United We Dine for United Way In Waukesha County

We are in the final stretch of the #UnitedWeDine campaign for the United Way in Waukesha County. Just two weeks left to eat a great meal and donate to a wonderful organization.

Here are the locations that are left.

11/17 - Dickey's Barbeque Pit New Berlin - I haven't visited one of these yet but my friends are a fan. The offer is good from 3 - 9 pm and you have to mention United Way.

11/18 - Jersey Mike's in Waukesha & Brookfield - If you want a sub with freshly cut meats and cheeses just for you, this place is it! I think I know where my lunch will be Tuesday!

11/19 - Hispania Delafield - introducing the culture of Mexico, Chiapas, and Oaxaca to Delafield - sounds delicious

11/20 - Boneyard Pub & Grille Sussex - you need to bring in the flyer.

11/24 - Rochester Deli - Offer is good on soups ordered this day. This is one of my favorites in downtown Waukesha. Salads, soups, sandwiches, it's all great. And you must have a dessert - may I recommend a lemon bar or chocolate dipped peanut butter cookie.

11/25 - The Chocolate Factory in Waukesha, Elm Grove, Pewaukee and Oconomowoc - Offer good 4 pm - close. What a blast from the past - My mom used to bring me and my brother here all the time. They had blue moon ice cream and I always stared at it but never could order it. The subs were excellent and then I would get butter pecan ice cream for dessert!

11/26 - Moe's Southwest Grill in Pewaukee - Get the chips and queso - it's a must! What a difference from what you will be having the next day for Thanksgiving!

11/28 - Endter's Sports Grill in Hartland - They will make donations from each pizza sold. So if you aren't into the leftovers of Thanksgiving and looking for something different - pizza is perfect!

United We Dine for United Way #2

The next two weeks of the #UnitedWeDine for United Way campaign have some great restaurants lined up to benefit the United Way. 

I was able to enjoy dinner with a friend at Famous Dave's in Waukesha and support United Way in Waukesha. I hadn't been to a Famous Dave's in probably 10 years and it was just as tasty as I remember. You leave stuffed and with leftovers if you are like me, or like my friend and be a member of the completely clean plate club! We really enjoyed ourselves! 

From my last post: 
If you aren't familiar with this program, I'll break it down. United Way in Waukesha County partners with area restaurants in the months of October and November. These partnering restaurants provide United Way in Waukesha County a portion of the sales from the day(s) they chose. Each business can customize exactly how they want their day to work; some restaurants offer a full day percentage of sales and others will offer the proceeds if a special flyer is shown by the customer or the customer mentions United Way when ordering.

Here is a link to the October calendar. Remember to read the blue print to make sure you mention or print off the flyer that was requested (if needed) I hope to make it to a few this year and maybe some new ones as well.

10/21 - Texas Roadhouse in Waukesha - mention United Way or hand them the flyer. You will not leave hungry as the portions are large and someone I know loves their prime rib! 

10/22 - San Laurio Coffeehouse in Muskego. I have been here once before a mother/daughter pedicure date and the Chai was delicious!

10/23 - Applebee's in Pewaukee. Applebee's does a lot of donations to charities and the food is great for the price point. It says to bring in the flyer but I don't see a link to it on United Way's site. Maybe you can mention it? 

10/27 - Casa Tequila in Pewaukee. I have yet to go here - Maybe I can get a group together and get some Mexican in our bellies while trying this place not too far from my house. 

10/29 - Hispania in Delafield. Menu looks great but I have never heard of this one. 

10/30 - Nashotah Clubhouse. Again, I am not familiar with this one. 

10/31 - Cafe Esperanza in Waukesha. I have had a lot of their foods for banquets and events and they are donating 100% of the Fish Fry sales to United Way - this is awesome. Unfortunately I'll be out of town, but you all should go. It's not a Friday in Wisconsin without a fish fry! 

I hope you can get out and try some of these places and help support United Way in Waukesha County!

United We Dine for United Way

I know I have shared this information with you in past years (here and here) but it's again time for United We Dine: 2014 Edition!

If you aren't familiar with this program, I'll break it down. United Way in Waukesha County partners with area restaurants in the months of October and November. These partnering restaurants provide United Way in Waukesha County a portion of the sales from the day(s) they chose. Each business can customize exactly how they want their day to work; some restaurants offer a full day percentage of sales and others will offer the proceeds if a special flyer is shown by the customer or the customer mentions United Way when ordering.

Here is a link to the October calendar. Remember to read the blue print to make sure you mention or print off the flyer that was requested (if needed) I hope to make it to a few this year and maybe some new ones as well.

