Create-Celebrate-Explore

Celebrate National Moscato Day with Gallo Family Vineyards

It's no secret in my circle that my favorite white wine is Moscato. So when an opportunity presented itself to try a selection of Moscato (white, pink and red) from Gallo Family Vineyards you couldn't hold me back.  Have I mentioned how much I love my job?

Did you know that it's National Moscato Day on May 9? I'm going to share a couple of delicious recipes and tips on how you can celebrate.

The first one I want to share is Punchful Spirit.

A Hot Dog Bar for Game Day

Fall sports are under way and whether you are homegating or tailgating you can celebrate in style.

A Hot Dog Bar is a simple way to go, and is bound to please everyone from kids to adults.

Here are my tips:

• Place hot dog toppings in glass bowls with lids. These will stack nicely in a cooler for tailgating as well as provide a cover to keep bugs out. They also make for quick and easy clean-up for homegating parties. Pop the lid on and put your leftovers directly into the refrigerator.

• Prepare a variety of hot dogs according to what your guests prefer from vegetarian, to beef, and turkey.

• Instead of fries on the side (especially for tailgating) provide potato chips instead.

• Suggested toppings: (these are our favorites) sauerkraut, coleslaw, banana peppers, bacon, onions, relish, mustard, and ketchup. Here are a few others you might like: grated cheddar cheese, jalapeno peppers, chili, tomato, and baked beans.

• Tailgating grilling tips: We love our Weber Q200 Portable Tabletop Grill with a rolling cart. It's perfect for tailgating. Don't forget a small grilling pan for cooking the onions and re-heating the bacon, beans, or other dishes if you pre-cooked them at home (which I recommend).

• Wide cardboard food trays are perfect for not only holding your hot dog, but also your potato chips and napkin, because we all know when you are tailgating, being able to hold your food in one hand, or having a lap-friendly container is essential.

• Don't forget the King's Hawaiian Hot Dog Buns and visit the King's Hawaiian site for delicious relish recipes such as the Easy Breezy Island Relish and the Aloha Pineapple Relish.

My hot dog of choice is topped with bacon, relish, and sautéed onions. Yum! What's yours?

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KING'S HAWAIIAN has an all-star line-up of sandwich products which includes: Mini Sub Rolls, Sandwich Buns, and Hamburger Buns and Hotdog buns.

Whether you are at your kid’s game or the stadium, KING'S HAWAIIAN is a great choice for a family tailgate.

What is your family’s favorite part of game day? Comment below and be entered for a chance to win $200 to put towards your next game day event.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kings Hawaiian. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

Chipotle Mango Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

• First Street chicken drumsticks
• 2 large tropical mangos
• 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 2 key limes
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• Pinch salt and pepper

Peel and slice the mangos into cubes and pop into a food processor.  Add 4 chipotle peppers and 1 extra tablespoon of the adobo sauce, vegetable oil, crushed garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper.  Blend until combined, but so it is still just a little chunky. 

Zest the peel of one of the limes using a zester.  Combine with blended ingredients using a spoon.

Divide the chipotle mango sauce into 3 bowls.  Set aside 1/4 of a cup to make the dipping sauce, another 1/4 cup to baste the chicken while it's being grilled, the remainder will be used as the marinade.

Place the chicken in a baking dish and rub the chipotle mango sauce over the top.  Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours.

Once ready, fire up the grill.

Grill the chicken, basting it with the chipotle mango sauce while it cooks.

Once grilled, arrange the chicken on a platter with sliced key limes (and cilantro if you like).

Rinse out the food processor and add the 1/4 cup of chipotle mango sauce you had set aside, along with the sour cream.  Blend until smooth and creamy. 

The chipotle mango cream can be used in two ways; as a dipping sauce for the drumsticks, or to pour a little over the drumsticks and serve as a meal with sides.

Tip: Squeeze a little lime juice over the Chipotle Mango Chicken Drumsticks before adding the cream. 

We served the drumsticks with whole wheat couscous, salad, and fresh bread.

This recipe makes approximately 12 drumsticks.

All ingredients for this recipe were purchased at Smart & Final.  The First Street Chicken Drumsticks and mangos will be on sale next week at Smart & Final stores.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™, and Smart & Final.  This recipe was created for the Smart & Final newsletter. #SFSmarties #CBias #SocialFabric

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Lasso The Moon

Simplicious Dish: Beef Polska Kielbasa Kabobs

Do you remember last year when BlogHer was in San Diego and I attended a fantastic food photography and styling workshop hosted by Hillshire Farm?  Well, once again Hillshire Farm are sponsors of the BlogHer conference (being held in New York) and have asked me to create a 'simplicious dish' using one of their smoked sausage varieties.  Chefs on site at BlogHer will be preparing my dish (and those of other bloggers), and displaying them as vanity plates at the Hillshire Farm booth (#1005) to give you a ideas for not only preparing smoked sausage dishes at home, but also as inspiration for you to create your own dish with the chefs at the booth.

So although chefs at the Hillshire Farm booth will not be preparing these kabobs on site, they will be preparing a slightly different version of this dish for the booth which will be more along the lines of the veggies, and polska kielbasa on rice, I really wanted to show you yet another way to serve this dish at home.  It's a very simple, quick to make dish that is not only perfect for appetizers, but you could make full-size kabobs (as opposed to the mini versions I made) and serve with rice for dinner.  I also did not need my husband to grill these outdoors, I was able to grill 10 at a time on my small indoor counter-top grill.

