Enter our Giveaway!

This month, enter to win this Tower Slicer One-Press Fruit and Vegetable Slicer, courtesy of our sponsor, Kid Smart Living!

From main dishes and casseroles to garnishes and party trays, the tower slicer makes slicing fruits and vegetables quick and easy! Simply place produce on the slicing blade, position plunger lid and press for perfect slices every time.

Use on hard and soft fruits and vegetables; tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, lemons, apples, zucchini, squash and more... it's our favorite for making scalloped potatoes and hot potato salads.

• Measures 7" tall, 5" wide, 5.5" deep
• Large container holds sliced pieces
• Includes blade cleaning tool
• Durable break-resistant plastic body
• Stainless steel V-shaped blade, non-skid feet
• Dishwasher-safe

Rules: Must be a legal U.S. resident, 18 years or older. You may enter once per day. Entries will be accepted through midnight, CST on May 15, 2010. Winner will be drawn at random and notified via email.  They will have 7 days to respond or an alternate winner will be drawn.

To enter, click here to fill out the simple form!

Nutrition Lessons We Can Learn From Our Kids

There are many important things that we need to teach children as they grow - but they have many natural behaviors that we shouldn't try to change. In fact, we can learn a few things from kids! Here are some important lessons:    

Eat when you're hungry.  From the time they are born, babies know when and how much they need to eat - and they cry to let us know too! As they grow, this important instinct can be un-learned. By the time we are adults, most of us have learned to eat for many other reasons besides hunger - mealtimes, tempting food, advertising, free food, stress, anger, boredom, reward and celebration. By recognizing the difference between needing to eat and wanting to eat, adults can re-learn when and how much to eat too.

Read the rest of the article on Annie's!

New Mexican Recipes

We've added several new Mexican recipes to the site. And don't forget to enter our giveaway too!

Greek Salad Pita Sandwiches

1 cup Cacique Panela - diced
1 cup artichoke hearts - diced
1/2 cup cucumber - chopped
1 tbsp oregano (fresh) - (1 tsp dried)
3 tbsp lemon juice - (plus more as needed)
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cups romaine lettuce - chopped
salt & pepper - to taste
2 tsp shallots (chopped)
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes - cut in quarters
1/2 cup Kalamata olives (pitted)
2 to 3 whole wheat pitas - cut into thirds

Combine lemon juice, shallots, and a pinch each of salt and pepper in a blender. Process until evenly blended. Stir in olive oil and oregano. Taste the dressing and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice as needed. Mix lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, artichoke hearts and cheese to a bowl. Toss to coat ingredients with dressing. Stuff pitas with salad and serve.

Servings: 4-6

More new Mexican recipes!

Bagel Scramble Sandwiches
Baked Potato Soup with Chive Cream
Pear Crepes with Cinnamon Crema Drizzle
Pumpkin Pasta with Pepitas
Quiche with a Kick

New recipes added

A few new recipes have been added to Annie's Recipes. Stop by and have a look, and be sure to enter our giveaway as well, we're giving away this great cookbook holder!

6 New Recipes
Apple Pizza Pie
Campbell's Best-Ever Meat Loaf
Minestrone Supper
Potato Rolls
Smokin' Tuna Chili
Vegetable Chili

Recent Articles
Mexican Cookware
Appetizer Tips
Soup Tips

Giveaway: Win an Acrylic Cookbook Holder!

 
This month, enter to win this Acrylic Cookbook Holder!

Make mealtime prep easier -- and help protect your favorite cookbooks from splatters -- with our acrylic cookbook stand. Made of durable clear acrylic plastic, the Essentials Acrylic Cookbook stand holds virtually any size cookbook at an easy-to-read angle.

• 12" wide, 9" tall, 2" deep (book holder)
• Support base is 4" deep
• Durable clear acrylic plastic
• Hand wash

Rules: Must be a legal U.S. resident, 18 years or older. You may enter once per day. Entries will be accepted through midnight, CST on April 15, 2010. Winner will be drawn at random and notified via email.  They will have 7 days to respond or an alternate winner will be drawn.

Click here to enter daily!

Mexican Cookware & New Recipes Added

This week we've added several new recipes for you to try. We love to hear how they've turned out, so please be sure to let us know. And if you have a photo, remember, you can upload those to our site!

Do you enjoy Mexican food? I know I do. Have you ever noticed how you can't quite duplicate that authentic taste that you get from a good Mexican restaurant? Well, the trick is in the tools, my friends! This week, Mommies Magazine shares with us some essential tools and cooking equipment used to make real Mexican food.  To read the article and find out what you need to get those great flavors, visit Mexican Cookware: Equipment Used in Mexican Cooking on Annie's.

Here are some new recipes for you to try!

Apple Filling Cake
Broccoli & Rice Casserole
Cream Cheese Brownies
Double Peanut Butter Cake
Peach and Brown Sugar Muffins
Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins
Southwest Georgia Pound Cake
Zucchini Cranberry Muffins

See you next week! Meanwhile, stop by our site and search or browse for your next meal.

February is National Snack Food Month

National Snack Food Month was started in 1989 by the Snack Food Association and the National Potato Promotion Board. It was a way to generate more snack food sales during a time that snack consumption was low.

Now I'm not trying to undermine their efforts, but things have changed a lot since 1989. People tend to be more health conscious these days and while they may not buy as many bags of greasy potato chips as they used to, they still buy snacks. The industry of course has responded to this by lowering their fat and saturated fat levels and provided better choices in the snack arena.

So to be fair to the Snack Food Association, I'm going to offer up some dips and spreads that you can enjoy with their chips. ;)

Try some of these great recipes:

Bean Dip
[printable version available here]

1-16 oz can refried beans
1 cup picante sauce
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
1-3 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in bowl. Transfer to crockpot. Cover and cook on High for 2-3 hours or until heated through, stirring once or twice. Serve with tortilla chips and salsa.


Nacho Cheese Dip
Taco Dip
Taffy Apple Dip
Tomatillo Salsa


Tuna and Curry Dip
[printable version available here]

1 (7 ounce) can tuna in water, drained
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, chopped
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Combine all ingredients and mix well. It is best if chilled.
Makes 2 cups.

See our dips here and our salsas here

We've added some new recipes too! Be sure to check those out here.