Summer Recipe: Governor’s Mansion Peach Tea Punch

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Image Credit: Southern Living

I used the Memorial Day holiday as an excuse to try out a few new recipes.  In last month’s issue of Southern Living magazine, I saw this recipe for Governor’s Mansion Summer Peach Tea Punch.  It looked so lovely and enticing!  So, yesterday I decided to try it out on my BBQ guests.  It was a hit.  I even heard rumblings that it would make a great base for a cocktail…

I made some modifications (mostly out of poor planning), but it turned out deliciously.  For example, I used a Mango-Passion Fruit Tea that I had on hand, and I omitted the lemonade (because I forgot to put it in the shopping cart – likewise with the Club Soda).  Here’s the recipe!

GOVERNOR’S MANSION SUMMER PEACH TEA PUNCH

  • YIELD: Makes about 1 gal.
  • HANDS-ON: 10 MINUTES
  • TOTAL: 9 HOURS, 5 MINUTES
  • COURSE: Beverages, Beverages, Nonalcoholic

Ingredients

  • 3 family-size tea bags
  • 2 cups loosely packed fresh mint leaves
  • 1 (33.8-oz.) bottle peach nectar
  • 1/2 (12-oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
  • 1/2 cup Simple Sugar Syrup
  • 1 (1-liter) bottle ginger ale, chilled
  • 1 (1-liter) bottle club soda, chilled
  • Garnish: fresh peach wedges

Preparation

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan; add tea bags and mint leaves. Boil 1 minute; remove from heat. Cover and steep 10 minutes.

2. Discard tea bags and mint. Pour into a 1-gal. container; add peach nectar, lemonade concentrate, and Simple Sugar Syrup. Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.

3. Pour chilled tea mixture into a punch bowl or pitcher. Stir in ginger ale and club soda just before serving. Garnish, if desired.

If you try it, let me know how it turns out! What are your favorite summer recipes?

Filed Under: BBQ, chillin' out maxin' relaxin', Entertaining, food, libations, recipes, Something New, Tea

Solving Your Top 5 Dinner Challenges with ReadySetEat.com

May 31, 2011 By 4 Comments

Here’s the thing about dinner: it happens every.night. Sure, when you’re in college or when you are single (or even when you’re a newlywed), you can get away with cereal or cold pizza for dinner on a regular basis.  But once kids enter the picture, the dinner dynamic changes – at least it did for me.

I wanted two things: (1) to make dinnertime a place where my family came together to re-connect after a busy day; and (2) to provide my family with a healthful, tasty meal that would nourish and comfort them.  I really do like to show my love to family (and friends) through cooking.  So what’s the issue? Let me share with you my:

Top 5 Dinner Challenges:

  1. Time.  This is the biggie.  For the most part, I walk into the house at about 6:15 p.m.  My kids have already been out of school for 3 or 4 hours at that point and are starved.  Sure, they eat an after school snack (or two), but by this point in the evening, they are craving  a meal.  And I have about 30 minutes to deliver in the face of homework, bathtime and bedtime.
  2. Ingredients. I try to plan out my meals ahead of time.  This is the only way I can function! Otherwise, I end up staring into an empty fridge or pantry and puzzling myself with a way to come up with a dish made with a lemon, some sour cream and leftover soup.  I need to have my meal components ready to go.
  3. Nutrition. I’ve said this before: part of my strategy in minimizing the Mommy Guilt that I feel from working outside of the house all day is to give my family a meal that is nutritious.  I have this obbsessive idea that – if all else fails – and I wasn’t at the 11am Math Open House – at least I gave you your veggies, doggonit.
  4. Ideas. There are 365 days in the year.  I need to come up with dinner ideas for at least 3/4 of those days. How many times can we eat spaghetti or tacos? HELP.
  5. Pleasing the Critics. And last, but not least, my family has to like what I make.  And I want them to.  Id’ like for my dinners to be delicious as well as nutritious so that everyone’s happy.

