Doing a guest post

Hey Guys...today I'm doing a guest post over at Mom's Test Kitchen. If you haven't stopped over to her site before...you REALLY need to check it out.

 Not to mention the cookies I'm posting about are to-die-for! Now if you're gonna cheat on those New Year's resolutions....these are the ones to do it with!

Hope everyone is having a great day…and make sure to have a good weekend!



 

Alexia Foods – Spicy Sweet potato Fries

 

A couple weeks ago I got my Alexia Foods buzz pack from Bzz Agent. I hadn’t realized until I got the pack and started looking through it that I’d eaten their foods before. I looked through the box of goodies which included a reusable shopping bag and several coupons for free some of their all natural products. Not to mention additional coupons to pass out…so if anyone would like some $1 coupons just let me know!

Remembering to take my coupons with me is the hard part….I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’ve tried the whole coupon thing and can never remember the darn coupons (other than for diapers). I did find Alexia products at Target, Publix and Kroger. I think Target probably had the largest selection.

Hailey and I LOVE sweet potatoes so I was really excited to try out the spicy sweet potato fries. We ended up finding those and the regular curly fries. I was sneaky and didn’t let the rest of the non-sweet potato eating family know what they are….<evil grin>. Of course Hailey and I loved them, but the big shocker was that the hubby and my oldest liked them as well.

I nearly fell over when I saw my oldest eating them….he HATES and I mean hates sweet potatoes. “I was like….you do know what you’re eating…right??” And he was like “yup” and went right on eating them.

I would say that this was definitely a thumbs up!

Pork…it’s what we had for dinner!

Yes I know…I’ve had a slew of food posts on here lately. Can ya blame me…it IS that time of year where you eat all kinds of food and try not to suffer the consequences! I will be spending all kinds of hours at the gym over the next couple weeks so I can continue to ENJOY and not feel guilty about it too (YES, I did stick out my tongue...)!

I work out so I can eat what I want, well and so I can get rid of the rest of the baby weight. Thank goodness it’s almost all gone! But I digress…ya’ll I’m sure are wondering what my lovely title is referring to.

As one of my buzz campaigns I received a package with coupons for pork, directions and recipes on cooking it and a lovely digital meat thermometer. Who ever thought I’d be excited about a meat thermometer? Not I, but I was. I love getting stuff in the mail and over the last couple weeks I’ve been invited to all kinds of buzz campaigns. How can a girl say no….this leads me to having to play catch up which I’m not too fond of.

One of things I loved about the package is the descriptions it had on the different cuts and cooking times. For me, it’s always hard to remember these things off the top of my head or to find a quick reference.

 

On to the meal!  I decided to do pork tenderloin that I seasoned and cooked in the oven at 425 degrees for 28 minutes.  While I was cooking that I also put in the homemade macaroni and cheese and cooked some rice. Towards the end of the cooking time I stuck the bread in to crisp and steamed some fresh veggies.

 

It was obviously a hit around here…there were NO LEFTOVERS! That’s always a good sign.

 

 

Tea Nirvana

Teavana is definitely a good name for the place. Once you get in there you never leave…or want to! Hailey just LOVES their Pineapple Kona Pop & Blueberry Bliss Rooibos Iced Tea…they have this blend in the stores right now. Needless to say EVERY time we go to the mall we have to stop there and have some. This stuff tastes like juice instead of tea and its waaaayyy healthier.

source

Mommy broke down and bought this mix today in addition to the green tea one I bought the other day. I’m not big on hot drinks, but I do make sure we have iced tea in the fridge at all times. I had already been mixing bagged teas at home for different flavors and variety.  I probably should have known better than to stop in the store. I don’t know about you, but I was clueless to the loose leaf tea. All of them smell awesome! It is so hard to pick just one and I’m sure that’s what they’re counting on.

I don’t know if I could back to just plain ole tea again…yikes! BTW…this is a totally free endorsement for those evil (but really nice) folks at Teavana.

How to make the perfect iced tea:

Tea has all kinds of health benefits…it just depends on which kinds of tea you use. To reap the most benefits you need to use the least processed version, which is loose leaf tea. The normal tea you think of is made from tea bags that contain “tea dust” rather than whole leaves. This kind of tea drastically reduces the health benefits and flavor.

Making homemade iced tea is very similar to making hot tea, but there are a few differences. Follow these steps on how to make great tasting gourmet iced tea:

1.      Double the amount of loose tea that you would use for hot tea (I made a half gallon with the perfect tea maker and used 1 C)
* As an added note, you can leave the leaves in the container and reuse them 1 more time.

Perfect tea maker from Teavana

     2.      If you prefer sweet tea, add sugar with the leaves while the water is hot (the sugar melts and is better incorporated into the tea)

3.     Immediately after the hot tea is brewed, pour it into a glass or pitcher filled almost to the top with ice. The sudden cooling keeps the flavor and scent of the tea intact (I had never heard this before, but it makes sense).

If you guys try the tea at one of the stores…this is the process that they used to make it. I used all my investigative powers to get the dirt on this out of them! It's ok...I won't blame you when you want to say explatives in my direction when you get addicted to it!

