Friday, July 13, 2012

Caterers - Fine Dining and Event Planning to Make Your Social Occasion a Success

If you are planning an event but not sure of what to do with the food portion, a professional catering company can help you with the menu planning and can take all the worry out of preparing the food on your own. These caterers have the experience and resources to make your social event a success by customizing your occasion, whether large or small, to you desired tastes. Some of the ways this catering company can assist you with your event includes providing:

• Table setting
• Flowers
• Entertainment
• The site
• The theme
• Food
• Lighting
• Transportation for guests
• Décor

Another benefit of hiring caterers at a well-established and professional catering company is that they may also have chefs that can prepare just about any cuisine in any setting. Some of the food, beverage, and menu choices you may be able to receive at this type of catering company includes a brunch menu, boxed lunches, breakfast menu, buffet menu, gourmet deli, hot chafing dishes, classic carvings, hors oeuvres, themed buffets, side dishes, desserts, subs, sports menus, salad selections, and much more. The professional staff at this company will also be able to pull all the aspects of your event together with flair and can make your social occasion memorable and occasion for everyone attending.

If you are in need of off-premise catering, you can call the professional caterers to see if they offer this service. You may be able to get the food brought to your location, to include full service drop off and pick up options. You also have the benefit of receiving restaurant quality food and beverages to include adult-friendly beverages. These full service event specialists may even be able to arrange for any rental equipment you need for the presentation and meal. Services offered through this company like technology accommodations in the areas of screens and projectors, custom floral arrangement, valet parking, transportation, security, ad photography service, all work together to make your event a success.

You can receive flexible and comprehensive catering services from caterers that will not only supply you and your guests with delicious food, but can offer you full service catering. This means you will have all the details of your event taken care of in order to make it a success. You can visit the catering company's website for additional information about the catering services they offer or you can call and give a professional staff member a chance to answer all of your questions.



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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Reasons to Choose Office Party Catering

There are a lot of corporate entities that will choose to reward their clients or their workers with an office party. Throwing an office party for a large group of people can be fairly costly, but there are a lot of options that can help you save time, money, and not interrupt the daily workflow of your office. By hiring an office party catering service, you will be able to serve your employees beverages and food throughout the day, without having to disrupt their productivity.

There are many different reasons why you should consider hiring an office party catering service to cater your corporate events. A few of the top three reasons why it is a good idea to hire a professional catering service for the event is because they can provide peace of mind, competitive pricing, and present the event in a professional manner.

Presentation - When hiring a professional office catering service, the first thing that you will notice when hiring a company is their level of professionalism that they take while performing their job. The food that the company will bring to your office will come ready to serve, and if you choose to rent tables for the event, the catering company will set up the tables in a professional manner to suit the venue that the party is being conducted in.

Pricing - Instead of taking all of your employees to an expensive restaurant or purchasing large quantities of food from a nearby eatery, you can choose to have an office catering service come to your office and provide you with a wide variety of options to choose from, for a relatively low cost. You will be able to feed every employee within your office, and still have enough food leftover for the employees to take home with them, if they desire to do so.

Peace of Mind - Instead of spending your valuable time coordinating different pieces of your party together, office party services can take care of every aspect of your party for you. You will be able to call one company and get your food, drinks, and desserts delivered to your office without having to stress out about the event plans. You will not have to take any of your employees away from their work to help you plan the occasion, because all of the planning can be done by one person, when you have a team of caterers to help you with the rest.

Presentation, pricing, and peace of mind are just three ways that office catering services can help make your office party an eventful and stress free event. Office catering services can be used for a lot more events than office parties. You can utilize the services at wedding receptions, birthday parties, and other special occasions as well. The office party catering service will be able to adhere to your needs, whatever they may be.

Instead of having to burden yourself with the stresses that come from feeding a large group of people, let someone else do the work for you. An office party catering company will prepare all of the food, drinks, and décor for the party that you are hosting. They will bring all of the items to your office for you.



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Commercial Kitchen Crises: Damage Control

Problems in Restaurants: Short Staff

One frequent occurrence that literally wakes business owners in the middle of the night is short staffing. The most effective way to avoid this issue to begin with is to hire timely, reliable employees. Emphasize the importance of these traits and verify them with references when hiring. Make a list of subs and provide reminders to back-ups regarding when they are on call. It might even be possible to hire a few staff members for just such situations, considering the fact that many people need occasional extra money or a second part-time job. At times, an employee's absence may be unavoidable, and there is no complete assurance that the substitute will not have an emergency to attend to during the same shift. In these cases, you will need to work with what you have, particularly if you are already planning to be present during the time period in question and cannot solve the problem by devoting extra time.

