Saucy Mama Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Burgers

Hello #GinnyBites fans! The time has finally come. I am now able to share my original burger recipe that I created for the Saucy Mama World Food Championships 2017 qualifier! I was 1 of 25 foodies chosen to compete and create an original recipe using my choice of Saucy Mama products for either the burger or the bacon category. I chose BURGER!! Yummo!

The 6 Saucy Mama products I chose to work with. So much potential! MMM!

Saucy Mama is looking for 1 more chef to complete their 6 teams this year at the WFC in Orange Beach, Alabama this November. Will it be me? Who knows! But it is so fun to try. 

Me competing at WFC 2016 with my Cubano Cristo Sandwich
(Image from: https://www.facebook.com/WorldFoodChampionships/
photos/a.386724011360054.92900.194780627221061/1372358002796645/?type=3&theater)

As many of you already know, last year was the first time I made it into the WFC. Back in 2015 I tried for the first time to earn a Golden Ticket through this same Saucy Mama contest using my Miso Slaw Burger recipe. I did not get in that year but it was truly a delicious journey. Then, in Summer 2016 I entered the WFC Taste of America Challenge on Instagram with my Hot Ham & Wild Rice Sandwich and won the spot for my home state of Minnesota AND a free ticket into the competition. It was the most amazing experience and I am so very proud of Team #GinnyBites.  Now that I have had a taste of this whole food sport "thing"...I am totally hooked! I hope you enjoy this fun recipe AND I will have my fingers and toes all crossed, sitting on pins and needles, just waiting to hear if I am the chosen one, LOL! Wish me luck and PRETTY PLEASE SHARE! And after you check out this recipe...Don't forget to scroll down for a chance to WIN some tasty Saucy Mama products of your very own! Who doesn't love a good ol' GIVEAWAY!?

My inspiration!

The recipe in my head that I decided to run with is a buffalo chicken salad stuffed burger. It's big. It's messy. It's delicious. And just a little bit spicy. Now how fun is that?! The Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce from Saucy Mama is soooo flippin' good. Think Frank's Redhot wing sauce...only WAY better! Once I tasted it I knew this crazy idea I had could really come to life. It is a must try, truly.

Literally dripping with flavor!

Saucy Mama Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Burgers

Recipe (serves 4)

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Salad:

1 cup cooked chicken (chopped)

1 celery stalk (diced small)

1/4 cup red onion (diced small)

2 T mayo

3 T Saucy Mama Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce

3 T Saucy Mama Poblano Ranch Dressing

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

cracked black pepper

For the Burger Patties:

2 lbs ground beef

cracked black pepper (generous amount)

1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 T minced garlic

1 T Saucy Mama Creamy Horseradish

Extras:

4 Onion buns, buttered and lightly toasted/grilled

8 slices sharp cheddar 

Romaine lettuce leaves and sliced tomato for 4 burgers

extra blue cheese crumbles

Directions:

1. Combine all chicken salad ingredients in a bowl very well and set aside.

2. Combine all burger patty ingredients very well and form 8 patties about 1/2" thick.

3. Lay out 4 of the burger patties and place a heaping 1/4 cup of chicken salad in the middle of each one, leaving 1/2" of burger around the edges. Cover each with the other 4 prepared patties and pinch/seal the patty edges together to hold in the chicken salad.

4. Cook the burgers on a grill pan on medium/high heat for @ 16 minutes, flipping them every 4 minutes and rotating for nice grill marks on both sides.

5. After the last patty flip, pour 1 T of Saucy Mama Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce onto each patty and then place 2 slices of sharp cheddar on each burger. Turn off heat when done and let rest for a few minutes.

6. Butter and toast the Onion Buns and then spread Saucy Mama Creamy Horseradish on all 8 buns halves.

7. Build the 4 burgers from the bottom up: Bottom bun, lettuce, stuffed burger patty with cheddar, tomato slice(s), crumbled blue cheese, top bun.

And bring the napkins!

*** Wish me luck! And share, share, share!  ***

And now for the GIVEAWAY!!! 1 lucky winner will receive 3 Saucy Mama products of their choice! Only excludes olives and the Apricot Ginger Mustard. Winner will be chosen on June 22nd, 2017! So check back to see if YOU won...and try not to drool!

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National Coffee Ice Cream Day

Was yesterday!! But I made some and it was wonderful. I am going to have some more tonight. Yay for National Coffee Ice Cream Day!

