FOOD + BEVERAGE, PRODUCTS, RECIPES, REVIEWS, SHOP, SPONSORED

AD | UNIQUE VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT IDEA WITH SAFEWAY

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

I can’t believe that Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! Time is just flying by! We are still spending more time at home and we don’t get to see our friends and/or loved ones as often as we used to. So for this Valentine’s Day, give the gift of debi lilly design™ from Safeway. Luckily, Safeway has so many gift ideas to choose from and can be your one-stop shopping destination this Valentine’s Day. It is so convenient that I can shop for groceries and gifts as well.

debi lilly design™ at Safeway has exclusive Valentine’s Day flowers, gifts, and home decor and I am excited to share with you what I picked out to create a unique gift set for Valentine’s Day. Safeway proudly stands behind their exclusive brands with a 100% money-back guarantee. But I am sure you will love it as much as I do! The items are budget-friendly yet high quality.

I went to my local Safeway to buy some flowers by debi lilly design. I’ve always wanted to make a fast food-inspired heart box using heart-shaped Valentine’s Day chocolate boxes and pair it with some beautiful flowers. It would be the perfect gift for the fast food lover or someone who doesn’t like chocolates. Instead of using fast-food though, I thought I would elevate it by using quality items from Safeway. And since it is Valentine’s Day I went with the Fragrant Rose Bouquet because roses are a must. The flowers looked fresh & expensive but the price was very affordable.

To create the gift set, I purchased:

debi lilly design™ Fragrant Rose Bouquet

Signature SELECT® Chicken Nuggets (Family Pack)

Signature SELECT® Seasoned Criss Cut French Fried Potatoes

O Organics® Tomato Ketchup

O Organics® Dijon Mustard

Large Heart Shaped Box of Chocolates

I emptied the box of chocolates and cooked the chicken nuggets & criss cut french fries according to the cooking directions in the back of their respective packets. Then I filled half the heart with criss cut fries and the other half with chicken nuggets. I also placed small sauce bowls for the condiments for dipping.

As for the flowers, I used the “Chop and drop” tip by debi lilly design™ which means to break up the bouquet into mini bouquets and arrange in small vases for gifts, pops of color as place settings or around the house. You can make multiple gift sets using this technique! Or you can use the rest of the flowers to decorate your home. I love the smell of roses rose in the air, dont’ you?

I hope you liked this gift idea. We all could use some beautiful flowers and a heart-shaped box of tasty fried food for Valentine’s Day. It is a unique gift idea to let our loved ones know that we are thinking of them especially during these times.

I shopped at my local Safeway for these exclusive brands from debi lilly design™, O Organics® and Signature SELECT®. If you are not near a Safeway, you can find these same products at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.

For those who want the convenience of not going into the supermarket or still feel uneasy about shopping in person, Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery & DriveUp & Go™ which is a great alternative to in-person shopping.

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SAFEWAY SPONSORED RECIPE | Elevated Korean-Style Braised Soy Sauce Chicken

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

HAPPY 2021! I hope everyone is having a safe start to the new year.

I’ll be giving my at-home meals a new flare this year with nutritious, delicious, and affordable products from Safeway’s Exclusive Brands. I’ve been featuring Safeway brands starting last year and have become a fan of these affordable alternatives that are high-quality because they have a wide range of products so it is easy to prepare meals at home.

Let me give you more info about the different exclusive brands available at Safeway. There are: O Organics®, Open Nature®, & Signature Brands. O Organics® offers high-quality, non-GMO and 100% USDA-certified organic products. Open Nature® provides high-quality, minimally-process high-quality products which are free from 110 food additives. It includes plant-based, high protein, and gluten-free options. Signature bands include Signature SELECT™, Signature Farms®, and Signature Cafe® options. They offer options for every meal and occasion including ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, and cooking ingredients. These brands can be found in every aisle of your local Safeway so I suggest you try them out!

