new Stacy’s Cheese Petites

Hello friends. How was your summer? There is much I have to catch up on with you guys however today I am just going to dive into this amazing charcuterie board and share my little advice on building one. If you have not assembled a charcuterie board before I urge you to do so. It is a great simple way to entertain your guests.

I have prepared several charcuterie boards in the past. What I have found is that it is a great simple way to entertain guests, as you can add an array of items and make each charcuterie board different. You can please everyone in your party with the endless variations you can make.

This charcuterie board, however, it is especial.  I wanted to purposely omit any type of cheese because I wanted to serve it with new Stacy’s Cheese Petites. The number one ingredient for these is cheese. I wanted to experience the real cheese from the new Stacy’s   from the new Stacy’s Cheese Petites and pair it with the cured meats, vegetables, fresh fruits, dried fruits and nuts. It was a great choice, as my friends and family loved the texture, flavor and combination of ingredients which paired very well with the charcuterie board I built.

The great thing about Stacy’s Cheese Petites  is that they are baked, they contain 6 grams of protein per serving and are a good source of calcium. You can find them in two delicious flavors that are light and crispy and full of flavor, Romano with Garlic & Pepper or Parmesan with Rosemary.

They are also the perfect snack for anytime and anywhere that pairs perfectly with your favorite glass of wine or just great on-the-go. These snacks are great for the whole family as well.  I add them to my children’s lunch bags as a delightful surprise. They are truly a must try!

When building a charcuterie board one of my favorite things is that I like to mix textures. I like to pick something hard like salami, but always thinly sliced. I believe the mouth-feel and experience of the meat is different and richer when thinly sliced. I also like to add dried cured meats like prosciutto, soppressata or chorizo.

Having a pickled element on the charcuterie platter is always a good thing. It adds more texture, and flavor. Marinated vegetables I find work really well. You can buy them already prepared or make your own in advance.

An element of sweetness—like fruit or jelly—will pair nicely with the saltiness of the meat and you can play with slice thicknesses, diameter, and color to give the plate more visual variety. In my case I used strawberries, blueberries, figs and peaches which are all in season. Seasoned fruits whenever possible are best but do what you can.

I think that these items are usually my favorite to choose from when building any board just because of the variety of color it adds onto the plate. A mixture of charcuterie, fresh and dried fruits, vegetables and nuts are always a good place to start.

Another thing to keep in mind when preparing a charcuterie board is that charcuterie tastes better when closer to room temperature. If you bring home something pre-sliced from the deli, I recommend leaving it out for a few minutes before serving.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed my little pointers about building a charcuterie board. If you are looking for something impressive, simple, and delicious to serve your guests and family at any gathering a charcuterie board is a great way to start.

Enjoy!

charcuterie board

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 7 1/2 oz pack New Stacy’s Cheese Petites, flavor of choice
• 1 lbs of assorted charcuterie such as chorizo, salami and prosciutto
• 1 handful fresh basil
• 1 handful fresh rosemary
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbs vinegar
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 cup marinated vegetables
• Assorted fresh fruit
• assorted dried fruit
• assorted nuts

Directions:

In a small bowl combine the cherry tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil and oregano. Set aside.

On a big platter arrange the charcuterie of choice, fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, fresh herbs and New Stacy's Cheese Petites. Incorporate the tomatoes and marinated vegetables previously placed in a bowl.

Serve.

The post charcuterie board appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I was a bit skeptical using the outside grill for the first time, however, the result was just perfection. The sauce is what actually made the shrimp exceptional. The recipe itself was also simple, which is always a win win situation for me. Neither making the sauce or cooking the shrimp won’t take long at all.

To make the sauce I used not from concentrate Florida’s Natural^® Brand Orange Juice. It’s the perfect juice to use because it’s made entirely from Florida oranges grown by actual farmers. Just how juice is supposed to be!

The orange flavor is very intense. You will taste the orange come through in the sauce so if you like orange flavor and would like good results with your sauce make sure you use this type of juice and not a concentrated form.

This is something that I strive to do every time I cook and bake. I always try to use the best possible ingredients to make sure that my recipes come through with flavor.

