A fluted pastry wheel or pizza cutter is a handy tool for cutting strips of dough for braided or lattice tops pie crusts.

When making cream puffs, make sure that your oven is 425 degrees for the first 20 minutes, so that steam can cause the “puffing” action.

When making cream puffs, use a heavy duty whisk when whisking the cream puff mixture.  The dough will become very thick.

You can use a microwave to melt chocolate if needed.  Place the pieces of chocolate in a microwave dish and heat on Medium for about one minute per ounce.  Don’t wait for them to look melted — they tend to hold their shape when melted.  Stir about half way through the melting time and stir again when you take them out of the microwave.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve done these, but it’s my goal to get this up and going again. So without further ado, here’s today’s tip of the day:

When making a souffle, do NOT open the oven until near the end of the baking time. Otherwise, it may fall.

We like ice cream in our house. Any kind of ice cream will do for us, and we recently tried out the Skinny Cow Ice Cream sandwiches (I’ve got pictures of the kids eating them, but I can’t find the cord to download them. Will add the pics as soon as I find that cord!).  These were a huge hit in my house.  We tried the vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate peanut butter.  I have one word for you:  Yum.  I am amazed that I even have any left in my house, because we all loved them.  I’ll be honest, you can’t even tell that these are lowfat!  To me, they taste just like they have all the fat and calories in the world when they actually have only 150 calories and 2 grams of fat!  I love that not only can I eat a little better, so can my kids.  They saw no difference at all and ate them up faster than Bill and I.

If you want a great summer snack, I’d recommend getting your hands on some of these Skinny Cow sandwiches!

2 cups uncooked pasta
1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8 inch square glass baking dish with cooking spray. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.

Brown the sausage and onion. Drain. Stir in tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Heat to boiling and reduce heat. Cook 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and add in cooked pasta. Stir and then pour into baking dish.

Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray and place sprayed side down on the baking dish. Bake 15 minutes.

Uncover and sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered 5-10 minutes.

This giveaway is now over. The winners are Mary DeBorde and Venus. Congrats!

In April 2009, Baskin Robbins started making Hard Candy, and my household is loving it.  I never knew a piece of hard candy could taste as good as eating ice cream (which for me is great since I am lactose intolerant and can’t eat ice cream!).  We tried the Cookies N Cream and Mint Chocolate Chip flavors, and they are so good as the ice cream.  It was very hard to stop at one candy.  The retail price is $1.99 for a 2.75 oz bag and is worth every cent!  Now, if they come out with plain chocolate, I may have died and gone to heaven.

Now, I know that you are all salivating and want some of these for yourself. I have arranged for 2 lucky winners to try some of this awesome candy.  Here’s what you need to do:

Each one of these gives you one entry:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Tell me your favorite flavor of ice cream.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify. If you want, use something like this:

RT @blm03 is giving away Baskin Robbins Hard Candy!  http://lisacooking.com/2009/05/21/baskin-robbins-candybaskin-robbins-candy/

3. Stumble this post.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc.

Each one of these gives you 5 additional entries:

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

<a href="http://lisacooking.com"><img src="http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad.png" border="0" alt="Lisa Cooking" /></a>

Good luck! This contest will end June 5, 2009 at 12:00 PM CST and is for US residents only.

Who doesn’t like spring desserts?  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t and one of the best recipe listings can be found over at Better Homes and Garden! They have everything from Dessert Recipes to Baking Basics to Specialty Bakeware to Chocolate Cookies Recipes. There is truly something for everyone over there. If you are looking for a great spring or summer recipes, make sure you check them out!

Did you know that a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition unveiled that men and women who eat at least one serving of whole grains each day weigh less and have slimmer waistlines?  In this day and age, I know that this is something we all strive for.  Nature’s Path cereals definitely fit this bill since they are loaded with whole grains, as well as fiber.  Their cereals include:

• Nature’s Path Optimum Slim – 18g whole grains, 9g fiber
• FlaxPlus Pumpkin Raisin Crunch – 19g whole grains, 9g fiber
• FlaxPlus Red Berry Crunch – 22g whole grains, 5g fiber
• Pumpkin FlaxPlus Granola – 31g whole grains, 5g fiber
• Sunflower AgavePlus Granola – 33g whole grains, 4g fiber

All Nature’s Path products are certified organic, which means they contain nothing artificial and no chemical pesticides or herbicides are used.  I’ll be honest, my kids like the sugary cereals (who doesn’t?), but my kids eat this cereal too without me having to make them.  They often ask for the FlaxPlus Red Berry Crunch (which happens to be an excellent source of Omega-3).  It is made with organic flax seeds, strawberries, raspberries, and oats.  The FlaxPlus Granola is great for any of the granola lovers out there.  It has a little kick to it but is definitely good.  The Nature’s Path Optimum Slim cereal happens to be my favorite.  What surprised me most about it was that it is sweet.  They sweetened this cereal with molasses which for me makes it extra yummy.

If you are looking for a great alternative to the sugary cereals you find in your local grocery store, I highly recommend checking out the Nature’s Path products.  There is definitely something here for everyone.

I