All around this weekend the barbeques were lighted and the scent of dogs and burgers filled the air – along with major squeals from happy family get-togethers.   We happened to be down the street from my brother and sister-in-law who had a healthy 26 for the weekend.  We expanded with the kids home to a happy foursome – six if you count the dogs.  And they should be counted for slider night.

As you well know, I love the kids coming home for all the usual reason, but also because they cook for us.  With several new food magazines for inspiration – they couldn’t decide how best to celebrate the holiday.  There were too many recipes for burgers to choose from, so they decided on a variety of sliders – you know –mini hamburgers so you can eat more than one without guilt!

Amazingly, a year ago, my daughter didn’t even eat hamburger (we’re talking age 20), but now she is in pursuit of the ultimate burger!  Who says they don’t grow up?  We all sat around discussing our favorite flavors and decided on four different varieties of burgers to try.

Burger Basics

Burgers are easy to customize with a little imagination.  Just take high quality ground meat, add seasonings cut finely to mix well, some sauce or egg for binder (so it doesn’t crumble on the grill) and voila!

The men decided bacon was a must to add, that combined with barbeque sauce was one for the grill.  Another version went Florentine with spinach, garlic and cheese.  There was also a Mexican version with chili powder, Jack cheese and a little salsa. Or you can try the Mango Peach Salsa Sassy Burgers. Finally, there was the mushroom and cheese burgers with chipotle mayo – as you can tell we are largely a cheeseburger kind of family. We each had four tiny samples, but all were delicious!

Burger Tips

When making burgers use the finest quality meat, add finely diced herbs or other ingredients, add a binder such as egg, sauce or breadcrumbs to keep it whole on the grill. Taste test!  Make a tiny burger of your favorite combination and grill first for flavor check – start light!  You can always add more, but it’s harder to take out or add more meat to compensate.

Burgers Don’t Have to Be Beef

For all those years my daughter didn’t eat ground beef, that didn’t mean she didn’t eat grilled patties in a bun.  Turkey burgers were a weekly staple in our house with mustard, onion and parsley  for flavor.  We also had our fair share of salmon burgers with mayo and dill.  If you still crave meat, but want something with a little less f at, you can always use bison with a heartier flavor which is increasingly available in grocery stores.

If you can grind it, mix it and grill it  – you have a burger for a holiday feast!

Tweet This Post

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.

1. Set the table beautifully – make sure you keep a nice centerpiece and candles ready to be lit every night.
2. Use fresh, high quality ingredients – there’s nothing more sad than wilted lettuce!
3. Light a candle!

Quick, Yummy Quesadilla Recipes

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:

1. Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas
2. Chorizo Quesadillas

Tweet This Post

  Tired of Winter, Want to have a fun party that brings to mind a warm summer day in the vineyard?  Why not have a Sonoma Style dinner party with friends.  Here are 10 easy tips for success from our recipe specialist Rita Held.

Ten Tips for a Sonoma-Style Dinner Party

1.  Getting It Together

Several weeks ahead, invite the guests; select and print out the recipes (visit the TSG Recipe Box); and order specialty food products. Wine can be ordered online too (if your state allows it). Create to-do lists, and the day of the party follow a timetable so the casserole gets into the oven and the wines get chilled on schedule.

2.  What Can I Bring?

Guests today want to bring something—a great help in these busy and uncertain times. For a more cohesive menu, assign each guest a recipe to prepare and deliver in a serving dish. Simply send them the recipe link  or specify a type of dish.  Ask some guests to bring wine—specify the varietal, wine region, and maximum price. 

3.  Sonoma-Style Dinner

While good wines come from around the world, focusing on one wine region is fun. Sonoma, one of the world’s great wine regions, is a good place to start. The wines are exceptional and prices are often lower than comparable wines from Napa. White varietals include chardonnay, gewürztraminer, sauvignon blanc, and pinot gris; reds include cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot, syrah, and zinfandel. Sonoma also produces excellent sparkling wines.

4.  What Wines to Serve?

Believe it or not, choosing wine is the easiest part of menu planning. Simply serve what you like—and forget outdated wine rules. If you adore chardonnay, drink it with everything. To serve a variety of wines, select light whites or reds for light dishes, and choose full-bodied whites and reds for hearty dishes. Here are some suggested pairings with Two Sisters Gourmet recipes:

• A crisp sauvignon blanc with Asian Steamed Mussels or Lemon Garlic Shrimp
• A semi-sweet gewürztraminer with Spicy & Sweet Chicken Wings. 
• Pinot noir or chardonnay with Over-the-edge Smoked Salmon Appetizer or Chicken Kiev.
• Sparkling wine or pinot noir with Classic Quiche with Gruyere .
• Cabernet sauvignon or merlot with Deliciously Devine Duo , Pot Roast Perfection, or Baby Back Ribs.
• Zinfandel with Italian Pizza or Pepperoni Pizza Loaf.
• A sec or demi-sec sparkling wine with Simply Pear Chardonnay Pudding. 

5.  How Much Wine to Buy

Plan on at least 2 glasses of wine per person for a daytime affair. For a long party, allow up to a bottle per guest. 

6.  Sonoma Wine and Food Pairing

Choose at least half dozen wine varietals to serve. The goal is to find the best wine for each dish on the menu. Taste one dish with all of the wines, and then repeat until each wine has been compared to each dish. Start with the mildest dish and the lightest wine. Here’s what to do: 1) Swirl the wine in the glass and immediately take a sip—think about how the wine tastes and feels.  2) Take a bite of food. 3) Swirl and sip the wine again. Did the food alter the taste of the wine?  If each sip of wine tasted similar—and you liked the flavor after tasting the food—it is a good match. Discuss what combinations you liked best and why; which ones weren’t as good and why. 

7.  Wine Temperatures

For wine to taste best, it must be at the right temperature. Whites should be chilled but not ice-cold. To quick-chill whites, submerge the bottle in ice water for 15 minutes, or refrigerate about 2 hours. Red wine bottles should feel cool to the touch.  If the bottle is warm, refrigerate it about 1/2 hour; if too cold, leave at room temperature 1/2 hour.

8.  Setting the Table for Wine

Put the water glass on the far right, above the knife. Arrange the wine glasses to the left of the water, above the plate. One glass for each wine (or one for red and one for white) is ideal. If a single glass is used, rinse it between wines. Clear, long-stemmed wine glasses that curve in slightly at the top and hold at least 12-ounces are ideal. 

For a centerpiece, keep it simple and decorate for the theme.  Use something like the PartyLite Customizable Tealight Centerpiece for quick elegance and great ambiance.

9.  How Much Wine to Pour?

A wine glass should be filled no more than 1/3 full—that allows space for swirling the wine to release aromas and aerate the wine. It is easier to swirl the glass without spilling if the base of the glass is on the table—hold the glass by the stem and quickly move the glass in a circular motion.

10.  Have Fun and Trust Yourself

It’s fun to talk about wine—what flavors you taste and aromas you smell. But don’t be surprised if everyone disagrees—even the experts do. Just as people have different opinions about food, the wine palate is very personal. Trust your own opinion.

Tweet This Post

History of Asparagus

Asparagus is a member of the lily family – see very spring.  This vegetable has been around for centuries and was popular among the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Emperor Augustus is said to have coined the phrase “as quick as cooking asparagus.”  Louis the XVI also loved the plant and had his gardeners grow it year round in green houses, stemming  its modern romance.  Thomas Jefferson had a whole garden reserved for growing asparagus.

How to Purchase and Store Asparagus

Asparagus is on the expensive side and tends to be a party food. That’s because you can’t harvest an asparagus plant for the first three years, and it is labor intensive to grow.  It is high in Folic Acid and a good source of potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, A and C, and thiamin.

Many people are a little unsure of what to do. When selecting asparagus, choose firm stalks with deep green tips that are closed.  Asparagus with slimmer stalks tends to be more tender.  Store them with the bottom wrapped in a damp paper towel in the coldest part of the refrigerator.  As with all fresh things, eat as soon as possible to get the most  flavor and nutrients.

5 Great Recipes Ideas

As the Romans knew, cooking asparagus is a snap.  Just steam or drop a bundle in boiling water for a couple of minutes, until bright green.  You can also spray with a little oil and grill for a short period.  Asparagus can be used in a variety of ways – straight as a salad with a little dressing, as a crudités with any dip or in other interesting recipes.  Here are two salad dressings you can use with asparagus, and three other delicious Two Sisters Gourmet recipes.

Five Great Recipes to Show Off Asparagus

1. Oh Honey! Dill Vinaigrette
2. Onion Chive Herb Salad Dressing
3. Asparagus Spears Wrapped in Prosciutto
4. Smoked Salmon Asparagus Wraps
5. Asparagus Tomato Bake

Tweet This Post

For those of you who will participate in this national past time, make a resolution to make this year one you can enjoy with your guests!  While there is lots of mindless eating going on, you can still stand out as a great hostess.

