This past weekend, we had the most amazing little family vacation at The Gaylord Palms here in Orlando. I got a ton of pictures and can’t wait to share them with you soon. Right now I’m in Minneapolis for a first ever GMBlogFest, hosted by General Mills. The next few days are going to be filled with excitement, I can’t wait!

Remember to stop by and enter the Epiphanie Camera bag giveaway if you haven’t already. The camera bags from Epiphanie look like high end bags, and can also double as large purses and diaper bags.

And here’s a recipe I made about a week ago I think you’ll like. It’s simple and satisfying.

I just love sausage and peppers. Whether it’s in a sandwich, with pasta, or on a pizza. Since everyone in my family loves it so much, I thought I would try to make a healthier, low carb version of one of our favorite dinners.

For this salad, I simply made it with lots of fresh sliced bell peppers and a small head of radicchio. Then I topped the salad with browned Italian sausage. To make this salad even more figure friendly, you could use lower fat Italian turkey or chicken sausage. For a dressing, I just drizzled over balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Sausage and Peppers Salad

Ingredients:

5 links sweet or hot Italian sausage, sliced and sauteed
1 large green pepper, sliced
1 large red pepper, sliced
1 large yellow pepper, sliced
1/2 medium red onion, sliced
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
1 small head radicchio, torn

Directions:

Saute sausage in a large skillet with a little olive oil until done and no longer pink.

Combine sliced bell peppers, onion and radicchio in a salad bowl. Top with cooked sausage. Drizzle over balsamic vinegar and olive oil to taste.

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For this salad, I made 1 thick cut ribeye, sliced it thinly and served it over a big beautiful salad made with curly leaf lettuce, watercress, radishes, tomatoes and onions. I topped it with an incredible Blue Cheese, Kerrygold Cashel Blue Cheese. It’s honestly the best blue cheese I’ve ever had. The consistency of this cheese is creamy and buttery. The taste isn’t too strong, but still has a very full, complex flavor. It pairs wonderfully with this steak salad.

I also made  a flatbread with Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese that we ate as an appetizer before the salad. I used marinara sauce, shrimp, red pepper and red onions. After it baked, I garnished it with lots of freshly chopped basil. The Dubliner had a wonderful flavor that went perfectly with the shrimp and sweet red peppers.

I made a couple of these flatbread pizzas. They were great appetizers, and the kids loved them.

I quickly marinated a thick rib-eye in a combination of balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce before cooking it in a large cast iron skillet. Then I thinly sliced it and topped each salad.

For the dressing, my brother-in-law made this simple balsamic vinaigrette. It had lots of garlic flavor and delicious Italian herbs. It paired perfectly with the salad and Kerrygold Cashel Blue Cheese.

Ingredients:

For the flatbread:
1 flatbread or pita
3 tablesoons marinara sauce, per pizza
sliced red pepper
sliced red onion

5 - 6 raw peeled and deviened shrimp, per pizza
1/4 cup shredded Kerrygold Dubliner, per pizza

1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil

For the salad:
1 head of curly leaf lettuce, chopped roughly
1 large bunch watercress, chopped roughly
4 roma tomatoes, sliced
4 radishes, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
1 cup crumbled Kerrygold Cashel Blue Cheese

For the steak:
1 ribeye steak
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

1 tablespoon Kerrygold Butter

For the dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
1 clove garlic, grated or minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

For the Flatbread:
Preheat oven to 400°. Top flatbread with marinara sauce, shredded cheese, shrimp, red peppers, and red onion. Bake at 400° for 15 - 20 minutes, or until cheese has melted and shrimp are firm and pink.

Garnish with freshly chopped basil before serving.

For the salad:
Combine lettuce, watercress, roma tomatoes , radishes and red onion in a large salad bowl. Crumble Kerrygold Cashel Blue Cheese on top.

For the steak:
Preheat grill or large skillet. Add salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce to steak. Grill or cook in skillet until desired doneness. Remove steak fro pan to rest and top with Kerrygold butter. Let steak rest at least 1/2 the length of time that you cooked it.

Slice steak thinly and serve over salad.

For the dressing:
Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, water, dried Italian herbs, garlic and lemon juice in a small jar. Add a lid and shake well. Pour over salad and serve.

