First Prize – Winner will receive a $550.00 Visa Gift Card!

Second Prize – Winner will receive a Hamilton Digital Slow cooker (valued at $50.00).

You have lots of chances to win… 60 to be exact! Just enter using the rafflecopter below.

Good Luck & Happy Holidays!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Details: The contest will run from December 16, 2013 12:00 am EST through December 22, 2013 11:59 pm EST. Open to U.S. and Canada residents only. Winners will be selected on Monday, December 23, 2013 and have 48 hours to respond to the notification. If there is no response, another winner will be selected.

This giveaway is brought to you by the following blogs. I hope you’ll check them all out for great recipes & more! Scroll down for links to each blog.

Eat Good For Life
Lauren Kelly Nutrition
My Whole Food Life
Divalicious Dishes
Knead to Cook
The Fountain Avenue Kitchen
Sugar Dish Me
What Jew Wanna Eat
The Realistic Nutritionist
The Lemon Bowl
What a Girl Eats
Ally’s Kitchen
Running to the Kitchen
The Midnight Baker
Wishes and Dishes
Moore or Less Cooking Food Blog
Prevention R.D.

This Giveaway is over and the lucky winner is entry #8.

Congratulations to MARY RIOS!

What do I win?

This gorgeous Kay Dee Designs Domestic Diva Embroidered Apron. “Domestic Diva” is embroidered on the front of this black with hot pink apron. Hot pink bow with rhinestones. It also has front pockets.

Made of 100% cotton, this apron is washable.

This would make a great gift or it’s perfect to wear while cooking your holiday dinners!

How do I win?

1 – Click HERE to like my picture on FB.

2 – Then leave a comment on this post letting me know you did.

That’s it – super simple! Now if everything could just be that easy!

Giveaway ends Sunday, November 10th at 9:00 pm Central time.

Winner chosen via Random.org and announced on Monday, November 11th at noon Central time… and this apron will be shipped out immediately and arrive before Thanksgiving!

Good luck & thanks for being a fan of Saucy Girls Kitchen!  

Sausage & Bean Soup topped with a Poached Egg

This is my second entry into the Pacific Foods contest. My first entry was Wild Mushroom Soup with Cilantro Dumplings using their Vegetable Pho Soup Starter. This time I’m using Pacific Foods Tortilla Soup Starter.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Italian Chicken Sausages, removed from casing
2 cloves Garlic, diced
1 Jalapeno, remove seeds and dice
1 small Onion, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
2 Celery Stalks, chopped
1 – 32 oz. Pacific Foods Tortilla Soup Starter
1 1/2 cups Corn
1 – 16 oz. can of Cannellini Beans
1 – 16 oz. can of Kidney Beans
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper, fresh ground
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped

Optional:
Serve with a poached egg on top, or a dollop of sour cream.

METHOD
In a large heavy saucepan add the olive oil.
Over medium heat add in the sausage.
Break up the sausage as it cooks with a wooden spoon, or a handheld potato masher (I used the masher).
When the sausage is broken up, and partially cooked, add in the garlic, jalapeno, onion, bell pepper, and celery.
Continue to cook over medium heat until the sausage is fully cooked and the veggies are beginning to soften, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the Pacific Foods Tortilla Soup Starter, corn, cannellini beans, kidney beans, cinnamon, salt, pepper and cilantro.
Simmer soup for 20 minutes, covered.
Taste and adjust salt and pepper, if needed.
Enjoy!

I was elated to hear that I had made it into the final round of the Saucy Mama Sliced Recipe Contest! It’s been fun experimenting with mustard in cooking. What I’ve discovered, even though I’ve always loved mustard on hot dogs, is that there’s a whole food world just waiting to be mustardized. Not sure if that’s a word, as my spell check has it underlined in red, but it should be!

Throughout this contest I’ve thought about the dessert round, hoping I’d make it and wondering what in the world I’d prepare? Dessert and Mustard are two words that I’ve never heard together before. Happily, I made it to the finale and here we are. My goal for the dessert was not to mask the flavor of the mustard, but for the mustard to be essential. The dish I’m sharing with you not only contains mustard in the cake and the caramel sauce, it’s better because of it!

And let’s not forget about the last minute secret ingredient – booze! I loved seeing that as the secret ingredient. It was certainly a challenge to create a dessert starting with mustard and booze, but with lots of taste testing and playing with flavor profiles, I love the final result. It’s a delicious and unique taste that keeps me coming back for more. I chose Saucy Mama Hatch Chili Mustard because it seemed to have the best dessert potential, and bourbon because its rich rounded flavor seemed complimentary to the mustard.

