Join Me for the Hillshire #StartYourGrill Twitter Party + $550 in Prizes on Weds (4/30) at 3pm EST! #shop #cbias

Now that it finally feels like spring and summer, we can finally start grilling! American Craft Sausage from Hillshire has some awesome new flavors that you have to try while you are tailgating at the ballpark or grilling out in your backyard. These links are handcrafted and smoked in small batches using a natural hardwood blend for premium flavor and quality. They start with the best cuts of 100% pork and contain no MSG. This American Craft process ensures that all you taste is exceptional sausage. The must-grill flavors include: Jalapeno & Cheddar, Garlic & Onion, and Smoky Bourbon.

The Jalapeno & Cheddar sausage would go perfect with a toasted brioche (egg) roll with a side of Tex Mex Red Cabbage Slaw, while the Garlic & Onion sausage on a toasted seed roll with thick cut pub fries would be excellent or try the Smoky Bourbon sausage on a toasted hoagie roll with thick cut sweet potato chips would be divine. Are you hungry yet? If so, you can go check out a demo at one of your local Walmart store! There is nothing better than trying a product first and realizing you love all of the flavors!

Here in Massachusetts, the spring weather is just getting started.  We look forward to grilling more this spring and summer, and Hillshire American Craft Sausage links will make it so much easier!  Just grill them, serve them on a bun, and pair with your favorite sides, like potato, pasta, or chickpea salad.  Personally, I love my sausages topped with grilled onions and red peppers.  How do you like yours?


Join me at the #StartYourGrill Twitter Party on SoFabChats!

DATE: April 30, 2014

TIME: 3:00 PM ET

PRIZES: 5 – $100 Walmart Gift Cards

EARLY BIRD: 1 – $50 Walmart Gift Cards

RSVP: #StartYourGrill Party Page

LOCATION: SoFabChats Tweet Grid

HOST: @blm03

CO HOSTS: @WisconsinMommy, @_Karen, @MsMissy62

PARTY RULES: #StartYourGrill Official Party Rules


Tweet to Share:

Join #StartYourGrill Twitter Party 4/30 3pm ET. Grilling #Recipes! Prizes $550! RSVP/Rules http://t.co/LWOybOOcEw #shop
— Karen Coutu (@_Karen) April 25, 2014

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Easy Recipe: Garlic Mushroom Swiss Burger

Now that school is about to start, you may still want to grill, but do not have the time to do so for dinner as often between homework and earlier bedtimes.  Here is a quick and easy way to prepare hamburgers that is simple, but not boring.  These Garlic Mushroom Swiss Burgers are perfect for serving on a school night.

Recipe:  Garlic Mushroom Swiss Burger

INGREDIENTS:

hamburger patties

sliced baby bella mushrooms

Swiss cheese slices

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

pre-sliced hamburger buns

butter or margarine

garlic salt

garlic season blend

Step 1.  Heat olive oil (I use extra virgin) in a skillet over medium heat and add sliced mushrooms.  Stir until mushrooms are coated with oil.  Add salt and pepper to taste (optional) and saute mushrooms until tender.  Leave mushrooms in hot skillet with heat off to keep warm.

Step 2.  Grill hamburger patties on grill. When ready, flip patties over and add a slice of Swiss cheese on top. Remove burgers from grill when cooked to your taste.

Step 3.  Prepare hamburger buns using the butter/margarine, garlic salt, and garlic seasoning according to my easy garlic bread instructions.

Step 4.  Assemble your burger by placing the grilled hamburger patties on the bottom buns.  Then top with sauteed mushrooms.  Cover with top bun and serve immediately.

This recipe can be easily tailored to serve anywhere from one person to a whole family gathering.  It is even faster to prepare if you have one person outside grilling while a second person is inside preparing the mushrooms and the garlic buns at the same time.

As always, if you try this easy recipe, I would love to know how you and your family liked it.

On My Father's Day Wishlist This Year . . . a New Grill!

You know, I do not think I have ever met a person in all of my 40 years that does not like to grill or eat grilled food. I think it is something primal about us, deep down inside us we are still linked to the first humans who used fire to cook food.

Is there anything better than marinated steak tips cooked so the edges are just slightly seared while the middle is still a little pink? Man I am salivating just writing that...

Well, grill season is here and it is time to talk grills! I feel like a little kid on Christmas eve when I think about buying a new grill this summer!