The number one food to make the guys happy is Pigs in a Blanket – whether you buy them ready made or make them yourself (just wrap refrigerated crescent roll dough around your favorite little sausage – we like smokey links) and dip in Racy Wasabi Raspberry Mustard. 

What’s your favorite recipe?

If you want to go beyond just mixing up your favorite TSG seasoning with some sour cream and mayo for a quick dip, here are 5 great ideas to kick off your successful Sunday afternoon!

1.  Pigs in a Blanket with Racy Wasabi Rasperry Mustard

2.  Layered Black Bean and Corn Dip 

3.  Sisters Southern Barbeque Meatballs or Meatballs with Maple Dijon Sauce 

4.  Sweet and Spicy Pepper Torta 

5.  Baked Brie in Flaky Pastry   

Then sit back and enjoy the game! 

Tweet This Post

But if you aren’t that fortunate, we have found some help.  At My Fridge Food, you can actually click on your favorite ingredients and it will pull up recipes for you to choose from.  I put in cheese, salt and pepper, eggs, milk, pasta and chicken and it pulled up nearly 100 recipes ranked by the percentage of required ingredients I had on hand.  It also gives the number of ingredients, time and number of calories in the dish.  Truth be told, I probably had the missing ingredients in most cases…..but it’s fun to see what creative things you can make with so little!

 Tell me, what’s in your ‘fridge and what do you do with it?

At the end of the holidays, I don’t know about you, but my fridge needs a good cleaning – so I can see the shelves again.  If you feel the same after weeks of  treats and leftovers, you might enjoy this. On the lighter side, here is a photo essay on what your fridge says about you!  For a good laugh and some self awareness!

Tweet This Post

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.

Click on the foods for some great ideas:

Sweet Potatoes – from the South

Corn Bread Stuffing – The South and New England

Creamed Corn – Pennsylvania

Dungeness Crab or Shrimp – The West Coast

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!

1. Shrimp Cocktail and Fresh Hot Rolls
2. Black Olives – lots!
3. Fresh whole Cranberry Sauce (is your family whole berry or strained?)
4. Turkey (don’t forget the Butterball Hotline!) link to other post.
5. Aunt Ida’s Sage and Sausage Stuffing (not sure who Aunt Ida was)
6. Giblet Gravy ( we had to wait till they were a little older for the giblets)
7. Mashed Potatoes
8. 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…

Tweet This Post

But there’s an easy solution! Make it a “scoop and nuke night.” What’s that?…. Here’s the easy recipe:

• An easy, no fuss, semi–nutritious meal. It’s so quick that I had time to prepare it before the after school frenzy.
• One pan cooking. After all, no matter what time I get home that pan will be waiting for me in the sink.
• Make a lot. I always planned on leftovers, but never got any.
• A meal that everyone will eat!

My family isn’t picky too about food, but like everyone their appetite depends on the day.  My daughter couldn’t eat a heavy meal before dance, but my son was famished.  My husband still thinks he plays college varsity soccer and I require just one dish–fast.

Ideas for What to Put on the Dining Room Table:

• Soup with fresh bread – Make a pot of whatever is left in the refrigerator from the weekend – add  broth.
• Chicken stroganoff. A little heavy for the dancer, but one of her favorites and she could have some before and after class.
• Spaghetti. If I boil the noodles and mix with sauce before leaving for my meeting (one pan remember?)
• Tacos. Smorgasbord of cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes, except for the meat with sauce which can be “nuked” as needed.

Or ask friends! Our all time family favorite is an Indonesian spicy rice dish called Nasi Goreng (fried rice).  You might think we picked this up when we lived in Asia, but no, we never do anything the easy way.

We first heard about this lifesaver on a ski trip with our best friends, who are Dutch. Apparently, Dutch cooking is replete with Indonesian and Malaysian influences, as they were a global trading power in the 1600’s. In fact, the rijstafel (rice table) is a frequent Malaysian occurrence – an assortment of Asian dishes, largely including or served over rice and named by the Dutch.

Anyways, we stayed in a rental apartment and everyone was tired from skiing all day.  Yvette, my friend, was graciously in charge of feeding the troops that night. The pot filled with Nasi Goreng must have been as big as one of the best lobster pots, but 30 minutes later it was empty.

Nasi Goreng Recipe: Try it with your family!

• Spice mix. I found the Dutch store and bought the Nasi Goreng by Conimex packets. For added interest you can also purchase Ketcap Manis (something like sweet soy sauce), to be truly authentic.
• Cook rice. Mix with spice, add onion and chicken (optional). Then it’s ready to go!
• Or you can make it from scratch (but not on a scoop and nuke night!)