Find out all about these beautiful cheeses and butters at KERRYGOLD. Follow along on TWITTER & FACEBOOK!

This post sponsored by Kerrygold. All opinions 100% mine.

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And now the lucky winner of the KitchenAid Mixer is 1178, Jessabelluh!

She has a  fun blog you’ll want to check out too here.

Congrats jessabelluh! I’ve just emailed you.

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Eggs Benedict has to be my all-time favorite breakfast. There’s something so soothing about slowly poaching each egg and carefully making the beautiful hollandaise sauce. Sometimes I don’t want all the fat in a regular hollandaise sauce though, and I make this simple mock version. It’s  a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and fresh dill. I blend it in either a food processor or blender and spoon it down over the poached eggs and sausage. I used Johnsonville sausage instead of ham for this version too, it’s a nice change-up.

We eat breakfast for dinner at least once a week. It saves money, and well, we just love breakfast foods! Because it was at dinner, I served a simple salad of spring greens. This would also make the perfect springtime brunch treat to serve Mom this Mother’s Day.

I used this gorgeous ScanPan to cook my sausage. The non-stick surface on this pan sure is an upgrade from my little Target special nonstick skillet.

I made this sausage and eggs benedict as part of Johnsonville Kitchen’s Wake Up To Better Breakfast Promotion.

And you can participate in this fun contest too! Just visit the Johnsonville Kitchens Facebook page and upload a photo and description of your creative breakfast recipe using Johnsonville breakfast Sausage.  The grand prize winner will receive an 11 piece set of Professional Cookware from ScanPan. And did I mention the winner will also receive a and a year’s supply of Johnsonville Sausage! You can also share one of Johnsonville’s breakfast recipes with your friends, and you will be entered into a weekly sweepstakes drawing. Each week during the contest, one lucky winner will receive a five-piece set of Professional Cookware from ScanPan. For full contest details, visit the  Johnsonville Kitchens Facebook page or Johnsonville.com.

Sausage and Eggs Benedict

Ingredients:

4 English muffins
8 Johnsonville Breakfast sausage patties
8 eggs

For the mock hollandaise sauce:
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh dill
a pinch of salt

Directions:

Brown Johnsonville breakfast sausage patties according to package directions. Bring a pot of water to a simmer. Swirl water and drop eggs in and cook each for about 3 minutes, or until done. Yolks will be runny.

For the sauce combine mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and fresh dill in a food processor. Pulse until dill is very fine and sauce is combined.

Break English muffins apart with a fork, top with cooked sausage, poached eggs, and drizzle with mock hollandaise sauce.

Share your Johnsonville breakfast photos below in the comment section for a chance to win Johnsonville product coupons.

I received the ScanPan shown above and product for this post, but no other compensation. All opinions 100% mine.

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Say hello to my new camera bag. It’s huge, so pretty and is such an upgrade from my previous old black Canon bag. (I’d show you a picture of that one, but I’m just too embarrassed at how ugly it looks as compared to this beauty.) I’ve had my eye on this camera bag for quite some time. It’s made by Epiphanie.

I just love how spacious and well padded this bag is inside. Those separators can be moved around any way you like just like any other camera bag.

It even has a side zipper pocket that is the perfect size for your iPad. My iPad even fits in this pocket with the case on.

I also love that I can fit all my essentials in this bag, like my Speedlite.

Some extra batteries for my camera.

My 100mm lens.

And even my iPhone in it’s huge case.

Then I can drop my camera down in the bag with my huge 24-70 lens attached.

These photos are taken with my iPhone.

AND there’s still room for my little legal pad, a pen, my wallet, some perfume, lip gloss and mascara – the essentials! And yes that is vanilla cupcake flavored lip gloss.

Oh, and let’s not forget my keys. And it still zips up nice and neat. And yes, that’s a heavy bag with all that equipment, but this bag comes with a padded cross body strap that makes lugging all that heavy camera equipment a little easier.

Now time for the giveaway!

For a chance to win the Epiphanie bag of your choice (of any in-stock bag), click over to the Epiphanie website and choose your favorite bag. Then come back here and tell me your favorite bag in the comment section below.

