Tag Archives: cheese

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

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

Time to breakout the bun and enjoy some great burgers. Burgers are an easy dinner solution and so much better when you make them at home! First up is our Guacamole Burger, we think Guacamole is always welcome on the table and we like it chunky with nice large pieces of avocado. This burger is served with bacon slices and we think the easiest way to cook bacon is in the oven. We placed our bacon slices on racks on a baking sheet and baked at 350 degrees until cooked thoroughly. If you’re looking for a ground turkey burger this is our fav – this Pesto Turkey Ciabatta Burger is delicious and you may substitute the ground turkey with ground chicken. Our Juicy Lucy recipe is cheesy and fabulous, we Minnesotans love our Juicy Lucys. We use Tilamook Cheddar a wonderfully rich and tasty cheddar that melts easily. Our Tickler Bacon … Continue reading

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Nothing beats melty for a quick solution to dinner during these hectic weeks at the beginning of the school year. We decided to experiment with Gouda cheese for easy yet very tasty melty sandwiches. If you’re going to have a great sandwich you must use great bread, we chose a wonderful Boule made by Taste of Scandinavia for our sandwich bread. Simply toasting the bread didn’t seem like a good idea for a perfect melty sandwich so we settled on spreading the outside of the bread slices with Hellman’s Mayonnaise and cooked until a beautiful golden brown in a large non-stick frying pan or griddle. Our first melty sandwich effort was using Smoked Gouda on our golden crusted bread. We decided to shred the Smoked Gouda but slicing really gave us the same lovely melty result as shredding so save yourself having to clean the shredder. After cooking the exterior … Continue reading

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Any good American holiday, like the Fourth of July revolves around food and our favorite on the center of the plate for summer is the burger! First up is a trifecta of flavors with our Black Angus Premium Choice ground beef, Tickler Cheddar cheese and our own Festival Foods smokehouse bacon. We call it the Tickler Bacon Burger, easy to prepare but mouth-watering, big flavor. 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 that tastes like summer is our Mexican Chopped Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing and we think it’s a perfect salad to accompany  the Mexican Chicken Burger. The Fourth of July … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Red, White and Burgers

Tender beef, butter, onions, Lawry’s seasoned salt and fresh French bread, the makings of our Tender Beef and Cheese Sandwich, a hearty sandwich that’s crowd tested and approved. Grab those ingredients and away we go!   Melt 2 Tbsp. of butter in a large skillet and add sliced onions, stir together. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and light brown (about 7-10 minutes). While the onions are cooking, slice the Cube steak, slice against—or perpendicular to—the grain. Season sliced cube steak with Lawry’s seasoning. Be generous as it offers a lot of flavor. Transfer the onions from the skillet to a plate. Now it’s time to cook the meat.Add 2 Tbsp. butter to the same skillet. Turn the heat to high, let the butter begin to brown. Add the meat to the hot skillet in a single layer. Do not stir. Fry until meat is browned on … Continue reading

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A little culinary nod to St. Patrick’s Day and the festivities with a recipe that includes potatoes, sauerkraut and corned beef – just not so traditional, a Latke Reuben.  So simple to make, no need to make your own hash browns because Alexia Hash Browns (frozen foods)  are wonderful! We doubled the recipe because we were serving a larger group so we used two packages of the Alexia potatoes. First you will want to prepare the hashbrowns in two batches for both sides of the latke. Cook them following the directions on the back of the package in a skillet until slightly crisp as they will crisp up more later in the oven. For this recipe, you want to cook them on one side and then flip only once to cook the other side. Flip them as one piece or in sections, whichever you are most comfortable with. An easy way … Continue reading

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As long as we are hunkered-in attempting to stay warm during the Polar Vortex, we might as well plan that Super Bowl party! Let’s face it Chicken wings are a necessity on a party buffet. We prefer serving boneless wings, they’re neater to eat and no bones for the kids or pets to worry about. That doesn’t mean you need to make them yourself, our Delis make some spectacular wings. Serve the Buffalo version of our wings with this easy Steakhouse Blue Cheese dressing recipe! Our Sweet Chili Boneless Wings are another very popular option and a nice alternative to the spicy Buffalo wings.   An easy to serve Slider bar allows your guests to customize their sandwiches. Most of the work can be done ahead and the shredded beef can hold in a crock pot for hours. Toppings could include: sliced jalapeños sliced banana peppers chopped onion sliced pickles … Continue reading

Posted in Party, Super Bowl, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Touchdown Treats

Impromptu, informal gatherings with friends for a cocktail and a bite seem to be frequent during the holiday season.  It seems a necessity to have cheese, crackers and baguettes on hand to make a cheese board at the last minute and a couple of bottles of wine chilling in the frig isn’t a bad idea either! Our Big Cheese event is in full swing for the holidays, we offer more than 300 varieties of cheese and have serving suggestions and pairing info in the stores to help you choose a selection for your cheese board or recipes. This event has many other delicious goodies beside great cheese and if you’re looking for some special fare for your guests you’ll find it in our Delis. One of my new favorites is a black olive tapenade/dip and now another staple in our pantry!  A small charcuterie board to serve along side of … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Menu, Party, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Need some crowd-cheesers?

  Well, for the most part. The minute we completed this Bacon Jam we began to imagine all of the food we could pair with this sweet and savory condiment! First things first though we better show how we made the jam. Here is the recipe that yields approximately 16 ounces so you have plenty of Bacon Jam to experiment with. Very simple to make on the stovetop, so no need to whip out the slow-cooker. Our recipe calls for using our own Festival bacon, delightfully flavorful bacon. Start by cutting the bacon into one-inch pieces and toss into the fry pan to brown. When bacon is browned, drain all but approximately 1/4 of the bacon grease and add the chopped yellow onion, continue to cook until the onion is slightly translucent. Now the house will begin to smell VERY good. Now stir in brown sugar; cook until onions are … Continue reading

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