I’m their target for commercials because it takes very, very little for me to get an idea stuck in my head and then I need that idea to come to fruition right that very minute. I’m the perfect case study for the power of suggestion.

My husband knows better than to even mention possibly picking up Chipotle for dinner because I can’t hear that word without needing to run there right then for my favorite burrito bowl. (See…guess what I’m going to have to have for lunch today, now?)

So it’s no surprise that when a few food blogger friends and I were chatting the other day and the topic of fried cheese curds came up, I had to investigate right away. Little, bite size cheese curds, lightly breaded, then fried to perfection? What’s not to love?…

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The issue with the 2012 Olympics is it falls right, smack dab in the middle of our summer  family vacation. We’ll be either on the road or in the mountains without television access most of the time. We’ve all been wondering how we were going to keep up with the Olympics without television coverage?

Luckily, I did some exploring on my new Nokia Lumina 900 Windows Phone and quickly found several apps that will keep us up to date, even without TV coverage. And thanks to the genius design of the Windows Phone I was able to pin my favorite 2012 Olympic apps right to the front for easy access….

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The post Windows Phone Guide to the 2012 Olympic Games {Recipe: Zesty Peach Glazed Chicken Wings} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

It’s about this time each year that I start to get that uneasy feeling about summer being close to over. We have one month left before my kids go back to school, and I know and don’t like how fast that last month of summer speeds by.

We’re doing an ok job getting through our Summer Bucket List. There is no way we’ll get through it all, but it has been a fun-filled, really great summer nonetheless. I owe a lot of that to being able to focus on some of the activities we created for our summer.

One thing on our list that we crossed off right away and have repeated over and over is making homemade sno cones. Previously we always bought the bottles of sno cone syrup, but this year we figured out how to make our own sno cone syrup at home.

Our most favorite sno cone syrup so far is root beer flavored. Homemade sno cones of any flavor are such a great treat for beating the heat.

What’s your favorite flavor of sno cone?

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Root Beer Flavored Sno Cone Syrup

Beat the heat and make sno cones at home with this homemade Root Beer Sno Cone Syrup recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons Zatarain's Root Beer Extract

Instructions

• Bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring continuously until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the Zatarain's Root Beer Extract, stirring until well blended.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Pour desired amount over shaved ice.
• Store and keep refrigerated in glass or plastic bottle. Shake gently before using after storing.

The post Homemade Root Beer Flavored Sno Cone Syrup Recipe appeared first on Dine and Dish.

The other day I received a big package of goodies from my friends at Zatarain’s. At the very top of the box was a bottle of their Root Beer Extract, including a recipe for making homemade root beer.

The box couldn’t have come at a better time as I was in the middle of making my “things we want to do this summer to make the summer fun” list for the kids. You know that list, with all the great expectations on it, that no matter how hard you try to achieve everything on it you fail? Then, at the end of the summer you look back at the list of things you didn’t get done then feel like a failure of a mom for not making summer the absolute best it can be? Yeah, that’s the list. And yes, I know how it turns out each and every year, but every summer I still make the darn list in hopes of a better turn out “this time around”.

Anyway, I immediately added “make homemade root beer” to our summer bucket list. That should be an easy one to cross off, right? There’s nothing incredibly grand involved… just some Zatarain’s root beer extract and a few simple instructions and voila…. root beer! I’ll let you know as soon as we’ve checked this one off. I may make it be first on the list, just so we can start off summer with a bang!

So, since it isn’t quite summer break yet (1 more week!) I have to wait to make homemade root beer, but I still wanted to do something with the root beer extract now. I decided to give Root Beer Float Cupcakes a try!

I knew I wanted an extra creamy frosting for the cupcakes because everyone knows the very best part of a root beer float is the melted ice cream / root beer mixture at the very end of the glass. I then went on a search for a Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe. Swiss Meringue is a delicious, silky, creamy frosting made with an egg white and granulated sugar base and lots and lots of butter! It’s a little bit of extra work, but oh my… so very worth it in the end. I combined the recipe over at Martha Stewart’s website (replacing vanilla extract with root beer extract) with the awesome instructions from my friend Rosie over at the Sweetapolita blog. Thanks to them, I had incredible success with my Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

These Root Beer Float Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream are the bomb, if I do say so myself. Any root beer float fan will be as big of a fan of cupcakes made to their liking.

Do you have a summer bucket list? If so, add these cupcakes to your list… in the number one spot. Even if you fail at everything else this summer, you’ll have started your summer off on the right foot! Enjoy!

These other friends have tempting (and all unique) Root Beer Cupcake recipes too!

• Root Beer Float Cupcakes from How Sweet Eats
• Root Beer Float Cupcakes from Smitten Kitchen
• Root Beer Float Cupcakes from Coconut & Lime

Disclosure: I am a 2012 brand ambassador for Zatarain’s. All opinions expressed are my own.

The post Great Expectations {Recipe: Root Beer Float Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Buttercream} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

When it comes to cooking, I like a good challenge. Zatarain’s recently launched a line of frozen entrees for two and challenged  the ambassador team to do something new and unique with one of their frozen meals.

This was going to be a challenge for a couple of different reasons. First of all, we have six people in our family, so a frozen entree for two normally wouldn’t go very far for the number of mouths we have to feed. Secondly, we don’t do a lot of frozen meals around here. Not because we don’t like them, but normally problem number one comes into play.

I decided to use the Zatarain’s Smothered Chicken and Rice frozen entree to see how I could make it more applicable for my family of 6. First of all, I will say all of the frozen entrees I have tried so far have been phenomenal. The flavors and freshness of each meal really comes through. I could absolutely see using them when my husband was out of town or when I needed a meal for part of us in a pinch.

I decided to go a nontraditional route with my Zatarain’s meal and made Smothered Chicken and Rice Nachos. Adding chips, cheese and some beans helped to stretch the meal out and made this two person frozen meal a quick dinner option for my family of six! The best part is, I had a hot meal on the table for my family in less than 15 minutes. As a busy mom during a busy season, you can’t beat that!

Zatarain’s has a large variety of frozen entrees available for you to try, and guess what… March is frozen food month! Try out a few and stretch yourself… see how you can make a Zatarain’s frozen meal your own, with your own special twist!

I am a paid brand Ambassador for Zatarain’s. I received a variety of frozen meals to try for my recipe development. All opinions expressed are my own!

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