Category: Cooking

I Have a Giant Suprise!

We recently got to try the new Green Giant Veggie Snack Chips.  We tried the Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips & the Mulitgrain Sweet Potato chips.  They tasted so good who knew there was a surprise hiding in each chip…..VEGGIES!

Everyone loves a good surprise right?  Well, did you know I have a secret talent?  It’s actually something my whole family does.  My Dad used to do it with his brothers and they taught their kids and so on…..

So what is it?  Well, it’s silly, but we take great pride in our squeaking abilities.  My Dad and his brothers can squeak entire songs by just blowing out their lips and making tunes.  I can squeak too, but I’m not as good at carrying a tune as they are.  It’s more difficult than you might think.

Put your lips together and try blowing out…..did you make a noise?  Do you think you can carry a tune or even squeak a song?  It takes talent and by golly my Dad has it and I’m proud to say I carry on that “secret” family talent too!  It’s taken years to perfect but I’m getting there.

Who knew these delicious looking chips are containing a GIANT surprise?
The Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips – Zesty Cheddar Flavor are made with real vegetables, 17 grams of whole grain per serving (48g are recommended daily), and are naturally flavored.
 
The Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Sea Salt Flavor are made with real sweet potatoes and made with 14 grams of whole grain. Plus, they contains 40 percent less fat than regular potato chips!
 
Green Giant Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips (6g per 28g serving) have 40 percent less fat than regular potato chips (10g per 28g serving).
 Roasted Veggie Tortilla
 Mulitgrain Sweet Potato chips

I’m a working Mom and Wife.  Often times it’s hard to feed my family, let alone feed them healthy things.  I always have snacks in the car with me.  DFW traffic+snacks=my sanity!  Often times those snacks are very unhealthy and I end up feeling guilty for giving Connor something to eat that isn’t good. 

It’s so nice that Green Giant has these healthy options.  I loooooooved the sweet potato chips!  Connor really liked the cheesy roasted veggie tortilla.  I mean what 3 year old doesn’t love anything with cheese?  It’s a much better option than the cheese puffs he prefers, and honestly he couldn’t put the bag down.  HE LOVED THEM.

Any way I can get nutrition or a vegetable in this child is wonderful!

 Obviously enjoying those chips ey?
 

Check out the Green Giant Facebook page and upload a video or picture of your secret talent!

You can also print off a coupon for 85 cents off Veggie Snack Chips HERE

Check out the surprise talents the Green Giant has unearthed.

Thank you to The Green Giant™ for being a sponsor. Show the Giant your surprise talent at www.facebook.com/greengiant

Sweet Tooth Anyone?

When Addyson was here last weekend she helped me bake a cake!  It turned out to be a Halloween cake.  She is so good with icing.  This was actually supposed to be a 3 tiered cake, but it ended up my layers were too thin.  So it’s a sloped cake???

Regardless it was delicious!  So here is our Halloween-y Cake 🙂 
My friend Kristin made these MINIONS for her son’s 10th birthday!
Aren’t they adorable?
My Favorite Sweets!!!!
Godiva Extra Dark Chocolate Truffles
Godiva Cheesecake (My Favorite!)
Chocolate chocolate cupcakes


Symphony Brownies RECIPE

I may be a bit of a chocoholic???

British Cupcakes

I made my co-workers cupcakes last night.  They are so cute!  I got these British cupcake toppers off of Zulily and they came just in time so I could make some Olympic inspired treats.

What Olympic inspired tasty treats are ya’ll making???

I like to sit on my sofa eating cupcakes watching super toned athletes compete…what about you?

Olympic Cupcakes

There is probably a reason I’m not a “food blogger”.  I love to eat and bake…but I ain’t the best at it ya’ll!  I just sounded like Paula Dean there….

 Here I was trying to get the the Olympic spirit…so I made these simple cupcakes with M&M’s:

Then…..they started slip sliding away…..
 “Wah-wah”
As long as they TASTE good right?
I do not like canned icing so I tried a new recipe.  It tastes great, but was a little runny.
I’d give this tryout a 7/10 🙂

Banana Berry Bread

I tried a new recipe the other day and it was really good!
It was a banana bread recipe from this site.  The difference in this recipe is you add berries to the banana bread and it was so good and moist! 
Banana Bread Recipe
1 3/4 c. flour
2/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. mashed bananas (2-3 medium bananas)
1/3 c. butter
2 T. milk
2 eggs      
1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries
1/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
In large mixer combine sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add mashed bananas, butter, and milk. Beat on high for 2 minutes. Add eggs and flour. Beat until blended. Add nuts.
Pour batter into a greased 8x4x2 inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
(If you do add the berries it’s best to fold them in, don’t beat them!)
Makes one loaf.
I also had the adorable loaf pans from Welcome Home Brands

These are little paper loaf pans and they come in the perfect size and have the cutest designs.  I may need some more of these for the Christmas holiday this year.

