Winner of Foodie Freebie Friday: Kim & Scott's Pretzels

Thank goodness it's (Foodie Freebie) Friday! We made it through another week and what a great week it has been... and an even better weekend ahead for me. I hope you had a great week too and have some fun weekend plans in store. This weekend is the first full weekend I had to myself with no events or entertaining plans since May 1st! I'm really looking forward to taking time out to play in the kitchen, have some culinary adventures to myself and relax... I'm so excited! What plans do you have for the weekend in your corner of the world?

This week's Foodie Freebie Friday is one that got me all twisted up and inspired me to make some soft pretzels soon. I loved reading all the various ways readers like their soft pretzels and it's been confirmed - a majority prefers to enjoy our pretzels simply with a little salt! Accompanying dips are varied but my favorite would have to be cheese.

Kim and Scott's Preztels not only offer great plain pretzels but their sweet and savory flavors take pretzels to a whole new level. A special thanks to Kim & Scott's Pretzels, they will be sending a lucky reader a complimentary pretzel package of 10 different pretzels to indulge in including...

6 oz. Apple Cinnamon Pretzel

6 oz. Original Cheesecake Pretzel

6 oz. Mixed Berry Cobbler Pretzel

6 oz. Chocolate Crumb Pretzel

6 oz. Cinnamon Roll Pretzel

6 oz. Pizza Pretzel

6 oz. Cheese Lover's Pretzel

6 oz. Spinach Feta Pretzel

6 oz. Grilled Cheese Pretzel

6 oz. Cream Cheese Pretzel

So who's the lucky winner that's receiving a Kim & Scott's Original Variety Pretzel Pack?

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

10

Timestamp: 2009-07-31 14:58:03 UTC

Comment #10 comes from Frances who said...

I have to come up with one favorite? hmmm... chocolate covered with sprinkles!!
July 27, 2009 2:19 PM

Congratulations to Frances! Please email me at itsjoelen@gmail.com so I can have your Kim & Scott's Original Variety Pretzel Pack sent to you!

Thanks again to all those that commented and stay tuned to the next Foodie Freebie announcement on Monday, August 3, 2009! Don't feel discouraged if you haven't won yet - I have a whole year's worth of freebies ahead and next week is one that you won't want to miss!

WGN Midday News with Chef Rick Bayless!

How's this for a culinary adventure?!? Today was an exciting day because I was featured on WGN Chicago's Midday News. It's was a great opportunity to talk about the recent RedEye Virtual Kitchen Stadium competition I won, along with Chef Rick Bayless and RedEye Competition Chairwoman, Dorothy Hernandez.


The behind the scenes of a TV news station is pretty interesting and seeing how it all comes together is a lot of fun to watch. Here's the news desk where Steve Sanders, Dina Blair, and Tom Skilling sit during the broadcasts...


The room itself is filled with quite a few cameras and lights, filling up the ceiling...


My cooking segment was towards the end of the Midday News so there were quite a few segments ahead of me, including Tom Skilling's weather report. He stands in front of a huge green screen in which images behind him are only displayed when it's broadcasted. It's quite a skill to point to various parts of a green wall without seeing what city or state it is, much less what the weather front is bringing in!


Tom is such a personable and warm person... just like he comes across when he's doing his thing on camera. The RedEye staff and I got a chance to take a pic with Tom before he headed out...


While the Midday News was filming, I was cooking and preparing my dishes... did you happen to catch the 2 "camera teasers" before the segment during the broadcast? There were moments where the set had to keep quiet since the cameras were rolling and there was always someone to tell us how many minutes/seconds until air time.


So show time is only a few minutes away and Chef Rick Bayless arrived. It was great that he remembered me a couple of weeks ago when we met at a BBQ picnic event, even though it was a pretty brief encounter during such a busy event. After (re) introductions, we took a group picture together...


We had a few minutes to talk about the recipes, how our segment will go and some last minute prep. Chef Rick Bayless was extremely kind and warm. Off camera he's slightly soft spoken and just a pleasure to be around. On camera, his upbeat personality shines through his big smiles and you can certainly feel his positive energy!


