My New Favorite Cookbook! tasteofhome Cooking School

Who loves a great cookbook? I know I do and that's just what I received a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been able to put it down! This is no ordinary cookbook, however, it is a cooking school cookbook and you can easily learn so much from it without even having to leave home or pay for expensive cooking lessons. Believe me, I've taken some classes and they are expensive! This amazing book has so much to tell you about. First of all it has step-by-step instructions and the advise of experts! When can you say that you've had that in any cookbook? This book has more than 400 recipes that go from simple to spectacular! There are pages of instruction to teach you how to measure correctly all the way to tips for baking success. I couldn't begin to tell you everything that is in this great book, but I can share a favorite recipe from the book with you.

The Taste of Home Magazine has been so popular for years and now they are giving us our very own home cooking school in a book.

How about trying one of my favorites....from page 51, Ranch Turkey Wraps.  This is in the chapter "Better Than Takeout - Burgers & More."  One of the reasons I chose this is because it is so hot outside and I didn't have to heat up my kitchen. 

On the side of the page it teaches you how to "Pit And Slice An Avacado"...which I easily did.

I got the simple ingredients together....

And in just a very few minutes, had a delicious Ranch Turkey Wrap to enjoy for lunch!

I know you will enjoy this recipe as well as one of the 400+ other recipes when you get this book.

Ranch Turkey Wraps

Yield:  4 servings

These hand-held sandwiches make a nice lunch or quick dinner on the go.  A great thing about wraps, is that, like sandwiches, you can customize each one to suit your taste.
emily hanson//logan, utah

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup prepared ranch salad dressing
4 flour tortillas (10 inches), warmed
3/4 pound sliced deli turkey
8 slices Monterey Jack cheese
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and sliced
1 medium tomato, sliced

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and salad dressing until smooth.  Spread over tortillas.  Layer with turkey, cheese, avocado and tomato.  Roll up tightly; cut in half.

Nutrition Facts:  1 wrap equals 661 calories, 37 g fat (14 g saturated fat), 96 mg cholesterol, 1,719 mg sodium, 41 g carbohydrate, 9 g fiber, 35 g protein.

If I were to add anything to this for my tastes, it would be some nice crispy bacon and fresh lettuce.  I love that you can customize each sandwich for individuals and their particular tastes.

I love the fact that the nutritional facts are with every recipe and that these recipes are from home cooks just like you and me.

About Taste of Home

Taste of Home is a go-to resource for the holidays and any time of the year for information on food, cooking and entertaining. Each year, thousands of great home cooks from across the United States and Canada submit more than 40,000 recipes, of which 3,000 are published in Taste of Home magazines and online, making Taste of Home one of the largest and most successful practitioners of user generated content. Before being published, every recipe is tested in the Taste of Home Test Kitchen to ensure that it can be prepared with affordable, everyday ingredients from regular grocery stores. Taste of Home content is available in print; online at Tasteofhome.com; in books; via digital download on iPad, mobile apps and Kindle; and Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. 

For more information please visit http://www.tasteofhome.com , and follow on Facebook  and Twitter

I was not paid for this review or endorsement and the opinions regarding this book are my own.

  

Strawberry Heaven! My Favorite Food Ever..What's yours?

If I were forced to say what food that I would never get tired of, it would be strawberries.  I could eat them every day and never grow weary.     

                     

All I ever talk about loving is strawberries. I am to strawberries as Paula Deen is to potatoes and butter. 
When thinking about my absolute favorite dessert, it had to combine cheesecake, strawberries, and chocolate. Chocolate covered strawberries to be exact!!! So I developed a pie that features all my weaknesses. I love a regular pie crust instead of graham cracker so I have used pie crust, topped with a luscious layer of Kraft Philadelphia Ready-to-Eat Cheesecake Filling, followed by 1 pound of ripe, juicy strawberries enveloped in strawberry glaze topped with creamy, dreamy Cool Whip, and followed by 6 GIANT chocolate covered strawberries. This pie would be a strawberry lovers’ most decadent dream. It is mine…now you know what I dream about. 

Strawberry Heaven 
Prep time: 50 minutes Cook time: 9 minutes 
Serves 6 - 8 
1 refrigerated pie crust 
1 ½ c. Kraft Philadelphia Ready-to-Eat Cheesecake Filling 
2 lbs. of strawberries 
14 oz. strawberry pie glaze 
8 oz Cool Whip 
¾ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
2. Place pie crust in pie pan and flute edges. Bake at 450 degrees for 9 minutes. 
3. Cool pie crust at room temperature for 10 minutes and follow in freezer for 10 minutes to cool quickly. 
4. While pie crust is cooking and cooling, prepare other ingredients beginning with strawberries. Wash strawberries, core, and slice in half. Save 6 LARGE strawberries for top of pie. Eat a few and enjoy them while you are working so hard. Save enough for the pie. 
5. Melt chocolate chips in microwave for approximately 1 minute stirring every 20 seconds. Dip 6 large strawberries in chocolate about ¾ of the way up the strawberry. Place a piece of parchment paper on a plate and cool the strawberries on the paper in the freezer. 
6. After the pie crust comes out of the freezer, spread the cheesecake filling directly on top of crust. 
7. Place strawberries directly on top of cheesecake and pour strawberry glaze over strawberries. 
8. Pipe Cool Whip over strawberries and glaze and top with chocolate covered strawberries. Place in freezer for approximately 15 minutes and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers. 




What is your favorite dessert or food?  Leave me a comment to let me know what you couldn't live without.

Skinny Mama Recipe Contest Excitement

How many times have you wanted to serve a healthy appetizer or dish only to find that the dip or some of the ingredients have way too many calories and too much fat?  I know I struggle with that...but no more with Saucy Mama's products.  I can make a wonderful dip with only a few calories per serving that my guests and family will love.  I have entered this recipe in the Skinny Mama Recipe Contest and know that you will enjoy it.


Skinny Mama Shameless Indulgent Smoky Garlic Dip

1 cup Non-fat unsweetened plain yogurt
2 T. Saucy Mama Smoky Garlic Mustard
1/2 t. garlic powder
4 T. chopped scallions
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. smokey horseradish
1/8 t. pepper
1 T. Saucy Mama Dirty Martini Olive Juice

Finely chop scallions and set aside 1 T.
Mix together Yogurt, Saucy Mama Mustard, garlic powder, 3 T. chopped scallions, salt, horseradish, pepper and Saucy Mama Olive Juice.
Whisk until all ingredients are incorporated and top with the scallions you set aside.
Refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours. 
Serve with fresh cut vegetables and enjoy.

Servings: 8
Calories 20 per serving
0 Fat

This dish would work great with a low calorie diet and the South Beach Diet.

Skinny Mama Shameless Indulgent Smoky Garlic Dip

Skinny Mama Shameless Indulgent Smoky Garlic Dip

Skinny Mama Shameless Indulgent Smoky Garlic Dip

At Nanns Table: My First Giveaway ...Valentines Tea for Two

Check out my friend, Nancy's blog and you might win a really beautiful prize. Good Luck.

At Nanns Table: My First Giveaway ...Valentines Tea for Two: Hello Hello ....I am SO EXCITED to tell you about my FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY . And it is for ta da...... DARLING Valentines Tea Cups an...

Delicious Dishes By Debbie Has Been Voted The Sauciest Blogger of 2011

Right before Christmas The Saucy Mama Cafe ran a big contest to have Facebook voters vote for their favorite Food Blog.  Thanks to my great friends and fans of Delicious Dishes By Debbie we were fortunate enough to win this prestigious title.  What an honor and privilege to be voted The Sauciest Blog of 20ll. The prize was this HUGE gift basket of some of the Saucy Mama's favorite things.  It had so many really amazing things in the basket. Saucy Mama represents Barhyte Products.
A HUGE thanks goes out to Shannon Imlay for being the push behind voting for this blog.  You can visit her blog Shannon's Shanonigins.

Shannon has a wonderful entertaining and food blog.  It is beautiful.  Shannon also has a Facebook page you can like. 

These products include so many different varieties of mustard, cooking sauces, stuffed olives and so many wonderful products.  In my basked were some jalapeno Stuffed Olives that were to DIE for.  I haven't had the chance to try each and every thing yet, but I am working on it.
 

Not only did I receive some delicious food products, but I also received a beautiful dish towel, bright red colander and a Saucy Mama red stripped apron.

Thanks so much to all who voted for me and support Delicious Dishes By Debbie.  I encourage you to become a friend of The Saucy Mama on FB and to follow them on Twitter.  Go and check out The Saucy Mama website too.  You can order these great items and try them for yourself.  I have set up the links here on my blog and if you click on them you will go directly to their Facebook or Twitter pages and you can follow.  They are running different contests throughout the year and you could be a winner of their products also. 
Click on the Red highlighted words to go directly to that blog, website, twitter or facebook page.

Here is one of my recipes using their Pacific Rim Ginger Dressing.


Pacific Rim Ginger Bruschetta

Ingredients:

3 T. olive oil
1 green bell pepper
1 onion
1can diced tomatoes (I used Hunts diced roasted garlic tomatoes)
1/8 t. salt
1/2 cup of Saucy Mama
                  Pacific Rim Ginger Dressing

Chop bell pepper and onion into small chunks.  

