Cantina Steak Burrito {Taco Bell}

With Taco Bell's new Cantina menu, even on a diet you can still find a healthy fresh fast-food solution. I've been eating Taco Bell for as long as I can remember, it's now one of my son's favorite places to eat. I am usually a creature of habit and have the same thing each time I visit. There are about 4 or 5 menu items that are on my list and I just rotate through them. So, trying out the NEW Cantina Steak Burrito was a treat for me.

It was a Sunday afternoon, my son and I decided to stay in our pj's and have a relaxing day at home (yes, it was Super Bowl Sunday too, but with the hubby working, we never even turned it on). My son enjoyed his video games and (me) mommy was in her scrapbook room watching chick-flicks all day long. It really was a PERFECT Sunday afternoon.

When we got a little hungry I decided to head through the Taco Bell drive thru (yep, in my pj's). The NICE thing about drive-thru's no one cares what you are wearing. I ordered my son's usual items and I purchased the Cantina Steak Burrito for myself. I decided to just stick with the one item this time and I am glad I did, the burrito is HUGE. It's a great size and can even be split with a friend or family member. I know if my husband had been home, this would have surely filled him up with one burrito.

The Cantina Burrito is filled with thick cut steak, rice, black beans and guacamole. It also has pico de gallo, and a roasted corn & pepper salsa and to top it off it has creamy cilantro dressing, all of these things are VERY DELICIOUS! The two flavors that stood out to me were the fresh guacamole and the creamy cilantro dressing, these two elements were my favorite part of this new burrito. When I saw that there was a Cantina Bowl too, it's now next on my list to try. I encourage all of you to stop by local Taco Bell and try out the new Cantina menu, I don't think you will be disappointed.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received a stipend for this post, but the opinions are mine"

This post is sponsored by Taco Bell. See how great our steak is when you try the new Cantina Steak Burrito. Because when it comes to a great steak burrito, it's all about the steak.

French Onion Burger or Salisbury Steak Style {CAMPBELL'S KITCHEN}

I love when I come across a recipe, make it and my mouth just waters right from the first bite. Well, that is exactly what happened when I made this for dinner. I really thought, this is just gonna be another burger recipe. I wanted to stick with my New Year's diet plan so I decided to eliminate the bun and serve this new French Onion Burger over a bed of mashed potatoes. I took my first bite and it brought me back to my childhood with memories of a Salisbury Steak TV dinner, something that I absolutely love. And now I can make it from fresh ingredients and it taste SO GOOD!

I am so excited that I picked up this soup from Campbell's Kitchen, it's not something I would have ever tried if it was not for Campbell's and Foodbuzz, so THANK YOU! I promise you all this recipe will not disappoint you, the photos do not do it justice (photographing a hamburger patty isn't easy, I did the best I could). And if you have picky little kids (like me), I served my son's burger with cheese on a bun, so this recipe is good for making a delicious grown-up meal and a kid meal all in one shot.

Check out this recipe and many more at Campbell's Kitchen.

French Onion Burger {Salisbury Steak}
recipe from Campbell's Kitchen

1 lb ground beef
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's Condensed French Onion Soup

Optional: Cheese Slices and Buns or serve over Mashed Potatoes or Egg Noodles

Shape the beef into four burger patties. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the burgers and cook until well browned on both sides. Remove the burgers from the skillet. Pour off any fat.                                                    

Stir the soup in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the burgers to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the burgers are cooked through.

Traditional Burger Style: Top the burgers with the cheese and cook until the cheese is melted. Serve the burgers on the buns with the soup mixture for dipping

Salisbury Steak Style: Leave the burger in pan to cook for add'l 5 minutes flipping once. Make your choice of mashed potatoes or egg noodles and serve the burger patty on top with as much or as little gravy as you'd like.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received free coupons and a stipend."

Presented by Campbell’s Kitchen

Hot Vanilla Caramel {with Sweet'N Low}

We live in California, where we can go swimming on Christmas Day, so it's a rare day when we can serve a hot drink and enjoy it. I love a hot drink, but ONLY on a cold cold day. So, today was one of those days, although the sun did come out, it was still cold enough to create a little chill outside and we were able to enjoy this HOT new drink we created.

