Cranberry Mango Cream Cheese Dip

Enjoy this tasty dip with family and friends while you’re waiting for the grill to get hot for the main course. This is a quick and easy appetizer to eat with tortilla chips, toasted pita bread or delicious raw vegetables like carrot and celery sticks, cucumber circles, broccoli tips and jicama.

Ingredients

1 16 oz jar White Girl Salsa – Cranberry Mango***
1 16 oz Package cream cheese
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Allow cream cheese to soften at room temperature
2. Combine 1 cup cranberry mango salsa with cream cheese and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients with a spoon until completely blended.
3. Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl and top with the remaining cranberry mango salsa and serve.

Servings: 6

Cooking Tips
***You can substitute mild or hot White Girl Salsa in place of cranberry mango

Recipe Source

Author: Sheila Paxton

Source: White Girl Salsa

Blame Rachel Ray

So what is it that keeps us from cooking at home? Like many, for me its time… I’m a working mom, so time is a precious commodity! I know I too have been one to indulge in the roasted chicken and microwaveable sides that greet me when I enter my local grocery store… let’s face it, it’s a is a quick way to get something on the table.

The only problem I found is that this became my standard back up and I lent myself to it more and more.  But since I didn’t prepare these foods, there is question as to HOW it was prepared.  What was used on the chicken to give it that beautiful color? Often its an artificial ingredient used for “caramel coloring”.   And when was the last time you read the ingredients list on one of those microwaveable sides?  Its a mile long and most of it you can’t pronounce!   I simply want better options for myself and my family.

The Trick to Quick Meal Cookbooks Read more

The Real Secret to French Cooking

Like so many others I was so inspired by the movie Julia and Julia to start doing some gourmet cooking in my own little kitchen… and then I hit a stumbling block.  No it wasn’t sticker shock for Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking (two volume set), nor the daunting task of even lifting the enormous book.   It was the meticulous detail and difficulty of the recipes.. let’s face it, who has that kind of time?

But what I learned is that the real secret to gourmet cooking is all in the sauce.  So here is some basic information on sauces… I’ll start with Wine Sauces.

What I found most amazing in my research is that Sauces have been used since the middle ages- who knew! But of course French chef’s have upped the bar on sauces almost to the point of high art — just treat yourself to any fine dining at a French restaurant and you will know this is true.

So what goes into making a great sauce? The famous French Chef, Aguste Escoffier, tells us that the chef who wants to create a memorable sauce must first prepare a mirepoix (Wikepedia has a great but lengthy definition) and roast beef or veal bones to begin developing a stock… then one must slowly reduce the stock and add a slowly browned roux to create a deep brown color and rich flavor with a smooth and velvety consistency.  This will create a “foundation sauce” from which many other sauces can be made.

Slow being the operative word in the whole process … again I ask, who has this kind of time?  Let’s face it, this is a time intensive process that I certainly don’t have the patience required to complete it.  Never fear! More Than Gourmet has taken care of the time intensive work for us and has created both a Red Wine Sauce as well as a White Wine Sauce which reduces what would have taken hours to mere minutes without sacrificing flavor, consistency or eye appeal!

Using classical methods and only the finest ingredients,these sauces are consistently reliable, dependable, affordable and most importantly delicious! They have found a permanent home in my pantry and I know you also will find them so easy to keep on hand that all your meals will be gourmet!

Bon Appetite!

Sherea

White Wine Sauce – Perfectly Prepared

White Wine Sauce: Delicious and Ready-To-Use!

Sauces define the essence of superb cuisine! Making sauces can be a challenge for many home cooks when a lack of time and ingredients stands in the way. We made it our goal to find a ready-to-use white wine sauce. Especially one that would be as good for a chef to use at fine restaurant as well as a creative home cook. We wanted a sauce that could be easily prepared for vegetables, chicken, veal and fish dishes, as well as special seafood chowders, and more.

We took our search to the street for a tasty ready-made white wine sauce. Our search began with supermarket, gourmet and specialty shops but we found very few white wine sauces to our liking. In our opinion what we did find lacked the depth and quality found in a well prepared white wine sauce that takes time to prepare correctly. Most were over salted, lacked in flavor and had less than a smooth silky texture.

To the Rescue

A company that we are familiar with recently introduced a fully prepared white wine sauce that is ready-to-use with many of the same basic ingredients they use in making their other fine lines of stocks and demi glace. More Than Gourmet White Wine Sauce is a ready to use sauce. It is carefully created with roasted chicken stock and white wine and cooked to a velvety sauce that will definitely add flavor and a range of possibilities to your plate.

The white wine sauce is considered a foundation Veloute sauce. The meaning of, Veloute in Middle French literally means velvetiness, and More Than Gourmet White Wine Sauce is velvety smooth and satisfyingly rich. Classic French chefs have patiently prepared Veloute sauces for centuries as an integral component of many delectable French dishes. This Foundation, or Mother Sauce, as it is often called, enables the cook to create many French classics as well as creative sauces for well-loved and contemporary dishes quite easily. You will find this white wine sauce perfectly prepared to lift the flavor and prime the presentation of your dish with minimal effort.

You can prepare mouthwatering and eye appealing cuisine in no time flat with this white wine sauce in your cabinet. It is shelf stable for up to 18 months, unopened, and 5 days after opening. Keep it on hand and it will always be ready when you are!

To purchase please visit www.clubsauce.com or for more information and delicious recipe ideas, please see the recipes posted on this blog, www.thesaucetalknewsletter.com