Product Review-UNREAL Candy

Above: UNREAL41 (Candy Coated Chocolates)

Have you guys had a chance to try UNREAL Candy? I hope so! It’s starting to show up now in major grocery chains and drug stores. Reasonably priced, too!

What is UNREAL Candy? It’s simple. Candy--unjunked. It’s got all of the flavor without all of the junk! Read their story here.

• No corn syrup.
• No hydrogenated oil.
• No artificial flavors.
• No GMO’s.
• No synthetic colors.

Reasonably sourced ingredients, including:

• Traceable cacao beans from Ghana and Ecuador.
• 100% sustainable and organic Palm Kernel Oil from Brazil.    
• Dairy from free-range cows raised without antibiotics or added hormones.
• All natural colors from plants like beets, red cabbage, etc.
• 30% less sugar, 60% more protein, and 250% more fiver per serving on average compared to leading competing brands. 

Now after reading all of that, you’re most likely wondering how do the candies taste? They taste fantastic! My kids love them, too, and I can feel good about them having this kind of candy as opposed to the larger brands that are loaded with chemicals and artificial ingredients. My oldest daughter has an issue when she eats most chocolates on the market--it makes her throat burn. The UNREAL Candies do not!

With Halloween parties and Trick or Treating just around the corner, why not consider giving out UNREAL candies to your guests and the neighborhood kids? It’s a small change, but those small changes lead to large ones!

UNREAL54 (Candy Coated Chocolates with Peanuts):

UNREAL77 (Peanut Butter Cups):

UNREAL8 (Chocolate Caramel Peanut Nougat Bar):

UNREAL5 (Chocolate Caramel Nougat Bar):

So the next time you’re out shopping or running into the store for a quick candy snack, look for UNREAL Candy. You won’t be disappointed in the taste and you won’t feel guilty about such a good cause. Click here for availability.

Disclaimer: I received some samples of UNREAL Candy to try at no charge. This did not influence my opinion of the product.

Well-Together Challenge with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care-Week 2

As I mentioned last week, I’ve joined Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s Well-Together Challenge that’s going on through the month of October. They’ve paired up local bloggers from around New England to challenge each other in a quest for better health and wellness habits. I’ve been paired with blogger Carrie of Maine Mom on the Run.

I’ve been doing yoga since last Tuesday, ten to twenty minutes per session, at least three to four times per week. This is my challenge from Carrie. How am I feeling? Better! I have more energy, and more clarity in my mind. A bit of inner peace, I suppose. At least until the kids get home from school--then it’s anyone’s game. I have two teenage daughters and two growing boys--there’s bound to be some stressful moments! I know as I do more yoga, I’ll be able to handle the stresses of everyday family life much better. The key in the Well-Together Challenge is to make small changes--not to overwhelm yourself. Small changes lead to big results!

Oh, and the stretches are getting easier, too! My body remembers what it used to love doing.

Please remember to check out Carrie’s blog, Maine Mom on the Run, to see how she’s coming along with my challenge to her--to make healthy meals that the whole family can enjoy, without spending hours in the kitchen. She’s a busy mom, too!

I’ve partnered with Harvard Pilgrim on this sponsored post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. You can find more ways to be well at HarvardPilgrim.org/CountUsIn.

This is a paid post, but as stated above, the thoughts and opinions here are my own.

Shredded Chicken Tacos for National Taco Day

Did you know that today, October 4th, is National Taco Day? What better way to celebrate than with homemade Shredded Chicken Tacos? And also one of our favorite toppings, California Black Ripe Olives! Do you remember when you were a kid and you’d put a black olive on each fingertip and eat them one at a time? I do! Did you know that California produces over 95% of the olives grown in the US? I had no idea! These are not grown on huge industrial farms, either. They’re cultivated on multi-generational orchards powered by hardworking American farmers and their families. They follow strict growing and handling standards to sustain consistent results. You can feel good about buying and serving them to your family!

This recipe was developed for Kitchen PLAY’s Sidecar Series. We’re celebrating CA Black Ripe Olives for National Taco Day. It’s a delicious pairing!

Please join all of us along with California Black Ripe Olives (@MissCAOlive ) and Kitchen Play (@kitchen_play)for a fun Twitter party!

