The Virtual Potluck Reunion Tour: A Make Ahead Bread Mega Giveaway

When I throw a party, I don't just throw it. I blast it out of a cannon.

I decided that I wanted to do a big giveaway as part of the launch of my book, Make Ahead Bread, and I decided to call upon the enter Virtual Potluck team - past and present members -  to help me get the book of the launchpad. And they all said YES.

And then I sent some emails to a few companies I worked with in the past, and they all said, sure, we'll toss some stuff into the prize basket. You know, a few things here and there. Enough for 12 prizes!

This is what I've gathered:

Taunton Press, the publisher of my book, is supplying a total of 12 copies of Make Ahead Bread, one to each winner.

Magimix is giving one winner a Magimix 3200XL 12-Cup Food Processor in Brushed Chrome.

WÜSTHOF is giving one winner a CLASSIC 9-inch Double Serrated Bread Knife.

SilverStone is giving a 5-piece set of bakeware (11x17 cookie pan, 10x15 cookie pan, 9x13 covered baking pan, 9x5 loaf pan and 9-inch cake pan) to one winner, in the winner's choice of red or blue.

King Arthur Flour is giving one winner a rye bread baking kit.

Duralex is giving one winner a 9-piece set of mixing bowls.

Harold Import Company is giving three winners a made-in-the-USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin.

Microplane is giving each of the 12 winners an Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter.

GIR is giving each of the 12 winners a silicone scraper.

King Arthur Flour is giving each of the 12 winners a coupon for a bag of flour of your choice (good at your local supermarket) and a plastic bench scraper.

And Walker's Shortbread is supplying cookies to three winners.

That's a pretty amazing bunch of stuff, right?

So, this is how the prizes will be divvied up:

Giant Super Grand Prize:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Magimix 3200XL 12-Cup Food Processor in Brushed Chrome

9-Piece set of Duralex Mixing Bowls

Made in the USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin from Harold Import Company

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

One package of Walker's shortbread cookies

Really Big Grand Prize:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Wustoff CLASSIC 9-inch Double Serrated Bread Knife
5-Piece set of SilverStone Bakeware in winner’s choice of red or blue

Made in the USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin from Harold Import Company

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

One package of Walker's shortbread cookies

Grand Prize:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Rye Bread Baking Kit from King Arthur Flour

Made in the USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin from Harold Import Company

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

One package of Walker's shortbread cookies

NINE MORE WINNERS GET:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

Tomorrow there will be twelve FANTASTIC bloggers who will help me give all of this away. Because, yanno, I can't carry all of this on my own.

The participating bloggers (and links to recipes posts and giveaways) are:

• Shelby from Diabetic Foodie who made Oatmeal Honey Loaf
• Milisa from Miss in the Kitchen who made Butter Buns
• Matt from Thyme in Our Kitchen who made Tart Cherry and Cream Cheese Buns
• Susan from 30a Eats who made Sausage and Cheddar Strata with Spinach
• Rachel from Rachel Cooks who made Naan
• Tara from Foodie who made Bacon Tomato and Cheddar Loaf
• Vanessa from Groovy Foody who made Gluten-Free Gibassier
• Marnely from Cooking with Books who made Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
• Jay from Bite and Booze is hosting a giveaway post
• Theresa from Foodhunters Guide to Cuisine who made Nutella Swirl Rolls
• Heather from Farmgirl Gourmet who made Cinnamon Swirl Bread
• Donna (that's me! you're here!) showcased Blueberry Cream Cheese Buns from the book and also created a brand new recipe for Cheese Ball Bread.

You can find my book on Amazon (www.amazon.com/Make-Ahead-Bread-Melt-Your-Mouth/dp/1627103953) as well as brick-an-mortar retailers.

If you want an autographed or personalized copy, you can order one from my local bookstore Barbed Wire Books (www.barbedwirebooks.net). I'll go there to sign it, and they will ship it directly to you.

Make sure to come back tomorrow for the giveaway, and I'll have links to all the posts from the 12 bloggers who made recipes from my book!

This event is sponsored my multiple companies, all listed above. I want to sincerely thank them for their amazing generosity.

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Stuffed Mushrooms for #HolidayHosting with Anolon

This is my third post for Anolon's Holiday Hosting promotion, and the theme this week was small bites. So I decided to go stuff some small mushrooms.

