Tag Archives: Recipes & Food

Ok, this isn’t a typical recipe post. I think we all know how to make a salad and a sandwich. But did you know that Hormel offers some delicious varieties of pre-packaged sandwich meat? We didn’t either, and when we received a few packages this month as part of the Hormel Family Blogger program, we were interested in trying them out.

Did you know that the Hormel® Natural Choice® line is the first nationally distributed line of all natural sandwich meats with zero preservatives and no artificial colors or flavors?

This is because all of our meats are preserved using High Pressure Processing (HPP), a cutting-edge, USDA-approved, all-natural process that doesn’t require preservatives. Instead, intense cold water pressure protects food against bacteria, while maintaining freshness and enhancing flavor.

Our Deli Sandwich Meats are also low in fat and trans fat free, with no added nitrites or nitrates and no MSG. These meats are also gluten free.

And since they’re all natural, they taste just like your holiday ham or Thanksgiving turkey.

We enjoyed a salad and sandwich for dinner the other night. We needed a quick and easy weeknight meal that was still pretty healthy. After all, we’ve been trying to eat better and be more active (not only for overall health, but also because we have a cruise coming up!). We grabbed our Hormel Natural Choice Turkey and all the other fixins and were sitting down to eat within just a few minutes.

We like to keep it pretty simple - The salad was made of green leaf lettuce, tomato, cucumber, craisins, feta cheese and croutons. We used just meat, cheese, mayo, mustard, green leaf lettuce, cucumber and tomato on the sandwich (I would like onion too, but Brett hates them enough that you will hardly ever find an onion in our house).

Hormel Natural Choice lunch meat comes in 12 varieties! We really enjoyed the turkey varieties, especially the Cracked Black Pepper and Honey flavors, and Trent even tried ham for the first time and enjoyed it.

Another great thing about Hormel lunch meat is that it is readily available in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store….so no standing in the deli line!

To learn more about Hormel Natural Choice products (there’s more than just sandwich meat! including bacon! mmm bacon), you can visit their site here: http://www.hormelnatural.com

You can also snag a coupon for your next Hormel Natural Purchase here: http://www.hormel.com/updates/coupons/

Connect with Hormel for Recipe ideas and more:

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xoxo

Lynn

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I am currently a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Blogger Program and this post is part of my involvement with the group. I was given this product in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Remember this?

I love that photo…and it makes me want cake

Today, I’m sharing a quick snack idea for your toddler or baby that has started eating solid food…Pineapple Cream Cheese Finger Sandwiches. It’s a sweet and creamy snack that is really easy for them to chew on. Whether they are just learning how to pick up food and feed themselves or they are pros at it already, the sandwich pieces are easy for them to grab and eat.

And with 3 ingredients and no cooking involved….well, that’s my kind of recipe!

 

Pineapple Cream Cheese Finger Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 slice of bread (or 2 for a big snack!) - we chose a slice of oatmeal bread, it is a larger, thicker type of bread, but really soft and easy to chew

Equal parts:

Drained, crushed pineapple

Cream Cheese

 

I didn’t put amounts by the pineapple and cream cheese because those will vary based on if you make a full sandwich or half sandwich…and also if you want more or less mixture on your sandwich. We used about 1/4 cup of each to make enough mixture for a few sandwiches.

For a half sandwich, cut the one slice of bread in half.

Mix together the pineapple and cream cheese, then spread it on the slice of bread.

Place the other piece of bread on top and then cut it up into little bite-sized pieces.

Serve it to your little one to enjoy!

YUM!

Another great thing about this snack is that you can make several snacks from only buying 1 container each of the pineapple and cream cheese and only using what you need for each sandwich.

 

If you are looking for more baby and toddler meal and snack ideas, we have been using and recommend the following two books for ideas!

