…My Pampered Chef Consultant Gave to Me

A Sauce It Up Set for FREE!!

NEW!  #2386 Sauce It Up — $35.00
Instant flavor! Our Sweet & Sour Sauce, Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce and Raspberry Habanero Sauce tucked in a muslin gift bag.

You know the drill. The first guest to comment that they would like to host a Pampered Chef Catalog show via Facebook, Twitter or the old-fashioned way, gets this fabulous set of sauces FREE FROM ME! You just have to ask your wonderful friends to purchase the beloved Pampered Chef products. You must submit at least $150 worth of guest orders by December 16th and you get your Sauce It Up set mailed directly to you. Don’t forget there are other amazing rewards from Pampered Chef that you just can’t pass up. Our host rewards are amazing for so many reasons the #1 is that you get so much for FREE! Check out our rewards and tell us what you think.

… My Pampered Chef Consultant gave to me…

A Great Grilling Set ABSOLUTELY FREE!

 Great Grilling! Seasoning and Recipe Collection – Give your grill master a gift that really sizzles: Chili Lime Rub, Smoky Applewood Rub, Smoky Barbecue Rub and The Pampered Chef® Grill it Quick! in a muslin gift bag.

Your FREE GIFT as well as tons of other free and discounted items are only a comment away. You can get this wonderful set by hosting a Pampered Chef Catalog Show in the month of December. You can have a Facebook or Twitter show and do everything online or you can do it the old fashioned way and pass around catalogs to your friends, family and coworkers. All you need is a qualifying show, which is just $150 in guest sales. That qualifies you for the free gift as well as many other rewards. Comment below if you are interested. (Offer expires December 16th)

Please take advantage of this great offer and help you and your family get your Christmas shopping done easily this year.  Visit www.PamperedChef.biz/CookingBrandy to learn more about what we have to offer.

This month I will be hosting a Pampered Chef 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway.  Starting December 1st I will be listing 12 different gifts you can win for hosting a Pampered Chef Facebook, Twitter or Catalog Show. Look for a photos of gifts in these location.

Facebook Catalog Shows are FREE & EASY! I will send catalogs to anyone you like or I can send you the packet in the mail and you can pass it around with your friends, coworkers, church friends etc. I will also set up a Facebook Event to invite people to shop & order online and the more your guests purchase the more REWARDS you get! FREE Shipping, FREE Products, HOST Specials, Host Discounts, Half Priced Items…..PLUS If we get your show in by Dec. 18 all orders will be delivered in time for CHRISTMAS!

Twitter Catalog shows are simple too. I will set up your show on my website www.PamperedChef.biz/CookingBrandy and you can share the link with your Twitter friends and followers to get them to purchase online. Same rules apply. You earn a qualifying show of at least $150 in guest orders and you will get the free gift as well as the other December host rewards.

So onto the rewards!

**** 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS SPECIAL ****

~~ ON THE 1ST DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY PAMPERED CHEF CONSULTANT GAVE TO ME…

THE HOLIDAY ENTERTAINING SET FOR FREE!

First one to comment on this special to host a Catalog party will receive this set for FREE from me! Offer good only on 12/1/11…must submit a qualifying party to receive special.

 May 22nd was a beautifully sunny Saturday day and so we rose early and headed out to hit the local farmer’s markets. Though the Mt. Laurel Farmer’s Market doesn’t officially begin until June 4th, there were a few vendors out this weekend selling garden fresh vegetables, knit & crocheted items and one of my favorites, cheeses and jellies. As a matter of fact, while I was working at the CMMS event I met Dr. Robert from Southern Pines Chiropractic Center at Mt. Laurel. He mentioned his wife Sasha loved all things foodie or crafty. I found Sasha’s Simply Cheese on facebook and immediately fell in love with the business. Not only does she sell products from www.simplycheese.net but she also makes her own fruit and wine jellies. I was so happy to meet Sasha at the Mt. Laurel Farmer’s Market Saturday and try her delicious cheeses and jellies first hand. The Lavender Zinfandel jelly was sweet yet floral and would be delicious on chicken or poured over some brie, wrapped in filo pastry and baked. Yum. We also tried her cabernet sauvignon jelly paired with the pepper jack cheese and immediately picked up a jar. I intend to pour it over pork tenderloin as a marinade before grilling. I think I will also make a sauce for the pork with the jelly. It was just so good. 

After visiting with the MLFM vendors we stopped off for a quick and inexpensive bite at Jimbo’s and then headed to Pepper Place in downtown Birmingham. I love going to Pepper Place every year because there are so many local farmers, artists, crafters, musicians and all around awesome people there. We first went through the fresh produce area and let me tell you I really regret that I did my grocery shopping the day before because I wanted one of everything. I picked up some kale from Pond Creek Farm (Cullman, AL) and then a half dozen Chilton County Peaches from Burnette Farms. I want to make Spanish bean soup this week and I am going to try my hand at a peach cobbler. 

We stopped by the Pepper Place garden and then headed to the back area which I don’t remember there being vendors back there last year. I purchased some green tomatoes from A & P Farms (Gallant, AL) and the lovely woman working in the booth gave me two recipe cards with alternate recipes from fried green tomatoes. One is for grilled tomatoes with Cajun dressing and the other for un-fried tomatoes.  Zoey and I stopped to share a cup of Strawberry Italian Ice while Adam taste-tested some wines from the Winery at Pepper Place. He picked out his two favorites; the Jacquelyn which is an apple Riesling and Triptych which is a blended red wine.