Insufficient Product Inventory

Every restaurant owner dreads the news that his commercial kitchen supply of any necessary product has been used up. To keep this event from happening in your establishment, keep a precise inventory and check it frequently. Note when a certain dish gains popularity to prevent the dismal surprise of a future shortage of ingredients. Freeze any products that freeze well, like herbs, even if this means stocking ice cube trays filled with sauces. For an in-the-moment fix, insert a card into the menu or instruct your servers to inform clients of a specific dish's unavailability before handing them the menu. Meanwhile, improvise an intriguing replacement dish using the ingredients that you do have in stock. This way, you will usually avoid customer disappointment. Be smart with your phrasing. Instead of calling undue attention to the fact that you are unable to serve the usual platter, the server or notice should word the announcement in a positive way. Explain that rather than the affected menu item, you are serving a limited-time special. Play your cards right, and your customers will receive the replacement dish so well that it will soon earn a place on your regular menu.

In the food service business, a well thought out back-up plan for potential crises can help you keep an efficient pace and a cool head. Having insufficient product supplies or too few staff on duty makes other unpleasant circumstances more likely to occur. Prevent yourself and your staff from being so concerned with a major obstacle that no one notices the pot boiling over on the heavy duty range until it's too late. Take the appropriate action to deal with one of these situations and you can concentrate on the parts of your job that you love: serving your customers with professionalism and creating culinary masterpieces.



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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A Quick Crash Course in Bread Machines and Why You Need One

The bread machine is one modern invention that doesn't get nearly as much credit as it deserves. In fact, compared to toasters, blenders and coffee makers, bread machines are the unsung heroes of kitchen appliances.

It's a real shame when you think about it. Good kitchen appliances are prized because they make life a little easier. And bread machines take one of the most time consuming, labor intensive things you can do in a kitchen-making bread-and makes it both fast and easy.

There's just nothing like eating a slice of warm, homemade bread fresh from the oven. And not only does homemade bread taste great, it also smells heavenly. In fact, the smell of bread baking in the oven can do anything from improve your mood to help sell your house.

Most people would eat fresh, homemade bread every day if they could.

So why don't they?

For most, actually making the bread from scratch is the problem.

If you've never tried making your own bread before, it can seem like a complex and mysterious process you're too intimidated to tackle. And the truth is that making bread completely by hand, even if you're using a simple recipe, really can be a challenge.

If you're an experienced bread maker, time might be the problem. Making a simple loaf of bread by hand can take several hours. If your life is as busy as most people's, you probably just don't have time to make homemade bread.

That's where the bread machine comes in. First of all, they're fast. You can set up a machine to start making homemade bread in just minutes.

Bread machines are also user-friendly. Even absolute beginners can turn out a beautiful and delicious loaf of bread with the help of a bread machine.

Whether you're an experienced baker or a newbie bread maker, there are countless reasons why you need a bread machine in your kitchen.

The Advantages of Using a Bread Machine

Compared to making bread by hand, using a bread machine has several benefits.

You Don't Have To Do the Kneading. Kneading is the most arduous part of the bread making process. It's tiring, tedious, and leaves you with sore arms and tense shoulders. Yes, it can be therapeutic. Pounding on a lump of bread dough is a good way to work out your frustrations. However, if you've had a lovely day and just want to make some bread as quickly as possible, let the machine do the kneading for you.

There's No Big Mess to Clean Up. Making a single loaf of bread can require the use of several bowls, pots, pans and utensils... all of which needs to be washed and put away.

It's also hard to make bread without ending up with flour all over your countertop and, more often than not, the floor. And that mess has to be cleaned up too.

But you don't have to worry about cleaning a big mess when you use a bread machine. All of the stuff that can create a mess takes place inside of the machine. So aside from the bread maker itself, all you'll have to clean is a measuring cup or two.

Worry Less About Making Mistakes. There are so many things that can go wrong when you make bread completely by hand. You might not knead the dough enough. Or you might knead the dough too much. Or you could make a mistake with the yeast, causing the dough not to rise properly. Any of these mishaps can result in a loaf of bread that's hard, tough, and about as appetizing as a shoe leather.

Luckily, using a bread machine makes bread making nearly fool proof. You don't have to worry about how much to knead the dough, or whether or not the bread dough will rise. The machine takes care of all of that for you.

Now that you know the advantages of using a bread machine, it's time to pick one that's right for you.

How to Choose a Bread Machine

There are a lot of machines on the market. They come in a multitude of shapes and sizes, and can have a variety of features. So how do you decide which bread machine is right for you?

Ask yourself these questions.

How Much Do You Want To Spend? There are cheap machines that can turn out a decent loaf of bread. However, they are usually pretty small, so you can only make small loaves. Cheap bread machines also tend to be lacking in features. Still, if you only want to make a small loaf of bread every week or so, a cheap machine might be all you need.

