Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Parfait Away!

Parfait; the delectable dairy dessert are a great addition to any sizzling summer BBQ menu, including a Fourth of July BBQ!  Parfaits are a layered treat, and can be composed of ice cream, yogurt, and whipped cream topped off with granola and fresh fruit. Cream cheese is another substitution as well, deliciously top it off with nuts and fresh fruit. The Parfait originated from France, and is pronounced ‘par-fay.’ Although the Parfait has come a long way from France and has made its mark on the rest of the world, proving itself to be a party pleaser.Plus it’s much healthier than the regular desserts such as chocolate mousse and cheesecake. The reason why I believe that the Parfait is perfect for any Independence Day gathering is because, one can create a dessert filled with our nation’s three colors. Take plain or vanilla yogurt, add strawberries and blueberries and you will achieve not only and easy to make dessert but one that is brimming with patriotic.

Lately, I’ve taken an inspiration from eating at Red Mango’s version of the modern parfait; you can put whatever you your heart desires onto the many flavors of yogurt that they carry.  Since most Red Mango locations are self served, they have stations with different flavors of yogurt, along with  many varieties of toppings as well. My personal favorite is the Madagascar Vanilla, with dark Chocolate and Peanut butter as well, with crushed granola, along with pineapple and mango. Find a Red Mango store near you, just go on www.redmangousa.com.

One can easily mimic this style at home, set out a large table with 2 types of yogurts, preferably vanilla and strawberry, and then set out toppings to accent your yogurt of choice. Place platters of fresh fruit such as diced strawberries, pineapples, blueberries, kiwi and anything else. You can also add toppings such as crumbled Oreos, coconut shavings, granola, and yogurt chips. If you feel uneasy about setting this up yourself, sign on to CaterBid and let one of our caterers take care of it for you. If you prefer to have an even wider variety feel free to include other desserts into the parfait as well, for example: pudding, cream cheese, and pound cake, go right ahead! It’s all about being as simple or as creative as you want to be! This will definitely leave a lasting impression on all your guests.

For children, serve these refreshing parfaits in red, white, and blue tea cups, for your upcoming Fourth of July Party, to bring in that fun-holiday spirit! Party City always has these colorful cups around this time, as I usually see them in the “holiday” isle while shopping for party favors and decorations. You can also top either ice cream or whipped cream onto the delicious parfait for a more chilled taste. Granola and sweet yogurt chips will also top off this flavorful dessert! You can also add a big strawberry on top as well, as it is mixed already with many strawberries. How refreshing?

To the mothers out there with children: if you would like to decorate the cups as well, put small gold stars onto the cups, and serve them chilled on a tray, ready to eat for dessert! There you go; you have a delicious strawberry parfait, just moments away from eating. If you’re still planning your upcoming Fourth Of July party, just leave it to the Cater bid team, and we will give you the best party you’ll remember of the year!

If you’d ever like to make your own strawberry parfaits if you’re catering your own party, here is the recipe along with the ingredients, of course! Here is a great recipe you can follow.

Recipe:

    · 4 ounces light cream cheese, soften
    · 1/4 cup sugar
    · 1 cup vanilla yogurt
    · 3 cups strawberries, sliced
    · 1 cup small almond cookie, roughly crushed (amaretti)
    · 1 tablespoon almonds, sliced, roastedRead more: http://www.food.com/recipe/strawberry-and-cream-cheese-parfait-289070#ixzz1yv3NJHBs

Preparation Time-Fifteen minutes
Directions:

    In a bowl, with an electric mixer, mix cream cheese and 3 tablespoon of sugar for 2 minutes or until it’s creamy. Add yogurt and mix until the mixture is homogeneous.
    Put strawberries in a large bowl. Add remaining sugar and stir delicately to coat well. Let rest for 5 minutes at room temperature (stir one time).

    In 6 parfait glasses of a capacity of 1 cup each, distribute half the mixture of cream cheese, half of strawberries and half of almond cookies. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Cover with a plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 2 hours. When ready to serve, garnish with roasted almonds.

