Appetizer

Tomato Jam Recipe + GIVEAWAY

6 · Apr 28, 2016 · 12 Comments

My earliest food memories are of tomatoes…

No joke! One of my earliest memories is picking a tomato from the vine out of my Dad’s garden. I was two and a half or three and sat down and ate those scrumptious tomatoes right then and there. I remember the smell that fills the air when you pull the tomato from the vine. It’s earthy with a hint of grass and a promise of good things to come. I remember, even as a three year old, eating that tomato that was still warm from the heat of the day… magical!

From that point forward I wanted tomato on EVERYTHING!

I remember refusing to eat tacos one night because my Mom had forgotten to get tomatoes from the store. Yep, I would rather go without the taco if it was missing my favorite tomatoes. I was six or seven at the time, but I still have the same feelings as an adult… I just have to act like an adult and not throw a fit.

Tomatoes are truly one of my favorite foods.

Because of that, I was thrilled to find out about Bushel Boy Tomatoes™ grown right here in the USA, in Minnesota to be exact.

The crew at Bushel Boy has developed a fabulous greenhouse system that helps them grow tomatoes year-round. Yep, even in January they have beautiful red, vine ripened tomatoes ready for us to add to our salads and sandwiches.

You can find all kinds of tasty ideas at the Bushel Boy Facebook.

The Bushel Boy Tomatoes are pollinated with bees… the natural way. They also limit the amount of pesticides used and have eliminated herbicides all together. They have worked really hard to create a tomato that takes me back to those magical days in my Dad’s garden.

One of my Dad’s favorite sandwiches of all time is the classic BLT… Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato. Being a tomato lover myself, it’s one of my favorites too. A few years ago my husband and I were at a restaurant and we were introduced to tomato jam. When I read about it on the menu my mind was blown and I couldn’t wait to make my own.

Tomato Jam is both savory and sweet at the same time. It cooks down those flavorful tomatoes into a virtual tomato bomb that really enhances all kinds of sandwiches or appetizers.

You know when you’ve eaten something transcending at a restaurant and wished that you could duplicate that kind of flavor at home, that is what tomato jam does. It takes your normal BLT and kicks it up SEVERAL notches.

The best part… It’s SUPER EASY to make!

This recipe is inspired by Mark Bittman’s Tomato Jam recipe. Tomato Jam is perfect for a high end BLT appetizer OR just your everyday BLT sandwich that we all love. I’ll show you how to make both.

Tomato Jam Recipe

5.0 from 1 reviews

Tomato Jam

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

1 hour 15 mins

Total time

1 hour 25 mins

Tomato Jam is perfect to add a little kick to your sandwiches & appetizers.

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Serves: 1 pint

Ingredients

1½ lbs. Bushel Boy Tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 small red onion
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions

Wash tomatoes
Cut in quarters and remove seeds then give them a rough chop.
Add to a medium, heavy bottom sauce pot and place over high heat.
Add remaining ingredients and let tomatoes come to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer, stirring occasionally for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until it's nice and thick like jam. You should be able to run a spoon down the center of the pot and the jam will stay in place.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Place in a jar, refrigerate for up to one week.

First, wash and prep your tomatoes.

Cut tomatoes in quarter and remove the seeds.

Give them a rough chop.

Add the rest of your ingredients and place over high heat until it comes to a boil, then reduce to medium-low to simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat when your tomatoes have cooked down to a jam consistency.

Now that you’ve made your tomato jam… Here are two ways you can serve it.

BLT Crostini with Tomato Jam Appetizer

You can find the recipe HERE.

Or you can have a slightly fancy…

BLT Sandwich with Tomato Jam

Click HERE for the recipe.

Now that I’ve gotten you in a tomato mood… How about a GIVEAWAY!

The lovely folks at Bushel Boy are giving one of you a fabulous Wüsthof Tomato Knife. Here’s what you need to do to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What is your favorite way to use tomatoes?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bushel Boy Tomatoes. The opinions and text are all mine.

Balsamic Chicken Bites Recipe

6 · Jan 21, 2016 · 1 Comment

+ This Balsamic Chicken Bites Recipe is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tyson Foods, Inc. All opinions are entirely my own. +

It’s getting EXCITING!!

THE BIG GAME is almost here!

No matter who you are rooting for, the Super Bowl is always a fantastic time to gather with friends and family to enjoy some crazy excitement together and to enjoy some fantastic food!

Whether the game is a wild ride or a blowout, you want to make sure your game time snacks are ON POINT!

The Super Bowl just isn’t the Super Bowl without a scrumptious, tempting spread of all kinds of snackable treats. Just like any event or holiday, you want to make sure you have some great recipes that are tried and true so that you can look like a kitchen ROCKSTAR!