..... And it's showtime! You can watch the cooking segment here! Here are some shots from the interview too...


One thing that wasn't seen on the cooking segment was Dina and Rick trying my dish. I think it was because everyone was pretty hungry up to this point and they had to endure the great aromas from the kitchen while I was cooking and preparing. It probably wouldn't have been pretty seeing it on camera because we all devoured everything when the cameras were off. I received quite a few compliments from everyone on my dish, including Chef Rick Bayless... and it was quite an honor to not only have him review my recipes but to meet him and have him try it in person!

Check out RedEye's thoughts on today's experience at their website!

Special thanks go to the RedEye staff, especially Dorothy Hernandez for creating such a fun cooking competition and reaching out to me to participate; Chef Rick Bayless for participating as the guest judge and his time to come out and join me in the spotlight; the WGN News team and crew who made it quite a fun experience; my husband Louis for being my biggest fan and ultimate recipe taste tester; and my parents for their help, support and inspiring me to continue my culinary adventures.

Garlic Roasted Chicken Tacos

I love picking up whole roasting chickens when they're on sale. I always look at whole roasting chickens as a "Two for One" deal because after roasting the chicken and using the meat in various ways, I'm left with the trimmings, bones, skins, etc which I save and freeze to make homemade chicken stock later. Today I roasted a chicken stuffed with whole garlic cloves and rubbed with a garlic and onion seasoning. Once roasted, I removed the chicken meat to use for tacos.

Garlic Roasted Chicken Tacos
original Joelen recipe

Preparing the Chicken:
1 (3-5lb) roasting chicken
1 head of garlic
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup garlic & onion seasoning (or you can use whatever seasoning you have on hand)
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparing the Tacos: corn or flour tortillas
extras: lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Pat your chicken dry and set aside.
Peel the head of garlic and separate the whole cloves. Peel off papery skins and place the cloves into the cavity of your chicken.
Place your garlic filled chicken into a roasting pan and drizzle the oil over the chicken. Rub the oil all over the chicken as it will help it get a nice golden color while baking.
Liberally rub the seasoning over the chicken until well coated.
Bake the chicken in the preheated oven for 1 hour uncovered.
Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to cool; once cooled, remove the chicken from the bones and set aside.
Place the bones, scraps and trimmings in a freezer bag and freeze to make a homemade chicken stock later.
Use the chicken meat as the filling for your tacos and place inside warm tortillas with your preferred condiments and extras.

Dorie's Vanilla Ice Cream

It has been a very month for me that I haven't been able to keep up with the Tuesdays With Dorie challenges, however I did manage to get this week's in and will be doing some catch up this weekend. This week's Tuesdays With Dorie baking challenge was Dorie's Vanilla Ice Cream, chosen by Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu (who has the recipe within her blog). This recipe was perfect for the summer and a great one to really be creative with.


The ice cream recipe is straightforward in that it only involves 5 wholesome ingredients - whole milk, heavy cream, a vanilla bean or vanilla extract, egg yolks and sugar. A custard is made with the ingredients before churning in an ice cream maker... how simple is that?! For those that want to be creative, Dorie also includes a few variations by adding some ingredients to the custard to create new flavors such as: mint chocolate chunk, honey vanilla, cinnamon, "crunchy" or swirled. I love how versatile vanilla ice cream recipes are and they serve as a perfect base to be creative. For the challenge, I kept it simple and made only vanilla ice cream. It was especially delicious with a slice of cherry pie!

Foodie Freebie Friday: Kim & Scott Pretzels

Well hello there! It's been awhile since I've hosted my weekly Foodie Freebie Fridays... but this week I'm back. But I'm not back empty handed, especially when it's Monday and time to announce the foodie freebie of the week!

Are you a fan of pretzels? I'm not talking about those hard bagged pretzels you get at the supermarket... I'm talking about soft pretzels! I enjoy pretzels and find them to be quite a satisfying snack. Some may even say they're healthy too. Well in Chicago, we're lucky to have Kim & Scott's Pretzels headquartered here.