Hot Vanilla Caramel
created by Tina Hudgens

(makes one serving)
1 cup milk
1 pkg Sweet'N Low
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp caramel syrup

In a microwave save glass cup heat up 1 cup of milk and the 1 pkg of Sweet'N Low for approximately one minute. In the meantime mix in a separate bowl the whipping cream, cinnamon and caramel syrup until combined. Add the whip cream mixture to the milk mixture and shake in a shaker (or mix up in a blender). Pour into a mug and return to microwave for 1 more minute. Add a dollop of whip cream and a sprinkle of caramel syrup before serving.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received Sweet'N Low packages and a stipend."

Vegetarian Creamy Tomato Soup {Panera Bread}

The mention of Panera Bread always makes one of my twins SING! She just loves loves to eat at this restaurant, she actually loved it so much, this is where she had her first job in High School. She's moved onto college and now lives in Missouri for school (instead of California), where Panera Bread is not called Panera, it is the St. Louis Bread Company. That's just a little fun fact, I thought you'd all want to hear. Either way, she still LOVES the place.

When I first heard about this Daily Food Buzz opportunity, I was thrilled and I knew this would be a perfect first lunch for her first day back in California and it was. Her twin, had to work (bummer for her), so mom and daughter (twin A) went out for a day of shopping and enjoyed a quick, fast and delicious lunch at Panera Bread before we hit the very crowded Christmas-time shopping mall.

My daughters favorite soup is the Vegetarian Creamy Tomato Soup, it's made with vine-ripened pear tomatoes pureed with fresh cream for a velvety smooth flavor accentuated by hints of red pepper & oregano, topped with our Asiago croutons (described so beautifully by Panera Bread web site). This is one of their soups that are served every day. Check out the great Panera Bread Soup Web Site, they really have taken a lot of time and effort and truly perfected their soup menu.

I know if it's a super cold day and you are in need of some delicious soup, Panera Bread is defiantly the place to go.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received a Panera Bread Gift Card and a stipend."

Ranch Apple-Bacon Coleslaw {Hidden Valley Ranch & Lunch Break for Kids}

I am so excited to be a part of and share with all of you my great readers about Lunch Break for Kids with Hidden Valley Ranch.  Lunch Break for Kids is a national fundraiser to highlight ways for parents and kids to come together with chefs and schools to learn more about how simple, good food can make healthier bodies and stronger family connections.

Click on the location tab here  for a local Lunch Break for Kids fundraiser or a Childhood Nutrition Day volunteer location in your area to join, or start one of your own.

As a mom I have always had so much fun making my kids breakfast in the morning before school, and then being creative with their lunches too. Here are a few FUN first day of school photos from years past. Even though my daughters are off at college now and I just have my little guy left (he is in 8th grade, how did that happen?), I do try and be as creative as possible with him (but my twins were so much better at trying new things, he is kind of a creature of habit and enjoys the SAME thing everyday). But, I will tell you ALL of my kids love Hidden Valley Ranch, it's pretty much a staple at every meal (almost).

I think my little guys favorite thing would be cucumbers and ranch (pizza and ranch is up there too), but if we are going for healthy then cucumbers and ranch would be his thing (he won't eat carrots or celery or broccoli or anything else on the veggie try), but give him a whole cucumber and he will go to town. He loves tomatoes too, it's funny in Kindergarten his teacher would be so amazed that he would bring a whole tomato in his lunch pail, she really thought it was a very rich red apple, and when she discovered it was a tomato she was speechless. He still loves those tomatoes, the grape tomatoes are his favorite. He can pop those in his mouth like they are candy (yep, happy mama), and he use to love avocados, although that phase has faded a little I was extremely happy when he use to want avocados over ice cream.

Today, I wanted to share with you a quick Hidden Valley Ranch Apple-Bacon Coleslaw that I created for a quick and easy healthy veggie snack in your kids lunch boxes (or mom's lunch box too).

Ranch Apple-Bacon Coleslaw
created by me, Tina Hudgens

1 head of cabbage
4 celery stalks, diced
1/4 cup diced green onions (or less)
2 red apples, unpeeled and diced
1 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
4 slices crisp cooked bacon, crumbled

Shred or finely dice a head of cabbage and add to a large bowl. Take your diced celery and add to the bowl, chopped your red apples with the skin on, as it allows for great color in your coleslaw and toss this with the lemon juice before adding it to the bowl. Pour in the ranch dressing, apple cider vinegar, sugar and the bacon. Mix together and refrigerate for at least an hour (or overnight) before serving. I like to package these up into small individual containers like shown below to make a perfect addition to your kids lunch or for a quick grab for an after school snack.

"Part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program"

The Hidden Valley® Original Ranch®, dressings & dips has provided me with free product to help with my review, but anything I receive from Hidden Valley does not affect my thoughts on its company or their product.

