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National Garlic Day: Poll Results PLUS a Great Deal & a Contest for Garlic Lovers

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Garlic Bread

Garlic Toast

Did you know that 52% of Americans believe there’s no such thing as “too much garlic.” When I read that, I had to laugh because, over the years, I’ve complained to my husband that I thought I’d put too much garlic in something only to have him say, “NO such thing as too much garlic!”  It’s a firm belief that he passed on to two of our three daughters. The oldest and I tend to think there can be too much garlic.. but we don’t argue with the other three – we’re outnumbered after all!

National Today – America’s favorite destination to commemorate fun and quirky holidays, including National Food Days (something I’m obsessed with) — asked 1,000 Americans about their garlic preferences.  The survey was conducted on April 10, 2017 and the (delicious-sounding) results are below.

NationalToday.com’s Garlic Survey

  • 52% of Americans believe there’s no such thing as too much garlic.
  • Another 14% report putting garlic in everything they cook
  • 6% even enjoy the taste of raw garlic
  • 9 in 10 Americans would kiss someone with garlic breath!
  • Only 5% of Americans have avoided smooching someone because of their garlicky breath.
  • 88% say garlic breath doesn’t bother them and are totally fine with kissing a garlic eater.

America’s Top 10 Favorite Garlicky Foods:

  1. Garlic bread (31%)
  2. Garlic chicken (16%)
  3. Garlicky pasta (13%)
  4. Garlic shrimp (13%)
  5. Garlic butter (13%)
  6. Garlic fries (6%)
  7. Garlic hummus (3%)
  8. Roasted garlic cloves (3%)
  9. Raw garlic (2%)
  10. Pickled garlic (1%)

Special Offer For Garlic Lovers

In celebration of National Garlic Day, National Today is partnering with delivery app Postmates to offer garlic lovers a deal and contest they can’t refuse. On April 19, new Postmates users get $10 off an order of food items containing garlic (e.g. garlic fries, garlic bread, etc.) with the coupon code GARLICLOVE.

Special code link: https://pm.app.link/8u1T9SEPjC

National Garlic Day Contest!

Tweet #garliclove and tag @natltoday and @postmates for your chance to win $1,000 in free Postmates delivery credits.

To learn more about National Garlic Day and the Postmates offer and contest, click here!

Miss Ellie’s Coffee Cakes: Cinnamon Coffee Cake (With or Without Nuts)

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Miss Ellie's Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Next Monday, I’ll publish my review of some of Miss Ellie’s wonderful Coffees on the food blog, but since today is National Coffee Cake Day, I wanted to tell you about her coffee cakes TODAY.

I’ll just say, right upfront that I cannot eat these beautiful cakes (I have to totally avoid gluten/wheat for health reasons)… but I can smell them! One was sent along with my coffee and while my family enjoyed eating it, I at least had the pleasure of admiring it with my eyes and nose.

The coffee cake pictured is the Traditional Cinnamon Coffee Cake (No Nuts) and word around the house is that it tastes even better than it looks or even smells.

Miss Ellie's Cinnamon Coffee Cake and Miss Ellie's Coffee
Given that it smells like Heaven’s own bakery, I can only imagine how wonderful it must taste.

Other Miss Ellie’s Coffee Cakes:

I will tell you much more about Miss Ellie’s coffees in the coffee review Monday morning, but suffice to say this: You absolutely should head over to Miss Ellie’s Website and order a coffee cake today and you absolutely positively should order a bag of coffee to enjoy with it.

Great coffee cake and exceptional coffee… that’s what I call a perfect match.

Miss Ellie's Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Happy International Waffle Day!

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Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles with Krusteaz

Today I am especially thankful for the fact that gluten-free waffles and gluten-free waffle recipes exist. Going gluten-free doesn’t have to mean giving up delicious waffles – and for a waffle fiend like myself, this is delicious news.

Speaking of news.. a recent survey was conducted that proves we Americans love syrup and butter on our waffles. It also uncovered a few other surprising toppings. Strangely enough, a few of my own non-syrup or butter toppings are nowhere in sight…

  • cream cheese
  • fried chicken (TRUST ME!)
  • whipped topping

To conduct the NationalToday.com International Waffle Day Survey, the researchers at National Today (America’s favorite online destination to commemorate quirky and fun holidays) asked 1,000 Americans about their favorite breakfast foods.

