Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Going Green With Our New Garden
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Our Most Popular Recipes
Lon Lane's Inspired Occasion's Onion Puffs
1 loaf thinly sliced white bread—preferably Pepperidge Farm
1 cup Mayonnaise (Hellman's)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tablespoons grated onion
2 Tablespoons chopped green onion tops
Cracked Black Pepper to taste
Cut bite size rounds from bread slices with a hors d’oeuvre cutter. Place rounds on a baking sheet and bake in a 200 degree oven until toasts are completely dry. They need to be about the size of a quarter.
In a medium size mixing bowl, combine mayo, cheese, onions and pepper. Top toasted bread rounds with mixture using a teaspoon. Broil until golden and bubbly. Cool and serve.
Tips: Each slice of bread should yield about 4 hors d'oeuvre size rounds. When putting the mixture on the toasts, use a teaspoon and "mound" the mixture on top. It should cover the entire toast round, but do not pile too high, or it will "puff" over during baking. For best results, bake 10-20 at a time, and serve in batches while hot.
Cheddar and Chutney Cheesecake
At cocktail parties and hors d'oeuvre parties, we like to have a variety of foods available. There's always some proteins (Tenderloin sandwiches, caramelized salmon, chicken skewers, etc), a vegetable option, a hot dip of some sort (roasted corn dip is delicious), and a cheese dish. While many people like the traditional cheese tray, we also offer an beautiful selection of domestic or imported specialty cheeses as well as a number of savory cheesecakes (Cheesecakes around the World is for another post).
The most popular of those cheesecakes is our Cheddar and Chutney cheesecake. This is a savory blend of cream cheese and cheddar cheese with a hint of sweet and a hint of spice. It's signature presentation is highlighted by red and green apple wedges and crisp wonton chips "blooming" out of the cake.
As you can see, there are 4 sections of apples and 4 sections of wontons. See the TIPS section on how to assemble them so they look like the photo.
Inspired Occasion's Cheddar and Chutney Cheesecake (serves 35-40)
48 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar
4 eggs
2/3 cup grated onion
1 tsp. Cayenne
2 cups Mango chutney (Major Grey’s) divided
2 cups Chopped Pecans divided
1 tsp. Sherry
Preheat oven to 250°.
Combine cream cheese and cheddar cheese in mixer and beat at high speed until creamy. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add the rest including half of the chutney and half of the pecans and beat until smooth. Pack in 8" spring form pan. Swirl additional 1-cup chutney and remaining 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans over top. Bake in water bath for 2 hours (ish) or until the center is set. Serve with red and green apple wedges and fried wonton wedges.
TIPS: Wrap the inside and outside of the pan with aluminum foil to prevent any water from seeping into the cake. Allow to chill completely before inserting apples and wontons. When frying the wontons, it is important that the oil is not too hot, or the wontons will be too bubbly, and fall apart when you try to insert them. Starting at the 12 o'clock position, start at the top of the edge, and insert the wontons in the edge of the cake, and let them flow over to the top edge. Repeat at the 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions, leaving enough room to do the same with the apples.
Cut up 2 red and green apples, and treat with lemon juice or Fruit Fresh to prevent them from coloring while exposed to the air. Again, starting at the top, insert them randomly into the edge of the cheesecake in between the wontons. There's always room to add more chips or apples.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Inspired Occasions Nominated as a Top Business 2010
Criteria range from financial growth and employee benefits to customer service and innovation. Tickets can be purchased from KC Business Central's website at http://kcbcentral.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=60.
Just as a recap, nominations are out for Ingram's magazine in their Best Of Business KC, as well as online voting for KC Mag's Best of KC awards.
We hope to see you at the Berg in June, and stay tuned for an update in June :-)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
This week's recipe: Macaroni and Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Thyme
But for those of you who follow us on Facebook, we have started a forum for our most popular recipes. Each year, we host the Morningside Homes Association holiday party at our kitchen. As discussed in an earlier blog, we have been doing a lot of mac and cheese bars. At this event, we did a goat cheese mac and cheese with caramelized onions and thyme. Since this was our first attempt at getting suggestions, we went for the first response.