Cooking for Baby

 

The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet

And if you have to get a little sneaky with a picky eater, we just started making recipes from this book that has lots of good ideas:

Deceptively Delicious

xoxo

Lynn

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Here is a quick and easy meal idea using StarKist Tuna Creations. These herb and garlic tuna wraps were a great light dinner paired along with cold pasta salad…yum. With the tuna pouches, there’s no mess and you get just the right amount of extra flavor. These are a great alternative to a plain tuna sandwich. You could also pair these with fruit, chips or other side-item you would normally enjoy alongside a sandwich or wrap.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: PER SERVING (1 sandwich): Calories: 550, Fat: 26g, Cholesterol: 60mg, Sodium: 1340mg, Carbs: 46g, Dietary Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 6g, Protein: 40g

Ingredients
2 Pouches (2.6oz) StarKist Tuna Creations®, Herb and Garlic
½ Cup diced tomato
½ Cup shredded carrots
3 Tablespoons creamy Italian dressing
1 Cup shredded lettuce
4 oz. Mozzarella shredded cheese
3 Basil leaves, sliced into strips
2 Flour tortillas

Directions

1. Mix together tuna, carrots, basil and 2 tbsp. Italian dressing.

2. Place ½ the lettuce, tomatoes and tuna mixture, mozzarella cheese and ½ tbsp. Italian dressing in the center of each tortilla.

3. Fold the end of the tortilla over the ingredients and roll tightly.

4. Cut in half, diagonally and serve.

5. Enjoy!

 

Click here to check out our other food & recipe posts!

 

xoxo

Lynn

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First things first, I want to happily announce that I was chosen to be a Hormel Extended Family Blogger!

 

What does being a Hormel Extended Family Blogger mean? For the next 6 months, I am basically their brand ambassador. A food ambassador. A taste-it-and-share-the-love-and-deliciousness blogger. I’ll be trying out some tasty Hormel foods and sharing at least one post a month with you all. I’m excited. Let’s do this.

This month, I received a large box of Hormel goodies in mail. Although actually, since Brett is home all day with Trent, HE received a big box in the mail. Yes, he gets the joy of receiving packages at home and opening them in a Christmas-morning fury. Sure, he looks at whose name is on the mailing label, and most times he gives me a quick shout out to see if I know anything about it. Forget raising Trent, I think his main goal with this stay-at-home dad thing was that he could open the mail before I get home. But I digress.

What I was most excited to try was their new line of REV wraps.

From Hormel:

Hormel® REV® wraps are the perfect snack to fuel an active lifestyle with 15 grams of protein or more in each wrap, providing real, sustaining energy.

Hormel REV wraps have many benefits to your everyday life, including:

Endurance: protein-rich to provide real sustaining energy

Nutrition: made with real meat and cheese, an excellent source of protein and a good source of calcium and fiber

Convenience: no preparation necessary, eaten hot or cold and designed to be hand-held and portable

Flavorful: classic deli combinations geared towards teens, as well as new, bold flavors for variety

• Ham & Cheese
• Pepperoni Pizza
• Peppered Turkey
• Meat Lovers Pizza
• Italian Style Ham
• Hot Pepper Ham
• Italian Style
• Spicy Italian Style

I received all 8 varieties and tried to come up with different ways of enjoying them during lunch at work. Coming up with ideas for lunches to eat at work 5 days a week can be exhausting. Sometimes I take the lazy way out and just make 1 thing that will last all week, like a pasta or salad. But eventually, I forget to make something and peanut butter and jelly it is. Like I’m in elementary school. Although as much as I love peanut butter, I guess it’s not really a bad thing, but I need more to feel full longer and not be tempted by the vending machines at work…which take credit cards now, by the way. Not having cash used to be my excuse.

Here are the different lunches I came up with. Since they just come with the meat and cheese on them, I liked finding a side item that I could combine with the wrap. I also brought condiments too, like mayo or mustard. You could also cut up some pieces of tomato, lettuce, pickle…anything you typically enjoy on your wraps/sandwiches. I also enjoyed them after warming them up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

It was extremely simple just grabbing the REV wrap, 1 or 2 side items and then heading out the door for work. I was on time every single day…high fives all around.

Here’s the display I noticed at my local grocery store…

You can read more about Hormel REV wraps, including finding a store near you, by clicking here. Use this $1.00 off coupon to score a discount!

xoxo

Lynn

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I am currently a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Blogger Program and this post is part of my involvement with the group. I was given this product in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Cuisinart has a fairly new line of baby products. Exciting, right?! The line-up includes a Baby Food Maker & Bottle Warmer, a Baby Bottle Sterilizer and other baby-focused products. We love Cuisinart and have several appliances in our kitchen and I’m sure Brett would have more if we had more counter space.

