Category Archives: Holidays

Sloppy Joes seem to be a family tradition in many households but we always forget about them when deciding what to have for dinner. They are quick and easy to make, yet fairly inexpensive because you tend to have many of the ingredients already in your pantry. And for those of you with kids, they tend to be a kid-friendly option even for the picky child, so it’s a win for everyone. Needless to say, now that we’ve made them once they will become a recurring meal in our house. I don’t eat red meat so I like to use ground chicken instead. Ground chicken tends to have a little less fat and little more protein than ground beef so it’s also a slightly healthier option. The consistency between the ground chicken and ground beef is very similar, or so I’m told by Andrew because he’s the only one that would … Continue reading

Posted in 4th of July, Labor Day Weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, Poultry, Super Bowl, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chicken Sloppy Joes

One thing I’ve always been curious to try is a Juicy Lucy. I’ve never had the opportunity because I don’t eat red meat so I decided to create my own version using ground chicken. It took some tweaking to get the texture and size of the patty right but the result was yummy! The recipe can be found here. I didn’t want to use plain ground chicken without any seasoning because the burger wouldn’t have much flavor then. I followed the seasoning recipe from the Buffalo Chicken Penne recipe. I use this seasoning mix all the time at home. It’s great on a grilled chicken breast or veggies because it adds a salty flavor with a bit of spice, but now I’m getting off topic! I thought this seasoning would complement the cheese inside the burger nicely. I mean, I had to start somewhere and this was my best option! … Continue reading

Posted in 4th of July, Labor Day Weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, Poultry, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Seasoned Chicken Juicy Lucy

Anyone that knows Andrew and I know how much we love dogs. We have a Chihuahua/Terrier mix named Bear that is the love of our lives, but it doesn’t stop there. Andrew’s mom, Lauri, has three Old English Sheepdogs that are a big part of our lives too, DeNiro, Bagheera, and Merida. I understand the ease and convenience of buying dog treats at the store but there is something satisfying about making homemade treats. You know the ingredients, they are fresh, and your pup will paw-sitively love them! I made 3 different types of dog treats, Frozen Dog Treats, Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dog Treats, and Candy Cane Dog Treats. The Frozen Dog Treats were the most simple to make and let me tell you, the dogs LOVED them! I think DeNiro even swallowed his whole! Bear was a bit daintier with his and had to lick the treat instead of … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Homemade Dog Treats

It’s a busy time of year with summer coming to an end, school starting, preparing for fall and all the delicious food that comes with it (more on that later) but we were able to squeeze in one more weekend at the cabin!  We opted for a fairly simple menu because the weather was perfect and we wanted to make the most of the holiday weekend by spending as much time outside as possible. Let’s be honest, no one is up early at the lake, but when we do get up we are ready for some Bloody Mary’s and breakfast.  Our favorite is Tito’s Vodka with equal parts Tomato Juice and Clamato plus all the fixings!  We used Ellsworth, WI Cheese Curds, pickles, and summer sausage for our skewers.  Refreshing and a great way to start the day! While enjoying our Bloody’s we whipped up a delicious breakfast of Belgian … Continue reading

Posted in Labor Day Weekend, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Labor Day Weekend

Time to break out our favorite summer recipes and begin shopping for Memorial Day weekend groceries for the unofficial beginning of summer. Most likely the weather won’t feel like summer but we won’t care because we will have some great food to enjoy. And there must be guacamole, right? One meal of the weekend will be a slow roasted beef brisket, simple to prepare and provides a great atmosphere to relax with some beer and wine while it’s roasting. To roast it slow and low heat you want to order an untrimmed whole beef brisket from our meat counter, trimming the fat would cause you to lose the moist and tender texture of the beef. A simple dry rub of equal portions of Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper and a small amount of paprika over the entire brisket. We’re going to roast in a roasting box but the … Continue reading

Posted in Memorial Day Weekend, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Break Out the Buns!

Fun and festive ideas for your very own Mardi Gras Party!  We’re a little North of the big festivities in New Orleans, but we can still have our own fun too!  First we’re kicking off with our new Kickin’ Cajun Dirty Rice recipe from Chef Melanie! Next up we have our Jell-O Shots complete with Mardi Gras themed colors! Our next dish is Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya, another classic Southern dish, perfect for any Mardi Gras themed party! Now we can’t forget about our desserts!  First up we have our traditional Paczki Donuts (Poonch Key)! These delicious treats are available at Festival Foods every year on the Monday and Tuesday of Mardi Gras only!  This year they are available Monday February 27th and Tuesday February 28th ONLY! Place your orders now! http://bit.ly/PaczkiDonutLimited Of course, it wouldn’t be Mardi Gras without King Cake, which is also available at Festival Foods on Monday February 27th and Tuesday February … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Party, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Bourbon Street Bonanza

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and it will nearly be here before you can say, “pass the stuffing!” Life is busy, schedules are full and holiday entertaining can easily turn into last minute lists, shopping and meal prep. Thanksgiving dinner is known for the abundant variety of delicious side dishes just as much as it is the juicy turkey. To relieve a little stress and take a load off, we choose to let Festival’s deli team do the work to prepare our favorite side dishes so we can focus on getting the house cleaned and dressed up for the holiday! Let’s talk turkey – fresh turkeys are so convenient, no extra days of thawing required. The fresh turkeys at Festival are all natural with no added solutions and are non-basted and gluten free. You may reserve your fresh turkey online! Cooking a Turkey is the easy part and your … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Let’s Talk Turkey!

  We wanted a simple meal for our Friday night dinner that we knew would run late with everyone traveling to the cabin after work and decided that we would do a grilled cheese sandwich celebrating the flavors of summer. The luscious Minnesota grown tomatoes caught our eye and we settled on Caprese Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on sourdough bread. Rather than toasting the bread slices we buttered the outside of the sandwich and placed on a griddle to make them golden brown and layered sliced fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and thick slices of a Mozzarella ball sprinkled with some Kosher salt. We were feeding a crowd so to speed things up we placed the assemble sandwiches on a baking sheet and covered with heavy foil and placed in the oven at 350 degrees to melt the cheese. We sliced avocados to have them available for those that chose to … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Labor Day Weekend | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Weekend Nosh and Feasts

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

Posted in 4th of July, Holidays, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Crowd Feeding

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

Posted in Holidays, Memorial Day Weekend, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Memorial Day!