We ventured to the far side of Pepper Place to walk through the artist/crafting vendors and I grabbed a loaf of French bread from the Culinard Cafe. We looked at handmade crocheted items, beautiful cutting boards and carved wood, fun kitchen wind chimes, handmade jewelry and much, much more. All-in-all the day was relaxing but adventurous.  Zoey enjoyed the music and seeing all the dogs walking with their owners. Adam loved the taste testing and the ambience and I loved spending the day in the sun with my family and some interesting and creative small town vendors. To by fresh, to buy organic and to support local small business owners makes me extremely happy.

Tonight I pulled some Italian sausage out to defrost without really knowing what I planned to make. I just started cooking the first few steps below and then decided to go with the soup dish. My mom had actually just mentioned the Italian Wedding Soup from Olive Garden early today so I suppose that is kind of where the idea originated.

I first browned some diced bacon while I boiled some diced new potatoes. I then removed the bacon from the pan and added a little olive oil to the pan. I dropped in 1/3 of the boiled new potatoes and cooked them flipping occassionally until they were nice and crispy. I removed them from the pan to drain on paper towels and added the Italian sausage to the same pan to brown. In the meantime, I cooked some thinly sliced onions in a stock pot with some diced celery. I added some salt and pepper and cooked until the onions were nice and soft. I then added 3 cups of milk and two bay leaves to the onions and celery and brought it to a soft boil. I added the boiled new potatoes that were not fried to the soup and heated through. I then put two tablespoons of flour into a little bowl and added some of the hot milk from my pot to create a little slurry. I added the slurry to the soup pot and stirred to thicken. Once the liquid had thickened slighty, I added in the Italian sausage and bacon. I added some chopped fresh baby spinach. I also added some fresh thyme and parsley. When the spinach wilted a little, I tasted and seasoned the soup with a little more with salt and pepper. I had also chopped up some chicago style bread, tossed the diced pieces in some olive oil and added Italian seasoning. I threw them in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes to toast up while the soup was finishing. I served the soup in shallow bowls garnishing with the fried potatoes,toasted croutons, and a sprig of parsley.

I am loving these new market bags that my wonderful mother has made. She has crocheted some beautiful bags for you to take with you to the farmer’s market or craft fair. I’m a lucky girl because I was able to pick out my own colors for my bag. Check out the current market bags we have in inventory and keep your eye out for new colors and designs coming soon. Pick out your one-of-a-kind, gorgeous market bag for just $20!

This past weekend, I spent the day at Oak Mountain Middle School’s Expo and Fair in my wonderful Pampered Chef booth cooking for guest and making new friends. The hit recipe was the Mango Confetti Salsa from page 5 in our new 2011 spring catalogs. Tonight, I needed to make something fast for dinner and since I had some leftover ingredients I thought it would be great to try the salsa on some fresh tilapia filets. I knew the recipe was a fast fix and Zoey loves fresh mango and any kind of fish.

I simply heated my Executive Cookware grill pan on medium high with the grill press in it so they would heat together. I sprinkled the three tilapia filets with the Crushed Peppercorn & Garlic Rub and set them aside to become room temperature.

To make the Mango Confetti Salsa I altered the recipe slightly. Instead of using bell peppers, I bought a big bag of smaller, sweet peppers from the grocer. I deseeded one each of the red, orange, and yellow sweet peppers, chop them in large chunks and throw them in the Manual Food Processor. I then used the Veggie Wedger to cut the red onion in 6 sections and added two of the wedges to the food processor.  I used the Citrus Press to juice one small lime, adding it to the food processor with a pinch of salt and 1/2 a teaspoon of the Chili Lime Rub. I then deseeded one jalapeño and diced it fine adding it to the food processor. I do this to ensure there are no big chunks of jalapeño in my salsa. I then manually process the ingredients to make sure everything is diced finely. Lastly, I use my Mango Wedger to remove the seed from my mango and the Avocado Peeler to remove the skin. I set a few pieces aside for Zoey and then added the rest to the food processor and pulsed to incorporate the mango into the pepper mixture. Within 5-7 minutes I have made a delicious salsa.

I sprayed my grill pan and grill press with a little Garlic-Infused Canola Oil that I had in my Kitchen Spritzer and added the fish, placing the press on top. I cooked the fish 1-2 minutes per side.  I served the fish watch a few tablespoons of the mango salsa on top.  My sides were stuffed tomatoes and Curry Couscous.  This dish is so light, flavorful and fast that I hope you try it at home!

This morning my lovely husband, Adam, had what he called on his twitter feed a #RandomBreakfastCraving for #tinypancakes – in other words, crepes.  He searched online and found a great Basic Crepe recipe at AllRecipes.com.  By the time I made it downstairs he had already fired off most of the crepes and was pulling out ingredients for the filling. 

I had some left over mascarpone cheese from the dish I made last night, The Pampered Chef® Creamy Broccoli & Sun-Dried Tomato Orzotto. We wanted to make the mascarpone sweeter so we added a tablespoon of red raspberry preserves to 2 ounces of the cheese. We then added a 1/2 a teaspoon of confectioner’s sugar and whipped it until it was smooth. As an additional filling we took a handful of blueberries, sprinkled a little caster sugar over them and another dollop of the red raspberry preserves and heated them in the microwave for 15 seconds. When they were warm, we smashed them slightly with the back of the fork. We filled a crepe with the mascarpone cream and the smashed blueberries, folded it up and then sifted confectioner’s sugar over the top. Delicious.

I am so blessed to have a husband that loves to cook as much as I do and who always tries to make me special treats as a surprise. Together we are willing to taste just about anything and I think that is what makes our food adventures so fun. The kitchen and dining table are our favorite places to be with each other. Holding hands, licking our lips and saying "Mmmm, that is fantastic". I thank God for him every day.