Category Archives: Holidays

Our rule of thumb for feeding a crowd is to keep it simple and ask for help (and provide refreshments)! Whether holidays or just a weekend at the lake with friends and family, food is at the center of all of the festivities, cooking and preparing the meals together makes it all more special. Our welcome for guests is a hot pot of coffee,  fresh fruit, sweet rolls, muffins, or donuts, perfect grab and go food so everyone can enjoy the outdoors with no fuss. During the summer watermelon and blueberries are our favorite fruits to serve. Our fourth of July weekend celebrations also included a gotcha party for grand puppy Bear, so we used some new colorful kibble bowls as some of our serving dishes. Lunch was a fun smorgasbord with pulled chicken sliders using Festival’s Shredded Chicken sold in party pails and Beer Cheese Sauce (recipe) or Honey Mustard … Continue reading

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Memorial Day weekend with friends or family at the cabin means it’s time to break out the recipes and get a menu together. We believe that for the hosts to enjoy the weekend as much as their guests you must keep it casual with everyone pitching in to prepare meals and cook together. We always plan for extra food because face it, if the weather is beautiful more company than planned are likely to show up and there’s never anything wrong with delicious leftovers. Just make sure you have plenty of refreshments to go around.   Stay hydrated, people! First up we have Fish Tacos with guacamole and Grilled Mexican Sweet Corn!  We used halibut for our recipe, as well as sour cream (Top the Tater Fiesta is a personal favorite), salsa, Big Rick’s Chipotle BBQ Sauce, and shredded cheese (obviously). We like to keep breakfast on the simple side by picking … Continue reading

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This is a crazy busy time of year with cookie exchanges, parties, potlucks, holiday celebrations and family gatherings and food is at the center of it all. There is no need to panic but planning is essential to keep stress to a dull roar so you can enjoy the festivities. A Christmas cookie exchange party is a great way to spend time with friends and family and the bonus is leaving the party with a wonderful selection of cookies! If you’re hosting you need some easy appetizer recipes or to make it super easy, serve a cheese board. We pinned some beautiful cheese boards to inspire you, even more inspiring is that our The Big Cheese event has begun with a perfect selection of products and cheeses to have available in the frig and pantry for cheese boards or easy last minute entertaining. A fabulous finger food appetizer is our Blue … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Party, Seafood, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Easy to Serve Great Food

It’s time to begin planning your menu for Halloween festivities!  If you and the kids are heading out to trick or treat, start them off right with an nice, hot meal appropriate to the holiday – we’re talking Mummy Meatloaf. Easy to prepare, just slice our meatloaf and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven until an internal temperature of 160 degrees. While the meatloaf is cooking in the oven slice strips of your favorite white cheese that will melt easily. When your meatloaf is fully cooked wrap the white cheese and sliced black olives for eyes on the meatloaf slices and place on a clean sheet of parchment paper in a warm oven to melt the cheese slightly.  If doing anything but heat and serve before you go out trick or treating then perhaps our Ghoulash prepared and sold in our Deli may be … Continue reading

Posted in Halloween, Holidays, Menu, Party, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Frightfully Fun Food for Halloween

The cool and crisp fall weather has arrived much too soon but it’s perfect weather to begin cooking hearty soups and stews with fragrant herbs for your family meals or prepping some chili for a crowd to watch football. This is a classic Minnesota soup made with wild rice made especially easy if you use Rotisserie chicken from our deli, moist and full of flavor our Rotisserie chickens are useful as an ingredient in many recipes (think chicken quesadillas) as well as a main course. We call our recipe Minnesota Wild Rice Soup it has lovely rich flavor and one of my favorite fall recipes. Another of our favorite soups is Hearty Italian Soup made with our very own fresh Italian Sausage – available either Hot or Mild, easy to make for a quick meal during the week, we like to serve with a fresh baked baguette. Taco Soup is all the … Continue reading

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It’s hard to believe that summer is already coming to an end and it’s time to begin planning the Labor Day menu for the last hurrah of summer. Small bites to share are a great option to bring for potluck gatherings on the holiday weekend or to serve for a family buffet dinner. One of the most tasty bites we can think of are Mini Ham Sandwiches, a sweet and savory mix of flavors and…you can prepare them the night before. If you’re in the mood to do some frying and serve some hot bites, Beer Battered Cheese Curds or Fried Cream Cheese Wontons are very easy to prepare and always a favorite with family and friends. The cream cheese wontons are simple to assemble with wonton wrappers, a small dollop of cream cheese and a little water to moisten the edges of the wrappers when you fold them up. … Continue reading

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Grab those groceries and sparklers and get ready to celebrate this holiday weekend! Fire up that grill and give our new Honey Lime Chipotle Chicken Sandwich a try, this chicken would be spectacular on a salad as well. It has a lovely smoky flavor with a kick from the chipotle. If its Red, White, and Burgers for you then we’ve got some delicious recipes.   Mouth-watering, big flavor is how we describe our Black Angus Premium Choice ground beef, Tickler Cheddar cheese and our own Festival Foods smokehouse bacon. We call it the Tickler Bacon Burger. The Cheese Sauce can be made the day before, chilled and then reheated and served, making this entertaining-friendly. For those looking for some options other than beef burgers we have a few ground chicken burger recipes that are very tasty, our latest ground chicken recipe is a Mexican Chicken Burger. A colorful chopped salad recipe … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Menu, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Feasts for the 4th!

Memorial Day is to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. Military. Many people celebrate Memorial Day in many different ways. Parades and picnics, barbeques with friends and family, going to the lake, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer. Nothing brings family and friends together like food so some delicious crowd food and a little menu planning is a must so you can advise your guests what they should bring. Our tradition is to go to the lake for the holiday weekend and preparing as much of the food ahead of time as possible will make packing much more simple than hauling spices and cupboard staples you may not have at the cabin. One of my favorite crowd-feeder recipes is a citrusy slow-roasted pork to make Cubano sandwiches. You can roast and shred the pork ahead of time and then heat the … Continue reading

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Our own premium quality Double Smoked (to perfection) Bone-In Ham has been an Easter holiday tradition for many families for years. Our ham is twice smoked over hard wood and fully cooked, simply bake covered with foil in a  325 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes per pound until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees. If you prefer to glaze – try this yummy Cranberry Maple Glaze recipe! Our five pound pans of Au Gratin or my personal favorite – Cheesy Potatoes made in our Delis complement that awesome double smoked ham or Prime Rib or Leg of Lamb! These and many other holiday favorites are available for order on line to make your meal planning easy. If you’re thinking warm and brunchy for Easter the eggsperts in our Delis make a delicious Egg Bake in either Sausage & Cheese or Southwestern, sized just right in either … Continue reading

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A chilled seafood buffet is a delicious and colorful option for your holiday entertaining and much easier than attempting to keep food warm with open house entertaining, you can set the buffet and mingle with your guests. Be sure to keep all of your seafood iced and chilled on your buffet. Bubbles go well with seafood so think about serving a Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine along with your seafood spread. Lobster claws and King Crab legs served with a Seafood Mustard Sauce serve well as the main course, the lobster claws are pre-scored making them easy to open. Have plenty of seafood crackers and small forks on hand to get every last bite out of the legs and claws. Oysters on the half shell are always called for at festive occasions! Don’t forget the lemons and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. Shrimp and cocktail sauce. Or…shrimp shooters Serve with our Festival fresh … Continue reading

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