Written by Anushka Kassim and Alana Berg


SOURCE http://www.caterbid.com/rhonasilver/

Monday, 29 October 2012

Fun in the Sun

Since this summer is turning out to be a rather sweltering one, how about we plan a pool party? You do not need to spend much time planning, and it is easy to pull off a pragmatic pool party last minute too. Just tell your family and friends to pack their swimsuits and invite them over! If you don’t have a pool try to gather at someone else’s home, or you could even arrange an epic water fight, perfect for the young and the young at heart.

The summer sun tends to dehydrate and leave us parched, however you do not have to succumb to such a treacherous fate: Serve fruity frozen drinks and all will be well! Try to have fun and even go all out by serving these delightful drinks in sparkling martini glasses.  We suggest to use plastic ones just to avoid broken glass specially if people are running around and are in and out of the pool, such glasses can be purchased at Party City. The party store that will be able to quench all your party needs, the stores are usually always well stocked and carry everything you can think of, starting from invitations to décor. Use bright colors such as pinks, greens, and yellows to brighten your party, a refreshing change from the toned down colors that are common throughout the rest of the year. If you’re one to embrace seasonal trends try fluorescent colored glasses and cocktail umbrellas to make your  delicious frozen drink look even more ornate before it’s served.  Other types of drink toppers such as hula girls are also readily available at most places. Go to www.partycity.com to browse products as well as find a store near you.

Some of the refreshing frozen drinks you can serve are strawberry dacharis, pina coolada’s, and for the under aged audience there are always  virgin shirley temples and of course slushies! To add more fun (and maybe a little more mess, if you’re up for it) you can even have the children add their own organic food colorings to their drinks. You can even layer different colored slushies and create the effect of a rainbow, if you do choose to do this be sure to use see-through glasses and cups so that your guests and children alike can be wowed by your culinary prowess!

Some fantastic tips to take into consideration if you are throwing a pool party are using two large bright colored buckets to fill one up with ice cold drinks. Some of these drinks can be, ice cold water bottles, ice tea, soda, and fruit punch. These are aside from the frozen cocktail drinks mentioned above. The other bucket can be used for towels and goggles, for guests if they did not bring a towel with them to the party, and since we all enjoy playing under water games, specially the little ones.

If you’re going to be inviting many guests to your party, I suggest having a cocktail hour along with Hors D’oeuvres to start off the fun with. Some of the appetizers can include mini quiches, bruschetta, crab cakes as well as shrimp, served with cocktail sauce on the side. Mix and match items, do what you like best there are no rules when it comes to a casual family affair, well a few maybe. On a healthier note, some of the snacks that you can serve instead of salty potato chips or bread can be a vegetable platter with a side of dipping sauce like, an onion dip or humus. Many people enjoy eating finger foods over the summer, because your appetite tends to shrink. As for the dessert, fruit, popsicles, and ice cream are always a summer win! Fruit is very refreshing to serve over a hot summer day, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, mango, honey dew, and kiwi, will taste great with a side of a sweet cream cheese dip.

Since the host/hostess of the party will usually get busy by catering their own party as tiring as it gets, have CaterBid plan your next party, while you can just relax, and enjoy this fantastic party with your guests! spend time with friends and family instead, take your time when talking to your guests. It’s your party, don’t spend it in the kitchen! When you need catering for your next party, just go onto our website, www.caterbid.com and we will plan your party right away!

Here is a recipe that we found on www.googdhousekeeping.com , I for one cannot wait to try it!

Ingredients

1/4 cup(s) cranberry juice cocktail, chilled                     

1 container(s) (8 ounces) low-fat blueberry yogurt

1/2 cup(s) frozen blueberries

Directions

In blender, combine cranberry juice, yogurt, and blueberries and blend until mixture is smooth and frothy. Pour into 1 tall glass. Total time is 5 minutes and serves 1, just about 1 1/3 glasses.

Read more: Blueberry Blast – Good Housekeeping

Written by Anushka Kassim and Alana Berg




SOURCE
http://www.caterbid.com/rhonasilver/

Thursday, 25 October 2012

Whats Cookin’?