Today I’ll be adding soy-sauce braised chicken to my weekly rotation because it is an easy one pot meal to make and can last over several meals. This recipe is very filling because of the noodles and potatoes. I’m adding cheese to my recipe for an updated take on this classic Korean dish. Make sure to finish the noodles & cheese and the leftovers can be saved for another day.

RECIPE FOR KOREAN-STYLE SOY SAUCE BRAISED CHICKEN

3 Open Nature Chicken Thighs & 3 drumsticks, soaked for 30 minutes

1t ginger, minced

1T garlic, minced

2 O Organics potatoes, halved

2 carrots, 2” chunks

½ onion, sliced

6 O Organics Mushrooms, sliced

½ cup Signature SELECT Stir-Fry Rice Noodles, soaked

Sauce

¼ cup oyster sauce

¼ cup soy sauce

1T brown sugar

Garnish

2 O Organics green onions, julienned

½ cup O Organics Mozzarella, finely shredded

Sesame oil drizzled

Directions:

Combine the ingredients for the sauce & set aside.

On medium heat, add oil & sear the chicken on both sides.

Add minced garlic & ginger and cook until fragrant.

Then add the potatoes, sauce, & 2 ½ cups of water and cook with lid on for 15 minutes.

Add carrots & onions and cook for another 10 minutes with the lid open to reduce the sauce.

Add the soaked noodles and mushrooms and cook until the sauce has thickened.

Season with black pepper and sesame oil.

Add the cheese on top and cook until it has melted.

Garnish with green onions & enjoy!

Hope you will try this recipe out and let me know what you think! I personally think that it tastes even better the day after as leftovers when the chicken has soaked up even more flavor from the sauce. Also, the sauce goes well over some rice and the leftover chicken can be eaten as a side dish to the meal.

I shopped at my local Safeway. Shop these affordable high-quality products at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb & Vons. Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery and DriveUp & Go™ for convenient ways to shop. I’ve seen the designated spaces at my local Safeway for DriveUp & Go and it is a good option if you don’t want to go inside the store.

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Holiday Crazy Cake Sundaes with debi lilly design™

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

This year, the holidays may be a little different. Although it is not traditional, we can still try to make the best out of our situation and celebrate safely at home with our loved ones. My local Safeway has a lot of items to make shopping easier for us this year and I am thankful for that. Not only does Safeway have groceries and OWN brands that provide high quality budget-friendly alternatives to brand-name items, they also have great gifting items for the holidays so that Safeway can be our one-stop shop.

I learned a couple of tips from floral designer & chief eventeurDebi Lilly, to elevate my home as well as gifting with high-quality, affordable ‘grocery to gorgeous’ tips + tricks and wanted to share a couple of those tips with you all.

I wanted to make a holiday dessert bar featuring crazy cake sundaes. I think my family loved the idea of a sundae bar that I had made a couple of months back so I decided to make crazy cake sundaes using debi lilly design™’s Alpine frost bouquet as a centerpieces for my holiday sundae bar at home to bring some holiday cheer during these times.

Here are some items I bought for my holiday crazy sundae bar- at home:

Signature SELECT™ Ice Cream Sandwich, Peppermint

Ice Cream flavor of your choice

Signature SELECT™ Seasonal Cheesecake Platter

Open Nature® Almonds, sliced

Signature SELECT™ Mini Chocolate Chips (semi sweet)

Signature SELECT™ Mini Marshmallows

Signature SELECT™ Sugar Cones

O Organics® Pumpkin Pie Spice

Lucerne® Whipped Topping, Pumpkin

debi lilly design™ Alpine frost bouquet

To make a crazy sundae, I chopped the ice cream sandwich and cheesecakes into bite-sized pieces. If you are not a fan of peppermint, they also have an eggnog flavor as well. I scooped some ice cream (I used vanilla since we will be adding a lot of different seasonal flavors) & added the chopped peppermint ice cream sandwiches, chopped cheesecakes into a bowl. Then I added various toppings such as almonds, chocolate chips, marshmallows. I topped the sundae off with pumpkin whipped cream & with a dusting of pumpkin spice. I also added a sugar cone on top to give it some texture.

For decoration, I used the debi lilly Alpine frost bouquet. I chopped and dropped the bouquet and separated them into smaller bouquet arrangements to make it more festive. I think a dessert bar is something we all could use for the holidays and it was easy to put together and it was great that I only had to make a stop at Safeway to get all the items.

I shopped at Safeway, but you can also find all these items at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.

If you are unable to go to the store, or want to avoid the crowds during the busy holiday season, Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery and DriveUp & Go™ for convenient ways to shop.

I hope you liked these tips! I hope everyone has a safe holiday season. Let me know in the comments what your holiday is looking like this year!

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Best New Product Awards | Safeway Signature SELECT™ Spatchcock Chicken & Ginger Beer Review

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

Albertsons Companies’ OWN Brands recently won 20 ‘Best New Product Awards’ from Store Brands publication and I looked through the list to share with you some of my favorite winning items from Safeway. Store Brands’ editors select top food & beverage and non-food items that stand out in various categories. Here is the complete list of items: https://storebrands.com/editors-picks-awards

For this post, I will be reviewing Signature SELECT™’s Citrus & Herb Spatchcock Chicken and their Ginger Beer. The Citrus & Herb Chicken sounded delicious and it was an easy meal idea so I definitely wanted to try it. I found it in the poultry section at my local Safeway. I was also curious about their Ginger Beer which was available in the drink aisle. The prices were budget-friendly and I was hoping the taste would be good as well.

I bought some Brussels sprouts and mini medley potatoes from Signature SELECT for my chicken as well as organic rosemary from to spruce up my meal. Instead of strictly following the instructions on how to cook the chicken, I decided to add a little spin to it & use a little bit of my own technique. I sliced the potatoes, and halved Brussels sprouts and seasoned them with some olive oil, and season salt. I placed the chicken, potatoes and Brussels sprouts in a half sheet pan.

The beauty of a spatchcocked chicken is that the chicken would cook more evenly since the chicken is flattened out and leveled. I turned on the broiling option on the oven and broiled the chicken for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken skin browned and looked crispy. Then I covered the chicken with foil and baked until the chicken had reached the internal temperature of 165 degrees. The broiling makes the skin extra crispy so I prefer that extra step before roasting.

I thought the chicken came out great! The meat was very juicy and tender. Even the breast was moist (which can be hard to achieve sometimes) and the chicken was cooked evenly. The potatoes and Brussels sprouts were cooked perfectly. The juices from the chicken permeated through the potatoes and Brussels sprouts so they were very flavorful!

I had noticed while I was at Safeway that there was a sweet and spicy spatchcock chicken flavor available as well. I will definitely be trying that one since I love spicy flavors.

I thought having a carbonated drink would pair well with this meal so I washed the meal down with some ginger beer. The ginger beer was sweet, carbonated and had a good level of spiciness. I liked both the items so I am excited to try all the other award-winning items from Safeway.

Shop Safeway store’s award-winning exclusive brands like Signature SELECT™, Open Nature® and O Organics® in store or online. I shopped at my local Safeway, but you can also find these items at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.

Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery and DriveUp & Go™ for convenient ways to shop. I saw designated parking spots for DriveUp & Go option at my local Safeway. I haven’t used it yet, but it seems like it would be a good option if you would rather not go inside the market. The grocery delivery option is perfect for if you don’t want to leave the house or if you prefer the convenience of a scheduled delivery.

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Recipe | Pumpkin Mini Pies topped with Lucerne® Pumpkin Spice Whipped Topping from Safeway

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

Fall is here and you know what that means! It is pumpkin spice season. I went to my local Safeway because I was craving pumpkin spice things. You can find fun, exciting, seasonal products and ingredients as well as holiday baking and cooking essentials exclusively at Safeway to make that special holiday dessert for friends and family during the holiday season. There were many different options available such as Safeway’s Signature SELECT™ Pumpkin spice Madeleines, Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake or even mini Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes.

Those all looked amazing but I ended up deciding that I would make my own pumpkin spice dessert. I haven’t baked at all this year so I didn’t want to do anything that would be too overwhelming. I figured a simple no-bake-filling pumpkin pie would be just as good as a classic pumpkin pie. Plus, there would be less chance for mistakes. I was inspired from a banana pudding recipe and decided I would substitute pumpkin spice filling for banana.

I was able to get all the ingredients from Safeway which was very convenient. Most of the items were Safeway OWN brands which are high quality but at a more budget-friendly price-point. The only baking required would be for the pie crust. I wasn’t about to make a pie crust from scratch so I was glad that there were ready-made options available.

In this post, I am going to include a recipe on how to make simple pumpkin mini pies. Instead of whole pie, mini pies are easier for sharing especially when sharing is not encouraged this year. And mini is always cuter & more enticing.

I think they turned out better than expected! The filling was creamy and not too sweet. I definitely felt like I was eating a piece of fall when I took a bite out of these. These mini pies would pair really well with some hot chocolate with marshmallows or maybe some Signature SELECT Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream!

Here is my recipe:

No-Baker-Filling Pumpkin Mini Pies

Makes 8 mini pies

Ingredients

1 Safeway SELECT™ pie crust (9” crust x 2)

1/2 packet 5oz instant vanilla pudding

12 oz cup milk

15 oz can pumpkin pie mix

Garnish

Lucerne® whipped topping, pumpkin spice

Dusting of pumpkin spice

Instructions

Cut out 3” diameter circles in the pie crust and line each circle into a muffin pan.

Bake according to instructions.

While crusts are baking, prepare the filling.

Add milk to instant vanilla pudding mix according to instructions.

Fold in pumpkin pie filling.

If consistency is not set enough, freeze for one hour or until stiff.

After pie crust has cooled, top with Lucerne whipped pumpkin spice topping and dust with pumpkin pie spice. Enjoy!

I shopped at Safeway, but you can also find these exclusive fall pumpkin season items at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons.

Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery and DriveUp & Go™ for convenient ways to shop! I have yet to use this service but it sounds like it would be very convenient for the times we are in. If you are hesitant to go shop in-store this might be the option for you.

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Holiday Wine Advent Calendar Gift Idea with Safeway

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

Can you believe that September is already nearing its end and the holidays are just around the corner? This year just flew by! Who is excited for the holidays? The holiday season is the season of giving, which reminds me that I have to think about gifts. And I just found the perfect gift for my friends that drink. Safeway is offering a limited-edition wine advent calendar for the holidays and it would make the perfect gift for any wine lover. Tbh, who hasn’t been enjoying a little more wine at home these days?

Since we are all mostly staying home this year, this wine advent calendar is perfect to keep us occupied. The calendar comes with 24 mini bottles of wine. Each bottle is 187ml & there are 13 reds, 9 whites and 2 roses. Ideally, the mini wine bottles can be enjoyed everyday starting at the beginning of December, right up until Christmas.

I had first tried a wine advent calendar last year and immediately became a fan. I love having options so I was excited to try another one this year. ABSCO’s wine advent calendar has wines from California, Washington and Oregon. Each wine is unique and has its own label + story.

Some of the wines are from prestigious sub-regions of the three states. There are 17 distinct varietals included in the box to suit every palate. There are popular varietals from Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon to Pinot Noir and less known varietals such as Gewürztraminer. My favorite type is Cabernet Sauvignon (& mostly reds) so I am thrilled that 13 of the 24 bottles are red wine varietals. I cannot wait for my friends to try them as well!

To elevate the gift, I bought a bunch of charcuterie items from Safeway and made a gift basket to pair with the wine advent calendar. I purchased grapes, strawberries, prosciutto, spicy salami, mixed nuts, hummus, snap peas, olives and some cheese to make the perfect charcuterie board. Who knew that Safeway had such quality ingredients that are budget-friendly to make an amazing charcuterie board? The items were all Safeway signature brands, btw.

Visit www.24daysofwine.com for product details & to learn more about the wine and region of the day. Tasting and pairing suggestions will also be available for the particular wine of the day when you click on the day of each wine.

Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery + Drive Up & Go™ for convenient ways to shop! I have yet to use this service but it is a good option if you are uneasy about going inside to shop during these times.

I shopped at my local Safeway, but you can also find this wine advent calendar at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Tom Thumb & Vons. This wine advent calendar is available at your local Safeway for a limited time so shop ahead for yourself or for your wine-loving friend. I’ll probably get one for myself too.

Must be legal drinking age to enjoy & enjoy responsibly! Let me know your thoughts on this wine advent calendar in the comments section if you decide to get one.

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Meatless Mondays with Open Nature® Cauliflower Crust Pizzas from Safeway

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

Trying to make Meatless Mondays a thing, when I’m eating at home. Takeout is great but sometimes, I have those lazy days when I want to just stay home & eat something convenient yet tasty. I am a meat-lover but I do like a lot of foods that are meatless. Like for instance, I prefer my pizzas with little to no meat. I love a classic Margherita!

The craving for pizza was real when I went to my local Safeway the other day so I decided to pick up a few pizzas from the frozen pizza aisle. I like having options so I picked up Three Cheese & Margherita Pizza from Open Nature® with cauliflower crusts. I also purchased some toppings such as mushrooms, fresh basil, truffle Burrata, mozzarella and O Organics® Plant-Based Crumbles as my meat substitute.

I’ve never tried a cauliflower crust pizza before, so I was excited to try these! I added the plant-based crumbles, extra mozzarella, and mushrooms to the three cheese pizza to dress it up a bit and fresh basil and Burrata to the Margherita.

The cooking instructions were very straightforward and the pizzas were ready in less than 10 minutes.

I added the Burrata halfway through baking the pizza so that it would not melt completely and I garnished the Margherita with fresh basil leaves after it was out of the oven to add a little freshness.

The pizza crust texture was different from a regular pizza as expected but you really can’t go wrong with Margherita pizza especially when you add the fresh basil and truffle Burrata to it. The crust was fluffy and soft with crispy edges. I could not believe it was made of cauliflower. I loved the thin crusts & the flavors were great. The plant crumbles were also a good alternative to a meat topping. It added good flavors and texture to the three cheese pizza. The quality of the pizzas were not bad for the price. I would definitely purchase again!

These cauliflower pizza crusts are definitely the perfect alternative to regular pizza crusts when you want to eat something that is better for you. I like that Open Nature® brand has an extensive line of better-for-you plant-based products which are minimally processed and free from 110 food additives. I like the sound of that! I love that these are gluten-free and high in protein.

Open Nature® and O Organics® offers high quality, minimally processed or USDA-certified organic plant-based products exclusively at Northern California stores at Safeway! They are inexpensive, and definitely budget-friendly without sacrificing quality or taste.

If you are still unsure about going into the grocery store during these times, Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery and Drive Up & Go™ for convenient ways to shop! I have yet to try it but will let you know if I do.

I shopped at Safeway in my local area (this is the Foster City location pictured above), but you can also find O Organics® and Open Nature® plant-based products at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, and Tom Thumb.

Would you try these? Let me know in the comments if you have tried them and what your thoughts are!

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Quick & Easy Weekday Dinners with O Organics® from Safeway

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was browsing the aisle at Safeway that had soups & broths and came across different flavored broths from O Organics®. The Beef flavored Pho broth & the Thai Style Curry Chicken broth caught my eye. They were rather inexpensive so I decided to make dinner with it!

It’s been a wild few months and I was cooking up a storm in the beginning of our stay-at-home order but then resorted to take-out for a bit to support our local restaurants. I realized that I needed a balance of home-cooking and eating out because eating out was starting to get pricey. But cooking sometimes just took too much time! So I started to think about creating easy and quick meals at home which were also budget-friendly and then ended up on making these noodle soups.

I love noodle soup dishes so I decided to make a simple Beef Pho & Thai curry noodles. I purchased some O Organics Top Sirloin Steak, rice noodles, limes, micro cilantro, cilantro, onions, jalapenos and O Organics Grade A Large Brown Eggs along with the O Organics Thai Style Curry Chicken Broth and Beef Flavored Pho Broth. I got all the products at my local Safeway which was super convenient! I didn’t realize that Safeway had such a good variety of Asian products to choose from.

I decided to make two different noodle soups because I like having options while I’m eating. I would normally order multiple items at a restaurant to share so why should it be any different at home?

For the Beef pho, I cooked the noodles and heated up the pho broth separately. I sliced the top sirloin beef into thin slices & placed it on top of the noodles. I made sure to pour the hot broth onto the meat slices so it cooked the beef. The beef cooks to a perfect medium rare or rare, which is how I liked to eat my beef. I garnished the soup with some lime slices, micro cilantro, onions, and jalapenos. The broth was tasty! It was so convenient that I might make it again next week adding different kinds of beef.

For the Thai Style Curry noodles, I used the same ingredients for the pho but only changed up the broth flavor. This made it very convenient! I cooked the noodles and poured the hot broth over the noodles just as I did for the pho. For an extra special touch, I garnished this noodle soup with a 6-minute egg. I liked the addition of a soft-boiled egg because, who doesn’t love some extra protein in their noodle soups?

These noodle soups were really easy to make and they actually turned out great. The broths were very flavorful and provided a good base for the noodle soups. I was surprised at the high quality of the broths and at the fact that they were also USDA-certified organic. The prices were budget-friendly as well without compromising quality & taste.

O Organics offers high-quality, USDA-certified organic products in every aisle of the store at a value; there are more than 1,500 products down every aisle of the store. I shopped at Safeway in my local area, but you can also Shop O Organics® products exclusively at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, & Tom Thumb.

Safeway also offers Grocery Delivery and Drive Up & Go™ for convenient ways to shop! I have yet to try their service but it sounds very convenient & safe for anyone who is worried about shopping during these times.

Hope you like these quick and easy weekday dinner ideas. Please leave me a comment with your thoughts on them if you happen to make them!

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Celebrate Summer with Open Nature® Scandal-less Light Ice Cream from Safeway

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

Summer is here which means ice cream weather is here! To celebrate and to bring a little joy to our unprecedented summer, I’ve decided to make a SCANDAL-LESS ice cream sundae bar using Open Nature® Scandal-less light ice cream. We all could use a little light ice cream after sheltering-in-place, right? I know I could, with all the snacking and eating that was happening in my home during shelter-in-place. I was a little skeptical about the light ice cream at first, but these flavors really won me over! I recommend the Peanut Butter Cup Light Ice Cream.

I went to my local Safeway to gather all the ingredients for my little ice cream bar. I got some topping options such as chocolate chips, hot chocolate sauce, gummies, berries, cereal, maraschino cherries, sugar cones, waffle bowls and of course, some sprinkles! I picked up the following Scandal-less ice creams. I chose a few different flavors such as Peanut Butter Cup, Cookies & Cream, and Sea Salt Caramel. I usually gravitate towards these kinds of flavors normally, so I was excited that Open Nature had a light version of these flavors.

The Peanut Butter Cup flavor was my favorite out of the three because it was not overly sweet and it had a balanced peanut butter & chocolate flavor. Cookies & cream is a classic flavor and I thought Open Nature made a good light version of it. The ice cream wasn’t too hard and it was creamier than other light ice creams I have tried in the past. I enjoyed the sea salt caramel flavor because it had a nice balance of sweet and salty.

Open Nature Scandal-less light ice cream products have no artificial colors or flavors. They are low in calories & fat while having a high protein content. And if you are counting calories, each pint has about 240-370 calories. Can you believe that each ice cream has between 60-80% less calories & 40-50% less fat than regular ice cream? It is definitely treating yourself with less guilt.

For my ice cream sundae bar, I put the toppings in cute bowls and made a little arrangement around the ice creams. Just doing something as simple as that makes such a big difference. I think creating a fun theme is something that everyone can appreciate. It is all about the little details and presentation and of course, the ice cream!

Can you even tell that this is light ice cream? I think everyone was surprised that the ice creams were light. Everyone enjoyed the variety of flavors and the time spent together making our unique ice cream sundaes.

I got these ice creams at Safeway, but you can also find these SCANDAL-LESS ice creams at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons. Or for convenience, you can also get them through Safeway Grocery Delivery & DriveUp & Go™.

So far, I have been really impressed with Safeway’s private label brands and will continue to try their different items & showcase my favorites throughout the year. Hope you will try them as well & let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Creating a Beautiful Charcuterie Board with Primo Taglio® from Safeway

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Safeway. All opinions are 100% mine.

Due to the shelter-in-place & current events, I have been cooking & eating at home more often than before. So I’ve decided to make a charcuterie board using Primo Taglio®, Safeway’s exclusive line of premium quality meats & cheeses available at Safeways in the Bay Area. Primo Taglio translates to “first cut” in Italian, meaning every cut tastes as delicious as the first. And I must agree, their meats & cheeses are pretty tasty!

Charcuterie boards are easy to put-together and they look like you’ve spent a lot of effort on them! The board is great for snacking because I can put a lot of different varieties of meats & cheeses, as well as crackers and fruits. For this board, I’ve used their Manchego, Mozzarella Cheese Roll, Prosciutto, Italian Dry Salame, & Soft-Ripened Brie Cheese. Primo Taglio products are made with the finest ingredients, using traditional, time-honored preparation methods. They do not use artificial flavors or colors, or MSG*. (* With the exception of some of their items such as American cheese & certain value meats which do contain MSG.) I’ve used some fruits such as berries, grapes, cucumbers and dragonfruit to balance out the flavors.

The key to making a photogenic charcuterie board is to add a variety of colors and textures on the board. I usually start with a main item that I want to be the focal point in the middle and build around it. And if there are empty spaces, I add small garnishes like berries or nuts to fill the gaps. To create texture, I folded the prosciutto so it isn’t just flat on the board. There is no wrong way to make it, so get creative with it!

Brie & prosciutto are my favorite meat & cheese for a charcuterie board. Primo Taglio’s brie is delicious and pairs well with the prosciutto. You can tell that Primo Taglio uses the highest quality milk for their cheeses; the brie is perfectly creamy! I can probably eat the whole wheel. In contrast, the Manchego has a rich and intense flavor and has a hard yet crumbly texture. It was quite good! Some of their cheeses use old world recipes, which can be naturally aged up to 2 years.

The board is perfect for unwinding at home with loved ones. I love the way food brings us together. We could all use a little break during the day for some snacking. Wouldn’t you agree?

I love how my snack board came out. I love all the different textures and flavor combinations that can be made for each cheesy, meaty bite! The cucumbers were refreshing with the Italian Dry Salame and Manchego. What is your favorite combination?

I went to my local Safeway to purchase the items for my charcuterie snack board, but you can find Primo Taglio products at Albertson Companies family of stores, such as ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, Tom Thumb and Vons. Try their cured meats & cheeses and let me know what your favorite items were!

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