In my first attempt at the cake, I used fresh grilled pineapple and it was really good. But I hadn’t blended up the pineapple, and I hadn’t added any mustard into the cake. That’s when I thought about Mango!! I love the flavor of mango and thought it would compliment the flavor of the mustard. I also liked the sound of “mango mustard,” and “custard” sounded perfect with it – plus it rhymed! So this time I blended the fruit and added the Saucy Mama Hatch Chili Mustard and the flavor just took off. It brought out the sweetness in the mango and the cake has a custard/cheesecake texture that I love. I was way beyond satisfied with the cake, now it needed a sauce.

I decided to make a caramel sauce. It came together easily and I tasted it before I added in the mustard. It was good. It was a nice caramel sauce. But when I added the mustard it was like WOW – a whole new flavor profile had been created. It was incredible, but I felt it could be better. That’s when I decided that the flavor of brown butter would really make it all come together. I set about making another caramel sauce, this time using butter that I had browned. All I can say is, Oh My!! Seriously, what a transformation. I could not keep out of it. Every other second I was back at the stove, going for yet another taste of this deliciousness.

Ok, we’ve got the cake. We’ve got the sauce. Now we need whipped cream. Dessert isn’t complete unless there’s whipped cream! Yep, that’s my philosophy. But not just any whipped cream – Bourbon Whipped Cream!

So, after much experimentation I’ve created a dessert that I think is spectacular. It’s creamy, kind of a cross between pumpkin pie and cheesecake, yet it has the texture of the phyllo dough. I love it! My husband (my taste-tester) really loved it, too. He had a piece before dinner, and then another piece after dinner. That’s a good sign!

Even though this dessert has 3 components, it comes together easily. So, I hope you’ll give this recipe a try for something truly unique and delicious!!

Mango Mustard Custard Phyllo Cake
topped with Brown Butter Caramel Bourbon Sauce
& Bourbon Whipped Cream

INGREDIENTS
2 Mangos, peeled
3 Tbsp Saucy Mama Chili Hatch Mustard
4 Eggs
2 cups Cream (or milk of your choice)
¼ cup Sugar
½ lb. Phyllo Dough (note: this is only half the box)
4 Tbsp Butter, melted

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Process peeled and seeded mango in the food processor for a minute, or until it’s smooth.
Add in 3 tablespoons of Saucy Mama Chili Hatch Mustard and pulse for a second or two to incorporate it into the mango.
Set aside.
In a medium bowl beat the eggs until frothy.
Whisk in the cream and sugar.
Add in the mango and mustard.
Set aside.
Butter a 10-inch round cake pan.
Open your phyllo and dab a little butter onto the first sheet of phyllo with a brush.
Scrunch the phyllo like an accordion and place it in the center of the pan, circling around.
What you want to create is one large spiral of phyllo.
Continue doing that with each phyllo sheet until they’ve all been used, it should fill out the pan perfectly.
Now pour the mango mixture over the phyllo, allowing it to seep in between the phyllo sheets.
Place in the oven and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes, or until custard is set and lightly golden.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Serve with Brown Butter Bourbon Caramel Sauce and Bourbon Whipped Cream (recipes follow).

Mango Mustard Custard Phyllo Cake fresh out of the oven. Love that mango/mustard color!!

Brown Butter Caramel Bourbon Sauce

INGREDIENTS
1 stick Butter, browned
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1 Tbsp Saucy Mama’s Hatch Chili Mustard
1  Tbsp Bourbon

METHOD
Place the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Allow butter to melt and brown, while stirring with a small whisk.
Once the butter is light brown in color, add in the sugar, whisking as it melts into the butter.
Once sugar has completely dissolved, turn off heat and whisk in the heavy cream (it will bubble up a lot when you add it in, so be careful).
Add Saucy Mama Mustard, and bourbon.
Enjoy warm, spooned over Mango Mustard Custard Phyllo Cake.

Bourbon Whipped Cream

INGREDIENTS
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
3 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Bourbon

METHOD
In the bowl of your electric mixer whip the whipping cream and sugar until light and fluffy.
Gently add in the Bourbon, a little at a time, keeping the whipped cream fluffy.
Add a dollop to the top of this dessert.
Enjoy!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Thank you to Saucy Mama and Barhyte Specialty Foods!

This has been such a fun experience participating in the Saucy Mama Sliced Recipe Contest. If you haven’t tried Saucy Mama’s Mustards, I hope you’ll give them a try. They’re delicious and check out all the varieties you can order here.

How would you like to win 3 Saucy Mama Mustards? Well, there’s still time!

