Fourth of July

The Happy Camper Package from Lobster Gram: Great for a weekend of grilling!

Good morning foodies! Today is a great day because it's the last day of the work week! Dan "The Lobster Man" was cool enough to close the office Friday for the Fourth so everyone can enjoy a nice long weekend. Thanks Dan!
So for this long weekend I obviously plan on doing some cooking and unfortunately I have NO IDEA what I'm going to prepare lol. All I know, is that I will be preparing it on the grill. Grilling is a Fourth of July must in my family, and I think this year we might just get the Lobster Gram Happy Camper Package for grilling this weekend. This is a fantastic package for a grilling weekend like this one, and I'm particularly fond of it because I'm the one who created it :)
Along with all of the other hats I wear around here (email blast designer/HTML coder/Food blogger/Videographer/food stylist/food photographer/merchandiser/copywriter/web site designer/office chef) I also create the bulk of new and seasonal packages we offer.
It's really an awesome job to do because it's super easy to just look at our web site and see what would be good to enjoy together. I came up with the Happy Camper a few weeks ago while planning my camping trip to Wisconsin. I wanted enough meat to last the entire weekend of camp grilling, and enough dry ice in the cooler to keep the meat cold until it was used. This package was the result, and it rocked big time on my camping trip.
Well, I hope everyone out there is planning a fun and safe Fourth of July!
Happy Grilling Foodies!

Tangy Balsamic BBQ Sauce

Good Tuesday evening foodies! Hope everyone had an awesome weekend out there. I had a good weekend that ended badly with an overdose of sunshine and subsequent sun poisoning.
But, I am back today and dieing to share the recipe I made pre-sun illness.
This is another fantastic recipe made by our talented Creative Director, Nancy.
Funny thing is when I told her I made this over the weekend, she told me she had made it last weekend and had a little to add to it...great timing there!
So here is the recipe, and I'll note Nancy's addition to the ingredients. I have not tried the updated version but I fully trust Nancy's taste buds so here it is!
I'll totally be using this one again for the Fourth of July! Happy eating foodies!

Ingredients
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. country-style Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp hot sauce

Directions
Add all ingredients in a small saucepan, and stir until combined. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced by 1/2, about 20 - 25 minutes, and the texture is thick and smooth. Sauce can be made a day ahead and refrigerated overnight, this allows the flavors to really blend and become even richer.

Contest Update! Enter to Win!

Ok...It's day 3 of my first blog give away and I have gotten some awesome submissions so far. I'm so glad it's Friday and over the weekend I'm going to be preparing some Lobster Scampi. I got a taste for Lobster Scampi this week while we were trying out some Scampi Puffs that we are planning to carry. The light sauce and lobster pieces were wrapped in fluffy phyllo dough and so easy to pop in your mouth. I can't wait til they are available.
For those of you who have not entered the contest yet....ENTER!!!! :)
Here is the link....cause I like making things easy for you. Enter to win a free "O" olive oil or balsamic vinegar sampler
Looking forward to reading some more fantastic sumbissions from you all! Have a great weekend and I'll be back Monday with a Lobster Scampi Video Recipe!

"O" Olive Oil Sampler Set & Balsamic Vinegar Sampler Set Give Away!

Good Wednesday Morning Foodies! Today is going to be an awesome day because I am having my first (of what will hopefully be many) blog give away contest!
I hope everyone is excited about our give away items as I am. Both of these products are staples in my kitchen and have given so much flavor and life to countless meals. Everyone should experience these incredible oils and vinegars, and here is your chance to do that FREE!
Here is a short video clip with a sneak peek at the sampler sets you could win!

The Prizes
The “O” Olive Oil Set

Valencia Orange (6.8 oz)
House Blend Extra Virgin (6.8 oz)
Eureka Lemon (6.8 oz)

The “O” Balsamic Vinegar Set
Oak Aged California Dark Balsamic Vinegar (6.8 oz)
CA White Balsamic Vinegar (6.8 oz)
California Port Balsamic Vinegar (6.8 oz)

Enter to Win:

1. Write a post on your blog detailing your best use of either the Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil or both and use the LiveLobRecipe Contest Banner seen here to link back to this give away post.

No blog to post on? Follow NikkiTheFoodie on Twitter and email her your twitter profile link so she can direct message you the link you need to Tweet to enter!
2. Comment on this Contest post with the link to your blog post featuring the oils or vinegars.
3. Email Recipes@LiveLob.com the same link you commented and your Name and address (for receiving the prize) and we will confirm your entry.
4. I (NikkiTheFoodie) and Andy will look over all entries and choose a winner for the Balsamic Vinegar and a winner for the Olive Oil. All entries must be received and confirmed by Midnight on Monday, July 13th 2009.
5. The winner will be announced and contacted on Tuesday, July 14th 2009 and a winners post will be up on my blog that day.

So get in the kitchen, get creative and get some great gourmet prizes from LiveLobRecipes.Blogspot.com & Lobster Gram! Good luck everyone and happy eating!

Andy's Marinated Swordfish

Hello all of you beautiful foodies! It's Monday, and the only reason I'm so darn chipper is because it looks like it might actually finally be summer here in Chicago! To get this summer spirit rolling, Andy ordered our Fresh Catch Swordfish last week and took it home to make a fresh feast for his friends. He did me the honor of taking my camera so he could capture all the delicious images, so it's time to share now! I'm still nagging him to write down the recipe for me to share with you guys...his first set of directions contained not one single actual measurement of anything. But, he is still new at this so I'll cut him some slack. Patience is a virtue my hungry friends (and one I am always told I should acquire). Hopefully I'll get that from him later this week. Until that time, enjoy the tasty images Andy took for us. See you guys soon!

The Crab Cake Competition

Good morning all. I all of my beloved foodies are doing well out there! It is ANOTHER rainy dreary day here in Chicago. I swear it's been raining here for a month straight. If I wanted weather like this I would move to Seattle or London.
Well it's Father's Day week and everyone here is busy trying to get all the gifts out to Dads across the country in time. I ordered my Father's Day gift the other day, and I really think my Step Dad is going to LOVE it. He is a big meat eater, he had never tried out Bison Sampler before and unfortunately he was out of town on business while I was preparing my Bison Steaks & Burgers (and so disappointed he couldn't' partake). So I ordered him his very own Bison Sampler for Father's Day. It should be at the house on Saturday morning. So I just have to hope the dry ice holds out so I can keep it hidden in the cooler until Sunday.
Yesterday Andy and I were in the kitchen preparing some crab cakes. One crab cake was just like our Maryland Style Crab Cakes, and the other was a reformulated version of the same thing. I think the vendor wanted to know if we could tell the difference. Anyone looking at the following pictures for even a split second will be able to tell the difference between these two crab cakes. they both pretty much tasted the same but the texture was worlds apart. I know who the winner is of this contest. What do you guys think?


I'm sure you can see the difference by now. And no worries...we have no intentions on selling the "reformulated" version :)

Bison Burger Images

*Phew*... This is a LOT of Bison Pictures! Hopefully everyone has enjoyed my little bison education chapter. I know I enjoyed preparing and enjoying everything!