Gooey Trail Mix {Nestle Toll House Morsels}

This recipe is for sure GOOEY and for sure DELICIOUS. It's a very tasty {but} gooey candy Trail Mix. It's simple, it's versatile, it's easy to customize to your liking and it's SO good you can not stop eating it.

You can make it with almost any kind of cereal, you can add in pretzels, switch up the nuts to your favorite kind, if you don't like coconut leave it out and you can pick any kind of Nestle Toll House Morsels to add into your trail mix.  We choose this awesome Nestle Toll House Morsel mix of Peanut Butter Chips and Chocolate Chips and a bag of Nestle Toll House Mini Chocolate Chips, what an easy way to give it that peanut butter and chocolate flavor all in one.

We had so much fun in the kitchen cooking away and creating recipes. My twin daughters are off to college so with the help of one of their friends and my son, we had a blast cooking, baking and of course lots of taste testing. We started our day at 7:30 am apple and raspberry picking and then we came home to bake the night away. We made so many recipes the kitchen look like it exploded at one time. We not only created this delicious Gooey Trail Mix, but we baked a few apple pies, we made homemade raspberry muffins, a caramel apple cupcake and birthday cupcakes for my twins, then we added in banana bread for another blog post I need to get done before I left on vacation and well when it came dinner time we had so many sweets, we had to find some left overs in the refrigerator to eat. It was SUCH a fabulous day and so many amazing things came out of the kitchen yesterday, that I can tell you it was a blast and we can wait to get together again soon. This CRAZY mom was still going strong when the kids checked out.

Gooey Candy Trail Mix

2 (12 oz) boxes of your favorite cereal
1 (7 oz) bag shredded coconut
4 to 6 oz of your favorite nuts (we used peanuts)
1-1/2 cups butter (yep, that is 3 whole sticks of butter)
2 cups sugar
2 cups corn syrup
1 tbsp Sea Salt (optional)
2 bags Nestle Toll House Morsels (any flavor, we used Peanut Butter & Chocolate and Mini)

Combine cereal, coconut and nuts in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

In a large sauce pan, cook butter, sugar and corn syrup to a soft ball stage, this is best with a candy thermometer, cook until about 234 degrees. Pour the syrup mixture over cereal mixture and stir until all is well coated. Then wait until mixture has cooled down a bit before adding in chocolate chips, you don't want them to melt. Then add in one bag of the chocolate chips and fold in carefully.

Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper and pour out mixture flat, add the second bag (the mini morsels at this time on top of the flat mixture), then let cool. Stir it around occasionally to prevent clumping. Store in an airtight container.

This post is sponsored by Nestlé® Toll House® Morsels, the perfect special ingredient for all of your family’s favorite treats!

Pineapple Banana Smoothie {Sweet'N Low}

On vacation still and loving every minute of it. Even though this is a "busy-working" vacation, I am still having so much fun. (I never went to a 4-year college and lived in a dorm, so I am livin' it through my girls). Ya know it's fun when you stay up until midnight and then wake back up at 7am the next day just to go at it again all day long. We've shopped and shopped and organized and organized, we've done so much preparing and planning and creating great spaces in their dorm rooms that they are unbelievably awesome, if I must say so myself.

But one still must eat, right? Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner (what's that ?). I have been going hundred miles an hour and then some. This quick breakfast in the motorhome was a perfect pick-me-up.

Where am I ? St. Charles, Missouri. What am I doing? Dropping my twin daughters off at their first year of college (OH MY!), 1837 miles away from home. Why so far a way? An awesome dance scholarship with an amazing dance team. They are attending Lindenwood University a 4-year private college, for those who haven't heard me say it yet and they will double major in Marketing and Dance, plus be debt free when they graduate. NO STUDENT LOANS. That is why we are in Missouri and not in California. The school was half the price of a California Private University, and sticking with our Dave Ramsey CASH ONLY plan, my girls were able to land a great scholarhship and the little money they did have to pay, they both paid for in full, in cash, in advance for their first year of college. PROUD MAMA!

Above is a sneak preview of their college dorm room and I can't wait to show you all the details and all the AMAZING Pinterest ideas we made happen in their tiny little space. But, while on the road we needed to eat. Oh, eating Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (what's that?), I am afraid sometimes I am starving the other members of my family because I've been so crazy busy (they've had many fast food meals too). We drove our motorhome from California to Missouri filled with all the twins belongs and so while on the road I still managed to do a little cooking and baking. Here is a great recipe for a quick and easy breakfast on the road, that I created with the compliments of FoodBuzz and Sweet'N Low.

