Yes, I squee’d when I got my Prep for Bliss package yesterday!

Thank you so much to all the wonderful Blissdom Sponsors for all those wonderful little goodies!

Are you going?  Let me know in the comments and PLEASE leave me your twitter URL so I can make sure I’m following you!

PS – I’m a Food Community Leader with some other amazing ladies!!!

(relax, breathe...they won't bite)

The part of Rachel will be played today by…Deanna

(hi!)

So there was this storm…A storm that knocked out Rachel’s internet. Like COMPLETELY. So she asked me to step in for her today, and I just hope I don’t wreck the place. (it’s ok, cause I’m her blog designer too)

Speaking of, we are working on a new look for A Southern Fairytale – a little new paint, some new decorations…it will be fabulous!

But you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble – you want to share some recipes!  I’ll be visiting as many of you as I can, and hopefully Rachel will be back by Tuesday!

We are storytellers by nature.

Whether that’s because we’re southern, or just simply human – in my family, stories fill our days and nights.  Some of our stories are funny, some are sad, some are serious and some (if told by Monkey) are highly embellished and exaggerated.

Stories are a way of keeping people alive in our hearts.

Stories are a way of preserving memories, passing along history and a way of bringing us closer together.

I encourage my kids to share their stories, to write them down, to draw them, record them, to save them…

My children spend hours lost in paper and crayons – putting their stories down on paper and presenting them to us like the priceless treasures they are

This year, for Nathan’s birthday – my kids wanted to do something special for him.  Using their individual gifts – they wanted to create books that could travel with him, go to work with him and remind him every time he saw them of how much they love him.

Princess is an amazing artist and storyteller, so she grabbed her art supplies and made Nathan a book.

Monkey’s gift?  He’s a natural born storyteller – he is animated and funny and has a gift for words, as everyone whose ever been around him for more than 10 minutes can tell you .  At 5, he’s not quite able to write as well as Princess and he didn’t want to just draw Daddy a book.  I assured him that we’d come up with some way to use his gift to make Daddy the best present ever.

Last week, while at HEB, I found it – A Hallmark Recordable Storybook.  The moment I saw it, I knew it was what Monkey had to give Nathan.

As soon as Monkey saw it, he agreed immediately and ran to his room to read it:

How did we know it was meant to be? Take a look at the pictures of this Dad and Me storybook.

I had to share this video with y’all.  Last night after Monkey fell asleep, I pried the book out of his hands and recorded a few pages out of the book.  I love his voice, his imagination, the way he sees his Dad. 

I love that my kids wanted to give Nathan memories this year.  I love that stories, memories and heart are so important to my kids.

Happy Birthday to the love of my life.  I can’t wait to share these with you, to watch their eyes light up as they tell you about each of their gifts and how they created them just for you.

Here’s to the memories and a million more stories.

Happy Birthday.  I love you.

This post was written as a part of my work with  Hallmark  and their “Life Is a Special Occasion” campaign.  This is not a paid review of the Hallmark Recordable Storybook – I bought that all on my own.  The opinions, photographs, ideas and children are 100% mine.

and a giveaway!

That’s right -

Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Nathan and I aren’t really sweets people, please try to contain your shock

We would much rather eat something savory or spicy (as I’m sure y’all have noticed, given the recipes that I post here).

There is however, one sweet combo that both Nathan and Monkey will never turn down – the combination of Peanut Butter and Chocolate.  Whether it’s cookies, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream — if it’s peanut butter and chocolate, my boys are all over it.

When I saw the White Lily Flour Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookie recipe in the goodie basket that I received, I knew it was the perfect recipe to test and share with y’all alongside today’s giveaway.

These cookies are super easy to make and delicious!  They are rich and fluffy and definitely peanut buttery (is peanut buttery even a word?) without being overwhelmingly stick to the roof of the mouth peanut buttery and when they’re combined with the dark chocolate dip… oooh baby .

Now on to the giveaway – I teased y’all about it when I shared the Caramel Pecan Biscuit Bake Recipe and now it’s here.  This is a truly delicious giveaway.

Not only will you get a basket with White Lily flour, recipes, a pastry cutter, measuring cup, White Lily bread towel and spatula

You will also get this Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 7-Speed Hand Mixer!

I can’t even tell y’all how much I love this mixer:  from the digital display, to the awesome snap on storage case for all the goodies that come with it: beater’s, chef’s whisk, dough hook and even a spatula.  I love, love, love this little baby – however I have to admit, my favorite part of it is the eject button.  You know how with some mixers you push the eject button and the beaters just release and you pull them out?

Oh no.. not with this baby.  The Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus doesn’t mess around.  It has a release trigger and when you pull the trigger – those babies SHOOT out.  I may or may not have played with this feature for 5 minutes or so – what can I say? I’m easily entertained by kitchen gadgets.

Would you like to win this?

Mandatory Entry: What’s your favorite treat to make for (or with) your family?

