Our weekly sale from September 29th – October 5th celebrates the culinary traditions of Oktoberfest, and an Oktoberfest celebration isn’t quite complete without a cherry strudel for dessert! You’ll find frozen tart cherries in the weekly sale display and this recipe will help you roll them into a decadently delicious strudel!
Did you know that August is the overall most popular month for birthdays? Our Weekly Sale from July 27th – August 2nd features a handful of frozen treats and toppings, so we figured it’s a perfect time to share this staff-favorite ice cream cake recipe! Regardless of whether you’re celebrating an August birthday, we think you’ll love this super simple take on an ice cream cake, and this week is a perfect time to stock up on the ingredients! Think of this recipe as a general template, allowing you plenty of room be creative with your ice cream flavors and toppings! If you want to speed up the process, feel free to use jam in place of the fruit reductions.
While it’s tough to beat a classic hot dog with all the standard fixings, it can also be a lot of fun to merge a traditional hot dog with the flavors of other favorite comfort foods. With that in mind, we introduce you to the Fiesta Roja Dog, featuring the flavors of classic Latin American cuisine, including the namesake Fiesta Roja fermented Curtido slaw made by our friends at Sobremesa and fresh tomatillo salsa made by our friends at Sonia’s Salsa. Our weekly sale from June 29th – July 5th features Applegate Farms Natural Uncured Beef Hot Dogs and Bakerly Brioche hotdog buns, so pick up a pack of each and give the Fiesta Roja dog a try!
The season of picnics, potlucks, and graduation celebrations is upon us and charcuterie boards can make for an attractive, low-effort, crowd-pleasing centerpiece for these types of gatherings. The word “charcuterie” refers to cold cooked, cured, or smoked meats, so in the most literal sense, a traditional charcuterie board is just a meat platter, though the everyday definition has expanded to include a broad combination of cheeses, dried and fresh fruits and vegetables, pickled veggies, toasted nuts, olives, and complementary condiments – honeys, jams, jellies, chutneys, mustards and more! Our weekly sale from May 18th – 24th features a lineup of ingredients to help get you started and this recipe will guide you in pulling those ingredients together. That being said, a prime ingredient in any charcuterie board is creativity, so consider this a canvas upon which to build according to your own tastes!
Mardi Gras/Carnival season officially began on January 6th or the “Twelfth Night,” also known to Christians as the “Epiphany,” and culminates on Tuesday, February 21st – a day affectionately known as “Fat Tuesday”. While there are many traditional Mardi Gras dishes to enjoy during this time of feasting and revelry leading up to Lent, none is quite so ubiquitous as the king cake.
The rich history of the king cake dates all the way back to the Middle Ages with the first known king cakes baked in Europe in celebration of the Catholic Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day on January 6th. The French brought the cake with them to the Gulf Coast region of the United States in the 1870s, and it has since become synonymous with American celebrations of Mardi Gras. The first Mardi Gras celebration in America took place in 1703 when a group of French soldiers held an impromptu celebration in the settlement of Mobile, Alabama.
While there are many regional variations, Mardi Gras king cakes found in most American bakeries are traditionally crown-shaped brioche-style confections decorated in royal colors of purple, green, and gold representing justice, faith, and power, respectively. They also typically contain a token of good fortune hidden within the cake, bestowing the recipient with luck and prosperity and the responsibility of providing the king cake for the next year’s festivities. This token is often represented as a bean, pea, or plastic baby.
You’ll find many of the ingredients needed to prepare your own Mardi Gras king cake in our weekly sale from February 16th – 22nd, so it’s a perfect time to give this traditional treat a try!
The Big Game is upon us and regardless of your sports fan status, we think you’ll love this hearty chili recipe. It’s a simple, one-pot meal that features a handful of ingredients from the weekly sale display from February 8th – 14th, so it’s easy on the budget. Using dried beans requires a little more advanced preparation (soaking) and a longer cooking time, but dried beans are much more economical and the longer cook time allows a deep, rich flavor to develop. Cook up an extra-large pot and freeze the leftovers for a busier weeknight. You’ll be so glad you did!
