Veggie Fries - a Giveaway!

A lot of you know I’ve drastically cut sugar and carbs out of my life. *sniff*. It’s not been easy but I’ve been doing it since mid-January. By far, the hardest thing for me to give up is the carbs. So much more so than the sugar and that really surprised me cause I am a sugar fiend, but cutting out the sugar hasn’t been that bad. The homemade bread, the pasta, the potatoes….that has been hard.

I think I’ve had 10 French fries in the past 3 months. So sad. Then I get this email from a company that makes Veggie Fries. Healthier fries! Yippee! It was like they knew I needed these! Would I like to try them….you betcha.

I love them. The kids love them too and I can eat a whole cup full and still keep my carbs in check. They really are crunchy on the outside and fluffy and tender on the inside. So good and it let's me indulge in fries without feeling guilty! They are gluten free and non-GMO. That means so much to me. We really have enjoyed them and now I want you guys to enjoy them too. So the nice folks at Veggie Fries have given me some coupons to let you enjoy Veggie Fries for free!!

3 lucky winners will receive coupons to buy and choose the Veggie Fries they'd love to try!

If you don't have a blog, please leave me email address to contact you (no email and I'll move on to the next name).

There are three ways to enter: (1) leave a comment on the blog (2) If you haven't already, go “like” The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on Facebook or (3) Already a fan? Just leave a comment here or on Facebook to let me know! Facebook comments will count as entries.

Giveaway ends on midnight Wednesday, April 9th eastern standard time.

Just tell me what flavor of Veggie Fries you'd try first?

They come in four delicious flavors.....

Broccoli & Potatoes



Carrot & Potatoes



Chickpea, Red Peppers & Potatoes



and Tuscan Bean, Herbs & Potatoes



Veggie Fries are made from all natural USA grown potatoes, carefully selected real farm-grown vegetables, beans, spices and herbs to provide the most authentic and delicious flavors. Each batch follows a unique patent-pending process to give you the perfect fry texture – crispy on the outside, fluffy and tender on the inside. Each variety contains at least 25% of non-potato vegetables and beans for a substantial amount of extra vegetable nutrition in every delicious serving. Every ingredient is all natural, non-GMO and contains no gluten or wheat.

You can check out the nutritional information here.



The fingers you see in that top photo are of my youngest. He was grabbing at them when I was taking pics for this post so I decided to keep him in the pic. He really loves them too!

Strawberry Croissant Bake

I'm back to my breakfast "thing". I'm so into the breakfast bakes, especially ones that I can make the night before and just throw into the oven in the morning. I was assembling this at 9pm and it really only took about 10 minutes to throw together.

I had a hankering for strawberries. I bought some a few weeks ago and they were not so good. I saw a 2 pounder from Sam's Club last week and they smelled amazing, so I picked them up. Without opening them up and actually eating a strawberry (which I'm sure the store would frown upon), I usually go for the smell test. If they smell really sweet and strawberrish, then I'll buy them. I cannot wait for strawberry season here in Rhode Island.....that won't be until late June  (ugh).

This really isn't a pretty breakfast bake. The strawberry sauce isn't very photogenic, but that won't stop me from posting this because no matter what it looks like, the important thing is how it tastes, and this tastes fantastic!

I'm watching my carbs and sugars so I only had one serving (1 mini croissant) but I can tell you I would have had 2 or 3 if I weren't watching it. So good!

I used store bought mini croissants. You can use the larger size but I really liked the little ones.

Here's what it looks like after it comes out of the oven and some hungry hands dug into it. The croissants are all snuggled up together. Awww.

This is the perfect breakfast to bring to a sick friend, a brunch, or just for a lazy Sunday.



Strawberry Croissant Bake
Printable recipe
adapted from a recipe at Crumbs & Chaos
12 small butter croissants
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
1 1/4 cups powered sugar (divided)
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs

Strawberry Sauce:
2 cups of fresh strawberries, chopped
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Slice croissants open. I didn't slice mine all the way through, I left them open like a clam shell (trying to give you a mental image, lol). Set aside.