How Much Homemade Bread Do Your Really Need? For some people, bread making is a hobby. They only make the occasional loaf of bread, usually when they find an interesting recipe they want to try. For these hobbyists, a machine that makes small loaves might be enough.

For some people, bread making is a huge lifestyle change. For example, if you have a large family, and have decided to stop buying store-bought bread altogether, you'll need a bigger machine. Look for a bread machine that can make at least a 1-pound loaf. You can even find larger machines that make 2-pound loaves.

But keep this in mind. Homemade bread has no preservatives, and will go stale faster than store-bought bread. Will your family be able to eat a 2-pound loaf of bread before it goes stale? If not, stick with the 1-pound loaf bread machine.

Do You Need a Machine with a Timer? Some bread machines come with delay timers, so you can set the bread maker to start at a certain time. Using a timer, you can set the machine to start while you're asleep or out shopping. If you time it right, your bread can finish baking just as you arrive home from work. And what can be better after a hard day at work than a slice of warm, freshly-baked bread?

Getting the Most Out of Your Machine

Yes, bread machines are nearly fool-proof. But there are things you can do to get the best results possible from your machine.

Choose Recipes Carefully. Not every recipe will work correctly in a bread maker. Fortunately, a quick Internet search is all it takes to find bread recipes that have been modified for use in bread makers.

You can also find ready-made mixes especially made for bread machines. These mixes are convenient, affordable, and almost impossible to screw up.

Don't Leave Bread In the Machine for Too Long. Homemade bread is the best when it's still warm. Some machines can keep bread warm long after it has finished baking. However, bread left in the machine for too long could end up being soggy, and not a lot of fun to eat.

Make the Bread Easy To Remove. Thoroughly spray the inside of the machine with cooking spray before adding the ingredients. This will make the bread easier to remove after baking.

Use Bread Machine Yeast... Always. Some recipes don't specify the kind of yeast you should use. But, for the sake of convenience, use bread machine yeast whenever possible.

Bread machines are a modern marvel that many people are just starting to discover. If you've never made bread from scratch before, a bread machine will have you turning out beautiful and delicious loaves of homemade bread in no time. If you're an experienced baker, but just haven't had time to make much bread from scratch, a bread machine will help you step back into the homemade bread making game with ease.



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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Green Party Foods

So you consider yourself a pretty good earth steward... you're clean, green, low impact and you're hip on global warming. What does it take to transform your squeaky clean green image out into the backyard? I see it like "taking your green on the road." Make it fun... you're about ready to get your barbeque freak on and you ask yourself, "What can I do to make this Cool Q as green and earth-smart as it can be?" Here's a couple pretty simple starters.

GO OUTSIDE

Simply by getting outdoors and turning your indoors off, you're already saving mega loads of electricity. Even turn off your air conditioner if you're bold. Find yourself an old school "Smokey Joe" kettle grill and let the magic come to you. No propane or other gases needed- just stamped wood and wood bi-products charcoal briquettes. Get the cheap ones and please don't use the lighter fluid for the start- use a couple sheets of wadded up newspaper and a charcoal chimney if you've got one. See, you're getting greener already.

BUY LOCAL

So the grill is going leaving you just enough time to quaff about 1.5 beers before the cooking begins. Whatever you throw on the grill, make it local. Local chicken is very easy to find, in fact you can even grow them in your backyard if you're so inclined. It's common for municipalities to allow up to a half-dozen birds per property and that's a pretty steady source of eggs when you think about it. Obviously, your local farmers market is your best means of participation and a shining endorsement for the "Locally Grown" movement that is afoot. Beside the fact you're doing your neighbors a good, you're keeping the revenue in the community and not paying someone else the unit cost of the product- plus fuel, shipping, distribution, labor, taxes etc. to get that cold, dry, stamped chicken breast from Chili.

WHAT'S ON THE MENU?

Straight from the farmers market down the street, scratching the back of a local guy I don't know, we've come up with a pretty green, well-rounded, eco-friendly and healthy faire for a cookout. No appetizers required. Beer.

Mixed Greens, Mint and Radish with Cranberry Vinaigrette

Local Asparagus shoots in lemon butter and rosemary

(1) 4x4x4 Slab 'o Cornbread

New baby rounds and golden potatoes with chives and lemon butter

(3) Beer Can Chicken, smoked in a brightly scented Applewood riff raff and soaked (marinated) in Jack

Dessert... Strawberry shortcake with ice cream made by the local dairy that picks up our local farmers milk ( they make a mean batch of curds as well) It's a perfect blend of garbage in garbage out, Local.