Heat skillet and add olive oil.  When oil is hot, add peppers and onions.

Saute peppers and onions until soft.

 Drain extra water off of the tomatoes and add tomatoes to peppers and onions.

 

Simmer for 5 minutes and add Saucy Mama Pacific Rim Ginger Dressing.

Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes until chutney is slightly thick.

 Spoon over slices of baguette and bake for 5 - 6  minutes at 350 degrees.

It is also great to serve over a baked potato...

Give as a gift and make several....

Follow me (realwomanofphil) on Twitter and leave a comment.
Follow Saucy Mama on Facebook and leave a comment that you've done this.
Follow saucy Mama on Twitter and comment that you've done so.
Follow Barhyte Specialty Foods on Facebook and comment that you've done this.
Follow Barhyte Specialty Foods on Twitter and comment that you've done this.
 You can find out more about Saucy Mama products by going to the Saucy Mama Cafe.  Just click on their button on my page and it will direct you to the site. 

Saucy Mama's 6 newest creations:

Apricot Ginger Mustard
Tarragon Lemon Mustard
Dijon Mustard
Sweet Heat Marinade
Pacific Rim Ginger Dressing
 Chipotle Ranch Dressing 

Thanks Saucy Mama!!Your products are awesome!!!

Shannon's Shanonigins: Freshwater Pearl Give-Away

There is an amazing blog I want you to check out and the bonus is that you can sign up to win this wonderful gift set. PEARLS....wow, don't miss this one for sure.

Shannon's Shanonigins: Freshwater Pearl Give-Away: Happy 2012! I hope you all had a joyful, loving holiday season :) I thought it would be fun to start the new year off with a great give...

My Gluten Freedom: UPDATED Sneak Peek at the Big Launch Party

I have some friends who require a Gluten free diet and I wanted to share this blog and giveaway with all of you. Check it out. I find it to be an exciting new blog that you will like if you are interested in Gluten Freedom.

My Gluten Freedom: UPDATED Sneak Peek at the Big Launch Party: If you are reading this, you are one lucky duck! It means you have a chance to get a leg up on the hundreds of dollars in gluten free giv...

Christmas Treasures in Our Hearts and On Our Plates

I can't believe Christmas is already over and we are counting down until next year.  I have to tell you that I still wasn't ready with all I had to do by Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I must admit that I could have done better in the gift department and I vow to do better this year.  Every year I say, "I've had 365 days to prepare for this and I'm still not ready."  Four of those days have already passed until next Christmas and I am already resolved to do better.  One of my problems is that I can't wait to give the gifts I've purchased in advance and go ahead and break down and give them early.  Then I am totally unprepared for Christmas.  I vow not to do that this year.  Now, about what was on our plates.....
Yummy!

Even though I wasn't totally prepared for that either, we ate well.  I want to share some photos and a couple of delicious recipes that we made and hope that you might want to use them for your New Years Eve Party or a future event.  On Christmas Eve, we always have a meal of finger foods, appetizers and goodies.  It's not a formal sit-down dinner, but a buffet style free for all.  Eating begins the minute they hit the door and finishes when they can't eat another bite. 

One of the best things we ate were what we called Muffy Puffy's in the past.  Now they would be called Shrimp Crostini.  It's the very same thing, but an updated name.  They are on the snowman plate pictured above.  Here is my recipe and believe me, the family requests them each and every year.

Shrimp Crostini

Servings: 24 crostini
Cook Time: 10 min
Difficulty: Easy

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients 

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced green onion
24 medium fresh cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped
24 toasted French bread rounds

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients except for bread.  Spread shrimp mixture evenly over French bread rounds. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until crispy and brown. Serve hot! Enjoy!

Of course no buffet is complete without an assortment of olives and other goodies to put on a cracker...

Even though Christmas is over this year, we will always have the great memories of an evening spent with family and the love that was shared by all.

The food was amazing, they company even better.  As usual we had too much food to eat and had leftovers for a week.  At this point, I have no desire for any more of this type of food...but give me a month or two and I'll be ready to have another party and find something to celebrate.

Now about what is in our hearts.....

The highlight of the year for us was two things.  One, having my parents back in Florida for Christmas and the winter.  They had been away for 6 years and not able to come back for the holidays.  This was their first year back and I hope the first of many.  There is nothing like having your mother and dad with you for the holidays. 

Of course, if you've been following my blog, you know that the other highlight is our first grandchild, Jack.  Even though he was too little to enjoy or participate, just having him here was such a blessing.  He is our miracle child and we are totally in love with him.  Having Matthew, Trisha and Marshall here and being able to be together is so important to me.  On Christmas Day we were able to have more of our family here, my brother Mark and his wife Marie along with their children, Stephenie, Trevor (Stephenie's boyfriend) and Christian.  Marie's mother and here sister and her family joined us as well. So Christmas was about the real treasures in our hearts.  The birth of the most important baby ever born, Jesus Christ and celebrating that with our family. 

