Evelyn's Blog - Taste of Gourmet

Super Bowl Sunday...are you ready with food?

I heard today that Americans eat more on Super Bowl Sunday than they do on Thanksgiving!  Now that is hard to believe....but it is a great snacking sort of day!  I've got some yummy Taste of Gourmet ideas for a super bowl party or just to fix a few things to enjoy in front of your own TV!

 

There's even a 10% Discount and a Free Suddenly Salsa when you order on line! (the Discount code is YZIDX and you get the free Salsa with a $20 plus order) Your order will go out the day we receive it too!  Can't have you missing our good food! 

We're really proud of the New Orleans Saint and Peyton Manning from the Colts is a "native son" of the Mississippi Delta!  What a game to watch!  And nibble on Taste of Gourmet!  Here's my menu ya'll...... and get those orders in!

 

Creole File Gumbo…A MUST HAVE for this year’s Super Bowl to honor the New Orleans Saints!   Prepare the mix using 1 lb. diced chicken and 1 lb. diced link sausage!  Let everyone help themselves!  It’s a Winner!

New Orleans Beef makes a huge crock pot filled with savory beef and gravy…to serve over rice or grits.  It’s a Louisiana brunch dish  -  Grillades and Grits!

Black Bean Chili…for the Colts and Peyton Manning!

Prepare with 1 lb. ground beef and top with cheese and crushed tortilla chips!  Serve yourself of course!

Smoked Catfish Pate.....of course!

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts

1 pkg. Simply Spinach Dip

Drain and chop artichokes. Mix all ingredients together and bake in buttered dish at 350 for 15 minutes.  Serve warm with crackers, wheat thins or corn chips.

Suddenly Cheese Dip 5 cups 

16 oz. Sour Cream

1 Suddenly Salsa mix

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 can (14.5 oz.) petite diced tomatoes (drained)

Stir salsa mix into sour cream.  Add cheddar and cream cheese mixing well.  Add diced tomatoes. Serve with corn chips or refrigerate until needed.

Chipotle Cheese Rollups

16 oz cream cheese, softened

8 oz. Cheddar cheese, grated

2 to 3 green onions, finely chopped

2 Tbsp. Chipotle Sauce

Flour tortillas

Mix first 4 ingredients. Spread on flour tortillas, roll tightly, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 week (or freeze.) Cut in pieces to serve with small dish of Tomatilla Salsa, Chipotle Sauce or Suddenly Salsa for dipping.

Ham or Turkey Rolls - Slice your favorite roll or bun in half.  Spread both sides with a mixture of cream cheese and RazzMaTazz, Cranberry Chutney or Jezebel Sauce, fill the bun, pile on a plate and watch them disappear. 

 

Sausage Balls - Make these with our Bayou Beer Bread Just add 1 lb. crumbled, drained cooked sausage to the prepared mix. Bake in mini muffin pans and reheat when needed!  Or use Tomato Basil or Roasted Onion)

Meatballs – Cook meatballs according to directions. Put in a bowl then pour half a jar of Peach Pecan Pepper Preserves or Cranberry Chutney over the hot meat balls to glaze and flavor them perfectly

Sauces to pour over cream cheese to eat with crackers!
RazzMaTazz – fruity with a kick!

Chipotle Sauce - traditional Mexican chili sauce!

Chimmi Sauce - a garlic pesto
Jezebel Sauce - a sweet, hot horseradish mustard
Cranberry Chutney - sweet and tart
Peach Pecan Pepper Preserves – So good…not too hot!  And the all time favorite!

Delicious Dips for a vegetable tray: 

   1. Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette
   2. Garlic Herb Dip
   3. Deliciously Dill Dip

   4. Simply Spinach Dip
   5. BLT Dip

All-American Apple Cake - Bake in 9x13 inch pan to cut in squares (for an extra scrumptious treat, top with Toffee Crunch Cheese Cake Ball before cutting.)  This cake freezes well or held at room temp for several days.

Mississippi Mud Bites – Prepare according to directions, but bake in an 8.5x11 or slightly larger pan instead of the round pan. Cool then rub top of Mud Bites with a little Confectioners sugar. Cut into about 50 or 60 bites. Freezes well and will hold at room temp for several days.

Sweet Potato Muffins – Make large or mini size – Perfect first thing in the morning or with barbeque and potato salad, or just so good, they can just be dessert!

Open a jar of Taste of Gourmet’s Pickled Black-eyed Peas, pour into a bowl and spoon up this scrumptious “chow-chow” into scoops or corn chips!  Healthy too!

Gift Ideas....that YOU can do!

Gifts are "rolling out the door" today!  Christmas Gift Shipping is well under way!  Taste of the South (Jezebel, Sweet Potato Muffins, Gumbo, Praline Pie and Peach Pecan Pepper Preserves) is a big hit as a great gift this year...lots of those shipping today!   AND the Southern Comfort (a Praline Pie with a box of Mulling Spice)  I love Christmas time!

I keep a few extra Muffin and Mulling Spice gifts under MY tree..so I'm ready to "give"...and they look pretty there too with a bow on top! 

YOU can put together....Simple...inexpensive...delicious gifts yourself!  For Example:
In a clear gift bag, put a small bag of corn chips with a jar of Tomatillo Salsa!
A jar of RazzMaTazz with a bag of pretzels. 
Tie a basting brush onto a jar of Great Grilling Marinade
Put a Jar of Great Grilling in an oven mitt!
Tie several large open cookie cutters onto a box of Fudge Triples.  Kids will love spooning the batter into the oiled cookie cutter to bake their own BIG cookies.
Give EVERYONE a jar of Pickled Black Eyed Peas to eat for good luck on New Year's Day!
Use your imagination.....Great Gifts don't have to be expensive!

