Cooking | Mommies With Style

12 Days of iPad Apps, Day Eight: MealBoard Meal & Grocery Planner

January 2, 2012 By Whitney 1 Comment

One of the things I’m also looking to do in 2012 is get more organized with my meal planning. (In other words, start doing it since I basically do almost zero meal planning right now). With the kids in various activities, a hubby who is on the road often at night, I find I’m always disorganized and frustrated around that 5 pm hour when I’m staring at the fridge.

Here’s an app I’ve downloaded and plan on using to help me with meal planning and grocery shopping, MealBoard. It’s MealBoard $1.99 for the iPad app on the iTunes store. I read the reviews on a lot of meal planning apps and this one seems to have some of the better reviews. You can use it in conjunction with the website so you can sync up to your information there like downloading your recipes, organize your grocery list and more.

Filed Under: Computers & Tech, Cooking, Recipes Tagged With: iPad, iPad apps, iPod, mealboard

Holiday Entertaining on Any Budget with Sam’s Club & A Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway

December 24, 2011 By Whitney 671 Comments

There’s a Sam’s Club about a half of a mile from my house. We used to be members but let our membership lapse a couple of years ago. But this week I rejoined after I was issued a challenge from Sam’s Club to create a holiday meal for my family for $50. Sam’s Club sent me a membership and a gift card to get shopping.

I wasn’t sure what to expect for $50 but believe it or not, I had no problem making a nice dinner for the fam on that cost.

With 4 people in our family, I didn’t need a ton – here’s what I got: I got a fully cooked turkey breast like this one (but got turkey breast only) for $19.98. Can I tell you guys, this was DELICIOUS. And huge. It lasted for 3 days – 2 meals plus I sliced it up for sandwiches for my son for school for two days after. Not bad for $20.

Then I got potatoes and broccoli for another $20. So I was well under $50 and ended up getting some extra fruit and other produce to get myself to $50. Awesome, right? I will definitely be shopping for meals again at Sam’s Club for the rest of the holiday season and beyond in 2012.

Giveaway: Sam’s Club has also offered a generous giveaway to Mommies with Style readers for the holiday season! One lucky winner will receive this KitchenAid Professional HD Stand Mixer that’s pictured to the left ($268.98 value!)

Enter to win by commenting below about Sam’s Club (do you have one near you? Do you belong? Your answer doesn’t have anything to do with eligibility to win – just comment anything to enter to win – just making conversation!)

Note – You can enter up to 4 times (the only required entry is the first one to leave a comment! All the others are additional entries):

1) Leave a comment on this post. (Note: Scroll to the bottom of this post and click “Post Comment”. You must be on my site – you can’t do this through a reader.)

2) Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter & follow me on Twitter @WhitneyMWS:

Enter to win Kitchen Aid Mixer on Mommies with Style via @WhitneyMWS http://bit.ly/aatNRf

3) “Like” Mommies with Style on Facebook (if you already do, promote this contest on your page)

4) Subscribe to my feed or email newsletter and stay on top of all of my daily posts! If you already subscribe, please leave a separate comment letting me know that you are currently a subscriber (thank you!).

**This giveaway will end January 1st, 2012. One winner will be selected at random and notified after that time.**

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home Tagged With: giveaway, holiday, holiday cooking, sam's club

Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee Maker, 73% off on Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day

December 11, 2011 By Whitney 1 Comment

I wish I had someone to buy this before because this is a great deal! Have someone on your list who loves coffee and could use an upgrade to their coffeemaker? Look no future and buy by the end of the day today!

This Cuisinart 12-Cup Coffee Maker normally retails for $185.00. You can buy it today for $49.99 with free shipping on Amazon. Such a fab deal – snatch it up before end of day if you can use this for someone on your list!

Filed Under: Cooking, Coupon Codes & Sales, For the Home, Housewares Tagged With: coffee, Cuisinart, deals, sales

78% Discount! $12 for 12 Issues of Real Simple Magazine

December 7, 2011 By Whitney Leave a Comment

Love Real Simple magazine! They have the best recipes and simple ideas to make your life easier. I used to keep their magazines for months!

