I really want to make this one and have never thought of being this creative with a smoothie before!  Doesn’t it just sound delicious!  Mmmmmm!

Strawberry Banana Split Smoothie

• 1 can Strawberry Banana Chiquita Smoothie
• 1 c. whipped cream
• 5 Tbsp. chocolate syrup
• 4 oz water
• 2 cans of ice

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth!

Right now you can head over to the Chiquita Smoothie website and enter into a contest they’re having.  There will be weekly winners and a grand prize winner will get to take their whole family on Air Jamaica to a beach resort! WOOT! And you can also print yourself a coupon for $1 off and find how to get a T-shirt!

What is YOUR favorite kind of smoothie?

In early June, I had the chance to attend an Oscar Mayer event and learn about their Deli Fresh Meats.  Not only did we get to visit the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, we had to do was create a sandwich using their Deli Fresh Meats.  I’m probably one of the most uncreative people alive but after 6 sandwich taste-testing sessions with my family, I narrowed it down to a wrap called, Lori Falcon’s Roasted Red Peppers and Roast Beef Wrap. They guys at Oscar Mayer were nice enough to bring in a camera crew to make a video of us making our sandwich, which you can see below. You can see all the videos from the other bloggers at the Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh youtube page.

INGREDIENTS

• Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Slow Roasted Roast Beef
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• Ground Cumin
• Garlic Powder or Clove of Garlic
• Soft Flat Bread
• Avocado, cubed
• Tomato, chopped (and seeded if you like)
• Havarti Cheese
• Red Roasted Peppers
• Lettuce Leaf
• Salt & Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Mix the cream cheese, cumin, garlic, and roasted red peppers until well blended.  Spread of a layer of cream cheese mixture over flat bread tortilla.  Place a lettuce leaf on each flat bread tortilla and top with 2-3 slices of roast beef.  Sprinkle evenly with avocado, tomatoes, and cheese.  Starting at one end, roll up each flat bread tortilla so that it looks like a large burrito.  Cut in half and serve 2 pieces on a 6″ plate.

Eat & Enjoy

Enjoy the video.  I’m clearly not made for TV and I would love for the counters to be just a bit taller so that I don’t look near as big!

More to come on sandwiches to get you through the hot Summer!

It was time to decide on what to cook. There are a ton of recipes & tips and everything looked very good! Since the first day was a hurried mess, we cooked the pizza which was a hit with the guys! Please tell me I’m not the only one that spends an hour trying to decide what to cook….I’m not am I? This is what I loved about the menu plan, all the ideas were ready and waiting to be cooked. AND, it even gave me creative ideas for future meals. We all took turns picking out what we wanted to try from the 2-week planner. We even let little man pick one!

This week, we tried the South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet and it was soooooo good! While my guys are meat eaters, they really loved this chicken dish. I think it’s because I don’t normally cook like this so it was a nice change for them. It was also a much simpler meal to make and *I* liked that. I usually go overboard when cooking a meal and I think with the hot weather, they appreciated that I didn’t with this.

South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups medium-size pasta, uncooked
• 2 Tyson® Boneless skinless Chicken Breast halves (about 1 lb.), thawed, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 6 oz. salsa
• 1 0 oz. frozen corn, unthawed (about 2 cups)
• 4 oz. (1⁄2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed
• 1⁄4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 cup Kraft Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided

DIRECTIONS

Cook pasta as directed on package.  Meanwhile, cook and stir chicken in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 6 min. or until done. Add salsa, corn, cream cheese and cumin; simmer on medium-low heat 6 min. or until corn is heated through
and cream cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.  Drain pasta; add to skillet with half the shredded cheese. Simmer 3 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining shredded cheese; cover. Remove from heat; let stand 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

You can download the 2-week menu planner and find out about in-store recipe demonstrations at a Sam’s Club location near you and do your shopping and feel free to join right in with me in making these recipes. We can swap stories!

OVER TO YOU

Give your top 3 tips for menu planning and shopping for groceries.  Share with us what works for you!

This offer doesn’t last long at all so you guys better hurry if you want this free kitchen idea book from Kraftmaid. For the do-it-yourself person or the professional, with tons of beautiful ideas that you can do right in your own home!
I’ll be editing/deleting this once the offer is gone! Click on the banner to get yours and hurry!

About Kraftmaid
KraftMaid Cabinetry has helped more consumers create the kitchen of their dreams than any other cabinet manufacturer in the world. Why? Because KraftMaid offers the best of both worlds. We provide a custom look, with the widest selection of styles, finishes, storage solutions and decorative enhancements in built-to-order cabinetry all without the custom price or lengthy custom lead times.