Join Kitchen PLAY, California Ripe Olives and some of your favorite food bloggers for a Twitter Party on October 16^th, 7:00 PM EDT. Learn about this tasty, nutritious and versatile food. Have fun testing your olive knowledge. Win great olive prizes! Register here.

Beginning October 1, read all ten posts at Kitchen PLAY celebrating National Taco Day with California Ripe Olives for clues. Each post contains an "olive fact" that may appear as a trivia question during the Twitter Party. A new post and fact will be revealed each day, Monday through Friday, until October 12.

My CA Ripe Olive fact: A large California Ripe Olive has only 6 calories.

This shredded chicken is loaded with flavor. The sauce features fresh ingredients and seasonings that compliment them beautifully. We’ve also added extra flavor to otherwise plain corn tortillas by adding lime juice and zest to the dough. When preparing your tacos, these or any other type, give California Black Ripe Olives a try as one of your toppings! They’re a nice pop of flavor that you might not have thought of adding.

Shredded Chicken Tacos with California Black Ripe Olives

Corn Tortillas:
2 cups Masarica
2 TB all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups warm water (may need more or less)
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
2 TB melted butter 
Zest of half a lime 
Juice of half a lime

Shredded Chicken:
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
8 tomatillos, chopped
6 small tomatoes (I used Campari's), chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 packet Sazon Goya with Coriander and Annatto
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 cup chicken broth, for deglazing pan
Juice from half a lime

Toppings:
California Black Ripe Olives, sliced
Shredded cheese of your choice
Diced tomatoes
Sour Cream
Cilantro

Make the tortillas:

In a medium bowl, mix the masarica, AP flour, water, salt, butter, lime juice and zest. Mix with your hands until you have a nice dough that isn't sticky. Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball. Press in a tortilla press, or press with your hands. Cook in a fairly hot skillet with a little oil on both sides, until nicely golden brown and a little crispy. Set aside and cover with a towel. This recipe makes 12 (4-5 inch) tortillas.

These will not be crispy like store bought taco shells, but soft and pliable. And good!

Prepare the chicken:

For the sauce: In a large sauce pan (I actually used my wok!), heat a bit of oil and add the onion, garlic, and red bell pepper. Sauté for about 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomatillos, cumin, Sazon Goya, salt, pepper, 1 cup of chicken broth, and the bunch of cilantro. Bring to a boil, then turn down slightly to a good bubbling simmer. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or so, until it's cooked down and slightly thickened.

Using a blender (carefully!), puree the sauce--not completely, leave a bit of texture in it. Do it in batches if you're using a blender and hold a kitchen towel over the lid in case any leaks out. OR, if you're smart, use your immersion blender, which I still don't have! Set the sauce aside and stir in the juice from half a lime.

Next, In a large skillet (I use a large 16 x 12 inch electric skillet for this), heat a bit of oil, then add the chicken thighs. Brown on each side, about 5 minutes a side. Remove from pan and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the 1/2 cup chicken broth, scraping up all of the chicken bits.

Pour the pureed sauce into the pan, then add the chicken and any accumulated juices back into the pan. Turn each chicken thigh over to coat it with sauce. Turn heat down to low, and partially cover the pan. Simmer for 20 minutes, spooning some of the sauce over the chicken every 10 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the chicken pieces, and shred them using two forks. Add the shredded meat back to the sauce and mix it all up. You can leave it in the pan over very low heat, or remove it now to a bowl.

Make your tacos!

Spoon a little chicken down the center of the tortillas, and top with cheese, California Black Ripe Olives, tomatoes, sour cream and cilantro. Serve immediately.

• You don’t have to make fresh tortillas--you can certainly use store bought.
• This chicken recipe is very versatile! Use it in burritos, or in a taco bowl served over rice, and add your toppings. You could also easily turn this into a soup by adding more broth and any veggies that you may like. Add some rice, and top with crispy corn tortilla strips.
• You could also use this sauce recipe with shredded pork or beef.

Well-Together Challenge with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

Life is busy. Whether you’re working full time or a stay at home mom (or dad!), you’ve got things to do and people to see. Add to that carting the kids to where they need to be, running errands, grocery shopping, making dinner, and yes, blogging--and you sit down every evening wondering where the day/week/month went. It’s easy to get stressed out!

I’ve joined Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s Well-Together Challenge that’s going on through the month of October. They’re pairing up local bloggers from around New England to challenge each other in this quest for better health and wellness habits. I’ve been paired with blogger Carrie of Maine Mom on the Run. She’s amazing--she just ran the Maine Marathon! What a huge accomplishment. It takes a lot of discipline and training to do that--more than I think I have. Congratulations, Carrie!

I used to do yoga five days a week. I loved it! It felt good and always energized not only my body, but my mind. As my kids got older and we got busier (I have kids in three different schools!), I dropped yoga from my days. Why? I don’t know, but I’m wishing I hadn’t! It’s a fantastic stress reliever--and who couldn’t use less stress in this life?

Carrie’s challenge for me is to get back into yoga. She’s challenged me to yoga sessions 3-4 days per week, 10 minutes at a time. I did 20 minutes this morning. It wasn’t as easy as it used to be get into those deep stretches, but just like it used to, it felt good when I was done.

My challenge to Carrie is to make simple recipes that will please everyone in the family, but not take all evening to prepare. Make sure to check with her every Tuesday this month to see how she’s doing, and check back here on those same days to see how I’m doing getting reacquainted with yoga!

 

I’ve partnered with Harvard Pilgrim on this sponsored post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. You can find more ways to be well at HarvardPilgrim.org/CountUsIn.

This is a paid post, but as stated above, the thoughts and opinions here are my own.

Pumpkin Pie Braid Plus a Red Star Yeast Giveaway

Fall. (almost!) Pumpkin Pie. Warm Spices. Soft, tender bread just dying to be had next to your cup of coffee or tea. It’s a Pumpkin Pie Braid--pumpkin pie filling surrounded by a most delicious bread, braided and iced with a cinnamon glaze. You know you want some. And this recipe makes two, so you can share the love. Plus it’s that time of year, when thoughts turn to pumpkin and spice things, right? Make one for the house and one for the office, the nice neighbor that lets you borrow the hedge trimmer, the UPS guy (we all keep UPS busy, don’t we?), whoever you want to be nice to--or bribe. They’ll love you for it.

Read through to see how you can try Red Star PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast and win a VIP Prize Package, plus be entered to win a KitchenAid Mixer!

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The giveaway is now closed, but the recipe is still fantastic, so check that out! 

The winner is comment #116, Bob George. Congrats, Bob! Good luck in the KitchenAid Mixer Drawing from Red Star Yeast! 

I love baking bread. It’s not scary--at least, not anymore. It used to make me nervous, especially the yeast part. Will it work? Did I kill it? Will I have a beautiful skyscraper loaf that reaches new heights, or will I bake a brick that can hold up my car while I change a tire? Relax!

Red Star has a new yeast called PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast that can ease all of your fears. They make baking bread easy, enjoyable and most importantly, reliable. It’s no fun to invest the time in baking bread just to have a big fat fail. You wan that crispy exterior, that rush of yeasty aroma hitting your nose when you tear open a hot loaf, and that tender crumb of a perfectly baked bread.

Red Star’s PLATINUM Superior Yeast is a premium instant yeast blended with dough improvers commonly used by professional bakers that will make your dough so forgiving that you will never be intimidated by yeast again!

• Simple to use.  So forgiving it takes the intimidation out of baking with yeast!
• Strengthens the dough and improves dough tolerance to variations in kneading, rising, and flour quality. 
• Produces consistent baked products home bakers will enjoy.
• Increases the amount of leavening retained in the dough.
• Decreases the risk of the dough collapsing after proofing or during baking.
• Increases oven ‘spring’ and the finished volume of the baked product.
• Works great in any bread recipe, but is particularly effective in producing healthy whole grain and sweet breads that are light, airy, and larger in volume. (How great is that?)

Red Star Premium Superior Baking Yeast has a wonderful video from Gesine Bullock-Prado on You Tube. Have a look to see the yeast in action and hear why it’s so fabulous. And a side note, I don’t know what Gesine put in those rolls, but I want some!

I put it to the test with this pumpkin pie braid. I read a great tip on the Red Star site for helping your dough to rise:

Microwave Rising

The microwave oven can also be used for the first rising of doughs. Place 1 cup of water in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Heat on high for 2 minutes. This creates a moist environment to keep the dough soft during rising. Place covered bowl of dough in microwave and close the door.