A subscription doesn’t come cheap, which is why this one is such a great deal! Amazon’s running a Gold Box Deal on it – $12 for 12 issues. It is auto-renewal but you can literally sign up and cancel a month later (yet still get your year) It’s so worth it and what a great gift, right?

Get 12 issues of Real Simple for $12 on Amazon – not sure how long this one will last so hop to it!

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home, Housewares Tagged With: magazine subscription, real simple magazine

Drinking My Way To a Healthier Holiday (& Giveaways!)

November 28, 2011 By kate 38 Comments

Congratulations to our juicer winners: Diana, Cindy, Melissa, Suzy, Korie, Jim, Jen, Dianne, Carlos and Susan. The winners have already been notified via email. Enjoy!

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I had two cups of kale, a carrot, an apple and half a cucumber for breakfast this morning. And I drank every last drop.

I’ve been on a juicing kick lately. It started after watching the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead that chronicles the journey of Joe Cross as he attempts to improve his health through juicing. But I’ve found it’s been a great way to up my veggie intake (breakfast is a hard meal to have a salad), another way to use all the greens that have been coming in my CSA bin and a fabulously sneaky way to get my kids to consume all sorts of veggies they normally wouldn’t.

Juicing has come a long way in recent years. One of the current trends is slow juicing, a process of slowly squeezing the nutrient-rich juice out of fruits and veggies instead of quickly spinning the heck out of them which some claim breaks up the nutrient molecules.

I had the chance to check out three recently-released slow juicers plus have a great giveaway for those of you who want to get started.

The first juicer I tried was the Healthy Juicer Electric from Lexen Products. This juicer is a masticating style juicer with what looks like a long single drill bit. The juicer slowly presses, squeezes and crushes fruits and veggies to release their juices. Unlike a blender or a traditional juicer, since the juice extraction is slow, it doesn’t heat the juice and destroy any of the natural live enzymes.

The Lexen Healthy Juicer has an external pulp screen which means you can choose to leave it on (completely smooth juice, no pulp) or take it off if you like a little pulp in your juice. I also liked the beyond juice, the Lexen Healthy Jucier can be used to make pasta (3 pasta attachments included), wheatgrass (separate auger included), babyfood, soy milk, nut butters and frozen desserts (put in frozen fruit, get delicious sorbet!)

I was pretty impressed with the versatility of the product and how when you use the external pulp screen, the juice truly is completely smooth. Like most juicers, the Lexen has a fair number of parts, but the Lexen juicer was also very easy to clean. One drawback – since the Lexen Healthy Juicer is longer than it is taller, you’re going to have to sacrifice some counter space.

Next I tried two very similar juicers – the Hurom Slow Juicer and the new Omega 350 VERT. Both of these juicers have a compact vertical design. Even with all the pieces on, I can easily store it on my counter under my upper cabinets. Both juicers are slow masticating juicers which crush and press the fruits and veggies (instead of grinding, blending or chopping) to extract the most juice possible without damaging the nutrients.

Compared to the Lexen, I found both the Hurom and Omega VRT 350 to be faster, easier to add fruits and veggies one-handed without much tamping, and able to extract more juice. But the juice is not completely smooth like with the Lexen. The Hurom and Omega are also a little trickier to clean. Both come with a two-headed toothbrush/pick and yes, you need to use it.

The differences between the Hurom and Omega VRT 350? The Omega comes with 2 juicing screens (a fine and a course for more or less pulp) and is $10-$20 more expensive. The Hurom has a handle on the back which can be useful for tipping the machine to get the last bit of juice out. Overall, both are stellar machines and a great way to up to your veggie intake.

**GIVEAWAY** The kind folks over at Omega are hosting a 10 juicer giveaway of their new Omega VRT 350. A perfect way to counteract all those holiday cookies and cocktails or a great gift for someone in your life. To enter, leave us a comment below answering this: What is your biggest holiday temptation? Is it the eggnog or the appetizers? Candy canes or Starbuck’s yummy holiday coffee drinks? Leave us a comment below and hopefully you’ll be on your way to a healthy and happier holiday season!

