I was provided with Little Rosie’s Filipino Salad Dressings in order to conduct this review.

In our household we’re always looking for new condiments, whether that be dressings or marinades. I love versatile condiments that can be used as both a dressing or marinade, and I’ve got a treat to share with you!

There wasn’t a recipe for a traditional Filipino salad dressing, so Pamela Loch came up with her own recipe using Filipino pantry staples and created Little Rosie’s dressing & marinade. Highlighted among the ingredients are flavors of; cider vinegar,  soy sauce, and of course garlic.

Little Rosie’s Filipino dressings come in two flavors; original and spicy. The spicy version uses red pepper to add an extra kick. Both dressings are absolutely delicious with sweet, salty, and spicy flavors. They’re great on all types of food and a little goes a long way, so your bottles of dressing & marinade will last.

I love using the dressings as a marinade on chicken breasts for an easy and delicious entree with very little effort. It’s also amazing on salads, it turns a bland salad into a tasty creation. You can find a ton of great recipes using this dressing on LittleRosies.com. These dressings would make a great gift for a foodie!

Want to buy this delicious dressing? You can find both dressings in all AJ’s Fine Foods throughout the Phoenix area. Or if you’re like me and you don’t live in that area, you can purchase bottles of this dressing online here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How are you going to sue Little Rosie’s Filipino Dressing & Marinade?

I’m connecting with my inner gamer geek to celebrate the launch of a fun new 8-bit M&M contest as part of a Collective Bias campaign.

8-bits are my favorite, they’re a great form of art that depicts the creation of video games. It also strikes up quite a bit of nostalgia, I remember playing the Super Nintendo at my grandparent’s house like it was yesterday. We played games like Duck Hunt and Mario over and over again.

Gaming is definitely better with M&Ms, I might even be planning a night of video games with a bowl of pretzels and M&Ms shortly. M&Ms are the perfect quick treat to eat while gaming.

Gaming with M Pixel Art Contest

This contest is all about tapping into your creativity and using M&Ms to create a pixel art image or character (aka a sprite.) Your entry should be video game inspired, or perhaps racing inspired to celebrate the launch of Forza 5 for the Xbox One. Some great ideas would be making your favorite video game characters, game symbols, consoles, weapons, or race cars. Get creative and have fun!

All you have to do is post a photo of your 8-bit M&M image on Instagram and Twitter using both hashtags #FueledByMM and #Contest. The contest runs from December 4th to December 18th, and the prize is a brand new Xbox One and Gaming is Better with M pack including the Forza 5 Motorsport Game and a 14 oz bag of M&Ms.

Here are a few ideas that I came up with:

Every great video game has shields, naturally I had to make an 8-bit shield. We might have a similar steel shield like this on our basement, that my husband made for a Nerf war. See we really are geeks.

Musical video games are becoming so popular, whether it’s a guitar based game or a dance game for the Xbox Kinect. So I had to make an 8-bit guitar! It’s a flying V style guitar for extra sass.

I didn’t have as many brown M&Ms as I would have liked for this last 8-bit graphic. It ended up a lot smaller than I wanted it to be and a little squished, but you get the idea. I made a screenshot of Pong, one of the oldest arcade style video games. You can see the paddles and the score at this point was 0 to 0.

These were so much fun to create! I love showing my geeky side with fun little projects like this, the chance to win an Xbox One prize pack is just the icing on the cake.

Since we’re celebrating the release of the Xbox One and Forza 5, there’s a great new promotion:

Do you want to find out how to get a $10 Walmart gift card in three easy steps? It’s as easy as Buy, Snap, Redeem!

1. Buy Forza 5 game and participating M&M’s at Walmart starting September 22nd.

2. Snap a picture of your receipt, and text it to: 811811 with code “M&M”.

3. Redeem the code that you’re sent via text for a $10 Walmart gift card!

To make the process even easier, find this display in your store.

In case you need a refresher on the 8-bit contest rules:

Get Creative with M&Ms and win an Xbox One gaming with M pack!

