Over the holidays an easy way to entertain at home is hosting a brunch. This is also a great way to feed your overnight house guests. Below are three easy brunch menus that are real holiday guest pleasers.
Or take a culinary trip to the Far East with our Asian Barbeque Simmerin’ Sauce. Hints of soy, sesame, garlic, chili, and ginger combine for true Asian flavor. From Asian-Style Short Ribs to Hot & Sour Chicken Soup, this versatile sauce is a must for your pantry. It can even be used as a dipper for egg or spring rolls!
A holiday tradition my co-workers and I look forward to every year is our annual cookie exchange. What a great way to beat the stress of holiday baking! There is nothing better than offering your guests a variety of homemade cookies when you entertain at home (no one has to know you did not make them all — wink wink). The rule for our cookie exchange is to make a dozen for each person participating, and each person makes a different recipe. From cutout, drop, and bar cookies, to brownies and fudge, we have seen some very creative and yummy treats. One of my personal favorites was a couple years ago when a coworker made a cookie bar native to her Canadian roots. The Nanaimo Bar was thought to have originated in its namesake city. Although some say the original recipe might have appeared in the Nanaimo Hospital Cookbook in the late 1950s. All I know is that after one bite I was hooked. I am embarrassed to say that these decadent bars did not make it onto my holiday cookie platter!
Nanaimo Bars
Short on time but still want to participate in your cookie exchange? Try these easy and delicious Two Sisters Gourmet recipes.
With the economy still in its current sluggish state, many of us are looking for ways to cut down on our holiday gift giving expenses. This is normally already a stressful time of year and cutting back on our spending is making it more so. Lucky for us, Two Sisters Gourmet can help with homemade gifts of love.
Fall is my favorite time of year. It’s all about the heartwarming food, the cool crisp air, the vibrant colors, and of course… Football!
Football has been a part of my life since I was a small girl. My first football memories are watching the Pittsburgh Steelers games with my dad and nibbling throughout the day on the “football food” that my mom would prepare (a “make your own taco bar” was a personal favorite!). Over the years dad started to dabble in the kitchen and would prepare our game day fare — elaborate veggie platters with dip (each vegetable was cut into perfectly sized pieces), shrimp cocktails, mini bagel dogs, chicken wings, pickled herring, and guacamole with pretzels. This unusual assortment of goodies was just to whet our appetite for the main game day attraction – Dad’s Ribs. These legendary ribs are eagerly anticipated throughout our family and friends. The process starts the night before by soaking hickory chips in water — this will ensure that the chips will not burn when they are placed around the charcoal. To prep the meat before smoking, my Dad removes the rib membrane (skin covering the back) – his secret to ensure that the hickory penetrates the meat and rib bone. The ribs are then smoked for 2 hours in a kettle grill over indirect heat. After coming off the grill, they are basted with a tangy barbecue sauce that makes these ribs irresistible.
And now that I’ve hosted a few of these game days myself, I would like to pass along to you my winning game day picks.
PreGame – Guests Arriving
Chips and salsa (I usually serve two types of salsa TSG Black Bean and Corn and a homemade version)
Hummus and pita chips
Crudité platter with assorted olives, cheeses, and flatbreads
The Basic Skills of Cooking: It’s Simple but Follow Directions
Last week I was humbled by a toaster oven!. I think of myself as a pretty good cook, but every now and then we all need a “comeuppance” as my Grandma would say!
It all started when I needed to show our SRVP’s how versatile Beer Bread really can be. We just had a meeting where I handed out the “21 Ways to Make Beer Bread” sheet, and now I really wanted to prove that no one should leave a party with just one box.
So I went to the store and bought ingredients to make 5 different varieties –sweet and savory. I happened to be in the Hampton Inn where they generously let me their convection oven in the kitchen so I could make them all at once. Well, convection ovens cook differently, of course. Faster, but not quite so thoroughly, and I was making so many at once……
After rotating them around, I finally got them the crust looking toasty brown, but they still looked a little wobbly and didn’t sound right. So I figured I bake a fresh one in a small aluminum pan at work the next morning in the toaster oven. I whipped it up (Yummy with chocolate chips) and went to do a few things. I just about burned the building down!.