Beat together cream cheese, lemon juice and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in a bowl. You want this to be light and fluffy (I used the whisk attachment for my mixer.)

Spread the cream cheese mixture on the bottom half of each croissant and close the top back down. Arrange the croissants so they all fit in the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 pan. I placed them in there like a little puzzle.

Combine milk, eggs, lemon zest and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Pour over croissants in pan and then cover the pan with foil and place in fridge for 8-10 hours.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place covered pan in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 20-30 minutes until set and golden. Let stand 5-10 minutes after removing from the oven. Serve with strawberry sauce and fresh sliced strawberries.

Strawberry Sauce:
Add strawberries and sugar to a large, heavy saucepan. Stirring often, bring to a boil over medium heat. Take off of the heat and add vanilla. Mash with a potato masher for a chunky sauce, blend with an immersion blender for a smooth sauce.

Sugar Snap Peas & Chinese Sausage

I've been eating a lot of sugar snap peas lately. I kinda get going with something and get a bit obsessed with it. Right now it's sugar snap peas.

My local Sam's Club sells them in a 1 pound bag with no strings! Stringless. Oh glory. That is the one thing I hate about eating sugar snaps, you get that annoying pea string and it just ruins your whole pea eating experience. At least it does for me.

So I've been buying these for a month now and I usually just lightly steam them and add some soy and a little sesame oil and call it a done deal, but after a month of eating them that way I decided to try something a little different. I got my inspiration while I was cleaning out my freezer the other day and noticed a package of lap cheong, my beloved Chinese sausage. My local Asian market carries a few different kinds. I always buy the KamYenJam brand.

If you haven't had Chinese sausage I strongly urge you to try it.  It's dried smoked sausage and unlike some sausages, this must be cooked before you eat it. It's sweet, savory and salty all at the same time. Once you cook it, do not drain away the yummy juices that it renders. That's sauce for the snap peas!




Sugar Snap Peas with Chinese Sausage.
recipe from Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary
Printable recipe
4 links of Chinese sausage (you can freeze any unused sausage)
1 pound of sugar snap peas
2 -3 tablespoons of water
dash Sesame oil
sprinkling of seasame seeds (optional)

In a large heavy bottomed pan cook the Chinese sausage until it renders out some juice and the sausage begins to brown a bit. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the sugar snaps peas, a dash of sesame oil and 2 - 3 tablespoons of water (to help the peas stream) into the same pan.

Cover and steam for 2 - 3 minutes or until the peas are just tender (don't overcook!). Add the sausage back in, sprinkle with sesame seeds and eat immediately!

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Caramelized Shallots

Oh spring come on, I can almost feel you!

We had a couple of days here when the temps reached up into the mid 40's. It was heaven. Just to feel the sun on my face was a joy, but it was short lived. The cold temps crept back in and we had more snow last week, just flurries, but snow none the less. Oh well, that's living in New England.

I caught one heck of a head cold. I was sick for weeks. Before anyone preaches, yes I went to the doctors. I had a little incident a few weeks ago where I actually passed out in the shower. I had been sick all weekend so by Monday morning I had the perfect storm of symptoms that just did me in. My blood sugar was low, I'm sure my blood pressure was low, I wasn't eating right, I probably didn't drink enough either, and my head was completely congested. Combine all that with a steaming hot shower and bam, I was out. That was scary. I didn't get hurt, thankfully, but I did get a note from the doctor to stay home and rest. It was another 3 days on the couch for me. It's been 3 weeks and another trip back to the doctors and I'm just now starting to feel ok. This one threw me for a loop!

The men had quite a few "fend for yourself" suppers, and when I felt well enough to finally get myself back into the kitchen I didn't want to make anything too complicated. These Roasted Chicken Thighs were perfect.

Throw a bunch of ingredients together, let the thighs marinate in them for a few hours then toss them in the oven. How easy is that?

We love chicken thighs in our house. If you're not crazy about them, use whatever piece of chicken you like best.