Here is a run down of the next few weeks so maybe you can plan out a day to participate while eating a great meal at a local establishment.

Today 10/6 - TGI Fridays in Brookfield (show this flyer). This place is currently running an endless appetizer promotion and great drinks. The burgers and pretty ok too!

10/7 - Sprizzo's Gallery Cafe - I love this place and have been here many, many times. The creative soup and sandwiches with the fancy mayos always tempt my tastebuds!

10/8 - Kim's Lakeside in Pewaukee - I keep wanting to check this place out and haven't found time yet.

10/9 - Gyros West Waukesha - I think I might just make this Thursdays lunch! I have been here quite a few times, but doesn't look like I have written about them yet!

10/10 - Uno Pizzeria & Grill, Menomonee Falls - I really miss the Uno's on Bluemound but I'm glad that there is still another location in the area.

10/13 - Famous Dave's Waukesha (show this flyer)- I have a friend that absolutely loves this place. Maybe I'll convince him to get dinner with me that night.

10/14 - Denny's Waukesha - (8 - 2 pm & 4 - 10 pm) - Who doesn't want a Grand Slam?

10/15 - Chuck E Cheese's Brookfield (mention United Way)

10/16 - Trysting Place Pub, Menomonee Falls - I have been here once after Brewers Opening Day and I remember the burger to be excellent!

10/17 - First Watch Brookfield - Love this place - I think of it at a healthy version of Perkins....not that Perkins is really bad for you, but First Watch makes protein and fiber loaded breakfasts with a focus on health. The fruit filled crepes are one of my favorites. Maybe I'll call ahead and drive there before work??

Hope you can support United Way in Waukesha County by enjoying a meal at one of these fine places!

My 12 Highlights of 2012

Happy New Year!!  2013 is here and the Mayans were obviously wrong, and I am so happy about that. There are so many more things that I want to do with my time on this earth.

Reflecting back on 2012, I accomplished much more than I thought I did and I can't wait to continue and add onto those things this year.

I already gave you the Top 12 most viewed posts of 2012 earlier this week, but now I want to share some highlights that may not be the most viewed or not read at all (as I didn't blog about all of them!). They are what made 2012 so awesome for me.

12. Camping & Dave Matthews Band

Dave on the jumbo screen at Alpine Valley

This summer was unlike any in recent years-- DRY & EXTREMELY HOT. We had drought warnings for well over a month which meant you couldn't grill out with charcoal or gas grills. My cousin and I planned our annual trip to Dave Matthews at Alpine Valley right in the middle of the drought. Camping was HOT and you were awake by 7 am if you wanted to be or not. Swimming wasn't refreshing because the lake was like a hot tub. We had to use extreme caution grilling out at the campsite and NO fires could be made. We even brought cold sandwiches to Dave to be on the safe side.

But as usual, Dave put on an amazing show and I wish I could have gone to both days. I am so in love with his music and him as an artist and I hope he comes back in 2013.

11. Volunteering

I love volunteering and sharing my skills with those that need them. This year, I continued my service to the United Way Marketing Board and #MKEFoodies Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale. In addition to volunteering for Good Friend Inc., I was also asking to join their board of directors this year! I attended my first board meeting in October and cannot express enough how awesome these ladies are with the message they are out sharing.

I also helped out with the Drug Collection of Waukesha County on a very wet day.

Robin and I freezing for a good cause!

10. Patio Parties

Although I have no pictures of this, there isn't much more to be said than grilling out on a summer night with some cocktails, great friends, good conversations and laughs. I hope that by the end of next summer, I will have a patio of my own to share with my friends and continue this (cross your fingers for me!!!)

9. CityTins

I am glad that I followed through on the use of my CityTin this year. I tried some great new restaurants in the area that I most likely wouldn't have without. I found new food faves that I can make at home this year, including hush puppies from Maxie's Southern Comfort, the potato skins at Cafe Manna, fried goat cheese from La Merenda, and olive tapenade from Cafe Lulu.

Potato Skins at Cafe Manna

I also was able to use the CityTin at Cafe Benelux and Swig. I didn't buy one in 2013 as I am really trying my hardest to save for a new home. 

Beautiful summer night at Swig.

   8. #MKEFoodies

Staying on the Foodie ride, I was able to attend quite a few events with the #mkefoodies group. I am so thankful to Lori and Paul and all of their hard work to make the events absolutely wonderful. Bartolotta's Rumpus Room provided us great food samples,explanations of why they do what they do and swag bags. I found out about the potato skins at Cafe Manna because of the group. I was able to check out Joey Gerard's in Greendale and found out that they make all of their own cocktail mixes from scratch. Ginger was another Milwaukee restaurant I was able to try with friends and baking for the #MKEFoodies Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale is always a blast.

