nuwave Bravo XL Smart Oven UNboxing

I’ve got a NEW YouTube video up, and it’s UNboxing the nuwave Bravo XL Smart Oven. I’m also sharing my first impressions with you and talking about recipes I plan to cook.

Here are some bullet points:
• It’s a three in one: Air Fryer, Toaster & Convection Oven
• Comes with integrated digital temperature probe
• It has 12 pre-programmed presets
• Extra Large Capacity. Fits 10lb. Chicken & 13-inch Pizza.
• Temperature Control 100-450 degrees.
• Air Fry, Toast, Bake, Roast, Broil & Warm
• Never under-cook or overcook your food

What’s Included: (2) Cooking Racks, Non-Stick Broiler Pan & Baking Rack, Non-Stick Air Fryer Basket, Dishwasher Safe Crumb/Drip Tray & Owner’s Manual with Recipes. 3-Year Warranty.

This will be a multi-part video series to share the recipes and different cooking modes of the nuwave Bravo XL Smart Oven.Subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up with me! I’m also sharing a special promo link so you can purchase your own at a discounted price.

Disclosure: Thank you to nuwave for sending me the nuwave Bravo XL Smart Oven for review purposes. All opinions expressed are 100% honest and my own.

Review: Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™

Disclosure: I received a Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™ for review purposes. All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

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My Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™ compact system with one touch intelligence came at the perfect time. I had recently gone strawberry picking and I had so many strawberries that I was researching recipes to make. I also went to the grocery store and bought some frozen pineapples, bananas, blueberries, mangoes, fruit & veggie blend to make smoothies. Oh… I can’t forget the Spinach & Kale for Juicing! I was all ready to try out my new Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™. It has some great features like a nutrient and vitamin extractor, 1200 Watt Motor and is very user friendly. The Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™ comes with a motor base, (2) 24 oz. Nutri Ninja Cups, 24 oz. Stainless Steel Ninja Cup, (2) Sip & Seal Lids, pro extractor blades, 40 oz. blend/prep bowl with lid, chopping blade and dough blade. The first thing I did when I took it out the box was wash all the pieces. BE CAREFUL! I cut the palm of my hand cleaning the pro extractor blades. It happened so quickly and the blade barely brushed the palm of my hand. The blades are really sharp.

Tropical Smoothies

The first thing I decided to make was a tropical pineapple, spinach and kale smoothie. There is an order to loading your ingredients. Start with fresh fruits and/or veggies, next is leafy greens and herbs, then a liquid like juice or yogurt. You can add any dry or sticky ingredients before topping it off with your ice or frozen ingredients. I used half fresh and half frozen fruits when I made my smoothie. My smoothie ingredient order was Kale and Spinach, Pineapple Juice, Frozen Pineapple Chunks and Ice. I blended on Smooth Boost because I wanted a smoother consistency. It came out PERFECT! I occasionally go to Tropical Smoothie Café, Big Island Smoothie or Smoothie King and I honestly don’t have to do that anymore. I can create my own smoothie recipes at home to enjoy. I’ve even made Pina Coladas and Daiquiris using the Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™. My frozen daiquiris came out just right. I love hosting parties so this is a win win! I really wanted to try out the food processor and my next task was to bake a Birthday cake or cupcakes for my daughter.

Pina Colada Dream Cupcakes

I will NEVER use a hand mixer again! It was so easy to put all the ingredients in the prep bowl and make cupcakes. It was also very convenient to pour the batter from the prep bowl into the cupcake cups. I didn’t have any mess to clean up afterwards. It was super easy to clean up and get everything ready for the next recipe. I used the prep bowl and dough blade to prepare the cupcakes. The base has suction cups so it doesn’t move while in use on the counter top. I love that! There are a few different settings that you can use in addition to Smooth Boost like Pulse which gives you full control of how long you chop any ingredients so you don’t over process. Low is an automatic setting that will run for 30 seconds and then shut off. Auto-IQ Extract is good for blending hard, leafy, fibrous or whole fruits. You get all the nutrients from your ingredients on this setting. Auto-IQ Blend can be used to make a variety of beverages like milkshakes, smoothies and cocktails. Auto-IQ Chop is a timed pulse and great for things like salsa or meat. You can stop when you reach your desired consistency.

Cupcakes

The Nutri Ninja cups and sip & seal lids, prep bowl & lid are dishwasher safe and BPA Free. The stainless steel cup is NOT dishwasher safe and must be washed by hand. Bonus: You can make ice to snow on the pulse setting. I can’t wait to make snow cones this summer. This will be an activity I can do with mini me and he will love it. Overall I love the Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™. It’s so easy to use and cleanup is not a hassle. I can’t wait until Thanksgiving. I’m going to try and make my popular sweet potato pie using the Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™. I’ll let you know how it goes. What would you make with a Nutri Ninja® Auto-iQ™ with Smooth Boost™? Visit the Ninja Kitchen website for more information.

Macy’s & American Icons Celebrate Strawberry Shortcake Day

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of Macy’s; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are 100% honest and completely my own. #AmericanIcons #Spon

Strawberry Shortcake Day

I’m pretty excited about National Strawberry Shortcake Day. I recently went to a local produce farm and went strawberry picking. I was trying to get a list of recipes together so that I wouldn’t waste any of the strawberries I picked and didn’t want them to go bad if I didn’t use them quick enough. There are so many recipes you can research and even create with Strawberries. Next week Tuesday June 14th at The Streets of Southpoint, Macy’s & American Icons will have a store wide celebration for National Strawberry Shortcake Day. This tasteful event (no pun intended) will showcase how to prepare Strawberry Shortcake and attendees can enjoy samples while you learn how to recreate this delicious recipe at home. I’ll be honest I have never made Strawberry Shortcake before and am looking forward to learning to make this recipe at home with my daughters. If there is one thing we love to do its bake and make yummy desserts.

