quick it is to throw together.

You can print a $1 coupon HERE and they are on sale at Kroger for $2.50 until 2/26 and Meijer for $2 until 2/25.

Follow Kraft: