GarLic it! Winners

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway! I really, really appreciate you all!! I hope you had fun and will be back for the next giveaway!! :) Since yesterday was my hubby's Birthday (yay!) I let him pick the winners via Random.org and these were the three winning comments:

Congratulations to all the winners!!

Please send me your mailing information and I will contact GarLic it! so they can get your prize to you! You guys are seriously going to love it! You can either contact me on Facebook or you can send an email to diddlesanddumplings@hotmail.com

Chocolate & Orange Shortbread

It has been such a fun week so far! Well, other than some horrible things that have happened to me over the past few days. In the last two days, I have not only chipped my tooth, cut my hand on a broken glass, stepped on a toothpick (injuring my foot), but I also discovered that a lively bunch of bees had built a little nest right in my chimney. It has definitely been an eventful and painful couple of days and I hope the rest of the week is a little less exciting. 

While the pain and injuries have been plentiful this week, I am happy to say that the number of new fans for Diddles & Dumplings have been as well! I am so thankful for each and every one of you who take the time to follow along and give me feedback and inspiration to create fun new dishes that we can all enjoy! 

This week, one of my good new friends, whom I met after our daughters had befriended each other at school, had a birthday! I've had such a good time getting to know her this year and we have had so much fun together (we both volunteer in our daughters' class on the same day) and thankfully I was also fortunate to have a conversation with her about one of her favorite treats: shortbread. Aha! I had the perfect starting point of what to make her to celebrate her big day! After searching around the pantry, raiding the fridge and thoroughly examining the spice rack, the end result was no ordinary shortbread, but a delicious chocolate & orange shortbread that would rival all other shortbread recipes. Of course, while this may have been a recipe created specifically for my dear friend, it was also too delicious to not share with you all. 

Chocolate & Orange Shortbread Recipe:   |Print Recipe|

Shortbread:

1 cup salted butter (2 sticks)

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Orange glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 large orange (juiced)

1-2 teaspoon(s) orange zest

Chocolate drizzle:

1/4 cup chocolate chips (melted)

Garnish:

1 teaspoon orange zest

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and gradually stir in flour. 

Once mixture is combined, place dough on a floured surface and roll out to 1/4" thickness. Use a 1-1/2" or 2" round cookie cutter to cut as many circles as you can. I used a 1-1/2" cutter and I got 26 circles out of the dough.

Place dough circles on an ungreased cookie sheet and put in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until cookies begin to lightly brown on the edges.

While cookies are baking, combine confectioners sugar, orange juice and orange zest in a small bowl. Set aside.

Remove cookies from oven and place on a rack to cool. Once cookies are completely cool, use a spoon to drizzle the orange glaze over the cookies. Once the orange glaze is dry, drizzle melted chocolate over the top and sprinkle with a tiny pinch of orange zest. 

Once the cookies harden, they are ready to be devoured! If you are giving them as a gift, try not to eat them all before you get them packaged. 

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GarLic it! GIVEAWAY!

Remember the post I did the other day in which I went on and on about an especially tasty product known as GarLic it? Here's the recipe to refresh your memory! Well, the generous folks over at GarLic it! have agreed to give away not one, not two, but THREE jars of their delicious product to 3 of my lucky followers!!

Believe me, you are going to want to win this one! This stuff is delicious, and when I say delicious, I mean D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! It's great to use in recipes, as a condiment, or just straight out of the jar! It's a very high-quality product and your taste buds will notice!

How To Enter The Giveaway:

There will be 3 winners, each receiving 1 jar of GarLic it! Caramelized Garlic Finish!

There are 3 ways to enter the giveaway and you can earn up to 3 entries if you do all 3! 

Leave a separate comment on this post for each of the following you complete:

(To earn 1 Entry) Comment below and answer this question:
"What would you do with your GarLic it!?"

(To earn 1 Entry) Follow me on Facebook (or if you already do, just comment below and tell me!)- Diddles & Dumplings and leave a comment below saying you did!

(To earn 1 Entry) Follow GarLic it! On Facebook - GarLic it! and leave a comment below saying you did!

The contest is open to U.S. residents and there will be 3 winners, each winner will receive one jar of GarLic it! Caramelized Garlic Finish!

The contest is open until April 27th at noon and Winners will be announced that evening!

Pork Chops with Caramelized Garlic Wine Sauce

Last month I, Devi, was the lucky winner of a giveaway over at The Hungry Housewives. The giveaway was for a jar of this stuff called GarLic it! I had never heard of it before and I wasn't even completely sure what it was, but I knew I wanted it!

I sat the bottle of "Caramelized Garlic" in my kitchen so I could look at it and get an idea of what exactly I wanted to make with it. Then one day it just came to me... it was one of those "Aha!" moments that I love so much. You get them a lot when you sit around thinking about recipes all day... especially on an empty stomach ;) I decided to make pan seared pork chops and make a "sauce" to pour over the top. With mushrooms! There had to be mushrooms... 

When I first opened the jar, the smell was seriously amazing. I'm not even kidding when I say that that smell is one of my top 5 smells. Ever. The taste was... even better. I made my husband come over and try some and he, too, couldn't stop talking about how utterly delicious it was. I can say that, by far, this is some of the tastiest and most addicting stuff I have ever encountered and I seriously need to get my hands on some more!

