Game Day Mediterranean Stuffed Potatoes

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


The big game is right around the corner. Will you be tuning in? Look. For me it's all about the commercials and the food. Especially the food. People talk about holiday weight gain, but my annual weight gain usually falls in February when I'm gorging myself on game day snacks. However, I'm going to *try* to eat a little healthier this year. No promises that there won't be some greasy snacks on display, but instead of fried potato wedges or butter and sour cream loaded baked potatoes, I'm going to pop some Mediterranean Stuffed Potatoes on the table instead. 

The Mediterranean diet was named the diet to follow in 2019, and I've largely stuck with it since then. I love their use of fresh veggies in their dishes as well as their simplistic dressings. For this recipe, you've got all of that packed into one dish. Lots of veggies with reserved artichoke marinade serving as the dressing. I cut the tops off of my potatoes and scooped a little of the potato out to make a well to place the veg mixture into. You don't have to do that though. Use my trick to get your potato cut open perfectly. Using your knife, make an X across the top of the potato. Then, use your hands to slowly, but firmly press the potato ends together. Voila. A fluffy baked potato ready to consume.

Ingredients

6 baking potatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1 cup red pepper, chopped
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 Tablespoon GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (6 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped, reserving 1 Tablespoon of marinade
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
6 black olives, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!

What team will you be rooting for in the big game this year?

Orange Cheese Spread & Silver Blossom Honey

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


I've talked a lot about my favorite Golden Blossom Honey products over the years... their Pure U.S. Honey, Raw Honey, and Honey Mustard. Now I've got something new for you to feast your eyes upon. Today I want to introduce you to Silver Blossom Honey. 

Silver Blossom Unfiltered Honey is a delicious blend of Wildflower and Orange Blossom Honey, sourced 100% from the U.S.A. It is strained so that natural pollen from the hive may enter the container, and is prepared in a peanut and tree-nut free facility. I was immediately drawn to its sweet, orange scent. The honey alone is scrumptious mixed into tea or drizzled over your morning oatmeal or bagel, but I set off to Golden Blossom Honey's recipe page to see what recipes this product would make shine. I found this Orange Cheese Spread and knew I had found a winner.

Mornings taste sweeter when you smear this Orange Cheese Spread onto your bagels, toast or English muffins. Not a morning person? No problem. This spread makes a great fruit dip too! Made with 3 simple ingredients, you can have this dip whipped up in a jiffy and be out the door in no time.

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese or mascarpone, room temperature
1/4 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
zest of one orange

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!


*Just a quick note to let you all know that I am traveling with my family for the next week. I will not be able to publish or return comments, nor will I be able to respond to email inquiries until after the 27th.

What's your favorite breakfast bread?

 

Achieve #LunchboxGoals with NEW Little Bites Cinnamuffins

Disclosure: The coupons for product redemption, information, and gift card have been provided by Entenmann’s® so that I could try the product and share my thoughts and information about Entenmann’s® products. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions of Entenmann’s®.


A new year means that we are already halfway through the school year. For us, that means it's time for a lunchbox refresh. Just like I enjoy having a variety of delicious options for my midday meal, I know my kids do too. That's why I'm pretty excited that Entenmann's® Little Bites® has added a new flavor to their Seasonal Favorites® line: Cinnamuffins!

Cinnamuffins, the newest flavor to be added to the Seasonal Favorites® line, are are a lunchbox snack that get my kids excited for lunchtime. Not only are they baked up soft, the muffins provide an irresistible taste of cinnamon in every bite, making them the talk of the lunchroom. While the Cinnamuffins are perfectly pre-portioned and easy to fit into lunchboxes for little hands to enjoy at school or on-the-go, my high school aged daughter also likes to tuck a Little Bites® pouch into her swim bag for an after practice pick me up.

Little Bites® Cinnamuffins contain no high fructose corn syrup, have zero grams of trans fat per serving, and are less than 200 calories per pouch, making them the perfect snack for your lunchbox refresh this season.