Create your own Pixel Art using M&M’s candies and snap an Instagram Photo. Tag your image with #FueledByM AND #Contest and post the image on Instagram and Twitter. One lucky Pixel Artist will win a new Xbox One and Gaming is better with M pack including the Forza 5 Motorsport game and a 14 oz bag of M&Ms. Contest runs Dec. 4th- Dec. 18th and winner will be chosen at random. Official rules here.

Check out this page or follow the #FueledByM hashtag to see all of the entries!

I can’t wait to see what you come up with! What will you make an 8-bit version of for this contest?

This post was created in partnership with Ferrero Rocher as part of the 25 Days Wrapped in Gold campaign.

Do you love chocolate, fabulous things, and receiving great holiday gifts? I’m sure you do, I know I do!

If your answer is yes (and it should be!) Then you won’t want to miss the Ferrero Rocher ”25 Days Wrapped in Gold” Sweepstakes! I’m sure you know all about the amazing chocolate hazelnut truffles from Ferraro Rocher, they’re one of my favorites especially this time of the year! Not to mention it’s a great candy to give (or receive) as a gift! What a great stocking stuffer a box of Ferraro Rocher chocolates would be!

To top it off, Ferrero Rocher giving away an indulgent gift every day from December 1st through December 25th! Some of the prizes include; Once-in-a-lifetime luxury trips, swoon-worth designer heels, jewelry fit for royalty, we’re talking AH-mazing stuff.

Enter to win on Ferrero Rocher’s Facebook Page!

Rice Krispie Treats are one of my favorites, my mom always made them for us (and hers were always the best.) I don’t normally make them though, I can’t stand how sticky everything gets and teh thought of cleaning up all of that marshmallow had me second guessing whether it was worth it.

I made rice krispies myself and realized that it’s not as messy as I thought. Then I decided that I needed to take my rice krispie treats to a whole new level and caramelize them!  I added butterscotch caramel ice cream topping to the marshmallow mixture as well as some drizzled on top of the rice krispies. It’s absolutely delicious.

Sometimes even a treat as sweet as rice krispies needs a little extra sweetness!

Butterscotch Caramel Rice Krispie treats

From The Domestic Geek

• Print

6 servings Servings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Metric US

Ingredients

• 3 TBSP butter
• 10 oz marshmallows
• 4 TBSP Butterscotch Caramel Ice Cream Topping
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Directions

1. Heat jar of ice cream topping according to directions and stir. Prepare cake pan with cooking spray.
2. Melt butter on stove top, add marshmallows and once melted add 3 tablespoons ice cream topping. Stir well and remove from heat.
3. Stir in cereal until evenly coated, if mixture is too sticky add additional cereal.
4. With buttered hands transfer mixture and press into the bottom of the cake pan. Cool and cut into squares.
5. Drizzle remaining Ice cream topping on top and serve.

– Nutrition Facts

for 100 grams

Calories Fat Cal.

Nutrition Facts Description Wikipedia

Analyzed by Kitchenbug

I hope you enjoy this easy and delicious treat!

I went shopping at Pick ‘n Save for a delicious gluten free meal to share with you as part of a Collective Bias sponsored post.

Pick ‘n Save is the only store I’m not avoiding due to the holiday madness lately. They have really figured things out, the layout of their store is fabulous. They have baking products and main ingredients for those famous and common holiday dishes in easily accessible areas of the store. I no longer have to avoid the baking aisle as it isn’t nearly as chaotic as it normally is for holidays. Seriously, I found ingredients for pumpkin pie on the night before Thanksgiving without even going into the baking aisle. It was wonderful. That’s why Pick ‘n Save is the best choice for busy moms (and procrastinators like me.)

The savings are great too, make sure to add digital coupons to your Fresh Perks card before leaving for the store, it only takes a few seconds and it helped me save $30 off of my last grocery bill!