62% of Americans say that maple syrup is their favorite waffle topping. That’s more than 6 times the second-place winner—butter, which is the favorite waffle topping of just 10% of Americans.

Personally, I wouldn’t touch a waffle without BOTH butter and syrup! Fortunately, we don’t have to choose…. so, BOTH it is.

In fact, although most Americans would choose maple syrup over butter if they were forced to choose only one topping, 65% of Americans love butter on their waffles.

RANKING OF THE TOP 10 WAFFLE TOPPINGS
#1: Maple Syrup (62%)
#2: Butter (10%)
#3: Fresh Fruit (8%)
#4: Peanut butter (4%)
#5: Fruit sauce (4%)
#6: Nutella (4%)
#7: Chocolate syrup (3%)
#8: Honey (2%)
#9: Jelly/jam (2%)
#10: Apple butter (2%)

To learn more about International Waffle Day, you can visit http://nationaltoday.com/world/international-waffle-day.

Orange Flavored Waffles

National Muffin Day: Vitatops Muffin Tops

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VitaTops

February 20 is National Muffin Day, so what better time for muffin talk?! Are you familiar with Garden Lites? I’ve written a few reviews on the food blog for their goodies: Like Carrot Berry Muffins and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins – They’re both so delicious it’s ridiculous. PLUS they’re gluten-free.

VitaTops are in the Garden Lites family, so that means they must be ridiculously delicious too – otherwise they wouldn’t be kinfolk.

I haven’t found the Gluten-Free VitaTops (apparently the Chocolate Chip variety is Gluten-free!) yet, but I am actively searching for it, trust me on this. The different varieties are pictured above and, as you can tell, while they all look amazing, only one is actually gluten-free.

You can find VitaTops in most grocery stores. My favorite Kroger only carries the Deep Chocolate variety which would normally be a beautiful thing – IF it were gluten-free, that is! VitaTops are a healthier way to enjoy muffins and they’re A LOT faster than taking the time to make your own muffins.

As soon as I get my eager hands on the gluten-free VitaTop Muffins, I’ll let you know just how amazing they are.

From VitaTops:

America’s favorite and only muffin top,  is a delicious indulgence that helps you stay healthy! Whether you are looking for Organic, Protein rich, Gluten-free or Superfood benefits, VitaTops has the muffin top for you.

VitaTops debuts new flavors for protein lovers that fit the bill: VitaTops Protein Banana Chocolate Chip has only 130 calories, 8 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber; and VitaTops Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter has only with 150 calories, 8 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. These two new protein infused VitaTops products offer the perfect sweet spot of high fiber and protein, which helps fuel energy longer and also helps curb cravings.  VitaTops are also available in VitaTops Superfood CranBran, made with cranberries, oats, chia seeds and flaxseed with 120 calories, 6 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein; and finally for organic food lovers, try VitaTops Deep Chocolate made with organic ingredients, like whole grain flour and cocoa powder and only 100 calories, and VitaTops Wild Blueberry, bursting with organic wild blueberries with 120 calories.

“We are very excited to offer consumers all the great nutrient benefits they expect from Vitatops, but now with the added benefits of organic ingredients, superfoods, protein and gluten free; perfect for the health conscious consumer who craves a healthy indulgence,” said Andrew Reichgut, Executive Vice President of VitaTops and Garden Lites.  “These items are sure to top the list of best of snacks for today’s mindful consumer.”

VitaTops are available 8 oz boxes each with 4 individually wrapped muffins at $4.00 per box in the frozen section of your supermarket.   Or go to www.vitalicious.com.

About VitaTops:

Vitatops® are the market leader of healthy indulgent baked goods that promote a healthy lifestyle, without sacrificing taste. First to market with 100-calorie servings, Vitatops® are leading the way to a holistic approach to maximize satisfaction with minimum calories, with products that are low fat and high in fiber and rich in nutrients. Founded in 1999, Vitatops® are now sold at stores nationwide and at www.vitalicious.com. Vitatops are a brand under the Garden Lites www.gardenlites family of products.

