Delicious Dishes by Debbie: December 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Holiday Fun Judging Cookies with the Ft. Myers News-Press

Me, Drew Sterwald, Norman Love

I was so excited to be asked by Drew Sterwald of our local Ft. Myers News Press to judge a Holiday Cookie Contest on December 8th. There were so many great cookies to taste and I had such a great time. There were 72 entries and each judge was sat at a table with 12 different cookies. That table of 3 judges tasted each of the 12 cookies and choose the best of the 12. Then the top cookies were placed on a different table and all of the 18 judges tasted those top 6. Talk about a sugar high...whew...it was amazing!! I found out that there are some awesome cooks among us here in Ft. Myers. I am giving you a link to the article so you can see the cookies for yourself and the top three recipes are also on the link. Yummy!! I suggest you try them out. I saw many people I knew there but was asked to sit at the table with the Food Editor of the News Press, Drew Sterwald who is a wonderful journalist and a really nice guy. The other member at our table was Norman Love. You might know him from the Food Network and from his famous business, Norman Love Confections. You can find out more about him at his web site www.normanloveconfections.com.

Norman Love and Me

He is amazing chocolatier and such a nice man. Here are some fun photos of the day. Hope you enjoy them. I must say, it was fun being on the other side of the judging this time. Much less stressful!!! Check out the article in the News Press at http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201012150329. This article was written by Drew Sterwald and there is a photo gallery if you want to see the cookies also. The photographs were taken by Lindsay Terry of the News Press. The photo gallery is at http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=A4&Dato=20101209&Kategori=LIFESTYLES&Lopenr=12090807&Ref=PH.

Monday, December 6, 2010

BIG CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!! A Butterball Indoor Electric Masterbuilt Turkey Fryer

We have a winner for the Butterball Turkey Fryer!!
Drumroll Please............
It is Elaine! So Elaine, please contact me within 24 hours to claim your prize!!
Followers, I have great news!!! The Masterbuilt company has provided a Christmas Prize Package for you. It is a Delicious Indoor Turkey Fryer and it is valued at $159.00. PLUS, if that were not enough, they want to give you a gift certificate for $15.00 off of a Butterball Turkey and the greatest cookbook you ever saw called "DADGUM That's Good!" written by John McLemore. This might be the biggest Christmas present you get this year and it is FREE!!!!!

The Butterball Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer and the Masterbuilt All-Purpose fryer help you to overcome your fear of frying. It's patented technology makes your fryer safe and guarantees you will never over-heat your oil. There's no open flame to worry about. It's the fastest way to serve up the best turkey you'll ever taste, in three easy steps: inject, fry and eat!!

I was given the same prize package to try out because I would never recommend anything I hadn't tried and loved. For Thanksgiving we had our very first Fried Butterball Turkey and we are hooked!!
Not only can you fry with this great piece of equipment, but you can boil and steam. So, whether you are in the mood to indulge in some fried food, or you're being a bit more health-conscious, this has you covered.
Can you imagine a big CRAB BOIL and do you know what you would pay for that at a seafood restaurant....you can't touch this!

You won't believe the great recipes in the cookbook either. There are recipes for frying, steaming, and boiling. You will find this to be a very useful tool in your kitchen. I always say a cook is only as good as the equipment she uses. You'll be thrilled with this. Here is where you can find out more about this great fryer.

www.masterbuilt.com

www.dadgumthatsgood.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Masterbuilt/153933621381

Twitter: @JohnMcLemore, @DadgumThatsGood, @Masterbuilt

Please follow Masterbuilt on Twitter and Facebook . If you don't win or do and want a second fryer to give as a gift, you can purchase the turkey fryer on Amazon.com.

Below are some details on the turkey fryer:

• The fryer is retailed at $159.96
• Adjustable thermostat temperature control
• Stainless steel construction
• Porcelain-coated inner pot
• Digital timer
• Folding lid with window and filter
• Cooking basket with drain clip
• Drain Valve for easy cleaning
• Saves on oil - uses 1/3 less than conventional turkey fryers
• It can feed up to 8 people when frying a 14 lb turkey

Also, I thought you might like to check out this video from John McLemore, the CEO of Masterbuilt, explaining how to use the turkey fryer; it’s very helpful! (video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF3xQmtFyz8&feature=player_embedded)

Now what I want you to do is sign up for this great gift from Masterbuilt so you can hopefully get it by Christmas to cook your Christmas Dinner. I will run this for only 1 week. So on December 13th I will announce the winner which will be generated by using random.org from your entries.
You may enter a comment for each of these things. Each one will be counted as an entry for the fryer.
1. Follow me on this blog and post a comment telling me which recipe you would like to try from the Dadgum That's Good Cookbook.
2. Follow Materbuilt on Facebook and post on their page that you saw this on my blog.
3. Follow Masterbuilt on Twitter and post on their page that you saw this on my blog.
4. Follow Me on Twitter and repost this contest. My twitter name is realwomanofphil.
5. Post on your Facebook about this giveaway.
6. Post on your Twitter about this giveaway.
7. Finally, repost this on your blog and give me the link. Post that comment twice on my page here and I will give you two entries for doing this.
Now, with that many chances, what have you to lose. This is well worth the time to give it a try.
I was not paid by Masterbuilt to post this giveaway. The opinions are my own and believe me I LOVE THIS!!!! I know you will too. Good Luck and Merry Christmas!

Strawberry Heaven

“The “Debbie” recipe – the recipe that is authentically me.
My absolute favorite dessert recipe.”
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.