I can’t believe I’ve never thought of that! It works beautifully. I put the covered bowl in the warmed microwave, and walked away for about 40 minutes. When I returned, I almost had “the dough that ate the microwave.”

The recipe for the actual bread dough can be found here on Red Star’s site. I didn’t make any changes to the dough recipe. It’s a beautiful, egg enriched, tender bread that rolls out like nobody’s business! The pumpkin pie filling is adapted from Pillsbury. Don’t feel limited to pumpkin, use your favorite fillings!

Pumpkin Pie Filling for 2 Bread Braids

This has a deep, dark, not too sweet filling, and it tastes even better on the second day!

1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (this is about a whole can-the 14 oz size)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp chai spice blend (if you don't have this, just use cinnamon)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 egg yolks
1/2-2/3 cup chopped pecans - Optional (See Note)

Whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl and use to fill the breads.

NOTE: I added about 1/2-2/3 cup chopped pecans to the filling after using half of it in the first braid. So I ended up with one with and one without nuts.

You may think that make a bread braid is too hard, but it’s so simple with the correct cuts in the rolled out dough.

*I also did a simple egg wash over my braids before they went in the oven for nice color and shine.

_________________________________________________________________________

To make the braids, you’re going to divide the dough in half. I like to roll my dough out for braids directly on a sheet of parchment paper, because I find it easier to transfer it to the baking sheet and bake it right on that paper.

Roll one half of the dough to about a 12x17 inch rectangle. Next, using a sharp blade or pizza cutter (which I use), cut strips along the long sides of the rectangle, about 1 inch wide and 2-3 inches long, leaving two flaps at each shorter end of the dough, like this:

Fold the two end flaps over the filling, kind of crimping the edges with your fingertips. Now start with the top left strip, folding all the way across the filling, and crimping it down gently. Next do the same to the top right strip, folding it all the way over the filling and pressing it down on the left side. Alternate all the way down, covering the filling up as you go. It should look like this:

(These are photos from an old post I did for the Daring Bakers, but they give you an idea of what the slits in the dough should look like.) You can see the technique in action here. She starts the actual technique at about 2:15 into the video. I notice she says cut diagonal strips, but she cuts straight ones. Also, I like to have the flaps folded up at the ends to keep the filling from leaking out during baking, but you can get a good idea of the crossing and crimping if you watch this.

Now you can transfer the parchment paper and the braid easily to your baking sheet--just slide it on. Follow last rising and baking directions from the recipe on Red Star’s site. I also added about 1/2-1 tsp cinnamon the icing recipe given there.

VIP Package Giveaway

Open to residents of the US and Canada!

One of you will receive a VIP Package from Red Star for your very own! It comes in a beautiful black box tied with a silver bow, and includes:

• Samples of Red Star PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast so you can see the difference for yourself.
• A beautiful pinstripe Red Star apron.
• A Red Star wood cutting/serving board.
• A reusable grocery bag.
• Coupons for the yeast.

As a bonus, the winner of this VIP Package will also be entered to win a KitchenAid Mixer!

To enter:

1. Leave a comment here (with a valid email address-which will not be made public) and tell me what you think you’d make first with Red Star PLATINUM Superior Baking Yeast.

Optional entries:

2. Follow Red Star on Facebook. Leave a comment here telling me you did.

3. Follow Red Star on Twitter. Leave a comment here telling me you did. And when you do, you can follow along at #RedStarPLATINUM for all the latest!

4. Tweet about this giveaway, and leave a comment here saying you did.

Pumpkin Pie Braid & a @RedStarYeast VIP pkg giveaway! Plus be entered to win a KitchenAid Mixer. foodurl.info/rtvv#RedStarPLATINUM

5. Share this page on Facebook--leave another separate comment.

6. Pin this post, and you guessed it, leave a comment here.

So you have SIX ways to earn entries, and remember, whoever wins this giveaway gets entered in the KitchenAid Mixer giveaway!

I’ll choose a random winner on Thursday, September 27th and email the lucky person. You’ll have 48 hours to respond or I’ll have to choose another winner. Like I said, open to the US and Canada!

Disclaimer: I was sent a VIP package at no cost, and was not paid for my opinions.