Category: Recipes

Charleston Bigelow Tea Style, Verizon Voices Fashionista Style Hop 6-17-2013

[ 0 ] June 17, 2013 | Shelley Zurek

Fashion Style Bloggers and Enthusiasts!

Follow Me to Charleston, SC! Follow or Join the Hop!

Disclosure: Charleston Bigelow Tea Style was inspired by an all expense paid trip via a contest that I won from Bigelow Tea for writing “Around Grandma’s Table“. I was uncompensated by Bigelow for this post but some of the content does come from that trip. Also, this Verizon Voices Fashionista Style Hop is presented in conjunction with my participation in the Verizon Voices Style program and I have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product. Stop by every Tuesday for all the fashion fun!

On a recent visit to Charleston, I wore this ladylike Eshakti style.

CAN YOU HANDLE ALL THIS BLONDENESS? The Chief Blonde hangs out in a Tea Field with Bigelow Tea President, Cindi Biglow and fellow Woman over 45! The Chief Blonde is wearing an Eshakti Dress ($89), Dr. Scholl’s wedge sandals ($69), Jewel’s for Hope Bracelet (c/o). Unless noted all Charleston Bigelow Tea Style photos taken with Samsung Galaxy Camera , 16MP, Optical 21x. 23MM Zoom Lens! One of my favorite aspects of this camera is that you can take video AND take pictures at the same time!

Lovely Charleston, Lovely Southern Style 1st Photo: The Chief Blonde enjoys a brief respite on the porch of the Charleston Tea Plantation. 2nd photo: Walt and The Chief Blonde enjoying the sunny Charleston weather. 3rd Photo: The Chief Blonde munching on tea delicacies by “Sugar Bakery”. Photos Courtesy of Olsonography

Getting Giddy with Bigelow Tea in Charleston, SC 1st Photo: The Chief Blonde receiving Bigelow Tea education! 2nd Photo: Walt and the Chief Blonde enjoying the Charleston Tea Plantation. Large Photo: The Chief Blonde is excited to check out all the wonder of the Charleston Tea Plantation. Photos 1& 2 Courtesy of Olsonography Large Photo: Taken with Samsung Galaxy Camera (c/o Verizon). Another feature I love about this camera is that it will has a “Best Shot” feature. You take 6 shots simultaneously and choose the best one.

TIME FOR AN AWKWARD STRETCH WITH CBIAS! While visiting the Charleston Tea Plantation with Bigelow Tea and Collective Bias. Bloggers and Staffers alike took time for an awkward stretch. Left to right: Natalie Zanatta, Collective Bias co-founder and COO Amy Callahan, Brandie and David Valenzuela, (front) Whitney Lett, (Back) Kim Janocko, Shelley Zurek (the Chief Blonde), and Walt Zurek . Photo courtesy of Olsonography

stillblonde The Chief Blonde Remarks: While visiting Charleston with Bigelow Tea, the main day was spent on tea education and Charleston history at the historic Palmer Home Bed and Breakfast followed by a trip to the Charleston Tea Plantation. We ended the day with magnificent open air barbecue with the Bigelows (of Bigelow tea)! Be sure to follow along with details on the whole trip, the Bigelow’s, and my newest fascination with tea on our new Tea Series!

Don’t forget to link up every week to the Verizon Voices Fashionista Style Hop!

Join Us Every Tuesday!

Katy from Modly Chic and Still Blonde after all these YEARS (that’s ME) will be hosting the Verizon Voices Fashionista Style Hop on our blogs. Every Tuesday, you can link up your latest style post right on Still Blonde after all these YEARS! The following week, the hop will be on Katy’s blog, Modly Chic.

Need a reminder? Sign up here for a weekly reminder that we will send out to you via email on Monday so that you don’t forget to post on Tuesday! Subscribe to our Verizon Voices Fashionista Style Weekly Reminder

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How to Tea Taste, Tea Tasting with Cindi Bigelow + $55 Tea Chest Giveaway

[ 103 ] June 11, 2013 | Shelley Zurek

Tea Tasting? What’s That?