You can find all kinds of fantastic ideas at Talk About Delicious or the Talk About Delicious Game Pinterest Board. It’s packed full of great ideas. Today, I have a tasty recipe for you as well. Our family’s favorite Balsamic Chicken Bites…

What I LOVE about this little bite sized treat is that it’s on the healthier end of the typical game time snack spectrum and it’s packed full of flavor. It’s also super easy to make, you can even make it a head of time which is fabulous, since you don’t want to be bogged down with food prep when you’re with your friends and the game is on.

I typically head to Walmart to gather all of my supplies. I love using the fresh Tyson® Chicken found in the refrigerated meat section of the store. Then I grab the rest of the ingredients for my marinade, one of the stars of the show.

For the chicken marinade you’ll need–

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon salt & pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Cut two Tyson® Chicken Breasts into bite-sized pieces and add your dry ingredients.

Then add your wet ingredients and mix well. Store in an air tight container or Ziploc bag for at least one hour or up to 4 hours. This is a strong marinade and you don’t want to over do it with those bite sized pieces of chicken.

Now, this marinade is one of my go-to recipes when it comes to making scrumptious chicken meals for the family throughout the year. When I am using it with whole Tyson® Chicken Breasts, I can marinate it overnight and it will be just fine. I normally serve it with a lovely salad and some French bread and you’re good to go.

Once the chicken is full of that balsamic flavor, you’re ready to cook your chicken. Typically if I am cooking whole breasts, we grill them BUT, since these little gems won’t really work on the grill AND it’s February… I cook them inside either on a cast iron grill pan or a cast iron pan. I LOVE my cast iron cookware, I’ve grabbed most of my pans at Walmart. They are fantastic and you can’t beat the price. I purchased the pan I’m using in the photo below for less than $15!

Now these little gems cook pretty quick. I heat-up my pan until it’s screaming hot and then I turn down the temperature to medium. I add a little olive oil to the pan and then place the chicken into the pan making sure not to over crowd them or add too much liquid to the pan. You want to sear them, NOT boil or steam them. I typically cook them in batches. Turn them after 1-2 minutes and continue to do so until you have a good sear on them. Make sure to keep a close watch on them. Because of the high sugar content, they can burn quickly.

These little balsamic chicken gems cook pretty fast, usually 4-5 minutes but you’ll want to check the temperature to make sure they are fully cooked and are safe at 165˚. Remove from pan and set aside until you have finished cooking all of your chicken.

Tyson® Balsamic Chicken Bites

Next, all you need to do is assemble your Balsamic Chicken Bites. You’ll need…

cherry or grape tomatoes

balsamic chicken gems

buffalo mozzarella pearls

Now, the key to making this appetizer sing is to pair the Balsamic Chicken gems with some scrumptious bite-sized tomatoes like these cherry tomatoes still on the vine or some lovely grape tomatoes. Either one will work really well.

I use a large toothpick and feed a tomato onto the toothpick followed by a balsamic chicken gem and then cap it with a buffalo mozzarella pearl.

It’s super slick. You can either serve the chicken warm or cold. They taste great either way. I like to lay out a few basil leaves to set the Balsamic Chicken Bites on…

… I love how it adds some lovely color and some fresh vibrant flavors to your Super Bowl spread!

Looking for more GAME DAY ideas? Don’t forget to visit Talk About Delicious for more fantastic ideas and then visit your local Walmart to stock-up on all your game day goodies!

Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

0 · Dec 17, 2015 ·

Oh, stuffed mushrooms… How I love thee!

Seriously, I love them!

BUT, let’s go back a ways… I remember sitting in the school cafeteria when I was a little first grader, sitting with all of my friends. At one point someone started talking about foods they hated and mushrooms became the number one food on the hit list. I remember sitting there not really knowing if I loved, liked or hated mushrooms, but if all of these 1st graders hated them, I must too!

That was the beginning of my war against mushrooms. My mom didn’t cook with them often, but when she did, I most definitely turned up my nose and refused to eat whatever she had served. Mushrooms were poison!

Fast forward 10 years and I found myself at a Christmas Party hosted by one of my friend’s Mom and they were serving stuffed mushrooms. Heavens… There was no way I was going to try that evil concoction! Then they were passed my way and luckily my Mother had taught me good manners, I graciously took one and then started to sweat trying to figure out how to wiggle my way out of this pickle. Everyone was gushing over the mushrooms and I could feel the pressure to try these nasty little bits. I steeled myself for a rough experience and tried a little bite to save face and not look like a little jerk and then… The heavens opened!

ARE YOU KIDDING?!