Enter ReadySetEat.com.  Since I was introduced to this site and invited to be on the Shared Tastes Panel, I’ve found myself consulting it on many a weeknight (and not just because I am a ConAgra Foods Blog Ambassador).  The site has taken into account many of the challenges that moms face as the Chief Meals Officer of their families and makes it so easy to find a recipe that suits their needs for that day.  I can go to the site, select the main ingredient that I have on hand (i.e. Chicken, Beef, Pasta/Rice, Meatless, Pork, Fish) and then select how much time I have to prepare the meal.  The site will consider your needs and serve up options that fit.  No brain wrestling needed!

Week before last, I made the Lemon Garlic Chicken from Ready Set Eat.  I was expecting a quick, decent chicken dish – but I got so much more!  The recipe was ridiculously easy to follow and I had all of the ingredients on hand (actually, I substituted Panko breadcrumbs for the Italian-Style breadcrumbs and threw in some Italian seasoning).  The result was fantastic.  My entire family devoured it and even I was shocked at how flavorful it was.  I served it with a salad and green beans.  Nutritious, delicious dinner in 30 minutes = mission accomplished!

And, if you’re looking for entertaining ideas, the site is a great resource as well.  With the summer season upon us, you might consider adding these crowd pleasers to your party menus:

Sloppy Joe Cornbread Bake. Sloppy Joes are convenient and easy and easy to make whether you’re cooking for two or ten. Plus this bake is a twist on the family favorite that can be made in 30 minutes and uses just 6 ingredients.

Southwest Pasta Salad. With just 7 ingredients you can have another dish ready in less than 30 minutes that everyone will enjoy.

And this one from Reddi-Wip:

Strawberry Shortcake is the quintessential summertime dessert and here’s a new recipe that takes just a couple of minutes and uses Reddi-wip as an ingredient, not just a topping, allowing you to stir in the cream as you go.

It’s a Giveaway! Pay a visit to the Ready Set Eat site and leave a comment telling me what recipe you think would make a great addition to your Memorial Day menu.  I’d also love to hear what your top weeknight dinner challenge is.  On Friday, June 3 at midnight I’ll select a winner at random for this week’s ConAgra Foods goody bag giveaway filled with treats for your kitchen.

This post is part of a month-long series sponsored by ConAgra Foods.  While the content is brand-inspired, all opinions are my own!


Filed Under: ConAgra Foods, food, In My Pantry, Moms In Mind, Quickie Meals, Ready Set Eat, recipes, reviews, sponsored post, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Kids’ Party Themes: Taste the Rainbow

May 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

My girl Jazzy from Travel Jonez sent me this image of gorgeous rainbow cupcakes thinking that I would like to use them for an upcoming kids’ birthday party.  She knows me well. I am in love and already planning a Rainbow-themed bash in my head.

Filed Under: Entertaining, Events, food, Parties, Sweet Tooth Tagged With: ,

#BlogHerFood Recap

May 22, 2011 By 5 Comments

Me and Charlie

I just got back from BlogHer Food in Atlanta and wanted to give you a quick recap.  I was only able to attend the first day of the conference since Hubby’s family had a weekend of events planned celebrating a family graduation.  But it was a great first day. The conference kicked off with a Welcome from Elisa and Jory and a roomful of 500 food bloggers.  I have to admit that I was definitely out of my element! This not being a general lifestyle or mom blogging conference meant that there was a whole new crowd of folks that I didn’t know — which was great for making new connections, but it was also a different experience for me as I usually know tons of bloggers at the events I attend.  So I was completely flying solo in a new part of the bloggy skies, but it was all good.