7. Beerclub & Beer

Mondays nights at 8 pm on Twitter, a group of Milwaukee-area beer lovers get together and share a drink and their thoughts on it using #beerclub. I was able to participate quite a few times this year, even once while tailgating at Miller Park, and enjoyed most of the selections. I hope to be able to participate more in 2013, but I have a boot camp the first 12 weeks of the year that is held from 6-8 pm. I might just have to join late. This club and friends that really enjoy beer, have really opened my eyes to the world beyond Blue Moon and Spotted Cow!

My friend Jacob even had an Oktoberfest Birthday party and had a perfect beer & cheese tasting. I learned so much and have many new faves!

Bourbon County Stout - The super rare one!

6. Storm the Bastille

Again, with the summer being extremely HOT, running at night was about the only time I could get in a run without feeling I would pass out. So when my friend suggested that we Storm the Bastille, I was in. Some bars and stores even turned their hoses on us to cool us down. This will definitely be in the mix for 2013.

 5. The Color Run - Chicago

I hadn't been to Chicago in years prior to this run and man was it a blast. The weather was picturesque, we ran on the beach and I have never participated in such a fun event that involves fitness since I was on the Poms Team at Mukwonago (Go Indians!!). I was instantly hooked and signed up for Milwaukee one with my friends (and Mom) right after.

Color Run - Chicago

4. New Waukesha Restaurants

New stores and restaurants opened in Waukesha in 2012 and I was able to visit quite a few of them and enjoy a decent meal. I still haven't eaten food at Montecito, but they know how to mix good cocktails. I highly recommend the Huckleberry Lemonade.

O' What A Day Cafe has some scrumptious cupcakes in very unique flavors and now serves lunch--Best Butternut Squash soup I have had yet!

Bernie's Tap Room is really doing all it can to become a staple in Waukesha, and I think they have figured it out - gourmet bar food. The Duck pizza and beer cheese soup are sooooooo good.

Beer Cheese Soup at Bernie's Tap Room

Maid-Rite is really getting out there in the social media world to advertise the daily specials and suggest different options for lunch and dinner! I have to get back there for some soup.

I can't wait to try some more new places in 2013!

3. Green Bay Packers Game

I went to my first Packers Game in nine years this year and the icing on the cake....I won the tickets in an office drawing! My friend Tory had never been, so we met up in Appleton, drove in together and took it all in. I am ADDICTED to seeing in live and can't wait to go back. We are hopefully going to make it an annual trip!

2. Nephew Time

Little Alexander has completely stolen my heart and every time I see him, our buddy bond gets stronger and stronger. He turned one this year with a cookies and milk party and I think next year he will be out on the boat with his dad and grandpa fishing up a storm. He already wants to drive the boat as you can see.

Let's go people - I'll steer!

Family is so important to me and being able to spend time with my little buddy is something that I cherish sooooo much. I can't wait to see him so much more in 2013.

1.  Brewers Games

This year, my friend Tiffany and I bought a 10 pack of tickets that included Opening Day tickets for free in the pack. So my dad and I bonded while making the Jumbo Jenga for such an occasion as Tailgating on Opening Day. The game was a huge hit with all our neighboring Brewer Fans and for some cookouts I brought it too throughout the summer. I haven't found the right sized tote to carry it in yet as my trunk is small and the blocks are big, but I still love it.

And after Opening Day, Tiffany and I were able to enjoy some great food at Miller Park and some food  that was just ok.

Miller Park Poutine - AH-MAZING!

I even ran the Brewers 5k and Color Run, both held at Miller Park. I love my brew crew and the stadium appeal.

Brewers 5k - pre-race

Note To Self: Chalk drifts in the wind, watch where you park :)

Tiffany and I didn't purchase another 10 pack this year as we are both choosing to travel more in 2013, starting with a trip to LA for her for her 30th bday, and then we are both going to Salt Lake City in mid-February. After that....who knows!? Suggestions welcome!

Well that is all of them - whew what a year to review!! Of course there were other great things that happened this year (Grant Park, Foodie Penpal, Runner groups and cooking), but no one wants to read that much about me! Coming up later this week, I will give you my 2013 goals as I'm still tweaking them, but I want to thank all of you for the blog support in 2012 and hope you continue to read in 2013. If you have suggestion, lay them on me. I'm always up to making the reading more enjoyable!!! :)

Happy New Year!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

This year, I joined The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and was given the names of three fellow food bloggers to send cookies to. In return, I would receive one dozen cookies from three other food bloggers.