Browned Butter Fried Eggs – Better Than They Have a Right to Be

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Fried Over Easy Eggs with Browned Butter

Fried Eggs with Browned Butter

I would never get a tattoo simply because of a severe allergy I have – I’m allergic to pain. However, if I were to overcome this allergy and decide to turn some part of myself into an artistic work, I’d go with something I strongly associate myself with: cats, baseball, coffee, birds, angels, trees, Bigfoot (easy, there, don’t pass judgement) or fried eggs in a skillet.

Hmmm. Maybe it’s best if I never even think about getting inked.

Fried eggs in a skillet may not be that ideal for wearing on your body, but I’m obsessed with putting them into my body. I don’t know… fried eggs just DO IT FOR ME.

I recently tried something for the first time and can’t for the life of me understand….

  1. WHY I’d never tried this before.
  2. HOW this isn’t something every restaurant and home in the world specializes in.
  3. WHAT makes this so darn good!

Fried eggs with browned butter. That’s it. Simple yet sensational. Granted, Eggs with Browned Butter won’t win any beauty contests (I suspect that one reason, alone, explains why this isn’t a restaurant staple). In fact, it almost looks like something was overcooked – which, well it was, but for good reason.

And that reason is known as FLAVOR. The flavor browned butter gives to eggs (or mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, rice…) is mind-boggling.  It is just so delicious!

My Favorite Process for frying eggs:

  1. I use a smaller skillet because I’m kind of crazy about the way two eggs become one while they’re frying.
  2. I start things off with a little butter and olive oil in the skillet. When the butter is nearly all the way melted, I add the eggs and cook them over medium until the edges begin to set.
  3. I add salt, pepper, and parsley flakes as the eggs are cooking. If I’m not adding browned butter, I also add Lawry’s Seasoned Salt (a favorite resident in my seasonings and spices cabinet).
  4. Sometimes I’ll flip the eggs over for an “over easy” approach, other times I’ll go with eggs “Sunny Side Up.”  When I’m adding a sauce, I flip them over and actually go a little bit past “over easy” simply because I don’t want the sauce and yolk fighting for attention.

{Eggs with Browned Butter Recipe Continued Below}

Fried Over Easy Eggs with Browned Butter

Fried Eggs with Browned Butter:

While the eggs are cooking, I melt a few tablespoons of butter in a small skillet or saucepan. You will be tempted to stop the butter from cooking too early, but you have to resist the urge to take it off of the heat. The magic with the flavor happens when the butter browns and you have to leave it there in order for this to happen.

You need to simmer the butter for a few minutes in the pan – then add a little bit of fresh parsley or a sprinkling of dried parsley flakes.

After you put the eggs on the plate, drizzle some browned butter on top of them and hold on to something. The flavor will kind of catch you off guard. It’s an unexpected boost of rich flavor that is a “thing” all unto itself.


National Hot Breakfast Month with Kruteaz Gluten-Free Mixes

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Krusteaz Gluten-Free Mixes
While September is National Breakfast Month, February is National HOT Breakfast Month. Given that I am a bona fide breakfast fanatic, I feel that breakfast not only deserves two months, but it’s well within reason for it to have 10. Seriously, what’s not to love about breakfast food? Waffles with syrup seeping into its crevices, pancakes with butter melting down the sides, blueberry muffins with their warmth and sweetness, scrambled eggs with Monterey Jack cheese, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs with cornbread, French toast with cream cheese and orange marmalade nestled in between its delectable layers..

Let’s make that 12 months breakfast deserves.

In honor of National HOT Breakfast Month, I’m going to feature a new breakfast recipe or idea each day of the month. These recipes will be perfect for breakfast OR supper (ironically my favorite time to enjoy breakfast food). The recipes will be quick and easy, gluten-free, and packed with flavor and goodness in each bite. Quite a few of the recipes will feature some of my kitchen staples:

  • Krusteaz Gluten-Free Mixes
  • Krusteaz Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
  • T-fal Non-Stick Skillet (review upcoming)
  • T-fal Waffle/Sandwich Removable EZ Clean (review upcoming)
  • Eggs (color me obsessed)
  • Bacon
  • Berries – I’m crazy about blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries and work them in any chance I have.