When Trent turned 6 months old, we immediately started making him baby food at home. We tried a new food every week or so after starting with sweet potatoes…some he liked, some he didn’t (and we are coming to find that we have one picky little eater on our hands!) but we enjoyed making our own baby food. We felt it was much healthier, more nutritious and surprisingly much cheaper than buying jars of baby food.

We also used a bottle warmer to warm up his bottles. It truly was one of the most used baby products in our arsenal.

In order to make the baby food, we would use a steamer pot or the oven, then a chopper (a Cuisinart!). Brett thoroughly researched the existing baby food steamer/chopper appliances on the market and ultimately decided that this was the best way to go. So we went the long route with items we knew would work. It was still a pretty easy process, but when we saw that Cuisinart had a Baby Food Maker & Bottle Warmer in one, we were excited to try it.

Remember what I said about counter space? This product helps by combining 3 tasks into one product: a bottle warmer, food steamer and food chopper.

From Cuisinart:

The new Cuisinart Baby Food Maker & Bottle Warmer is a fast and easy way for parents to turn the foods they choose into healthy meals for baby – the unit steams and purees in the same bowl. A 4-cup work bowl allows for a significant amount of leftovers, which can go right into the refrigerator or freezer. Additionally, a built-in bottle warmer heats baby’s bottle to just the right temperature.

• Steam, chop/pureé and bottle warmer functions
• 4 cup work bowl
• Patent-pending Bladelock System holds the blade in place while pouring
• Steam blade creates even steam distribution for quicker, more efficient results
• Bowl seal to prevent spitting and improve steaming
• User-friendly dial control with LED indicator light
• Powerful motor for quick steaming and precise chopping
• Recipe booklet, spatula, bottle adapter ring and integrated measuring cup included
• 18-month limited warranty

The bottle warmer is located in the back of the unit, which also serves as the water reservoir for steaming food. It comes with a measuring cup to measure the water you’ll need for each task.

On one side, you can measure for bottle warming…

…and the other side measures water for food steaming.

To warm a bottle, simply pour the required amount of water into the reservoir, then place the bottle into the reservoir and turn the dial to steam. The unit will turn off automatically once steaming is complete.

Even though Trent doesn’t really eat baby food purees any longer, we still try to come up with healthier versions of things that we can make on our own. Since he loves ice cream, we decided to make banana ice cream with blueberry sauce.

This banana ice cream is made of only one ingredient…frozen bananas! We placed 2 very ripe bananas in the freezer…but you could also cut them up and put them in a freezer bag before putting them in the freezer. He also loves blueberries, so adding some blueberry sauce gives it a little more oomph and yumminess. What a great way to sneak in some extra nutrition while he thinks he’s getting a treat!

Make the blueberry sauce first by pouring the required amount of water (there is a chart provided with the unit with some guidelines) into the reservoir.

Then pour the blueberries into the steam/chop bowl and close the lid and the top of the unit.

Turn the dial to Steam. The light will turn on and you will see the steam accumulating in the bowl.

The light will turn off once the steaming is complete. Then simply turn the dial to Chop as many times as needed to reach the desired consistency. You can do quick chops or long continuous chops.

Pour the blueberry sauce into a bowl and set aside while you make the banana ice cream.

Clean out the bowl, then put your frozen banana pieces into the bowl, cover the bowl and close the unit.

Turn the dial to Chop as needed until the bananas reach the consistency of ice cream.

Scoop out the ice cream using the provided spatula.

Top your ice cream with the blueberry sauce and enjoy!

This would also be great to steam and chop healthy snacks for yourself. Want more baby food ideas? Check out the Cuisinart Baby website, where you can find recipes for different stages your baby is in, contests to enter, blog posts and other baby tools and ideas.

Where to buy:

Amazon

These online retailers

Giveaway!

Up for grabs: A Cuisinart Baby Food Maker & Bottle Warmer (a $129 value!)

How to enter: We’ll be using Rafflecopter for this one, so there are multiple ways to enter…pick one or pick them all!

This giveaway ends on Sunday, August 4, 2025 at 11:59 pm EST. US only please. I will contact the winner the next day by email and will announce the winner as an update to this blog post. Good luck!

{If you are viewing this post in an email or RSS feed, please click over to the blog to enter the contest using the Rafflecopter form }

a Rafflecopter giveaway

xoxo

Lynn

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I was given this product in exchange for a review and giveaway. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.