So I was thinking, what is good as we go back to school and get into a routine now that summer is winding down, and fall is just around the corner.

September is back to school!

Apple harvest (that’s another blog)

September is also:

1.  National Chicken Month

2 .  National Potato Month

3.  National Rice Month

 So what does that tell me as a “foodie”.  Everybody is going back to their boring but easy routine.  Now it’s time for a blatant commercial.  Two Sisters Gourmet Seasoning Blends can shake you out of the boring routine.

 If you are about to fry, bake or roast a chicken – sprinkle on your favorite flavor.  A little Outrageously Garlic goes a long way.

 If you have just pulled out the baked potato – in addition to your butter or sour cream – sprinkle on a little Tearless Onion and Chive for a tasty spud.

 If you are serving rice with your fresh fish – blend in some Lemony Fresh Dill Blend or Over the Edge Herbed Spinach and bring back some springtime flavor.

 Having pasta? Mix your favorite seasoning with olive oil and dip in your fresh bread for a yummy treat!

 Kids won’t eat their vegetables – let them select and sprinkle their favorite flavor and brighten their day!.

Friday evening football watching?  Have some new Brazen Buffalo Blue Cheese Dip to light up your Friday night lights.

Don’t let September send you back to the boring old routine – pull out those Two Sisters Gourmet Seasonings and give your day a lift.

Tweet This Post

Make it as an afternoon pleaser! A simple dip with 2 TBSP of Brazen Buffalo Blue Cheese Seasoning, ½ cup each of sour cream and mayo – or to taste!  The bowl will be empty so you can try it several ways to find your favorite.

Or check out these great ideas:

1.  Buffalo Chicken Wings

2.  Spicy Corn Muffins with Cheddar

3. Zesty Buffalo Burgers

Play around, have fun, and send us your new favorite way to enjoy Brazen Buffalo Blue Cheese!

Say Cheese!

Tweet This Post

We ate salad, slow cooked meals, barbeque brisket and preserves – then we had lunch and dinner!  It’s amazing what you can learn about someone when you talk about food.  You learn about their family life as a child, their ethnic heritage by what’s on the table… but the hot discussion of the day was Mexican!

I have come to the firm belief that great Mexican food is that with which you grew up.  I’m from Los Angeles and the formulating chef in this case was from Texas.  You would have thought it was the Mexican American war all over again.  We had two distinct and vehement points of view on what constituted an “authentic” product – mole in particular.

The word mole comes from the Aztec meaning stew or sauce. In Mexico, mole recipes are passed down from generation to generation, and are as individual as your family. It’s a closely guarded secret.  Mole is a rich thick sauce, made from a variety of chiles, onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, nuts and chocolate.  

And that’s where the disagreement started – the Texans didn’t want chocolate!  Where I am from, without chocolate there is no mole.  Then there was the discussion about chicken vs. beef.

So we compromised – we sent both up to our research panel at our facility in Chicago and are having our target audience vote!  May the best Mexican win.

In the mean time, if you want to try mole easily, go to a restaurant, wait for us, or if you have what can be a considerable amount of time you can try:

1. Steak Mole with Cilantro

2.  Chicken Mole

3. Pinto Bean Mole Chili

Tweet This Post

Tasting Panel Wizards: Cara, Cassie, Rachel, Jen, Trista, Noshaba

I’m here in Chicago this week with our research and development group.  You really need to thank these ladies, but not as much as I do!  We go out and scour the land (ok – well food shows) for hot new ideas to bring to you.  I come home with boxes of great ideas to taste – and these ladies do all the hard work!

They organize the samples, create the questionnaires, recruit the folks to taste, and analyze the results so that we refine and bring you the products that you will love!  They’ve been expert and refining fragrances to grace your home, but they have enthusiastically jumped in to support Two Sisters Gourmet – so as you enjoy the new products that we have released – thank these ladies!

Just so you know, they just finished a test of some new products for the next catalog that they promise you will love!

Tweet This Post

Perfect Pumpkin Gingerbread Mix (does take a can of pumpkin puree)

Brazen Buffalo Blue Cheese Seasoning Mix – start with a dip and go wild!

Great Caesar’s Ghost Seasoning Mix – have a little Caesar on everything, it’s not just for salad!

Incredible Creamy Caramel Sauce – so decadent they haven’t invented a word for it yet!

Dreamy Dark Chocoate Sauce – for those who know that chocolate is good for you!

Artisanal Rosemary Wheat Bread – treat yourself to a rosemary heavan!

Hoppin’ Jalapeno Mustard – add a little zip to turkey, and everything!

Head to our Recipe Box and find your Consultant today and don’t miss a moment of enjoyment!