I don't know about you guys but the long weekend, the annual back to school shenanigans and the real life stuff going on has got me spinning. Many things are changing and falling into place over here but I need to get some things organized around here if I am going to keep up! Hopefully in a week or two things will calm down and get back to a routine. I'm working on it.

I have today and tomorrow off. Next up is National Wienerschnitzel Day on Friday. Um, yes!!! I can't wait to eat some! (drool)

National Macadamia Nut Day

Yesterday was National Macadamia Nut Day. I must say I baked the cupcakes and prepared the frosting the night before hand. I decided to wait and decorate them yesterday so I could take my pictures while they were fresh and beautiful. I threw the frosting in the fridge overnight because it contained milk. Took it out to soften around lunch time and it took many many hours for it to get back to whiping and spreading consistancy. Lesson learned, I guess. So that is why my post had been delayed. Anywho...

Yum and yay for cupcakes! I chose to bake some white chocolate chip, macadamia nut and Craisin cupcakes with a vanilla butter cream frosting. After all of the waiting to eat them they were delicious. I did send a box to the neighbor house though. Too many treats lately! Ha!

I used a basic chocolate chip cupcake recipe. Instead of 1 cup of chocolate chips I used 1 cup of an even mix of choclate chips, chopped macadamia nuts and Craisins. Easy stuff.

Thanks or reading. Next up is National Cheese Pizza Day! See you soon.

National Welsh Rarebit Day

Today was one of my favorite food holidays to prepare so far. National Welsh Rarebit Day. When I first read about this dish a couple of months ago I was thinking, oh no rabbit! Eew! It's not rabbit. (whew!) Although Welsh Rabbit is another name for this dish. Maybe it was one of those missteps in translation that just stuck. Doesn't matter to me. I didn't have to make and eat rabbit, it involves homemade cheese sauce (yum) and it gave me a great excuse to make breakfast for dinner. That's always fun. Breakfast is my favorite. For serious. I actually had a morning wedding so that we could serve brunch at the reception. I.Friggin'.Love.Breakfast.

Welsh Rarebit is a creamy cheese sauce over toasted bread. I read a few different recipes and decided I would use them all loosely and make up my own. Some recipes used beer. Some didn't. There were different types of breads used. It seemed pretty up for interpretation so I tried it out. I am very pleased with how this turned out. Welsh Rarebit is typically a side dish. One recipe I read said it is good served over toast or poached eggs. Perfect. Breakfast it is. And I get to poach some eggs! Another fun first for me.

The three recipes I narrowed it down to can be found at the following links:

Alton Brown
Pioneer Woman
Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (red & white checked one)

I chose French Brioche bread. I had never had it before but it looked and sounded perfect for toasting. The subtle hint of sweetness in the bread was pretty damned perfect smothered in a savory sauce! I lightly buttered both sides and browned them in an electric skillet.

For the cheese sauce I used half shredded cheddar and half American cheese. I used half and half creamer instead of beer. I did use the Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard and the dash of cayenne pepper. Since I decided not to use beer I added a decent sized splash of white cooking wine to give it a little nudge towards the "fancier" versions.

Bacon, poached eggs and orange slices seemed the appropriate choices to turn this side into a full on breakfast dish. I had never poached an egg before or even tasted one. This task has been on my long mental cooking to-do list so what the hay? Come to find out I can totally poach an egg and I even enjoyed eating it.

I am also pleased to report that the kids and my hubby loved this one, too. I am one happy mama tonight! Thanks for reading. Tomorrow is National Macadamia Nut Day and I have already begun preparing a tasty treat. You'll see!

National Blueberry Popsicle Day

Happy Friday! It's National Blueberry Popsicle Day! And thanks to last weeks cherry Popsicle day, I already had the Popsicle molds!

These taste pretty good. Not as sweet as I was hoping for. I was going for a cremosa beverage type thing. Next time I will choose a flavored creamer as opposed to the half and half I used this time. Maybe french vanilla or hazelnut.

I used approximately half blueberry flavored sparkling water and half creamer, leaving room to drop in six fresh blueberries in each mold. I froze them until solid and that's it. A nice cold treat for a Summer day.

Enjoy! Come back tomorrow for National Welsh Rarebit Day. It's not rabbit! Don't worry. I was. Lol!

National Cherry Popover Day

Today is National Cherry Popover Day! First time making these. I found an online recipe and just went for it. These treats are not sweet but turned out chewy, fluffy and mostly good.

You can find the recipe that I used today right HERE. The only change I made was to use the cherries from the cherry pie filling I had left over from the other day instead of fresh pitted cherries. I hate to waste ingredients and do like how they turned out. I just dropped each cherry individually into the popover batter and stirred them in gently for a little marbling effect.

