Recipes

Bring Back Dessert with Dessertify

0 · Jul 21, 2014 · 4 Comments

Who’s tired of skipping dessert? We are all trying so hard to be good most of the time, wouldn’t it be fun to get a little bit of that sweet that we crave without all the guilt! I’m super excited to tell you guys about a project that I’ve been working on over the last several months with the crew from FiberOne®…

The crew at FiberOne® has created the new website called Dessertify and we are on a mission to BRING BACK DESSERT!! They’ve assembled a crack crew of food bloggers, gave all of us a mission to find some simple dessert hacks that hovered right around 200 calories… Not an easy mission I assure you. How can you pack all that sweet goodness into such a low calorie profile? Well… You use some great FiberOne® products as your base and the rest is easy!!

I created five different “dessert hacks” for Dessertify, and I’m super excited to finally be able to introduce you to my creations…

Lemon Peach Melba Bar

Let’s just say, the Aussies got it right when they put raspberries and peaches together… I upped the ante with the addition of lemon. Together this dessert hack is like summer on a plate! At just under 200 calories, this dessert hack will for sure bring that fruity sweet back into your life! Click on the Lemon Peach Melba Bar link above to go to Dessertify and get the recipe.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake Rice Pudding Parfait

This dessert hack will take you right back to grandma’s kitchen. This down home concoction of cinnamon coffee cake paired with rice pudding brings comfort dessert back into style. Top it off with some golden raisins and you have a dessert that will warm you even on the coldest night. This dessert at roughly 215 calories will earn grandma’s seal of approval for sure!

Butterscotch Mousse Parfait

This dessert hack will take you to sweet and salty heaven. Check this out… Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie FiberOne® Bar paired with butterscotch pudding, whipped topping, and crushed pretzels… Yea, it’s aaaamazing! At roughly 221 calories this is a sweet & salty fan’s delight.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Mousse

This one is a chocolate lover’s dream. It’s like dunking your cookies in milk, but soooo much better! The addition of a light chocolate mousse just takes this experience to a whole new level. Sitting right around 255 calories, your midnight cookie craving will be something you can truly enjoy!

Blueberry Streusel Parfait

I adore frozen yogurt and this combination of FroYo with the Blueberry Streusel FiberOne® Bar is heavenly! This dessert hack comes in right around 250 calories and is one of my favorites!

Come on over to Dessertify and see all of the other amazing dessert hack ideas. You won’t have to feel guilty after you indulge in dessert anymore!!!

Disclaimer // This post is brought to you by FiberOne®. I received product and payment for my recipe ideas. As always all thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own and I will never post about products that I don’t truly believe in.

Life is Good in the Kitchen When You have the BEST Chicken Salad Recipe

0 · Jul 14, 2014 ·

Chicken Salad Recipe // It has long been said that the kitchen is the heart of the home and I whole heartedly subscribe to that idea. When it comes to house hunting, the very first thing I look at is the kitchen. If it’s not up to muster, I won’t even bother with the rest of the house. It’s truly that important to me. It needs to be spacious, light and very functional. It needs to have a welcoming feeling where friends and family feel natural and at home. I spend 90% of my day in the kitchen, no joke, and through that room I connect with those that I love.

Growing up some of my favorite memories are from the kitchen’s of my Mom and my Grandfather. I have amazing memories of fabulous feasts along with simple memories of sitting with my Grandfather in the morning while he ate his breakfast. He always had olives, cheese and toast for breakfast. The good olives and cheese that were like a foreign language to me. He would always give me a taste and my face would go squiggie with the new sour flavors that my young palette had yet to grow accustomed to.

I have memories of my Mom making some fabulous holiday dinners in tiny kitchens that boggle my mind when I think about it today. How on earth she managed to cook those masterpieces with a tiny oven and hardly any work space just blows me away. I learned so much from her and my Grandfather when it comes to home cooking. They taught be to be fearless!

Together my Mom and Grandfather along with hundreds, if not thousands of hours watching the food network… I feel like I’ve earned a pretty good home cook degree. One of my favorite shows right now is The Kitchen on the Food Network. I TiVo it every week! One of it’s co-hosts is Katie Lee one of my favorite home cooks. Katie has published a couple of cookbooks focused on The Comfort Table. She also has fabulous tips and tricks on how to make comfort food a little easier on the waistline! On top of that she also stars in the LG videos showcasing their products. She is a master of seasonal ingredients and I love learning from her when I watch each episode of The Kitchen.