If you have leftover sauce you can also store this sauce in your refrigerator and used it for chicken, fish, beef….whatever type of protein you may like. I have marinated chicken over night with this sauce and saute it for lunch the next day and worked really good. If you like the sauce it is very versatile so make sure you don’t discard the leftover.

For this recipe I used shrimp but if you are not too fond of shrimp you can use chicken too. Either one is fine.

I hope you get to try this grilled spicy orange shrimp. It would be the perfect grilling recipe for July 4th.

Enjoy!

Grilled spicy orange shrimp

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs fresh uncooked jumbo shrimp, devein and cleaned

Sauce

• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp arrowroot powder
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tsp pepper flakes

Directions:

To make the sauce, over medium to low heat, place the sauce ingredients into a small sauce pan and stir constantly until it thickens. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Set aside.

Place 5-6 shrimp on each skewer. With a brush, brush the shrimp with the sauce.

Grill over medium to low heat for 3-5 minutes on each side. You can brush more sauce over the shrimp after they are grilled if desired.

Sprinkle some sesame seeds and fresh herbs if desired. Serve immediately.

The post Grilled spicy orange shrimp appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Typically, around the holidays, foods that we enjoy the most are finger type foods. Tapas style is most predominant in our culture, especially in the South. Rather than sit around the table people stand and walk around interacting with family members.

For us, food is a huge component around the holidays. Everyone is always excited to gather around and enjoy the company and food. It is most definitely one of the ways we like to strengthen bonds with family and friends around this time.

Because my food philosophy involves trying to keep things healthier, rather than deep frying these potato croquettes, which would have been the conventional way of preparing them, I decided to bake them instead. I was a little bit skeptical at first but with the ingredients I choose, especially Land O’Lakes® Salted Butter, it made the croquettes taste out of this world. I also made sure to add plenty of garlic and together with the butter together this was a match made in heaven. We Spaniards love garlic!

Land O’Lakes® Butter always makes everything taste better so I was very pleased at how they turned out. Not only I was pleased but so was my family, which are the toughest critics. In the end, there were no croquettes left so that was a good sign as well.

You could also serve these potato croquettes with a dipping sauce. In Spain we tend to eat croquettes plain, since they are already tasty enough, but if you like some sort of sauce go ahead. I am sure they will still taste terrific!

I am looking forward to the rest of the holiday season and to see what else my family and I can share around the table. These potato croquettes have definitely been a huge success so I hope to match whatever I make for them next.

Enjoy!

This recipe is sponsored by Land O’Lakes® Butter. The opinions and text are all mine. The end.

Potato Croquettes

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 24 croquettes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb potatoes
• ¼ cup milk
• 1/4 cup Land O’Lakes® Salted Butter
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 cup fresh parsley
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 tsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups Panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Boil potatoes until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain potatoes and let them cool. Peel potatoes and add to a large mixing bowl. Mash potatoes with milk, butter, and salt. Set aside.

Add olive oil to a nonstick skillet. Add the carrots, peppers and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes until they soften, 2-3 minutes. Add the vegetable mixture to the potatoes and mix until combined. Also add the chopped parsley. At this time you can preheat oven to 450F.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Measure out approx. 2 tbsp of potato mixture, roll it into a ball and flatten into a patty. Arrange patties on parchment paper.

Place panko bread crumbs in a plate and bitten egg on another. Dip each croquette on the beaten egg followed by the panko break crumbs. Place them back into the prepared baking sheet already breaded.

Repeat this step with the mixture until you are done using it all. Bake croquettes for 10 minutes on each side. Serve while they are still warm.

The post Potato Croquettes appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

The place is Noodles & Company which uses globally-inspired recipes and fresh ingredients to give guests real, crave-able flavors. They don’t use any artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives on their core menu, which for me is of most importance.

At Noodles & Company, dishes are made fresh to order every time, which also includes the ability to customize the fresh ingredients already loaded in the bowls. Every time we go I always add extra veggies to our dishes. You can add extra vegetables or extra protein to your bowls, so more often than not, we do.

For the little ones, if they don’t want to try a world flavor they are not familiar with, they can stick to a regional favorite – Wisconsin mac and cheese. What kid doesn’t like mac and cheese? As you can see you can add veggies to it which in this case I added extra broccoli to all the dishes, mac and cheese, Pad Thai and Whole Grain Tuscan Fresca. To find the nearest Noodles & Company to you visit this link.

