Category: Giveaway

This Week in Yum and a Winner!

As I mentioned last week, I’m thinking about doing a weekly post for all of those things that I ate and were noteworthy, but didn’t necessarily have a recipe for, or did, but it wasn’t my own and I really didn’t change anything.

The week was rather low-key in the kitchen. Since I spent the weekend up in Rochester, Sunday night’s dinner was quick and easy, and went unnoticed. We also didn’t have anything for dessert, which might as well be blasphemy in our household. I quickly remedied the situation for the rest of the week, though.

On Tuesday night I made a batch of Carrots ‘n Cake’s Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins, which were posted on FitSugar last week. They are perfect any time of day – breakfast, snack, dessert… and as you can imagine I’ve had one for each. I left out the nuts (simply because I didn’t have any), but they were delicious. You should make them.

The rest of the week was passable with the highlight being a re-do of these Mexican Stuffed Shells. They are one of my husband’s favorite dishes. This time, I swapped out the ground beef for beef soy crumbles, and they were still just as delicious. We had some homemade burritos, and then peirogis the other nights. We headed to Stuff Yer Face on Friday to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and I devoured my stromboli and washed it down with a Franziskaner Weissbier… yum.

Since Halloween is on Monday, the husband and I attended a party Saturday night. I of course went as my favorite baked good, a cupcake!

Sunday was an attempt at a long run (that wound up to be a failure thanks to some knee pain), and plenty of time spent in the kitchen. I whipped up a batch of The Post Punk Kitchen’s Scalloped Potatoes. Oh. my. goodness. These are absolutely delicious, easy, and even cooler, completely vegan. I’m psyched that we have leftovers! The only change I made to the recipe was instead of using eggplant bacon (Hubs isn’t a big fan of eggplant), we got tempeh (which he actually really enjoys) and I used some liquid smoke to add the “bacon” flavor.

I ended the week with some serious baking for Halloween in the office, but I’ll have to save that for another post!

So onto the winner of the Hormel limited edition chili and cheese and super cute football chip platter (I just got mine and can’t wait to use it)! Thanks to Random.org, the winner is Kat! Send me an e-mail with your address to foodosaurusrex [at] gmail [dot] com, and the goodies will be on their way!

This Week in Yum and a Giveaway!

I haven’t been posting many recipes (or posts at all) lately, and that’s because I haven’t been making too much of my own. Instead, I’ve been re-creating, or exactly following, recipes from some of the many cookbooks I have. So, in an effort to not step on anyone’s toes in terms of copyright laws, etc., I’ve left those delicious meals off the blog. But, since this is a food blog, I figured I should still be sharing all the yummy things I’ve eaten with you – especially if they were created in my own kitchen! Who cares if it wasn’t my original idea, right? So, I’m going to try out a new weekly post for all of the really good things I ate that I didn’t have the opportunity to blog about. Hence the posts’s title, this week in yum. Oh, and I also have a giveaway for this week [scroll to the bottom for info]!

I bought two new cookbooks recently, and have already made two things from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and they have been awesome. I’ve been somewhat intimidated of vegan cooking because so many recipes I’ve read have really obscure ingredients. I’m still on a tight budget, so it’s hard for me to justify buying some of these odd ingredients for just one or two recipes. But this book has really accessible ingredients, which I of course appreciate.

First up was Curry Laska, which was flavorful and really easy to prepare. It had a little bit of spice, and nice coconut undertones from the coconut milk. I would absolutely make this again.
Curry Laska

The second dish was Cajun Bean Balls, which I served just with some pasta and regular tomato sauce (though there is a great recipe for homemade tomato sauce with a lot of variations). This was my second attempt at meatless meatballs, and these were really good. I was surprised by the combination of ingredients (soy sauce, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, a bunch of herbs) but it all worked together really well. I also appreciated baking them, as I never seem to have luck pan-frying any faux meat (burgers, meatballs, etc.). I was too excited for it’s deliciousness to take a picture. But I will definitely be making them again, so I’ll be sure to snap a picture next time.

This next dish was completely random, and totally awesome. I could see this being a huge favorite at parties, or while watching a game. I threw this together after a run and it was the perfect amount of melted cheese, soft and puffy biscuit, and a little kick from the pepperoni. This recipe is from Baking Serendipity, and it’s awesome. You should make it next weekend!

Last but certainly not least are Funfetti cookie bars. It can’t get any easier than this. All you need to do is prepare the Funfetti as you usually would (1/3c oil, 2 eggs), and instead of putting it into a cake pan or in a cupcake pan, simply spread it out on a greased baking sheet, and bake it at 350 for 8-10 minutes! Then once it’s cooled you can frost them. They look kind of like Poptarts, but taste like those delicious soft sugar cookies that have globs of frosting on them. You know what I’m talking about – they come in a 12 pack and scream “buy me!” at places like Target (I had to resist the urge last night). This was the perfect way for me to use the extra Funfetti mix I had laying around.