As for the baking time and temp, I will need to play with that a bit if I use this recipe again. The recipe says to bake them at 450° for 20 minutes and then at 350° for 10-15 minutes more. I did this but mine were slightly over done after only 8 minutes at the 350°. Also, it stated to preheat the greased muffin pan, which I did but the grease started smoking pretty badly so I had to take it out early. They still tasted pretty good, though.

So there it is for today. Tomorrow is National Blueberry Popsicle Day. I have my Popsicle molds all ready to go. See you then!

National Trail Mix Day

Thank goodness for an easy national food holiday today. This mama is super tired! Last night was my eldest son's 18th birthday (eek!) and I think I went to bed around two in the morning. I played chauffeur for him and his pals to the casino. Actually had to get up and go to work in an office today. Whew! It was a blast last night but oh boy...so tired.

I made a very basic trail mix. Typically it would be M&Ms, peanuts and raisins. I like mine a tiny step up from that (in my opinion). I used M&Ms, cashews and Craisins! Mmm!  I like it much better. And I honestly should have used dark chocolate M&Ms instead....that would have been the best for me personally.

Hope your Wednesday is going swell. Come on back tomorrow for National Cherry Popover Day. I have never made them and truly have no idea what I am going to do. Busy week. We'll see.

National Toasted Marshmallow Day

It's a beautiful Tuesday morning and National Toasted Marshmallow Day!

So, my backyard fire pit is completely soaked due to all of the rain we've had here lately. Meaning, a bonfire and toasted marshmallows made the good old fashioned way was out of the question. Leaving me standing in the kitchen wondering what to do and really wishing I owned a culinary food torch. That would be fun! I should get me one of those.

Hoping for the best, I decided to pull out a bag of mini marshmallows and my aim-and-flame to see what would happen. It worked! These bite sized itty bity toasted marshmallows are cute and tasty. So yay! Half-assed S'mores! I am sure they'll be all the rage soon. Tee hee.

Have a great night and swing back tomorrow for National Trail Mix Day!

National Chop Suey Day

Happy Monday and it's National Chop Suey Day! Now, again, I have heard of chop suey before, never eaten it or ordered it, never prepared it or served it. Always just assumed it was some sort of Chinese food dish. It also always makes me think of the movie Lady and the Tramp. You know, when poor Jim Dear has to go out in the middle of snow stormy night to get miss Darling her midnight pregnancy cravings? She wants watermelon...and some chop suey, too! Adorable.

I am more than happy with how the Chop Suey turned out. Tons of veggies all pretty and colorful. I would make this again but will remember that it is a time consuming dish to prepare. You can find the recipe that I used right HERE. I followed it almost exactly. Most of the vegetables are recommended to be cut in specific ways. They also need to be kept separated and cooked separately until near the end of the recipe. So, this takes some time, uses up lots of bowls, but all-in-all a yummy dinner. I actually served this at a family potluck last night and it went over very well with the adults. And believe it or not...someone even brought watermelon! Ha!

This was my first time cooking with bok choy and an oyster sauce, so I can stick those ingredients under my proverbial belt now. Kind of exciting to me. Learning lots and having fun. Hope you are, too. Thanks for coming over for a little read and I'll see you again tomorrow for National Toasted Marshmallow Day!

National Cherry Turnover Day

Good morning and Happy National Cherry Turnover Day! These are super easy to make and delicious. Like tiny cherry pies!

You can find the recipe that I used HERE. This link includes recipes for the pastry crust, the cherry filling and the icing. I only used the crust and icing recipes this time and purchased a can of cherry filling instead. If you really want this to be even easier to make, you can always purchase ready-made pastry crusts, usually in the freezer section of the grocery store. I rarely buy them because from scratch is almost always cheaper and I have become quite comfortable making crusts in the last few years. The ready-mades are very fast and do come in very handy at times.

My turnovers turned out yummy. They did not get as golden brown on top as I expected so I may try an egg wash next time around. The kids enjoyed today's special treat and I had fun in the kitchen. My happy place. A perfect rainy day stuck inside.

Hope you are having a great weekend! Swing by tomorrow for yet another first for me...National Chop Suey Day. I have never purchased or worked with bok choy or oyster sauce before. Should be fun!

National Pots de Creme Day

Today is National Pots de Creme Day! Another first for little 'ol me. Pots de Creme is a traditional French custard and today's flavor choice is chocolate! I am on day 13 of my year long challenge now and I can tell you with confidence that when this project is all done and behind me that I will be a better chef for it. I am learning so much!