I began the day by meeting and interviewing Kelly Senyei of Gourmet Live and Just A Taste.  She was a delight to talk to; down to earth, bubbly and fun.  {She is also brilliantly sharp – I witnessed this first-hand during the mobile session she presented on later that day.}  More on my chat with Kelly coming soon…

Then it was off to the first set of sessions – there were 4 tracks to choose from: Voice, Visuals, Vittles and Vocation.  I had the pleasure of being the moderator on the Fast, Healthy, Family-Friendly: Not the Oxymoron You Might Think! session with Laurie David of The Family Dinner Book and Melissa Lanz of The Fresh 20.  These ladies are on their game! They are passionate about the importance of families eating together, and even more passionate about making sure that families are eating healthy foods. We had a great discussion with the session attendees, covering everything from tips for having your kids take part in meal prep to finding ways to manage fitting in dinner even amidst an on-slaught of after-school activities.  I will recap the highlights of our session in another post.

I was so excited to see that 2 friends had dropped in to sit in on my session! Lauren (HelloLT) and Latoicha (LuxeTips) – it was great to see their (beautiful) familiar faces.  Latoicha had made a special trip to say hi to me and we spent the Sponsor Demo and Sampling break that followed catching up on life and waiting in a crazily long line for Scharffen Berger chocolate (totally worth it).  Next up was lunch and an author interview of Molly Birnbaum of My Madeleine.  Her story was fascinating – she was a budding chef and food blogger who lost her sense of smell in a freak accident.  In her book, Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way, she chronicles her journey to recovery and her quest to understand the relationship between smell, taste and memory.

Also during lunch (where I met new bloggy buddies DMRFine Foods, EatRelateLove, This Wife Bakes, and Beef and Chocolate) and  I had the honor of being interviewed by Amanda of Food on the Table.  She contacted me a week or so ago to ask if I’d be willing to talk to her about my food life.  I checked out her site – a meal planning service for mom – and was basically like: “where have you been all of my life?”  She was a doll and we had a good time. Stay tuned for my interview on her blog.

I then headed to Vlogging for Beginners: Bring Your Cooking Videos to Life, presented by Carolyn O’Neil, Liz Weiss and Mria Dangerfield.  What a fabulous session! These ladies are industry pros (all former CNN producers) and got right down to business with practical advice.  The session led up to 2 bloggers from the audience volunteering to shoot a 2-minute cooking video that incorporated all of the information that the presenters had shared during the session.  The videos were edited and played on the spot. Loved it!

For my last session of the day, I attended the Taking Your Blog Content to Mobile (Learning What the Big Media Companies Are Doing), presented by Irvin Lin, Kelly Senyei, Lark Levine and Tanya Steel.  I have zero intentions of taking anything of mine to mobile (lol) but I couldn’t miss out on this powerhouse of a panel.  Epicurious, Gourmet, Cooking Channel were all represented and the session was moderated by Eat the Love.  They shared some interesting case studies and offered several valuable takeaways.

After that session, it was time for me to meet up with Hubby and the kids to head to his aunt’s house, so I skipped out on the remainder of the activities.  Lucky for me (and you!) the brilliant BlogHer ladies made the sessions available online via their VirtualCon feature, so I will be catching up on the ones I missed!

Filed Under: Events, food, Food Meets Social Media, Healthy Eating, Hitting the Road, I Got Mad Skillz, jet setting Tagged With:

My Celeb Chef Interview with George Duran

May 19, 2011 By 1 Comment


As part of my super duper role as a blog ambassador for ConAgra Foods, I recently had the pleasure of being able to interview celebrity chef George Duran!  You’ve seen him on Food Network, now check out what he had to say to FOODe about his career, background and recipe suggestions for busy moms:

FOODe:  Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions! I imagine that you are beyond busy. What’s a typical day like for you?

George Duran: Every day is a different day for me actually.  For example, today I’ve been working with a NYC artist to create these chef portraits in conjunction with their famous dish. It’s a project about color, food, and passion. Often I’m traveling throughout the US and there are quite a few months that I’m in production. So it’s really a mixed bag.

 

FOODe:  I am in awe of your story – majoring in Communications in college, a successful career in Radio and TV…and then culinary school in France? (You won’t believe this but I am living a parallel life – I majored in Telecommunications with a specialization in Radio & TV, with plans to produce awards shows and then I took a detour to law school, and now find myself obsessed with cooking.) How did you decide to turn your hobby into a career and make the leap to culinary school?

