The Cheap Gourmet

Truvia Shortbread Cookies by The Cheap Gourmet

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of making Truvia Shortbread Cookies and I must say they are the best shortbread cookies I have ever tasted! As you may know, The Cheap Gourmet was contacted by the marketing department of Truvia Natural Sweetener who graciously donated FIVE full-size boxes of this delightful zero-calorie sweetener to be given away to readers of this blog. The winners of the January Giveaway have been selected and contacted via email. Once they confirm their prize and grant permission to use their names, I will post the winners on the blog.

The Truvia Shortbread Cookie recipe is available at www.Truvia.com, along with several other tasty treats. Fortunately, this zero-calorie sweetener allows me to make extra yummy treats that don't end up on my thighs! Not only are they easier on the waistline, they taste just as good, if not better, than the high-calorie, fattening versions.

Many of the recipes presented at Truvia's website are inspired by Celebrity Chef, Marisa Churchill. Marisa was chosen as one of the top 40 pastry chefs in the country by Food Arts magazine. She has appeared on many of my favorite food programs including Bravo's Top Chef and The Food Network.

Truvia's shortbread cookie recipe is super simple to make. It took less than an hour from start to finish to create three dozen of these delectable treats. Better yet, Truvia's shortbread cookies only require eight ingredients: butter, Truvia sweetener, sugar, 1 egg, vanilla extract, flour, cornstarch and salt.

Once ingredients are blended together, shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet.

Next, dip a flat-bottomed glass in a small amount of cornstarch. I'll admit, I added too much cornstarch to the glass bottom. If you make the same mistake, use a pastry brush to lightly dust-off the cookies prior to baking.

Bake for 16-18 minutes until shortbread cookies are light golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to baker's rack. Cool for 20-30 minutes and transfer to airtight container.

I had one extra packet of Truvia Natural Sweetener and decided to sprinkle a small amount on each cookie. This step is not included in the directions, but I found the addition of the Truvia sprinkles to add a bit of crunch and a little burst of extra sweetness.

After having the pleasure of using Truvia Natural Sweetener for the past month, I can honestly say I am a Truvia-convert. The Truvia Fudgy Brownies recipe was a huge hit with my family and as I recall they lasted about 1-1/2 days. That's a sure sign that my family loved every morsel ;-)

I am grateful that Truvia introduced their product to me and allowed me to experiment with the various recipes posted on their website. I am also grateful for their generosity to share their product with readers of The Cheap Gourmet Blog.

Personally, I love Truvia and will be trying more of the delightful dessert recipes, beverages and smoothies. I hope you will give Truvia Natural Sweetener a try as well. I think you'll be as pleased with the product as I am.

Tomorrow, I will be announcing the February contest. Please stop back by or subscribe to our "Get the Scoop" mailing list to be notified of new recipes and upcoming giveaways. Thank you for being part of The Cheap Gourmet family and good luck in upcoming contests and giveaways!

Happy Cheap Gourmet Cooking!

P.S. We are frequently adding new cooking contests, sweepstakes and giveaways in our Cooking Contests section. Please bookmark the page and stop back often!

Copyright © The Cheap Gourmet and Kathy Browning. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright and intellectual property rights. Reproducing or electronically submitting this article without written permission from the author is prohibited by law. Govern yourself accordingly. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

All in the Day of a Food Blogger by The Cheap Gourmet

An Open Letter to Fans of The Cheap Gourmet Blog,

This past week, The Cheap Gourmet has been endlessly harassed by splog owner, Dmitri Dercacenco. It began when I discovered Dmitri had published my beer of the month club review, along with about 20 other of my blog posts on his website.

I politely requested Dmitri Dercacenco provide a summary with a link to The Cheap Gourmet blog or remove the article altogether. I also requested the same for the other articles belonging to me. As I reviewed his website I began noticing content from other food bloggers I am familiar with.

Because I am a strong advocate for copyright protection, I contacted each blogger to inform them their content had been stolen as well. Dmitri Dercacenco refused to remove our content and continued to steal more of our blog posts and publish them on his blog.

We food bloggers joined forces and contacted Dmitri Dercacenco's webhost provider. After providing evidence we were the rightful owners of the content, the hosting service shut down Dmitri's website.

Dmitri Dercacenoco then left a comment on Brad's Bodacious Beef, Bean and Sausage Chili Recipe post, threatening to submit a ton of spam comments to The Cheap Gourmet. Not very smart, is he? I left his comment in place, but did alter his website's URL to IStealContentFromFoodBloggers because I refuse to provide a link to his website, which at present is out of service.

Now, Dmitri Dercaenoco has embarked on all-out war against The Cheap Gourmet by altering my Beer of the Month Club review and submitting it to news directories in Pakistan and other foreign countries. Apparently, he isn't smart enough to understand there are tools which allow bloggers to track their blog posts and I can easily follow his every move.

My message to Dmitri is if you are going to come into my home, steal my stuff and threaten me, I am going to call you out and take action against you. I imagine he would feel the same way if the shoe were on the other foot.

