Evelyn's Blog - Taste of Gourmet

Healthy Baked Zucchini with Chimmi Sauce...

We all want to eat healthy...but it is also VERY important that our food be delicious, full of flavor and satisfying!  This suggestion....too simple to call a recipe...but.fits that description of "healthy and delicious" perfectly.  The secret is our Chimmi Sauce...I call it a garlic pesto!  Olive oil, crushed garlic and onion...flavor is intense so it only takes a little bit to make a BIG statement!

Here's the simple directions:
Slice young zucchini in half lengthwise.
Rub each half with 1/2 teaspoon of Chimmi Sauce
Top with sliced cherry or grape tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.
Salt and pepper if you choose.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 min. Zucchini should be soft but not mushy!
Serve as a side dish or as a main dish!  It is flavorful and scrumptious!

Chimmi Sauce (properly called Chimmichurri Sauce from South America) is wonderful on steak or beef roast, tossed with pasta, added to melted butter and spread on French Bread...so many delicious ways to enjoy "flavor without fire."  And just a little bit....is all you ever need.  One of my favorites for Wine and Cheese parties is just cream cheese slices, layered with Chimmi and garnished with grape tomatoes!  Serve with crackers and it takes 5 minutes to put together. 

We have a customer 20% Discount in place now on the website...www.tasteofgourmet.com.  Place your order, enter the Discount Code - Thank You Sale - in the Discount box!  You'll even get a special Code to use later as another Thank You from us!  Just place your order before Monday night, April 22nd to get the 20% Discount!  Have fun cooking and also eat healthy with Taste of Gourmet!

You can also buy our Chimmi and all our other products at The Crown in Indianola!  Stop by for lunch before or after you visit the B.B. King Museum...we'll even give you one of my little recipe books when you stop by and the 20% Discount this weekend....just tell Jennifer you saw the offer on my blog!  Come see us soon!

The PERFECT Dessert.....

Plantation Pie is a COMPLETE Dessert.....ready to put into the oven in minutes and it doesn't need anything to enhance the flavor....Perfectly delicious just as it is...warm from the oven or stone cold three days later!  This is one of our favororite mixes...just melt a stick of butter (I just never use margarine) and let that cool for just a few minutes...before you add the mix and the eggs.  If you don't wait....you'll melt your chocolate chips and have a chocolate coconut pie!  I did make that mistake the other day and the pie was still yummy....just didn't have the right "chippy" texture. 

 

When I created the Plantation Pie, I was eating and thinking of a traditional Kentucky Derby Pie...without the pecans (so my mix would stay fresh longer) and without the Bourbon of course....but the flavor and "taste of the South" is right there in our mix!

 

Plantation Pie is a luscious combination of chocolate chips and coconut...think about a Mounds bar but it's coming fresh out of your own oven!  Customers at The Crown who THINK they don't like coconut....love the Plantation Pie.  I've been guilty the last few days of circling the dessert table on my way out of The Crown and picking up a piece of Plantation on a napkin and eating it like candy on the way back to the plant!  So good!

 

Check out all our dessert mixes at www.tasteofgourmet.com and order on-line.  You can also choose a halfprice Customer Special when your order totals $40. or more.  OR......you can just come by The Crown in Indianola and take a walk around the dessert table!  That way you get to sample all six of our pies!

Super Party Snacks...

Super Bowl Sunday is a time for SNACKS!  We make entertaining a crowd or just your family.....deliciously simple!  Try these quick and easy snacking ideas from Taste of Gourmet:
Black Bean Chili mixed with cheese to "dip" with corn chips....
Make a pot of Creole File' Gumbo (in honor of New Orleans) for the crowd!
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip....with Simply Spinach recipe on box....
Jezebel Sauce for "dipping" shrimp, chicken fingers, egg rolls, etc.....
Pour half a jar of Peach Pecan Pepper Preserves over cream cheese..
Warm "Queso" Dip made easily with Suddenly Salsa... recipe on box.
Sausage Balls: 1 lb. cooked sausage with bread mix baked in tiny muffins...
Glaze cooked meatballs with Cranberry Chutney or PPPPreserves YUM!
Chipolte Cheese Ball - Mix16 oz cream cheese & 8 oz grated cheddar with 2 Tbs. Chipolte Sauce, form into "football" and cover with chopped pecans!
For dessert...Mississippi Mud Cake cut in small squares.... or Sweet Potato Muffins baked in tiny muffins tins!

If you are near the Mississippi Delta on your way to New Orleans FOR the Super Bowl...come by The Crown in Indianola  to pick up our products or just go on-line at www.tasteofgourmet.com to order.  You can also pick up a full sheet of recipes to use for parties at The Crown this week....I just finished a new one and it's free!  Of course you can also sample a few of our delicious products when you walk in the door.  We'd love for you to eat lunch....but it's fun to snack while you are browsing the gift shop too!