I actually doubled the amounts from the original recipe and it was the perfect amount of marinade.



Roast Chicken Thighs with Caramelized Shallots
slightly adapted from a recipe at David Lebovitz.com
Printable recipe.
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 large shallots, peeled and minced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 chicken thighs, skin on.

Preheat the oven to 425ºF . In a large baking dish, one which will hold all the chicken pieces in a single layer, mix the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, shallots, and some salt and pepper. I refrigerated these for a few hours before I put them in the oven.

Toss the chicken in the mixture, so they’re completely coated with the shallots. Turn the chicken pieces so they are all skin side up.

Roast the chicken for about twenty minutes, until it starts to brown on top. Turn the pieces of chicken over. Scrape any juices and shallots over the chicken that may be clinging to the pan, and bake for another twenty minutes, or until the pieces of chicken are cooked through and the shallots are well-caramelized.

Janet's Cheesy Baked Cauliflower

I just can't get enough cauliflower. I could eat it every single day.

I usually make my Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower or my Breaded Cauliflower but I'm always on the look out for a new cauliflower recipe and I found one through my friends Bob and Lisa Wisniewski. I was chatting with Lisa and she said that Bob was making a cheesy cauliflower recipe. I had a cheesy cauliflower recipe sitting on the kitchen table, ready to make but when Lisa told me about Bob's mother's recipe I scrapped that recipe for this one. I'm glad I did.

This was so delicious. You microwave the whole head before it goes in the oven so it cuts down the baking time significantly. You get this big head of cauliflower that you can cut into wedges to eat. It's just so good.

I might take a new spin on this the next time I make it and cut the head into florets, coat them with the mayo mixture, place them in a shallow baking sheet then cover with cheese and bake. Either way this recipe is scrumptious!

This is Bob's mother's recipe. Janet is no longer with us, but her recipe lives on. That's what I love about recipes and cooking, you can still make something that brings back memories of that person. So thank you Janet Wisniewski.



Janet's Cheesy Baked Cauliflower
Printable Recipe
1 large head of cauliflower
3/4 cup mayo
2 tsp finely chopped onions or shallots
1-2 tsp prepared mustard (I used brown mustard)
dash salt & pepper
1-2 tablespoons parsley
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup water to cook the cauliflower
paprkia for sprinkling

Rinse the head of cauliflower and remove the bottom leaves. Be sure to leave the core in tact so it won't fall apart.

Place the cauliflower and the water in a microwave save bowl. I covered mine with a piece of parchment paper and used an elastic to secure it around the bowl. You could use a piece of plastic wrap, but I'm always leery of microwaving plastic products. Microwave on high for 10 - 12 minutes. Times may vary depending on how powerful your microwave is. You can check for doness by sliding a sharp knife into the side of the cauliflower. If you can slide it in with little to no resistance, you're good. If not return to microwave and check it every few minutes.

Drain the water from the bowl and set it aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a bowl combine the mayo, onions, mustard and salt & pepper. Stir to combine and slather it all over the cauliflower head. Top with the cheddar cheese, sprinkle with paprika and place in a 350 oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Slice into wedges to eat.

Easy Sausage Pizza Skillet

The nice folks at Jimmy Dean contacted me and asked me to create a recipe using Jimmy Dean Sausage crumbles.

I didn't even know Jimmy Dean made sausage crumbles did you?

Well now I know and I have to say....they can be a time saver in the kitchen! You can find them in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store. They make a turkey sausage crumble too and they come in a handy re-sealable bag!




I decided to try something with a pizza theme since almost everyone loves pizza. Are there people who don't love it? I can imagine???

Anyway, I thought about for a week or so and I came up with this very easy one skillet meal. You don't have lots of pots and pans to clean, you don't have a sink full of dishes to wash, but you do have dinner in under a half hour. A very delicious dinner I might add.

If you have little ones in the house, you could even have them help you prepare this!