So now I’m sure you must be thinking to yourself, “great, I don’t really care what food you’ve eaten recently. Just make with the giveaway details!” So here’s the goods: Just in time for halloween, the folks at Hormel are giving away the following to one lucky FoodosaurusRex reader! You’ll get some limited edition chili cheese dip, pepperoni minis, and chunk breast chicken. Perfect ingredients for party snacks to watch the games! To enter, you can do any of the following, and make sure to leave a comment telling me for each!:

1. What’s your favorite game-day/party snack?
2. Follow me on Twitter – @FoodosaurusRex
3. Subscribe to the blog via reader or e-mail

You have until Thursday 10/28 at 9p to enter!

Giveaway Winner!

Happy Friday!

Courtesy of Random.org, a winner of the Hormel Prize Pack has been determined! Drum roll please…

The winner is Kate McG! Congrats! You can e-mail me your address; foodosaurusrex [at] gmail [dot] and I’ll the prize pack will be on it’s way!

I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned. I’ve got lots of miles and lots of yummy food on the agenda for the weekend!

Sunday Barbecue and a Giveaway!

For this month’s Hormel challenge, I decided to stick with a barbecue theme. With the weather being so warm, I’ve wanted seasonal meals pretty much every day. It seems like the default meal preparation of choice when having a gathering during the summer months is to fire up the grill. So, that was exactly what I did.

If you remember, I received a pretty sweet goodie bag as a “welcome” to the Hormel Extended Family Food Blogger. Well, they want to offer a Foodosaurus Rex reader a similar goodie bag! All you have to do is leave a comment telling me about your favorite thing to grill (it can be anything)! You have until Thursday at 9pm EST to enter.

On the menu was pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and grilled stuffed jalapenos. Of course, this was all cooled down with some of our favorite beers. I grabbed a tub of Lloyd’s pulled pork, and it had enough flavor that was all we needed on the sandwich front. As for the baked beans, I grabbed a can of Bush’s black bean fiesta “grillers.” My fiancé and I were of course drawn to it as soon as we saw mention of black beans, chipotle, and peppers. I’m not a huge fan of “traditional” baked beans so this was a delicious change of pace – I’d definitely recommend them!

As for the stuffed jalapenos… yum. I had tried my hand at them about a year ago with stuffed poblano peppers as well, and had baked them. So, when I saw YumSugar had a recipe for them on the grill, I had to give them a try. Below is the recipe for how I made mine.

Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos inspired by YumSugar
– makes 10 jalapeno halves –

Ingredients:
5 large jalapenos, sliced and deseeded
1/3 cup whipped cream cheese
1/4 cup Mexican or taco blend cheese
3 scallions, diced
2-3 Tbsp Panko bread crumbs

Directions:
1. Preheat grill to medium-high
2. Combine cream cheese, shredded cheese, scallion, and bread crumbs
3. Fill each jalapeno with the cheese filling, trying to fill each one evenly
4. Grill for about 8 minutes, until bottoms are lightly charred (either put them in a gril basket, or use some foil)

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway! Leave a comment about your favorite thing to grill, and do it before Thursday at 9pm EST!

Tea for Two – Giveaway!

Both my fiancé and I are tea fans. Though we don’t drink it regularly, as we’re coffee guzzlers by design, we often enjoy a cup of tea with dessert after dinner, or randomly throughout the day. So, when I was offered yet another Celestial Seasonings Tea Giveaway, I couldn’t resist! [Head down to the bottom of this post for entry info]

Growing up, I didn’t really drink coffee or tea. I remember my parents had an adorable Boston bear mini-mug for me, and whenever they would have tea, they’d make me some too. However, it was always too hot when I tried to drink it, and I’d wind up waiting too long, and it would either be lukewarm or down right cold, leaving it less than desirable to drink. I felt like Goldilocks when it came to my tea as a child; it was either too hot or too  cold, and I couldn’t get it just right.

After abandoning tea for a few years and switching to coffee by my junior year of high school (7:30am start time is just cruel for teenagers), I finally decided to give tea a second shot in college. It came in handy during my junior and senior years when living off-campus our house was usually cold and I couldn’t wear enough layers to stay warm. Now that I can afford to pay my heat bill, I’m still enjoying tea.

