Fall-Winter Product Spotlight: Tastefully Simple Everything Topper

Now that the Fall-Winter products are out, I can't wait to get into trying out our new offerings and experimenting with recipes.  I'm starting off my reviews with a product I knew I wanted to try as soon as I heard about it: Everything Topper!

So, if you love everything bagels, you'll love this versatile blend.  It's a combination of dehydrated onion, sesame seed, poppy seed, dehydrated garlic, and salt. So the obvious use is to mix it into cream cheese to spread on a bagel, but what else can you do?

One awesome use for this is to bake it into some Bountiful Beer Bread. Prepare the bread mix as usual, then sprinkle a tablespoon of Everything Topper over the butter. Bake as directed, and try not to drool too much while its baking.  (Seriously, it smells wicked good. )

Oh so good.  I dipped pieces into Onion Onion dip. But there's so much more you can do with it!  Check out some Everything Topper recipes on the TS site.

Tastefully Slim Recipe: Ginger Beef Wraps

I've had many people tell me that they "can't eat that stuff" when talking about Tastefully Simple products and whatever diet they are on. However, I know that our products can be used to make a lot of delicious, healthy meals!  I'm going to be sharing recipes under the Tastefully Slim tag to show that healthy can also be simple and delicious.

Tonight I took a Weight Watcher recipe (Gingery Beef and Mushroom Lettuce Wraps) and modified it a bit to meet my family's tastes and to use one of my favorite Tastefully Simple sauces: Honey Teriyaki Sauce. It was a huge hit with my family, even my picky eater son who said "How can this be healthy?  It tastes good!"

Ginger Beef Wraps

Serves 4-6, depending on appetites

Ingredients:

• 1 lb 93% lean ground beef
• 1 thinly sliced small white or yellow onion
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 2 small heads of baby bok choy, thinly sliced
• 2 cups of thinly sliced white mushrooms
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup of Honey Teriyaki Sauce

1. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray.  Set over medium-high heat.
2. Add ground beef, onion, ginger, and garlic.  Break apart the beef with a spoon and mix frequently to brown for about 5 minutes until no longer pink.
3. Add bok choy, mushrooms, bell pepper, and Honey Teriyaki Sauce.  Stir to combine, and then stir occasionally until bok choy is wilted.  This should take 3-4 minutes.
4. Serve in leaves of bibb lettuce if you want to keep the points down, or use flour tortillas.  Or do some of both, it's up to you!

According to the Weight Watchers calculator, 1/6 of the mixture is only 4 points!  And it is so delicious. If you eat it wrapped up in bibb lettuce leaves, you won't add any points. A flour tortilla adds 3 points, while a corn tortilla adds 2 points. Depending on your tastes and your family, you could serve it with rice, but we just used the tortillas and everyone was happy! Also, this is a quick dinner, it was on the table in about 20 minutes, so its perfect for weeknights.

For those of you who prefer macros, 1/6 of the mixture is 165 calories, 10 carbs, 6 grams of fat, 18 grams of protein, 278 mg of sodium, and 8 grams of sugar. (calculated with My Fitness Pal)

I'd love to hear what you think of this recipe!  Try it at home and share your results on my Facebook page.

Try out Tastefully Simple Dinner Mixers for FREE!

Here’s the TL;DR version: Go to http://www.tsmeal.com/skristoff to try one of our new Dinner Mixers for FREE, just pay $4.95 shipping.

Oh, you want the long version, do you?  Here you go:

Tastefully Simple wants to make dinnertime as simple and as easy as possible. Now we have a new product to help you streamline dinnertime: Dinner Mixers!  A dinner mixer includes recipes for a main dish, a side dish, and remixing leftovers; perfectly portioned Tastefully Simple products for these recipes, and even a leftovers container. You can choose the meals you want, and select 3, 4, or 5 meals as a package. 

I love Dinner Mixers for a ton of reasons.  First, it’s less expensive than our 10 Meals and More collections, so if you’re looking to try out some TS products without shelling out a lot of money, this is a great way to do it.  Second, you won’t have any leftover products, since the products are portioned out for the specific recipes.  Each meal is contained in a single box, so just grab and go!  Finally, you have the choice of selecting a one-time purchase of Dinner Mixers, or setting up a recurring shipment as part of our TS to You program. It’s a win-win-win!

Now, to introduce you to Dinner Mixers, we have a special offer for you.  Go to http://www.tsmeal.com/skristoff, fill out the info, and you can get a single Dinner Mixer for FREE to try, just pay $4.95 shipping.  It’s a great way to see what Dinner Mixers are all about and try out our delicious products.  So what are you waiting for?  Go!