Stainless steel, powder coated, gas, charcoal, rotisserie, side burners, yippee! Just thinking about which grill will replace my old rusted out one gets me excited about grilling. I think this year I will consider a Weber gas grill from the Weber Genesis series. Although the Genesis line of gas grills aren’t inexpensive, they are of ultra-high quality and offer supreme performance. I think, for an appliance we use as much as a grill, cost is secondary to performance and longevity.

Last year I grilled up some veggies and tips that turned out so good I still think about them. I bought an aluminum disposable grill basket from the market and threw in cut up peppers (red, yellow, and orange) as well as red onions. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and cook until they just barely start to soften. MMMmmmMMMMMmMMM!

Review: "Evolve Grill-Bake-Muffin" George Foreman Electric Grill

My husband and I remember when the original George Foreman Grill made its debut. We actually were the proud owners of one. Today, George Foreman Healthy Cooking offers a wide array of electric grills to fit your household's particular needs. For our family of five, the Evolve Grill-Bake-Muffin electric grill seemed like the perfect one since it is fairly large and extremely versatile. It also performs several functions without the clutter of extra pans and accessories we do not have room for in our little shoebox of a townhouse.

This grill is extremely user-friendly. There is not an abundance of different buttons or confusing settings to worry about. If you have any problems, the included manual contains step-by-step instructions for the various ways this grill can be used.

The Evolve Grill-Bake-Muffin electric grill comes with two grill plates, a deep dish baking pan, a muffin pan, a drip tray, a spatula, and a pan handle. Each pan is made with the "George Tough" non-stick coating so there is no need to use oil or cooking spray, which results in healthier cooking.

The other way the George Foreman grills make cooking healthier is the tilted surface that allows most of the oil and grease to drain off from your food into the drip tray. Since this grill is designed for multiple uses, there is a lever that allows the grill to move from a flat position to a tilted position.

You may know from visiting my site in the past that we are huge fans of grilling brats. So what better way to break in our new grill than to cook up some brats to be topped off with some onions and peppers?

The difference in the brats was so noticeable that even our 6 year old son commented about how they were juicy, but not oily.

I also tried out the bottomless muffin pan which sits inside the deep dish baking pan. I had intended to make corn muffins and was a little concerned about how shallow the muffin tin was.

My corn muffins seemed to have baked just fine. I followed the time and temperature on the mix rather than what was suggested in the manual. I put the whole muffin pan minus the baking pan on a metal rack to cool just as the manual instructed. When it came time to remove my muffins, I ran into a problem. They did not come out easily and the edges stubbornly stuck to the the pan. Next time I use this pan, I am most certainly going to grease it.

One thing I remembered about our very first George Foreman grill was how difficult it was to clean even though we tried to do it while the grill was hot. It seems that the brand has made several improvements in this area. First of all, the removable pans make cleaning much easier. Secondly, there seems to be improvements made to the non-stick coating in general. The pieces were easier to clean than a regular grill, but they still needed to be scrubbed like any other non-stick pan that has a greasy mess on its surface.

Other than my issues with the muffin pan, we were extremely pleased with this grill. It heats up very quickly and has enough surface area to cook brats, hot dogs, and mini hamburgers for the five of us all at once. This particular George Foreman grill is definitely family-friendly.

To view the full line of George Foreman electric grills, visit GeorgeForemanCooking.com, where you can order products right on the website. You can also find George Foreman Cooking on Facebook and on Twitter.

This post was written for the Family Review Network & George Foreman Healthy Cooking, who provided the complimentary product in exchange for my honest review.

Ruby Tuesday: Brats in My House?

These are the kind of brats that are always welcome in our house! My husband and I love to have beer brats grilled and topped with onions and peppers. It's a shame that our two youngest children do not care for onions and peppers. Luckily our oldest likes his brats cooked this way too, so it's 3 against 2!

If you'd like to see more Ruby Tuesday photos, go visit Mary at Work of the Poet!

Johnsonville Brats Fans Enter the "Grillville" Sweepstakes

Johnsonville Beer Brats has been a long-time favorite in my house. They just melt in your mouth. How do you like your brats? We prefer ours grilled and served with well-cooked onions and peppers. Even our 3 children, 2 of which are just about the pickiest eaters in the whole world, love Johnsonville Brats. The peppers, however, are another story entirely.

Through July 20th of 2010, you are invited to play in the Johnsonville ShareYourVille Sweepstakes! There are $30,000 worth of cash and prizes to be given out from generous sponsors, such as Hefty, Coleman, Gander Mountain, and of course Johnsonville. One of the prizes is a $10,000 cash prize!