SERVE IT UP

This is pretty simple and sometimes I feel silly even mentioning it but have you ever wondered what the backyard barbeque would be like without all the plastic and paper products we've become accustomed to? Try it sometime - Eliminate all the paper plates, plastic forks and cups and all the Tupperware type plastic containers that swell from your cupboards and instead, take a step back and use your regular indoor plates and silver. It works- It's easy. To compliment that idea is something else taking shape slowly but surely... Bamboo dinnerware. This is a great hybrid and compromise between indoor and outdoor 'ware'. The bamboo stuff is nice because it's like washable picnic ware. I like it. Finally, (and this one kills me) throw away all the plastic water bottles and drink responsibly from glass, the end of the hose or from the nice metal bottles that flood the market today. No liners, no BPA. It's all good.



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Easy Pumpkin Pie Crust For Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving dinner is not Thanksgiving dinner until after you have a delicious, rich slice of pumpkin pie! Even the strictest of dieters has to succumb to a slice of this all time most popular Thanksgiving dinner pie! These are made different ways, but the most important step in creating a wonderful pumpkin pie is a fabulous pie crust! After you have a great base for the pie, making the filling is as easy as pie. No pun intended!

One way to make sure you have surefire delicious pie on Thanksgiving day is to buy a package of Pillsbury pie crust in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. I always keep a package of these on hand in case something does not turn out as expected. These can be a great back up source of perfect pie crust, and no one will ever know they are store-bought crust!

Now that you have some extra pie crust on hand for the big day, we can talk about making some delicious crust from scratch. After you have made this recipe a couple of times, it is so easy you do not even need to try to remember a recipe. I like this recipe because the crust is buttery, flaky and rustic - the perfect vessel for any Thanksgiving pie.

To start this recipe you will need 3 cups of flour. I like to use all-purpose flour for my baking needs. To this you want to add a teaspoon of salt. Mix to combine. Next you want to add 1 1/2 sticks of cold butter and 1 cup of vegetable shortening. The key is to make sure the butter is cold so the dough comes together nicely! After you have added the butter and vegetable shortening to the flour mixture, you simply want to mix it together using a pastry cutter. Once you have joined the fats with the flour, you want to add one beaten egg. After you have completed that step, you want to add 5 tablespoons of cold water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. You want to add the vinegar as this result in a softer pie crust. Mix until well combined and form into a disk.

At this point I like to put my dough mixture into a plastic bag and let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. When you are ready to use, simply take out of the fridge and roll to the desired shape!



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Summer Burgers, And How To Stop Feeling Guilty Eating Them

The burger is without a doubt the number one diet disaster and as such is strongly discouraged by the health experts, especially for those watching their waistlines.

With Summer in full swing what's a girl to do? The foods of summers act as eye candy for dieters tempting them to consume more and more. Spicy juicy burgers can add to the temptation and make it even more difficult for the health conscious people to watch their food intake.

What most people don't realize is that a spicy and juicy burger can be prepared without adding any extra, harmful calories to your diet.You can enjoy a plethora of delicious, fat free and healthy burger recipes that will make your taste buds sizzle, and give you major drool as any fat-rich, normal burger.

Changing the burger trend: The most important thing to watch are all those edibles which that are high in fat, while preparing your burger. All of those items can be replaced by much healthier and low fat ingredients.

A white flour roll is full of carbohydrates so it can be replaced by bran rolls, with herbs like oregano, to add more taste to the bread. It is also possible to use turkey or bean burgers instead of regular beef hamburgers. They are low in fat and even healthier.

Summer trouble:In the summer, the trend is more towards celebrations and parties due to the holidays. Those people who are trying to shed a few pounds find it harder to watch their diet. They also want to feel free to eat whatever they feel like. For these party animals, the only way of watching their diet is by providing them with the tasty and healthy replacement of their junk food.

Be a part of the burger mania:Eating healthy burgers sounds weird because people usually think that burgers are junk food and cannot be healthy.

However, it all depends on the choice of your ingredients. Try to be innovative while making your burgers and add ingredients which have less fat in them. Swapping mozzarella or cheddar cheese with low fat cottage cheese can aid in achieving your goal. Fatty sauces can be replaced by hummus and herb sauces, which would add colour and taste to the burger. Instead of using fried chicken or pork, steamed chicken or turkey can be used. Olives, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes and ice bergs or lettuce assist in making the burger wholesome and appealing.

Adding different spices to your burger, according to your taste, would cause no harm.Cut the sugar free beverages and alcoholic drinks from the menu and you've just saved yourself a whopping 100 calories.

Another cheap trick is to make your burger look perfect. The way you present your burger on the plate increases the temptation factor so pay specific attention to colourful and neat staging of the plate so that it is impossible to resist. In this way, you will not miss your summer fun and you will lose weight effortlessly.



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