Tastefully Simplify Thanksgiving Dinner

Are you hosting Thanksgiving Dinner this year?  Not sure what to serve, or maybe not much confidence in your cooking abilities?  Never fear, Tastefully Simple can help you make a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.  Check out this menu:

• Parmesan Peppercorn Warm Dip with crackers
• Roast turkey with Rustic Herb Seasoning
• Cranberry Apple Wild Rice Casserole
• Steamed Carrots drizzled with Bayou Bourbon Glaze 
• Amaretto Almond Pound Cake

All of these recipes are easy and delicious, and your guests will love them.  Your Thanksgiving Dinner package will include the 6 products needed to make these five recipes, plus a box of our delicious Multi-grain Beer Bread for FREE!  Your cost is $48.44 plus $6.99 shipping, for a total of $55.43.  And you won't use up all of these products for dinner, so you can create more delicious meals later.

This special offer cannot be ordered online.  Just email me at tastefullysuek@gmail.com or call me at 978-549-2019 to place your order.  Place your order by November 13th to guarantee delivery before Thanksgiving.  Place your order by October 31 and you'll be entered into my Mystery Host party!

"Skinny Dipping" with Tastefully Simple - Make it Light!

Tastefully Simple has a wide variety of delicious products.  While many products, like our seasonings, add a ton of flavor without fat to your meals, we do have products that are delicious, but may have more fat or calories than you're comfortable with.  For example, when making our Absolutely Almond Pound Cake, the recipe calls for 3/4c of butter.  Yes, that's 1 1/2 sticks.  While the final result is delicious, it's certainly not health food.

However, it is possible to go "skinny dipping" with Tastefully Simple products.  There are a ton of variations that can help you cut the fat and calories from the standard preparation, while still indulging in a delicious product.  Here's a few suggestions to cut the calories and fat from some of our products:

• Bountiful Beer Bread - Skip the melted butter on top and otherwise prepare with beer normally and bake.  Or, replace the beer with a can of seltzer to cut even more calories.
• Truffle Fudge Brownies - I've shared this one before: instead of butter and eggs, puree one can of black beans (undrained) in your food processor, then combine with brownie mix, pour into pan and bake.
• Absolutely Almond Pound Cake - Add 1 cup water, 3/4 cup applesauce, and 1 oz package of sugar free vanilla pudding mix and bake as directed.  Or, just add one 20-oz can of crushed pineapple to the cake mix spread into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 30 minutes at 375F.  I've also heard some consultants only using the 1c of water and baking as directed.
• Dips, like Onion Onion or Garlic Garlic - Normally, our dips are made with 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 mayo.  You can easily use reduced fat sour cream or fat free sour cream.  I personally don't like to use low-fat or fat free mayo, as the texture of the dip changes.  I've also heard of some consultants skipping the sour cream and mayo altogether and using only plain greek yogurt, but I have not yet tried this myself.
• Drink Buckets like Outrageous Orange Mojito - Many customers think that the drink buckets are on the sweet side.  When I make a drink bucket for myself, I only use half of the mix packet.  This way I'm only using half the sugar, it still tastes great, and I can make it again later.

What Tastefully Simple products do you just love, but are a bit too high in fat or calories for your liking?  Post in the comments and I'll give you some suggestions on how to lighten them up.

Dismantle Your Tastefully Simple Shrine!

What is a Tastefully Simple shrine, you might ask?  Say you've been to a Tastefully Simple party, or three.  You try all of the delicious products, you place a large order, the products come in, you put them in your cupboard.......and you never use them.  I've had many party guests say, "Oh, I have a box of that product in my cabinets from the last party I went to".  Some guests say they don't know what to do with the products they bought.  As a consultant, this makes me sad, because first, I want you all to enjoy our awesome foods, and second, this means I'm not providing you with enough resources to use our products.  So, my goal is to remedy this situation.  I am challenging YOU to use your Tastefully Simple products!

If you have a Tastefully Simple "shrine", I want you to pick an item, any item.  Bonus points if it's the oldest Tastefully Simple item in your cabinets.  I want you to post a comment to this blog naming your item, and I will give you FIVE suggestions on how to use that item.

So, for example, say you have the Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce, which is one of our standard line items.  You may have sampled it at a party and liked the taste, but once you ordered it, you weren't sure what to use it on.  So, here's some suggestions:

1. Brush it onto the outside of a pork tenderloin before roasting or grilling. If you grill, brush with marinade each time you flip the meat over and you'll end up with a delicious glaze.
2. For a unique salad, combine 3 Tbsp. Pomegranate Chipotle sauce with 3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar and 2 Tbsp. olive oil to make a sweet and spicy vinaigrette dressing. Toss with torn greens and sliced peaches or mango; sprinkle with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and pine nuts or pecans.
3. Brush over bacon-wrapped cubed chicken breast; secure with a toothpick. Bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes or until bacon is crisp and chicken is cooked to create a delicious appetizer!
4. For an even easier appetizer, spoon over cream cheese; serve with crackers.
5. Make easy pulled pork sandwiches with pork roast and Pomegranate Chipotle sauce in your slow cooker.

So, what products have you purchased but aren't using?  Post in the comments and I'll help you dismantle your Tastefully Simple shrine.