The Midlife Woman » side dish

Wordless Wednesday – Fresh Stromboli

Kathleen — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:38:18 +0000

Kathleen

Hey, there I'm Kathleen. My friends call me Kathy; to my kids I'm Momia. Life has afforded me many hats: Mom, wife, sister, friend, business owner... and most recently a midlife blogger. From college to marriage and babies, in the midst of business and wealthy boomers, midlife retrospection validates this extraordinary journey called life.

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New Panko, New Cookbook – Progresso & Chef Chiarello Giveaway

Kathleen — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:11:35 +0000

Born of an Italian mother, cooking was a huge part of growing up. The fall season marked the start of home made pasta, soups, and the greatly anticipated holiday feasts. The aroma of fresh bread on a cold Saturday morning or the visions of fresh pasta strung across wooden spoons are tender childhood memories. Mom inspired a passion and zeal for home cooked meals.

My Blog Spark sent this offer, “If you’d like to participate in this Spark, we will provide you with a gift pack including one package of Progresso Lemon Pepper Panko and an autographed copy of chef Chiarello’s new cookbook: Michael Chiarello’s Bottega. We will also provide you with an additional gift pack to give away to one of your readers.” Given my history in addition to being a fan of Progresso, Panko breadcrumbs, and Italian food prompted a jubilant yes, yes, and oh my gosh AUTOGRAPHED too, oh YES!

Progresso is one of my favorite brands. Moreover, after discovering Panko breadcrumbs preparing my crunchy oven fried chicken became easier than ever. Substitute fish for chicken, use the new Lemon Pepper Panko crumbs for creating a reduced fat fish fry, yum! The Progresso website has an entire section of recipes, tips for cooking with Panko breadcrumbs, and videos from Chef Chiarello.

Crispy Seafood Salad, Mama Chiarello’s Stuffed Eggplant and Turkey Scallopini and Squash Ravioli with Cranberry Brown Butter are just a few Michael Chiarello’s recipes that use Progresso’s Panko to make flavorful family meals.

Be sure to check out the Progresso’s Wine and Dine with Chef Michael Chiarello Sweepstakes. Now through December 31, enter to win a trip to Napa Valley to attend the Spring Bud Break Party, an annual dinner and wine tasting event taking place on May 7, 2011. The grand prize includes two tickets to the party, roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations. Visit www.progressobroth.com for the sweepstakes rules and entry form.

Most of you know Bottega is Chef Chiarello’s Napa Valley restaurant. In September, his cookbook Bottega: Bold Italian Flavors from the Heart of California’s Wine Country was released. The Michael Chiarello’s famous restaurant dishes, written to prepare at home, are the basis of this Italian cookbook. The book is hard bound, with gorgeous photographs of the restaurant and the food, heavy weight glossy paper, and chef’s notes. Each page is embellished with one vertical graphic side border, an elegant effect to say the least. What is more, as promised the authentic autograph is on the title page woo hoo!

The introduction is beautifully written, an inspiration as well as purposeful advice and insight on Chef Michael’s cooking philosophy. Throughout the book, Chef Michael tells a story linking to the photos or recipes. Much of what he tells includes family and friends. There is an entire section dedicated to ingredients entitled The Pantry. Here the ingredients are described, tips on storage, and personal preferences explained. From snacks to antipastos, pastas, meats, fish, side dishes and desserts everything needed to create a full course Italian family feast is included this cookbook. I can not wait to try the Pesto Arancini (risotto balls) stuffed with fresh mozzarella and the Ricotta Gnocchi recipe!

You can purchase a copy of Bottega: Bold Italian Flavors from the Heart of California’s Wine Country or enter for a chance to win a copy.

Main and mandatory entry – Visit Progresso’s Panko Pantry Tips or Signature recipes. Leave a comment telling us what recipe or tip you liked/learned/will try.

1 Extra Entry – Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway, include @WomanMomFriend and #myblogspark in your tweet. Comment with tweet link. One tweet per day.

1 Extra Entry – Follow me on BlogFrog. Comment with your user name.

One winner will be chosen via Random.org Tuesday Nov 16 10:00pm EST. Good luck!

Finally, a note for the FTC, as a MyBlogSpark member General Mills provided me with this awesome prize package that included my favorite Progresso Panko breadcrumbs and an awesome cookbook, which I just adore. I really enjoyed offering this giveaway and blogging about it, OK?

Congrats to Tina!

Kathleen

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Old El Paso Family Taco Night Giveaway

Kathleen — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:28:51 +0000

If your family loves Mexican food as much as mine does, try a monthly family taco night. Our family knows these as Family Fiesta Night. Producing a variety of seasonings and other complementary products, Old El Paso offers everything needed for fun nights with the family.

Our Family Fiesta night food includes anything from tacos to a burrito bake casserole and even a Mexican Lasagna like this one. Often times I use a taco seasoning mix package in recipes calling for of chili powder. They add an extra zing to the dish.

Old El Paso^® offers taco seasoning mix in a variety of flavors such as Burrito, Cheesy Taco, Chili, Fajita, Taco, Mild Taco and even a seasoning with 40% less sodium. These make for a variety of fun and tasty Family Night Fiestas!

The Old El Paso line of products includes chilies, dinner kits, dips and sides, enchilada sauce, refried beans, seasoning mixes, shells, taco sauce, and salsa making a family taco night easily and quickly achievable.

For a fun twist, try a taco night serving one of the delicious recipes below.

Easy Fish Tacos – Old El Paso® taco shells, seasoning mix and taco sauce and battered fish fillets make quick work out of Mexican fare.

Tarantula Tacos – Having a Halloween party? Gather the kids and make spook-tacular tacos.

Have some fun with El Tacodor™, the world’s only family taco night game. With El Tacodor, your family can share a special night at home by challenging one another to quick fire trivia, wordplay, and pantomime. An example of word play, Say Cheese, challenges a player to pronounce the name of everyone at the table, BACKWARDS! Visit www.ElTacodor.com today to download instructions, a score card, and a challenge sheet for a complete fun Family Taco Night! You can even share family fiesta photos and videos from Family Taco Nights on the El Tacodor Family Spotlight!

To top off a perfect family taco night, Old El Paso in conjunction with My Blog Spark provided me with two “family taco night” prize packages. I received a packet of Old El Paso Taco seasoning, a Cactus Chip & Dip Serving dish, a set of three Fiesta Chili Pepper serving dishes, and a $10 gift card to purchase taco fixings. One lucky reader will receive the same prize package! Muchos Gracias to Old El Paso and My Blog Spark!

To Enter – Visit Old El Paso Recipes and tell us in a comment which recipe would make for a fun family taco night! This is mandatory for all other entries to be counted.

For additional entries – Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway include #myblogspark in your tweet. Leave the link from your tweet in a separate comment. This can be done once daily.

One winner will be chosen via Random.org on October 24th 10pm EST. Good Luck!

Congratulations Janet!

Kathleen

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