Bonus Entry:  Tweet this giveaway and leave your tweet url in the comments

Bonus Entry:  Check out White Lily Flour’s Recipes and tell me which one you’d most like to try

That’s 3 entries per person! Good luck, y’all!
This giveaway is open from Friday January 20, 2012 to Sunday January 22, 2012 at 10:00 PM CST. Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen

This recipe and giveaway are part of a partnership with White Lily flour. I have received product compensation for my time and talents.

This Giveaway is now closed:

Congratulations to our winner:

Mocha Momma

The wonderful people at ZipList have featured a fun interview with me today as part of their ZipList Zest feature!

If you’ve ever wanted to know what my food guilty pleasure is, my greatest kitchen disaster, or what I can’t live without in my kitchen…

Pop on over and check it out!

I know.

I KNOW.

But come on y’all, how could I resists that title? I mean really y’all , I resisted adding Con Cebolla… so really, I deserve some slack

This is such an easy and fun twist on the traditional cheesy chicken and rice (aka arroz con pollo) with such an amazing flavor profile that I just had to name it Arroz Con Pollo Con Queso Con Ro*Tel®

The inspiration for this month’s VELVEETA® and Ro*Tel® recipe was the delicious combination of VELVEETA® Mexican Cheese and Ro*Tel® Mexican with Lime and Cilantro

After spending a wonderful, if somewhat exhausting Christmas with sick family, coming home to a ton of laundry, crazy weather and broken fences… I was in the mood for something simple, delicious and most of all comforting.

I don’t know anyone who didn’t grown up eating chicken and rice, it’s one of those ultimate comfort foods. This is chicken and rice taken to the next level — still simple, still delicious, just a bit more Southern, a bit zingier and a bit more grown up.

VELVEETA® and RO*TEL® are hosting an amazing sweepstakes to encourage simple, easy weeknight family meals and entertainment ideas. Winners will be picked each week, and the more points you collect the more chances you have of winning! Grand prize winner will receive $15,000!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of VELVEETA/RO*TEL. The opinions and text are all mine.

Wednesday I shared my absolutely tonguegasmic Toasted Mini Baguettes with Turkey, Swiss Cheese and Caramelized Onions recipe that I created using Sister Schubert’s new Mini Baguettes, and in November I shared the Turkey Salad Stuffed Soft Pretzel Rolls Recipe with y’all.

Today, along with the fabulous people at Sister Schubert’s, I’m thrilled to announce that two of y’all have the opportunity to WIN a Sister Schubert’s gift basket of deliciousness.

Included in this goodie basket

• a lovely bread basket and Sister Schubert’s linen napkin (pictured above) rolls not included
• a Lenox Stainless butter knife – gorgeous!
• That amazing Sister Schubert’s branded cutting board that you see in the photo below and featured in my sandwich recipe post
• TWO coupons for your choice of Sister Schubert’s Products (I’m partial to the mini baguettes and the dinner yeast rolls – drool)
• a Sister Schubert’s branded apron (I don’t know about y’all, but I can never have too many aprons, especially full length ones with pockets)
• and … and… AND – Sister Schubert’s Cookbook – Cast Your Bread Upon The Waters – Recipes for Success, Cooking & Living

Y’all – I drooled all over this cookbook, the pictures are GORGEOUS

and the recipes… oh. my. word. y’all! NOM NOM NOM

There are recipes for Sausage Rolls, that Pound Cake pictured up there, Mama’s SourDough Bread, White Chocolate Banana Roll Pudding and even one called The Best Appletini.  I could (and have) spend hours looking through this cookbook, reading the recipes, drooling over the photographs and reading Sister’s notes.

Scattered throughout the book are anecdotes, tips, hints, and even do’s and don’ts from Sister herself – I can easily see this cookbook being a wonderful wedding gift, birthday present, or a just because gift for any budding chef in your life.

I have never made any sort of homemade bread (and why would I need to when I can buy hers and they are SO SO SO good) however this book makes is inspiring me to put that on my MUST DO in 2012 list!

So here’s the deal – want to win this goodie basket of deliciousness (of course you do!)

• MANDATORY  first entry:  What is your family’s favorite meal to share and which of Sister Schubert’s breads do you think would best complement that meal?
• BONUS entry: Tweet this giveaway and share the twitter URL in the comments
• BONUS entry: What is your favorite part of getting the family together to share a meal?

Each entry must be left in a separate comment.  There are 3 possible entries per person.  This Contest will be open from December 30th to 11:59 PM December 31st, 2011.  The winner will have 24 hours to respond before another person will be chosen.

 

Congratulations to our 2 winners!

• Comment: Angela England says My favorite part of getting together for dinner is that we are all TOGETHER. I didn’t realize how much my kids had become used to us having meals together until Vivian was born and I spent some days in bed having meals in my room….My oldest son brought me a plate of food one evening and said “Mommy. When are you going to eat with US again? I miss you being in your seat.” *laughing* It really IS the little things sometimes.
• Comment: conniemelancon says my favorite part of spending the meal together just everyone being together at the same time!
  