The pretzel was born in 610 A.D., and its spirit lives on in a magical bakery in America…In 610 A.D., an imaginative monk formed left over dough to represent children’s arms folded in prayer. It was called “Pretiola,” Latin for “little reward.” Over time, the word “Pretiola” evolved to become “Pretzel.” Today, people of all ages enjoy Kim & Scott’s unique handmade twists, made with the same magical spirit started back in 610 A.D.

Kim & Scott's Pretzels offers up some amazing soft pretzels - both sweet and savory. You may have aleady seen them at your local grocery store as they have pretzels available through the retail market. Some of my favorite flavors they offer include their Pizza Stuffed Pretzel and Grilled Cheese Stuffed Pretzels. If I want to satify my sweet tooth, I like Apple Cinnamon Pretzels and their Mixed Berry Cobbler Pretzels.

Aside from their delicious eats, they are a company dedicated to reaching out to their community, They have in place programs such as "Pretzels For Peace" where they donate pretzels and money to a variety of events in and outside of Chicago like the Breast Cancer Walk, Special Olympics, MS walks, and numerous youth organizations. Both Kim and Scott's also work with area high schools to provide an opportunity for students to shadow and work as paid interns in the company.

For this week's Foodie Freebie Friday, one lucky reader will be receiving a Kim & Scott's Original Variety Pretzel Pack which includes one of each of the following flavors, which is a total of 10 pretzels:

6 oz. Apple Cinnamon Pretzel

6 oz. Original Cheesecake Pretzel

6 oz. Mixed Berry Cobbler Pretzel

6 oz. Chocolate Crumb Pretzel

6 oz. Cinnamon Roll Pretzel

6 oz. Pizza Pretzel

6 oz. Cheese Lover's Pretzel

6 oz. Spinach Feta Pretzel

6 oz. Grilled Cheese Pretzel

6 oz. Cream Cheese Pretzel

So did you want to get into the Pretzelpalooza action? Read on to find out how!

Some guidelines:
- Giveaway is only for those who live in the United States - my apologies to my international readers!
- You must have a valid email address (within your comment or blog link) so that you can be contacted if you win.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment answering:

- What kind of preztels do you like? (Soft? Hard? Sticks? Knots?) Any kind of way you like your soft preztels? (with salt, without salt, with cheese, etc?)


Deadline: Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 12 midnight CST.

ONE WINNER will be randomly chosen by Random. Org's Interger Generator based on the number of your comment and will be announced on Friday, July 31st, 2009. Good luck!

Wine & Dine: Chile

For this month's Wine & Dine event, we highlighted Chilean wine and cuisine. It's a wonderful cuisine that is heavy with seafood dishes, squash, corn, quinoa, olives and potato. Taking a lot of influence from Spanish cuisine, it's not really spicy but rather pretty mild. Our Chilean dinner was full of so many dishes and flavors, all working nicely together and even better with the Chilean wines we had. Here's our menu we enjoyed, which made for a fabulous Chilean evening...

SANGRIA BAR:

White Sangria w/Pineapple & Orange juice
Rose Sangria w/Lychee, Pineapple & Cherry juice
Red Sangria w/Guava juice
Mango Ice Tea

Chilean Wines.... so many!!

APPETIZERS:
Chilean Style Sopaipillas
Empanadas de Horno Chips & Salsa
Beef Empanadas using Wonton Skins

ENTREES:

Pollo Con Chilean Peaches
Pollo Arvejado (Galician Chicken)
Lime Soaked, Cumin-Crusted Skirt Steak
Pastel de Choclo (Chilean Corn Pie)
Huevos con Pilco de Choclo

SIDES:

Chilean Rice
Porotos Granados con Masa Morra
Plantains
Yellow Rice

DESSERTS:
Sweet Raspberry Empanadas
Kuchen de Quesillo

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cherry Pie

Chocolate Chile Cake

Sweet Dried Kiwi