For additional entries (please leave a comment for each entry):

2. Follow EclecticRecipes on Twitter
3. RT the following “I just entered to win an Epiphanie Camera Bag from @EpiphanieBags and @EclecticRecipes Enter Here: http://wp.me/pWlfF-1Ch”
4. Follow EpiphanieBags on Twitter
5. Follow EclecticRecipes on Pinterest and PIN one of the photos from this post.
6. Like EclecticRecipes on Facebook.
7. Like Epiphanie Bags on Facebook.

Winner must be over 18 and a United States resident. I apologize to my international readers! Giveaway ends May 17 at midnight. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced the following morning. Winner has 48 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen.

Epiphanie provided me with the camera bag shown above for review. All opinions are 100% my own.

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Wine and easy appetizers are my favorite thing to serve family and friends when they come to our home. It’s quick and easy, requires no cooking, and looks really impressive. We even snack on different little bites of cheese and olives with our wine on most weekends, we love it so much. The grocery store closest to our home has an olive bar, large cheese case with a huge selection and wonderful breads. All I do is pick up our snacks and one of our favorite bottles of wine and my appetizers are done.

We rotate through red and white wines of all types. I have not yet met a type of wine that I didn’t like. Not only do we sip it, but I also cook with it alot. If I’m not pouring into the dish I’m cooking, I’m at least sipping it while I’m cooking,

Tomorrow, May 9, is National Moscato Day. If you’ve never had Moscato wine before, it’s a refreshing sweet white wine. If you love white zinfandel or a good Riesling, you’ll love this wine.

Moscato wine has hints of peach, honey, and ripe citrus. It goes great with lighter chicken and fish dishes and entree salads. It’s best served chilled. I even put mine over ice. It’s a great wine for the warmer months.

For appetizers, I like to pair salty things with sweeter wines like these assorted olives. I picked these up from the olive bar at my local grocery store.

I also picked up a whole wheat baguette. The sweet and nutty flavors in the bread pairs wonderfully with this wine.

For the cheese, I also picked up some Fol Epi cheese. It’s a mild French cheese with a slightly fruity and nutty flavor. It goes great with this sweet wine.

The best part about Gallo Moscato is the amazingly affordable price. I picked up a 1.5 Liter for just $7.50 at my local wine and spirit store! So why not go out and pick up some for yourself to celebrate National Moscato Day tomorrow and join us at our #gno Twitter party, on Wednesday May 9th from 9:00 – 10:oo pm EST where we’ll toast to National #MoscatoDay.

Connect with Gallo on Facebook & Twitter.

This post sponsored by Gallo Family Vineyards. All opinions 100% mine.

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For my family, the crust is the most important part of the pizza. The pizza crust can definitely make or break your pizza. I’ve tried lots of little tips and tricks to try and continually improve my pizza dough over the years. And after all the little tricks I’ve tried, my favorite way to improve pizza dough is by adding more flavor to the crust itself.

Along with olive oil and honey, I always add onion and garlic powder to my crust. Just a little goes a long way, and makes my pizza crust taste wonderful. I also make sure to use sea or kosher salt in my crust.

Recently I also started adding herbs. This makes my pizza crust so incredibly good. You can use dry or fresh herbs. In the pizza below, I added dried basil to the pizza dough and then stuffed the crust with mozzarella string cheese. I then simply topped it with cheese and pepperoni.

I tear my string cheese in half lengthwise before stuffing it into the crust. This creates a stuffed crust with a small amount of delicious cheese, but without all the greasy cheese ooze of some other cheese stuffed crusts.

For this pizza crust, I added a mix of dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano and rosemary). Then I used butter instead of olive oil in the crust, and brushed the crust with more melted butter after it came out of the oven. For the toppings, we used my son’s favorite, peperoni and olives.

This pizza crust is rosemary garlic. I simply added dry rosemary with olive oil to my pizza crust. Then for the toppings we added fresh mozzarella and roma tomatoes and garnished with fresh basil.

For all the crusts above, I made them thin, taking the recipe as it’s written below and dividing it in half to make two pizzas.