There was a minimal donation to join, but I received my wonderful OXO spatula in exchange for my participation. Shortly after I joined, I was given the names of my cookie swappers. I sent cookies to Christy at My Invisible Crown, Jessica at Urban Sacred Garden, and Ruthie at My Tasty tRuth. 

I struggled for a bit as to finding just the right recipe to send. I attempted the Rudolph peanut butter cookies, but they were too delicate to ship. But then I remembered the "Grinch Cookie" (i.e. mint chocolate chip) recipe I found on Pinterest and tweaked it to add my own spin on the recipe. 

My mom and I have been baking cookies together since I can remember, and she did the same with her mom. I adapted a recipe found in the 1976 Betty Crocker's Cooky Book for Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, this recipe is found in the back of the book under the 1935-1940 Best of Cooky Chocolate Chip Cookies. Although the book is old and falling apart, I can't wait until the day it is truly mine. The recipes in this book bring back so many fond memories - spilt flour, good results (not so good results) and bonding time amongst my family. 

OXO spatula and my ingredients!

Grinch Cookies

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. creme de menthe liqueur

8 drops green food coloring

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 oz. mint chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix shortening, sugars, egg, vanilla and creme de menthe thoroughly. Mix flour, soda and salt together in a separate bowl and then add to the mixture. Mix until well blended.

Add food coloring and mix thoroughly. Mix in chips by hand. This was a bit of a workout, so I had to pause to take a sip or two from my beer :)

Color Time

Baking cookies and enjoying a beer!

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough about 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until just lightly browned. Let rest for 2 minutes on pan and then transfer to cooling racks. Makes 4 - 5 doz. cookies.

I almost didn't have enough to send to the bloggers as my parents kept sneaking them while they were cooling. They are pretty good if I do say so myself. And my family loves the mint chocolate combination, so I'll be making these a few more times this holiday season. 

 

I received my first package of cookies from Veronique at Food and Whine Chickie in this adorable moose jar. My first bite took me back to childhood as the flavor resembled Polish Krustiki's(?) - deep fried love knot cookies my grandma made every Christmas. After reading the recipe, the ingredients are similar, minus the sesame seeds. You can read about the cookies here.

My next cookies came from Sara at My Imperfect Kitchen. She even sent some cute snowflakes that I hung in my office cube to make work more merry! They are peppermint pink and white cookies with just the right hint of mint. A few broke in shipping, but I don't mind because I don't feel as bad grabbing a few pieces out of the cookie jar then to eat. (They are rather large rings - ok I'm just trying to justify the fact I LOVE cookies). These are almost gone too -- thanks to my parents picking up on the treats entering the house and raiding the cookie jar! You can get the recipe here.

My last cookies came from Lacy at NYCityEats.com. I was a little hesitant at first from the description - brown butter eggnog snickerdoodles stuffed with salted coffee caramels and sprinkled with chocolate. I'm not a huge coffee fan and I don't believe I have ever had eggnog (don't shoot me, but the name isn't appealing at all to me). They were still cold from sitting on the porch, so I nuked the cookie for 8 seconds before eating. You can get the recipe here.

It gently snapped in half and I saw the nice caramel in the middle. After my first bite, I knew I was in trouble. These were amazing. All those flavors went together so well. I was very surprised and want to hide these from the parents (seeing as they have eaten my other treats) but it's the holidays so I'll share. 

I can't wait to see these recipes from each person and hopefully attempt them myself. But I'm sure you can 

all attest that if someone else makes them, they are just that much yummier. Sure I will be satisfied with my results, but I'm not the world's best baker, but you aren't a success until you have failed a few times right???

I am so happy I joined the Cookie Swap this year and I can't wait until next year. If you want to join, follow my blog and also sign up to receive notifications from Cookie Swap and I'll provide updates. I'm already saving ideas on Pinterest to one-up myself for next year!

Pin-It Tuesday: Take 5 Cups & #MKEFoodies Bake Sale Wrap-Up

Take 5 Cups

Sorry for the short hiatus and missing a few posts last week. I'm hoping to be able to keep up during the holidays, but they are always hectic, so you never know what could come up.

I saw on Pinterest some Rolo Pretzel Pumpkin bites that looked absolutely heavenly. As much as I love pumpkin, I instantly thought that these would be amazing with a peanut butter cookie as the cup. I love Take 5 candy bars and thought this would be the best way to make them at home in a cookie form.