Is this what mushrooms taste like?

Boy was I mislead! Darn you little first grade friends!

It didn’t hurt that these little gems where topped with a lovely concoction of sausage, bread crumbs, cheese and who knows what else. They were amazing!

That my friends was the beginning of my love for mushrooms especially stuffed mushrooms.

This is one of those gem recipes that is great to pull out when you really want to impress your guests. It’s really easy to make, but it looks labor intensive. It’s also one of those recipes that mostly uses ingredients that are easy to store in your pantry and if not, they are easy to grab at your local Market.

I ran to my local Walmart here in Lincoln…

And grabbed some mushrooms, Progresso™ Italian Style Bread Crumbs, sausage (you can find my favorite sausage brand HERE), onion, parsley, parmesan cheese, cream cheese, garlic & white wine.

I usually keep some Progresso™ Bread Crumbs in my pantry at all times. They are perfect for this recipe and so many others like chicken parmesan, meatballs, eggplant parmesan, meatloaf, oven “fried” veggies… The list goes on and on. They’re PERFECT for these stuffed mushrooms!!

Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

+ This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten’s Stuffed Mushroom recipe +

20-25 button mushrooms or petite portobello mushrooms

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons white wine

1/2 of a small to medium onion

1 lb mild sausage

2 garlic gloves minces

1 cup Progresso™ Italian Style Bread Crumbs

2/3 cup cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

Directions

Clean mushrooms and remove stems. Do not discard stems. In a bowl pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the white wine over the mushrooms to marinade them while you’re prepping the sausage stuffing, set aside.

In a medium sauce pan add the remaining olive oil over medium high heat.

Add onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add sausage and cook until nicely browned, 8-10 minutes. Then add garlic and the remaining mushroom stems chopped into fine pieces. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Lower the heat to medium low and add bread crumbs.

Next, remove from heat and add the parmesan and cream cheeses and mix well letting the cheese melt into the mixture.

Finally add the chopped parsley and combine.

Place mushrooms in a cast iron pan or baking dish like so…

Spoon sausage mixture on top of the mushroom caps.

Top with parmesan cheese and place in a 325˚ oven for 50 minutes.

Loosely lay a sheet of foil over the top of the mushrooms to avoid excess browning. Remove foil for the last 5 minutes to finish browning.

Remove from oven and serve warm.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Progresso™ The opinions and text are all mine.

Original Chex Mix Recipe + Merry Chexmas Printable Gift Tag

123 · Dec 10, 2015 ·

Who doesn’t love a classic?

So many times I find myself drawn to the classic recipes. They are tried and true, they are what brands are built on. I’m totally that way with my Chex Mix as well. I have childhood memories of sharing Original Chex Mix with friends at sleepovers and at our first “boy/girl” parties. Remember that? It was such a fun new idea back in the day.

The thing about classics, they NEVER go out of style.

The classic white shirt, classic cars, black pumps, jeans… the list can go on and on.

Today, I’m sharing a fun way to take the classic Original Chex Mix, package it up and give it as a fun gift for friends & neighbors this Holiday Season! You know… Not everyone on your list LOVES sweets!

First you need to mix up a batch of Original Chex Mix, you can find the recipe HERE.

Then you need to gather some jars. I found some fun gifting jars at Target that have a flat surface on the sides so that they are easier to add labels to. They are in the holiday baking section at Target.

I designed this fun label that you can print on either card stock and tie onto your jar OR you can print it on label paper and stick it to the side of your jar.

Click HERE to download the printable Merry Chexmas tag.

You can either print it on white label paper OR I love the Printable Gold Foil that Silhouette makes.

All you need to do is cut around the edges, leaving a little border around the edge and then affix them to your jars. It couldn’t be any simpler. Fill your jars with your Original Chex Mix…

And then top it off with a bow…

I also spray painted my lids gold so they wouldn’t clash with my gold label, but that’s not totally necessary. Now you have a GREAT savory gift that is perfect for friends, neighbors, teachers, the office, the mail man, your bus driver… Basically ANYONE!

You can do all kinds of other stuff with this idea… Layer some Original Chex Mix with some Muddy Buddies for a savory & sweet treat. You can find all kinds of other ideas at Chex Mix. You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest. They even have a whole site devoted to all things Chex Party Mix!

You’ve been armed… What are you going to gift this Holiday Season?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of ChexTM. The opinions and text are all mine.

Appetizer

Tomato Jam Recipe

BLT Crostini with Tomato Jam Appetizer

BLT Sandwich with Tomato Jam

For the chicken marinade you’ll need–

Tyson® Balsamic Chicken Bites

Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

Directions

Click HERE to download the printable Merry Chexmas tag.

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