Here's some news to get you excited. Little Bites® snacks has teamed up with Sara Lee® Bread to host the #LunchboxGoals Sweepstakes!

 

Fans can visit http://www.lunchboxgoals.com to enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win $2500 for themselves and the local school of their choice! All sweepstakes entries must be made by January 31, 2020 to qualify.

#Lunchbox goals also offers crafty, yet easy lunchbox ideas as well as printables for activities to do with children. Be sure to check them out after submitting your sweepstakes entry!  

Be sure to look for new Little Bites® Cinnamuffins Seasonal Favorites® at your local grocers. They are limited edition, so be sure to grab them while you can! If you would like to learn more about Cinnamuffins, #LunchboxGoals Sweepstakes, or Little Bites® snacks, you can find more information on the Little Bites® website.

WIN IT!

After you've entered the #LunchboxGoals sweepstakes, come back here and enter my giveaway. I am offering one Theresa's Mixed Nuts reader the chance to win $25 Virtual Visa Gift Card + (3) $5 Entenmann's Little Bites® muffins coupons. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S., and will run through 1/29/20. The winner will have 24 hours to respond to winning email before a new one is chosen. As some participants aren't on all social media platforms, I offer multiple ways to enter, but remember, each one is optional. Enter only the ones you'd like an entry for. Good luck!

Entry-Form

Turkey Meatloaf

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


Meatloaf, Smeatloaf, Double Beatloaf. I hate meatloaf. That's one of my favorite lines from A Christmas Story and probably why I didn't like little brother Randy very much. Like, how can you not like meatloaf!? Even if you aren't a meat eater, I've made some awesome vegetarian meatloaf dishes out of lentils, chickpeas, and even mushrooms. There's just something comforting about a big mishmash of goodies blended together, then stuffed and baked into a loaf pan. I used to make a brown sugar meatloaf that was ah-mazing, but extremely unhealthy. But I thought that with everyone restarting their weight loss and healthy eating goals for the new year, I'd share a much healthier, yet still very satisfying Turkey Meatloaf recipe from Golden Blossom Honey with you today. One that I didn't stuff with brown sugar and ketchup, but is still chock full of flavor because of all of the delicious veggies mixed in.

While this recipe didn't call for ketchup, if you must have it, you certainly can slather some over the top before popping the pan into the oven. The only thing I would have done differently with this recipe is let it bake about 30 minutes longer and that's only because Jason likes crispy, almost burnt edges on his meatloaf. If you prefer a softer meatloaf, then leave the bake time as is. Serve it up with a side of mashed potatoes and peas or green beans and you have one heck of a comfort meal you'll want to make again and again.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
3 mushrooms, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes, drained and chopped
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!

Have you made any healthy resolutions for the New Year?

 

My Heart Belongs To Dingle, Ireland

At some point during our Ireland travels, we were hoping to take a scenic drive along the coast. We kept waffling between the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry, but ultimately opted for Dingle since it had a shorter drive time but would still give us some spectacular views. The drive can take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours, depending on how many stops you make, compared to the Ring of Kerry taking 5 to 8 hours. We figured we could do a few more castle hops with the hours we were saving on the drive alone. I was already enchanted by the most Irish looking setup I saw once we got started our journey.

I don't know if this guy is set up here all the time selling his Irish knick knacks, but I thought it was delightful to see.

You should know that driving The Dingle Peninsula is done on a clockwise loop that will take you down narrow, windy, one lane roads, so if you aren't comfortable with driving on the left hand side of the road, sometimes wedged in tiny spaces when you have to allow another motorist space to pass, you may want to consider taking one of the tour buses through the peninsula instead.

While you won't experience it often on the loop, traffic jams to occur. We had about a 15 minute wait while cars tried to get through this one lane section. It was such a tight squeeze, even the biker had to pull to the side of the road to wait it out. It may seem a bit congested when you first start, but once you get on your merry way, traffic will start to break up as motorists pull off the road to enjoy the scenery. There are some amazing beaches on the Wild Atlantic Way that are perfect for a rest stop. I believe some of the beaches even offer surf lessons if you plan on staying awhile.