I am one of eight bloggers selected by Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls to review their products.  I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience.  I have also been provided products for review.  However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Whenever we go out to eat and a bread basket is placed on the table, I will inevitably grab the baguette.

The crispy on the outside, soft, warm, and yeasty on the inside baguette – baguettes are one of the few breads whose siren song I am simply unable to resist.

When the wonderful people at Sister Schubert’s contacted me about sampling two of their new products – The Soft Pretzel Rolls and ding ding ding! their new Mini Baguettes well, let’s just say I was more than a bit delighted.  I’ve been a Sister Schubert’s fan for years.
I have talked about them quite a bit in the past, both sponsored and not.

I received bags of both the Soft Pretzel Rolls and the Mini Baguettes to sample, use in recipes or as accents to recipes and well… ummm… they were so good that I had to ask them to send me another bag of each because we kind of devoured them before I had time to y’know — create recipes around them or photograph them. (oops).

I did finally manage to use some and get photographic evidence of them before they hit our tummies! Find out how I use the Pretzel rolls to make Turkey Salad Stuffed Soft Pretzel Rolls

For the Baguettes – which honestly are perfect completely all on their own, torn and swirled in roasted garlic olive oil dipping sauce or pretty much any way you like – I decided that they would make the most wonderful toasted sandwiches, and I was right!

Let me introduce y’all to these delightfully simple to make, yet wonderfully delicious

Sweet Caramelized Onion, Turkey, & Swiss on Toasted Baguette Sandwiches

.
In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, I melted 4 Tbsp (1/4 C) butter and added one sliced medium sweet yellow onion.

While the butter and heat worked their magic on the onion, I heated up the Mini Baguettes (2) and sliced some of our leftover Turkey – I used my Poblano and Citrus Roasted Turkey recipe.

When the baguettes and the onions were ready I got a slice of Swiss Cheese and laid it out with the rest of the ingredients

I sliced open both baguettes and drizzled the delicious butter and onion sauce from the pan onto the bread

After I drizzled the inside of both the top and bottom of each baguette, I placed sliced turkey on the bottom half of the baguette and topped the turkey with caramelized onions and placed a slice of swiss cheese on the other piece of mini baguette.

I placed these sandwich halves on a cookie sheet facing up and placed them in a 375 F oven for about 7 minutes – until the cheese was melted

I added fresh sliced avocado to my sandwich

YUM YUM YUM

and left Nathan’s as it was.

The resulting sandwiches were…

Well – in a word – Tonguegasmic.

Sadly, the mini baguettes are not available near me yet, however I can order them online from Sister Schubert’s and you can bet your sweet bippy that I’m going to be ordering several bags.

I am one of eight bloggers selected by Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls to review their products.  I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience.  I have also been provided products for review.  However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Stay tuned, y’all!  I have a delicious Sister Schubert’s Giveaway coming on Friday!

Since it’s Christmas Eve, I thought I’d share a fun little present with y’all

The traditional Christmas Eve, poem

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas’

Texas Style

 Merry Christmas, y’all!

With much love from my family, to yours.

A Texas Christmas Eve 2010

Original Poem Source

If you want another giggle – This is my favorite Christmas Eve Memory from growing up:   Carrots, Reindeer and Icy Rooftops

Pepperjack, Cilantro, Green Chilies, Tomatoes, Lime Juice and sweet corn.

On the day that I was deciding what to make for this month’s VELVEETA® and Ro*Tel® recipe, a crazy cold front blew in to South Texas.  It dropped 15 degrees in an hour and we actually had to put on {gasp} long sleeves!

That solidified it, it was time for something hearty, filling and easy.   I went to my pantry and found that I had a can of Mexican Style Ro*Tel® with Cilantro and Lime Juice and a couple of cans of cream style corn.  Done.  No brainer.  I decided to do a twist on a Southern Classic – Corn Chowder.  I sauteed sweet red bell peppers, green bell peppers and yellow onion in butter until slightly soft

Then I added in cream cheese, cream style corn, milk, pepperjack VELVEETA® and Mexican Style Ro*Tel® with Cilantro and lime juice and simmered and stirred until everything was melted and creamy.  Poured everyone a bowl and we devoured it.  Nathan, who doesn’t eat corn unless it is grilled corn on the cob – asked for seconds.  My kids (I fainted) loved it.  This was quick, delicious, filling, satisfying and yummy… did I mention that it was delicious?  I’m so excited to share this yummy meal with y’all and I hope that y’all, in turn, share it with your friends and family!

VELVEETA® and RO*TEL® are hosting an amazing sweepstakes to encourage simple, easy weeknight family meals and entertainment ideas. Winners will be picked each week, and the more points you collect the more chances you have of winning! Grand prize winner will receive $15,000!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of VELVEETA/RO*TEL. The opinions and text are all mine.