Pick ‘n Save has great gluten free sections, not only in the aisles, but also in the freezer section. I was so tempted to pick up some muffins and cookies, I actually have tried a lot of these items and they’re delicious, you wouldn’t even know that they’re gluten free!

In fact, after trying gluten free pretzels I will never be able to enjoy regular pretzels as much. gluten free pretzels are extra crunchy and so delicious. They are definitely one of my favorite snacks, my entire family loves gluten free pretzels. Naturally, I had to make a recipe using these delicious pretzels.

For a healthier gluten free meal I decided to make gluten free pretzel crusted chicken tenders. These were so easy to make, you probably won’t even believe how simple these are! They’re perfect for the quick meal this holiday season, or as an alternative for the little ones during the holiday meal. I know my daughter loved eating these, pretzels and chicken tenders together is pretty amazing to a toddler (and adults.)

I served the chicken tenders with a side of spicy garlic parmesan green beans. I made both gluten free dishes using Pick ‘n Save’s best selection of quality and fresh ingredients.

Gluten Free Pretzel Crusted Chicken Tenders

From The Domestic Geek

• Print

3 servings Servings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Ingredients

• 8 chicken tenders (or chicken breasts halved)
• 1 egg
• 4 ozs gluten free pretzels
• 1 TBSP Onion Powder
• 1 TBSP Garlic Powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400*. Line a pan with foil and lightly mist with cooking spray.
2. In food processor, pulse gluten free pretzels until most of the pretzels are finely ground.
3. In a small bowl add processed pretzels, onion powder, and garlic powder, mix well.
4. Dredge chicken tenders through egg, then coat with pretzel mixture. Place on prepared pan.
5. Repeat until all tenders are coated. Lightly mist the tops of chicken tenders with cooking spray.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping tenders half way through.

– Nutrition Facts

for 100 grams

Calories Fat Cal.

Nutrition Facts Description Wikipedia

Analyzed by Kitchenbug

Would you like to see more recipes like the one above? Then you should definitely follow Pick ‘n Save on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!

Do you have any healthy dishes that you love preparing during the holiday season?

The holidays are…here? Oh boy, I’m not prepared for this time of the year. I am prepared for baking, I’m always prepared for baking. There’s something great about being cozy in the kitchen while it’s snowy and freezing outside.

Today I’m all about the “Cook Cooks” that’s how my daughter lovingly refers to cookies (and any snack food really.)

AJ has the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, and we made it even better by adding a hint of coconut extract for a great flavor. Seriously though, he makes the best cookies. I’m actually pretty jealous. They always come out soft and chewy and absolutely delicious.

We used holiday colored chocolate chips to make these cookies look extra festive this year!

These cookies are absolutely addicting. I promise you’ll love these. You might not even have to worry about storing these cookies, because they’ll be gone so fast. We had a few guests over when we made this recipe and they devoured an entire double batch.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

From The Domestic Geek

• Print

18 servings Servings 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Metric US

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 12 ounces chocolate chips
• Shredded coconut (for garnish)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375*.
2. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
3. Add eggs, vanilla, coconut extract, salt, and baking soda to mixture and beat. Gradually mix in flour.
4. Stir chocolate chips in.
5. Drop teaspoons of dough on greased cookie sheet, sprinkle shredded coconut onto tops of dough.
6. Bake for 6-8 minutes.

– Nutrition Facts

for 100 grams

Calories Fat Cal.

Nutrition Facts Description Wikipedia

Analyzed by Kitchenbug

Do you love baking during the holiday season?

Video games are topping Christmas lists this year. Before you go shopping for those video games check the ratings, on the bottom left hand side of the video package is a black and white rating. Make sure your children fall into the age range listed on the box. As a gamer myself, I know those ratings are very accurate (I’ve been slightly traumatized myself from some of the things I’ve seen in mature video games.) We’re definitely no longer in the age of innocent video games with plumbers hopping merrily on enemies to save their princess.