The casserole pan is Emile Henry, some of the finest bakeware around. I love the way it cooks and if you have the chance to pick up some pieces for yourself, you should!

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup Light Kraft Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 cup Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)
• 1/4 cup Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits (or real bacon)
• 2 lb. small red potatoes, quartered
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
• Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix dressing, cheese and bacon bits in large bowl. Add potatoes; toss lightly.  Spoon into lightly greased 13×9-inch baking dish; cover with foil.  Bake 40 min. Remove foil; bake an additional 15 min. or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with parsley.

I’m not particularly fond of my stove-top and separate oven so when I see ranges like the GE Professional Monogram Range, I play the lottery in hopes of winning so that I can go out and buy me one!

Seriously, this is for the all-time food lover, the person that wants to spend all day in their kitchen whipping up creative authentic food, and for the professional.  I’d be more than happy to have it my house despite not being a professional though. In fact, I think having it my house would encourage me to be creative and whip up enough to cook for the town!

A couple of things I enjoyed learning about this big, bold beauty….

The large caterer’s oven is uniquely sized to accommodate a full-size 18-inch-by-26-inch caterer’s sheet pan. In fact, it can handle three! The second oven – the smaller everyday oven – easily handles 9-by-13-inch casserole dishes.

Illuminating the control knobs are unexpected LED task lights under the bullnose that provide a functional – and theatrical – touch. This same attention to detail is reflected in the cooking temperature and time displays, which make controls easy to read.

Each oven is also complete with full-extension, self-clean racks that are designed to stay in during the self-clean cycle.

The GE Monogram 48-inch professional dual-fuel range will be available in natural gas or liquid propane models and will be backed by a 2-year limited warranty (see written warranty for details). The all-new collection will also include 36-inch and 30-inch ranges and 48-inch and 36-inch rangetops.

Illuminated knobs?? OH YEAH!!  I don’t know if it’s particularly useful for me but it would look dang cool anyways!

A girl can dream can’t she……..

This is where Kraft & Sam’s Club come into play. Both companies have partnered together to bring you a 2-Week Meal Planner. Their goal is to get you to the store  once and have meals to last 2 whole weeks, saving you money on frivolous grocery spending and gas to go back and forth! As an added bonus for Sam’s Club members, you can create a personalized cookbook!  If you’re not a member, you should be.  You can find a location near you with your zip code.  We love shopping at ours and it’s very handy for us to buy in bulk since we live out in the boonies so to speak.

Back to the meal planner.  I have downloaded it and already begun to make the recipes included in it.  They are very easy and have been very good!  I love that I have the meals all planned out for me but most of all, I love that they are easy to make.

Our first night of cooking with the meal planner was actually quite surprising. We chose to make the Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping.  We never buy just a cheese pizza, we always buy one with tons of toppings but this recipe called for the Rising Crust-Four Cheese.  It never occurred to us to add fresh toppings like the recipe called for which was a great way to add a little coolness during the hot day, not to mention the addition of veges.  My husband insisted that we start making our pizzas this way instead of buying one that’s loaded with other toppings. WHOA!  I think he must have fell in love with the bacon and ranch, don’t you?

Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Di Giorno Rising Crust Pizza-Four Cheese
• 1⁄2 cup shredded lettuce
• 1⁄4 cup chopped tomatoes
• 4 slices Oscar May er Bacon, cooked, crumbled
• 2 Tbsp. ranch dressing

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400°F.  Bake pizza as directed on package.  Serve topped with remaining ingredients.

I’ll be sharing more of the recipes over the next couple of weeks but I hope that you’ll go and download the 2-week meal planner yourself so we can try them together!!  How fun would that be. Then when I talk about one of the recipes, you can tell me if you’ve tried it and how you liked it!

OVER TO YOU

Are you a meal planner?  If not, do you think having a meal plan at your fingertips would make a difference, cooking & budgeting wise?  I love that it gives me new creative meal ideas for the future because I’m always running out of ideas on what to cook.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Basically you get these pans that have holes in them. They come in a couple of sizes, regular and mini. Now when my husband first saw the mine one, the first thing he thought of was jalapeno poppers! I had to explain that while that would work great, it was for something even cooler. You know the ice cream cones you buy right? You simply place a cone the hole where it sits securely. You make your batter and pour into the handy squeeze bottle that comes with the set and fill your cones with cake batter! You can also use brownie batter which sounds heavenly!

What a great idea for toddlers and young kiddos! It can be so hard for a small child to eat a regular cupcake, trying to peel off the paper and then it breaking apart and falling everywhere. These Kupcake Konz are just the perfect size and the mini ones are awesome for small hands!!

Great for parties, great for school functions, great for fundraisers and great to eat!

These are the mini cones and it holds 24.