I found a recipe online that sounded very good and you can find it by clicking HERE. I followed the directions exactly but did cut the recipe in half. This national holidays "menu" has been quite sugary treat heavy and I didn't need more desserts than absolutely necessary laying around for me to eat. Ha!

The best word I can think of to describe these little bowls of choclatey heaven is luscious. They truly are. I haven't decided if I am going to share any with the family yet today. We'll see...we'll just see.

I hope you have enjoyed this foodie project so far. Tomorrow is National Cherry Turnover Day. I already have my pasty dough chilling in the fridge. Come on back tomorrow and see how they turn out. (Ya'll see what I did there, right?)

National Banana Split Day

Did you get to enjoy a Banana Split today? It is National Banana Split Day after all!!

Today was a very special treat for me and my three littles. Our hometown ice cream shoppe Two Scoops was kind enough to let us swing by today for a little tasting to celebrate! Ice cream for lunch?! Yes please! A huge thank you to Cherie and Rick, the owners, for making me the coolest mommy of the day!

The lovely Lisa was on duty today and built us our delightfully sweet treat scoop by scoop. So fun for the kids to watch.

It was very tasty and the kiddos enjoyed every last bite. Plenty for everyone!

Two Scoops offers 20 fun flavors at all times and they rotate through over 130 flavors! There is always something new to taste and fall in love with during each visit.

If you are ever looking for a yummy gift to give, there is plenty of colorful sweets to choose from!

Go ahead and splurge for the hand-dipped and sprinkled waffle cone. So good!

If you live in or near Anoka, MN then you already know about this cute little shop. You have already met the owners, so friendly and welcoming. A couple who loves to support their community whenever they can. But if you aren't and plan on visiting anytime soon, you simply must make Two Scoops a stop along the way. Old town charm and fresh new flavors. Simply the best.

Thanks again for a great day!

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Here are some links so you can plan your visit them soon!

Website: http://twoscoopsmn.com/home

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TwoScoopsMN/?fref=ts

National Peach Pie Day & National Waffle Day!

It's my first double whammy day! Wahoo! Today is both National Peach Pie Day AND National Waffle Day! I thought it would be a great opportunity to make a dish that represents both delicious treats. I imagine they will go very well together. Am I, right?

What I created is a combination of both a crispy waffle "crust" bowl filled with peach pie filling. And a little dollop of cool whip never hurt anybody!

What do you think?

My Peach & Waffles Pie!

If you are making this and serving it right away, just make the waffles, make the filling, assemble it all and serve immediately. If you are like me, and prepared it the night before, make the waffles and the peach pie filling and then refrigerate until morning. Assemble in a pie dish in the morning and heat in a 350° oven for 7-10 minutes until heated through and the waffles are crisp again.

When my little ones woke up and saw that THIS is what mommy made for breakfast today...well, excited probably isn't the most accurate word choice. Scrumptious!

You can find the waffle recipe that I used HERE. And the peach pie filling recipe HERE. I would definitely use both of these again!

Hope you enjoyed this fun dish today. Make sure to come back tomorrow. The kiddos and I are going to visit Two Scoops in Anoka for a tour and tasting to celebrate National Banana Split Day!

National Sponge Cake Day

Good morning and welcome to National Sponge Cake Day! Yet again a food holiday with a dish that I had never prepared before. For someone who cooks so so much, makes a partial living from doing so, enters cooking contests, sends meals to others and more...I have apparently been quite sheltered in the kitchen! Totally loving this food holidays challenge so far! I am just begining week two of this year long journey and I can't wait to see where it takes me.

So, sponge cake. Easy peasy. I found a recipe online that only requires three ingredients!  You can find it by clicking HERE. These are staple ingredients that most of you will have around the kitchen already. Need ideas for a quick treat for a potluck or an after dinner surprise? Go for the sponge cake. I decided to add 1 tsp. of lemon extract to mine for a little light citrus flavor, so technically 4 ingredients.

Beautiful. I whipped up some whipped cream to make it all pretty and stuff. (pun intended) And a few gold sprinkles...why not?! Set a plate like this down in front of a loved one and they'll think you spent all day in the kitchen just for them. It'll be our little secret!

Tomorrow will be the first time I take two same-day national food holidays and turn them into one recipe! I won't give away the surprise yet but come on back tomorrow and see for yourself!

