Ore Ida Totchos Recipe and Review-Influenster Jingle VoxBox

Last month I received the Jingle VoxBox from Influenster. It featured a lot of nice products in it and one of them was a coupon to pick up some Ore Ida tater tots. And they challenged up to come up with our own version of totchos (tater tot nachos). You can check out the Ore Ida Totchos Hub for more recipe ideas. I decided to go with a Greek theme for my version of totchos-tater tots, chicken, feta, cucumber, tomato and tzatziki. Here's the recipe so you can enjoy them too.

1 1/2lbs. chicken breast - seasoned with greek seasoning and sautéed and chopped
tomatoes - chopped
cucumber - chopped
tzatziki sauce
feta cheese crumbles

Cook the tater tots and top with chopped chicken, tzatziki sauce, cucumber, tomato and feta cheese.

I thought the tater tots were nice and crispy when I deep fried them. They have a nice texture to them and I like how versatile they are.

*Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary to test from Influenster. The above thoughts are my own honest ones.*

Cooking with Blue Diamond: Blueberry and Salted Caramel Almonds (sponsored)

 

Earlier this month I got the opportunity to participate in another project with Blue Diamonds Tastemakers. I was sent two kinds of almonds for testing and review purposes-Blueberry and Salted Caramel. We decided to use them in our favorite granola recipe. They worked well in the granola and add a nice flavor and crunch to it. Here's the original recipe from Alton Brown with the changes we made on this batch noted.

Granola
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almond (we used 1 cup of chopped blueberry almonds)
1 cup cashews (we used 1 cup of chopped salted caramel almonds)
3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins (we didn't use any)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

We made parfaits with the granola, blueberries, nectarines, and vanilla yogurt. They were pretty tasty.

Cooking with Blue Diamond -New Honey Roasted Flavors (Sponsored)

*We received 2 free cans of Blue Diamond Almonds because I am a Blue Diamond Taste Maker. The following thoughts and opinions are my own honest ones.*

 Recently we had the opportunity to sample some more Blue Diamond almonds from their honey roasted line-honey roasted vanilla almonds and honey roasted chipotle almonds.  I was most excited to try the honey roasted vanilla ones because I don't generally care for spicy flavored nuts. That being said all 4 of us enjoyed both the honey roasted vanilla flavor and the  roasted chipotle flavor. They aren't nearly as spicy as I thought they would be. I think adding honey to these flavors really gives them a great overall flavor. They are definitely quite tasty on there own for snacking.

Next we decided to get creative with them and try them in some recipes. For the honey roasted chipotle flavor we decided to use them as part of a coating for chicken tenders. So we took panko breadcrumbs, flour, salt and almonds and then coated chicken tenders with it. It was pretty good but it would have worked out better if we used an egg wash. I also think it needed a bit more salt. One other thing we would have done different ones used half seasoned bread crumbs and half plain breadcrumbs.

For the honey roasted vanilla flavor we decided to make a peach crisp and add the nuts in with the crisp part. I think the nuts added a nice crunch to the topping. The peach turned out pretty tasty. Here's the recipe that we used.

Mom's Peach Crisp from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
4 cups slice fresh peaches
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of cold butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats

Edited:
2 tablespoons of bourbon
1/4 cup of almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Arrange peaches evenly in an 8x8-inch baking dish.
3. Mix flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl using a pastry cutter until evenly crumbled. Fold oats into flour mixture; sprinkle and press topping into peaches.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until topping is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.  

 Hope everyone had a great summer. There will be more great sponsored content and regular content soon. :)
 

Plum Kuchen

I decided to try out a recipe from Cooking Light the other day. I have quite a sweet tooth so any time I see a dessert recipe that while satisfy my sweet tooth but doesn't have as many calories in it-I am willing to give it a try. I think that it turned out pretty taste and looks good too!

Here's a link to the recipe incase your interested in trying it out. I think it would make a great cake for a special occassion. Plum Kuchen recipe from Cooking Light.

Black Raspberry Swirled Muffins

I was going to try out another recipe from my muffin book but then I stumbled onto a recipe for Jam Swirled Muffins. I found it on a lovely blog called Technicolor Kitchen-here's the recipe. They are very tasty and I can't wait to try it again with other types of jam. The recipe calls for lemon juice if you need to thin the jam but I used some apple cider. Next time I will go back to my muffin book unless of course I stumble upon another recipe on the net.

Scallion and Goat Cheese Muffins!

Today I decided to try out another one of the recipes in my muffin book. I decided to try out the Scallion and Goat Cheese Muffins. They aren't bad but I think they need some herbs. I am thinking perhaps some of Penzey's sandwich sprinkle. Or you could use the goat cheese that already has herbs on it. I think I may try a sweet muffin recipe next. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it. *Note: Muffins pictured only have 4 oz of goat cheese in them and a little less scallions than the recipe called for. *

Scallion and Goat Cheese Muffins
adapted from: 1 Mix, 100 Muffins by: Susanna Tee
Makes about a dozen

Ingredients:
oil or melted butter, for greasing (if using on muffin pan)
2 cups of flour
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1/8 of salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper (didn't use)
1 bunch of scallions, finely chopped
5 1/2 oz of goat cheese, finely diced or crumbled
2 large eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
6 tbsp. of oil or melted, cooled butter

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (200 degrees Celsius) Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with a dozen paper liners. Sift together the baking powder, flour, salt, and pepper to taste into a large bowl. Stir in the goat cheese and scallions.

Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl or pitcher, then beat in the oil and buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined, be careful not to over mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake in a preheated oven for about twenty minutes, until well risen, golden brown, and firm to the touch.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for approximately 5 minutes. Then serve them warm.

Cheese Fritters!

I decided to try out a recipe from my "Tapas" book the other day. I have wanted to try some of these recipes for a while now and finally got around to trying one out. These are pretty good but for some reason the fritter mixture was a bit to sticky. Also, the gorgonzola cheese didn't taste that strong for some reason, next time I think I will use more or perhaps try a hard cheese instead. Or perhaps some ham would be good too. The recipe makes a lot more than I thought. I ate a few earlier today that I heated up in the oven and they still tasted good. :)

Cheese Fritters
adapted from "Tapas" by Tomas Garcia

yields approximately 25

2 1/2 pounds of russet potatoes
1/2 stick of butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup of blue cheese or hard cheese (used gorgonzola)
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp parsley
1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
1 tsp mustard powder
3-4 Tbsp flour
2 large eggs, beaten
6 Tbsp seasoned panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups oil for deep frying

Boil the potatoes, then drain and mash with the butter. Mix in the eggs and cheese. Season with salt and pepper, adding the parsley, grated nutmeg, and mustard powder. This should be a firm but not overly smooth mixture. Let it cool.

Take about a tablespo0n of the mixture and form into fritters. Roll the fritters in the flour then coat in the beaten egg and lastly roll in the bread crumbs.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-duty saucepan until the temperature reaches 350 degrees F. Fry in small batches for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels, and serve immediately.