Low and behold, a few years later my family was transferred to Asia. The first day there, my son saw Nasi Goreng on the menu and was thrilled to see something he both recognized and loved!

Well, let me tell you – the original native is not what comes out of the bag. After the first bite, and many tears of disappointment, I had to find the closest Dutch store and revert to our mix.  We still horde it in our cupboards!

Share your scoop and nuke meals–and how they save your family!

Want some history on the Dutch East India Company? Makes for interesting dinner table conversation!

Nasi Goreng Ready to Go!

Tweet This Post

Who doesn’t love Halloween and pumpkins? It gives us adults an excuse to pretend and have fun!

Scary Carved Pumpkins

What my Family Did for Halloween:

When my children were little, this season was all about the family trip to the pumpkin patch and finding that perfect Halloween costume. 

As the kids became “too cool” for Trick or Treating, they turned their attention to scaring the neighborhood kids with our haunted hallway. The whole family got in on the fun. When the doorbell rang, the  spooky music started, the hallway was foggy from a cauldron of dry ice and strobe lights flashed to complete the eerie feel. The children still got to dress up to hand out the goodies!

Then as the children grew even older and time more scarce, we planned one night together to carve an elaborate jack-o-lantern. Soon our pumpkins became the talk of the neighborhood.

Ideas to Celebrate Halloween and National Pumpkin Day:

1.  Printable pumpkin carving stencils:Stencils help those of us who cannot really draw a scary face. We love black cats.For scary printable pumpkin carving stencils click here .
2.   Child Friendly Pumpkin Decorating:For little ones, who you don’t want to arm with a knife or other carving implement –there’s an equally fun alternative. One of my favorite home movie moments is of my daughter, Laura, age 4, decorating the pumpkins, armed with toothpicks and a farmer’s market full of vegetables. With spinach hair, radish eyes, cucumber ears, a carrot nose and black olive teeth she learned about vegetables, ate and laughed for about an hour.  Then that pumpkin was ready to turn heads! Show off their proud creation right on your front doorstep. These were done at a local fall fair.
   

   Kid Friendly Pumpkin Decorations

3. Pumpkin Muffin Recipe:For a pre or post Trick or Treat pick–me–up, you can make some  delicious pumpkin muffins.  Check out how to make our great pumpkin muffin recipe from TSG Apple cake.

4. Pumpkin Roll Recipe:For those feeling more creative, prepare a delicious pumpkin roll

5.Heat up some cider laced with cinnamon and have a warm October evening full of memories that will be sure to give you goose bumps!

One of my favorite sources for quirky facts and the history of food is the Nibble, an online magazine, where I found today’s cause for celebration–National Pumpkin Day!

Tweet This Post

Ok, well that’s not really me, but it was my Mom when she was first married. I honestly think that between us, we would have made one great housewife – I cook and she cleans.  My  father-in-law would have shriveled up without a microwave, and some surprisingly astute business women I know claim kitchen disability as well.  But I think the truth is that they don’t want to cook – not that they can’t.

 Now I confess that learning to cook can have it’s ups and downs. (We will not talk about the inedible disasters that have graced my garbage can.)  I know for a fact that my son learned how to cook before he left home, but the first time he prepared dinner in his college room, he turned the burner on high, threw in the chicken breast, and set off the fire alarm – then he didn’t try again for a year.

Dinner Disaster

Worst case, anyone can boil some water in the microwave, add instant rice and slice pre-cooked chicken on top, open a jar of apple sauce for a side – and voila!.  Just don’t try to get me to eat it. That might count as instant dorm food, but not dinner.

How to Bake Like a Pro

Right out of the starting gate you can impress everyone by baking – dare I say with a little TSG beer bread (just add beverage).  You can even go to the website and download one sheet with over 15 variations, and you’ll be a master chef right away.  Branch out –steam some fresh vegetables and spring with Tearless Onion and Chives – then you can add the precooked chicken breast – and you’ve come a long way in one day.

Learn How to Cook

To learn to cook, I recommend you find a friend who knows you well and start simple – like spaghetti

1.  For entertainment as well as ideas you can go to You tube and watch “how to co

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. A drier series from Howcookingworks.com  - competent but not entertainment

3. You can also bone up on you skills from online sites so you look like like a pro when your mother-in-law arrives. 

4. There are lots of food shows on TV that can help, like Semi Home Made with Sandra Lee.  This is sort of an updated Campbell’s soup approach mixing some cooking with already prepared foods for a polished look that will help you gain confidence .  

Personally, I’d go buy a book,  – but sooner or later you just have to  take the plunge and start !

Tweet This Post