One entry per person. US residents only. No PO boxes. Entries must be received by Dec. 2, 2011, 11:59 pm. Winners chosen by random.org and notified via email. If winners do not reply with their shipping details within 2 days of notification, a new winner will be chosen.

Filed Under: Cooking, Feeding & Mealtime, For the Home, Giveaways Tagged With: food, health eating, Hurom, juicers, Lexen, Omega, vegetables

Wine Pairing Made Easy with the CA Wine Club App

October 4, 2011 By kate 1 Comment

Red wine with red meat and white wine with fish and chicken, right? Or is it full-bodied wines with heavier meals and white wines with lighter meals? And what wines do you serve with soup, salads or desserts? Usually I tend to buy one type of wine – big, bold reds – because it’s what I like to drink best, but sometimes, I admit, I notice that my food and my wine aren’t playing nicely together.

So I’ve been having fun playing around with a new app from the California Wine Club – the CWC Food and Wine Pairing Wheel. The app provides seven different categories to choose from – Meat, Poultry, Fish, Pasta, Cheese, Starters and Desserts – and within those categories a number of specific flavors, meals or ingredients to choose from. For example, under Meat I can choose from suggestions for Roast Pork, Pork Chops, Pork Tenderloin, BBQ Pork Ribs which I love since not all pork cuts or dishes are the same. Just the same for Poultry I can choose between Cordon Bleu, Chicken Marsala, Roasted Chicken and BBQ Chicken just to name a few in the category.

For each dish, the app provides 3 different wine pairings – often both red AND white options. Welcomed news for a girl who doesn’t drink much white. The app is a breeze to use, helps you think beyond the “red meat-red wine” paradigm and currently is free! I snuck a peak at it last weekend when the husband and I went out for dinner to find a good match for his rack of lamb (Cab, Syrah or Merlot), and used it yesterday at Trader Joe’s when I received a text for an impromptu wine and dessert get together from a girlfriend. For the record, the tawny port the app recommended was stellar with the homemade créme brulée.

I’m not very knowledgeable about the world of cheese, but with the help of the CWC Food and Wine Pairing Wheel, I just might attempt that wine and cheese party I’ve been thinking about.

The CWC Food and Wine Pairing Wheel is available for both the iPhone and iPad. Visit the California Wine Club for more information or the Apple iTunes App store to download.

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MWS was not paid for this post. We did receive an early release of the app to review.

Kate Bayless is a writer, editor and happy to attend any and all wine tasting parties you want to invite her to. Her work has appeared in Parents, American Baby, Fit Pregnancy, iVillage, Momtrends and other publications. Visit her at www.katebayless.com or @katebayless.

Filed Under: Cooking Tagged With: choosing the right wine, food, iPad apps, iphone apps, wine, wine club, wine pairing

What To Do With Chicken Leftovers: My Three Favorite Staples

October 3, 2011 By Whitney 8 Comments

While I’m not one for a weekly menu plan (I know, shame on me), I do have one thing that it’s a staple in our weekly dinner menu – roast chicken. Sometimes I cook them; often, I pick them up at the local grocery store. (Sometime I’ll share with you all the secret of my roast chicken – it’s easy and amazing!)

And I also love already-cooked store bought roteisserie chicken for less than $10 that will feed the whole fam. Most grocery stores have them – I know all of our local ones do (BJs, Wegmans, Giant & Acme).

I always buy our rotiessiere and roast chickens big so I will have leftovers because there’s so many possibilities with those leftovers. I typically aim for 7 lbs or so to feed my family of four for dinner and then a leftovers meal.

Here are three of my favorite leftover options for dinner the following night. What are yours?

Chicken Noodle Soup. This post was actually inspired by last night’s dinner (pictured). We had picked up a grocery rotessierie chicken for lunch and I picked the leftovers for dinner. We stock up on boxes of chicken broth whenever we’re at BJs for just this purpose. (If you’re really enterprising, the broth can be made out of the bones in the roast chicken!)

Then I generally put whatever vegetables I have stocked in the fridge into the soup. Since I’ve belonged to a local CSA this year, I’ve pretty much always had fresh, organic vegetables on hand. Last night’s soup had just carrots and onions but I often throw in celery or whatever else I have in the fridge when available.

