Easy Peasy Holiday Entertaining

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

A few months back, we made the decision that since our house hunt hadn't led us to the right house for us, that we would enter into the project of updating the kitchen. Originally, we were focused on getting a quote and planning to wait for spring to start the project Then, as luck would have it, the cabinets that we had selected were on a special. We decided that we should take advantage of the discount and get the cabinets. We didn't want to pay for cabinets and not install right away, so we decided to move the whole project up. We chose a start date, knowing that with a 4 week timeline, we would be without a full kitchen on Thanksgiving, but anticipating that we would be back to normal in early December.

Unfortunately, some quality issues with a cabinet, some unexpected water pipes in a wall we removed that had to be rerouted and an issue with the counter top led to an extension to our timeline. I wasn't too worried about this, other than the holidays. We had gotten rather adept at using our bar kitchen and our oven, which was operational most of the project time-frame, to keep ourselves fed. As the holidays approached, I started to worry. I rely on baking to provide gifts to the kids' teachers, my team at work, our neighbors and family. I also have various holiday parties that I attend, where I need to bring a dish to share. All of these things are more challenging without an operational kitchen.

Fortunately, I like to think outside of the box and came up with several things that I could make that provided great flavor and could be made without a kitchen.

For the holiday food day at work, I turned to my crockpot and LLOYD’S® Pulled Pork.

The product is very flavorful on it's own, but since I was planning to warm and hold in my crock-pot I added our favorite barbecue sauce. I grabbed some slider rolls on the way to the office and voila, I had a great dish to share at lunch.








For a holiday gathering with my women's club, I turned to the microwave and Hormel Snackers dips. I took a bag of tortilla chips, some sliced baguette,

two containers of the HORMEL® SNACKERS® Cheesy Bacon & Jalapeño Dip and two of the HORMEL® SNACKERS® Spinach & Artichoke Dip.







Of course, Hormel Gatherings snack trays would have been another easy solution.

With precut cheese, meat and crackers, it is ready to go and be part of your party in no time.

As for my holiday baking, I fortunately had a counter top and sink installed and reconnected in time to spend a weekend baking. I made over 30 batches of biscotti and one batch each of cut out cookies, Italian Christmas cookies, fudge and bruchtel bars.

How do you entertain at the holidays? What are your favorite snacks to take and share?


No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product samples for my family to try. I also receive thought starters, information and photos that can be used in a post.

BeepEgg - A Singing Breakfast Party #Tryazon #Brainstream #beepegg

No compensation was received for this post. Complimentary BeepEggs and Ines Rosales torta, as well as information for the post, were provided so that I could host a party, through Tryazon.

This weekend I had the chance to host a Tryazon A Singing Breakfast Party, featuring the BeepEgg from Brainstream and Ines Rosales torta. The BeepEgg helps you make the perfect soft boiled, medium boiled or hard boiled egg.

I decided the best way to start was to demonstrate the functionality of the BeepEgg. We put a few eggs and the BeepEgg into a pan with tap water and turned on the heat.

After a few minutes, the egg beeped, letting us know that it was working and that the water had reached 45C. Then, a few minutes later, a beep to let us know the water was boiling and the stove temp could be turned down to medium. The first song the BeepEgg Classic played was 'Oh Susanna', letting us know we had perfect soft-boiled eggs.

We removed one egg and allowed the others to continue to cook. We cracked it open and took off the cap, revealing a perfect soft-boiled egg:

My mom even commented that she was so glad to have a perfect soft-boiled egg, because they are so hard to make.

The next song that the BeepEgg Classic played was 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame', letting us know we had perfect medium-boiled eggs. We removed one egg and allowed the others to continue to cook. We cracked it open and took off the cap, revealing a perfect medium-boiled egg:

The next song that the BeepEgg Classic played was 'Hail Hail the Gangs All Here', letting us know we had perfect hard-boiled eggs.

We loved that the egg sang each song multiple times and that even if you weren't standing at the stove, you could still make the perfect egg. I loved that the outside of the yolk in the hard boiled eggs was still yellow, mine always seem to be on the edge of turning green.

Now that all of the remaining eggs were hard boiled, we set out to make a few dishes to share.  My son is a fan of deviled eggs and since I use the same 'recipe' to make deviled eggs as I do for egg salad, we took the easy route and made part into deviled eggs and chopped up the rest to be egg salad.

Here the dishes are with some 'fancy' plating.  


Deviled Eggs

Open Face Egg Salad Sandwich



We also tried Ines Rosales tortas.  I hadn't thought to buy some spreads for the tortes, which everyone agreed the Sesame Seed and Sea Salt variety needed.  The Seville Orange variety was a lightly sweet treat to cap the snack.

Everyone had a great time trying the products. Two lucky party guests also took home their very own beep egg - of course, one went to my mom so that she could make perfect soft boiled eggs at home.

History
Dr. Rupprecht Gabriel, a German engineer and entrepreneur, was always annoyed by his poorly boiled breakfast eggs. They were either too runny, too hard. In 2000, he decided to solve the problem and the BeepEgg was born - an egg shaped timer that could sing and float. Shortly thereafter Gabriel formed a creative team and Brainstream became an enterprise. Brainstream strives to impress their customers with their “fun and functional” products. Their line of products include BeepEgg, Cregg, SOI - the automatic handbag light, and more.

BeepEgg
The BeepEgg - looks like an egg, feels like an egg, boils like an egg, but unlike an egg it sings. BeepEgg is a precise egg-timer, which is boiled together with real eggs. The BeepEgg and real eggs have to enter water at the same time. Once yolk and egg-white have reached the desired degree of hardness, BeepEgg will play a tune.