Mini loaf pans :

*Or you could just put candy or whatever else you want in these*
 Paper cups:

Cute huh?
I would rather bake than cook any day…it’s a lot more fun!
Hope ya’ll are having a good weekend!



Country Crock "Swamp Thing" Goodness!


This post is sponsored by Country Crock. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

We’ve used Country Crock in our house for as long as I can remember.  My Mom used it growing up and I still use it to cook with today.  It’s rich, creamy texture just can’t be beat.  I love to bake and cook, and almost every recipe calls for some sort of butter.  What I don’t like is how fatty it is.  There are lots of alternatives out there on the market today.

Country Crock is a good choice because it contains 70% less saturated fat and 30% fewer calories than butter, 0g trans fat, and is RD approved.  Not only does it have less fat than butter , it tastes great too!

I don’t like HARD butter either.  I mean have you ever tried to butter your bread with regular ole butter?  My bread doesn’t do so good.  Country Crock is so rich and creamy, spreads on nicely, and comes in all sorts of different varieties.  The cinnamon and honey spreads are delicious for breakfast! 

Here is a recipe I like to use Country Crock with & it’s one your kids will love to eat too!

Broccoli Swamp

Prep Time: 20 minutes




Cook Time: 50 minutes




Nutrition Information per serving: Calories 230, Calories From Fat 100, Saturated Fat 4g, Trans Fat 0g, Total Fat 11g, Cholesterol 240mg, Sodium 410mg, Total Carbohydrate 12g, Sugars 5g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Protein 19g, Vitamin A 30%, Vitamin C 170%, Calcium 35%, Iron 10%


RECIPE


2 tbsp. Country Crock Spread

1 large bunch broccoli, about 1 1/2 pds., divided into florets
3 Tbsp. water
1 clove garlic-finely chopped
5 large eggs
1/2 cup fat-free half and half

1/4 cup low-fat Swiss cheese,shredded

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Assorted fresh herbs (tarragon,

basil, chives, rosemary, etc.)
DIRECTIONS


Preheat oven to 350°

Spray 9-inch pie pan with no-stick cooking spray.

On the stove top melt Country Crock® Spread in a pan.

Add broccoli and cook for 2 minutes, then add water and

garlic and cook, covered for 5-7 minutes until broccoli is

bright green but firm.

Remove from heat. Set aside 1/3 of the broccoli florets for

garnish and finely chop remaining 2/3.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and half and half. Stir

in cheese and mix well. Stir in the chopped broccoli,

salt, nutmeg and pepper. Pour into pie pan and bake

for about 35-40 minutes until a knife inserted in center

comes out clean.


Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Insert

fresh herbs and reserved broccoli fl orets into the sides of
your “swamp.”

YUMMY & FUN!!!
Find this recipe HERE
I’m a Mom of a 2 year old and I’m always looking for healthy things to feed Connor.  Vegetables are one of the hardest things to feed your child.  We try to make eating fun for him so he’ll be enthusiastic about what is on his plate.  We turn eating into a game of sorts and feed each other 🙂 
Adding a little Country Crock on top of your veggies makes them tasty as well!     In fact  8 out of 10 kids think veggies with Country Crock are delicious!
The Crock Country Chronicle is a great place to find quick and simple tips and recipes to help make serving veggies fun.  It has some of the CUTEST ways you can transform the veggies on your child’s plate into something imaginative and fun! 
Whether you like to bake, or just like a good baked potato every now and then I recommend the yummy, creamy goodness that is Country Crock!  You can find a lot more recipes on Country Crock’s website HERE.  Happy cooking and baking everyone!
Are you looking for quick and simple tips and recipes to make serving veggies more fun? Download the free Clare Crespo Cookbook here for fun and whimsical recipes your family is sure to love!
You can also visit:

Country Crock’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/countrycrock
Country Crock’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/#!/countrycrock

Naaa-sty! NOT. Juicing Advice

So as I mentioned in previous posts we’ve started juicing.
We’ve gotten most of our recipes from HERE
We chose the Omega juicer for various reasons.  I’m SO happy we chose this juicer.  It works wonderfully and we’ve been nothing but amazed at how great it works.  The pulp is almost completely dry, which means our fruits and veggies have been squeezed to the max!  If you are looking to start juicing I would highly recommend it 🙂
My lil guy before our hike last night
Ignore all the food on his shirt

Okay here I’m trying the green juice: kale, apples, pineapple, carrots
It was actually pretty good!  I don’t like a lot of pulp, and this drink was really smooth.

You can see how much fruit and veggies are extracted on the left hand side of the juicer….crazy huh?

And we had this BEET-u-TIFUL drink last night
Red drink: spinach, carrots, pear, apples, & beets
(This one had a little more pulp because of the spinach)

I’m glad we started this.  At least I know I am getting the most from my fruits and veggies and it’s probably the healthiest thing I put in my body all day.  The juice is not NEAR as bad as I expected and trust me….I have a high gag reflex.  It in fact is not NASTY at all!!!

Do any of you juice???