Butter Herb, Basil Cheese Stuffed and Rosemary Garlic Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
3 - 4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 package, or 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

For the Butter Herb Crust:
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano and rosemary), or 1 tablespoon fresh

For the Basil Stuffed Cheese Crust:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil, or 1 tablespoon fresh
about 6 pieces of mozzarella string cheese, torn in half lengthwise

For the Rosemary Garlic Crust:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, or 1 tablespoon fresh

Directions:

Combine warm water, yeast, honey, salt, onion and garlic powder in your stand mixer. Mix until yeast dissolves. Add herbs (Italian blend, basil or rosemary) and butter or olive oil. Turn mixer to low and add flour until dough starts to pull away from bowl. Knead for about 10 minutes. Dough should be sticky and smooth. Grease a large metal bowl with olive oil. Form dough into a ball and transfer to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise about 2 hours in a warm place, or until dough doubles in size. Punch down, from into a ball again and let rise again until it doubles in size.

Preheat oven to it's highest temperature. For thin crust, divide dough in half and roll out pizza crust to the size of pizza pan or stone. For a thicker, traditional crust use all the dough and stretch out with hands and roll until it's the size of a large pizza pan.

If you are stuffing the crust, place the string along the edges of the crust and roll the crust over the cheese, and seal the dough.

Pre-bake crust in oven set at it's highest baking temperature (mine is 550°) until crust is lightly golden. Remove crust from oven.

Spoon over pizza sauce (I use either a quality jarred pizza sauce or homemade). Layer cheese and your favorite toppings.

Bake pizza again at your oven's highest temperature until cheese is lightly browned.

Brush pizza crust with olive oil or butter after baking if desired.

For making the pizza dough, I’ve been using the same 6 quart KitchenAid® Stand Mixer for years. It’s one of my best friends in the kitchen. But when I got the opportunity to test out this big new KitchenAid beauty, I couldn’t pass it up.

This is the new 7-quart KitchenAid® Stand Mixer.

Here’s just a few of its features:

• 10-speed slide control ranges from a very fast whip to a very slow stir
• Premium 11-wire whip quickly incorporates the needed air into mixtures for smooth, fluffy results
• Professional Bowl-Lift design raises bowl into mixing position
• Includes Powerknead™ Spiral Dough Hook, Flat Beater, and Stainless Steel Wire Whip
• NSF® certified
• 2-Year Hassle-Free Replacement Warranty

I couldn’t’ believe how much quieter and more powerful this mixer was than my 6-quart model. Before, you couldn’t hear the television when I turned on my mixer because it was so loud. But this new high powered motor on the 7-quart is so quiet.

I also love the bowl capacity, you can make a ton of bread dough in there. And the motor is powerful and heavy enough, the mixer won’t try to jump off your counter when its kneading your dough.

And now time for the giveaway!

To enter to win one of these fabulous mixers for yourself, along with the accessories shown, just leave a comment below telling me what your favorite pizza topping is.

For additional entries (Please leave a comment for each entry):

2. Follow EclecticRecipes on Twitter
3. RT the following “I just entered to win a 7 qt @KitchenAidUSA Stand Mixer from @EclecticRecipes Enter Here: http://wp.me/pWlfF-1BF”
4. Follow KitchenAid on Twitter
5. Follow EclecticRecipes on Pinterest and PIN one of the photos from this post.
6. Like EclecticRecipes on Facebook.
7. Like KitchenAid on Facebook.

Winner must be over 18 and a United States resident. I apologize to my international readers! Giveaway ends May 10 at midnight. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced the following morning. Winner has 48 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen.

KitchenAid provided me with a stand mixer for review. All opinions are 100% my own.

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Margaritas are my favorite go to cocktail, especially in the summer. They are cool, refreshing and I love the combination of lime and salt. That’s why I was so excited when I was contacted to try the new CoronaRita at Chili’s.

Chili’s is one of our favorite little lunch spots. It’s a fun place to meet up with friends and coworkers, because they always have something everyone likes. They also have great deals like their 2 for 20 deal where you share an appetizer, and get 2 entrees for just 20 bucks. They even have a great kid’s menu with several healthier options. My son’s favorite part about going to Chili’s is that he knows we almost never have to wait for a table because they have a seat yourself option in the bar.