I’ve declared my great love for Krusteaz Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour on the food blog before. I’ve even posted recipes for Cranberry Pecan Cookies and White Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies using this perfect gluten-free flour. It’s a staple in my gluten-free kitchen. In fact Krusteaz is synonymous with gluten-free baking as far as I’m concerned. Mind you, all of their products aren’t gluten-free, but the ones that are could not be any better.

That’s why I immediately jumped on their gluten-free mixes:

  • Gluten-Free Buttermilk Pancake Mix
  • Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffin Mix
  • Gluten-Free Honey Cornbread Mix
  • I just saw on their website that they now have a Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Brownie Mix – O.M.G. I’ll be looking for that at Meijer’s today!

A few days ago, I wrote about the Gluten-Free Honey Cornbread Mix in my recipe for Sloppy Joes Cornbread Pizza (other level delicious). If (like my cornbread loving husband) you can’t get enough of the flavor of great cornbread, you’ll love this idea for putting a breakfast spin on the Cornbread Mix – serve it with scrambled eggs or a breakfast casserole. Cornbread is delicious with butter and jam or even apple butter. Use it in place of toast for extra flavor.

Plus, let’s face it, there’s just something so right about the way cornbread looks in an iron skillet. Krusteaz Honey Cornbread Mix is the best cornbread mix I’ve ever had (gluten-free or not) and is as good as homemade cornbread. To get a crunchier bottom, use bacon grease in the skillet instead of shortening or oil. It gives it wonderful flavor, too. This is the mix I used (along with the bacon trick) for my stuffing last Thanksgiving and it was AMAZING.

Cornbread with Buttermilk
Have you ever taken a slice of hot cornbread and covered it with buttermilk? I remember seeing my grandmother and mom tear cornbread into pieces, place the pieces in a bowl and pour buttermilk on top. When I was a kid, I thought they were nuts. When I got a little older, curiosity got the better of me and I poured some buttermilk on hot cornbread – poking holes and letting it seep down into the golden goodness. Words CANNOT tell you how delicious this is. These ladies were onto something!

Krusteaz Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin Mix

Krusteaz Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffin Mix

Blueberry muffins are, in my opinion, one of the most perfect comfort foods in the world. Maybe it’s my fascination with berries, but I could eat them every single day of the year. They can be a little time-consuming, though, if you make them from scratch – but, unfortunately, most mixes are closer to comedy than comfort. The little dry things that pass for blueberries amaze me, and not in a good way.

Krusteaz Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Krusteaz Gluten-Free Blueberry Mix uses plump little blueberries (packaged in a separate can in the box) that you drain, rinse, and simply throw into the batter.  This mix couldn’t be any simpler and it couldn’t be any more delicious.

The muffins aren’t just quick, easy, and delicious, they have a little extra magic we gluten-free eaters RESPECT – they’re as good the second day as the first. For whatever reasons, this is often rare with gluten-free baking (whether from mixes or scratch). Somehow, with each subsequent day, the flavor deteriorates. I can’t vow for day three because they certainly didn’t stick around that long! I actually made myself hide one away so I could test it’s “next day/leftover” flavor. It passed with flying yummy colors.

These guys are phenomenal.

Krusteaz Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

I didn’t this particular time, but you can toss in chopped pecans or walnuts and/or white chocolate chips for fun.

For easy cleanup, use paper liners – I’m not sure why but cleaning a muffin pan is near the top of my most hated kitchen chores. Paper liners keep the peace.

Eggs, Bacon and Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles

Krusteaz Gluten-Free Buttermilk Pancake Mix: Two Meals/One Mix

I have used (and loved!) Krusteaz Gluten-Free Buttermilk Pancake Mix for pancakes – they’re perfect each and every time. I recently bought a new T-fal Sandwich Waffle EZ Clean, however, and was anxious to use it, so I made the Waffles recipe on the back of the box. The recipe calls for 1/2 the box but I wanted to see how the mix would do refrigerated overnight, so I doubled the recipe, using the whole box.