What draws me most to Ireland are all of its amazing cliffs. Some are big (like the stunning Cliffs of Moher) and some are a bit smaller, but they are all magical in their own right.

I couldn't resist a short climb down this cliff to get a closer look at the water. This was after I tripped and busted my knee and pants open on the road above because I was admiring the view so much I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Those views can be dangerous, folks LOL.

I am a beach girl at heart, so when we saw this unoccupied little slice of heaven, I had to pull off the road to spend some time with my feet going through the surf and sand. The rocks were moss covered and slippery, but once I got past that and the freezing cold water, I felt like this could be one of the most peaceful places on earth.

 
It's a dream of mine to retire to a little sleepy beach town, but Dingle just felt like home. I would love to spend the rest of my days in a tiny Irish cottage overlooking the Atlantic.

I always imagined Ireland as a place where you'd find tons of free-roaming sheep. However, I didn't come across any until we drove through Dingle. Of course, you'll find a lot of red and blue painted sheep that are being farmed, but then at other times you might run into a wild sheep, like this little guy chasing a butterfly.

You'll get both scenic ocean and country views during your drive through the Dingle Peninsula. There are plenty of old structures to explore too.

If you get hungry or want to stop for some shopping, about halfway through the loop you come across this charming, colorful little village. One thing that I absolutely adore about Ireland's towns are the brightly painted buildings. While we didn't stop in this one, I did have Jason drive slowly through so I could really admire it from the window.

How fun are these Star Wars figures made out of old tires? We saw these sitting outside one of the shops in Dingle. So cute!

While we did not have time on this trip to drive the Ring of Kerry, I do hear that it is just as lovely as Dingle. However, if you are short on time, or even have an extra day to fill, I would highly recommend driving the loop of the Dingle Peninsula. Out of all of my travels, it has been by far one of my favorite places to visit. You simply will not regret putting it on your itinerary!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following me on Instagram for more travel related content.

Do you prefer ocean or country views?

Vegetable & Turkey Sausage Soup

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


Soup is one of the best comfort foods there is, especially during the cold winter months. Soup makes its way into our meal rotation at least once a week this time of the year, and even more so when one of us is fighting off a cold. I'm the lucky one in the family who recently picked up another bug, waking up last week with an extremely sore throat, making it hard for me to breathe, let alone swallow. When that happens, I like to make a big batch of veggie soup that is packed with nutrients that will not only soothe me throughout my illness, but give me the vitamins and minerals I need to help me recover a little faster. I had been saving this Vegetable and Turkey Sausage Soup recipe from Golden Blossom Honey to try out in the New Year when I knew the husband would be ready to get back on a healthy eating kick after consuming one too many holiday treats, but I ended up making it a few days early so I wouldn't be going into 2020 feeling like complete crud.  

This is a great light soup for those of you starting on your wellness journey this year. It's got so many yummy and healthy veggies in the mix, as well as beans that are great for fiber intake. Jason likes sausage, so I was happy that this recipe called for turkey sausage instead of pork since turkey is a way better option. For those who don't eat meat, simply substitute the turkey sausage for seitan. Mushrooms would work just as well, though I'd sautee them and add them into the pot with the spinach at the end so they don't get soggy while the soup simmers. I'm not a health expert, but I ate a tablespoon of Golden Blossom Raw Honey (straight from the jar) and a bowl of this delicious soup for lunch every day, and I feel like my cold and sore throat cleared up days faster than colds I've had in the past. Fingers crossed I can get through the remainder of the winter illness-free, but should it strike again, I'll be ready to tackle it with another large pot of this soup.

Ingredients

1/2 pound smoked turkey sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
4 cups water
1 1/2 large yam, peeled and chopped
1 Tablespoon GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can navy beans, rinsed and drained
8 cups (1 bag) fresh spinach, chopped

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!

What are your tips for fighting off colds faster? Do you have a favorite comfort food when you're feeling ill?