I adore mushrooms. I've loved them since I was a kid. So this happened.

Are they cute? Those are mushrooms stuffed with sausage and topped with cheese.

You want one, don't you?

It's not your usual dense chewy sausage. Those sausage meatballs are light and fluffy. Perfect little appetizer bites. You'll find the entire recipe over on Anolon's website. It's waiting for you RIGHT HERE.

Oh, but that's not all! I have a MEGA-GIVEAWAY for you.

Over the course of six weeks, I'll be developing six different recipes specifically for the Anolon products. We're halfway there. This is the third recipe and there are three more to go.

And I have ALL SIX Anolon items to give away. The same ones I got. And I'm giving all six to ONE PERSON. Isn't that AWESOME???

I'm pretty excited about this, because I LOVE Anolon products - I've already got some of their cookware, and I use it all the time, and I'm super-excited about the new stoneware and cast iron items.

And Anolon is having their own giveaways, so be sure to stalk them during this 6-week promotion!

The six items I am giving away are:

Anolon Advanced Pie Pan
I used this for the pie recipe, here.

Anolon Vesta Stoneware 9x13” Baker in Paprika Red
I used this for my bread pudding stuffing, here.

Anolon Nouvelle Copper Hard Anodized 10” Covered Skillet 
And this is the pan I used for the mushrooms.

There are three more recipes to come, using these products:

Anolon Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 3Qt Covered Sauté 

and

Anolon Advanced Umber 3.5Qt Covered Chef’s Pan

and a really great

Anolon Vesta Cast Iron 4Qt Oval Covered Casserole in Paprika Red 

Yes, ALL of that to ONE LUCKY WINNER!

The giveaway starts when this post goes live and will end on December 26 at midnight, mountain time. US winners only. The giveaway widget will post with each week's recipe, and I will add NEW ways to enter each week related to the week's new post, like new tweets and new pins. So make sure you come back every week and see what I've made, and ENTER TO WIN!

Want more Anolon in your life?

Like Anolon on Facebook

Follow Anolon on Twitter at @Anolon

Follow Anolon on Pinterest.

Follow Anolon on Instagram.

This post is sponsored by Anolon. They supplied products for my use as well as compensation for recipe creation. They are also providing the prizes for the contest winner. Although I was paid to create a recipe, all words and ideas are my own.

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Happy Thanksgiving! Want a gift card?

I love surprises, and when this landed on my doorstep, I'll admit that I was quite surprised.

Okay, I'll admit that I knew that a basket was coming from my friends at Safeway. I just didn't realize that the basket was going to be so huge. And heavy. And huge.

But it's not just for me. Nope.There's something in there for YOU, too.

Do you see it?

Look closely.

See? That's a $50 Safeway gift card (also accepted at other Safeway-family stores) that I'm giving to one lucky somebody. Because it's Thanksgiving and I'm thankful that I have such great fans and great sponsors.

Sure, you won't have it in time to go shopping for your Thanksgiving groceries, but you'll have it in time to splurge on something for Christmas.

No you don't get the basket. I've already unpacked it. Although I'll have a recipe using basket ingredients later. So that's something. Right?

Meanwhile, I did make something from the basket. I had an emergency craving for peanut butter cookies, and this happened:

Good luck!

Safeway provided me with the basket and contents at no cost to me.

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Lemon Vinaigrette and a review of The Kitchn Cookbook

I've been a big fan of the website The Kitchn for quite some time, so I was pretty excited to see that they had a cookbook.

Once it was in my hands, I was a little surprised to see that the first part of the book - I'd say roughly a third of the book - is all sorts of tips about what tools you need in your kitchen, how to organize, how to clean, how to stock your pantry, and a whole bunch of tips for basic food prep.

It's all good information for someone who's just starting out, but I've been cooking so long, I'm pretty unlikely to change what I do.

So I wandered straight to the recipe section. There were a lot of recipes I wanted to try, from brined pork chops to pasta recipes to cocktails to desserts. But after a lot of gawking and paging through the book, the two that I zoned in on were a lemon vinaigrette and braised green beans with tomatoes.

The photo of the beans was compelling. It looked like the kind of dish that I could eat for lunch all by itself.

But I'm a sucker for lemon and I have this crazy theory about cookbooks. I like to try a few simple, inexpensive recipes before I go out and buy expensive stuff and spend my time on complicated recipes.