National Pecan Torte Day

I had heard the word "torte" before but never knew exactly what it was. A baked good of some sort? Maybe something like a tart? Well, thanks to National Pecan Torte Day I learned something new today. Yay for knowledge!

A torte by definition is: a rich cake, especially one containing little or no flour, usually made with eggs and ground nuts or bread crumbs.

Got it. Lots of eggs + ground up nuts = deliciousness on a plate.

We held our monthly cooking session for my charity called Food With Love (see page tab above for more details) and we always send a dessert along with the foods we prepare. Now that this national food holidays project is underway, it sure does make it a lot easier to decide which treats to bake! Pecan Tortes it is! And how much fun to share a food holiday project with one of my besties who cooks with me?! Debbie totally nailed it with the torte making and baking. I mostly did the decorating. Fun!

We decided to make them into cute little individual sized tortes. The recipe is written for one 8" cake round but we divided the batter into five 4" spring form pans instead. The spring form pans worked alright but they did leak a little bit into the bottom of the oven for the first couple minutes of baking. Not a huge problem but I would maybe try some souffle dishes instead next time and only make four individual treats total.

You can find the recipe we used HERE. A chocolate pecan torte. I had a little of the almond caramel sauce left over from National Ice Cream Pie Day a few days ago so we went ahead and drizzled a little of that and decorated them with pecan halves. These turned out pretty darn good. I would put less melted chocolate on the top next time around but other than that I was super satisfied. They are really fluffy and spongy from all of the egg whites, not as sweet as cake. A nice change.

Here is the box we are sending to our current "adopted" family for Food With Love. A fun little surprise.

Hope you have a wonderful Monday! Thanks for stopping by #GinnyBites and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

It's National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day today! Now, I love pecan pie. One of my all time favorites so far. Especially around Thanksgiving time. Mmm! I never even knew there was chocolate version. How can you possibly make something you love so much even better?! Add chocolate, pecans and bourbon, of course!

Here is a link to the recipe I chose: Chocolate Pecan Pie by Betty Crocker. I followed this recipe exactly.

Super easy! And my house smells totally amazing right now! Here she is...

Ain't she a beauty? This pie is truly spectacular inside and out. I hope you get a chance to make one soon. Thanks for swinging by! And see you back here tomorrow for National Spumoni Day.

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If you are enjoying this national food holidays challenge so far, please like, follow, share and more! I am only on Day 6 of 365! So much more fun to come!

You can find Ginny Bites on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GinnyBites/

On Instagram at www.instagram.com/virginialouden/ ... @virginialouden

On Twitter at twitter.com/VirginiaLouden ... @virginialouden

On Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/ginnylouden/

National Potato Day

Today marks National Potato Day! I love potatoes. I decided to celebrate the day by sharing my favorite potato recipe that I created in January when I entered a Food Network contest called The Ordinary Extraordinary Potato Recipe Contest. I did not win but was very proud of how my entry turned out. Here are my Loaded Potato Stacks!

My version of a loaded baked potato but more potato parfait style. That's a thing, right?


Loaded Potato Stacks Recipe

Ingredients:

2-3    large red potatoes

4       slices bacon – cooked and crumbled

¼ C  green onion – diced

2 T   olive oil

8 oz  cream cheese – softened

¼ C  sour cream

¼ C  shredded cheddar – chopped small

3 T   Dijon mustard

         salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Wash potatoes and remove any eyes and blemishes. Cut off the ends of each potato. Slice the rest of the potatoes into 1/2” thick slices, You will need 12 slices total.

2. In a bowl, toss the 12 potato slices with the olive oil, salt and pepper, coating well. Place the prepared potatoes on a cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 30 minutes, turning over once during cooking time.

3. In a standing mixer whip together the cream cheese, sour cream, Dijon mustard and chopped cheddar until smooth and creamy. Place cheese mixture into a piping bag.

4. To assemble the potato stacks, start with one potato slice topped with 2 T of the cream cheese mixture. Add another potato slice and top with 2 T of the cream cheese mixture. Add the last potato slice and top with 1 T cream cheese mixture. Garnish with the crumbled bacon and green onions. Repeat for all 4 servings. Serve immediately.

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You really should try these. Adds some unexpected flair to a common potato side dish. Thank for stopping by and see you tomorrow for National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day. Yup! You heard me. It's sure to be delicious!

National Ice Cream Pie Day

Are you kidding me?! National Ice Cream Pie Day? Never even heard of it. What a genius idea! A great excuse to break out my Hamilton Beach ice cream maker that I bought a few months back on clearance for only fifteen dollars. What? Score.