I did the work for you, I found the top 10 video games that are popular and age-appropriate this season and included Amazon affiliate links, just click on the link or pictures to find more information or purchase the games. Most of these games are so fun that I even enjoy playing them. They’re great to play with the whole family, you could even have a fun Christmas morning family video game tournament with these games! Here are my picks for the Top 10 Video Games for Kids Holiday 2013.

First up are the video games that are rated E for everyone, that means the whole family can play!

Top E Rated Video Games

 Duck Tales Remastered

This game is extremely inexpensive and it’s so much fun. It’s the brand new remastered game based on the Duck Tales cartoon from the 80′s. When we turned this game AJ and I lovingly sang the theme song (talk about nostalgia) then enjoyed jumping through the levels and visiting different parts of the Duck Tales world. Aliceana even enjoyed watching us play. It’s really quite a fun and simple game for the entire family. I highly recommend it. It’s available for PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.

Super Mario 3D World

This game is for the newly launched Wii U. This is the first multiplayer platformer set in a 3D world, which means the whole family can play at once! Enjoy the classic world of Mario with a modern twist with this game.

Just Dance Kids 2014

This version of the popular Just Dance series is geared towards children. This game is perfect for kids, you can create playlists so your little ones can play their favorite songs without having to ask for help in between. It includes 30 songs that kids already know and love, and fun colorful graphics on screen that are sure to add to the entertainment as your kids have fun performing their favorite dance moves. Available for Wii, Wii U, and Xbox Kinect.

Madden NFL 25 

Is your family NFL obsessed? Then this 25 anniversary edition of Madden is the game for you! This Madden game has stunning graphics and more fine-tune moments to help the game come to life. Available for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Are your kids a little older? If your kids are in the 10+ range, you’ll have a lot of family fun with these games.

Top Video Games for Ages 10+

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!

This is currently my favorite video game. We’re big Adventure Time fans in our house, and we love this “dungeon crawler” style game. In this game you explore dungeons and collect items, slaying monsters along the way. You get to level up your characters, and you get to choose from your favorite characters in the game (as you progress you can even unlock new characters.) Each character has it’s own set of powers. I just can’t get enough of this game, it’s so fun to play as Finn and Jake or one of their friends. Available for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS.

Ben 10 Omniverse 2

Play as your favorite Ben 10 characters and defeat aliens in this race against the clock game. You can unlock new areas in this game, and even play cooperatively. If you have a Ben 10 fan in your house this is definitely the game for you! Available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS.

Lego: Marvel

Lego has done it again, another great video game for kids (and adults, I love these Lego games they’re a blast.) This version features 100 of your kids favorite Marvel super heroes. Save the world as your favorite super heroes, defeating the worst of the worst villains. Do I have to say any more? Just go pick up a copy.

Just Dance 2014

This version of Just Dance features current chart topping songs. This game is fun for the entire family, and it can be a fun source of exercise (especially for those days when it’s too cold to play outside.) This is a great party game too, it’s so fun seeing your friends bust a move to current pop songs. I love playing this game on the Kinect, it’s also available for PS3, PS4, Wii, and Wii U.

Skylanders Swap Force

All the fun of the original Skylanders, but with so much more to offer. Your Skylanders interactive figures can now be swapped, swap out a different characters head and you now have a whole new Skylander with different powers. This is such a great family friendly game that you can play with up to two characters.

Disney Infinity

Disney Infinity is another game with interactive figures, the base that comes with can activate up to three characters at a time. Explore the worlds of your favorite Disney characters with this game. Play with a friend (or sibling) in this 2 player co-op game. This is sure to please the whole family and provide hours upon hours of fun.

That wraps up this gift guide. What kind of video games are you planning on buying your kids this year?

A huge thank you to Core Bamboo for providing me with this great Over the Sink Bamboo Cutting Board with Strainer.

I love cooking with fruits and vegetables, but the prep can be a pain. Not to mention it leaves a ton of dishes, you at least have a cutting board and strainer to clean up after. So I just knew that I needed Core Bamboo’s Over the Sink Bamboo Cutting Board with Strainer, it’s genius!