I made some blueberry waffles for my husband and I last night (above) and they were stupendous. Seriously, they were out of this world delicious. Served with eggs over-easy and bacon, it was a supper we raved about all night. BTW, T-fal is as good as it gets for making breakfast or anything for that matter. I’ll go more into their goodness in upcoming posts, including an in-depth review of my newest T-fal non-stick fry pan.

T-fal Non-Stick Fry Pan

Also, I wanted to let you know that later this month, in celebration of Pancake Day (March 3rd), Target will offer 15% OFF select non-stick cookware in stores and online. The sale will take place from Feb 27th – March 3rd. I’ll remind you as the dates draw closer.

To add berries to your waffles, gently stir in the desired amount after you’ve combined the other ingredients.

Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles with Krusteaz

My husband was floored when I told him the waffles were from a mix. When he picked himself up, I told him the blueberry muffins we’d had a few days prior AND the cornbread for the Sloppy Joes Cornbread Pizza were also from mixes. He looked at me like I had two heads but I finally convinced him by showing him a box. He agreed with me that Krusteaz was in a class all their own.

I refrigerated the rest of the mix overnight and this morning decided to add a few extra ingredients for fun. I chopped up a few handfuls of almonds and threw them into the mix. Then I added a tablespoon of healthy chia seeds (pictured below).

Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles with Almonds and Chia Seeds

I was really anxious to see if this mix did well refrigerated overnight because for anyone with busy mornings knows that putting together even a simple mix can FEEL time-constraining. Whereas making the mix the night before (maybe even while you’re in the kitchen making supper) and stashing it in the fridge is much more time-friendly.

I was thrilled to see (make that taste) that the waffles are every bit as good the next day.

Two delicious meals/One quick and easy mix? Come on, what’s not to love about that!?

Homemade Whipped Topping

Homemade Whipped Topping

I wouldn’t dream of serving waffles without homemade whipped topping – it just wouldn’t feel right. To make a wonderful topping (so much better than the stuff in tubs or cans), simply use your blender and combine 1 cup heavy whipping cream and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar until very stiff peaks form.

So there you have it… quick and easy ways to use and LOVE Krusteaz gluten-free breakfast mixes. These are simply out of this world. In the coming days, you’ll see Krusteaz  and T-fal, for that matter, pop up in more breakfast recipes. In the meantime head over to the Krusteaz website for recipes and more information. You can find these mixes in most grocery stores. I find them, without fail, in Kroger and Meijer’s.

 

Krusteaz Gluten-Free mixes

AMAZON:

 

National Popcorn Day: Recipes, Trivia, and Fun Results From a Popping Survey

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Popcorn
I’ve got nothing but mad love for popcorn. It’s delicious, easy to make, and fun to eat. What’s more, in a world where people keep finding new foods to label “unhealthy” and “bad for you,” good old popcorn keeps flying under the radar.

You have to respect that!

One of my favorite ways to eat popcorn is with M&Ms. Crazy good. When you toss them onto your warm popcorn, they begin to melt and, trust the resident chocoholic on this one, that’s where the magic lives.

Popcorn Trivia… Fast Facts

  1. Native American tribes not only enjoyed popcorn, they got creative – flavoring their popcorn with dried herbs and spices.
  2. Sugar shortages during WWII made candy a very rare treat. This helped popcorn consumption to soar to three times its pre-war sales.
  3. Popcorn is made up of both yellow and white kernels but only about 1 in 10 kernels are white.
  4. Christopher Columbus allegedly introduced popcorn to the Europeans in the late 15th century.
  5. Popcorn was designated as the Official State Snack Food of Illinois in 2004.
  6. The unpopped kernels at the bottom of our bowl are called “old maids”.
  7. Popcorn is high in fiber and contains no sugar (and then I go and throw in my M&Ms… that’s so me).
  8. Orville Redenbacher was born on a farm in Brazil, Indiana in 1907.  At 12 years old, he began to grow his own popping corn (little could he know where this would lead!). Growing popping corn becomes Orville’s passion and leads him into the popping corn business which allows him to save enough money for college.

Below are the interesting results from a Popcorn survey done by National Today. At the bottom are a few popcorn recipes I’ve rounded up for you. However you enjoy your popcorn, I hope you’ll have a beautiful bowl of it today. After all, how are you going to celebrate National Popcorn Day without the star of the show??

