Kraft Giveaway Winners

A while ago I shared my wonderful day at Kraft Canada's Kitchens, Even the building brought a smile to my face. Check out the wall of plates with some great Kraft products. ... and this elevator door... And then I told you about the lovely folks at Kraft Canada who wanted to give away wonderful bags of goodies to five lucky Canadians who read my blog.

Here they are with their favorite Kraft product and a recipe to go with it.
Bellini Valli of Kelowna BC shared a droolingly delicious Apple & Olive Oil Cake with Maple Cream Icing made with Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

Jonnie Hartley from Edmonton AB and family love this Lasagna recipe from the Kraft Canada site, but uses way more Kraft Mozzarella and no ricotta to make it their own.

Katrina Brady of Calgary AB is a fan of KD... who doesn't have a KD story to tell? Here's her recipe for Baked Mac 'n Cheese

1 pkg KD
3 tblsp flour
3 tblsp butter
1/2 tsp paprika (optional)
pinch of pepper
2 -3 C mixed Kraft cheeses (depends on how cheesy you like it)
2 cups milk
extra macaroni noodles

Grease pan ( i use a small roaster)
open KD and remove cheese packet, add extra noodles to top of box
cook for about 10 min

Meanwhile, make cheese sauce using KD cheese pkg, flour, butter, paprika and pepper. melt on low and then slowly add milk so sauce won't be lumpy. once sauce starts to thicken, add cheese and stir until iit melts

Add mixture to cooked noodles and pour into pan. bake at 350 for 20 - 30 min.
Serves 4

Two entries from Ontario...
Amy Mizen of Allenford, shares this Blueberry Cheesecake - another Philadelphia Cream Cheese fan.

Crust: 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups crushed graham wafers
1/2 cup butter, melted
Mix well and pat into 9" x 10" pan.

Filling: 1 pkg. Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
Beat well together and pour over wafer mixture.
Spread one can of blueberry pie filling over top.
Chill and enjoy!

Adrian Rose - more Philadelphia Cream Cheese loves this Spinach Dip

1 Pkg Kraft Philedelphia Cream Cheese
1 Pkg Frozen Spinach (chopped)
Crushed Garlic to taste although I'm a bit generous with the garlic,
1.5 - 2 Tbsps
Salt & Pepper to taste

In a saucepan on med, heat the spinach until warm, add garlic and
blend then add cream cheese and mix until blended (approx 7-10min)

Serve hot in a small bowl sorrounded by your favourite tortilla or corn chips

Thanks everyone for sharing favorite recipes with the recipes and wait for your packages to arrive. I was going to share the list of goodies here, but I think surprises are better.

Generous Kraft Giveaways

I've told you about my wonderful day at the Kraft Kitchens in Toronto last month. I came away with a bag of goodies and some great recipes to try. In fact, I love their What's Cooking Magazine and on-line video cooking lessons.

And the gift keeps on giving.... the wonderful folks at Kraft Canada are going to give five of my Candian readers (sorry to the rest of my friends) the same wonderful loot bags.

All you have to do is send me an email - ruth (AT) 4everykitchen (DOT) com and:
1)Tell me what your favorite Kraft Product is
2)Why you like it
3)Share a recipe...one of your family favorites using it...or check out the What's Cooking Magazine for new ideas.

I must admit I'm partial to the cheeses, but I've broadened my horizons.

Please include any allergies you or your family might have. Next week, I'll pick five of you, write your favorites and contact you for your CANADIAN address. plus Did I mention that Cadbury is now a member of the Kraft family and that the goodie bag includes, among other things Caramilk Secrets and Cadbury Buttons?

Great Recipes - Starting Point or To the Letter?

To me, recipes are mostly jumping off points. Some gorgeous photo in a magazine, in a cookbook, on an iPad or iPhone app.... grabs me and then I'm off to try to recreate it my way. Recently I was invited to Kraft Canada's Kitchens and one of the lovely take aways was their wonderful Spring issue of What's Cooking Magazine. It has lots of great tips and glorious recipes.

The Creamy Garlic & Herb Shrimp Linguine caught my attention... with eyes popping out of my head and much drooling... shrimp and creamy sauces will do that every time. But not being one to leave well enough alone... this time because I was short ingredients. No sugar snap peas... but lots of fresh baby spinach... rigatoni instead of linguine because my Honey likes short pasta better... olive oil, champagne vingear & a dollop of Dijon because I THOUGHT I had some Kraft Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tuscan Italian Dressing, but didn't.

Quick question for you... do you follow recipes to the letter or use them as inspiration?

Here's my Creamy Garlic & Herb Shrimp Pasta

and I'm sharing it with Presto Pasta Nights. I'm hosting tomorrow's roundup so you still have time to email me your entry by midnight tonight... ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com.

Fun in the Kraft Kitchens

I'll be writing more about my awesome day yesterday at the Kraft My Way at Kraft Canada's cool headquarters. Along with 11 other food bloggers, web magazine editors and other social media savvy ladies, I spent the day doing a lot of delicious eating, learning about Kraft's philosophy, checking out some of their new products, touring their facilities, including the gorgeous "home" kitchens where every recipe is tested.

But you know me... it's all about the food and we spent the day sampling, cooking and more sampling of some seriously delicious dishes. So I'll hold off on telling you what it is I really like about Kraft Canada for another day and just give you a photo journey of my day... I apologize for not taking particularly great photos or actually remembering everyone's name, but ... enjoy the trip!
We were greeted by the very warm and very passionate Kraft Kitchen Team and treated to a lovely breakfast. The Easy Banana Bread and Peanut Butter Granola Bars, fruit & cheese kebabs were a hit by all. That's the Kraft Store in the background.

Next we were invited into one of their kitchens (photo at the top of the post). This one is where they film videos and the What's Cooking TV show episodes and conduct cooking classes. And while munching on our goodies we were introduced to the Kraft Kitchen Team and chatted with Dino Bianco, President of Kraft Canada, before being whisked around to our tour.
At Kraft, there is a serious focus on healthy living, whether you just want to eat healthier or have conditions like diabetes. Check out Living with Diabetes for great recipes including this Cream Puff dessert.
There's a whole world of wonderful tips and recipes for kids - to engage them in the kitchen early... and don't think for a minute that I won't be making these very delicious Homemade Fruity Marshmallows with the boys tomorrow!

But now it was time for the real fun... we were divided into groups of three and each group at their own menu to cook up in their own kitchen. Our group made these...

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Malabar Coconut Shrimp

Rhubarb Dump Cake
Hmmm... somehow I missed the photo.
This was just the savory end of the Potluck Lunch we all created. Some of my favorites... Baked Crab Rangoon, Mango Orange Chicken, Maple Balsamic Salmon, and that's just half of the savory side. Then there was dessert...
Not your ordinary Tiramisu... this is Lab-e-Shirin, with a hint of ground cardamom.
and this Mango Kulfi Cheesecake... Let me just say, if you didn't think so before... Kraft is more than just KD - no matter how much you like it or bland, boring dishes.
The afternoon was filled with more info, more tasting and even though I was beyond stuffed from lunch... who could resist these adorable Easter Chocolate Chip Cookies?!
That's them baking earlier in the morning.

More to come, but a question... what's your favorite way with Kraft? Please leave me a comment. And if you don't have one, I urge you to head over to check out some amazing choices.