Win FREE Pasta Prima and get a $1.50/1 Pasta Prima Coupon!

To celebrate National Ravioli Day Pasta Prima is giving away 5,000 Free Bags of pasta and 20,000 $1.50/1 Pasta Prima Coupons!  This is really good pasta!

 Enter to win some free pasta!

Grand Prize

Enter to win coupons for Free 100% Natural Pasta Prima Ravioli, any 8 oz or 16 oz flavor. 5,000 random winners will receive coupons in the mail.

2nd Prize

$1.50 off 100% Natural Pasta Prima Ravioli to celebrate National Ravioli Day. The first 20,000 participants will receive a link to the $1.50 coupon after submitting their sweepstakes entry.

Prize Eligibility

Only persons residing in United States who are at least 18 years of age can enter. 

Sweepstakes Starts

March 20, 2012 @ 12:00 am (PDT) 

Sweepstakes Ends

April 20, 2012 @ 11:59 pm (PDT)

How to Defrost Ground Beef

This week I learned the best way to defrost meat, like ground beef for taco night!  The best way to defrost meat, but also the longest, is in the refrigerator.  If you can keep meat cold while it defrosts bacteria can't grow as quickly.  You need to cook it or freeze it within 1 or 2 days after it's defrosted.

You can also defrost meat in cold water.  If you want to defrost ground beef in cold water, you need to put the meat in a watertight plastic bag and sink it under the water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook immediately after the meat is defrosted.

I didn't have time to defrost the meat in the refrigerator or soak it in water, so I used the microwave.  Aren't microwaves awesome!  I set the microwave on defrost for about 3 minutes per pound and the meat was ready to cook.  If you are using a microwave you'll need to also cook the meat immediately after it's defrosted because sometimes some of the meat can start to cook during the defrosting.  (The meat looks brown where it's already started to cook.)


"Do not refreeze raw ground meat thawed in cold water or in the microwave oven unless you cook it first.

Never leave ground beef out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour at 90 °F and above). "- USDA.Gov

Cooking Tips:

• Always wash your hands before and after touching raw meat!

• Cook ground beef until there is NO pink showing!  We like to cook it until some pieces are extra dark to add a little more flavor!

• Season with just black pepper for great tasting meat or add a little salsa, taco sauce or powdered taco seasoning mix for tacos.
• Use extra lean ground beef for less fat but great flavor!

• Use Lynn Wilson Thin Tortillas for less fat and carbs and no sugar or cholesterol.

• Use a sturdy slotted spatula to break ground beef into small pieces and remove from pan, while leaving any extra grease behind! 

Chocolate Cup Cakes - In A Cup!

 

These aren't your normal cupcakes, these are CUP cakes.  Cakes baked in cups - get it?  I decided to make these cup cakes after my dad told me about making them at work.  I changed around the recipe a little bit and had to adjust the cooking time but they turned out terrific!

Chocolate Cup Cakes

4 T. Flour
4 T. Sugar
2 T. Cocoa Powder
1 Egg
3 T. Milk
3 T. Oil
Splash of Vanilla
2-3 T.   Chocolate or Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips

Mix the dry ingredients in a large microwave safe mug.  Add the egg & Stir well.  Stir in the milk, oil and vanilla.  Lightly mix in the chocolate or peanut butter chips or else they will sink to the bottom.


Cook in a 1500 Watt microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds  to 1 minute 45 seconds.  Cake mixture will rise above cup rim but should not spill out.  It's fun to watch!

Dump out immediately onto a plate and cut into slices or just dig in and eat the whole cup yourself. Serve with ice cream and your favorite toppings like chocolate and caramel syrup - yum!  Enjoy.  Serves 1-5 people.

The Perfect Birthday Cake - Baking Strips

It was my birthday just a few days ago and my mom showed me a neat trick to make my birthday cake rise evenly - Wilton Bake Even Strips!

All you do is soak these strips in cold water and then circle your cake pan with them.  You use a t-pin to hold the strip in place.  Bake your cake as directed with the strip on the pan.  The strip makes the heat distribute evenly so the cake rises flat instead of with a big hump in the middle.

If you try to decorate a cake that's not flat you have to either use a lot of frosting on the sides or cut part of the cake off and that wastes cake and frosting!

Baked without strip

I found these Wilton Bake Even Strips and Wilton Cake Pans on Amazon.com (Click Here) and they are even on sale!  They say: "Cakes bake perfectly level and moist, without high-rise centers or cracked tops. Just dampen our strips and wrap around the pan before baking.  Oven safe."

Baked With Strip

The Dish Diva's Blog - About Me

I'm excited to start this blog, Dishes&Deals, because it lets me follow my passion - which is cooking, baking and good deals.  (My mom is a deal blogger and I love finding deals with her too!)  I started baking to do service for an elderly neighbor when I was 12 and saw how happy it made him that someone cared about him.  I started simple - baking brownies.  I soon started making brownies every Sunday for dinner to take to my grandma's house.  But I want to learn more than just how to bake brownies.  I want to learn everything about baking so I can become a great chef and learn how to cook good food for my family. 

While I do love to cook, I also have to take it easy sometimes.  I have a rare heart condition called L-transposition (my heart is sort of backwards in my chest), Epstein's Anomoly (my heart valve doesn't fit right because of the Transposition and I will have to have a valve transplant soon, and WPW (my heart takes and extra skip to beat).  I recently had cardiac ablation surgery to get rid of the WPW and make my heart beat normally.  The surgery wasn't too bad, but I did have some big bruises and had to miss a week of school.  Making up all that homework wasn't fun!

I just turned 13 and I hope to do great things and learn how to blog along the way.  Dishes&Deals is a learning experience for me and I'm looking forward to figuring out how to take great pictures and make great recipes.  I will also update everyone on my heart journey along the way.

Just watch out though - I do like to get messy!

-The Dish Diva