This is the cake batter which does well over 50 mini cones! This squeeze bottle is an excellent idea and made it so easy to fill the cones.

Squeeeeeeeeze into the cones.

Kupcake Konz all filled with cake batter…..Mmmmmm Don’t overfill!!!

All baked and ready to ice!

TADA!

Oh my gosh, now tell me that ain’t cute!! You know that is the most adorable cupcake ever!!

Kupcake Konz did send me the kit to try out and I freakin’ LOVE it! If you want to win a kit, head on over to my giveaway page and enter!

Have you been there? Have you devoured one of their cheesecakes?  Sadly, I have not but I really want to and I know you’re gonna laugh but I had no idea that served other food as well.  Hey, that’s the sheltered life of a country gal!

They have locations everywhere and even a couple down by Houston where I’ll be going in a week so maybe I can swing by and try one out!

Right now they’re having a contest that might interest you called Share the Celebration where you can win the following:

• o Trip for 4 to Florida – Airfare, Hotel, Disney Resort Passes and $1,000
• o Chance to win a $25 gift card, $500 in gift cards
• o Cheesecake for ONE YEAR!!

You can win a $25 Gift Card to The Cheesecake Factory by visiting their site and telling me which cheesecake you would try!  Just leave your comment below and you’re entered!

Additional ways to enter, leaving each one in a separate comment please.

• Fave me at Technorati
• Subscribe to my Newsletter
• Subscribe to my blog via email or RSS reader

Both the cheesecake factory and my own giveaway here Ends on June 30th so hurry!

Should you decide to make your own cheesecake, here are some tips to help you create the perfect cheesecake!

CHEESECAKE TIPS

• * Bring all ingredients to room temperature before mixing.
• * To soften cream cheese in the microwave: place unwrapped 8 oz. cheese in a microwavable bowl and microwave on high for 15 seconds. Add 15 seconds for each additional bar of cheese.
• * Mix filling only until combined. Don’t over mix.
• * Use a spring form pan so that the sides can be removed.
• * Place spring form pan on a shallow pan, like a pizza pan , or cover bottom and up one inch around the sides with aluminum foil to avoid leaks in the oven.
• * Place a shallow pan of water in rack below cheesecake to keep oven moist
• * A perfectly baked cheesecake will be puffed around the edges. When shaken, about an inch in diameter in the center should jiggle.
• * Store in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for up to four days.
• * The bottom of the pan can be removed from the cheesecake once the cake has firmed in the refrigerator. Use two spatulas to move cake to serving platter.
• * Cheesecakes taste best when brought to room temperature–about 30 minutes.
• * Securely wrap an already firm, about 4 hours in the refrigerator, cheesecake to be put in the freezer. Cheesecakes can be kept for up to 2 months in the freezer.
• * Thaw frozen cheesecake overnight in the refrigerator.

There are still many ranches out there that pull out the ol’ chuck-wagon during the cowboy works.  With large pastures and herds of cattle, it’s much easier to have a central camp out in the middle of those pastures, then to have to drive all the cowboys all the way back to someone’s house to eat for both breakfast, lunch, and supper.

Because of the popularity of chuck-wagon cookin’, you can now find all sorts of competitions across the US.    It’s common for ranch rodeos to hold chuck-wagon cook-offs and this is where I was introduced to how real cowboy cooking is done.

Back when we worked for the Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch, up by Amarillo-TX, we would go to two ranch rodeos every year where  chuck-wagon competitions were held.  The one held in Amarillo was by far the most work in my opinion because we had to cook for the public and for the judges.  They would provide you with the main ingredients like 50lbs of meat, 20lbs of taters, and tons of beans!  Each year the menu was basically the same–Chicken Fried Steak, Mash Taters, Beans, Rolls/Biscuits and a Cobbler.

The chuck-wagon competition held in Wichita Falls, TX was much more fun but lordy it was hot & humid! How you did in that competition affected the overall score the cowboys got during the ranch rodeo.

Lots of competitions and I’m proud to say that I have won 1st place for Mexican Cornbread and a couple of 2nd place prizes/points.

And you see the fella sitting down?  He taught me how to make the best white gravy ever which I’ll share with you soon!

The Dutch Oven

Anything you can cook at home, can be cooked in a dutch oven. They are built for holding heat which makes for excellent baking and frying. The stubby little legs are for sitting on hot coals and the lip on the lid allows for coals to sit on top for baking. And by simply flipping the lid, you can easily fry up some bacon.

We like to cook cornbread, cobbler, and rolls in dutch ovens. Everything is always cooked so evenly but you definitely need some practice before you attempt dutch oven cooking. It’s an experience for sure but one you have to try at least once!

For more info on a competition near you, check out Chuckwagon.org!