GD: I’ve always had a passion for mass media and communications. I worked in radio on the air in NYC for quite some time and then began working in television production. From there I decided to host in music television as a VJ, but I wasn’t passionate about it. I realized that food was something I loved too much and had quite a few great ideas for food shows. So I decided to move to France to study French cuisine and in less than a year I was introduced to the French cooking network (Cuisine TV). Before you know it I was hosting a show for them! A couple of years later I returned to the US and the rest is history!

 

FOODe:  A nice trend in food pop culture these days seems to be an emphasis on ethnic cuisine. How has your Armenian and Venezuelan background influenced your cooking?

GD: Everything you’ve tasted throughout your life will influence what you taste today. As an Armenian growing up in Venezuela I was exposed to a vibrant culinary world and that is what made me open up my mind (and palate) to all foods.

 

FOODe:  I have a copy of your cookbook, “Take This Dish and Twist It” that I received at Blissdom 2010 in Nashville (where your cooking demo was great, by the way!) You feature some really fun dishes – are there any that you think are especially great for kids?

GD: There are so many kids (and adults!) that hate brussels sprouts and I believe I have solved the problem with my Balsamic Glazed Brussels Sprouts recipe. In fact, I’m often asked to do culinary demos for children and I have kids taste steamed and unflavored brussels sprouts and then my balsamic brussels sprouts. They instantly fall in love with it!

 

FOODe:  As as spokesperson for Hunt’s, what are some of your favorite recipes that incorporate the products? My household can never have too many cans of diced tomatoes on hand!

GD: Becoming a spokesperson for Hunt’s was a dream come true as I have been passionate about their tomatoes most of my life. My all-time favorite recipe has got to be my Oven Roasted Tomato Bruschetta.  I take the Hunt’s Tomatoes and add some herbs and garlic and roast them slowly in the oven. What comes out is a deep-flavored tomato topping that is out of this world!

 

FOODe:  I am a (very) busy mom and many of my readers are crunched for time in getting meals on the table for their families; what’s your “go-to” recipe for when you need a quick but tasty meal?

GD: This day and age I hear so many stories from moms about needing that quick “go-to” recipe for their families, and I created a recipe for Hunt’s that really solves this dilemma: Quick and Easy Coq au Vin. Believe it or not, you don’t have to be a French chef to create this masterpiece! But honestly, I’ve been recently getting a lot of ideas for some quick recipes for dinner from ReadySetEat.com. I find it to be by far the simplest website to use for delicious recipes made in record time!

***

As you all know, I’ve been reviewing recipes for ReadySetEat.com for the past few months and I’m loving their simple and fast recipes.  When I have exactly 30 minutes to get dinner on the table for my family after I walk in the door from work, it’s nice to be able to check out that site for recipes that don’t require tons of ingredients.  I usually have everything required for any particular recipe on hand, which is nice.  No need to run to the store for an exotic vegetable or special ingredient.

If you’re looking for some fresh ideas for dinner, you’re in luck – Chef Duran and partner to ConAgra Foods have simplified the weeknight dinner routine with two quick and easy weeknight recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less:

Skillet Chicken Parmesan and Pasta

BBQ Ranch Chicken and Bacon Wraps

Don’t those both look yum? I think I might give these wraps a try in my girls’ lunches.  If you haven’t visited ReadySetEat.com yet, you really should.  Whether you’re cooking for two or ten, the site offers busy people a faster, smarter way to dinner.

This post is part of a series of on-going content coverage for Con Agra Foods. While I’ve been compensated by the brand, my thoughts are always my own.

Filed Under: Chefspotting, ConAgra Foods, food, Ready Set Eat, recipes, sponsored post, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

National Harbor 2011 Food & Wine Festival

May 12, 2011 By 4 Comments


Ok, this event totally slipped by me! I have no idea how, but I consider it a big #FAIL on my part. Tickets for Saturday are sold out, but I may try to hit it up on Sunday. The agenda looks scrumptious!

