Wish Bone

So I have been reading Busy Mom's blog for a few years and really enjoy all the antics of her family. She is having this awesome give away on her blog - you could win a $100 grocery gift card and a Wish Bone pack (valued at $46.10). Click here for more information about her giveaway and also check out her blog...you will so enjoy it!

The reason why I want to win this Wish Bone gift pack is because my husband will only use Wish Bone Italian dressing on his salad - nothing else. No other brand will do, only Wish Bone Italian (and the regular italian, not the robust italian dressing). So basically we go through this stuff like crazy. But I also LOVE to marinate chicken in italian dressing (although husband won't eat chicken that is marinated in italian dressing - even though I would use the exact same dressing he uses on his salad.

On Busy Mom's blog, she posted a picture of Busy girl (Busy Mom's daughter) making some recipes from the Wish Bone website. One of them included the Easy Mediterranean Pasta Salad which I MUST try!!!!!

I'll post the recipe here and when I get back from PA next week I'll give it a whirl!

Easy Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Serves: 8
Preparation Time: 20 Minute(s)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Wish-Bone® Italian Dressing
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
8 ounces twist pasta, cooked, rinsed with cold water and drained
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1 jar (7 oz.) roasted red peppers, sliced
1 can (6 oz.) pitted ripe olives, drained
4 ounces sliced pepperoni, halved

Directions:

Blend Wish-Bone® Italian Dressing, parsley and black pepper in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Em's Potato-Corn Chowder is AMAZING!

I haven't done much baking recently...but earlier this week I made this AMAZING Potato-Corn chowder that I found on another blog, http://www.therepressedpastrychef.com/.

I highly suggest that you check out The Repressed Pastry Chef's blog - she has AMAZING recipes and pictures of every recipe she posts. I am going to try out her Oreo Pie that she made for Pi day (Pi = 3.14 = March 14).
http://www.therepressedpastrychef.com/home/2009/3/15/oreo-pie.html

Em, the Repressed Pastry Chef, has graciously allowed me to share her Potato-Corn Chowder on my blog, and for that I am grateful!!

http://www.therepressedpastrychef.com/home/2009/1/5/ems-potato-corn-chowder.html

Em's Potato-Corn Chowder

Ingredients

3 large potatoes
4 cups chicken broth – divided use
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, sliced wide
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 small can (11oz) whole kernel corn – divided use

Optional for garnish
Additional shredded cheese
Fresh green onions or chives
Crumbled bacon bits



Directions

Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes. Boil in 3 cups of chicken broth until the potatoes are fork tender Drain the potatoes reserving the broth (you’ll probably have about 1 1/2 – 2 cups left). Set both aside.

In a large pot pour the vegetable oil and saute the onion and garlic until tender. Stir in the chicken broth reserved from cooking the potatoes, add the flour, salt, basil and pepper. Mix very well. Gradually add another cup of chicken broth, then the 1/4 cup shredded cheese and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, add the cornstarch and stir... the cornstarch will be lumpy and that’s okay... use an immersion blender to mix everything really really well. Add the milk, cream, half of the corn and half of the potatoes. Use the immersion blender again just for a short amount of time – about 10 seconds. Add the remaining corn and potatoes and heat through but do not bring to a boil.

Garnish with shredded cheese, green onions, chives and bacon bits if desired.

**I added 2 cans of corn and pureed most of the potatoes. I also LOVE cheese, so I used 1/2c super sharp cheddar cheese. I also used 1/2c lite cream and 1/2c skim milk and this chowder came out perfect! Maybe decrease the amount of pepper as Danny said it was a bit peppery. Oh and I also used or normal blender as we don't own an immersion blender and it worked just fine, just a little messy!**