Easy Sausage Skillet Bake
recipe from Lisa @The Cutting Edge of Ordinary
1/2 cups Jimmy Dean Sausage Crumbles (I used the original, but you can use the turkey crumble if you prefer)
1/2 cup diced pepperoni
1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
6 Grands buttermilk biscuits cut into 8 pieces each

In a 9 inch cast iron skillet (or any oven proof skillet), place the sausage crumbles and the diced pepperoni. Let them heat up just until they are warm. Add in the can of diced tomatoes, and the Italian seasoning. Remove from stove.

Cut 6 grands biscuits into 8 pieces each. Gently toss the biscuits into the skillet along with 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and a 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 400 for 20 - 25 minutes or until the biscuits are lightly golden brown. Top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and serve warm!

#spon: I'm required to disclose a relationship between our site and Jimmy Dean. This could include Jimmy Dean providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.

Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake

I needed something sunshiny and lemony.

I needed a little taste of spring.

This cake was it.

Yes there is still snow on the ground here, but we had a lovely weekend where the highs were almost 50! That was amazing for us in February. I saw kids in shorts and loads of people without jackets. It doesn't take much to get Rhode Islanders going. We are all ready for another rude awakening cause the Polar Vortex is here again.

I bookmarked this cake a few weeks ago. I knew it would just the lift we needed. I love the combination of lemon and blueberries. Just love it.

I used my frozen berries that I picked last summer. Each year after I spend a day food vaccing berries I always tell myself it's way too much, and every winter as I pull the last few bags from the freezer I think, I should have picked more.

There were 3 things that went a little different for me with this recipe.

The batter. I read all the comments and the author said over and over again how thick this batter would be, but mine wasn't overly thick. It wasn't a loose batter by any means, it just wasn't as thick as I had expected it to be.

The quantity it made. Again, I read the comments and even asked the author if I could use 2 cake pans instead of 3 and she said no, there was just too much batter and that I could make cupcakes with the remainder. I used 2 cake pans, filled them 2/3 full and had no problems.

The amount of lemon juice. The author stated: "You’ll need 3 medium lemons. 1 medium-size lemon = approximately 1 tablespoon of lemon zest = 2 to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice". I used the zest of 3 lemons but I had 3 tablespoons of lemon juice from just 1 1/2 lemons. As I said before, the cake batter wasn't overly thick. Adding the juice of all the lemons would have made it even looser. I guess it depends on how juicy your lemons are.

I was pleased with the finished cake. It was light and moist and had just the perfect amount of lemon zing.

Remember not to overmix your batter!



Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction
For the Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 and 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour, careful not to over measure!
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
zest + juice of 3 medium lemons * see note above
1 and 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh (258g) or non-thawed frozen (275g)
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

Frosting
8 ounces (224g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3.5 cups (420g) confectioners' sugar
1 - 2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) heavy cream or half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray three 9x2 inch cake pans with nonstick spray. (*I didn’t have 3 cake pans that were the same size so I used 2 and split the batter in half and it came out perfect) Set aside.

Make the cake. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until creamy - about 1 minute. Add granulated and brown sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until everything is combined, about 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Set aside.

In a large sized bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat on low speed for 10 seconds, then add the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Beat on low until just combined. Toss the blueberries in 1 Tablespoon of flour and fold into the batter. Batter is extremely thick.

Spoon batter evenly into 3 prepared cake pans. Bake for about 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. *(I baked my 2 pans for 35 minutes until they tested done). Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Make the frosting. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until no lumps remain, about 3 full minutes. Add confectioners' sugar, 1 Tablespoon cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add 1 more Tablespoon of cream to thin out, if desired.

Assemble and frost. First, using a large serrated knife, trim the tops off the cake layers to create a flat surface. Place 1 layer on your cake stand. Evenly cover the top with cream cheese frosting. Top with 2nd layer, more frosting, then the third layer. Top with frosting and spread around the sides. The recipe doesn't make a ton of frosting, just enough for a light frost. Top with blueberries or lemon garnish if desired. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before cutting or else the cake may fall apart as you cut.

Make 1 day in advance if you'd like. Extras keep well in the refrigerator for up to 3days.