Beef Polska Kielbasa Kabobs

makes approximately 15 mini kabobs

Ingredients:

• 1 Hillshire Farm Beef Polska Kielbasa
• 1 package of whole mushrooms
• 1 punnet of roma tomatoes
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs balsamic vinaigrette
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Turn the indoor grill onto medium-high and pre-heat.

Combine the olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, minced garlic, and thyme in a small bowl and set aside. 

Next, prepare the rest of your ingredients - slice the beef polska kielbasa, chop the stems off the mushrooms and spinach, and prepare the onion and green pepper into bite-sized pieces.

Thread the ingredients onto small skewers and using a basting brush sweep a little of the balsamic vinaigrette mixture onto each kabob.  Turn that side down onto the grill and add the vinaigrette mixture to the other side.  Grill the kabobs for around 12-15 minutes, turning frequently, you will want to be able to smell those mushrooms and see the grill marks.

Once grilled add one last sweep of vinaigrette mixture over the top of each and serve.

Visit the Simplicious Dishes by Hillshire Farm booth (#1005) during the conference and get creative with the chefs to make your own savory dish using a combination of fresh ingredients, herbs, and smoked sausage.

Don't forget to take the No Kid Hungry Pledge while you are there and Hillshire Farm will donate $5 to Share our Strength for every pledge taken.

 

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Hillshire Farm.

5 Grilling Tips when Hosting a Party, and a Recipe

It's no secret that we spend most of our summer grilling.

We grill a lot just for our family, but we also love to entertain too, which means we need to plan ahead.

Here are my 5 simple grilling tips when entertaining:

 

1. Meal plan ahead of time. If you plan on making a brand new dish, do a test run with your family first. On the day your guests are arriving is not the time to be attempting a brand new dish that you have never tried before. Stick with your tried and true favorites, unless you have time to experiment a week or so beforehand.
2. A day or two before your event, make sure that gas tanks (if you have them) are full, and don't forget to clean your grill.
3. Check supplies of staple items for entertaining outdoors: tableware, napkins, condiments, utensils, and glassware.
4. Set up an area with appetizers and beverages by the grill so the person grilling isn't standing alone, bring the party to them.
5. Prepare as much food as you can beforehand, particularly appetizers, desserts, marinades, and salads. Your guests don't want to see you slaving away in the kitchen the entire time they are there. Tip: Place salad dressings in a small jug, cover, and refrigerate, don't pour over the salad, leave that to your guests, especially if there are possible allergies.

Here's a delicious and simple salad that can be prepared ahead of time. You can even make it using your indoor grill.

Remember when I went to New York to meet Sandra Lee? Well, one of the many items I brought home with me was the Sandra by Sandra Lee Indoor/Outdoor Electric Grill. It was perfect timing too, my George Foreman had suddenly decided it was not going to work any longer. It's perfect for grilling smaller items for salads, or even fruit for desserts especially if you don't have a large outdoor grill.

I made this delicious salad recently, it's perfect as a side salad for home entertaining, can be made ahead, and I grilled the bacon on my little indoor grill.

Broccoli, Bacon, and Grape Salad.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups broccoli (cut into bite-sized pieces)
• 2 cups red grapes
• 4 slices bacon
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup light mayonnaise
• 2 tbs red wine vinegar
• 2tbs sugar

Grill bacon until crispy, then set aside to cool.

Toss grapes, pecans, and broccoli into a bowl.

Combine mayonnaise, sugar, and red wine vinegar in a small jug, cover, and refrigerate.

Slice bacon into small pieces then add into the bowl with the broccoli and lightly toss. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

These are just a few of my tips for grilling while also being the host. I would love if you would share your tips with me! One of my lucky readers who answers below will win a $25 Sears Gift Card!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sears. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

How to Set Up an Easy Burger Bar at Home

I'm all for quick and easy when it comes to dinnertime and with a couple of extra teenage boys in the house at the moment serve-yourself bars are the easiest way to feed them.

I like to keep things fairly simple with my food bars, but still give quite a few options, especially for picky eaters.  For example my little man loves wheat bread, but baby girl is going through a white bread only phase.  One of the teenagers can't eat cheddar cheese so I wanted a few extra options for cheese he could eat, and I'm a lover of sweet potato fries, but am definitely in the minority being surrounded by lovers of regular potato fries.

Burgers:

• We grilled pre-made burgers, seasoning them with McCormick's beforehand.
• If you will be entertaining visitors who are vegetarian, don't forget to put out vegetarian burgers too.

Toppings:

• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Grilled bacon
• Grilled onion
• Sargento® Medium Cheddar Cheese
• Sargento® Ultra-Thin Colby Jack Cheese
• Sargento® Pepper Jack Cheese
• Mushrooms (that were cooked in a little butter on the stove)
• Ketchup and Mustard
• Other items you may want to include: coleslaw, pickles, pineapple, and barbecue sauce

Other items:

• Whole wheat burger buns
• White burger buns
• Sweet potato and regular potato fries

Don't forget to vote for Crazee Burger in the Sargento® Cheese 'America's Ultimate Cheeseburger Contest'.  We ate there for dinner tonight and they really do make a good burger, and parmesan fries too.  Don't forget to grab a copy of all the recipes submitted once you are done voting, and upload a photo of your ultimate cheeseburger too.   Come back and let me know if you submitted a photograph.

The first person to leave a comment on this post will be sent a coupon to try Sargento® cheese slices.  What's your favorite variety of sliced cheese?

 

Disclosure: I received products and compensation from Sargento Foods Inc. and The Motherhood for my participation in this campaign.