How to enter . . .

1. Upload a short video into one of the 4 categories (Friendsville, Familyville, Eventville, and Locationville). You will get to choose between 2 divisions . . . Amateur or Pro. You can use the same video for more than one category as long as it fits the theme. The first 50 video entrants will automatically received coupons for Free Johnsonville products.
2. Play the Grillville Game! (Careful . . . it's a bit addictive.)
3. Look around on Facebook and the web for Grillville Code Words. Here's one to get you started . . .

This Week’s Johnsonville GRILLVILLE Secret Code Word is "BRATS"

Check 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page for another secret Grillville Code Word.

To learn more about this and other fun Johnsonville contests, visit ShareYourVille.com, Johnsonville.com, JvilleSausage on Twitter, and Johnsonville on Facebook.

Thank you to Johnsonville for sending us grilling products free of charge to base this review upon and for providing us with sweepstakes information to share with our readers.

Ruby Tuesday: To Grill or Not To Grill?

I'm not sure which I prefer . . . fresh crispy brightly colored vegetables or the same veggies hot off the grill tossed in some extra virgin olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Both have their positive points. I guess we will just have to alternate between the two every other day. That sounds fair, doesn't it?

If you'd like to see more Ruby Tuesday photos, go visit Mary at Work of the Poet!

Giveaway & Review: Things Remembered Personalized Grill Set [CLOSED]

I don't know about you, but I personally find shopping for men's gifts to be far more difficult than shopping for women or children. The main problem is that most of what men want (power tools, electronics, tech items, etc . . . ) seem to cost a lot more money than I am able to spend. Luckily, Things Remembered has a wide array of gifts to choose from for under $75, under $50, under $20, and even some under $10.

Since my husband enjoys grilling, I thought that this personalized grilling tools set would be the perfect gift for him. It is much nicer than the one he had and, since these tools are presented so beautifully in this personalized storage case, I think he will take much better care of them (rather than forgetting about them and leaving them outside). I chose to have the box engraved with our surname, but you can opt for a longer personalization in a smaller font size.

This set comes with four essential grilling tools . . . a spatula (which can also be engraved), tongs, a fork, and a basting brush.

The wooden storage box is lined with a soft fabric and elasticized straps to keep the tools in place. The handles of the tools are made of artificial wood and come with straps for hanging. The spatula has a serrated edge for cutting meat and the bristles of the basting brush are silicone.

This set comes in a cardboard Things Remembered box that you can either wrap or just put a bow on it for easy gift-giving. My husband is usually very practical when it comes to functional things like cooking tools. He likes things to work well, to be sturdy, and easy to care for. This BBQ set is all those things.

Visit ThingsRemembered.com or your local Things Remembered store location to view their full line of gifts for Dad. For a limited time, you can received Free Shipping on U.S. orders of $100 or more. This is perfect if you need to buy for your husband, your own Dad, and your father-in-law this year. Be sure to check the estimated shipping dates on the bottom left of each product page to make sure you can get your gift sent on time for Father's Day, which is June 20th this year.

Thank you to Things Remembered for sending us a sample grill set free of charge to base this review upon and for providing a second set for our contest prize.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a personalized BBQ Grill Set (ARV $65).

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing. You are not eligible to win this contest if you have won another Things Remembered giveaway in the past 90 days on this or another website.

How to Gain Entries:

Browse the Father's Day gift ideas available from Things Remembered. Then leave a comment telling me what item you would love to give as a Father's Day gift (other than the BBQ Set reviewed in this article) AND tell me how you would have it engraved. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2) For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 2 extra entries, "Like" Things Remembered on Facebook AND post the answer for your mandatory entry on their Wall. Then leave a separate comment with the direct link to your post or to your Facebook profile.

4) For 1 extra entry each, Friend me on Facebook and/or "Like" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page. Then leave a separate comment for each entry completed with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 2 extra entries, follow Things Remembered on Twitter AND Tweet the following:

“I'm following @Tremembered thanks to @_Karen of 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires.”

Then leave a separate comment with the direct link to your tweet.

6) Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7) Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9) Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

10) Add my button or blog link to your blog's sidebar. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your blog.

<br /> <a href="http://www.3garnets2sapphires.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd206/Busymonkeez/Graphics4Me/NEWBlogButton125x125.jpg" /></a><br /><br />

(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Sunday, June 20th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!