 

 

Cute tins we bought at the store for our tea!

Fishy business

I don’t know about the rest of ya’ll, but I am CONSTANTLY on the lookout for quick, easy and different meals to make for the fam. I get tired of the same old same old stuff day in and day out. A couple weeks ago I got asked to join a Buzz Campaign for Gorton's Skillet Crisp Tilapia. I said sure…bring it on. We love fish, but it’s not something I go out of my way to make on a daily basis. When I do make it, it’s usually on the grill.

Here’s the low down from Gorton’s:

Every Skillet Crisp fillet is made with Gorton's 5-Star Tilapia^® — only the mildest, flakiest whole fillets are selected and then seasoned with a crisp coating of real herbs and spices in two flavorful varieties: Garlic & Herb Seasonings and Classic Seasonings with a Touch of Lemon. Because the whole, natural fillets are lightly coated, Gorton's Skillet Crisp Tilapia gives you more fish in every bite!

Now on to the all-important taste test:

I do have to tell you I was pleasantly surprised. When I think frozen fish I think miscellaneous pieces of fish mushed to together to make some non-natural shape. Not too appealing to say the least. When I opened the package…it actually looked like a piece of lightly breaded fish. Ding, ding ding…bonus number one.

The cooking time was minimal and EASY! By the time I had everything else ready…so was the fish. No on to the taste… We are somewhat fish connoisseurs around here (I may not cook it much….but we do eat it out a lot). I was a little skeptical.

I served ours with asparagus, homemade seasoned french fries and cheddar rolls….yummy. The flavor and texture was waaaayyyy better than normal frozen, but not quite as good as fresh. I would have to say I could see us eating this again. Good job Gorton’s.

Progresso Recipe Starters

A couple weeks ago I finally finished up my Buzz Agent info and received an offer to try out Progresso’s new Recipe Starters. I’m like HEY…free stuff, bring it on! Not to mention I’m ALWAYS looking for new ideas of things to make for dinner. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes find myself getting into a rut of what I’m making for us to eat. It gets kind of boring. If I’m gonna eat…I want to like what I’m eating!

I chose the creamy parmesan basil version (there are four other yummy looking versions as well… you can find more info on those here). The container comes with a recipe on the inside of the wrapper, but they also have a slew of additional recipe options that you can get. Not to mention they have a code you can scan to get a months’ worth of recipe options. I’m all about EASY and ideas or prompts on what to make!

I picked the recipe on the can for Creamy Chicken Alfredo. It was quick and easy to follow (even if you aren’t a person that cooks all the time, which unfortunately IS NOT me).

Easy Weeknight Creamy Chicken Alfredo

• Ingredients
• 8 oz uncooked fettuccine
• 1 package (1 1/4 lb) boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can (18 oz) Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ creamy Parmesan basil cooking sauce
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup whipping cream or half-and-half
• Directions

1. Cook and drain fettuccine as directed on package.
2. While pasta is cooking; in 12-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink in center. Add butter and garlic; cook until garlic is softened. Stir in cooking sauce, Parmesan cheese and cream. Simmer 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until well blended.
3. Serve over fettuccine.

I did tweak the recipe a bit by adding more cheese, garlic and pasta (there’s enough sauce to use a whole box of pasta instead of half a box) then what was called for and I would suggest cutting the chicken into smaller pieces. Around here we like LOTS of cheese, garlic and pasta! With increasing the pasta and chicken you could definitely feed more than the four servings it states on the container (we had leftovers). I would say we would definitely try another of the sauces and recipes in the future.

 

Pin it Monday- From Bananas to Cleaners

Pinterest

Ok, so this week I did several small things from pins on Pinterest.  The first being this pin I found on making your bananas last longer banana pin (the link then takes you to here). They don’t really last that long around here because Hailey can eat her some bananas (like at EVERY meal…not that I’m complaining). I don't know about, but I prefer my bananas to be JUST ripe so they haven’t gotten to the point of brown and mushy…yuck! Anyways, the gist of the pin is that you wrap saran wrap around the stem of the banana bunch and it will make them last several days longer…I’m kinda meah about the whole thing. I guess it did make them last longer, but it was kind of a pain in the booty to keep the saran wrap on them. Needless to say, I’ve stopped doing it!

Pinterest

The second pin that has been repined like a million times (for good reason) is the miracle stain remover! This is the one from my Pinboard here .With kids of all ages (including the hubby) you have stains out the wazoo (well… we do). Take equal parts hydrogen peroxide and dawn dish detergent and combine in a spray or squeeze bottle (they say use the blue Dawn, but I have used several different ones and they ALL worked). This mix has been touted as being able to take out old stains as well, but I personally have not been able to get it to do that. I also saw someone saying to use it to clean your carpet…not so good on that either (I use Windex for that one). But all in all…I’ve been using this stuff on ALL our stains for months! With Hailey's stuff I wet the item, apply the stain remover and then rub it in...I can then let her clothes sit till I'm ready to wash them (which at times can be days). It works awesome and is SUPER cheap. Whoever thought this up originally out to be knighted or something.