Pineapple Banana Smoothie with Sweet'N Low
recipe created by Tina Hudgens

1 cup apple juice
1 banana (cut in slices)
1 to 2 slices of fresh pineapples (or from a can)
1 pkg Sweet'N Low
1 tbsp Honey
1/2 cup crushed ice

Put all ingredients together into your blender or smoothie maker and blend until smooth. Serve cold for breakfast or an after school snack. Great way to get in a few bananas for those of us who don't like to eat them on their own (like me!).

In the Colorado Rockies on our way home from Missouri to California. JUST BEAUTIFUL.

"As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program,

I received Sweet'N Low packages and a stipend."

Dirty Dancing Movie & Skinny Cow Ice Cream Party

It's Summer Time and what better way to celebrate then with lazy days watching movie classics like Dirty Dancing and enjoying Ice Cream! In our summer plans this year we decided to get a bunch of friends together once a week at our home to relax, have all-night sleepovers, and enjoy the summer sun playing in the pool. My kids are loving it so far, lots of friends and family around to hang out with, what's not to love?

When I was invited by Foodbuzz to host a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Party and a movie screening of Dirty Dancing I knew this would fit in perfectly with our Summer Slumber Parties. With my girls (twins), and their best friends (a set of twins and a set of triplets), that's an EASY party of 7, plus throw in a few younger brothers and we've got a house full. And with 4 of the 7 teenagers loving DANCE, the movie Dirty Dancing is right up their alley. The two sets of twins have been dancing for over 10 years together.

We invited everyone over for the slumber party and the festivities began. Of course, number one on the list was munchies. A party at our house is never complete with out chips and homemade pan fried onion dip, then they moved right into the movie and ice cream, followed by a fun day at the pool.

We enjoyed the Skinny Cow Slimited Editions Oh Fudge Nuts Cones (this was our favorite, my son even ate two), next the older girls and my girlfriend tried the Mmmocha Truffle Bars (and for any coffee lovers out there... DE-LI-CIOUS) and lastly we all enjoyed the classic Best of Both Swirleds Sandwiches. The Skinny Cow ice cream was amazing, no one could believe that is was Skinny Cow, they all said they would toally have this ice cream AGAIN. I knew that was the case when all the ice cream that was purchased was completely gone. Plenty of Ice cream was enjoyed by all.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a stipend, DVD,
and coupons for free Skinny Cow® product.

Homemade Cheeseburger with Kraft American Singles

Wow! Kraft Singles has won my heart over again! I've been using this delicious cheese as far back as I can remember and now I am repeating the tradition with my own kids.

We love a classic grill cheese sandwich with Kraft singles or a Homemade Cheeseburger just isn't the same without it. We all love DOUBLE cheese, I don't know if I've ever had a Grill Cheese or a Homemade Cheeseburger with just one slice of cheese, I always add TWO slices of the delicious Kraft American Singles. This past weekend we heated up the BBQ and made this awesome homemade burger sauce and WOW-WOW-WOW! I think this will become a regular to our weekly menu, and this homemade burger beats a fast-food burger any day of the week.

Homemade Cheeseburger
recipe created by me: Tina Hudgens
(makes about 4 to 6 hamburgers)

2 lbs favorite ground beef, well chilled
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tsp of worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
1 to 2 tsp seasoning salt
1 egg

8 to 12 slices Kraft American Singles (we like DOUBLE cheese)
Favorite Hamburger Buns
Iceberg Lettuce
Fresh Tomato Slices

Homemade Burger Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp Sweet Honey Catalina Dressing
4 tsp sweet pickle relish
1 tsp onion (grated on a microplane grater)
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp chili powder

Mix together ground beef, Kosher salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, seasoning salt and egg. Form hamburger meat into even balls and flatten into nice size hamburger patties. 

Combine all of the burger sauce ingredients; stir to combine and refrigerate until ready to use. This sauce is out-of-this-world delicious.

Place season burger patties on a heated barbeque and grill to your liking, cooking until cooked all the way through. Add DOUBLE slices of Kraft American Cheese and cook a minute or two longer until cheese is melted.

To assemble your Homemade Cheeseburger, spread a thick layer of sauce on each bun, add on the lettuce and tomato along with your cheeseburger, stack it all together and bite in. YUM!

"As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program,

I received a coupon for free Kraft Singles and a stipend."