Monday, February 13, 2017

Berries, Milk & Otis Spunkmeyer treats for a Valentine's Day Dessert Table

A simple and easy way to make lover's day festive and sweet


As you may know by now, I never turn down an opportunity to celebrate holidays and festive events! So when I received a shipment of Valentine's day-inspired Otis Spunkmeyer treats, I smiled and felt relieved all at once! The smiles were due to the cuteness and deliciousness of the treats. The relief was because instead of spending hours baking, I realized these small cakes and cookies were all I needed to put together a fun dessert table to celebrate the occasion.

For decorations, I used colorful tissue paper and blue hearts (can you tell I'm a boy mom?)

I had the Chocolate Créme Cakes, the Double Chocolate Cookies and the Chocolate Mini Cupcakes to work with. By the way, one of the reasons I love Otis Spunkmeyer is because their products have "no funky stuff" -- no artificial ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup, no hydrogenated oils and the company has pledged to use cage-free eggs beginning next year! 
So I brought out raspberries to decorate the mini cupcakes, I also used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to essentially cut out hearts from the chocolate cookies and I shaped the créme cakes into hearts.


In order to give the créme cakes a heart shape, all you have to do is cut the cake diagonally and reverse one of the pieces. Once you join them, you'll have a heart!



Here's a bird's-eye view of the créme cakes shaped as hearts
 And here's my fun & festive Valentine's Day dessert table:

 

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Take a "Pizza" My Heart Valentine's Day Sweet Treats

A Valentine's Day Inspired Sweet Treat Idea

 
 Who doesn't love Pizza?
With all the craziness going on this year, I think February is the perfect month to focus on love and fun and things we love to have fun with-- like making desserts.
Personally, I'm not a great cook. I mean, I can whip up a dinner meal and grill, bake, cook, saute and smother meat and veggies any day, but nothing that tastes particularly ground-breaking.
I can, however, come up with sweet treats to make everybody smile. And I think that's what these candy pizzas can do, especially if you want to let someone know their love takes a "Pizza" your heart!


These may look a bit time-consuming but they're not!
They are home-made Rice Krispy treats cut into circles, which is probably the step that takes longest to complete. And I don't mean cutting the Rice Krispy treats, since that's easily done with a cookie cutter, I mean actually making them from scratch although in reality, that only takes about 15 minutes. Find an easy recipe here.


The rice cereal treats are topped with a layer of Fruit Roll-Up (cut into a smaller circle). Tip: Since Fruit Roll-Ups can get really soft, take them out of their packaging, extend them on a plate and refrigerate for a few minutes. This will help avoid a mess and cut out the circles much faster with a pair of scissors.



Top the Fruit Roll-Up or, ahem, marinara sauce, with shaved coconut and/or shaved white candy melts which you can make with a grater to look like cheese and top off with M&Ms, sprinkles and gummy bear bits.



Aren't they cute? Best of all, they're super-duper yummy.
Personal recommendation: limit one per child...hehe.
I hope everyone enjoys a Fabulous February!

Friday, January 20, 2017

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes...Roar!

Sharing my favorite items from the January 2017 Degustabox delivery service


When I received my January Degustabox, I knew the year was off to a great start!
The food items included in that box were awesome. My favorite was a box of Hungry Jack Pumpkin Spice Pancake batter.


If you follow my blog, then you know I love making pancakes for my boys. I have so much fun creating shapes and designs and making the overall breakfast experience a tasty and visually appealing experience. So when I saw this Hungry Jack Pancake batter box, I got really excited. You just have to add water and the pancake mix is ready for the griddle!

Since we were heading to the zoo on this particular day, I decided to make use of the batter's brownish/orange color to create two pancakes, a large one and a small one. The idea was to build a lion head with pancakes and berries... a very fun way to talk about the animals we'd be seeing later.
The only ingredients required to make this are:
*Hungry Jack Pancake Mix
*Water
*Berries (strawberries & blackberries)
*Butter
Instructions:  
Grease the griddle with butter, pour the batter into circle shapes.
Slice the fruit and arrange to make a Lion face.




