Coupon for Gluten Free Mixes

Hi all! I know a bunch of people wanted to win the gluten free prize pack I was giving away. Here's kind of a consolation prize for everyone :)

I stole this from Jane...

Betty Crocker is offering a FREE coupon for their new Gluten-Free dessert mixes. You need to call 1-800-446-1898 and select option 4 and talk with a live operator. They will ask you a few questions along with your mailing address and you should have the coupon in a few weeks.

Giveaway at Joy of Desserts

As much as I love to bake, I was excited to find this giveaway as I was blog-hopping. Head on over to Joy of Desserts to check out the "Julia & Julia" book giveaway. I've read wonderful reviews about the book. Also, there will be 5 winners!

Gluten Free Dessert Winner!

Random.org has spoken!

Jim is the winner of the gluten-free dessert pack! Congrats! Please contact me as soon as possible with your mailing info.

Spicy Chicken Rub

I was looking for a new chicken recipe and I found this. I subscribed to the newsletter a while ago but completely forgot about it. Anywho, we cook on our George Foreman a lot since we live in a tiny apartment so I tried to adapt it to fit my needs. While I thought this turned out WAY too spicy, my BF loved it with the rice. Next time I make it, I'll probably try to make it with a little less heat.

Spicy Chicken Rub

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

2 chicken breasts cubed (you can also use 4 whole chicken breasts)

Mix the spices together. Roll chicken in spices and rub. Grill until done. Serve with BBQ sauce if desired.

Also, I need to thank Kristen for the Chex Mix Turtle Bars that I won in her giveaway. These things are delicious! Everyone should go out and try them.

One last note - my Gluten-Free Dessert Mix Giveaway ends at 9pm Eastern Time tomorrow. Sign up now!

Gluten Free Desserts! PLUS Giveaway!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been gone for a while. Been busy with work and life. Welcome to everyone here from SonyaAnn's blog! Glad to have ya - you got here just in time for a fun post!

I recently signed up at My BlogSpark to review some products. I was a bit skeptical at first since I've never used this type of service. I'll tell you what though, I was pleasantly surprised. As soon as I had signed up, I saw an offer to try out a new line of gluten-free dessert mixes from Betty Crocker. I know a few people that are on a gluten free diet so I thought this would be interesting to try out.

Heres what I got:

• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix


• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil´s Food Cake Mix


• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix


• Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

PLUS 2 free coupons for any of the varieties, a grocery tote bag, magnetic grocery list and pen to organize my grocery shopping!

I got this about a week after I signed up. I promptly made the brownie mix since I noticed that it had chocolate chunks in it :)

The brownie mix was different than what i expected. It was very granular not powdery like regular mixes. It makes a small pan (8x8). they cooked very nicely and once they cooled I was surprised at how good they were. They were not as sweet or gooey as other mixes are but they were delicious. They were cakey like I like them but the chocolate chunks made them nice and moist. Overall, I'd definitely consider making them again.

I JUST made the chocolate chip cookies. Again the batter was granular. It only called for a stick of softened butter, vanilla and an egg. I thought the batter wasn't firm enough so I added about a tablespoon of water. 10 minutes later, I had cookies. These were some pretty darn good cookies. mmmmm They're still warm. They are very soft and light. The chocolate chips melted nicely. Overall, they turned out pretty awesome and they were super easy to make.

I'll be making the other mixes some other time - prolly to take in treats to work. I'm sure they'll be delicious! I wanted to to get this post up to let everyone know about these yummy new deserts.

Now for the fun part: GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Leave a comment by 9pm Eastern Time on Saturday 7/18. I'll pick a winner from the comments :)

Winner gets the same awesome set I got to enjoy for themselves or share with others!

Please make sure that I have a way to contact you via blog or email. Thanks!

Baked Ziti

So, I finally got around to making baked ziti. I hunted for a recipe on RecipeZaar and I found one I could work with that didn't call for ricotta (BF hates ricotta). I also added a little more to it to make it a little heartier.

Baked Ziti

about 20 oz spaghetti sauce

about 8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup milk

16 oz vegetable broth - (I only had chicken broth on hand)

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

16 oz ziti pasta, uncooked

1 lb browned ground meat (I used lean beef)

1 1/2 cup fresh chopped mushrooms

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a very large mixing bowl, combine spaghetti sauce with sour cream and milk. Stir in broth. Add 1/2 cup mozzarella, parmesan cheese, mushrooms and browned meat. Stir in ziti and blend well. Pour out into 9x13-inch baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for one hour. After one hour, take out baking dish, uncover (carefully—very hot steam), and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella (add more if you like). Return dish to oven without cover and bake 5 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

~Note: This FILLED the baking dish. Just to be safe, I put it on a foil covered baking sheet so if it bubbled up too much, I wouldn't have a mess to clean in the oven.

