I got a BIG ol’ box in the mail earlier this week from Pampered Chef. I’m new to their products but just recently I’ve been inundated with people having Pampered Chef parties and handing out their catalogs. I’m not complaining — I certainly like their stuff a lot better than Tupperware, Home Interiors, or Candle-Lite crap products. In fact, I’ve been extremely happy with all the Pampered Chef things I’ve gotten so far.
One thing I love is their little $1 “Season’s Best” cook book that comes out twice a year. I got the Fall/Winter 2008 edition and it has lots of good stuff in it. (And for a whole dollar, it’s more than worth it!)
I tried out one of the recipes from the cookbook last night — Creamy One Pot Pasta – and it turned out absolutely fantastic.
I assume (?) the recipe is copyrighted or something, so I probably shouldn’t post it online (but *hint* you might be able to find it if you do a Google search). You can buy the entire cookbook on the Pampered Chef site or I’m sure you can find a friend who sells their products.
If you try the recipe, I recommend adding a little more cream cheese than it calls for. Mine didn’t seem creamy enough till I added a bit extra. Also, in the future I plan to add a little extra broccoli to mine because I really enjoy it.
The grocery trip leading up to this particular meal was pretty interesting — I’d never gone looking for a jar of sun-dried tomatoes before. I think I spent 20 minutes searching. Here’s a hint: our grocery store keeps them in the fresh produce section, on a little tiny rack next to the fresh tomatoes.
This was also (*gasp*) the first time I’ve bothered to cook fresh broccoli. Typically I just buy frozen. Wow what a difference. I’ve really been missing out! I know that probably sounds ridiculous to most people that I’d just have figured this out, but you have to understand that I’ve only really started eating vegetables (aside from corn and sweet peas) within the last three years. So every time I find something I enjoy, I’m pleasently surprised.
While I was at the store, I also got some goodies to do some more cupcake “experiments”: tonight I’m hoping to make some choco-coffee cupcakes. I’ll let you all know how that goes. I also got a couple of the Wilton mini-muffin pans, so I’m thinking of making these particular cupcakes into bite-size treats. But more on that once I see if it’s successful!