Popcorn with M&Ms

NationalToday.com Popcorn Day Survey

To conduct the NationalToday.com Popcorn Day Survey, the National Today data science team surveyed 1,000 Americans about their popcorn preferences.  Here are the full results:

DO YOU LIKE POPCORN?
*  YES:  92%
*  NO:  8%

TOP 10 MOST POPULAR POPCORN FLAVORS

#1: Classic butter and salt (73% love it)
#2: Cheese (37%)
#3: Caramel (32%)
#4: Garlic salt (15%)
#5: Chocolate (14%)
#6: Plain (13%)
#7: Cinnamon and sugar (11%)
#8: Truffle butter (8%)
#9: Hot sauce (7%)
#10: Jalapeño (5%)

TOP 5 OCCASIONS TO EAT POPCORN

#1: At the movie theater (63%)
#2: When watching TV or movies (62%)
#3: Late night snack (30%)
#4: As an easy snack for when I get home (22%)
#5: At the office as a light snack (13%)

TOP 3 FAVORITE POPCORN BRANDS
#1: Orville Redenbacher (53%)
#2: Pop Secret (42%)
#3: Act II (34%)

Delicious Popcorn Recipes:

Alton Brown’s Popcorn Recipe

Rachael Ray’s Spicy POPcorn

Sunny Anderson’s Sweet & Spicy Popcorn

Orville Redenbacher’s “Better for You” Popcorn Recipes

King of Pop Patriotic Popcorn

Special for Happy National Hamburgers Day: Zesty Sauce Lets the Hamburger’s Flavor Shine

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Hamburgers and "Zesty Sauce"
One of the worst things that ever happened to me was one of the best things that ever happen to me. When I had to give up wheat/gluten, I had to TOTALLY change the way I both ate and cooked. As a lifelong avid cook and enthusiastic baker, my culinary world was turned upside down.

Fortunately, my motto in life is to find both the upside and the humor in everything, so it didn’t take me long to realize that…

  • … I now ate healthier and would, therefore be healthier
  • … Since I now ate healthier, my family would also be eating healthier
  • … This was a challenge that I could either be overwhelmed by or it was a challenge I’d meet head on, with wooden spoon in hand.  Yeah, I went with the latter.

The complete and utter shake up this caused in my cooking and baking presented me with one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever had and, I’m not kidding, it was.. and is.. kind of a rush. Finding ways to make old favorites just as good now (and many times, even better) is pretty darn cool. It was a shot in the arm in terms of creativity – especially when it comes to sandwiches and burgers.

Only recently have gluten free buns and breads become a glorious thing. If we’re being honest, for a while there, they were barely edible! During that time, I enjoyed my sandwiches/burgers either wrapped in lettuce or flat on a plate.

Funny thing is, I quickly realized that the burger (or whatever meat is in hand… literally) is the true star and, if you season and prepare the meat right – it’s actually far better without bread. Seriously.

With the calories you save from not having bread, you can have another helping of beans, fries, or salad. Or even a second burger – I won’t tell!

{Continued Below…}

Hamburger with Personality Sauce
My new fave thing became finding ways to play with the flavors in burgers and cheeseburgers and to test out different condiments and condiment combinations.  The “Zesty Sauce” shown here is a favorite but I’ll let you in on a little not-so-secret: there’s A LOT to be said for good old-fashioned Thousand Island Dressing on top of a hot burger straight off the grill right out of the iron skillet. If you have to/choose to eat gluten free, make sure it’s a gluten-free Thousand Island dressing.

The Zesty Sauce here is a simple combination of some of my own favorite refrigerator residents. When making a special sauce for your burgers, pull from your own favorite cast of characters and see what you come up with.

Zesty Sauce for Burgers

1/4 cup mayo
1 TBS whole-grain mustard
1 TBS yellow mustard
1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
1-2 TBS chopped hamburger pickles (use relish if you’d prefer)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 shallot (or sweet onion), finely diced
1-2 tsp diced pickled jalapenos
dash of Kosher salt

Combine everything and let the flavors mesh for at least 30 minutes before using.  I happen to love a chunky sauce on my burgers, so I’m all about coarsely-chopped pickles. However, using a pickle relish, instead, is a time-saver and it also adds a little sweetness to the deal.