Many of our products are also for sale at the B.B. King Museum Gift shop....appropriately called Lucille's.  When you are here in the Delta....the Museum is a MUST SEE attraction.  Until February 6th there is a lovely art exhibit from Jackson with Blues as the theme..... I love the "metal musician" at the door of Lucille's and it's for sale!  Come to the Delta and Indianola!  It's a treat!

Canadian visitors loved The Crown.....

The greatest joy in our business....is visiting with our customers at The Crown!  Yesterday, three sweet people came in from Canada visiting someone in the Delta.  They sat in the window, looking out on Front Street, enjoying the sunshine and LOVING the food!  That made me very happy of course! 

The "article" on the back of the menu was really interesting to them. They remarked on how wonderful it was for a restaurant and business to still be "marvelous" after 40 years.  (They also wrote that note on our guest book.)  Needless to say...their visit made my day MARVELOUS too!  I thought you might like to read what is on the back of the menu....the history of our business!

"The Crown opened as an Antique Shop in 1972, now it's an Art Gallery, Gift Shop, Book Store, Gourmet Food shop AND a Restaurant.  Thank you for being our treasured customers for the past 40 years!
The Crown began serving lunch in our English antique shop pub setting, 36 years ago, in March of 1976....out in the cotton fields north of Indianola.  We served only one entree with a salad bar and passed dessert from table to table on a wooden tea cart!  We're still serving those same desserts...now they are also in a mix that you can take home to cook and enjoy in your own kitchen!  Antiques are now very secondary to the food, but you can still buy your chair or the candlestick on your table!

In 1980 we added a gourmet Catfish dish to the menu - the Other Catfish, cooked every way but fried!  Southern Living and CNN came to do stories on the Catfish industry and featured The Crown.  We created our Catfish Pate and won the 1990 Best Hors D'oeuvre Award in New York.  Outher products have won awards and honors including being featured on the Food Network's Food Finds and Bobby Flay's Food Nation, Turner South, the Travel Channel...In magazines and newspapers nationwide including June 2008 in Bon Appetit and October 2009 in Saveur and Country Living in May 2010.  We are so blessed.

The yummy foods we've created are served and sold here in The Crown and are available nationwide through our website www.tasteofgourmet.com and directly through the Taste of Gourmet sales family, who take a taste of our delicious foods into homes and offices all over the country! 

Big things are Cookin' at Taste of Gourmet and I can't wait for you to have a TASTE!  Enjoy your visit in Indianola, take time to go to the B.B. king Museum and Delta Interpretive Center that is just down the street and come "eating and shopping" with us again soon!
                                                 Tony and Evelyn Roughton, Jennifer, Prescott and Sage Schaumburg

 

 

Simple pick-up dessert for a Super Bowl party.....

Our Mississippi Mud Cake makes a wonderful bite-size pick up dessert. Follow the simple directions on the box....but put the batter into a 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake, cool, then cut into small squares or rectangles.....I like a pick up dessert to be ONE bite....or at the most two!

You can rub the top of the cooled Mud Cake with some confectioners sugar before cutting to sort of "ice" the bites. Rub it in well and it makes a nice white top for the deep chocolate cakes! These Mud Bites are rich and moist....and absolutely addictive! Perfect for your Super Bowl Party!  AND for your "Valentine's Day Dinner."  It's my favorite thing to serve when The Crown is hosting a party or book signing! 

NEWS FLASH.......We have a Super Bowl 15% Discount when you order on-line at www.tasteofgourmet.com or call us direct at 800-833-7731. The code to use is - SuperBowlSale - enter the code on the credit card page of the website or just mention it when you call us.  The sale ends on Sunday, January 27th so order now!

Don't forget that with a $40.00 order you can choose one of the Half-price Customer specials....like the Party Pack for just $16.90 with 1 box Suddenly Salsa, 1 box Garlic Herb Dip, 1 Lemon Pie and 1 Praline Pie - a $33.80 value.....can't beat it!   Let the Party begin!

Delicious Desserts are the specialty of Taste of Gourmet

Our Mississippi Delta Fudge Pie and Plantation Pie were the FIRST products we produced (after the initial Smoked Catfish Pate!)  and they have been favorites ever since that day in 1990 when we put them in a box for the first time!   The Fudge is rich and deeply chocolate and the Plantation is a twist on a traditional "Kentucky Derby Pie, " using chocolate chips and coconut instead of pecans.  Of course adding pecans to the mix is ALWAYS a good idea too! 

We now have 6 pie mixes, 2 muffin mixes, 2 cake mixes and scores of other items you can order from our website www.tasteofgourmet.com ...but the Desserts always top the best seller list! 