Too tired to venture to stumble inn for late night happy hour? Why not create your own dollar beer nights with one dollar Boston cream pie shots. Although we’re used to triple chocolate cakes with custard and cream filling, lets put a spin on the ol’ tradition and add a few shots of vanilla Bacardi and slices of lime. For toppings, sprinkle whipped cream on the top and your friends will be asking you, “whats cookin’?” (or maybe this time, what are you drinkin’?)

Happy National Boston Cream Pie Day!





SOURCE http://www.caterbid.com/rhonasilver/

Monday, 22 October 2012

Eating healthy and staying fit!

For many that have been watching the Olympics, does this make you want to become more fit now? For those who belong to a gym, take advantage of it, especially if you’re on a limited member ship for just the summer! Recently, I have been asking myself, what can I do to become more fit by losing weight, but by doing this in a healthy way? Along with the weight issue, I also wanted to change my exercise and eating habits, for my health as well. After changing my diet in the past few weeks, I have seen a major difference! Aside from shedding off some of the weight that I wanted to get rid of, I also feel less tired, and more energetic throughout the day, even in the mornings! As I also changed my exercise habits a lot, I am a lot less stressed than I was along with being less anxious and tense too.

The key to staying healthy is by eating a balanced diet, which I’m sure all of your doctors have said to do! Which is true, but, the key is to eat small meals a day, ranging from about 4-5 meals a day! So that way, nobody will gauge themselves at the end of the day, because they will not feel as hungry, since food will be entering into their systems throughout the entire day. Also, make sure to have a big breakfast though, as it is the most important meal of the day! If you’re a bread lover, make a sand which consisting of two whole wheat sand patties. As bread is a carbohydrate, do not have this every day, the key is moderation! Since whole wheat is a healthy substance to add to your body, how about having whole wheat pasta, along with pancakes as well? Mix it up a little! Don’t forget to drink a lot of fluids as well, especially water! As for the fitness part of staying healthy, I recommend at least a half an hour to forty minutes of cardio, 6-7 days a week. Some of the machines that can be used that are perfect for intense cardio are the treadmill, the elliptical, and the stair master.  Also, take many water breaks, since after the cardio, you’ll be working out with the weights! As for the weights, do about three to four days for the abdominals, two days for arms and legs, and one day for just cardio, to give you a little break from the weights!

As we put the fitness aside for now, who likes to eat organic foods? Basically, you are eating the most fresh and healthiest foods you can get! There are many important foods out there that can be eaten organically. Some of these foods include strawberries, rice, green and bell peppers, corn, bananas, milk, apples, and much more! To get more information on these delicious organic foods, just click and go to this link! http://www.kidsorganics.com/10%20Most%20Important%20Foods%20to%20Eat%20Organic.htm

Want to make a flavorful organic meal at home one day soon? Well here are some scrumptious soup recipes that you may never even heard of, but will love once you have them. Enjoy!

http://www.organicauthority.com/soups/5-simple-a-stunning-no-cook-chilled-soups.html




SOURCE http://www.caterbid.com/rhonasilver/

Thursday, 18 October 2012

Lets Fly Away

Feeling bored at work? Dreaming of the day that you can take off and fly away? No longer do you have to wait for your free delta mileage to come in the mail. With one bite of caramel custard you can automatically drift away to Paris, London, or even Madrid. Originating in Europe, the ancient Romans experimented with binding properties of eggs in their cooking. Now in the twenty first century, we can celebrate what was once an ancient ceramic project as now a daytime delight.

Not dreaming of croissants and crepes a la mode? Try the Spanish version of caramel custard, flan. Top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it will be certain to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Happy National Custard Day!




SOURCE http://www.caterbid.com/rhonasilver/

Monday, 15 October 2012

A Ghostly Breakfast

“To get your family ready for the Halloween spirit, I suggest releasing Casper from your walls and welcoming him to your family breakfast. Why not create miniature ghosts out of cream cheese? Add chopped carrots for Casper’s hands and capers for his eyes. There you and your family can not only celebrate Halloween early but have a fun fix to spread of your everything bagels.

Have a ghostly breakfast everyone!”




SOURCE http://www.caterbid.com/rhonasilver/