The whole-grain mustard is a personal obsession, you can feel free to leave it out – if you do, you may want to add a little more yellow mustard. If you don’ t have a scallion on hand, feel free to use diced onion – as much or as little as you prefer.

Basically, there’s no wrong way to go about this. Experiment until you find your very own personal “House Burger Sauce” – if you start tweaking and testing now, you can have a masterpiece by summer!

See Also:

Best Cheeseburgers You Can Make at Home

Rustic Pepper Relish for Burgers


What Do $25,000 and Pork Rinds Have in Common? Maybe You!

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Southern Recipe is already thinking about the new year (let’s be honest, 2016 seemed like a cross between a 12 month-long temper tantrum and 12 month-long headache, so we’re all kind of looking toward 2017).  They’re celebrating all things pork rinds and gearing up for Pork Rind Appreciation Day, on February 5th, by patterning with Gridiron Greats to help visitors to PorkRindDay.com enter to win $2,500 and a year’s supply of pork rinds.

That’s a lot of money and that’s A LOT of pork rinds!

Learn more about Gridiron Greats by clicking the link and by all means visit PorkRindDay.com for your shot at big bucks and many pork rinds.

Cookie Mixes from Krusteaz Makes Christmas Gift-Giving (and Baking) Quick & Easy

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Krusteaz Cookie Mixes

Some of Krusteaz’s Cookie Mixes

Since I am gluten-free (health reasons – body dictated/brain didn’t get a vote) and I write a lot of gluten-free reviews and recipes on Get Cooking, I always like to point out when a product or recipe is NOT gluten-free – in the vein of it’s always better to be overly safe than uncommonly sorry. These cookie mixes from Krusteaz are not gluten-free, although Krusteaz does have a great line of gluten-free products, including a gluten-free flour that is as big a staple in our kitchen as I am. More about their gluten-free products in the next post.

These beautifully quick & ridiculously easy cookie mixes are a dream come true for those who bake a lot at Christmas and throughout the year.

I received these cookie mixes for taking part in Krusteaz’s National Cookie Day promotion. As a human cookie monster, I had the day marked on my calendar and jumped at the chance.

While Krusteaz Gluten-Free flour is a constant in my life (even listed on the side under my “Can’t live without”s), I had NO idea they made so many mixes. This opens up a whole new world, if we’re being honest. Their gluten-free mixes are on my radar, now, so watch for reviews of them in the future.

As for the mixes you see in this post, they could not have been easier to make and bake. The thing that came to my mind was how IDEAL they are for both…

  • busy bakers with a million and one things to do
  • bakers who have eager “little hands” ready to help

These mixes don’t even require a mixer (you can use your hands AND put those little eager hands to work!). When you use mixes, it frees up the list of ingredients needed for the cookies – allowing you to go crazy with the decorating.

Decorated Christmas Cookies

Decorated Christmas Cookies

Little hands and big hands, alike, love getting artsy! When I’m decorating cookies, it takes me back to decorating them with my mom AND to decorating them with my own three daughters when they were little.

When they were little, nothing. My youngest helped me with a batch just a few days ago. Girl talk over cookies… there’s nothing like it.

A Few Icing Suggestions:

  • If time is an issue, it’s perfectly okay to use icing from a tub. Vanilla or cream cheese are delicious on cookies.
  • Marshmallow Cream is fun and yummy on cookies (kids, especially, love it). It’s bright white color (Marshmallow Cream is on the cookie in the picture above with a Christmas tree in the middle) stands out in a crowd of cookies and, let’s keep it real here, it’s as easy as it gets. Open the jar, insert knife, spread. When icing with Marshmallow Cream, start in the middle of the cookie and gently spread outward.
  • I actually didn’t do it this time around, but you could easily use the Krusteaz Shortbread Cookie Mix and make a Quick & Easy version of Almond Scandinavian Bars. Simply bake the cookies and ice (Stir together 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, and 3-4 teaspoons of milk. Drizzle on top of the cookies and top with chopped almond slices).
  • The Krusteaz Shortbread cookies have a recipe on the back for Raspberry Thumbprints that look as delicious as they are beautiful.
  • On the back of the Krusteaz Butter Vanilla Sugar Cookies is a GREAT recipe for icing (See Below). These cookies can be baked and cut with cookie cutters with a simple tweak to the recipe on the back. Complete, easy instructions are provided. While they make gorgeous cut-out cookies, these cookies couldn’t be any more beautiful than they are, as pictured on the front of the box.

