Category Archives: Uncategorized

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

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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

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Kretschmar®, Festival Foods of Minnesota and Country Music Star Easton Corbin Team Up to Support Make-A-Wish® LISLE, III. (October 21, 2016) – Kretschmar® Premium Meats & Cheeses has partnered with Festival Foods of Minnesota and country music star Easton Corbin to donate $1,000 to Make-A-Wish® Minnesota. Kretschmar made the donation in St. Paul Monday as part of its Legendary Wishes campaign, which helps Make-A-Wish grant wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses. Three-time American Country Award winner Easton Corbin invited 16-year-old cancer survivor Miranda and her family backstage before his performance. Corbin presented a donation of $1,000 to help Make-A-Wish Minnesota grant future wishes just like Miranda’s, her wish to visit Hawaii will be granted in two weeks. “It was an honor to present Make-A-Wish Minnesota with a check for $1,000 to help bring more wishes to life,” said Corbin. “I’m proud to show my support for this cause. This is … Continue reading

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One of our favorite meals to order at a restaurant is Lemon Chicken and we thought we were up to the challenge to make our own for Sunday dinner. On Sundays Andrew, Laura, and I tend to cook more time-consuming recipes that time doesn’t allow with busy weekday schedules, we enjoy a little wine or beer while we cook and just enjoy hanging out together. No one part of this Lemon Chicken recipe is difficult, you must marinate the chicken for 30 minutes in the frig before you begin battering process and it takes some time to fry the chicken in small batches so that it cooks perfectly. We made a big batch because we love leftovers! This also allows time for beverages and good conversation. We use an electric deep fryer to fry the chicken but you may easily use a heavy pan on the stove top, we heat … Continue reading

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If Frank’s Red Hot sauce is one of your favorite pantry items, this recipe for Spicy Chicken Meatballs will instantly become a favorite meal! Although very simple to put together, the sauce has such depth of flavor your family may believe it took you hours to make such a delicious meal. When I suggest this for dinner, no one turns these meatballs down as an option for dinner when I suggest them. A side dish of Cilantro Lime Rice complements these meatballs well and a simple recipe to make as a side dish. This recipe is delicious as a main course but you can also use this recipe to make what we would call a Banh Meatball sandwich using a baguette, sliced in half and spread with mayo and mustard, a little carrot sliced matchstick size, sliced jalapeno,and cilantro leaves. One of my favorite foods is spinach artichoke dip so … Continue reading

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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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Laura and I recently went camping with the family up on the North Shore and found ourselves making a fun variety of quick and simple yet delicious recipes!  We made a fair amount of food, so I’ll just hit you with the highlights. We arrived mid afternoon on a chilly/rainy day and after setting up camp and taking a short hike, it was time to make dinner.  We kept it pretty simple by grilling chicken with a side dish, where we sautéed potatoes, carrots, and onions in butter.  After eating dinner (and enjoying a few beverages) we were all ready for bed.   Breakfast was again, fairly simple with eggs, bacon and toast.  I had the enormously difficult task of buttering the bread, I’m like a surgeon with that knife.   After breakfast it was time for another hike, and fortunately, though a little damp outside, the rain held off. Then it … 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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If you are anything like us, and love watching Game of Thrones on Sundays, then you might celebrate with a tasty meal to go with your viewing experience! For the last episode, we decided to go with a themed recipe and make something that you might find in Westeros, with some modern updates of course. We chose to make a Chicken Pot Pie fit for a king! The recipe we followed was for a 13×19 pan, but we modified it slightly to make it look like a more authentic Game of Thrones Pie. Don’t worry, this was not a Frey Pie (book reader joke). We followed the recipe available on our site almost completely, until we got to actual pie section. We decided to weave together bacon (around 10-12 slices, depending on thickness) to serve as the top of our pie. Then we placed the readymade pie crust into a greased pie … Continue reading

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  It’s time to break out the recipes and figure out some food for the weekend and the weather is looking good for a little grilling and a Kansas City Strip Steak will do just fine. To cozy up with that, a recipe of warm potatoes, Cambozola, and salad greens with a lovely dressing. You’ll notice by clicking on that recipe link that we have updated our recipe site with some great time-saving features such as adding the recipe ingredients to the shopping list and setting your weekly menu while you’re choosing your recipes. Warm Potatoes and Spring Salad Greens Both your salad and side wrapped into one delicious dish to serve next to that steak that of course will be cooked to perfection. If your family and friends aren’t crazy about blue cheese, Brie or Camembert could be substituted in the recipe.  We love using The Little Potato Company … Continue reading

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