The Giveaway ends on Wednesday, July 10th at 5:00 pm central time. Even though it’s “Pin It To Win It”, you can enter the Giveaway even if you don’t have Pinterest by sharing this link via Facebook or Twitter and be sure to let me know you did by leaving me a comment. Click here for details and to leave a comment on the original Giveaway post.

Yay!! I’m happy to say that Saucy Girl’s Kitchen made it into Round 2 of the Saucy Mama Mustard Sliced Recipe Contest with my Potato Bacon Wontons with Saucy Mama Mustard Dipping Sauce. Now onto the entree round!

The secret ingredient to be used in the entree round is Beans. My mind immediately went to one of my favorite dishes ~ Spinach & Cannellini Beans with garlic and shallots. At least that was how I always made it before this contest. Now I will never make it again without including mustard, Saucy Mama Mustard, to be exact! Once I added a couple tablespoons of Saucy Mama Dill Mustard the flavors were incredible. It’s as if the mustard totally took the dish to another level. Now I was faced with the dilemma of what to serve with it?

My first instinct was a piece of fish. I bought some Tilapia, crusted it, fried it in a little olive oil and served it atop the spinach & cannellini beans. It was beyond delicious. My daughter suggested lamb chops, so that was my next step. I think the lamb chops were incredible and I am using them as my submission in round 2 of the Saucy Mama Sliced Recipe Contest. The mustard pretzel crust would be a great application for salmon, chicken or pork, as well. I can’t wait to try it as a nice crust for crab cakes!!  My favorite was the fish, so I’m picturing it here, too (see below). However, my husband and daughter both ruled in favor of the lamb chops, so I’m going with the majority for the sake of the contest and hoping to make it into the dessert round. I’m already thinking of ideas using mustard in dessert… just have no clue as to what the secret ingredient will be in that final round?

Thanks for following along with me on my journey through the contest. I hope you’ve entered the Giveaway. If not, please click here to check it out!

Saucy Mama Dill Mustard & Pretzel Crusted Lamb Chops
with Spinach & Cannellini Beans

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
4 Lamb Chops
4 Tbsp Saucy Mama Dill Mustard

For Crust:
1 cup Pretzels
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp Saucy Mama Dill Mustard
Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste

For Beans & Spinach:
2 strips of Bacon, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, slivered
1 Shallot, sliced thin
1 Tbsp Water
2 to 3 Tbsp of Saucy Mama Dill Mustard
a few sprigs of fresh Dill, chopped (and some for garnish, if desired)
1 can Cannellini Beans, drained
5 oz. fresh Spinach, washed, long stems removed
Salt and Ground Black Pepper, to taste

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place pretzels, parmesan cheese and mustard in the food processor.
Pulse until pretzels are reduced to crumbs.
Place crumbs on a plate.
Slather mustard on each lamb chop and dip into the pretzel crumbs, being sure to coat the entire chop.
Place on a lightly greased baking dish.
I also gave them a quick spray of olive oil on top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
While the chops are baking you can prepare the spinach/bean mixture.
In a heavy saucepan saute the bacon, over medium heat.
When bacon is cooked through add in the garlic and shallot.
Continue to cook for a few minutes on medium-low heat, until shallot is tender.
Add the water and Saucy Mama Dill Mustard, mixing to combine.
Gently stir in the Cannellini beans and heat through.
Add the spinach and cook just until the spinach wilts.

To Plate:
Divide the spinach and cannellini bean mixture onto 2 plates.
Top each plate with 2 lamb chops.
Garnish with fresh dill, if desired.
Enjoy!

Don’t forget to enter the Giveaway for your chance to win these delicious Saucy Mama Mustards, pictured below!!

I’m happy to say that I was one of the 25 bloggers chosen to compete in the Saucy Mama’s Sliced Recipe Contest! I love the way that they have structured the contest. It’s kind of like the show “Chopped” where each round has a secret ingredient. The first round of the competition is the Appetizer… and the secret ingredient is Bacon.

When I received my Saucy Mama Mustards; Saucy Mama Dill Mustard, Saucy Mama Hatch Chili Mustard, and Saucy Mama Creamy Garlic Mustard, I immediately opened each one and tasted them. Oh my, they’re all so delicious! I couldn’t wait to get started.

I decided to use the Creamy Garlic Mustard for the appetizer round. After experimenting around with several different appetizers, my family unanimously voted on the Potato Bacon Wontons. So, here’s my Round One appetizer recipe using Saucy Mama’s Creamy Garlic Mustard.