A cutting board with a collapsible silicone strainer should be a staple in every kitchen. I used it here to prep some strawberries for a healthy snack. I love that this basically turns into a mini workstation, and now I can chop fruits and vegetables while AJ works on his share of the meal in a different part of the kitchen. Just saving that little bit of counter space makes a huge difference in our small kitchen. I normally don’t like to use big cutting boards just because they do take up so much counter space, but I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Why should you choose a bamboo cutting board?

Bamboo is a 100% renewable resource and since it’s a grass not a tree it grows to it’s full size at 4 years, don’t worry about the Pandas this bamboo species used is not a habitat nor food source for the Giant Panda (which is great, because they’re adorable. Now go watch the San Diego Zoo’s live Panda Cam for a minute, so you can ooh and aww at the cuteness.)

Bamboo is also naturally anti-microbial and therefore stops bacteria from growing. It’s also extremely strong and lightweight! It won’t make your knives dull from use. Pretty fantastic, right?

The silicone strainer just pops out for easy cleaning. Since it’s silicone I actually just popped it in the top rack of my dishwasher to clean and it worked great.

With the holidays here that means cooking and baking is in full swing, you need to conserve every bit of counter space and simplify your food prep. You should definitely purchase a Over the Sink Bamboo Cutting Board with Strainer, or maybe two? One for you and one for a gift? I know this would be perfect for anyone’s Christmas list.

Find out more information and purchase your own cutting board and many other bamboo products visit Core Bamboo.

One lucky reader will receive their own Over the Sink Bamboo Cutting Board with Strainer! Just enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit Core Bamboo and tell me about your favorite item in the comments below!

In my family each one of us has a recipe. The go-to recipe that you whip up when you have surprise guests, the recipe that you can always trust when you need to stress-bake or the one you can make quickly if you just have a sweet tooth. My grandma makes the best oatmeal raisin cookies, one of my aunts makes rich chocolate frosted brownies, my other aunt is all about the cut-out cookies and decorated cakes (she’s an overacheiver,) and my mom sticks to rice krispie treats.

I myself have been making the best darn Snickerdoodle cookies for the last 6 years. It’s my fall-back recipe that never fails. I love that the dough is simple to make and doesn’t require chilling. Just roll into balls and cover in cinnamon sugar to bake these treats. The cream of tartar adds just a touch of tangy taste. You just have to try these Simple Snickerdoodles for yourself, I promise you’ll love them!

I actually lost this simple snickerdoodles recipe for a while, and I couldn’t recall the correct amount of ingredients. I decided to try a few recipes I found online. They were both epic fails (and a lot more work!) I was so thrilled when I finally found my recipe. I’ll leave out the fact that it was the very first recipe in my recipe box, oops! Not only am I super excited to share this recipe with you, I’m even more excited to have this recipe published online where I can never lose it again.

Is that a blogger secret? That I love publishing recipes so I can just quickly Google it when I forget how long to bake a treat or I’m able to tell my mom to just check the blog if she wants to know how to make that super awesome dessert I brought to last weeks party? It’s the best, everyone needs a blog.

Simple Snickerdoodles

From The Domestic Geek

• Print

20 servings Servings 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 tsps cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400*.
2. Cream butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Blend in flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt.
4. In small bowl mix 2 Tbsp salt and 1 tsp cinnamon.
5. Shape dough into balls, roll into cinnamon/sugar mixture. Place balls on cookie
   sheet 2 inches apart (they’ll flatten when baking.)
6. Bake for 8 minutes, let cool before removing from cookie sheet.

– Nutrition Facts

for 100 grams

Calories Fat Cal.

Nutrition Facts Description Wikipedia

Analyzed by Kitchenbug

3.2.1255

If you like this recipe you might also like to try my recipe for Snickerdoodle Blondies!

I’m dying to know, what is your go-to recipe?