We went out for a late lunch last weekend to Chili’s. We started by ordering the new CoronaRita Margarita. It was a huge margarita made with premium Jose Cuervo Especial Tequila, and then a small Corona beer was inverted into it. As you drink the margarita, the beer slowly seeps down into the margarita. It’s a really fun drink, and a great way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo or any day this summer.

To go along with our CoronaRita margaritas, I ordered crispy shrimp tacos. I don’t think I’ve had anything on Chili’s menu that I didn’t like, but I especially love all their taco and fajita dishes. My husband ordered chicken fajitas. He can never pass up their sizzling fajita skillets. They are so good and so much fun.

Now time for the giveaway!

For a chance to win a $25 gift card to Chili’s, just leave a comment below stating which meal from Chili’s menu you would order to compliment the new CoronaRita Margarita.

Read the official rules here.

You must be 21 years or older to drink alcoholic beverages and as always, please remember to drink responsibly.

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This past weekend had a wonderful time at the beach with family. Going to the beach is so relaxing to me. My son can play, yell and run around as much as he wants, and then we just shower him off and take him home. He had a wonderful time playing with his cousin in the sand, making a pool, playing with water guns, and building sand castles. Of course, I think the most fun is when they tear down the castle.

In the afternoon, we had some of the best fried onion rings at a local restaurant on the beach. They were crunchy and delicious, the only bad part is that there wasn’t enough of them. So this week I had to make a big batch of them for us. I used a simple beer batter made from Blue Moon Agave Pale Ale. It’s a beer that we recently tried, and although I love Blue Moon I really didn’t care for this particular brew, but it makes one terrific beer batter.

The sweet part of the beer pairs perfectly with the spices I added in the batter. It makes a delicious slightly sweet and spicy onion ring.

Beer Battered Onion Rings

Ingredients:

2 large Vidalia (or other sweet) onions, sliced thick and rings separated
1 cup self-rising flour + 1/2 cup more
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup beer (I used Blue Moon Agave Blonde Ale)
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

Preheat vegetable oil for frying to 375°. Combine onion rings with 1/2 cup self rising flour and toss to coat. In a seperate bowl, combine 1 cup self rising flour, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Whisk to combine. Stir in beer and mix well.

Batter each onion ring individually and drop in 375° oil. Fry for 1 - 2 minutes on each side, flipping once during the cooking process and cookin g until they are golden brown. When done, remove from oil and drain on paper towels or a cooling rack.

Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.

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My kitchen is a bit of a disaster right now. I’ve been busy developing recipes for BettyCrocker and Pillsbury, as well as keeping up with blogging everyday at Babble.com. We are also in the process of buying a new home. So I’ve been busy with all the details, and packing up all our things little by little. We’re buying a house in the same area where we live now, so thankfully there isn’t a huge move involved. We should be moved in the next few months.

Since it’s been so hectic here, I’ve been making lots of easy old favorites like these refrigerator pickles. These are one of my favorite snacks. I always have some on hand during the summer months. They make the best snacks in the afternoon. I’ve made refrigerator pickles so many ways. This is one of my favorite ways because it has lots of spiciness from added radishes.

I make these pickles in a large Tupperware container, but you can put them in little jars if you like. I add lots of fresh cucumbers, radishes, Vidalia onions and fresh dill. I like our pickles with straight vinegar, but many people will halve their vinegar with water. For a touch of sweetness, I add some agave. You could also use honey. Make sure to use a sweetener that can dissolve in room temperature liquid.

The radishes turn the vinegar a beautiful pink hue. After we eat out all the veggies, I’ll add more cucumbers, radishes, onions, and sometimes a good beefsteak tomato. I keep my vinegar for several weeks and just re-use it over and over.

Spicy Refrigerator Pickles with Radishes

Ingredients:

2 English cucumbers, sliced thin
6 - 8 radishes, sliced thin
1/2 Vidalia onion, sliced thin
3 - 4 cups white vinegar, or enough to cover (you can do half water and half vinegar too)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
a large bunch of fresh dill
1 - 2 tablespoons Agave or Honey

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large Tupperware container or in individual jars. Refrigerate for at least 2 - 3 hours.

Refrigerator pickles will last at least 5 days.

These pickles have been in my fridge for 3 days.

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