I liked this dressing - which I expected - but I have to note that this isn't just for salads. I drizzled it on some artichokes and it would be amazing on asparagus. Or a dressing for a pasta salad. Or... wherever you want lemon. Which, for me, is pretty much everywhere.

Lemon Vinaigrette
Adapted from The Kitchn Cookbook
By Sara Kate Gillingham and Faith Durand

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely minced shallot
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a 1 cup or larger jar. Shake vigorously until everything is well mixed.

Taste and adjust seasoning.

Refrigerate until needed.

I actually liked this better after a day, since the shallots had a chance to mellow a bit, but it was good right away, as well.

If this sits for a day, you'll probably need to shake again, but I made this a few hours ahead and it hadn't separated at all. And it really didn't take a lot of shaking to get it to emulsify.

I received this book from the publisher in order to do a review.

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Got-no-time Chicken with Wine and Rosemary

Sometimes you just want an easy dinner, and this certainly fills the bill. There's almost no prep work - I bought sliced mushrooms because they looked good and they were the same price per pound as the whole mushrooms.

If you buy whole mushrooms, you can leave them whole, slice them, quarter them, or whack them into random pieces. It really doesn't matter.

As far as the chicken, I used chicken thighs, because that's my favorite for stewing or braising.

The bad thing about stewing any kind of chicken is that the skin tends to be ... well, not crisp. Actually, it's sort of flabby. I like cooking the chicken with the skin on for flavor, and in fact I brown it first. But don't necessarily eat it.

If you prefer, you can remove the skins before cooking. Or buy skinless, boneless thighs. Whatever makes you happy. The idea here is that this is a super-simple meal, so do what's easiest for you.

This recipe uses Holland House cooking wine. I posted one sponsored post for them and have another one coming little later, but meanwhile I'm working with the products for fun, and in fact I've purchased more of it because I'm finding that it's really handy to have around.

You could substitute your own favorite wine. If you're not using a cooking wine, add salt to taste, since cooking wine includes salt.

Chicken with Wine and Rosemary

2 tablespoons butter
5 chicken thighs (more or less, as preferred)
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Holland House white cooking wine
1 sprig rosemary
Rice, for serving

Melt the butter in the bottom of a heavy bottomed pot - like a Dutch oven. Brown the chicken pieces on all sides, then add the mushrooms.

Cook for a few minutes more, stirring to get the mushrooms in contact with the bottom of the pot for a few seconds of browning.

Add the white wine and rosemary and cover the pot. Cook for 20 minutes, then uncover, stir, and cook until the chicken thighs are cooked through and the liquid has reduced a bit - another 10 minutes or so.

Discard the rosemary sprig.

To take advantage of the flavorful liquid, serve with rice. Or potatoes. Those would be nice, too.

This is NOT a sponsored post. I received products from the company for other posts, but since then I have purchased more of their products for my use.

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Lime and Sriracha Marinated Skirt Steak

I was paging through Everyday Food: Great Food Fast and I saw a recipe for a marinated flank steak. I didn't jot down the ingredients, but when I saw it, I thought, gee, those are things I always have around here. Lime juice and soy sauce were the main components.

So, when I went to the store, I picked up a skirt steak. First, I really like skirt steak, and second, the skirt steaks were smaller than the flank steaks, and I didn't want to make a lot of steak.

When I got home, I realized that I didn't actually have all the ingredients I needed, so I took the flavor profile and went my own way. And then, instead of serving it as a steak, I cut it into bite-size strips and served it on top of an Indian flatbread called paratha that I picked up at a new store here in town.

Here's how it went:

Lime and Sriracha Marinated Skirt Steak

Skirt or flank steak, or flap meat for 1-2 servings

For the marinade:
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sriracha
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger

Combine all of the marinade ingredients. If you like, take a little taste to see if you like the balance of salt (from the soy) and tart (from the lime juice). You can add more ginger or sriracha, too, if you like.

Put your steak - flank or skirt or flap meat - into a plastic zip-top bag and drizzle the marinade into the bag. You only need enough marinade to coat the meat - you don't need it swimming. If you don't have enough to coat all surfaces of the meat, add another splash or two of soy and lime juice.

Let the meat rest on the counter for 15 minutes while you're prepping the rest of the meal. You don't need it to marinate for a long time - you're working with thin cuts of meat.