Thank you so much to The Hungry Housewives for hosting the giveaway and to GarLic it! for having such an amazing product!!

If you'd like the chance to try some of this DELICIOUS Garlic you can enter my giveaway HERE! There will be 3 winners!

Pan Seared Pork Chops with Caramelized Garlic Wine Sauce:   |Print Recipe|

6 Bone-in pork chops

2 tablespoons oil

5 tablespoons butter (divided)

1 package (12 ounces) sliced mushrooms

1 jar Caramelized sliced garlic (GarLic it!)

1 cup white wine (I used chardonnay)

Salt & pepper

Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Place 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sear and cook pork chop for about 5-6 minutes, flip, then sear and cook for another 4-5 minutes (or until juices are clear). 

When pork chops are cooked, set aside. 

In the same pan, over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons butter, the whole jar of GarLic it! and mushrooms. Stir often and sautee for 3-5 minutes. Add wine. Allow the mixture to cook until most (but not all!) of the wine has cooked out. Turn off heat and stir in 1 more tablespoon butter.

Place your pork chops on your serving plate and pour garlic mushroom mixture over the top. 

Eat. Have life changing experience. Eat more. Cry when it's all gone.

UFC 145 Party Ideas

I'm not going to lie, my husband is a complete UFC freak... and I might just be one, too. There is nothing quite as fun as loading up on delicious junk food and "man food", inviting over some friends and watching the live events in your family room. This weekend's event is even more special because it just so happens that my favorite fighter -- Jon Jones -- is fighting this weekend. 

If you'd like some food ideas for a UFC Party then I can definitely offer some helpful hints. These foods are my go-to party foods for any UFC party because they're: A. Man-friendly B. Delicious and C. Super impressive ;)

UFC Party Food: 

Carne Asada - You can't go wrong by BBQ'ing up some of this delicious meat. Your guests will ask you for the recipe. I promise.

Salsa - All men love salsa. It's a fact.

Chicken Wings - Impressive to the max. You will be known as the hostess of the year, for sure.

I threw together some cupcake toppers for the event because I know that there are women out there like me planning their food menu for the big day and trying to think of the perfect dessert to make for the occasion. Why not bake up some delicious "manly" cupcakes and put some of these babies on top? 

Click here to download the Printable UFC Cupcake Toppers

Tri Tip Burritos

The weather has been amazing this week in California! It's been nice and perfectly warm (not too hot, not too cold) and has been so beautiful that you just want to stay outside! Luckily, we have a park that is right behind our house and is only about a 3 minute walk away, so when my daughter was home on spring break we took a lot of walks over to the park so she could play and I got to enjoy how beautiful and green and new everything was.

With the wonderful weather comes something that is very important in my house... BBQ Season! This is definitely becoming one of my favorite times of the year even though i'm really not a huge fan of hot weather. Being outside while my husband flips his burgers, sauces his ribs and sears his tri tip is always going to be one of those things that makes me happy and that I remember fondly. But, really, that's not even the best part... the best part is taking that first bite of some freshly BBQ'd food, which automatically triggers all of those fond memories of past summers and reminds me how much I truly love my grill master husband.

One of my favorite things that my husband makes is his tri tip. It is a very delicate process, but once you get down some basic rules you will be able to nail it every time. The thing with tri tip is that it can be very tough if you don't get it just right... so, you should probably try to get it just right! I'm going to include the recipe for just the BBQ tri tip along with my favorite thing to do with the tri tip -- tri tip burritos!


BBQ Tri Tip Recipe:   |Print Recipe|
1 Tri Tip (we preferred untrimmed, but you can use the trimmed if you prefer)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder


If you're using an untrimmed tri tip, trim the overly fatty parts. Combine salt, pepper and garlic and rub the entire tri tip with the mixture. Set tri tip aside while you prepare your charcoal (you never want to put it directly from the fridge to the grill as this makes the meat tense up and become tough).


Prepare your BBQ for indirect heat. If you are using a charcoal grill, do this by raking all your charcoal to one side of the grill so that half of the grill is directly above the hot charcoal and the other part has no heat directly below. With a gas grill simply adjust the burners to create the same effect.


Slightly grease the grill with oil or nonstick spray. Take the tri tip and sear it for 5 minutes on each side over the "hot" side of the grill (with coals) beginning with the lean side. After you sear it, place the tri tip on the cool side of the grill with the fatty side up. Cover and cook for 45 minutes, flipping every 15 minutes or so. Try to keep the temperature around 350 degrees. This should put your meat at a perfect medium rare. If you prefer more well done, cook for an additional 10 minutes. 


Once the meat is cooked to your liking, remove from grill and place it on the counter and let it rest for about 10 minutes. This will allow the juices to soak back into the meat and make for a very tender and juicy piece of meat.