My kids also like our soups hearty so I use a lot of noodles – last night’s were rotini.

I cook the onions, carrots, chicken and broth for up to a few hours on the lowest possible setting, covered- I like letting it stew for awhile. Note that I learned the hard way: boil the soup only in the very end for the pasta. So last night, I boiled, added the rotini for 8 minutes and then took it off the burner. Any longer and the pasta oversaturates and takes up the entire pot of broth.

Serve with fresh bread from the bakery if you plan ahead! A cheap dinner!

Quesadillas – My kids loooooove quesadilla night. And since we always have soft tortillas on hand (I have a quesadilla most days for lunch), I’m able to make these for dinner often. We line bowls up on the counter for them to have a “soft taco” bar — cheese, leftover chicken, guacamole, rice and beans. They love it! We cook it together and it’s very interactive.

Chicken and Vegetable Casserole – My aunt brought a chicken & broccoli casserole when I had first given birth to Nate, almost 8 years ago now. It’s become my go-to staple for meal deliveries and leftovers with the family. I’ve made it so many times I make it all by heart now. You can make this with any vegetable – most of the time I use broccoli but I’ve used asparagus, mushrooms, peppers and more. Get creative!

Chicken, Broccoli & Rice Casserole:
Mix together:

1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups of instant white rice (uncooked)
1 cup of milk
About 1/2 stick of butter (melted)
Leftover chicken! I usually put in about 2 cups or so.
Vegetable of choice – 2 cups of fresh chopped broccoli is my veggie of choice
2 cups of shredded cheese. I typically use Mexican – cheddar is great too.

Mix all together, put in a baking dish and cook at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Quick and easy and delish. Takes me 10 minutes tops to whip all the ingredients together.

So those are my constants for leftover chicken – what you do? Inspire me with something new!

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, recipes

It’s National Coffee Day! Free Coffee Today & More

September 29, 2011 By Whitney 4 Comments

Seeing as I live for my morning coffee, it seemed only fitting I post about today being National Coffee Day. (There’s a day for everything, right?) I read on one of these websites that there’s 111 million daily coffee drinkers worldwide. That’s a heck of a lot of ’joe!

And Reuters put out some fun info out recently including the fact that the average American drinks 13 cups of coffee a week. Seems like a lot but I think I do about two cups a day so I guess it’s not so far-fetched!

In celebration, two big national chains are offering free coffee today:

7-Eleven – Free medium coffee from 7 to 11 am at participating stores on Sep 29. Good in both the U.S. and Canada except Quebec.

Krispy Kreme – Free 12 oz cup of their new House Blend coffee. Valid in the US and Canada.

Nothing from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts (boohoo) but I’ll be brewing up an extra cup of my new favorite Keurig flavor, Coffee People, Donut Shop.

Do you drink coffee? What will you be having today to celebrate National Coffee Day?

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home, Misc, On The Go Tagged With: National Coffee Day

Eco-Friendly Lunch Boxes for Back to School

August 29, 2011 By kate Leave a Comment

My oldest starts kindergarten in a few days which has a few significant changes from preschool last year.

1) He’ll be going to school every day.

2) The school day is 2 hours longer than preschool.

3) He’ll need to bring a lunch.

It’s this last one I’ve been thinking about recently. Though we have a few random lunch bags that we use for park picnics and lunch playdates, my son doesn’t have a good lunch box. I especially was interested in one that wouldn’t require 5+ plastic bags every day to wrap up the assortment of snacks and nibbles inside. I wanted it to be compact, be able to hold a variety of types of foods and be good for the Earth. And turns out, there are a number of good options. I’d like to introduce you to a few of them (plus give you some discounts!): Easy Lunch Box, Lunchopolis, and Goodbyn.

Easy Lunch Box

The name really says it all for the Easy Lunch Box. Each set comes with a four BPA-free plastic storage containers that each have three compartments – one large, one medium and one small. I love the simplicity of not having to worry about separate containers for packing, washing or storing. Just load the different compartments up, press on the lid and throw it in the included cooler bag. You can even fit up to three containers in one bag making it ideal for bringing lunch for multiple children. If you’re just using it for one child, a single container leaves plenty of room in the cooler for a drink, ice pack, silverware and a piece of fruit. The lids are not leakproof (though they do have a handy trick for carrying foods like yogurt), but they are easy for small fingers to open – important when choosing what containers you send with your child to school. The set is also pretty darn affordable.