As you can see there are many dishes inspired by flavors around the world that you can choose from. Tasty, fresh, delicious and healthy for you.

Now because we had an Asian styled lunch at Noodles & Company, I wanted to make a dessert that was also Asian-inspired. Believe it or not Caramelized sweet potatoes is something that it is served in many Korean restaurants. This recipe, Goguma Mattang, actually originated in China but it is most used in Korea.

It is normally fried but my version is baked which is healthier and less messy.

To make the sweet part of the caramelized sweet potatoes I used maple syrup but you can also use honey. I have seen original recipes use sugar but I prefer to stink with any of these two alternatives instead. Either maple syrup or honey will work. Just make sure that you sprinkle some sesame seeds at the end to give it that Asian inspired hint.

Enjoy!

GIVEAWAY

Noodles & Company is also providing me with 3 $25 gift cards to EG4L readers.

• All you have to do is LET ME KNOW what dish you would like to try in the comments below.

• I will pick 3 winners 9/17, good luck!

• Also, note my promo code EATGOOD – You can get $4 off $10 when you order online using EATGOOD promo code thru 9/30. Good for 5,000 redemptions!!

Caramelized sweet potatoes

Yield: 12 servings

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tbs sesame seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Place sweet potatoes into a baking sheet and coat with the remainder of the ingredients. Bake for 10 minutes. Stir and bake for another 10 minutes.

Once the potatoes are baked coat with more maple syrup if you like. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the potatoes and serve.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Noodles & Company. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Caramelized sweet potatoes appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I have been using this roasted pumpkin seed salsa none stop as an spread on sandwiches, pita bread and quesadillas. It goes excellent with any veggies I chose to have my sandwiches with so I think I am going to be making this spread for time to come.

The thing about it to is that not only it is super easy to make but it is extremely healthy.

Pumpkin seeds are extremely rich in zinc, which is great for your skin especially to fight acne, which believe or not, at almost 40 years old I suffer from. Zinc carries vitamin A to your skin, which regulates your body’s hormonal balance.

It also facilitates programmed cell death, which is a natural part of your skin renewing itself. With zinc deficiency skin cells stick together instead of dying and sloughing off like they should, which leads to clogged pores.

Besides skin health zinc is important to your body in many ways, including immunity, cell growth and division, sleep, mood, your senses of taste and smell, eye health, insulin regulation, and male sexual function.

It is a bit hard to get all the zinc you need in your diet unless you consume beans and nuts almost every day. I always have a handful of pumpkin seeds each day for skin health so I always make sure I have them stocked in my pantry.

This is a great way to incorporate pumpkin seeds into your diet if you don’t like to have them plain.

For the pumpkin seed salsa visit my friends at Nuts.com Here is where I get all my nuts and seeds as well as baking flours, dried fruit and much more. It is the only place you need to shop for all your healthy cooking and baking ingredients.

Enjoy!

This recipe is sponsored by Nuts.com The opinions and text are all mine. The end.

The post Roasted pumpkin seed salsa appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Brussels sprouts are currently in season so if you like this vegetable I suggest you take advantage of it. It is great for many things. You can prepare it in a multitude of ways. For the most part I have added it to rice dishes, however, today I just pair them with caramelized onions and they were the bomb.

I have seen them prepared with bacon, which I am sure it is really good, however, I don’t like bacon that much so I figured caramelized onions will give the brussels sprouts the flavor they deserve.

All in all the prep time for this Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions is just about 5 minutes. It is rather a quick and simple recipe that you can make to pair it with your main protein over the holidays.

Anyways, I leave you with this Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions recipe that is sure to satisfy any veggie eater.

Enjoy!

Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb brussels sprouts, cut into halves
• 2 large red onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 2 tbs dried cranberries
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp Celtic salt
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

In a large skillet, over medium to high heat, add the olive oil and onions. Cook stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes until you see them they are starting to brown.

Add the brussels sprouts and salt and continue to cook until they are tender. About another 5 minutes. Add the almonds, cranberries and stir.

Serve.

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