No more just making smoothies, chocolate covered strawberries and fresh cut strawberries to use as a fruit topping with our pancakes. That’s how I’ve been using my strawberries. National Strawberry Shortcake Day is giving me ideas. I am adding Strawberry Shortcake to our growing list of Strawberry recipes. Johnny Iuzzini, Macy’s Culinary Council expert and award-winning pastry chef, has a special Strawberry Shortcake recipe that he created and I can’t wait to try it. I’m sharing the recipe with you and hope you will give it a try. I always like to recreate recipes with a twist, so once I master making this who knows what I’ll come up with. However, when I do you’ll be the first to know about it. I love sharing my recipes!

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe

Directions for Shortcakes:

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the texture resembles fine crumbs. Whisk the milk and egg together and pour through the feed tube, hitting the pulse button until the dough comes together evenly.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a square. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Set the oven rack in the top position. Heat the oven to 425°F, preferably on convection. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment.

Flour the working surface lightly and roll the dough into a square about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 1 1/2-inch squares and place on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with pink salt. Bake until risen and lightly browned, about 4 to 5 minutes (longer if you’re not using convection).

Serve the shortcakes warm, with the Slow-Roasted Strawberries and Creme Chantilly (recipes below).
Yields 12 shortcakes

Strawberry Shortcake Recipe 2

Directions for Vanilla Crème Chantilly:

Combine the cream, creme fraiche, sugar and scrapings from the vanilla bean, and whip with a hand mixer to stiff peaks.

Directions for Slow-Roasted Strawberries:

Heat the oven to 200°F, preferably on convection.

Hull the strawberries and make a cut across the top so the strawberries can stand up.
Toss the berries with verjus to just barely cover and taste. If you’re not using 8 Brix, you may want to add a few drops of balsamic vinegar to balance the acidity. Macerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Strain the strawberries and stand them up in a baking dish just big enough to hold them comfortably. Roast until the berries have darkened, turning almost a maroon color; they should be very tender but still hold their shape, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Remove the berries from the dish and cool to room temperature before serving.
For more tasty treats from Johnny and the rest of the Macy’s Culinary Council chefs, visit Macy’s Culinary Council.

To learn about this recipe and others up close and personal be sure to save the date for Strawberry Shortcake Day at Macy’s The Streets at Southpoint. Tuesday June 14th, this event will be going on throughout the day. You can visit the Macy’s Event Page for more information. I hope to see you there! There are events happening all over so if you aren’t local to the Raleigh-Durham, NC area you can put in your zip code and search for a Macy’s & American Icons Strawberry Shortcake Day event near you.

When The Cake Gets Drunk


Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There’s no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

Everybody knows that I LOVE pineapples, coconut and chocolate. Sometimes all together! When I’m baking, you’ll definitely see one of the three or even more as an ingredient to infuse my cake with my favorite flavor(s). The holidays are here and I decided to sort of mimic a recipe that my grandmother started and my sister has taken over as a holiday tradition. We bake Jamaican Rum cake a.k.a black cake infused with Wray & Nephew Red Label Wine And Wray & Nephew Overproof white rum. It’s delicious and if you have too much of it well… You might as well have been drinking out of a glass! I decided to make a round double layered Pineapple Upside Down Cake and infuse it with imitation coconut extract and Caribbean Coconut Liqueur. I used the Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix and made it a fun baking experience.

I went on the Duncan Hines website and searched for their pineapple upside down cake recipe, followed the directions, and tweaked it by adding two additional ingredients to make it my own.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Topping:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1 (20 oz) can pineapple slices
  • Maraschino cherries

Cake:

Baking Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. For topping, melt butter over low heat in 12-inch cast-iron skillet or skillet with oven-proof handle. Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar. Spread to cover bottom of skillet. Arrange pineapple slices, Maraschino cherries and walnut halves in skillet. Set aside.
  3. For cake, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, coconut extract, coconut liqueur, water and oil in large mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour batter evenly over fruit in skillet.
  4. Bake at 350 ºF for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Invert onto serving plate.

This was the first time I tried making this particular recipe and it came out GREAT! I used two round 9″ cake pans and made it a double layered cake. I love the way infusing a cake with certain liqueur can make it so delicious. It’s all about pairing the flavors correctly. I joked on twitter by calling it a pina colada cake! At the end of the day I think everything’s more fun with rum!

Remember to check out Duncan Hines’ website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

Holiday Cookies

Ingredients:

  • cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

Icing:

  • 4 egg whites
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
  • 7 cups confectioners’ sugar

In a mixer, blend butter and sugar until fluffy. Continuing to mix, add egg and vanilla, then add flour and baking powder in intervals. Shape into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and put in refrigerator until firm. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to desired thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for one minute and then transfer to wire rack. Decorate cookies with icing and sprinkles.

With a wire whisk in a large mixing bowl, blend egg whites with lemon juice and corn syrup until stiff. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating constantly until smooth. Use icing at once.

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