Watch this video to see how it works:

For more information about Brainstream please visit:
http://www.brainstream.de/index.php/en/brainstream/detail/ueber_uns

Brainstream can be purchased at: http://kitchenkaboodle.com or Amazon. Ines Rosales is available at http://yummybazaar.com and at various store retailers.

No compensation was received for this post. Complimentary BeepEggs and Ines Rosales torta, as well as information for the post, were provided so that I could host a party, through Tryazon.

Baked Wonton Cheese Sticks

No compensation received for this post. Complimentary packages of Frigo Cheese Heads string cheese were provided. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.

Now that the kids are back to school, there seems to be more snacking occasions than normal. They seem to come home from school hungry for a snack, which works out well on days when we have sports and can't eat until after. Of course, on those days, I find myself grabbing a snack to go too! Then, there are the evenings, after the kids are in bed and I am looking for a little something to nibble on with a glass of wine, as I relax, wind down from the crazy day and watch a show.

I don't know about your house, but at our house, string cheese is a favorite snack. Personally, I am a fan of cheese of all forms and find it to be a satisfying snack. I feel good providing string cheese to the kids because I feel it is a reasonably healthy option - the pack I have at home right now is only 80 calories per serving and provides 6 g of protein and some calcium. I don't know that the kids think of it as a healthy snack, but I know that they think that it is fun to eat as they tear off string after string.

As America’s Favorite String Cheese, Frigo® Cheese Heads® String Cheese is:
- Perfect for school lunches and after school snacks
- High in calcium and a good source of protein
- Individually wrapped for wholesome and fun snacking on-the-go
- Easy to use in recipes the entire family will enjoy

Typically, I think of string cheese as a stand alone snack or an accompaniment to a bowl of crackers. But last weekend, as we geared up for the official start of football season, we decided that it would be nice to have a little snack while we watched the games. We had had our fill of chips the prior day as hosts of the fantasy football draft, so I decided that I could use string cheese as an easy way to enjoy baked cheese. I decided that breading them and trying to fry/bake them would likely turn into a mess, but figured that wrapping them up in wontons would allow us a way to have baked cheese with less mess. When I suggested the snack and started to pull out the ingredients, both of the kids were anxious to help, so I let them help me roll them up and took over when it came to bake.

Baked Wonton Cheese Sticks

Wonton Wrappers
String Cheese
Oil
bowl of water

Open the string cheese and cut each piece into three equal sections. Place on the wonton wrappers and roll up like an egg roll, using the water to wet the edges to help the wrapper seal.

Place the wrapped cheese in a skillet with oil, over medium heat. Turn until browned.

Place the cheese sticks into an oven safe glass dish and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375.

Serve with a side of marinara.

Everyone liked the baked wonton cheese sticks and agreed that we should definitely make them again.

No compensation was received for this post. Complimentary packages of Frigo Cheese Heads string cheese were provided for the purpose of sharing. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.

T-fal Stainless Steel Cookware with Thermospot review #CookingPlanit

As you may know, I have been using a new set of T-fal Stainless Steel with Thermospot cookware for the past few weeks, as a participant in the Cooking Planit T-fal Cookware giveaway promotion. (You can enter to win your own 12-pc set - find the giveaway here.)

(my handles are black plastic, not red silicone)

Growing up, my mom had a set of cookware that was stainless steel and it was what I was most familiar with, but back when my husband and I were registering for our wedding, we had selected a hard anodized cookware set. I had chosen the set based on the feedback of a friend, who considered herself a bit of a home-gourmet. I loved to cook and figured that it was the right set for me. I have generally liked the set, but with it being anodized aluminum, I started to notice that the bottoms of the pans were discoloring with use and was frustrated by the skillets not being non-stick. I found the cookware to be heavy and the handles were always getting hot (I had handle covers, but didn't use them like I should).

I have really enjoyed trying out the T-fal Stainless Steel with Thermospot cookware. I like that the pans are oven safe to 350F (the ones with the plastic handles), the skillets are non-stick and feature Thermospot - which indicates when the pan is "preheated to the optimal temperature", and the pans have a built in measuring guide.

I also really like that the handles are plastic covered, so that they are easier (cooler) to handle than my old pans. They are also lighter than my old set of pans, which makes it easier to lift the pans to slide out the food or to drain.

This combination of features (lightweight, non-stick surface and plastic covered handles) allowed my son to make his own scrambled eggs the other day, while I watched closely over him to make sure he didn't hurt himself, burn the food or drop it on the floor when transferring to a plate.

I have also found that the set has the right combination of pans to fit most of my dinner preparation needs. Whether I am making hot dogs and corn on the cob or making my Cincinnati chili with pasta, chili and beans, there seems to be a pan that will fit my needs.

I like the steam vents that are built into the glass lids. It allows me to keep my food covered while cooking and (at least so far) prevents it from boiling over. I also really like that the lids are glass, so I can see inside. My old cookware had solid lids, which meant more lid lifting during cooking (and they got hot too).

The cookware has been easy to clean. I continue to clean it by hand, but the pans are dishwasher safe (I'm assuming that the non-stick is not).

I am happy with my new set of pans and have already cleared out my old pans to make room in my cupboard for the new cookware. I would recommend the cookware based on my experience with them.


No compensation was received for this post. As a participant in the Cooking Planit T-fal Giveaway, I was provided with a set of pans to use and share my experience with my readers. All opinions expressed are entirely my own or that of my family.