Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to the winner, christophersorel!

In a small kitchen, you don’t need a lot of equipment to cook great food. Still, you do need some pots, pans, utensils, and dishes–obviously. In the BGSK book, you’ll find a bare bones list of necessary tools, but I’ve long wanted to bring you a similar resource on the web.

So we’re going one by one, stocking up our virtual pantries and maybe our real ones too. You can see the whole “set” here.

With the not-great news coming out all the time about plastic and our health, I’ve been switching to non-plastic storage wherever possible. I don’t make a big deal of it, but when I find good-quality glass containers that we can make space for on our crowded shelves, I rejoice. Especially when I know for sure I’ll be putting hot foods away or wanting to reheat something cold in the microwave.

Lifefactory makes three ideal sizes of glass container. The one-cup for small bits of leftovers or snacks. The two-cup for bringing lunch into work. And the four-cup for make-ahead delights that’ll feed you all week: beans cooked up from scratch, big batches of hummus, or a whole lot of quinoa to serve as a base for lunch’s grain salads.

Though pictured in my older storage containers, both glass and plastic, the three instagrams shown above and linked to below are examples of food you can store in glass instead of plastic.

• Simple White Bean Sauté
• Collards with Raisins & Hazelnuts
• Quinoa with Roasted Veggies & Feta

Even better, you can enter to win two four-cup Lifefactory glass containers. Here’s what to do:

• {one} Leave a comment below saying what big batch dish you’re most likely to want to eat for several meals in a row.
• {two} Be a subscriber to the Big Girls, Small Kitchen newsletter and leave a second comment letting me know you’ve subscribed.
• {three} Tell your facebook friends and/or twitter fans about the contest – post the link and tag @Big Girls Small Kitchen (facebook) or @BGSK (twitter). Leave a third comment letting me know you’ve done so.

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering! -C

For my last post in the epic Middle Eastern Flavor Journey of 2013, I’m coming back to where I started: grilled cheese. My first entry in the series was this Muhammara Grilled Cheese, in which I simultaneously introduced myself to za’atar and pomegranate molasses, made a dip called muhammara, and brought a Middle Eastern twist into my favorite food in the world: grilled cheese.

To bookend that post, today we’ve got homemade harissa, a condiment I can’t believe I haven’t talked about yet, and a technique for making open-faced grilled cheeses for people who live in kitchens too small to fit toaster ovens. Best of all, together with Sargento, I’ve put together the ultimate toolkit for making grilled cheese at home, and you’ll have a chance to enter to win the perfect nonstick frying pan, a grilled cheese press, ingredients for building your Middle Eastern pantry, and coupons for free cheese to melt between two slices of bread-or on top of one slice, which is what we’re up to today.

There are times when I just want an open-faced grilled cheese. It’s like a French bread pizza/toast/tartine craving, as opposed to the need for a sandwich. Right? That makes sense. But when you don’t have a toaster oven, you don’t have the ability to not sandwich your bread together, because otherwise when you go to flip the open-faced sandwich, the cheese will smush all over the pan. That’s why, taking inspiration from this open-faced egg sandwich recipe, I cover the frying pan, turning it into a little stovetop oven, and let the heat build inside until the cheese melts.

To complete this meal, I just mashed avocado with lemon and salt and spread it on top, then dabbled the top with homemade harissa, a garlicky spice paste used throughout the Middle East both as an ingredient and a condiment. I’ve had some really great harissa at falafel joints around town, but I had never confronted the hot peppers needed to make it myself. It’s kind of an experience to make, if you have a few extra hours to kill, and it’s absolutely awesome to eat-fiery, smokey, garlicky, and fragrant with cumin and caraway.

I hope you try the recipe, and here are the details for the giveaway, which includes: the perfect nonstick frying pan, a grilled cheese press, ingredients for building your Middle Eastern pantry, and coupons for free cheese to melt between two slices of bread.

You’ve got three chances to enter the Sargento Ultimate Grilled Cheese Set Giveaway, a $100 value:

• {one} Leave a comment below and tell what cuisine you’d most like to see explored on Big Girls, Small Kitchen in 2014.
• {two} Be a subscriber to the Big Girls, Small Kitchen newsletter and leave a second comment letting me know you’ve subscribed.
• {three} Tell your facebook friends and/or twitter fans about the contest – post the link and tag @Big Girls Small Kitchen (facebook) or @BGSK (twitter). Leave a third comment letting me know you’ve done so.

The contest will run for 10 days, and I’ll announce the winner in my January 3rd newsletter. Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering! -C

Earlier today, I posted about a brand new sandwich, the incredible Italian-Style Tuna Melts with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto, Arugula, and Hot Peppers. That post was sponsored by Mezzetta, and I’m happy to announce that the team there is extending you the chance to cook up your own sandwiches with their awesome jars of ingredients.

To win a package of products (you’ll get Homemade Style Basil Pesto, Sliced Calamata Olives, Italian Olive Antipasto , Sun-dried Tomatoes and a Make That Sandwich T-Shirt), here’s what to do.