As I began to drink tea more and more, I discovered there’s so much more out there aside from your typical black, Earl Gray, English, breakfast, and green teas! I was given two boxes of Celestial Seasoning’s Gen Mai Cha tea to try. I was psyched since I’ve never even heard of that type of tea, let alone tried it. It has just a slight hint of rice flavor combined with the green tea flavor. It’s interesting, and really enjoyable. Though I’m no tea connoisseur, I recommend trying it. Since I ususally gravitate towards sweet and dessert or coffee flavored teas (i.e. your peach, vanilla, etc.), it was a nice change of pace to have a more savory flavored tea. Since I’m always up to try new flavors and styles of tea, I thought you might be also. Enter the giveaway…

One lucky reader will receive the following from Celestial Seasonings:
– Decaf Sleepytime Lemon Jasmine Green Tea
– Tin Tea Caddy
– Magnet
– Lip balm
– Honey sticks

How to enter – do any or all of the following, and leave a comment for each:
1. Simply leave me a comment about anything, or about tea
2. Follow me on Twitter, and/or tweet about the giveaway

You have until Thursday 4/14 at 9pm EDT to enter!

National Potato Chip Day and Giveaway Winner!

I know it’s Pi Day, but I didn’t have the chance to make any pie. However, celebrating National Potato Chip Day was much easier! If you’re looking for something yummy to whip up, may I suggest maybe TERRA Chip Mexican Lasagna or Homemade Potatchoes ?

Anyway, there weren’t many contestants this time around, so Random.org picked #2… Cate of Cate’s World Kitchen (who cooks up some super yummy stuff)! So if you could e-mail your info to foodosaurusrex [at] gmail [dot] com, I’ll have your chips on their way! 

TERRA Blues Giveaway!

I love chips. I mean, how could I not? Potato, corn, tortilla, vegetable… you name it, I’ll eat it in chip form. Except for banana chips, because I despise bananas. So, when I was offered a bag of TERRA Blues Chips to review and then giveaway on the blog, I was all ears!

TERRA Blues chips are made from the blue potato, which has a nutty flavor and a blueish-purple hue. It also has 40% less fat than the leading potato chip (6 grams versus 10 of fat), and they’re pretty darn good! Like most chips, I start eating them, and the next thing I know I look down and the bag is almost empty. Oops…

If you’ve ever flown on JetBlue you’ve likely had them (they’re the official snack of the airline). They’re actually hosting a contest of their own at TERRAchips.com, where you can enter to win a four day/ three vacation at Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa for two adults and two children – you better believe I’m going to enter!

Monday (March 14th), is not only Pi Day, but also National Potato Chip Day! So, in honor of that I am giving away a bag of TERRA Blues chips and a coupon for another free bag of TERRA chips, so you can try another one of their yummy options (may I recommend their sweet potato chips – a personal favorite of mine)! You have between now and Sunday 3/13 at 9pm EST to enter, and I’ll pick a winner and announce it on National Potato Chip Day!

Here’s how to enter:
1. Leave a comment telling me about your favorite chip
2. Follow me on Twitter
3. Re-tweet the giveway: @FoodosaurusRex is giving away TERRA Blue chips in honor of National Potato Chip Day!

… If you do more than one of the above, make sure to come back and leave a comment for each!

 

Tea Time and a Giveaway!

When I was contacted to try some of Celestial Seasoning’s new Antioxidant Max Green Teas, I jumped at the offer! I’m a huge coffee fan, but I’m partial to tea as well. My fiancé and I will oftentimes have tea with our dessert (a cupcake, a cookie, etc.). We have tins upon tins of loose teas, and quite a few tea packets as well. [Scroll down for entry rules]

The package I received came with four full boxes of yummy tea; Blackberry Pomegranate Green Tea, Sleepytime Green Lemon Jasmine, Blood Orange Starfruit, and Dragon Fruit Melon. They all sounded so exotic and fruity, I didn’t know which one to try first! In addition to their delicious flavors, they boast that each serving contains 20% of the daily recommended intake for Vitamin C! I don’t know about you, but in these super cold dreary months, I could certainly use some extra Vitamin C to keep the sniffles away. They are also calorie (the Sleepy time does have some calories) and gluten free, as well as Kosher certified.

Once I opened the package, I was intrigued by the actual tea packets that also included the best sencha brands. They aren’t individually wrapped, rather they come in one big pouch, and are sans strings and tags. According to the information sheet that came with the teas, this allows them to save more than 3.5 pounds of waste each year! And, of course, the packaging is made of 100% recycled materials.