Tri Tip Burrito Recipe:
Thinly sliced tri tip (against the grain)
Spanish rice
Refried beans
Salsa
Shredded cheese
Chopped cilantro
Tortillas
Sour Cream
*You can really add anything you'd like... It really just depends on your taste! :)


When I put my burritos together I always like to start by putting a few tablespoons of refried beans down on the tortilla. Next, I top it with a large spoonful of spanish rice, followed by the tri tip, cheese, sour cream and cilantro. It's pretty simple, really, but the flavors really go well together and make the perfect combination of deliciousness! :)

Favorite Finds #3

Hello all! This week in California has been kind of crazy, weather wise. We had a tornado warning in our city and there has been a tremendous amount of rain and lightening! I, myself, enjoy a nice stormy day and have been enjoying it from the comfort of my own bed. It's actually pouring right now as I type this. Our area was definitely in need of some rain and my grass and bushes are grateful as well!

I haven't done a favorite finds post for a while, so I thought i'd put one up. I have found some amazing looking recipes lately and I can't wait to share them with you all! Be prepared to start making a grocery list right now!

Cookie Dough Cheesecake Brownie Pastry Pockets @ Endless Simmer

Warm Bean Dip @ Life as a Lofthouse

Loaded Baked Potato Soup @ Sasaki Time

Roasted Garlic Chicken Pizza @ gimme some oven!

No Bake Strawberry Milk Cheesecake @ Sprinkle Bakes

Cheesy Bacon Deviled Eggs

Well, I survived another holiday and lived to tell about it. To me, holidays can sometimes be incredibly stressful and draining and most of the time i'm glad when they're over and I can look back and say "That was sure a fun time..." Because, let's face it, when you're remembering a fun vacation or Christmas morning, you rarely remember that your kids were whining the whole way there or crying because they didn't get that extremely rare and special toy that all of the toy stores were sold out of. Although, I must say that my daughter was especially happy and cheerful this Easter and she went on and on about what a fun time she had and has spent the whole day eating candy and playing with her new toys. Yay!

This Easter, my husband (being the master BBQ'er that he is) made us some of his delicious BBQ chicken, while my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and myself provided all the sides and desserts. This year, I was in the mood for simple and easy, so a lot of the things I made for Easter dinner were both simple and easy! My daughter and my niece had dyed a ton of eggs the night before, so instead of them just sitting in the fridge for days and days, I decided to make some deviled eggs for an appetizer. I had remembered that one time I made some deviled eggs that had cheese in them and they were extremely delicious, so this time I decided to take it up a notch and throw in some bacon. Super duper yummy! I don't think i'll ever be able to eat traditional deviled eggs again. Well, maybe I will... but, these were sure a delicious alternative :)

Cheesy Bacon Deviled Eggs:   |{Print Recipe}|

12 hard boiled eggs
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 
6 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices of bacon (crumbled) or you can use about 2 tablespoons of the Hormel Real Bacon Bits (the ones that come in the jar)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Salt (to taste)
2 slices bacon (or 1 tablespoon bacon bits) and 3 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese (for garnish)

Slice hard boiled eggs in half, lengthwise and place all yolks in a small bowl. Add mayonnaise, cheese, bacon and mustard and mix together. Add salt to suit your tastes. 

Fill each egg half with a rounded teaspoon full of the mixture. Top each half with a small pinch of cheese and a few small bacon pieces. 



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Printable Easter Bunny Bookmark

Here is a last minute Printable Easter Bookmark for you to print and use in any way you'd like! It would be great stuffed into the kids Easter Baskets or given out to friends to celebrate the day! Enjoy!

Print on some thick card stock for the best final product! :)

Click Here to Print!

Crockpot Ham & Bean Soup

I can't believe that Easter is only 2 days away! My 5-year-old daughter is completely excited and keeps reminding me that "not today, not tomorrow, but the next day is Easter!" Or, "tomorrow's tomorrow" as she likes to call it. We are all pretty excited and can't wait to spend the whole day with family and watch the kids hunt for eggs!

This week while I was grocery shopping, I noticed that hams were marked down to a ridiculously low price, so I knew I had to grab one. Once we finish off our ham, the one thing that I never know what to do with is the ham bone. I always hear about people making things with it, but we usually just end up giving it to our dog and he spends a couple of hours just chewing away at it. This time, I decided that we had to try something with it, so I gave my husband the task of coming up with something new and fun. Last night, around midnight, he threw a few ingredients into the crockpot and turned it on low, and what we had for lunch was a delicious and super yummy ham and bean soup! The great thing about this soup is, well, everything! It's super easy to make with very few ingredients (you probably have most of them in your house already!) and it is wonderfully flavorful!

So, I'd like to use this as an opportunity to say 'thank you' to my husband for making something that was not only edible, but was unbelievably tasty and will become a new tradition in our home every time there is a ham bone present!

Ham & Bean Soup Recipe:   

{Print Recipe}

Ingredients:

• 1 ham bone (with a fair amount of meat left on it!)
• 1 (16 ounce) package navy beans
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 8 cups boiling water
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt (to taste)

Directions:

Place the beans, onion, bay leaves and water in the crock pot. Add the ham bone. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. (We did 10 hours and it was absolutely perfect!) 

Once it's done, remove the bones and shred up the ham pieces. 

Serve, eat and enjoy!


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