Krusteaz Iced Cutout Sugar Cookie Icing: In a small bowl, stir together 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 TBS warm water, 1 TBS light corn syrup, and 1/4 almond extract until well-blended and smooth. If adding food coloring, start with a few drops until desired shade is achieved.

Krusteaz Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Krusteaz Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies – A Work of Art All By Themselves!

The Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix makes beautiful and delicious cookies that need no introduction or decorating. You could, of course, perch a reindeer, Santa, or elf on top to make them extra festive but.. personally… I love them just like they are.

Krusteaz Cookie Mixes
The Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix will be a sure favorite with everyone – Everything you need to make them is provided in the box. I added more red sugar to the coating mixture (cinnamon sugar) to make them even more festive.

Krusteaz Snickerdoodle Cookies
Kids Helping in the Kitchen

Kids love to help make Christmas cookies and the time spent with them will be among your most cherished memories. Naturally, adults should always supervise every step and keep little hands from being burned.  One of the first things I thought of with these cookie mixes were how simple they’d be for kids to make “all by themselves” (which of course means with adult eyes nearby!). Again, these mixes don’t even require electric mixers – and the measuring is as minimal as it gets.

Their favorite part might just be icing and decorating the cookies and adults should allow them complete freedom to decorate the cookies however they want. If their idea of “beautiful” is a polka dot haphazard mixture of colors you would’t personally have ever selected…. applaud them and tell them how proud you are of their creativity. Better yet, take pictures of their works of art and put them all over your social media!

Iced Christmas Cookies
Not only are there endless color options for icing, you can find a crazy selection of decorations these days. Take your time and look around at several different stores.  I found the adorable little green trees (pictured below) at Kroger and I threw just about every box into my cart. They’re just too cute perched on top of the Snickerdoodles.

Decorated Christmas Cookies
You’ll also want to grab a few icing in tubes for borders or swirly patterns.  Make no mistake about it, I’m all about the swirl.

Iced Christmas Cookies
As I said earlier, Marshmallow Cream stands out in a crowd! Maybe it’s just me, but I think it makes a gorgeous, shiny, icing.

Other fun ideas for topping cookies:

  • Crushed candy canes or peppermints
  • M&M’s (Mini M&M’s are especially cute on cookies)
  • Nuts
  • Colored Sugar
  • Dried Fruit (a bigger hit with adults than kids… trust me, here)

Decorated Christmas Cookies
 

A Few Extra Cookie-Baking Tips:

Whether you’re using Krusteaz’s great cookie mixes or a recipe, below are a few tips for smoother sailing.

  • Always read through a recipe or instructions entirely before beginning.
  • When softened butter is called for, be sure it’s really, really, really soft. IF you soften it in the microwave, be sure to do so in intervals of just a few seconds. Melted butter isn’t going to do you or the cookies any good.
  • If the recipe calls for butter, use butter… not margarine.
  • Always place cookie dough on cool cookie sheets. If you place them on warm sheets, they’ll spread like… oh, nevermind.
  • As a general Cookie Rule, place cookies containing leavening 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Unleavened cookies can be placed 1-1/2 inches apart.
  • Unless otherwise instructed, remove cookies immediately from cookie sheets after they come out of the oven, as they will continue to cook if they’re allowed to hang out on the pan.
  • Cool cookies on a wire rack for the best air circulation.
  • When baking, use the middle oven rack.
  • I’ve become obsessed with using parchment paper – it’s a bakers best friend… okay, second, behind butter.
  • Pre-Heat your oven for at least 10 minutes before cooking.

Iced Cut Out Christmas Cookies
If you have to eat gluten free, thanks to Krusteaz Gluten Free Flour, you can bake any darn cookies you want. See my Gluten Free Cranberry Pecan Cookies for inspiration.

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