Love: Simplicity of packing, clean-up, storage; cooler bag has room to allow for other things beyond containers; vivid color selection; also love their slideshow of great lunch ideas

Price: 4-pack of containers $13.95, cooler bag $7.95 at www.easylunchboxes.com (free shipping on orders over $25 when you order them through this link)

Lunchopolis by New Wave Enviro

Lunchopolis keeps it simple – one lead-free cooler, 4 color-tinted BPA-free modular containers (p.s. they nest inside themselves for storage), and one color-tinted drink bottle. I really like how compact Lunchopolis is. It fits well into my son’s backpack and is easy for his little hands to hold.

Knowing how much running and playing my son tends to do during the day, I like that the drink container holds 15 oz (compared to Goodbyn’s 8 oz). The insulated interior of the bag keeps the food cool with the help of an ice pack (not included) slipped into the inner pocket and even with the 4 containers and drink container, there is still room to hold an apple or kiwi.

Love: compact; larger included drink container; color-coded containers keep lunches for multiple kids separate;

Price: $29.99 for the whole set; get 10% off Lunchopolis at www.healthylifewater.com with the code “MWS10″ (also currently offering free shipping!)

Goodbyn

Goodbyn‘s lunch containers are like an eco-friendly, compartmentalized, sturdy Tupperware and lunch bag in one. The molded plastic unit comes in two sizes (Bynto and Original) and each has multiple compartments, a drink container and a built-in handle so you don’t need an additional bag to carry the lunch box. One less thing to get dirty or lose! Goodbyns come in 6 colors and each includes a collection of dishwasher-safe stickers to turn your Goodbyn into an animal, alien or just a personalized design.

My 5-year-old had no problem opening the lid (though on the larger Original Goodbyn, it took some practice to get him to effectively reseal the lid all the way around when he was finished). He was thrilled with discovering what surprises filled each compartment and loved being able to decorate the outside as he saw fit. And these aren’t just for kids – Goodbyn are a great option for bringing your lunch to work too.

Love: all-in-oneness; included stickers to decorate and personalize; one-piece lid effectively separates food; durable plastic; internal space to hold drink container

Price: Original $25.95; Bynto $16.95 but special for MWS readers get 15% off your order when you use the code “MWS2011″ at checkout. Good through September 30, 2011.

I’ve got the lunch box. Now to figure what to pack in it everyday….

What’s your favorite lunch box?

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Disclaimer: Companies provided product samples to facilitate this review.

Filed Under: Cooking, Feeding & Mealtime, Kids, School gear Tagged With: Back to School, eco-friendly lunch bags, lunch box

Udi’s Makes Eating Gluten-Free Easier & A Less Daunting Option for Us {Plus, A Giveaway}

August 25, 2011 By Whitney 36 Comments

Udi's Chocolate Muffins at BlogHer '11. Photo credit to Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife

For years, I’ve been hearing my friends Kelly and Jo-Lynne talk about eating gluten-free. I’ve listened curiously but without much personal attachment to the subject.

Then a couple of weeks ago, my vegan sister told me that she had gone gluten-free. And that she’s lost 30 lbs doing it and all of her skin problems (bad eczema she’s had since childhood) are gone.

Meanwhile, Nate (7 years) has been complaining a lot this summer of having a stomach ache. We can’t seem to find any rhyme or reason to the times he complains. It’s been sort of on and off all summer and definitely seems related to food. Someone suggested that maybe he has a wheat intolerance and that we try first eliminating that as an experiment to see what happens.

The idea of going gluten-free in our house is totally daunting to me. But I decided I owed it to Nate to give it a try – a little at a time. I’ve been slowly weaning us all from gluten, which hasn’t been as hard as I thought. (Rice for pasta. Corn tortillas instead of my usual wheat ones.)