And did I mention the pancakes taste like delicious pumpkin pie slices? The pumpkin spice flavor is so good!
By the way, Degustabox is a monthly food box subscription that costs $20 (including shipping).
I've shared many recipes based on awesome food products delivered inside my Degustabox, including:

July Cantaloupe Drink
August Mini Donuts
September Ratatouille Shrimp
October Harvest Snack
November Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza
December Gingerbread House Vanilla Cake
  
For more information on Degustabox, click here.

Thanks for reading!

Monday, December 19, 2016

Simple "Gingerbread House" Vanilla Cake

A simple, preservative-free dessert to celebrate the Holiday season!


In my December Degustabox, the goodies were worthy of a year-end celebration.
There were so many good things!


Among them was a Pillsbury cake and frosting duo that sounded great for a Post-Christmas dinner treat, especially because they contain no colors or preservatives or artificial flavors. The simple instructions printed on the packaging on the cake box called for only a few ingredients: eggs, milk and butter.


The frosting was so creamy and simple-- just add water and butter:

 For the gingerbread house, all I did was cut a large gingerbread sheet into small sections, I used the vanilla frosting to stick the sections together to create a house. Then I decorated it (using the same frosting! The snowman was put together with three small marshmallows and a toothpick. I used an edible food pen to draw the eyes.


By the way, Degustabox is a monthly food box subscription that costs $20 (including shipping).
I've shared many recipes based on awesome food products delivered inside my Degustabox, including:

July Cantaloupe Drink
August Mini Donuts
September Ratatouille Shrimp
October Harvest Snack
November Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza
  
For more information on Degustabox, click here.

Hope you join and have some food adventures!
Thanks for reading :)

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Thanksgiving turkey legs for dessert!


Here's a sweet turkey-themed treat to follow your turkey dinner!


When I first saw these on the Hallmark channel, I knew I had to recreate them! They are too darn adorable but the host on the television channel made them really large. I wanted to try a mini version and here they are...

Ingredients: butter, rice cereal, mini pretzel sticks, white candy melts & marshmallows

Directions: 1. Start by making your favorite rice crispy treat recipe. I melted butter, marshmallows and added the rice cereal

2. Dip the pretzel stick in the melted candy and stick two small pieces of marshmallow on each side.
3. This is what it should look like to create a drumstick bone effect.

When the rice cereal dessert is done, make small balls and mold them to look like ovals:


You place the rice cereal treat ovals over the candy covered pretzel sticks and dessert is served!



Happy Thanksgiving!


Monday, November 21, 2016

Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza, please!


This month, we are focusing on a delicious Indian Cooking Sauce, found inside our November Degustabox!


In our November Degustabox, we had so many awesome goodies, we had a hard time deciding which one we'd want to highlight! There was everything from delicious jerky to dark chocolate with blueberries and salted caramel coffee! 


On this occasion, my husband was in the mood for chicken pizza one evening when he arrived from work and I had all ingredients but the traditional pizza sauce... So I went into the pantry and found a glass jar of Sharwood's Tikka Masala Indian Cooking Sauce that had arrived in the November Degustabox.

Instead of using the traditional marinara sauce, I used the Tikka Masala cooking sauce and our pizza turned out scrumptious! Even Benny, our oldest son asked for second and third slices.  The sauce is described as "a classic curry with tomatoes, yoghurt, mild chilli and cream". It's made with a handful of ingredients and contains no preservatives, no artificial colors and no added MSG.


It's very easy to make this pizza.
These are the ingredients:
* 1 large pizza crust
* 2 Chicken breasts
* 1 TBSP cooking oil
* 1 jar Sharwood's Tikka Masala Sauce
* 1.5 cups grated cheese (I used a cheddar & Mozzarella mix)
* Cilantro for garnish

Directions:
Start by cubing the chicken breasts.
Heat the oil on a pan and add the chicken to the oil; Cook for approximately 5-7 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Add Sharwood's Tikka Masala Sauce to the pan and mix well with the chicken.
Pour and distribute the chicken & sauce mix over the pizza crust.
Add cheese and cilantro over the chicken.
Place in the oven for 12 minutes.
Allow for it to cool off and... dinner is ready!