So, onto the flavor! I decided to have a cup of the Sleepytime Green Lemon Jasmine, while my fiancé sampled the Blackberry Pomegranate Green (he’s obsessed with pomegranates). As soon as I put my fiancé’s tea bag in his warm water, I could instantly smell the fruit, and it smelled good! They each only take 2 minutes to steep, which was surprising to us, as all of our loose teas take anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes. Even though that seemed like a short amount of time, it was plenty of time for the tea bags to transfer the flavor into our water. We both drink our tea without any adders, so it was a great way to really get a taste of the flavors. The Sleepytime was the perfect end of the day tea (since it is caffeine free) – the lemon and jasmine were comforting, and the green tea added a nice refreshing quality. My fiancé’s was fruity! When I took a sip I felt like I should have been laying on a tropical island, not in 10 degree weather. The smell and the actual flavor were right on par, and it wasn’t too much – it was just right. I can’t wait to try the other two flavors.

So, now the question is, do you want some of this yummy tea for yourself?! The winner will receive exactly what I got – four awesome teas (20 tea packets in each), of Celestial Seasoning’s Blood Orange Star Fruit Green Tea, Dragon Fruit Melon Green Tea, Blackberry Pomegranate Green Tea, and Sleepytime Green Lemon Jasmine Tea. There are a few ways to enter, and each of the ways will give you an extra entry:

  • Leave a comment here (it can be anything, but something tea related would be nice!)
  • Follow me on Twitter (then come back here and tell me you did)

I’ll choose the winner by Thursday 1/27 at 9pm EST using Random.org.

A Piggie Sunday

The latter half of this past week was super stressful; I got sick, we had a family emergency, and then Saturday and Sunday was spent packing, cleaning, and traveling to two (yes, two) Ikeas to get new furniture. Why the new furniture, you may ask? My fiancé and I are moving at the end of the month! Don’t get too excited, we’re only moving about 10 minutes away to a different town, but we’re upping our game and renting a townhouse! We’re hoping this will be our semi-permanent home until we’re ready to buy a house… yikes.

As you know, I had an awesome giveaway this week, that I just picked a winner for (congrats Jordan!). So, any time I do a giveaway, I also get a sample (win!). I decided to make an appetizer styled dinner, since I was exhausted and wanted minimal effort, and I had all these yummy Hormel products laying around. I had stumbled upon You Are What You Eat or Reheat‘s White Trash Puff Balls a week or so ago, and thought they’d be perfect for the little pepperoni package I got. Instead of combining them with cream cheese, I just threw the pepperoni with shredded mozzarella, and since I grabbed the regular Pillsbury rolls and not crescent rolls, I essentially made pinwheels.

Pepperoni and Cheese Pinwheels

I also decided to try my hand at homemade potatchos, which are basically potato chip nachos. They’re served at a New Brunswick and Rutgers University staple, Stuff Yer Face. If you live in the general vicinity (i.e. probably about an hour in every direction) you’ve heard of the restaurant. You may have even seen it on Man vs. Food! At any rate, their potatchos rule. It’s potato chips, bacon, tomato, cheese, ketchup, sour cream, and chives. I assembled pretty much all of that (I forgot tomatoes – duh!) and threw it in the oven. I have to say, they were pretty spot on.

Homemade Potatchos!

Both of these little ditties would be great appetizers for a get together, on game day, etc. I wouldn’t recommend pairing them together as a dinner, unless you are attempting to use a lot of self control, and break it up with a giant salad (as I did). Sometimes, though, you just need a little comfort, and after the past few days, my fiancé and I were glad to have it.

Homemade Potatchos (Potato Chip Nachos)
– Serves 2-3 –

Ingredients:
1 bag potato chips
4 oz. shredded cheese (any variation – I used Mexican)
2 handfuls of crumbled bacon (I used Hormel’s Real Bacon Bits)
1/2 tomato, diced
Liberal squirts of ketchup
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (plain) or sour cream
1/2 cup chives, chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Spray baking sheet, and pour chips onto sheet
3. Sprinkle liberally with cheese (feel free to use more!) and bacon pieces
4. Bake for 10 minutes
5. Squeeze ketchup all over chips, top with yogurt, tomatoes, and chives

Pepperoni and Cheese Pinwheels
– Serves 3-4 –

Ingredients:
2 containers of Pillsbury Rolls
1/2 bag of Hormel Mini Pepperoni
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Coat baking pan and open rolls (unroll them, even though their directions tell you not to) and keep them in twos
3. Place combination of pepperoni and shredded mozzarella on each set of two, and roll from one end to the other
4. Bake for 10 minutes

PS – Congrats to everyone that completed the Chicago Marathon yesterday! Hopefully I’ll be there one day too.

 

UPDATE: I’ve submitted the potatchos recipe to Foodbuzz’s BACONALIA contest! YUM.