In the meantime, I was already familiar with Udi’s Gluten-Free as I had visited their tent at a party at BlogHer just this past summer. I was scarfing down these brownies like they were going out of style and I could not tell the difference between one of these chocolate muffins and a regular chocolate muffin that has gluten. Truly.

Which is really awesome because I’m thinking that I can try some of the bread and other products for Nate’s lunchbox for back to school this fall. He certainly won’t know the difference and it’s great to know that there is an option for gluten-free that is so readily available and that they have tons of products available that I would normally put in his lunchbox (packs of cookies, bagels, etc.).

Udi’s makes hamburger buns too, which I’m pretty psyched about too as I typically make Nate’s turkey sandwiches for his lunchbox on hamburger buns so I figure I can just switch to the Udi’s ones without much of an issue. (I love easy!)

Time will tell how this goes for us and I’m still pretty intimidated by the whole thing but it’s nice to know there is a brand out there that’s readily available in my grocery store that will help us ease into this experiment without too much of a change.

Check out all of Udi’s Gluten Free Food offerings on their website and while you’re at it, Like Udi’s on Facebook!

Giveaway: $50 worth of Udi’s products (hamburger and hot dog buns, granola samples, and muffins). Comment to enter. Maybe give me a tip or two on gluten-free options as I endevour to cut down our gluten intake even more? Tips are appreciated but not required of course.

One winner will be selected at random after Thursday, September 1st.

You can get an extra entry for tweeting me @WhitneyMWS with the link to this post.

Disclaimer: I was compensated for writing this post but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Cooking, Feeding & Mealtime, For the Home, Giveaways Tagged With: giveaway, gluten free, Udi's

Back to School Big Sale at 360Cookware: Use Vapor Technology On Your Next Meal

August 15, 2011 By Whitney 1 Comment

Heard of vapor technology? I hadn’t but it’s what 360Cookware uses with all of their products and it’s really pretty cool. Using this vapor technology, you never need cook anything on higher than medium heat. Because of the stainless steal and vapor seal on the cookware, the food cooks evenly on all sides, allowing it to cook it is own juices and stay nice and moist!

I have to admit, it took me a few times to get it right – I burned the first few things I cooked with my 360 pan, but I now have it down to a science and my food has been cooking evenly! It’s pretty awesome.

From the 360 website:

Vapor Technology allows you to cook utilizing a low to medium heat because the design and metal are so efficient that your food permeates evenly from all sides, allowing food to cook in its own natural juices without the excess water or grease other skillets and saucepans require. Learn how you can use 360 cookware to create healthier versions of all your favorite recipes for entrees, soups, vegetables, rice, sweets, and even frozen foods that your family will love.

So a little birdie told me there’s a big back to school sale starting out today. If you’re in need of new cookware, 360Cookware’s your place!

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home Tagged With: 360cookware, cooking, cookware

Twitter Party w/Prizes: Good food, wine & chat #Bertolli Tonight 8-10pET

August 9, 2011 By Whitney Leave a Comment

Hi all,
Just a reminder that I’ll be co-hosting a Bertolli Twitter Party tonight from 8-10 pm ET! We’ll talk good food, wine & get some cooking tips from Chef @FabioViviani !

Come join me, even if it’s just for a little bit! We’ll be tweeting for two hours and giving away 10 fabulous prizes during the party – you just need to use the hashtag to enter to win! #Bertolli

Lastly, don’t forget to enter the first prize & giveaway here on Mommies with Style – ends tonight after the party!

Filed Under: Cooking, Misc Tagged With: Bertolli, Twitter Party

Giveaway & Twitter Party with Bertolli next Tuesday, 8-10 pm ET #Bertolli

August 5, 2011 By Whitney 95 Comments

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m co-hosting an awesome Twitter party next Tuesday night with Bertolli. Who doesn’t like fine Italian food? We’ll be having a virtual progressive dinner with Chef Fabio Viviani and Colleen from Classy Mommy.

The details are below – we’re going to have some great giveaways so please come and join! And if you can’t join next Tuesday, be sure and enter the giveaway below!