My bread was in too small a pan, so it rose into the coils and burned! And SMELLLED! And looked AWFUL! Then I went to cut the loaves from the night before – the crust was like leather and the inside was still a little soggy. So I salvaged what I could and ….
This week I got a new large size toaster/convection oven. I have some new bread samples to try on my desk so I got to work. I am now on the 5th loaf
the first was a small aluminum pan that rose, but looked like pudding in the middle
the second was on convection and was almost as burned as the one that rose into the coils (and I accidentally left it on for hours!)
the third was a slight dark brown with a crust that tasted like more leather
So I bought a real loaf pan….
left it on convection, turned down the temperature and it was edible (in fact Chris Johnson, our meeting planner ate almost the whole loaf!)
I’m on number 5 now – and I ‘ll photograph it shortly.
The moral of the story:
1. Read the instructions – they were actually tested
2. Use the right equipment – if it says 9×5 metal pan, they mean it
3. Never leave your oven untended
4. Learn how your own oven works, some tend hot or cold
5. Expect Disasters – they are part of cooking and make you better
Believe it or not, the catalog to be released in August was shot a month ago. I spent a week tasting our new products and looking (and eating) comfort food, holiday desserts and other great treats! I thought it would be fun to show you a little of the behind the scenes effort.
We all know that you eat with your eyes as well as your mouth, so food styling for the catalog is very important. There can be a lot of “bad press” about how food stylists “cheat” the dishes to make it appropriate for a magazine shoot. Take for example ice cream, it’s impossible to get real ice cream not to melt under hot lights. But the attitude of companies, savvy consumers and digital photography have changed the issues in shooting food and allowed all of our photography to be much more “natural”.
When we prepare food for the catalog, we actually create and test recipes (that’s a popular day in the office because they get to taste finished dishes, not just product). At the shoot our fabulous stylist Catrine Kelty prepares each of the dishes (with leftovers) and then works with our great photographer Paul Saraceno to bring it to you in the best possible light.
It’s true that we do help out our dishes a little – after all they do have to sit on the table for hours at a time and need to keep looking fresh. We spritz the lettuce with water to make it glisten, hand arrange the leaves, stack berries just so, and melt our cheese with a gun that peels paint off walls so it gets perfectly brown.
Tips to Make Your Table Look Great
Here are the top tips that Katrine uses in preparing our food whether for photography or your family table.
Set the table beautifully – make sure you keep a nice centerpiece and candles ready to be lit every night.
Use fresh, high quality ingredients – there’s nothing more sad than wilted lettuce!
Like those quesadilla? Well here are two of our great recipes using the Two Sisters Gourmet Black Bean and Corn Salsa, but you can really add your f avorite ingredients and make them your own:
I’m cruising through the blogosphere looking for inspiration (my favorite hobby) and came across a blog with a title and claim I can relate to called, Working Girl’s Kitchen . The description went on to read, “a corporate girl finds balance and fulfillment through her culinary journeys.” I know what she’s talking about!
The Working Girl posted an article, “10 Things Cooking Taught Me About Life” by Kim O’Donnell that not only touched her, but resonates with the cook in all of us. BSVCZRN9VZA6
What Cooking Means to Me:
It made me reflect on what cooking means to me.
1. I find it therapeutic. If I’m cranky I will chop a little harder. If I’m moping around I can conjure up smells that take me to the happiest of times – a fresh apple pie to remember apple picking afternoons filled with smiling faces.
2. Cooking connects me with the cycles of nature. Think about the day-long pot of spaghetti sauce project necessary to soak up that whole case of tomatoes from the farmer’s market (what was I thinking!). The trip to the Farmer’s Market was a delight – a warm sunny Saturday, pouring over fresh produce, seeing friends and neighbors, and knowing that the piles of tomatoes will bring summer memories during a cold evening.