Blog Note: How to Tea Taste, Tea Tasting with Cindi Bigelow was inspired by an all expense paid trip via a contest that I won from Bigelow Tea for writing “Around Grandma’s Table“. I was uncompensated for this post but some of the content does come from that trip.

Cindi Bigelow, President of Bigelow Tea gives “Tea Tasting” instructions. Photo Courtesy of Olsonography

coolsun still blonde The Chief Blonde Remarks: The Tea Chest Giveaway is part of the “Keep Cool in the Sun Event” hosted by the Blogging Mamas Network. Once you have entered this giveaway, keep hopping to all the other giveaways on the linky at the bottom! Be sure to enter to win the GRAND PRIZES too!

Cindi Bigelow explains How to Taste Tea in this video

12 Steps of tea tasting

Provide enough spoons so each participant can have two per kind of tea
Taste one kind of tea (green or black or herbal) at a time
Fill tea cups (5 is a good number) with various brands of one kind of tea. One brand per cup.
Be careful that tea is not to hot. Like Goldilocks, the temperature needs to be “Just Right”
Take a spoon in each hand
Choose one spoon to be your “dipping spoon”
Choose the other spoon to be your “tasting spoon”
Dip the dipping spoon into a cup, take a spoonful of tea, pour the tea into your tasting spoon
From your tasting spoon, slurp the tea into your mouth such that it sprays all over the inside of your mouth
Be careful not to choke from slurping too enthusiastically
Move on to the other cups of tea
Do NOT MIX your spoons!

The Chief Blonde gives tea tasting a try in this video below

Psst==>Watch for the Chief Blonde’s funny face at the end! Also, there is no sound.

THE GIVEAWAY

June 11-25th 11:59 PM EST, 18 and older US ONLY

THE PRIZE

You can win this lovely tea chest from Bigelow Tea valued at $55!

Bigelow Tea Chest filled to the BRIM with Bigelow Teas valued at $55 from Bigelow’s Gift Shop

Rafflecopter Form

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Keep hopping to all the other blogs and be sure to enter to win 2 $300+ Summer Fun Grand Prizes:

Blog Notes

According to Jenny, So Easy Being Green, the Blogging Mamas Network, and the Keeping Cool in the Sun participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations

This is article is the first in a multi-part tea series, STAY TUNED!

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Mexican Caviar Salsa Salad Recipe with Sunshine Sweet Corn

[ 2 ] May 7, 2013 | Shelley Zurek

Corn makes Mexican Caviar Salsa Salad a Sweet Recipe

For this Mexican Caviar Salsa Salad Recipe, I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Sunshine Sweet Corn. I received a gift card to purchase a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Here’s a divine recipe for Mexican Caviar Salsa Salad that will be a favorite during the summer over salads or anytime of the year as a colorful dip!

Mexican Caviar Salsa Salad Recipe with Sunshine Sweet Corn

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

24 hours

Total time

24 hours 30 mins

This tangy sweet recipe is sweetened with corn and the tang comes from vinegar, lime juice and seasonings.

Author: Shelley Zurek

Recipe type: Salad or Appetizer

Cuisine: Mexican

Serves: 4

Ingredients

3 ears of Sunshine Sweet Corn
1 can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 ripe Avocado, peeled, pitted/ and diced
3 Roma Tomatoes, seeds removed and diced
1 pkg. Dry Italian Dressing
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ Cider Vinegar
3 green onions, diced (optional)
3 Tbs fresh Cilantro, chopped fine (optional)
3Tbs Lime Juice (juice of 1 lime)
Dash of Tabasco Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
One Head of Romaine lettuce chopped into thin ribbons
Nacho Chips (Optional)

Instructions

Mix and marinate all ingredients for 24 hours
Serve over ribboned romaine and nacho chips for a salad or with nacho chips alone as a dip.

I am giddy for Sweet Corn this spring!

