Archives for July 2010

07Jul

Free Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker Give Away!

ice cream maker

Yes, you heard right!  Free Ice Cream Maker!

I have the people at CSN stores to thank for allowing me to give away this wonderful kitchen appliance.  CSN has more than 200 online stores that sell everything from cookware to childrens’ furniture such as twin beds.

And the best news is, even if you’re on a very limited diet, you can still eat ice cream!  There are some great recipes for ice cream that are free of dairy, sugar, and even eggs.  Here are just a few:

Strawberry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Another Strawberry Ice Cream

Banana Ice Cream

Coconut Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream

Chocolate Ice Cream

In terms of the recipes with fruit, you can easily use any kind of fruit your heart desires – peaches, mangoes, pears, raspberries, blueberries, etc.  You don’t even have to use sweetener in some of these recipes because the fruit is sweet enough.  I have also made vanilla ice cream with just coconut milk, real vanilla bean and honey, similar to the chocolate ice cream above.  However, I only used 1 can of coconut milk for the vanilla.

How to enter to win (only 1 lucky winner!):

So without further ado, here is how you can enter the contest to win a free Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker:

1)  Leave a comment on this blog post and tell me what kind of ice cream you’d like to make with the ice cream maker.  If you have a link to a dairy free and/or sugar free ice cream recipe, that would be great!

2) Tweet about this post and then come back to this blog post and report about it. Here is the link:  http://www.heartofcooking.com/2010/07/free-cuisinart -ice-cream- maker-give-away/

3) Subscribe to my blog via RSS and tell me you did so on the blog post.

4)  Subscribe to my free Newsletter and receive a free Allergen-Free Menu Planner.  Then come back and tell me you did so on the blog post.  You can subscribe here:  http://www.heartofcooking.com/sidebar/sign-up/

5)  Tell your friends about the free give away and then report back on the blog post.

6)  Post this link on you Facebook page.  Here is the link:  http://www.heartofcooking.com/2010/07/free-cuisinart -ice-cream- maker-give-away/ Then come back and tell me about it on the blog.

7)  Visit the CSN furniture store and then come back and tell me what you dream item to buy would be.  Click here for the link:  twin beds

Logistics:

  • The one person who has the most entries will win the ice cream maker.  If there is tie, I will pick a name out a hat at random.
  • This contest is open to anyone in the United States or Canada.
  • This contest will close at the end of Monday, July 12th.  The winner will be announced on Wednesday July 14th.

That’s it!  I hope you are the one who wins.  This is the exact ice cream maker that I own and it has been great!  It is so very easy to make ice cream in it – it literally only takes about 20 minutes for many recipes!  Good luck!

02Jul

How to be your own personal chef

42-20739268 I recently received an email from someone asking me if it was possible to cook all of the items on my free sample menu planner in one day.  This is basically what I do when I cook for a client as a personal chef – so yes, it is possible to cook up to 5 meals in one day and then refrigerate or freeze them for later.  I gave her some tips but I thought that this is something that a lot of people wonder about but don’t know how to implement.

If you are very busy during the week but have time over the weekend or another day during the week to cook several meals, this may be something that will help you eat healthy throughout the week without a lot of cooking during the work week.

I’ve been a personal chef in the Washington D.C. and Frederick, MD area for over three years so all of these tips are based on experience.  Let me know if you have other ideas – I’d love to hear from you.

Plan ahead:

This is imperative.  You need a plan of action in order to accomplish the amount of cooking that is needed to create 5 entrees and 5 side dishes in one day.  This is the main reason I make my menu planners – so that you don’t have to do the planning!

You can see the different kinds of menu planners I offer for different diets here.

Find the recipes and print: If you want to do your own planning, you’ll want to find about 4 or 5 recipes for main dishes that your family will enjoy.  Some entrees may have a built in side dish – like casseroles or one pot meals.  But if you want additional side dishes, find recipes for these as well and pair them with your entrees for the week.

If you can, print or photocopy the recipes.  If you have sheet protectors, you can use these to protect the recipes.  If you don’t want to photocopy, just place a bookmark in your cookbook.

When looking for recipes, try to find entrees that can be made in 30 minutes or less and side dishes that can be made in 20 minutes or less.  In other words, don’t pick a casserole dish with five different steps for one of your dishes on a cook day.

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