Join Bertolli and Chef Fabio Viviani for a Virtual Italian Dinning Experience
When: This Tuesday, August 9 from 7 pm – 9 pm CT
Where: On Twitter, Tweet using #Bertolli and follow @Bertolli @FabioViviani @ClassyMommy and @WhitneyMWS

Giveaways: During the party, Classy Mommy and Mommies with Style will be giving away Italian culinary prizes so you can have your own Bertolli Italian Dinning Experience at home!

Here’s a list of some of the amazing prizes that will be given away:

Bertolli® Products (4 Winners)
Two Bertolli® Tasting Certificates good to redeem one free Bertolli® frozen meal each
Bottle Bertolli® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Bertolli® apron

Pasta Bowl Set for Two (2 Winners)
Bertolli® Tasting Certificate
Bottle Bertolli® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Set of two Square Plates and Pasta Serving Bowl

Wine Tasting Kit (2 Winners)
Bertolli® Tasting Certificate
Bottle Bertolli® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Wine Carafe
Two Wine Glasses
Wine Shower Funnel

Cheese Club Kit (2 Winners)
Bertolli® Tasting Certificate
Bottle Bertolli® Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Monthly shipment or artisanal cheeses for three months

You can also win your own Bertolli® Italian Dinner set right now!

Mommies with Style Giveaway: Tweet or comment below with a question about Italian food or dining that you want @FabioViviani to answer during the party. One lucky winner will receive the following:

Tasting Certificate
Espresso Machine
2 Espresso Cups and Saucers
CD of Italian music to set the mood
Wine Aerator
Cavit Wine Rebate
Candle

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home, Misc, Recipes, Site announcements Tagged With: Bertolli, Twitter Party

Cooking with Lawry’s: Cedar Plank Salmon with Pineapple Salsa

July 27, 2011 By Whitney 1 Comment

Yesterday I posted about the yummy Cheesy Artichoke Dip I made with the Philly Lawry’s Cooking Team. I wanted to share the rest of the recipes and pictures today! Our theme was a “holiday” dinner so we went with a Labor Day couples party.

Here’s what we made, with recipes:

Pineapple Salsa

1 pineapple, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1-2 tsp jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp Lawry’s seasoned pepper
2 tbsp fresh cilantro

Mix together and serve.

Lawry’s Rubbed Cedar Plank Salmon
¼ c brown sugar
2 tbsp Lawry’s seasoned pepper
1 Cedar Plank
3 pound salmon

Prepare Cedar Plank according to instructions. Mix brown sugar and seasoned pepper and rub over Salmon. Let sit for 20 minutes. Grill according to Cedar Plank instructions.

Corn on the Cob
Remove outer layers of corn husks
Soak corn in cold water for 20 minutes
peel back husks
dribble olive oil and shake on Lawry’s seasoned salt
push corn husks back around cob and grill for 20-40 minutes, turning every now and again
remove corn and serve

Grilled Balsamic Marinated Vegetables
Fresh local vegetables, cut into bite-size pieces
Lawry’s Balsamic Herb Marinade
Foil

line a dish with foil
mix vegetables in dish
cover with about half a bottle of marinade, cover with another layer of foil
refrigerate for a half hour to an hour
carefully flip over dish and close foil so that it incases the vegetables
Add another layer of foil
Place over a hot grill for 20-40 minutes, turning once. (The longer you cook the vegetables, the softer they will be.)

Dessert
Sweet and spicy Strawberries and Peaches
1 lb strawberries
3 fresh local peaches
1 tbsp sugar
½ cup water
1 tbsp Lawry’s balsamic vinegar marinade

cut tops of strawberries
slice peaches into slices
marinade in water, marinade, and sugar
place in foil
grill for 5-6 minutes
serve with vanilla ice cream or greek yogurt

Lawry’s Sweet & Seasoned Surprise
2 oz tequila
2 ½ teaspoon sugar
½ cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1/2 cup frozen peaches
Juice of ½ Lemon
Lawry’s seasoned pepper

Mix above in a blender.
Pour some Seasoned Pepper on a plate
Wet Margarita glass with a lemon and dip in Lawry’s seasoning
Enjoy this salty and sweet drink!

Disclaimer: I was compensated for participating in this campaign.