3. Cooking gives me time to step out of my daily routine and think. When I get to cook on one of these leisurely sessions, I turn on classical music and contemplate the more important things in life. I’m frequently thinking about the kids visiting for a holiday, when I can see my Mom 2,500 miles away and how lucky I am to have family who loves spending time together.
4. Cooking let’s me show I care. To me and to many, cooking is a universal display of love and concern. Sometimes words just aren’t enought. There’s always the “cheer you up from the lost game” dinner or a “friend hurt your feelings, so here’s comfort food” dinner. One of my favorites is “let me fix your favorite meal to bribe you to come home” dinner. The fact that they come and are cheered up are my greatest rewards.
What have you learned about life through cooking? Or describe whose life you have touched with your cooking. After all, cooking is all about bringing friends and family together!
Family Thoughts on Thanksgiving and Food Thoughts on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving dinner is the one time no one in the family will ask me “What’s for dinner?” Like families all over the country, we have a ritual dinner. Every year I am tantalized by all the great and interesting recipes in the food magazines that find their way into my mailbox, but I am NEVER allowed to indulge in them. The only time I get to vary the menu is when we open our doors and include traveling waifs who can’t go “home” for Thanksgiving. We want everyone at our table to have something that reminds them of home, so I get to expand.
Thanksgiving may be officially the fourth Thursday of November, but in our house, and I believe many houses, it’s really at least a four day affair. This year, we will be having Thanksgiving at the beach, which sometimes means that all the Edwards gather and we have a large and noisy bunch. That’s when I get to try different things, we have multiples of everything, turkeys, stuffing , potatoes, pies – you name it.
Origins of Thanksgiving Dishes and Wishes
This year will be a smaller, quieter retreat. The older the family gets, the more connections we have to other families, and the more we share the people, the customs and the time. Traditionally, most Thanksgiving foods are those native to American soil. Turkey is ubiquitous – over 91% eat turkey on Thanksgiving. They say if you look at your Thanksgiving table you can tell where your family originates within the U.S.
Mole and Roasted Corn, - Hispanic Americans of Mexican heritage
Lefse and Green Beans – Midwesterners of Scandinavian heritage (lefse is Norwegian potato flatbread)
On our Table for Thanksgiving – In addition to the Cornucopia!
Shrimp Cocktail and Fresh Hot Rolls
Black Olives – lots!
Fresh whole Cranberry Sauce (is your family whole berry or strained?)
Turkey (don’t forget the Butterball Hotline!) link to other post.
Aunt Ida’s Sage and Sausage Stuffing (not sure who Aunt Ida was)
Giblet Gravy ( we had to wait till they were a little older for the giblets)
Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin and Minced Pie
My Thanksgiving Wishes
What I love about Thanksgiving is that it is the most American of all holidays – everyone within our shores is invited to the table to celebrate. It’s a day of peace and promise as we gather to be thankful for the blessings we have. It’s a little island of calm before the holiday rush. Food is one of the most fundamental ways of connecting. I know at our table we will be thankful for family and friends (including those we don’t know yet). We wish the same for you at this time and hope you will share the season…
Of all the silly things, you know how when you pull out a long sheet of aluminum foil, the cardboard tube pops out of the box? Well apparently the company does too! There are instructions on the end of the box to push in a little tab that holds the roll in place so it doesn’t fall out and roll all over the kitchen floor!. While that makes the dogs happy, it doesn’t do too much for me – so problem solved! See the photo that led me to it.!
Cooking Your Turkey: Thanksgiving Help!
And while you’re getting ready for Thanksgiving – if you have a question or a crisis, don’t forget the Turkey Helpline from Butterball 1-800 –Butterball (1-800-288-8372) or check out their top ten questions. They answer more than 100,000 Questions every November and December – so I’m sure they can handle your as well!
Over the holidays an easy way to entertain at home is hosting a brunch. This is also a great way to feed your overnight house guests. Below are three easy brunch menus that are real holiday guest pleasers.