If you find pork dumplings from your favorite take-out spot irresistible, just wait until you taste this homemade version! Pork dumplings, or jiaozi, are the quintessential dish of Lunar New Year celebrations and these have everything you want in a dumpling: plump and nicely chewy, filled with tender pork, flavored with fresh ginger, green onion, and sesame oil. Lunar New Year, Chinese Chunjie, Korean Seollal, Tibetan Losar, and Spring Festival all describe the celebration that begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon, 15 days later. This year, many will hold celebrations on Sunday, January 22nd. The Lunar New Year festival is thousands of years old, and today nearly 25% of the world’s population participates in this celebration.
Because of their resemblance to gold ingots, making and eating dumplings during Lunar New Year celebrations is a way to express wishes of prosperity and fortune in the coming year. Making dumplings is also a group effort, so Lunar New Year celebrations are good times to get the whole family involved in making — and eating! — several batches. Whether you’re celebrating the Lunar New Year or stocking your freezer for a busy month ahead, these dumplings should definitely be on your list. You’ll find many of the ingredients in our Lunar New Year-themed weekly sale from January 19th – 25th, so it’s a perfect time to give them a try!
Making your own dumpling wrappers at home might sound intimidating, but there’s really nothing to it! With just flour, water, and a few simple steps, you’ll be rolling out wrappers like a pro! Our Weekly Sale from January 19th – 25th celebrates the culinary traditions of the Lunar New Year, celebrated on Sunday, January 22nd this year. Lunar New Year, Chinese Chunjie, Korean Seollal, Tibetan Losar, and Spring Festival all describe the celebration that begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ends on the first full moon, 15 days later. The Lunar New Year festival is thousands of years old, and today nearly 25% of the world’s population participates in this celebration. Pork dumplings, or jiaozi, are the quintessential dish of Lunar New Year celebrations and you’ll find many of the items needed to make a batch featured in the Weekly Sale, making it a perfect time to give this dish a try! You’ll find the pork dumpling recipe at our Weekly Sale display or on our blog and this dumpling wrapper recipe will help you craft the perfect vehicle for your dumplings!
With a heritage claiming both French and West African roots, gumbo is a thick stew served over rice and made with a roux (a mixture of butter and flour) and/or gumbo file powder (made from ground dried sassafras leaves), along with a wide variety of ingredients such as celery, peppers, okra, onions chicken, sausage and/or seafood. With so many options, every family has perfected its own treasured recipes, which leads to an impassioned debate on which one is best. Even so, gumbo does more to bring us together than divide us, as queen of Creole cuisine Chef Leah Chase said, “There’ve been a lot of problems solved in that dining room over a bowl of gumbo.”
Our weekly sale from December 29th – January 4th celebrates the culinary traditions of Kwanzaa (which spans from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, and New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day celebrations. You’ll find Henry & Lisa’s shrimp, organic Bionaturae tomatoes, and bulk long-grain white rice featured in the sale, so it’s a perfect time to whip up a batch of this authentic shrimp and okra gumbo from the award-winning Gumbo Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana!
With a heritage claiming both French and West African roots, gumbo is a thick stew served over rice and made with a roux (a mixture of butter and flour) and/or gumbo file powder (made from ground dried sassafras leaves), along with a wide variety of ingredients such as celery, peppers, okra, onions chicken, sausage and/or seafood. With so many options, every family has perfected its own treasured recipes, which leads to an impassioned debate on which one is best. Even so, gumbo does more to bring us together than divide us, as queen of Creole cuisine Chef Leah Chase said, “There’ve been a lot of problems solved in that dining room over a bowl of gumbo.”
Our weekly sale from December 29th – January 4th celebrates the culinary traditions of Kwanzaa (which spans from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, and New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day celebrations. You’ll find Henry & Lisa’s shrimp, organic Bionaturae tomatoes, and bulk long-grain white rice featured in the sale, so it’s a perfect time to whip up a batch of this authentic shrimp and okra gumbo from the award-winning Gumbo Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana!