This turned out nice and creamy and very delicious! I'll be making this again for sure.

Peach Muffins / Peach Bread

Before my car went in the shop, I bought a bunch of peaches to eat for lunch during the week and for general snacks. Well, since I didn't go to work they got all smooshy.... I couldn't let them go bad so I cleaned, peeled, pitted, and diced them up. Then I went hunting for something sweet to make with them. I stumbled upon Kristen's Peach Cobbler Muffins! PERFECT! I modified it a little to use what I had. They smelled HEAVENLY!!!

Here's my version:

Peach Muffins / Peach Bread

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat flour
1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup oil

1/3 cup applesauce
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups peeled, pitted, chopped peaches

Preheat oven to 400*. Lightly grease muffin pan. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, eggs, sugar and milk. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just moist. Fold in the peaches. Using a 1/3 cup, spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake 18-20 minutes. Let sit on the counter for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling wrack. Makes about 2 dozen.

I only made 1 dozen and opted to make a peach bread loaf with the remaining batter. It had to stay in the oven a bit longer. I think I left it in for a total of about 30 mins - just keep testing with a toothpick until it comes out *fairly* clean - remember: THIS IS VERY MOIST! It was freakin' delicious. Now I have breakfast/lunch muffins for a week! Luckily my BF doesn't like peaches. I get to have them ALL TO MYSELF!

Butter Experiment

Since last Friday, my car has been in the shop to get some body work done.  Hence, I have been without a car since then.  I have been bored out of my mind as a result.  I'd rather be at work being productive.  Well, in any case, my sisters visited yesterday and I made my homemade pizza which they LOVED!  (I love it when people go back for seconds ^_^) They also chauffeured me around to pick up some groceries.  Since I knew I was going to be car-less for another day, I bought a tiny container of heavy cream.  To keep myself entertained I figured I'd try to make butter.

Basically, fill a mason jar half full with heavy cream that is at room temperature.  If it's cold, this whole process will take a lot longer.  Shake until the contents seize up and you have a mass of butter sloshing around in buttermilk.  For me, this took about 15-20 minutes of shaking.  Place the mason jar contents in a small bowl.  Drain off the buttermilk.  Store it in another mason jar and use it in pancakes or biscuits or whatever.  Rinse off the remaining butter until the water runs clear.  This makes sure that all the buttermilk is removed from the butter.  Any small amount of buttermilk will cause the butter to spoil.  Add salt or other seasonings (garlic powder, paprika.....) at the point.  Make sure it is well mixed.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge or place on wax paper, roll into logs and freeze for later use.  

Anywho, this was a fun experiment.  If I were a SAHM I'd maybe try to do this on a regular basis but between a full time job and starting school in August, I don't think I'll have time to make my own butter.

Besides the good arm workout, the butter was DELICIOUS!  I highly recommend trying this at least once. 

^_^

Copy-Cat McDonald's Chicken McNuggets

My last experiment with chicken nuggets was kinda sucky. However, this recipe I modified was delicious! Don't they look yummy!

2 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts (that’s 4 breast fillets)
1 teaspoon of Salt
1/2 teaspoon of Oregano
1/4 teaspoon of Onion powder

1/4 teaspoon of Garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of Pepper
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Cup of Flour
about 1.5 Cups of Oil for frying (I used Canola oil)

Heat oil in a heavy-duty skillet on medium-high heat while preparing the chicken nuggets - it should be ready to work with once half of your nuggets are ready to go in.

Cube chicken and place in a food processor. Blend chicken until it has all been taken apart and is a fine paste. Remove to a bowl and add salt, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper, and combine well.

Pour out flour on a plate and have your beaten eggs in a small bowl ready to work with.

Roll the chicken paste mixture into 34 ping-pong ball-sized balls (smaller than a golf ball).

Roll ball a “chicken ball” in flour, then in egg, and then in flour again. Then, press the ball down to make a nugget. Set nuggets aside.

Sprinkle the hot oil with some flour and if it bubbles really quickly right away, your oil is ready for frying. Place as many nuggets as possible in the oil, and fry until the bottoms are golden, turn and fry until the other side is golden. Will take about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove to a towel-lined plate (to catch any excess oil).

The original site has tips for making them perfect. Check it out.

~ adapted from recipe at For the Love of Food

Being Productive

So tonight I needed to bake some of my Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies for a guy at work for his birthday - they're his favorite. Since my oven was already going to be on, I figured I'd make some more granola for breakfast (I'm almost out!) and some more granola bars for lunches and quick breakfasts.

Here are the fruits of my labor ^_^

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vanilla-Honey Bunch Granola

Chewy Granola Bars - Milk Chocolate Chip
Chewy Granola Bars - White Chocolate Chip
Yum!