May God bless you all and bring you a healthy and happy New Year.  I vow to you to make this food blog one of the best that there is out there for your to enjoy this year.  I already have some things in the works. 

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!!

I Can't believe that Christmas is only a few days away.   This year has brought so many changes.  I am a new grandmother...Gammy for short and I am loving every minute of it.  I can't wait for the day when baby Jack will want to eat Gammy's goodies and maybe even be interested in stirring the pot.  At the least, I know he will want to lick the spoon just like his father did when he was a boy.  Come to think of it, he still loves to lick the spoon.  Here is a photo of my little bundle of pure love and joy!

I am having my annual Christmas Cookie/Candy Baking and Sharing Party this Sunday....I would love for some of you to send me some new recipes to try.  I always stick with some of the same good recipes that my family loves and requests each and every year.  It would be wonderful to incorporate some new goodies.  Chocolate Chip Cookies, Buckeyes, Fudge, Divinity, Bourbon Balls, Date Nut Cookies, Mississippi Mud, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and Rice Crispy Treats are some of the all time favorites.  Very traditional I know, but when you have men in your family, they seem to love the "tradition" of it all by eating their favorites and reminiscing of years past.

I'm going to post photos of the party and ALL of the goodies next week.  Maybe we will be able to give you some great ideas.  One of the best things about foodies, is that they like to share recipes with one another and love to experiment with new things. 

I am posting a new recipe that a fellow blogger and amazing woman, Shannon Imlay, shared with me. Many of you know Shannon and are followers of her blog, Shannon's Shanonigins.  I met Shannon through The Real Women of Philadelphia and we became instant friends.  Shannon and I both went to visit a mutual friend, Nancy Judd, last February and had the best time ever.  Shannon, Nancy and I cooked for two weeks...sharing recipes and lots and lots of calories.  Nancy was an amazing hostess and showed us around her town and we hit all of the very best places.  How would you like to make this very special cake?  Isn't it beautiful?  Shannon has agreed to share the recipe with all of us. 

Here is the recipe for Shannon's 
New Years Wishing Star Chocolate Mousse Cake

 

Tools
9 Inch Spring form pan
Electric mixer



Ingredients
7 ounces semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate
(chips, or chopped)
1/4 pound unsalted butter
7 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, separated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
Whipped Cream Frosting  Recipe Below

 

Instructions

1). Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2). Melt butter and chocolate together either in a double boiler, or in 30 second intervals in the microwave until melted, and combined. Stir in vanilla, set aside.

3). In large mixing bowl beat egg yolks and 3/4 cup of sugar until doubled in volume, pale yellow and thick enough to leave a ribbon on itself, this will take 3-5 minutes

4). Fold the egg yolk mixture into the melted chocolate mixture until combined

5). In separate clean mixing bowl beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Once soft peaks form, slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until mixture is glossy and stiff peaks form.

6). Fold egg white mixture gently into chocolate mixture. Reserve 1/4 of the mixture for filling, cover the 1/4 chocolate mousse mixture and refrigerate.

7). Put 3/4 of the chocolate mousse mixture into a 9 inch spring form pan. You can line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper to make cleaning the pan easier. Cover and refrigerate 1/4 of the chocolate mousse.

8). Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes, do not over bake. When cake is done baking, let it cool completely

9).The cake will fall as it's cooling (like a souffle) take your 1/4 remaining chocolate mousse and fill the top of the cake

10). Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let mousse set, you can let this set in the refrigerator overnight

11). Frost with Whipped Cream Frosting

Whipped Cream Frosting
2 Cups of Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Once soft peaks have formed, slowly add sugar, then vanilla until stiff peaks form. Once it has formed stiff peaks it is ready to use.

To Decorate your cake for New Years Eve I placed Glitter Stars at the 12,3,6, & 9 o'clock positions (these are not edible but can be easily removed. You could bake sugar cookie stars and sprinkle them with edible glitter.

 

Place edible pearls on hour positions

 

Place edible silver dragees in minute positions, make the clock hands out of silver dragees and place them at the midnight position.

 

Place seven (lucky) candles in the center of the clock face

 

Sprinkle cake with edible star glitter

 

Right before midnight, light the candles and have everyone make a wish for the New Year, count down from 5 and have everyone blow out the candles.

 

This is a nice family alternative to making a toast because it doesn't include alcohol and everyone can participate. I wish you a Happy New Year and hope all your wishes come true.
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