After considerable research, I discovered Dmitri has a long history of being a spammer and black hatter. He has registered 85 different URLs, many of which are connected to credit card scams. All of this information is public record and can be found at places such as Whois.com and DomainTools.com.

Instead of being able to focus on providing recipes to you, my valuable readers, Dmitri's behavior has left me spending my time submitting DMCA notices and taking various measures to report his illegal activity. If you aren't familiar with the term, 'splog' it refers to a blog that scrapes blog posts from honest bloggers and posts them on the offensive site as their own work.

Although Dmitri Dercaenoco has diverted my attention, I met some wonderful food bloggers who were also victims of this man's unethical behavior. As they say, when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Below are links to my newfound friends. I encourage you to visit their websites because each food blogger offers amazing recipes and cooking tips.

Candy Addict – www.CandyAddict.com

Andrea Myers - www.AndreasRecipes.com

Veg Inspirations - www.VegInspirations.com

Poor Girl Eats Well - www.PoorGirlEatsWell.com

100 Café Street - www.100cafestreet.com


I apologize for the diversion and assure you The Cheap Gourmet will be back in full swing on Monday. I will be announcing the winners of January's Giveaway of Truvia Natural Sweetener and announcing the February giveaway.

In closing, if you are a blogger it is important to protect your work. There are measures in place that allow you to report individuals who have stolen and published your content. If you discover someone's content has been stolen, take a moment to contact them and provide the URL where the content is published. By watching out for one another we can reduce the amount of thievery and shut down the sploggers, spammers and stalkers who behave like Dmitri Dercaenoco.

Copyright © The Cheap Gourmet and Kathy Browning. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright and intellectual property rights. Reproducing or electronically submitting this article without written permission from the author is prohibited by law. Govern yourself accordingly. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Brad's Bodacious Beef, Bean and Sausage Chili Recipe

Today, I'd like to share Brad's Bodacious Beef, Bean and Sausage Chili recipe; a creation made by my culinary-exploring husband. I am constantly amazed at how far his cooking skills have improved in the eleven years we have been together. When we first met, he was strictly a meat-and-potatoes-guy who was not very enthusiastic about changing his dietary habits.

After creating his Bodacious Beef, Bean and Sausage Chili recipe, I decided it was time to officially crown him The Mini Cheap Gourmet! He took our family chili recipe to an entirely new level with this tasty and hardy rendition. It is by far the best chili I have ever tasted and I am thrilled to share his recipe with you. 

BRAD'S BODACIOUS BEEF, BEAN AND SAUSAGE CHILI RECIPE
Serves: 8-10
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/2 pounds lean Ground Beef
2 Johnsonville New Orleans Brand Andouille Recipe Spicy Smoked Sausage links
1 package Carroll Shelby Chili Mix
½ medium White or Yellow Onion, chopped
2-3 medium Garlic cloves, minced
½ medium Green Pepper, chopped
1 small Jalapeno, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 64-ounce bottle Campbell's Tomato Juice
1 15-ounce can Bush's Seasoned Black Beans, drained
2 cups Bowtie Pasta or Elbow Macaroni, uncooked
Shredded Cheddar Cheese, optional
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Crackers or corn chips, optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add ground beef to heavy stockpot over medium heat. Break into pieces and cook for 10-12 minutes or until meat is browned.
2. Place cooked hamburger in a colander and rinse with warm water to remove excess grease. Return to stock pot.
3. Cut Johnsonville sausage links half then cut each half in half. Cut slices into half-inch pieces. Add to cooked hamburger.
4. Add Carroll Shelby Chili Mix, except for masa flour. Use half of the cayenne pepper packet unless you like exceptionally spicy chili.
5. Add onion, garlic, green pepper and jalapeno. Pour in the entire bottle of tomato juice, add the black beans and mix ingredients together.
6. Add pasta. If the tomato juice does not cover the pasta, fill the tomato juice bottle about half-way full of water and add to chili mixture.
7. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for one hour.

8. Transfer to serving bowls. Top with cheddar cheese, salt and pepper, if desired. Serve immediately. 

We like to add corn chips to our chili to provide a little extra crunch. Frito's scoop corn chips are my personal favorite because I can scoop up small amounts of the chili when it is too hot to eat. We often use leftover chili to make nachos, taco salads and as a topping for baked potatoes.

If you enjoy Brad's Bodacious Beef, Bean and Sausage Chili please stop back and leave a comment. Doing so will make my husband a very happy man!

Copyright © The Cheap Gourmet and Kathy Browning. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright and intellectual property rights. Reproducing or electronically submitting this article without written permission from the author is prohibited by law. Govern yourself accordingly. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Beer of the Month Club Review

I purchased a Beer of the Month Club subscription as a Christmas gift for my husband. I ordered his beer subscription through Clubs of America, which is an affiliate program promoted through The Cheap Gourmet Blog.

This is the second Beer of the Month Club subscription I have ordered. The first beer subscription expired July 2009 and my husband has been going through "micro-brew withdrawal" for the past five months. He loved receiving his 12-pack of specialty beers each month and reading the informative newsletter that arrives with each order.