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home, Misc, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, Lawrys, recipes

Cooking with Lawry’s: Cheesy Artichoke Dip Recipe

July 26, 2011 By Whitney 2 Comments

Just last Sunday, I got together with some of my fav Philly bloggers to do some fun cooking with Lawry’s Seasoning products. We were a part of team Philly – our local team competing to come up with the best recipe nationally.

We had a few fun recipes that I’ll share over the next week or two but wanted to start with the one I prepped and cooked, the Cheesy Artichoke Dip! I’ve made this one often but the addition of the Lawry’s Seasoned Salt really changed things up nicely!

Here I am chopping the artichokes:

Here’s the dip all mixed up before we cooked it:

And last but not least, the finished product – yum:

Cheesy Baked Artichoke Dip
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream
<1 tablespoon Lawry’s seasoning
pinch of salt
2 12-ounce can artichoke hearts packed in water, well drained, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 pitch Italian cheese blend, to sprinkle on top of finished dip
French-bread baguette slices, toasted or Gluten Free chips or crackers or celery for dipping

Whisk 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, and Lawry’s seasoning in medium bowl to blend. Stir in chopped artichoke hearts. Transfer mixture to 3-cup ramekin.

Sprinkle dip with 2 tablespoons grated Mexican cheese and paprika.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake dip until heated through, about 25 minutes (about 35 minutes if chilled).

Preheat broiler. Broil until cheese melts, about 2-3 minutes.

Serve warm with unsalted and/or Gluten-free crackers

Filed Under: Cooking, For the Home, Recipes Tagged With: Lawrys, Lawrys Recipe, recipes

Giada De Laurentiis for Target Kitchen

July 18, 2011 By nancy Leave a Comment

Recently I had an opportunity to attend a preview of Target’s new grocery products, which included Giada De Laurentiis for Target Kitchen. Giada De Laurentiis did two cooking demos for us, using her food and culinary products. I am such a Target fan , plus I worked in production at the food network from 94 to 99 (3 years before she joined the channel), so I was so curious to see if she was as warm as she was on TV.

Giada showed us how to make Linguine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Olives and Lemon and Mini Caprese Burgers using the products she developed with Target.

I had a front row view and had a great time watching her cook and hear how she worked with Target. As she did her cooking demo, she chatted with us about kids and dealing with picky eaters (something that I deal with everyday with my oldest child). We found her to be warm and welcoming- plus the food she made was delicious.

Giada told us she prefers to strain her pasta by using a pasta scoop – not just draining a whole heavy pot into a strainer in the sink. She showed us the one she developed with Target called the Giada De Laurentiis for Target® Scoop and Strain Stainless Steel Colander ($14.99). We were given one to take home and it’s my new favorite kitchen tool. I don’t burn myself with the steam anymore by draining a whole pot of pasta — and since I make pasta for my children just about every day, it’s getting a lot of use. She also showed us her Panini Press and Mezzaluna Knife, as well as her Dutch Oven (which at $89.99 is pretty reasonable). As a mom who cooks every night, her tools (which were affordable and quality) are going to inspire me to create even more fun dishes for my family.

For dealing with picky eaters, Giada recommended making a few pasta shapes together to keep kids interested and to have my oldest child help me in the kitchen. We sampled her new specialty foods — note: you’ve GOT to check out her Charred Tomato Vinaigrette ($2.99) and her Pesto! New for 2011 is Bucatini, Galleti, Fuscilli Corti and Gobetti Pasta. The pasta has fun shapes and is organic. Prices range from $2.49 – $2.79.

I couldn’t possibly mention all the great Giada De Laurentiis for Target Products we saw, plus all the amazing Archer Farms and Target branded foods, but we love the selection and all the different specialty items we saw. One theme was rampant– they were affordable and still had quality ingredients. As Giada told us, “Only Target could have the resources to make her pasta sauce $2.99 and not skimp on good ingredients!”.

Thank you to Target who hosted Giada De Laurentiis’ Cooking Demo. We were given a samples of Target Grocery items to take home.

Filed Under: Cooking, Feeding & Mealtime, Feeding Baby, Housewares Tagged With: cooking, Giada De Laurentiis, target