I used a tried and true cookie recipe from my beloved Betty Crocker Cooky Book. This book has been used by my family for years and has all the favorite recipes that my grandma and mom wold make for family parties.

It's a pretty basic peanut butter cookie dough, but this recipe uses mini muffin tins to make the cups. After I chilled the dough overnight, I spooned it into the cups, filling them to the top. I followed the baking instructions from The Domestic Rebels, but cooked them for just a few minutes longer as the toothpicks weren't coming out clean. I'm guessing PB is a little more dense than Pumpkin.

The cookies puffed up really nice, but the second I stuck in the toothpick, they deflated. This helped when I needed to put the Rolo candy in the middle of each.

The Rolo's sunk pretty far into the cookies, making it hard to get the pretzel to stick to it. So I quickly melted some chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzled it over the Rolo. This allowed the pretzel to stick nicely to the top of the cup.

I let them sit in the pan for about 15 minutes and then transferred them on cooling racks.

I then stored them in a 9X13 glass pan with a lid. I of course had to try one and it was even better than I thought it would be! The Rolo was a bit hard in the middle, so I would use a caramel filled Hershey's Kiss next time, but the flavor combination was everything this girl could want and more. Sweet, salty, soft, crunchy - yep all in one! I will definitely add these to my party repertoire of desserts.

I decided that these would be sold for the Cookies for Kids' Cancer #MKEFoodies Bake Sale on Saturday. I packaged some on a large tray and the rest were put in bags of two. Just like everything else at the sale, these sold fast. I was worried about the large tray of them selling, but it actually sold before some of the packs of two.

Pabst Brewery, Milwaukee, WI

View from the parking structure at Pabst Brewery

The Bake Sale was a wonderful success raising over $1600 that day. OXO  (who has these amazing spatulas) and Glad did some matching, bringing the total right around $5,000! If you couldn't make the sale and would like to donate to this wonderful organization, you can do so until the end of December.

MKEFoodies Bake Sale

It was great hanging out with fellow #mkefoodies and blogger friends, and finally meeting a few of them in person including Karis' Kitchen. And I got to make some new friends that will be joining the #mkefoodies at the 2013 events.

Mark your calendars for the second Saturday in December 2013 as that is when the next Cookies for Kids' Cancer #MKEFoodies Bake Sale will be held. It will be at a new venue though. With the increased popularity and Groupon deal for the Pabst Brewery Tour, we had to share the room with the incoming tours. It was great to see them so busy with the tours, but it is an hour of history in the Best Place before the tour, so it was a lot of talking and traffic in a very small place.

Pin-It Tuesday: Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale

I am participating The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2012 and Milwaukee's Cookies for Kids' Cancer Bake Sale. Both are coming up this week. My Christmas cookies for the cookie swap will be going in the mail tomorrow and some of the extras of the batch will be packaged for the bake sale.

I was feeling festive again, so I just had to put on my Snoopy holiday socks to bake in! They say Let It Snow, but with yesterday being a high of 60, all we got was rain! (Wishful thinking tho!)

The recipe that I made tonight will only be going to the bake sale because they are too delicate to ship and arrive in one piece. But man are they cute!

I found the recipe for these Rudolph Peanut Butter cookies on Ladies' Home Journal via Pinterest. How can you pass up these? Not to mention - peanut butter, chocolate and pretzels, that is the sweet/salty indulgence that I love.

I followed the recipe exactly, besides subbing Splenda for sugar. This recipe is my chance to also show you my mom's "vintage" mixer. I believe this was a wedding gift and as of yesterday, they have been married for 36 years (And it was a floor model and never spun on its own!)  The cord likes to fall out of the back while you are using it, so I think it's time to retire this old girl! Hey KitchenAid, can you help her out with an upgrade - haha!

I baked the cookies for slightly under the length of time suggested as I believe my oven runs hot. These cookies need a production crew, because they were setting up faster than I could get the nose, eyes and antlers in. So in the future, I would ask to have help from a co-baker, but no one was around tonight. It was just me and my wine - it was an easy-to-drink Smoking Loon Merlot.

They are a very light peanut butter cookie, which is what I like. I will definitely tweak the recipe and maybe use a tried-and-true family recipe as the base to make them a bit more hearty and solid so I can ship them in the future if needed.

I plan to put these on a cute plate and sell them at the #MKEFoodies Bake Sale at Best Place at the Pabst Brewery this Saturday from noon - 4 pm. Stop by to get these and many, many, many, many other wonderful treats and help out a great cause.