Don’t you just love it when spring rolls around and we can get fresh vegetables again? While maybe not “Local” for all of the US, we can start seeing American produce on our shelves from Florida and other states. It’s so exciting to me. What produce do I wait for especially? Well tomatoes for sure and also sweet corn!! Yum yum yum. Corn on the cob, all smeared with butter and salt…it’s the food of the gods! My kids love to take it outside and shuck it for me. I think the preparing of corn on the cob on the grill or the stove makes us all excited for the summer ahead.

When I was a child, my mom grew sweet corn in the garden, but the raccoons and deer loved the corn too and would just mutilate it. It was such a disappoint to watch it grow, smell the sweet aroma of the corn silk in the morning dew and then walk down to the garden and have everything devastated. That’s why I enjoy going with my kids to a farm stand and picking up corn. The farmers have to deal with all the vermin and not me! From now until the Michigan corn comes in, I am so lucky to have Sunshine Sweet Corn available at my local supermarket.

Participate in the “Livin’ The Sweet Life” Pinterest Contest!

To win one of three great Williams-Sonoma prize packages valued at over $200, just follow the entry steps below the photo!

TO ENTER: “Pin” an image from the Sunshine Sweet Corn contest homepage to your Pinterest account using the hashtag #Sweetlife. Contest runs 4/15-5/15 That’s it! Pretty Sweet RIGHT???

Get Social with Corn:

Visit the Sunshine Sweet Corn Website! On the site, you can find out about growing sweet corn, the health benefits of corn, check out recipes and find great cooking tips.

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Baked Asiago Chicken Recipe

[ 23 ] April 21, 2013 | Donna Marshall

“Keeping It Simple!!”

Baked Asiago Chicken Recipe

Baked Asiago Chicken Recipe is quick to prepare, looks great, and actually gives you a crunchy crust from the oven. Your friends will be amazed and think you slaved all day.

This recipe works fantastic as a leftover, as well! Slice it thin and place on salad mixings and you have Asiago Chicken Salad, serve it with a raspberry vinagrette. I make an easy sauce to accompany the Asiago Chicken, sorry no measurements. Blend either apricot or peach preserves with Dijon mustard, the consistency can be as thick or thin as you like. It really compliments the Asiago Chicken. Also, if you do not like Asiago cheese, you can substitute, cheddar, provolone, parmesan, or any combination of cheeses that you may prefer.

5.0 from 10 reviews

Baked Asiago Chicken Recipe

Baked Asiago Chicken Recipe is great served with asparagus or green beans. The flavors and colors compliment each other nicely.

Author: Donna Marshall

Recipe type: main dish

Serves: 4

Ingredients

16 buttery or onion flavored crackers, crushed (approx. ¾ c.)
1½ c. Asiago Cheese, grated
1 t. minced garlic
3 boneless, skinless, trimmed chicken breast halves
4 T. butter
1 T. milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350*. In a medium bowl, combine crackers, cheese,garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. I only use ¼ t. salt. Set aside.
Melt butter in separate bowl(microwave 45 seconds), add milk.
Cut chicken into portion sizes approximately 3 inches. Depending on breast size, you will have 6 to 8 pieces.
Dip chicken into butter mixture, then press into cracker mixture all sides. Pressing helps the crumbs to adhere. Place on rack on foiled lined pan.
Sprinkle any remaining mix and butter drippings onto the chicken.
Bake until golden brown or internal temperature is 165* , approximately 30-35 minutes.

What is Asiago Cheese?

Asiago, is a cow’s milk cheese, produced only on the Asiago plateau in the Veneto foothills in Italy. Texture wise, Asiago goes through many changes, assuming different textures, according to its aging. There are two types of Asiago – fresh Asiago (Asiago Pressato) has a smooth texture while the aged Asiago (Asiago d’allevo) has a crumbly texture.

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Around Grandma’s Table with Bigelow Tea

[ 76 ] April 5, 2013 | Shelley Zurek

Families and Companies Created around Grandma’s Table!