Recently a customer told me that their family tried a "chess pie like" recipe out of a gourmet magazine.  After tasting their creation....they all wished they had baked one of our Taste of Gourmet Grand Old Chess Pies instead.   I love hearing that sort of comment....it just reinforces our belief that our mixes are really  exceptional, truly delicious and worth the money you spend on them!  Not to mention the time you save!

Have you planned all of your Desserts for Christmas Dinner and parties and fun this year?  Plenty of time left to stock your pantry with Delicious Desserts from Taste of Gourmet!  Order at www.tasteofgourmet.com or call one of our Consultants!  We'll take good care of your order for gifts or for yourself...shipping right out of Indianola, in the Mississippi Delta! 

Merry Christmas Cooking from all of us at Taste of Gourmet!  Don't forget to stop by The Crown in Indianola for shopping and a wonderful lunch when you in the area....and be sure you see the B.B. KIng Museum....it is fabulous!

Food is a gift of LOVE.....

Are you searching for the perfect gift?  Our delicious food is always welcome......is never the "wrong size"....doesn't have to fit or be dusted.....can be enjoyed the day it's received or kept until people are hungry for something wonderful to cook or prepare in their own kitchen!  Food fits everyone! 

Have a look at our website and browse the Products section!  We have great gift combinations for you to choose from or you can pick your own selection of delicious food items!  We can ship all your selections directly to YOU...for you to give personally.  OR we can ship your gifts directly to each address.  We place a hand written card INSIDE each gift with your own personal message on it and use tissue and shred to make the gift festive (but still shippable) at NO cost to you!  Taking special care of your gifts is OUR thank you for trusting us with your gifts! 

Order at www.tasteofgourmet.com or call us personally at 800-833-7731 and we will take your order over the phone.  Don't worry if you get an answering machine....the elves are busy here in Mississippi.  Just leave your phone number and we'll get back to you! 

Food is a gift of LOVE.....

Are you searching for the perfect gift?  Our delicious food is always welcome......is never the "wrong size"....doesn't have to fit or be dusted.....can be enjoyed the day it's received or kept until people are hungry for something wonderful to cook or prepare in their own kitchen!  Food fits everyone! 

Have a look at our website and browse the Products section!  We have great gift combinations for you to choose from or you can pick your own selection of delicious food items!  We can ship all your selections directly to YOU...for you to give personally.  OR we can ship your gifts directly to each address.  We place a hand written card INSIDE each gift with your own personal message on it and use tissue and shred to make the gift festive (but still shippable) at NO cost to you!  Taking special care of your gifts is OUR thank you for trusting us with your gifts! 

Order at www.tasteofgourmet.com or call us personally at 800-833-7731 and we will take your order over the phone.  Don't worry if you get an answering machine....the elves are busy here in Mississippi.  Just leave your phone number and we'll get back to you! 

Southwest Wrap....

In The Crown on Saturday, a customer was asking me about our Suddenly Salsa made as Suddenly Cheese Dip!  She's eaten the Cheese Dip but she had never made the Wrap!  She eats very healthy and "slightly" vegetarian so I shared one of my favorite quick meal ideas.

First make the Suddenly Cheese Dip....it's so quick...one of the Suddenly Salsa mixes stirred up with cream cheese, grated cheddar cheese and a can of diced tomatoes.  It makes a lot of the dip but it keeps so well in the refrigerator, I try to always have some Cheese Dip ready to enjoy! 

Then spread the Suddenly Cheese Dip on a flour tortilla as thick as you want to, add a big leaf of lettuce ( I like Romaine) some chopped tomatoes and green onions or bell peppers.  Roll up the wrap and enjoy!  You could also add slices of chicken....but it tastes so good and HEALTHY just plain!  The recipe is on the back of the box of Suddenly Salsa so when you buy the mix....you can make the Suddenly Cheese Dip easily!  It travels well too....so great for football parties!

Football food....not tailgating!

Football Food is NOT just for partying during the game or tailgating before the game!  Football Food is important for the players when they get home AFTER the game!  And for parents (and grandparents) who only snacked at the game and get home at 10:00 - still hungry!

In my refrigerator last night was a big pot of Black Bean Chili - TOUCHDOWN!  All I had to do was scoop the chili into a bowl - throw it in the microwave for 2 minutes and Tony and I were enjoying a bite of REAL FOOD to finish off the night of peewee and junior high football games!  We loved every minute of being there....but popcorn and hot dogs don't really satisfy!  Chili does!

Make Chili Nachos for YOUR football player....sprinkle some cheese on top- or jalapenos - for after practice or after a game!  Make the Chili with well drained ground beef or ground turkey...it's healthy and delicious! 

When you buy the Half-price Customer Special - South of the Border for just $13.95 - you'll have the Black Bean Chili, Southwest Soup and 2 bags of Suddenly Salsa!  Who doesn't like Salsa for a football party?  Order at http://www.tasteofgourmet.com/ or call your local "Personal Shopper."