Now speaking of The Kitchen… Have you seen the kitchen set that Katie gets to work with? Wow, if I could work in a kitchen like that someday, I would be in Heaven! If you haven’t seen it yet… You need to watch an episode and look at this kitchen marvel. First off, the color of the open cabinets is divine, the subway tile, the decorative chalkboards. As far as style is concerned, they nailed it! But did they nail function? Of course! Their kitchen is packed full of aaaamazing LG appliances. Like have you seen the LG Door-in-Door™ Refrigerator?

Brilliant!! It’s like they get me! My kiddos are constantly asking for snacks this summer and rummaging around the fridge. This Door-in-Door™ feature allows you to place approved snacks in the first door and they don’t even have to get their grubby hands inside the main refrigerator. Again, brilliant!

Want a chance to win one of these babies? Visit the LG Door-in-Door™ Facebook page for the Life is Good in the Kitchen, “Caption This” contest for a chance to win a LG Door-in-Door™ Refrigerator of your very own!

One of my favorite recipes that I would love to keep in the LG Door-in-Door™ Refrigerator is my recipe for The BEST chicken salad EVER!!

Seriously beyond good! This is recipe is what makes life good in MY kitchen. It’s one of those summer comfort salads that you can keep stocked in the fridge all summer and your family will LOVE you!

Classic Chicken Salad Recipe

3 large chicken breasts

1 tablespoons dried onion

1 teaspoon salt

2 bay leaves

6 whole all-spice berries

1/2 teaspoon whole cumin

1 1/2 cups of diced celery including the leaves

1 1/2 red grapes – halved

1 large apple – diced

1/2 of a small red onion – diced

1/2 cup cornichion pickles – diced (small dill pickles if you can’t find the cornichion)

2 tablespoons pickle juice

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

salt & pepper

Place chicken, dried onion, salt, bay leaves, all-spice and cumin in a medium sauce pan and cover with water. Place over high heat until it comes to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium high and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through. Remove the chicken from the water and place in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate until the chicken has been thoroughly chilled.

In a large bowl add your diced celery, onion, apple, grapes and pickles. Cut your chicken into small bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl. Add the mayonnaise and pickle juice and combine the mixture thoroughly. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with crackers or make into chicken salad sandwiches with your favorite bread or croissants.

So… what makes life good in your kitchen? Do you have some fun kitchen memories? Or, a favorite recipe? Make sure you head over to the LG Facebook page to enter to win the new LG Door-in-Door™ Refrigerator!

LG Home Appliances are your partner in creating memorable cooking experiences and “Life’s Good” moments in the kitchen.

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

Ladies Fiesta Dinner Party

4 · Jun 30, 2014 · 6 Comments

+ This Ladies Fiesta Dinner Party brought to you by Pepcid® +

As you all know… I LOVE to entertain! The idea of spending time coming up with a menu and cooking all day makes me happy… Seriously I love it! Recently, I had the chance to throw a fun Ladies Fiesta for a few friends for a fun Girls Night IN at my place. SUPER FUN!! Some of you may have followed along on Instagram while I was prepping for the night. Here’s the menu…

Frozen Shirley Temples

Spicy Scallop and Shrimp Cocktail

Creamy Avocado Gazpacho

Light Tacos

Creamy Corn Cups

Fiesta Summer Salad

Dirty Diet Coke

ChocoFlan

Many of the recipes are from or inspired by one of my favorite Food Network Chef’s Marcela Valladolid from Mexican Made Easy. When I decided to have a girls night, I thought a classy fiesta would be super fun and Marcela was the perfect chef to turn to for all kinds of classy fiesta recipes. I didn’t want a night full of chips and guacamole followed with a pan full of enchiladas. I wanted it to be light, fresh and refined. This menu was perfect… Except for one thing.

Here’s a little known fact about me… I have struggled for years with mild heartburn. Over the years, I have learned what foods trigger this condition in me and you would be surprised that even a relatively fresh and light fiesta menu like the one above could cause all kinds of issues with my sensitive stomach. You would think that the typical fiesta fair like heavy burritos and enchiladas would be the only culprits, but it’s not. Everyone is different but even fresh food, if they are high in acid like tomatoes, can trigger a rough night. That’s why when it comes to nights like this, I turn to Pepcid® to help me enjoy the food that I so lovely prepared for my friends! Wouldn’t it be a shame to go to all that work just to suffer in the end? If you are like me at all, you should visit the Pepcid® Facebook page for all kinds of ways to help keep your stomach happy!

Here’s how the night went… I prepped food all day, and while I was doing that I watched as the clouds rolled in. The plan was to eat outside and enjoy a nice summer evening and a rain storm was NOT on the menu. Sure enough, about an hour before the ladies were to arrive, the clouds opened up and DUMPED a ton of rain. YAY! Not to worry, I kept working on party prep and when my friends arrived I put them to work, drying of the table and chairs, no worries there. The rest of the night was perfect, so we didn’t let that little bump create issues for this fiesta! We set the table with fun mismatched plates and dressed it with some simple greenery, lanterns and candles. It looked lovely!