I am not a big fan of beer and couldn't tell you if it is good or not, so I asked my husband to provide a review of the brew he received. The following Beer of the Month Club microbrew review covers the four beer varieties he received in January.

Michigan Brewing Company

Celis Grand Cru – Grand Cru, refers to a type of specialty ale brewed in the Belgian-style, often served on special occasions or at festivals.  This is a style of beer that has very strong characteristics, and connoisseurs of the brew making art will appreciate the bold flavor.

Michigan Brewing's Celis Grand Cru is brewed with the vintage traditional recipe of fine malt and hops, Saaz (a Czech Republic aroma hop), and spices with citrus. Celis Grand Cru pours nicely producing an appropriate head with complex flavor that is true to tradition. This is excellent ale to serve with beef, wild game, or anything with accommodating bold flavors.

High Seas IPA – India Pale Ale refers to a type of ale that is very pale in color due to the malting process and because it could be transported for long periods of time, hence the name "India Pale Ale."  East Indian traders would transport this type of ale by ship to India, but it was also widely brewed and transported on ships traveling across the globe. 

Michigan Brewing's High Seas IPA is nice blend of complex malts and hops that pours nicely and follows with a light head.  Although I would refer to India pale ale as more of a light, yet complex and bitter ale, it truly has a flavor that discerning aficionados can appreciate.  This is an excellent beer to serve with poultry, fish, or hanging out just eating wings and watching the game.


Snake River Brewing Company

Snake River Pale Ale – A modern-style pale ale using domestic malts and hops best describes this common-man brew.  Today, this type of pale ale is very prevalent in the U.S. in terms of mass-production, but many micro-brewed pale ales use a more vintage recipe. 

Snake River Brewing's Pale Ale has a real Pacific-Northwest micro-brew vibe, with a smooth citrus flavor that finishes with a classic bitter tone.  This finely-tuned pale ale pours nicely with a light head, and beautifully clean color.  Common-man would fit the smooth flavor with this beer, as anyone would appreciate it.  This excellent ale compliments salads, fruit, poultry, fish, or anything with a light flavor.

Snake River Zonker Stout – Stout refers to a type of specialty ale that is extremely bold and complex.  It is also referred to as Porter because it was popular with the street and river porters of London. 

This is a style of beer that is not for the faint of heart and commands respect. Stouts typically use roasted barley, as well as chocolate and caramel malts, that produce an intense flavor with a dark black color. 

Snake River Zonker Stout pours nice and smooth, with a thick head and color.  The flavor is astonishing, yet it has a very complex flavor and finish only a true connoisseur would appreciate.  This is an old-world or foreign-type of brew and excellent to serve with smoked meats, wild game, pungent cheeses, chocolates, or anything with a strong and complex flavor.

If you are looking for a great gift, we highly recommend Clubs of America Beer of the Month subscription. Additional monthly clubs include: Wine Club, Flower Club, Fruit Club, Cigar Club, Coffee Club, Chocolate Club and Pizza Club.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Copyright © The Cheap Gourmet and Kathy Browning 2010. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright and intellectual property rights. Reproducing or electronically submitting this article without written permission from the author is prohibited by law. Govern yourself accordingly. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Disclaimer: The Cheap Gourmet earns a one-time customer referral fee for Beer of the Month Club sales generated through our marketing efforts.  Supporting our carefully selected vendors allows us to continue offering recipes to our visitors at no charge.

Truvia Natural Sweetener Fudgy Brownies

As mentioned earlier, Truvia Natural Sweetener is the January sponsor of The Cheap Gourmet blog. I have had the joy of experimenting with Truvia and am very impressed with the product. Last night, I made a batch of Truvia Natural Sweetener Fudgy Brownies, which are delicious and decadent!

The recipe for Truvia Natural Sweetener Brownies is available at Truvia's website, along with recipes for more yummy baked goods, sauces, spreads, pudding and hot cocoa mix. Truvia brownies were very easy to make and required about 15 minutes of prep time.

Here are a few photos of Truvia Natural Sweetener Brownies:

This photo shows 12 packets of Truvia Natural Sweetener and two eggs and is the first step to creating these amazing chocolate brownies!

This photo is the melted unsweetened chocolate, butter and olive oil. The recipe calls for canola oil, but I did not have any on hand and substituted extra virgin olive oil.

Here is the unbaked Truvia Natural Sweetener Brownie Mix.

Voila! Beautiful baked brownies at only 130 calories! Life doesn't get better than this!

The Cheap Gourmet and Truvia Natural Sweetener will be giving away FIVE (5) boxes of this healthy sugar alternative on February 1st. The only requirement for obtaining an entry to win a box of Truvia is to leave a comment on the blog or subscribe to "Get the Scoop" mailing list. Subscribers receive monthly recipes, menu planners, grocery coupons, gourmet food sales, and cooking contest information. 

Please support our sponsor by visiting their website and purchasing their products. If you love brownies, I can guarantee you will love Truvia Brownies. If chocolate isn't your thing, perhaps you would enjoy shortbread cookies, sweet potato pie, pear and sour cherry crisp or raspberry oatmeal bars.

Thank you and Good Luck!