Tweet This Post

1.  A long cool drink is in order.  You can make a killer raspberry iced tea, or something more exotic that pink with fruit in it – I always like a Planter’s Punch

2.   Set the table for fun – Decorate with colorful placemats and flowers or fruit, like a whole pineapple and some lemons and limes

3.  Cook and Eat outside – Nobody wants to heat up the kitchen. Make a great fresh green salad topped with TSG Garlic Parmesan Vinaigrette.  Skewer some Caribbean Chicken Kebobs made with Island Ponzu Sauce.  Have piles of light fresh fruit for dessert

4.  Set the mood with steel drum music and candles (maybe Banana Leaf) flickering.

Enjoy your tropical getaway!

Tweet This Post

I think like many people, my food junk food intake has a strong correlation to my mood – one extreme or the other and I am all over junk food!  In our family it takes many forms.  A stressed day at work brings on my secret delight – a bag of crunchy Cheetos!  My husband is mint chocolate chip ice cream hand packed from the local creamery ( you know that has more fat).  My daughter would be mac and cheese and my son would be pizza.

Apparently , according to Nielsen, Oklahoma City has the highest per capita rate of junk food consumption.  Food Network came up with an odd but delicious assortment of 30 ways to top a hot dog, but most surveys agree that America’s top three items are

1.  Chocolate

2.  Pizza

3.  French Fries

4.   … in fact fried everything.

If you are YouTube, you can find videos for fried ice cream, pizza, Snickers, hamburgers but the most popular seems to be the ubiquitous fried Oreo!

Click here to view the embedded video.

What’s your favorite junk food?

Tweet This Post

Basil is one of my personal favorites.  I grow it year round.  Just smelling my hands after I have picked basil makes me feel the lightness of summer.  So what do you do with four basil bushes?  EAT!

5 Easy Ways to Use Fresh Basil

1. Add flavor to scrambled eggs – just cut up a couple of leaves and add.
2. Add flavor to tossed green salad – toss in a handful of leaves whole
3. Make basil sauce for chicken or fish – just throw some basil, olive oil and lemon juice in you blender or food processor and drizzle over the food while cooking
4. Fresh Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella salad (Caprese)-  use more than just your basil: Alternate slices of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, sprinkle with basil, olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette (proportions to your taste, but don’t use much because the fresh taste is best!)
5. Classic Pesto – The real reason we have four basil bushes.  Pesto is the family favorite. While this recipe is basic, feel free to adjust to what your family likes – we like extra garlic in ours. With garlic, parmesan and pine nuts it goes on everything from pasta to pizza, and it uses cups at a time!

Bon Appétit!

Tweet This Post

At the beginning of the season, it’s not too hard to figure out what to do with the tomatoes as they come off – sliced on salads, sandwiches and hamburgers really are the best. But after a few weeks, you have more than you can eat for lunch! And you don’t want to refrigerate fresh tomatoes, it destroys the taste.  If you must refrigerate them to make them last, bring them out about 24 hours before use to let their natural flavor enzymes rev up.

Easy Weekend Tomato Recipes

So here are my weekend recipes: bruschetta (with tomatoes roasted or not), fresh salsa  – straight or for salads, and of course in our house – grilled!! 

Easy Salsa

Salsa and bruschetta are really first cousins. For simple fresh salsa, just dice the tomatoes, add diced onion and cilantro for the basics. Peppers, garlic, oregano  and fresh corn are up to you –even pineapple and mango are great additions! Beyond chips, salsa is a great topper for fish and hamburgers too!

Easy Bruschetta

Bruschetta you could really call salsa with olive oil! And maybe some extra flavors.  The bruschetta usually goes on toast as an appetizer. Here’s a simple recipe to use.  If you also happen to grow fresh basil, add that in for extra zing!

If you really want to go wild, have some great fresh cold tomato Gazpacho soup for a refresher!

.

Easy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

At the end of the season, I look forward to getting a crate of them to slow roast down to spaghetti sauce.  Just  pile in the quartered tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil and oregano and let it go in the oven all day on low heat (about 250 degrees)- when the water has been largely been cooked out and most things dissolve when stirred – then batch the mixture  in the food processor or put through a food  mill. Then freeze in the size that best suits your cooking. If you tire of spaghetti sauce, you can always add a little milk for creamy tomato basil soup. YUM!

Nothing like fresh tomato taste all year round!

Tweet This Post

There are plenty of ways to use of fruit – TSG Summer Fruit Crisp with anything you heart desires, pies, fruit soups, and in our house grilled – but my favorite for breakfast, lunch or dessert is smoothies!

The basic concept of a smoothie is simple – approximately equal amounts of fruit and “liquid” (be it yogurt, milk, juice or ice) – and a blender, food processor or milk shake machine to mix it up until it is a frothy light confection. If it’s too watery, add fruit – too thick, add some juice – it’s how you like it that counts.  In fact, as soon as I finish this, my reward is a woodland fruit smoothie with strawberries, blueberries and a banana, with ice this time to keep the calories down and the refreshment up!

Experiment with what you have on hand.  My typical is with low fat plain yogurt and fresh fruit with a little ice.  The kids will think they’ve fooled you allowing them too much sweet – but you will know the truth.

Drink up!

Tweet This Post