PRODUCT REVIEW: Swanson’s Vitamins Organic Spices

The wonderful people over at Swanson’s Vitamins sent me a package of organic spices to try out. I have been trying to cook with more organic products lately, so I was VERY excited to try out the products.


The first product is ground Cinnamon, I use it in my coffee every morning. I love to the smell of fresh brewed coffee with a touch of cinnamon in the morning. It is FANTASTIC! First off…I have been having a really hard time finding ground cinnamon in the store lately {I can only find the cinnamon & sugar combo – and I do NOT want that} so I was super excited to get this one to try out. I am pretty sure that organic product have more of a ‘kick’ to them, I can actually taste the cinnamon in my coffee. So I give this product a thumbs up! I loved it.


Product number two is the Cayenne pepper! And what perfect timing…I have been wanting to try out my Red Pepper Hummus recipe. This recipe didn’t call for a measured amount of the Cayenne pepper, so I added as much as I wanted. I was great! I never realized how much I like spicy hummus and this cayenne pepper was the perfect touch. Again, another thumbs up!


The last product that I used was the Cumin. Tonight I made a Mexican Black Bean soup that required cumin…I have never purchased cumin before, nor had I used it. And NOW I know what most of my Mexican dishes have been missing. This spice finished off the soup perfectly! Thumbs up!!

All in all, I was very impressed with the Swanson products! I highly recommend them.

Red Pepper Hummus

WOW, this is my first posting in 2010! Sorry that I have been slackin’. So I recently discovered that I really like hummus; when I was younger I was afraid to try it because it looked weird. {ha ha, I am so glad I grew out of that stage}

I adapted this recipe from the Weight Watchers from Pantry to Plate book. At first the recipe was a little bland, so I added some more cayenne to give it a kick! It was a good healthy snack with a bit of kick. Here is the original recipe.

RED PEPPER HUMMUS
Points Value: 2
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: None
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 small garlic cloves
1 (15½-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup chopped rinsed roasted red bell pepper
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne

Instructions:
1. With the motor running, add the garlic to a food processor through the feed tube and process until finely chopped. Add the chickpeas, roasted peppers, water, tahini, lemon juice, salt and cayenne and process, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl until smooth.

2. Transfer to a bowl; stir in more water 1 tablespoon at a time if the hummus is too thick to spread easily. (The hummus may be prepared and refrigerated, covered, for up to 3 days.)

Special Notes:
Hummus is classically served with vegetable dippers or toasted pita wedges, but you can also use it to make attractive hors d’oeuvres: Put a half tablespoon of the mixture on each of 32 cucumber slices and garnish each with a parsley leaf or dill sprig; 4 pieces will have a POINTS value of 1

Recipe Source:
Weight Watchers From Pantry to Plate

Print this recipe.

The ingredients…


Before the food processor…


Final product…


I hope you enjoy the recipe; happy cooking.

GIVEAWAY: Fiber One Yogurt Winners!

I am please to announce the three winners of the Fiber One Yogurt prize pack. Congratulations ladies and I hope you enjoy your prize…and thanks for reading my blog!

Lisa @ http://twitter.com/Dolcissima

Tali @ http://twitter.com/cupcakemafia

Stephanie @ http://twitter.com/stephart1985

Keep your eyes open for another giveaway…I hope everyone has a fantastic new year. Make it a good one.

GIVEAWAY: Fiber One 50 Calorie Yogurt

The wonderful people over a MyBlogSpark.com have given me the opportunity to share this wonderful giveaway with 3 of my readers. In this giveaway you will get a free 4 pack of Fiber One 50 Calorie Yogurt. It is FAN-tastic!! One of my absolute favorite healthy eating sites (Hungry-girl.com) has given The Fiber One 50 Calorie yogurt her seal of approval (and you know that’s huge, right?!?!).



NOTE: product, information, prize pack, and giveaway have all been provided by Fiber One through MyBlogSpark.com.

So, I am giving away Fiber One snack packs to 3 of my lucky readers…here are a few ways to enter the contest.

1. Leave a comment on my blog about your guilty snacking pleasure, what do you do to manage your weight and what are your diet secrets? (be sure to include your email if you are using the ‘Anonymous Users’ function).

2. Tweet the following:
#GIVEAWAY: Free Fiber One 50 Calorie Yogurt http://ow.ly/OnMX @tuffystales #stephaniecooks pls RT

3. Send me an email about the giveaway.


I will randomly select 3 winners on Monday, December 28, 2009 for the prizes.

Good luck!

3-BEAN CHILI

OK, OK…yes I am still here. Things have been crazy in my life lately so cooking is one of the last things I feel like doing. But my waistline is starting to notice that difference, so I have started cooking again. And what better way to start back up with a 3 bean chili; you could also call this the pantry chili. I dug into my pantry and gathered as much stuff as I could to make a chili and it turned out AWESOME…spicy and yummy. Here is the recipe that I used.

3-Bean Chili
Points Value: 4-5 points
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
2 (16 oz. cans) – Red Kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 (16 oz. cans) – White Kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 (16 oz. cans) – Pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion- finely chopped
2 (14.5 oz cans) – Diced tomatoes with green chili’s
1 large can Crushed tomatoes
¼ teaspoon minced garlic
1 package of chili seasoning or season to taste
Hot sauce, your preferred kind and season to taste
1 teaspoon of oil

Instructions:
1. Heat oil, onions and garlic until browned.
2. Add all beans (rinsed and drained), Rotel, crushed tomatoes, chili seasoning and hot sauce.
3. Stir ingredients together and simmer for 45 minutes.

Print this recipe.

The Ingredients…


The chili simmering…


The final product…


I hope that you enjoy this recipe; happy cooking!