Category Archives: Party

The cool and crisp fall weather has arrived much too soon but it’s perfect weather to begin cooking hearty soups and stews with fragrant herbs for your family meals or prepping some chili for a crowd to watch football. This is a classic Minnesota soup made with wild rice made especially easy if you use Rotisserie chicken from our deli, moist and full of flavor our Rotisserie chickens are useful as an ingredient in many recipes (think chicken quesadillas) as well as a main course. We call our recipe Minnesota Wild Rice Soup it has lovely rich flavor and one of my favorite fall recipes. Another of our favorite soups is Hearty Italian Soup made with our very own fresh Italian Sausage – available either Hot or Mild, easy to make for a quick meal during the week, we like to serve with a fresh baked baguette. Taco Soup is all the … Continue reading

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We’ve all watched some great movies this year and on Sunday evening we shall see which films and actors are awarded Oscars. Why not step up your menu and celebrate the year in film with some awesome food. We looked through our recipes and products to find some delicious and festive food for you to watch the Oscars. Seafood always seems right for a special menu. One of our favorites is Lump Crab Cakes from our Chef department, we sell them frozen and all you have to do is brown each side in butter and place on a baking sheet in the oven – delicious. Serve them with this simple recipe for Seafood Mustard Sauce as an appetizer course or main course. Large shrimp served with Festival’s fresh cocktail sauce is a wonderful appetizer treat and so easy to serve!   This Chilled Shrimp Salad recipe is a colorful salad course with … Continue reading

Posted in Menu, Party, Seafood, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Oscar-Worthy Food

Whether or not you enjoy the sport of football, the Super Bowl is a great excuse to gather friends for a party and enjoy some great food! 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! If you’re tired of Buffalo Wings on the menu, our Sweet Chili Boneless Wings are very popular and a nice alternative to the spicy Buffalo wings. Break out the bowls! A large pot of Chili is always a welcome site on a cold day and this hardy recipe is gonna score big with your guests and you can make it ahead of time so you don’t … Continue reading

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

Kick off the festivities for watching the Super Bowl with a Bloody Mary Bar! Guests can build their own Bloody Mary while you set out your spread of food. Set out a variety of spirits for them to choose from. We are pretty partial to Tito’s handmade Vodka but the team at On the Rocks Wine and Spirits has a wide variety of Vodka to choose from and lots of great micro brews for the chaser.   Prep for our bar began with putting the bacon in the oven on racks so we had nice flat bacon for the beverages. In addition to the bacon we sliced a Panino and rolled some Prosciutto. Meat sticks are always a great ingredient for a Bloody Mary. We chose our own smokehouse Ghost Pepper Sriracha Meat sticks. For the adventuresome and enlightened guests, a handcrafted Sriracha Bloody Mary mix from Vermont is on … Continue reading

Posted in Party, Super Bowl, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Kick off the Party!

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

Great grazing food to bring in the New Year must include some awesome dips and we created some tasty dips available to heat and serve from our Delis. Our dips are prepared fresh and sold in an oven-ready pan to heat and serve. If you’re in the mood to do your own dip from scratch we’ve included some pretty tasty dip recipes like this easy, but decadent  Warm Artichoke Dip for you to whip up and wow your family and friends. First up some of our take and serve dips. Our fresh Brie Dip is wonderful served with sliced baguettes or pita chips if you prefer. If you prefer a larger portion of the Brie dip that serves 20, you may order here on line. this quantity dip comes in a half gallon pail, ready to pour in your own pan for the oven. Our Buffalo Chicken dip is nice and … Continue reading

Posted in Holidays, Party, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Take a dip!

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?

We’ve got some scary good food to make  your BOOFFET perfect with some of our delicious prepared foods and recipes! Mini Ham Sandwiches should be on your menu because you can make them a day ahead and just pop them in the oven before your guests arrive. Don’t be surprised if they are the first thing to go! If you’re a little more adventurous how about making Booofalo Chicken Sliders using our Buffalo Burger recipe, a tasty slider with a little kick. Our Killer Artichoke Bread is to die for! A really easy recipe with excellent flavor your guest will love. Sloppy Joes are another great comfort food to make ahead of time and re-heat to serve.   Our Queso recipe is another item that can be made ahead and re-heated before serving with your choice of tortilla chips. If you don’t want to do any cooking we have a fa(boo)lous selection of prepared items in our Deli: … Continue reading

Posted in Halloween, Holidays, Party, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Fa(boo)lous Halloween

Since it seems we will be spending Saturday in the house thanks to snow, rain, and wind and whatever else Mother Nature throws at us, why not do some cooking and snuggle in to watch the Kentucky Derby and some flicks. Time to think about what that menu should look like! We do so many recipes with Buffalo flavor we went searching trends and experimenting for a new take on wings and determined that Jerk Seasoned Wings were the winning flavor. This recipe has the wings marinate in a lovely spicy sauce that infuses some wonderful flavors into the wings. This Jerk Chicken Wing recipe is for 3 lbs. but you may want to double the recipe because these chicken wings are addicting! Serve up some Red Stripe and at least mentally transport yourself to the warmer climate of Jamaica.     We’re going to suggest that you keep this … Continue reading

Posted in Menu, Party, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Off to a good start…

Well we might not be invited but there’s no reason we can’t have our own fabulous “Governor’s Ball”. The menu by Wolfgang Puck for the 2013 Governor’s Ball is somewhat intimidating but there is no reason we can’t whip up some pretty fine fare in our own homes to watch the Academy Awards in fine-tasting style with friends. Rather than their shrimp fritters for an appetizer try our recipe for Beer-Battered Coconut Shrimp with a lovely light batter.   These Italian Sliders would really spice up the evening and make quite an impression, made with our very own fresh Italian sausage -made right in the store. Always on our table when entertaining is Chunky Guacamole and now a new favorite on our table is a Black Bean Dip, a spicy warm delight.   Buffalo flavor something is always on the table as well. For something new pick up some of … Continue reading

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