Potato Bacon Wontons with Saucy Mama Mustard Dipping Sauce

INGREDIENTS
5 strips of Bacon
1 large Potato
2 Tbsp Sour Cream
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Wonton Wrappers
Vegetable Oil, for frying
Saucy Mama Creamy Garlic Mustard Dipping Sauce (recipe below)

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the bacon on a foil lined baking sheet.
Bake in the oven until the bacon is fully cooked.
Remove bacon from oven, and drain on paper towels.
Dice the bacon into small pieces and set aside.
Peel and diced the potato.
In a small pot, add the potato and cover with water.
Boil until potato is fork tender.
Drain water.
Add sour cream and butter into the potato pot.
Mash together until well blended and the consistency is smooth.
Add in the diced bacon.
Taste and season with salt and pepper, as desired.
In a medium saucepan add about 3 inches of vegetable oil, and turn onto medium heat.
While the oil is heating up, you can make your wontons.
Place wonton on a clean work surface, with a corner pointing toward you.
Place 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of the potato mixture in the center of wonton.
With a small brush put a little water all around the edges of the wonton (or you can use your finger).
Put the two opposite points together, and seal the wonton all around, creating a triangle shape.
Continue with as many wontons as you want to make at this time.
Gently drop the wontons into the hot oil, 2 at a time.
They cook very fast, less than a minute!
As soon as the wonton is light golden in color, remove from oil and place on paper towels to drain.
Continue until all the wontons are cooked.
Serve with Saucy Mama Creamy Garlic Mustard Dipping Sauce (recipe below).

Saucy Mama Creamy Garlic Mustard Dipping Sauce

INGREDIENTS
2 ½ Tbsp Saucy Mama Creamy Garlic Mustard
2 Tbsp Water
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Apricot Jam

METHOD
Mix all the ingredients together using a small whisk or fork.
Serve with the warm Potato Bacon Wontons.
Enjoy!!

Notes: This is a great way to use your leftover mashed potatoes. If you don’t eat bacon you can just leave it out.  I think a little cheddar cheese in these wontons would also be fantastic! Don’t have apricot jam… substitute strawberry.

Giveaway – “PIN IT TO WIN IT” it’s over!

Barhyte Specialty Foods has generously offered one reader the chance to win the 3 Saucy Mama Mustards that are being featured in the contest – Dill, Creamy Garlic and Hatch Chili Mustard! It’s super easy to win… just pin the top picture of this blog post on your Pinterest page. Leave me a comment below to let me know that you’ve pinned it and you will be entered. Don’t use Pinterest or want additional chances to win? Just share this post on Facebook or Twitter. Please be sure to let me know in additional comments below. Contest ends at 5:00 pm Central Time on July 10th. I will notify the lucky winner on July 10th, 2013 via email.

Special Offer
If you can’t wait to win – Saucy Mama is also generously offering 25% off all their mustards through the Saucy Mama’s Online Store. Just use code HEL25 at checkout. Shipping is free for orders over $50.00.

Congratulations to the WINNER… Meghan of MeghansMindlessMuttering.Blogspot.com

You’re gonna love Saucy Mama Mustards – they’re delicious!!

I love getting good surprises… who doesn’t! On this particular day, my surprise came in the form of an unexpected package. Upon opening it, I was happily surprised to see 5 packages of Just Great Bread. I was excited to bake a loaf andI wasted no time, chosing the Multi-Grain Bread Mix… even though I was tempted by each and every bread choice.

I followed the super easy directions. All you’re doing is adding water, mixing, allowing it to rise, putting it in the loaf pan, allowing it to rise again, bake, cool, eat. In about 2 hours, with minimal effort, the bread was ready! The house smelled amazing and the bread baked perfectly. Seriously, it was incredible. It is a sturdy type of bread and I was able to slice it with precision. It’s the type of bread you want to eat on it’s own, just to explore the flavors and texture. But, as you will see by the picture below, I couldn’t resist slathering some butter on the fresh hot slice of bread.

The bread mixes are made with whole grains, and they’re organic… which I love! Imported from Germany, and they’re Kosher, too.

They have 5 different varieties of bread mixes:

• Multi-Grain Bread Mix
• Power Bread Mix
• Mountain Bread Mix
• Wellness Bread Mix
• Farmers Bread Mix

I can’t wait to try them all.  And one lucky winner will have a chance to try them all, as well!

Just enter the Giveaway. It’s easy!! (This Giveaway has ended)

• Like Saucy Girl’s Kitchen on Facebook
• Like Just Great Bread on Facebook
• Share the link to this post on your Facebook page
• Leave a comment here to let me know you’ve done all 3 of the above things

That’s it.  
One entry per person.
Contest ends April 1, 2013 at noon.
Winner will be chosen via Random.org.

A big thank you to Just Great Bread for sponsoring this Giveaway!

AND THE WINNER IS…. #18 – Tricia Sears Eubanks!! Congratulations, Tricia!