Cocktail + Frozen Shirley Temple +

Once everything was dry, we had my version of a frozen Shirley Temple.

How fun is that? I made a cherry popsicle in my Zoku with all the tasty cherries that are in season right now and then paired it with some coconut La Croix seltzer water to make a fun “cocktail” to start off the night (we aren’t big cocktail drinkers here.) You can get the recipe here!

Appetizer + Scallop & Shrimp Cocktail +

For an appetizer I served a scrumptious scallop and shrimp cocktail…

I kicked this up a notch with some doctored cocktail sauce and then added pan seared, chilled scallops to the shrimp and it was divine. To make it even easier I removed the tail on the shrimp and added it right to the cocktail sauce. It’s much easier to eat with a fork and you don’t have to deal with messy hands… perfect! You can get this recipe here.

Soup + Creamy Avocado Gazpacho with Spicy Croutons +

Next, for the soup course… I served a creamy avocado gazpacho that really hit the spot.

When it comes to cooking for a dinner party, you want simple, yet tasty. Especially in the summer, when you have access to all kinds of fresh veggies, gazpacho is perfect. It’s a chilled soup that is perfect for a classy fiesta. You can find this recipe here.

Main Course + Light Tacos, Fiesta Summer Salad & Creamy Corn Cups +

Since this was a fresh summer take on a fiesta, I decided to go with a lighten-up version of tacos. I found this fun recipe from Marcela for a light taco that used butter lettuce for the shell rather than your traditional corn tortilla. It was super tasty and you can find Marcela’s recipe here.

With the light tacos I served the most amazing salad…

It is a mexican take on a panzanella salad full of tomatoes, olives, spicy croutons and few more tasty surprises. You can find that recipe here.

The last side dish was a little more decadent than the other lighter recipes that we had enjoyed throughout the night. Creamy corn cups are an iconic Mexican treat full of all kinds of creamy goodness. I took that recipe straight from Marcela and you can find that recipe here.

Dessert + CocoFlan & Dirty Diet Coke +

Get ready… this dessert will ROCK YOUR WORLD! Yea, not kidding…

If you are a chocolate cake lover and a flan lover (which apparently I am) This recipe will knock your socks off. It’s chocolate cake and flan together. Again this is one of Marcela’s recipes and it is for sure a show stopper. I will have to say, your guest may beat down your door the following day to get access to the leftovers (if you have any!) Surprisingly enough, this actually pairs nicely with a dirty Diet Coke! You can get the recipe for the ChocoFlan here and the dirty Diet Coke here.

All in all the night was SUPER fun, a total flavor festival and thanks to Pepcid I wasn’t regretting it afterward.

Disclaimer // I have received information, product and materials from McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals C0., the makers of PEPCID®. The opinions stated are my own. This is a sponsored post.

Fiesta Frozen Shirley Temple with Cherry Popsicle

4 · Jun 30, 2014 · Leave a Comment

+ Fiesta Frozen Shirley Temple +

There is a fun new food trend these days that I just love. Creating a drink using a popsicle as one of the elements of the drink, so whimsical and fun! I decided for the fiesta I was to make my version of a Shirley Temple using this fun food trend idea. Since cherries are in season now, I thought it would be perfect. I made a simple syrup and blending that with a bunch of pitted cherries, added a little almond extract and then froze it in my Zoku. You can use a traditional popsicle mold if you don’t have a Zoku. I think it’s actually pretty fun to have your guests make their own popsicles and then add them to their drinks in just 7 minutes. It’s kind of a fun way to start off your party!

Then all you do is add your cherry popsicle to a cup of either seltzer water, I used Coconut La Croix water, or you could use ginger ale or your favorite lemon-lime soda. Either way this is a super tasty treat to start off any party!

Cherry Popsicles

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Take your Shirley Temple to a whole new level with this fun cherry pop recipe.

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Drinks / Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cups pitted cherries - fresh or frozen
1 tsp almond extract

Instructions

Add water and sugar to a small sauce pan and over medium high heat dissolve the sugar to make a simple syrup.
Once the sugar has dissolved into the water remove from heat and cool.
Clean and pit your cherries and add to a blender jar.
Pour in cooled simple syrup and blend until you have a nice puree.
Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 4 hours or 7 minutes if you have a Zoku.
Enjoy the popsicle as is or create a frozen Shirley Temple by placing your popsicle into a cup with seltzer water, ginger ale or lemon-lime soda. Enjoy!