It's really darn yummy!
Just another reason why we love our Degustabox subscription... we're stepping out of the box and creating new ways of enjoying food at home with ingredients we would have probably never tried otherwise. Next time I go grocery shopping, I'll likely pick up a jar of Sharwood's.

By the way, Degustabox is a monthly food box subscription that costs $20 (including shipping).
I've shared many recipes based on awesome food products delivered inside my Degustabox, including:

July Cantaloupe Drink
August Mini Donuts
September Ratatouille Shrimp
October Harvest Snack

For more information on Degustabox, click here.

Hope you join and have some food adventures!
Thanks for reading :)


*I received a free Degustabox for a review on this blog

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

A Sweet & Tasty Oatmeal Breakfast!


This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SameSilkySmoothTaste #CollectiveBias




Last Sunday morning I woke up with a desire to enjoy a hot cup of coffee,  a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of toast with Mexican caramel syrup known as cajeta.
It's a simple breakfast but very tasty and so reminiscent of my days growing up at my grandmother's house, when early in the morning the breakfast table held a large pot of oatmeal, a large pot of coffee, slices of toast and a bottle of cajeta.
The signature item though was always the oatmeal.
It's made with real cinnamon sticks, milk, water and sugar but on this fall morning I decided to try a different method of preparing my avenita (lil oatmeal).
I pulled out my carton of Silk® Vanilla Almondmilk purchased at Walmart,  now featuring a new look (but same great silky smooth taste) and decided to omit sugar from my list of ingredients since the almondmilk comes with a hint of sweet vanilla.


Silk® can be found in the dairy aisle at Walmart

By the way, it also has a mildly nutty taste and a calorie count that isn't nutty at all! Every delicious glass has absolutely no cholesterol and no saturated fat. That’s what I call the power of plant-based nutrition!
Anyway, I was expecting the oatmeal to turn out just as I've always enjoyed it-- as a drink more than a porridge but I was pleasantly surprised to learn the almondmilk makes the oatmeal a bit more dense and so it turned out to be a beautiful, filling and better-tasting-than-I-had-expected meal option. By the way,  Silk® is non-GMO, non-Dairy and gluten free.

To make a similar oatmeal breakfast, you'll need the following ingredients (serves 4):



*1 cup dry oats
*3 cups water
*2 cups Silk®Almondmilk (vanilla flavor)
*1 cinnamon stick

Instructions: Bring water to a boil and add the dry oats and cinnamon stick. Gently mix before adding the almondmilk. Serve immediately and enjoy a wonderful breakfast!



It's easy like Sunday Morning!
Do you have any other oatmeal recipe ideas?
What about Silk® product recipes? I'd love to hear about them!


En español

El domingo pasado por la mañana me desperté con el deseo de disfrutar de una taza caliente de café, un tazón de avena y una rebanada de pan tostado con cajeta.
Es un desayuno sencillo pero muy sabroso y me recuerda mis días creciendo en la casa de mi abuela, cuando temprano por la mañana la mesa de desayuno sostenía una gran olla de avena, otra de café, rebanadas de pan tostado y una botella de cajeta.
Pero el elemento principal siempre era la avena.
Está hecha con canela, leche, agua y azúcar, pero en esta mañana de otoño decidí probar un método diferente de preparar mi avenita.

Saqué mi cartón de Silk® Vanilla Almondmilk comprado en la tienda Walmart, ahora con una nueva apariencia (pero el mismo gran sabor sedoso y suave) y decidí omitir el azúcar de mi lista de ingredientes ya que el almondmilk viene con un toque de vainilla dulce.


Por cierto, también tiene un sabor ligero de nuez y es de bajas calorías! Cada vaso delicioso se disfruta sin colesterol ni grasa saturada. Eso es lo que llamo el poder de la nutrición basada en plantas!
En fin, esperaba que la avena me resultara como siempre la he disfrutado, como una bebida pero el almondmilk hizo que la avena se hiciera más espesa y así terminó como una deliciosa, abundante y buena opción por la mañana. Por cierto, Silk® no es producto tipo-GMO, no contiene lácteos y es libre de gluten.
Para hacer un desayuno similar de avena, necesitará los siguientes ingredientes (para 4 personas):

* 1 taza de avena seca
* 3 tazas de agua
* 2 tazas de Silk® Almondmilk (sabor a vainilla)
* 1 palo de canela

Instrucciones: Haga hervir el agua y entonces agregue la avena seca y la canela. Mezclar suavemente antes de agregar el almondmilk. Servir de inmediato y disfrutar de un desayuno maravilloso!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Yummy Harvest-Themed Afternoon Snack!