Call your Consultant or call us at the Office (800-833-7731) or go on line yourself to www.tasteofgourmet.com and order what you want to give your friends and family for Christmas!  We'll all be happy to help you!

Saveur Magazine featured The Crown...

Ben Nims wrote a piece called Southern Glories in the October issue...including 6 restaurants in Mississippi and their "specialty!"  I was so excited that Ben included The Crown...you can look at it on-line at www.saveur.com ... but I just have to quote him too...

In Ben's words, "To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi," said the native son William Faulkner.  The best way to do that, if you ask me, is to eat.  Here is a cross-section of Mississippi's soul-stirring culinary landscape."

Then he wrote, "The Crown.  The Catfish Pate and Catfish Allison (a whole filet gratineed in a scallion cream sauce) have kept this Indianola restaurant going strong for 33 years."  The article is short and oh, so sweet and I love every word Ben wrote!  He's eaten with us...lots of time...so he knows what he's talking about.  No "hearsay" for Ben! 

Then on the same page in  "Ask a Local, Amy Evans, an oral historian from Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford, Mississippi answered the question, "Why is Catfish so popular in the state?"  with..."we raise more of it than any other state. At restaurants you find it broiled, fried, barbecued; we even have Catfish Pate."

Our Catfish Pate of course.  Thanks to Saveur and Ben and Amy.....we do love our Catfish in Mississippi and in Indianola...and we do love to eat ...especially at The Crown!  Ya;ll come eat with us!

Three Artists on Thursday Night...

Art After Hours is just my favorite "event" that we do!  Just a great time of visiting with interesting people and old friends.....nibbling on something yummy from Taste of Gourmet....meeting such talented people who are featured each month....AND a FREE mini concert from one of our musical friends!

Alan Jones is playing guitar this Thursday night...August 6th...you just want to get up and dance...or sit back and enjoy the rhythms!

Lee Washington will be showing his Cotton Picker Art - tiny table-top sculptures made of metal parts from old cotton pickers!  There's a man pushing a wheelbarrow...a cross...a man carrying a jug...just all sorts of whimsical people and things.  You'll love talking to Lee about his art and you might even inspire him to create something new...just for you!  Start thinking Christmas gifts.....You'll also see Lee's work at the new B.B. KIng Museum down the street!

Susan Love is a jewelry maker from Greenville..inspired by the Delta and using the Delta symbols in her earrings and necklaces....She is one of our newest artists and we're so glad to have her come over next Thursday night!

My contribution is always the food....Food IS an Art Form!   I'm so hungry for my Mama's Meatloaf wrapped in pastry!  Ummm..I think that will be on the menu...not exactly "party food" but it sure is good!  Michael Lovett told me the other day that my Meatloaf Mix makes the "PERFECT" meatloaf - moist but not all drippy with ketchup like some people make!  He's really glad that Jessica found our mix...

Haven't decided on the rest of the menu...but there will be plenty to sample and enjoy!  Art After Hours is a party for the community!  Come out and join us at The Crown from 5 until 7 on Thursday night.  I'll be looking for you!

Indianola's Young People are Special....

They ARE special and we try to encourage and help and "teach" them in every way that we can - with meals and cooking "demos" at The Crown and with 4-H and Extension programs of all sorts!  The candidates for Queen and Princess and Duchess for the recent Livestock Show were a precious group of young girls and they did seem to enjoy the Chicken Allison we served them for lunch after the "grueling" interviews that morning!  Delta Fudge Pie is still the favorite of our young guests!

Lee Ann Flemming, from Greenwood, was one of the Judges and I really enjoyed my visit with her!  We've both written cookbooks (Leanne's wonderful cookbook is Recipes and Remembrances - Friends Food Family $20.95 at The Crown) and we've both loved being on Channel 6 Good Morning Mississippi with Ryan Evans!  I love doing the show, but I know I'm getting too old to get up THAT early! 

Lea Anne's article in the Greenwood Commonwealth is always fun to read and we appreciate her including Indianola, Strider McCrory's 4-H Progam (my little Sage is in the 4-H Little Sunflowers) and The Crown in this article!  Loved her recipe too!  Ya'll have a look!http://www.gwcommonwealth.com/articles/2009/02/01/lifestyle/features/02012009life2.txt

Thanksgiving Friday Gift for YOU...

Today is said to be the biggest shopping day of the year!  One of our Taste of Gourmet Consultants is having a Tasting today in South Carolina and she's calling it "Shop in your Seat and Not on your Feet!"  What a great slogan!  Stay comfortable while you shop for great food gifts (and get to sample too!)

So if you are thinking of going shopping this weekend...I have a 10% Discount code for YOU to use.  Use it on our website to order gifts or goodies for yourself.. Or use it in The Crown in Indianola, to get 10% off any Taste of Gourmet items you pick up to carry away yourself!

The 10% Discount Code is GBWEN and is valid through December First.  You'll find a box to enter the Code online - You can order for yourself or order a dozen or more individual gifts that we will ship out for you with a hand written gift card!  We make Christmas gifts easy!

When you are in The Crown, just tell us you saw the Discount Code on my Blog and you'll get the 10% off! We'll even gift wrap your presents for you!  Food from Taste of Gourmet is a Gift of Love....Always the "right size" and never has to "find" a place on the bookshelf!  Make this Christmas Delicious!   (I forgot to tell you...Jennifer is selling Toys and Books at 25% off on Friday and Saturday...Ya'll come see us at The Crown this weekend!