Filed Under: Events, food

Happy Birthday Hubby: A Con Agra Foods Giveaway

May 10, 2011 By 3 Comments

I’m excited because this post marks the first of a series centered around one of my greatest passions in life – food!  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m going to be working with Con Agra Foods to bring you tips and tricks for meal planning and prep, recipe suggestions, weeknight dinner solutions, and I will even be sharing some insider info from Celebrity Chef George Duran and Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru.  Be sure to come back and visit often because with every post I’ll be offering up a giveaway so that you can receive some ConAgra goodies too.

This past weekend was our nanny’s wedding, Mother’s Day and…Hubby’s birthday.  Needless to say, the poor dear didn’t get to bask the Birthday Spotlight since he had to share his weekend with two other events.  The good news is that he’s not really into big birthday celebrations, but I am!  I like to make a big deal about birthdays and so, in addition to surprising him with a gift of some new kicks and a sharp shirt to add to his wardrobe, I had planned on spoiling him with a day of his favorite foods – but of course, the day did not go as planned and before I knew it, we were heading out of town for the wedding. So. I had to postpone his Culinary Carnival, but mark my words – it shall be done! And here are a few of the recipes, sponsored by ConAgra Foods, that I plan to whipping up for him:

Reddi-Wip French Toast

5 seconds Reddi-Wip
1 egg
4 Slices Bread
Oil for fry Pan

1.       In a shallow mixing bowl, whisk together the Reddi-Wip and egg.
2.       Quickly dip slices (do not soak) in egg mixture and cook on a hot griddle until golden brown on both  sides.
3.       Serve with your favorite topping.

 

Bread Pudding

3 Slices White Bread
10 seconds Reddi-Wip
½ cup eggbeaters or 2 eggs
1 Tablespoon Raisin
1 Tablespoon Golden Raisins
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Pinch of Cinnamon

  1. Tear or cut bread into pieces.
  2. Place bread and raisins into a small, microwave safe baking dish (8”x4”).
  3. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
  4. Pour this mixture over top of bread and raisins.
  5. Microwave for 2 minutes.

Caramel Sauce

5 seconds Reddi-Wip
10 Caramels

  1. Place Reddi-Wip in a microwave safe bowl and heat 30 seconds.
  2. Add caramels to bowl and heat an additional 1 minute 30 seconds.
  3. Stir to combine.

 

At first I was thinking of using the Caramel Sauce just with the Bread Pudding, but heck, we could eat it with the French Toast too!  These recipes are just perfect because Hubby adores whipped cream.   We always have a can of Reddi-Wip on hand for his morning french toast or waffles and my kids love putting it on their strawberries or in their hot chocolate.

Oh, and since this is a birthday party after all, there’s gifts for you too! Leave me a comment telling me what Reddi-Wip recipe you’d like to try and you’ll be entered to a Con Agra Goody Bag filled with these goodies:

PAM Cooking Spray (Baking), Snack Pack coupons, Birthday Candles, Ground Cinnamon, Wesson Vegetable Oil, Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Bisquick, Reddi-Wip Mugs, Reusable ConAgra Foods Bag!

A winner will be picked at random on Wednesday 5/18 at midnight.

For more sweet recipe inspiration, visit Reddi-Wip online.  And please tune in next week for a very cool interview with a very special guest!

This post is part of a series of on-going content coverage for Con Agra Foods. While I’ve been compensated by the brand, my thoughts are always my own.

Filed Under: ConAgra Foods, food, recipes, sponsored post, Sweet Tooth Tagged With: , , ,

Our Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

May 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I am in love with Mexican food. We must eat it at least once every two weeks.  Nothing beats the flavors, the comfort, the cheese.  In fact, I’ve often said that I’ve failed my Caribbean roots because if you ask Giggles what her favorite food, she’ll say “tacos!” without hesitation.