I decided to choose an ice cream flavor using mostly what I already had on hand for ingredients. I had a couple frozen bags of sliced Washington peaches left from my son's high school band fundraiser so peaches and cream ice cream it is!

I found a recipe on the Hamilton Beach website. You can find it by clicking HERE. The only change I made was to add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Yum!

I prepared a basic graham cracker crust by crushing 1 sleeve of graham crackers in a zip lock bag, tossing them with 4 Tbsp melted butter and then pressing them evenly into the bottom of a pie dish. I set the prepared crust in the freezer while I waited for the ice cream maker to finish churning.

When the ice cream was ready I poured it into the crust and spread it out evenly and then returned it to the freezer to firm.

I also prepared an easy homemade caramel sauce to drizzle over the top. You can find the recipe HERE. The only change I made to this recipe was substituting almond extract for the vanilla extract. I really like how the flavor turned out. The hint of almond is a nice change.

And because I had some, I decided at the last minute to roast some cashews in the oven with a coating of cinnamon and sugar. I am so glad I did!

So, here is. My Peaches & Cream Ice Cream Pie with caramel sauce and candied cashews! What a treat!

If you decide to make the pie I would love to hear about it. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @virginialouden. Tomorrow is National Potato Day and I can't wait to share a fun recipe I made up a while back that takes the loaded baked potato to a whole new level! Thanks for reading!

National Vanilla Custard Day

Before this I had never made a custard. I know. Crazy, right? It honestly just never came up. In all my 26 years of cooking (Eek!) I never had a reason to make something so simple as a custard. This is one of the many things I am looking forward to the most during this year long national food holidays project. A great opportunity to try out some new things, not only by tasting them but by adding them to my cooking abilities, as well.

So, I went online to try and find a good vanilla custard recipe to use. I was immediately drawn to one claiming to be the "ultimate" vanilla custard recipe. I mean, come on. The ultimate has got to be good. But once I started reading the recipe and information I decided that it was a little too fancy and complicated to use as a beginner recipe. I am not impervious to failures in the kitchen and decided a basic vanilla custard would be a more realistic starting point.

Here is the link to the recipe I chose: Basic Vanilla Custard Recipe

It turned out creamy and delicious. My three youngest children really enjoyed eating it. I think they are starting to realize, just a few days in, that mommy's new "adventure" is going to be fun for them, too. I even added some sprinkles on top for a little visual appeal. Because let's face it, plain 'ol vanilla custard is really kind of boring to look at.

This was so easy to make. Looking back, I probably could have gone for the "ultimate" custard. I will definitely play around with custard in the future, though. The only change I made to their recipe was substituting the 2 Tbsp of cornstarch with 5 Tbsp of flour. I accidentally used up the last of my cornstarch on our previous family dinner, forgetting that I needed it for this particular recipe. It turned out good anyway. (Thank goodness!) Next time I may try using a different flavor extract for a tasty twist. Maybe orange or almond. Mmm!

Thanks for stopping by and come on back tomorrow for National Ice Cream Pie Day. I won't give away the flavor yet but I am pretty excited to break out my ice cream maker. My kids are gonna freak!

National Rum Day

Why is the rum always gone?! A common problem in my world. And don't tell me that you didn't read that in your head with your inner Johnny Depp as Captain Black Sparrow voice.

It's National Rum Day today! I do love me some rum. Especially the spiced kind. Captain Morgan is usually the rum of choice around here, happened to have a bottle on-hand. What better reason to create a fun rum cocktail recipe to share with you all today. A celebratory cocktail even. Because this girl just found out yesterday she got into the World Food Championships this November in Orange Beach, Alabama!!! I qualified for a spot during the World Food Championships 2016 #TasteofAmericaChallenge. I was the winner for Minnesota in this qualifier event and am competing in the sandwich category at WFC. So very pumped right now!

On with the rum, though! I am calling this little cocktail A Pirate's Life.

Now, I really wanted this to be in a martini glass but I went to the store and two different neighbors' houses last night to find one with no such luck. It would be so much prettier as a martini. But, whatcha' gonna do? It was tasty anyway.


A Pirate's Life Recipe

2 oz spiced rum
3 oz pineapple juice
splash of french vanilla creamer

Shake well with ice
Strain into a martini glass with a cinnamon and sugar rim (don't skimp)

sprinkle with 1 tsp toasted coconut



And there you have it, folks. Something sweet and fun to sip on. Enjoy and I'll see you back here tomorrow for Vanilla Custard Day! Mmm!