{one} Leave a comment below and tell me about your dream sandwich-homemade or store-bought, humble or fancy. (from your butter knives to your blender, your prep bowls to your electric mixer) you love most.

{two} Tell your facebook friends and/or twitter fans about the contest – post the link and tag @Big Girls Small Kitchen (facebook) or @BGSK (twitter). Leave a comment letting me know you’ve done so for a second chance to win.

The contest will run for a week. Thanks, Mezzetta!

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for all your entries! -C

Remember that breakfast rut I was in? No more. About a million years later than the rest of the world, I’ve discovered the appeal of smoothies. And thanks to all of your comments on that post, I’m not short on ideas for combinations for my morning drinks. But until last week, I was short one ingredient: an incredible blender. I tried making smoothies in my food processor, but the “smooth” part of the title started to seem like a misnomer.

Enter Driscoll’s, who offered to provide me with the ultimate in blenders, the Vitamix. Last week, I started blending my shakes in their CIA Professional Series, and I can’t get enough. My current favorite smoothie contains: banana, peanut butter, plenty of ripe strawberries and blueberries, a touch of honey, and milk (either 2% or homemade coconut milk-more on that blended endeavor soon). Thirty seconds in this powerful blender, and all those ingredients become a filling, healthful breakfast.

Now that I’m in love with an appliance, I’m happy to announce that Driscoll’s is going to supply one of you with your own Vitamix CIA Professional Series (a $500 value) to delight in. The winner also receives a $25 gift certificate to Whole Foods so that you can stock up on summer’s juiciest berries, to throw into your smoothies.

You’ve got three chances to enter the Vitamix + Driscoll’s + Whole Foods Giveaway:

• {one} Leave a comment below and tell me what item in your kitchen (from your butter knives to your blender, your prep bowls to your electric mixer) you love most.
• {two} Be a subscriber to the Big Girls, Small Kitchen newsletter and leave a second comment letting me know you’ve subscribed.
• {three} Tell your facebook friends and/or twitter fans about the contest – post the link and tag @Big Girls Small Kitchen (facebook) or @BGSK (twitter). Leave a third comment letting me know you’ve done so.

The contest will run for 10 days, and I’ll announce the winner in my June 28th newsletter. Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed, 12/18/12.

As the gift-giving season gets into full swing, I always seem to notice tons of adorable clothes, accessories, and jewelry…for myself.

It’s completely selfish, and totally weird, considering I don’t even like shopping that much the rest of the year. But as soon as I get frustrated prowling the aisles for the perfect gifts for family and friends, all I seem to notice is the perfect gift for me.

That’s why I’m so happy that my friends at Nespresso have offered this compact Lattissima+ machine for me to give away to you. Sure, you could gift it to your mom, your best friend, or your partner. But you could also win it for yourself. That would mean treating yourself to lattes and espressos at home all through the Christmas season and beyond. To make it yours, you don’t have to prowl any aisles. Just share your ideal holiday breakfast, the best possible treat you’d want to pair with your cup of Joe–who knows, you might just see your recipe come to life on the blog in the coming months.

To enter the Nespresso Lattissima+ Giveaway, you must:

• Leave a comment below and tell us your favorite special breakfast (cinnamon buns? extra-crumble coffee cake? homemade bagels & lox?) to go with your coffee.
• (Extra Entry) Become a fan of the BGSK Facebook Page
• (Extra Entry) Tell your facebook friends/fans about the contest – post the link and @Big Girls Small Kitchen
• (Extra Entry) Tweet about this contest @BGSK

I’ll announce the randomly selected winner next week on the blog. Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed - 9/12/12.

When I ask friends and fans what stands in the way of getting a home-cooked dinner on their tables, what I hear is that grocery shopping can be a real impediment. If you’re working late or you don’t live close to a supermarket, the thought of shopping and cooking can be a huge downer. I do my best to write about meals that don’t require too many ingredients, and if you stock your pantry, you’ll often be able to make a grilled cheese sandwich or a bowl of tomato soup.

Until there comes a day when you can’t. And that’s what brings us to today’s giveaway, for a product that solves the supermarket shopping and dinner decision problems in one fell swoop: Hello Fresh.

Hello Fresh sends three creative recipes and all the ingredients necessary to make them to customers’ doors every week. Ingredients are sourced locally, and the company does its best to have all fresh, quality ingredients (though not everything is organic). When you receive a box, you simply follow the gorgeously printed instructions, and in about half an hour, you’ve got a home-cooked meal. It’s a fine midpoint between doing all your own shopping and planning, and ordering take-out every night, and I’m happy to say I’m giving away two boxes today.

This giveaway is now closed.

Caffeine cravings don’t stop just because it’s summer, and that’s why I’m gracing this busy weekend with a giveaway for an awesome - yet tiny and portable - espresso maker from Nespresso. It’s called the Nespresso Pixie, and you’ll get one in a lovely dark red if you win! The other half of the giveaway is an Aerrocino Plus, which will foam up your milk for cool iced lattes all summer long.

In honor of father’s day and this beautiful weekend, enter to win this wonderful espresso gadget below!