So when Cinco de Mayo rolls around, I am all too happy to indulge in a Mexican feast.  The holiday coincides with Hubby’s birthday (he’s May 7th), so he ends up having Mexican-themed birthday celebrations. Olé!

Another reason that I love preparing (and eating) Mexican food is because it’s so easy to do! Here’s what we’ll be noshing on tomorrow:

Recipe courtesy of Williams Sonoma

Raspberry-Mint Agua Fresca

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup superfine sugar
  • 22 raspberries
  • 22 fresh mint leaves, plus 4 sprigs for garnish
  • Ice cubes as needed
Directions:
Select 4 tumblers. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the sugar and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the sugar syrup from the heat and let cool. 

In a blender, combine 18 of the raspberries, the mint leaves and the sugar syrup and process until a smooth puree forms. Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher. You should have about 2/3 cup. Add 1 1/3 cups water.

Fill the glasses with ice and divide the raspberry mixture among the glasses. Garnish with mint sprigs and the remaining raspberries speared on a cocktail pick. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

 

 

Recipe Courtesy of Southern Living

Grilled Cheesy Corn

Ingredients:

  • Ears of fresh corn
  • Salt
  • Melted butter
  • Chili powder
  • Smoked paprika
  • Grated Cotija or Parmesan cheese
  • Fresh lime wedges

Directions:

  • Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat. Pull back husks from ears of fresh corn; remove and discard silks. Tie husks together with kitchen string to form a handle. Soak in cold salted water to cover 10 minutes; drain. Grill corn, covered with grill lid, 15 minutes or until golden brown, turning occasionally. Remove from grill. Brush corn with melted butter; sprinkle with salt, chili powder, smoked paprika, and grated Cotija or Parmesan cheese. Serve with fresh lime wedges.

 


Recipe Courtesy of Food Network

 


Rachael’s Super Nachos
Ingredients

  • 2 bags corn tortilla chips in 2 colors or different flavors, such as blue corn, red corn, yellow corn, lime flavored, chili flavored or black bean chips — pick 2 favorites

Pico de Gallo Salsa:

  • 4 vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped, for medium to hot heat level
  • 1 small white onion, chopped
  • 1/4 cup, 2 handfuls, cilantro leaves, finely chopped — substitute parsley if cilantro is not to your liking
  • Salt

Beef and Beans Topping:

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound ground sirloin
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dark chili powder
  • 1 1/2 ground cumin, half a palmful
  • 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper sauce, giving you medium to hot heat level
  • 1 can black beans, 15 ounces, drained

Cheese Sauce:

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3/4 pound pepper jack cheese, shredded, about 2 1/2 cups

Additional toppings to choose from, optional:

  • Sour cream
  • Chopped scallions
  • Chopped black olives
  • Diced pimento
  • Sliced avocado, dressed with lemon juice
  • Hot pepper sauces

Directions

Arrange a mixture of 2 varieties of corn chips on a very large platter or use your broiler pan as a platter.

Combine salsa ingredients in a bowl and set aside for flavors to marry.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, garlic, onion and peppers to the pan and saute 2 minutes, then add meat and crumble with wooden spoon. Season meat with salt, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper sauce. Cook meat 5 minutes, then stir in beans and reduce heat to low.

In a medium sauce pot, melt butter and add flour to it. Cook flour and butter 1 to 2 minutes over moderate heat, then whisk in milk. When milk comes to a bubble, stir in cheese with a wooden spoon. Remove cheese sauce from the heat.

Pour cheese sauce evenly over the massive spread of chips and top evenly with beef and beans and the pico de gallo. UBER NACHOS! Serve immediately as is or, garnish with your choice of extra toppings from the toppings list.

And then, if I’m feeling ambitious, we’ll give these bunuelos a try.

Party on!

Filed Under: Cinco de Mayo, Entertaining, Fiesta, food, Quickie Meals, Ready Set Eat, recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: