Giveaway: Aloutette

In the interest of full disclosure, SheSpeaks and Alouette sent me a coupon for a free wedge of Brie.  All opinions expressed here are fully my own.

I am a fiend for cheese. I love cheese. LOVE cheese. When a good friend of mine went to Italy, she brought me a huge hunk of perfect Parmesan. When said friend visited a great deli in Michigan, she brought me back more cheese. At any given time, I have five to six different kinds of cheese in the fridge.

Alouette is a brand that I have purchased in the past, but typically only when I'm entertaining. One of my favorite appetizers to make it to take a circle of Brie and cover it with swirls of caramel and chocolate sauces (trust me, it's so much better than it sounds) and serve it with graham cookies. It's a heavenly and oh so easy sweet appetizer.

Beyond that, I haven't purchased much from Alouette, mostly because I tend to either purchase my two pound blocks of cheddar from Costco or my other cheeses from a local produce market that makes great cheese.

But I think I might have to buy some more after sampling what they sent me. I purchased the wedge of smoked baby Brie, and it was good. It tried it first just by itself, and wow could I taste the smoky flavor. It was subtle, but it really added a lot to the complexity of the cheese. Then I had to have a few small slices of it on some crackers. Mmm, I'm sensing a new treat for me when I "don't have anything in the house" for lunch. And really - the grains in the crackers and the dairy and protein from the cheese make it a really healthy choice, right?

I tried to save as much of the wedge as possible though, as Alouette also shared some recipes for cooking with their cheeses. Silly me, I never thought to actually make something with the Brie other than the traditional baked Brie or my yummy appetizer listed above. I know better now.

I love potatoes au gratin, but so often they just fall a little flat, even when I make a great cheese sauce. The potatoes just don't absorb enough of the flavor to satisfy me (and it's possible that I also tend to forget to season the potatoes themselves sometimes!). Alouette included several recipes with their coupon, and one of them was for the Smoked Brie Potato Gratin. Any guesses what I was trying to save my wedge for?

Fortunately, I was able to save most of it, and ohhh was this a good gratin. I'm saving this recipe to share on a Tasty Tuesday soon, but I promise I'll put it up. With pictures even. This recipe alone will get me back purchasing more from Alouette!

They also had recipes that I haven't yet tried for crumbled goat mini tacos (which have no meat in them - they just use the crumbled goat cheese from Alouette) and a dijon chicken that uses their spreadable garlic and herbs cheese. I have a feeling that people at my Super Bowl party will get a chance to taste the tacos at the very least!

If you want to try some of their cheeses for yourself, I have five booklets that include the recipes I mentioned above along with three $1 off coupons in each booklet.

If you're interested, simply leave me a comment letting me know your favorite cheese. I'll leave this contest open until Friday January 8, 2010 at 9pm CT. One comment per person, please, and US residents only (I'll be mailing these myself). I'll use random.org to choose a winner from all entries and notify the winners. They will each have 48 hours from the time I notify them to respond, or I will draw a replacement winner.

Good luck!