Heat a cast iron pan or medium-high heat. Add a little of your favorite oil to the pan - you just need enough to coat the bottom of the pan - a tablespoon is fine.

Remove the meat from the pan and let as much of the liquid drip off as possible. Add it to the hot pan and cook on both sides, until the meat is done to your liking.

Let the meat rest for a few minutes before slicing.

If you like spicy food, drizzle with some extra sriracha.

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Bread Pudding "Dressing" #HolidayHosting

This is week two of my six-week adventure with Anolon products. The theme for the week is Signature Sides, and if there's one side dish that I absolutely love for Thanksgiving, it's stuffing. Or dressing, since I usually cook it outside the turkey these days.

But of course I had to put a crazy twist on it and turn it into bread pudding. It makes sense. Bread pudding is so much more luscious and decadent than most stuffings.

Check it out!

Still not convinced? How about this?

The RECIPE for this is on the Anolon site, waiting for you. Go, click look!

You know you want to try this!

But I'm not done teasing you. Not quite yet. I received six different Anolon products in order to create recipes using them, and  I have ALL SIX Anolon items to give away. The same ones I got. And I'm giving all six to ONE PERSON. Isn't that AWESOME???

I really loved this 9x13 pan. The color is stunning and the handles are really nice. They curve under just a bit, which makes them much easier to hang onto, even while I was wearing mitts.

Besides the giveaway I'm doing, Anolon is having their own giveaways, so be sure to stalk them during this entire promotion - I don't know exactly what they're up to, but I'm sure it will be awesome. They've got very useful products. Sturdy. And also very pretty. A pleasure to use in the kitchen.

The six items I am giving away are:

Anolon Advanced Pie Pan
You saw the APPLE PIE last week, right?

Anolon Vesta Stoneware 9x13” Baker in Paprika Red
This is the one I used for this week's post!

Anolon Nouvelle Copper Hard Anodized 10” Covered Skillet 

Anolon Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 3Qt Covered Sauté 

Anolon Advanced Umber 3.5Qt Covered Chef’s Pan

Anolon Vesta Cast Iron 4Qt Oval Covered Casserole in Paprika Red 

Yes, ALL of that to ONE LUCKY WINNER!

The giveaway will end on December 26 at midnight, mountain time. US winners only. The giveaway widget will post with each week's recipe, and I will add NEW ways to enter each week related to the week's new post, like new tweets and new pins. So make sure you come back every week and see what I've made, and ENTER TO WIN!

If you already entered to win last week, there are THREE new entries - a comment request, tweet, and pin added that are related to this week's post.

Want more Anolon in your life?

Like Anolon on Facebook

Follow Anolon on Twitter at @Anolon

Follow Anolon on Pinterest

Follow Anolon on Instagram

This post is sponsored by Anolon. They supplied products for my use as well as compensation for recipe creation. They are also providing the prizes for the contest winner. Although I was paid to create a recipe, all words and ideas are my own.

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Thousand Island Dressing

When the book Everyday Food: Great Food Fast landed on my doorstep from the cookbook round-robin group Cook My Book, I had a feeling I'd find a few recipes I could make right away.

If a book is promoting "fast," it's a good bet that it won't include a lot of exotic ingredients. And it's a good bet that the recipes will be simple enough to make any old night.

When I paged through the book, I bookmarked a pasta recipe, one for flank steak, and one for chicken, and a few other things. But the very first recipe I tried was for Thousand Island Dressing.

I have my own recipes for that dressing, but I'm always looking for variations. My super-simple recipe is just mayonnaise and chili sauce, and I have a slightly more complicated version here. This one included a few things that I'd never thought about adding. So, what the heck.

I made one little change - I didn't have the scallions that the book called for. But I did have chives growing outside, so I used those instead. Okay, I actually made two changes. The original called for reduced-fat mayonnaise, but I don't like that, so I used regular mayonnaise.

Overall, I liked this recipe, If I was going to make it again, I'd leave out the parsley, and I might cut back just a smidge on the wine vinegar. But that's personal preference. And, although the recipe says it serves four, I think it'll easily serve more. Of course, that depends on how heavily you dress your salads.

Thousand Island Dressing

Adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart Living

1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Heinz chili sauce
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, chili sauce, milk, vinegar, relish, and chives. Whisk to combine.

Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on salad or lettuce wedges, or drizzled over vegetables.

Thousand Island dressing is also typically used on Reuben sandwiches - if you're going to use this dressing for a sandwich spread, I suggest you leave the milk out, so it's thicker and more spreadable rather than pourable.

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Chocolate custard pudding

What do you do when you have a dozen egg yolks? In summer, that would be a couple batches of ice cream. But once the weather gets even a little bit chilly, I lose the urge for frozen desserts and move on to non-frozen  desserts.

I decided to whip up some pudding. This is eggier than many pudding recipes, but I was determined to use all the egg yolks, and I didn't want to end up with a gallon of pudding.

To compensate for the extra thickening power of the eggs, I backed off a bit on the usual amount of cornstarch.

This is a rich pudding, but fairly light on the chocolate - it's got the flavor of dark chocolate, but not super-strong. If you're looking for a dark chocolate pudding, use two bars of chocolate instead of one.

For the chocolate, I used Green & Black's, which comes in 3.5-ounce bars. You can certainly use another brand, and if if happens to come in a slightly larger bar, it's fine to use the extra chocolate in the pudding. Or have a snack. Either is fine.

Chocolate Custard Pudding

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or use all milk)
12 egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3.5-ounce bar Green & Black's 70% dark chocolate*

Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Whisk to combine. Add the milk, whisking as you add it. The idea is that you don't want the cornstarch to be lumpy before you start heating the mixture.

Add the cream and eggs yolks and whisk to combine.

Heat the mixture slowing, stirring as you go. If you heat too quickly, the mixture will clump and you'll end up with a mess. Heat slowly and keep stirring, and you'll have a smooth pudding.

If you have a few little bumps in the pudding, that's fine - you can strain them out.

Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture thickens and it begins to bubble.

Turn the heat off and add the vanilla and chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts, then pass the mixture through a strainer into a storage container.

Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Serve cold.

*Of course you can use a different chocolate, but this is the one I used. This is NOT a sponsored post. I've worked with Green & Black's in the past, but I've gone through a lot of chocolate since then.

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Easy Peasy Pizza

I wrote a bread baking book, so obviously I'm familiar with dough. I haven't bought bread for so long, I couldn't even tell you what a loaf costs.

But that doesn't mean I'm totally opposed to shortcuts. My good friends at Krusteaz sent me some of their flatbread mixes to try, and I was really curious. I like the other mixes I've tried, so I had reasonably high hopes for the flatbreads.

What I like about Krusteaz products is that they're reasonably priced, but they still taste good. When I'm testing bakeware, I like to use Krusteaz products because I know that if something goes wrong, it's a bakeware issue and not a recipe problem.

I decided to use my stand mixer to knead the dough, although the recipe instructions didn't require it. I mean, I have the thing, so why do it the hard way?

According to the instructions, I should have added an extra 1/3 cup of water since I'm at high altitude. But I decided to use the standard instructions and add water if I needed it. Rather than needing more water, I had a dough that was pretty loose and sloppy. To get it to turn into a ball of dough, I needed to add just a tiny bit more flour.

But that's no big deal. Any time you make bread, you should feel free to add more or less water, or add a little flour if you think the recipe needs it. With bread dough, the feel is more important than the formula.

Once the dough was made and rested, I decided to make a pizza from half of it

.

And I divided the other half into two pieces and baked them as flatbreads.

I decided to use the garlic and onion flatbread, which was pretty tasty on its own, but I loved the idea of using those flavors as a pizza crust base. I decided to use non-traditional toppings - a can of mild diced Hatch chiles, and cheddar cheese.

The flavors were good, but I have to say that I was really happy with the texture of the crust.

The instructions point out that if you want a fluffier dough, you can let the dough rise longer, but I liked the thin crust a lot. Since I baked the pizza first, the flatbreads did have just a little extra rising time, but they also puffed more because they didn't have toppings.

If you're looking for a quick, easy way to make flatbreads - for pizza or for other purposes - these mixes are pretty good.

Besides the garlic and onion version, there is an Italian herb mix and a whole wheat mix. So far, I've only tried one, but I expect that they'll all be just as good.

Disclaimer: Krusteaz sends me products from time to time for my use. I only write about the ones that I feel my audience would be interested in.

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