The Chief Blonde (middle..beige overalls) with her cousins and Grandma

When I was little, my family and I went to visit my grandma and grandpa at least once a week. When we weren’t outside helping Grandma with her flowers…

or playing in Grandpa’s apple orchard…

we were in the house..almost always sitting around Grandma’s table.

Grandma’s table was a light blonde faux wood formica number, edged in chrome, from the late ’40s/early ’50s. It was truly resilient and lasted her until the day she died at 86. A lot happened around that table. Grandpa cut all his grandsons’ hair at the table…

The Chief Blonde’s brother loving his buzz cut from Grandpa

We played games, especially with the Carrom board around Grandma’s table…

The Chief Blonde in a lovely purple dress with her brother…can’t imagine why I was making that face?

We grandchildren ate a lot of foods around Grandma’s table, not just meals, but tons of yummy snacks.

Grandma would toast the large four square saltine crackers (why don’t they make these big saltines anymore???) and then butter them, topping off the whole concoction with her homemade strawberry freezer jam. The salty and the sweet combo of this snack was divine!

Of course, the adults enjoyed Grandma’s table too. Loud card games (with tons of swearing and insults) went on deep into the night as the grandchildren attempted to sleep in various bedrooms.

Look at the men smoking right in the house! Smoking cigars no less, right at Grandma’s table! You could have cut through the smoke with a knife, it was so thick. These were different times indeed!

Almost every birthday was celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

And every holiday, for years, we wore our Sunday best, ate special family dishes, and drank tea around Grandma’s table.

The Chief Blonde’s grandmother (in gray) and her brother enjoy tea and cake

My grandparents worked hard to create wonderful family memories for us. They shared their hopes and dreams and memories as we gathered around Grandma’s table, and as a result, they created a wonderful close loving family that blooms to this day.

Around Grandma’s Table with Bigelow Tea

This is why Bigelow Tea and its history means so much to me. Cindi Bigelow, third-generation owner and company president, tells the story of how Bigelow tea was created around her Grandma’s table.

The company was started by my grandmother back in 1945 in her kitchen..(by) Ruth Campbell Bigelow and her husband David. They worked together. Really, what happened is..she was an interior designer, she lost everything during the depression. She wanted to get into business for the family, didn’t think we had a good tea, and created this wonderful product from an old colonial recipe and named it Constant Comment. That’s really what started us… I always like people (customers, employees) to remember our company roots, our history, it is that what makes this company so special. We are the number one specialty tea company in the country and I am convinced it’s because of the family aspect!

Bigelow’s Constant Comment Tea, a beautiful black tea with orange rind and black spice, is America’s favorite specialty tea to this day! Ruth Campbell Bigelow couldn’t have realized the impact that she would make on generations of her family or America as she toiled in her kitchen and around her table to develop and create one of this country’s most iconic products. I know my family has always enjoyed Bigelow products. My husband, Walt, is currently hooked on Bigelow’s green tea blends while I love Orange & Spice Herb Tea.

Bigelow Tea’s Founders Ruth and David Bigelow serving tea around their table

I admire Ruth, the company’s founder, and current president, Cindi Bigelow, for keeping this personal family element of pride in their product lines. Did you know that family members are involved in the creation, development and tasting of every new product to this day? While both my grandmother and Cindi Bigelow’s grandmother have now passed from this earth, I can almost see Ruth Campbell Bigelow smiling as she watches over her family with pride, just as surely as my grandmother must be!

Blog Note: The Chief Blonde was not compensated in any manner for this post. I wrote this as an entry in a contest for a trip to Bigelow Tea’s Plantation in Charleston, NC. Should I win, my date will be my loving husband Walt but I’ll bring a picture of Grandma, because she would have loved to sit around Cindy Bigelow’s table as well!

UPDATE: The Chief Blonde was chosen to attend a special event in Charleston based on this post. She is extremely grateful to Collective Bias, Bigelow tea and everyone who supported her in this post!