My October Degustabox came with a generous amount of goodies-- from all-natural fruit chews to pumpkin-flavored soda pop!
But the Wasa Sesame Seed & Sea Salt Thins were particularly yummy with a crisp texture and endless possibilities to be enjoyed!


So I came up with a quick "fall harvest" inspired afternoon snack that proved to be fresh and yummy for the whole family.
I'm calling these "Pumpkin Fruit Thins".  The thins are salty so the fruit and other ingredients help balance the flavors very nicely!


To make these you'll need the following ingredients (serves 8):

* WASA Thins
* 3 TBSP Cream Cheese
* 2 TBSP Pumpkin Puree
* Sugar and cinnamon mixed together
* Blueberries
* Apples
* Pumpkin sprinkles to keep things festive!

Instructions:
Heat the cream cheese for about 15 seconds in the microwave. Once it softens, mix in the pumpkin puree. Spread the pumpkin cream cheese on the thins.
Garnish with fruit, cinnamon, sugar and sprinkles. Serve immediately and ejoy!




The truth is, these were extremely easy to make...oh and I probably wouldn't have discovered them, had it not been for my Degustabox.

For the last few months, I've been happy to share other recipes I've created out of items found inside my Degustabox.  For example--

* September Shrimp
* August Donuts
* July Cantaloupe Drink

A Degustabox subscription only costs about $20/month.
And the goodies seem to be getting better by the month too!
Visit the website here for more information and if you join, I'd love to see your recipes too.

Thanks for reading!


Friday, September 30, 2016

Hak's Paks One Pot Cooking Sauce, an easy and delicious meal solution!





In my September Degustabox, there were once again a bunch of delicious food items that virtually disappeared as soon as I snapped the box content photo:


If you're not familiar with Degustabox, here are some links to previous posts I've shared regarding this groovy food box subscription service:

Degustabox Review

White Grape Seed Flour Mini Donuts to Celebrate the 2016 Olympics!

There is always a lot of good snacks and treats inside the Degustabox but every month there is one item that simply blows me away. In September that item was the pouch of Hak's Paks One Pot Cooking Sauce.   



The Hak's Paks One Pot Cooking Sauce flavor that came in my September Degustabox was "Rustic Ratatouille". The instructions on the packaging said to simply pour sauce over one pound of cooked beef, chicken, shrimp, pork, fish or veggies. The sauce contains roasted tomatos and herbs and ZERO preservatives. It's also Gluten-Free and all natural.
So today for lunch, as I was deciding between a veggie bowl and a chicken salad, I decided to make shrimp ratatouille.  LOL.
It was super easy and yummy!
I used four main ingredients:

*Shrimp, 1 lb.
*Two Bell Peppers
*Half Onion
*Hak's Paks One Pot Rustic Ratatouille Sauce

I also added some pepper and parsley flakes and a few avocado slices (cause who doesn't love to add avocado to anything!?)


The instructions to make a similar lunch entree are as simple as this:

Sautee the bell peppers, onions and shrimp in a little bit of oil (I used coconut oil).
Once everything is cooked, add the sauce. Serves 4. The end.


The meal was so good, it drove me to look for more Hak's Paks sauces. Turns out, these sauces are the creation of an LA-based former financial advisor turned chef, Sharone Hakman.
What's more is, I probably wouldn't have discovered this great cooking hack had it not been for my Degustabox!

The sauce is all you need to season, add flavor and savor a meal!


I think it's safe to say that the goodies that arrive every month inside the Degustabox are proving to be good and convenient meal options for me and my family!
Reminder- the Degusta subcription is only about $20/month.
Check it out and thanks for reading!