So, here's the recipe for one of our gourmet mac and cheeses:
2C Elbow or shell macaroni cooked in salted water and drained
1 10.5 oz. package of Montrachet cheese
4 oz. Cream cheese
2C heavy cream
1 small onion caramelized
2 t thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Course Bread crumbs
Combine 8 oz. of the goat cheese, 4 oz cream cheese and 2 cups heavy cream in sauce pan and heat on low until cheeses are melted and smooth.
Meanwhile caramelize the onion with :
2T Butter
1T Brown Sugar
2T Red wine and/or balsamic vinegar
Add caramelized onion to cheese mixture and fold in macaroni.
Pour into 2 qt baking dish.
Top with remaining 2.5 oz. of goat cheese (crumbled over top) and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Bake in a 350 degree oven until hot and bubbly.
Note: If Macaroni looks too dry drizzle with more cream or half and half.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Giving Back to KC
We are fortunate enough to have a wonderful client base, and many of the events we cater are patron's parties and civic events. These charities do DO MUCH for the Kansas City community, we're proud to be able to contribute back to them and help make their organization better.
For fundraisers which we are fortunate enough to cater, we very often get feedback from the organizers that if Lon Lane or Inspired Occasions is listed on the invitation, turn out is higher than past years. People are more willing to pay admission to the event to see what Inspired Occasions are going to do next. Plus, they know they will be treated to a delicious dinner, drinks, and a flawless event.
In addition to our donations and discounts, we also offer numerous gift certificates for silent auctions. Some of these are a French-inspired picnic basket, some are for a cocktail party for 25, and a few are for a plated dinner at our Kitchen or even our personal house. In the past, these gift certificates have brought in a couple hundred dollars for the picnic baskets to over $10,000 for a dinner for 12! In fact, demand was SO HIGH at the Wayside Waifs Fur Ball that Inspired Occasions offered a SECOND dinner for 12 so they could get another couple thousand dollars! Inspired Occasions also donates day-old food to Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral's community kitchen to help feed those not fortunate enough to feed themselves and donates supplies like paper towels, toilet paper, and other house-hold goods to the City Union Mission.
Unfortunately, there are always some organizations we are not able to help. Each week, a number of requests come in for donations. Churches, civic clubs, high schools, and more are all trying to raise funds. We try to cover as many areas as possible, and try to incorporate new organizations each year.
Below is a list of organizations Inspired Occasions has given to in the past year:
- Children's Center for Visually Impaired
- Temple B'nai Jehudah
- Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences
- Pembroke Hill School
- Women's Foundation of Kansas City
- City Union Mission
- Morningside Home's Association
- American Red Cross
- Francis Family Foundation
- Kansas City Free Health Clinic
- Genesis School
- Plaza Breakfast Club
- DIFFA
- KC Heart Foundation
- University of Kansas Hospital
- Gordon Parks Elementary School
- Greater Kansas City Chef's Association
- Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
- Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City
- MS 150 Bike Ride
- Shawnee Mission Medical Center
- The Fox 4 Love Fund
- The United Way
- Crested Butte Center for the Arts
- Boy Scouts of America
- KC Chorale
- Jewish Community Relations Bureau
- Alliance on Again
- Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
- St. Paul's Day School
- Rockhurst High School
- Operation Breakthrough
- United Cerebral Palsy
- American Heart Association
- Avila College
- First Downs for Down Syndrome
- And many more...
Friday, April 23, 2010
Dessert Presentation in Las Vegas
Of course, the dessert needs to taste great, but there are a number of ways to add that extra factor into your dessert presentation.
Our simple brownie sundae dessert is delicious. We serve fresh-baked decadent brownies, vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate sauce, and homemade whipped cream. However, we offer some luxurious upgrades such as a Godiva White Chocolate sauce, strawberries splashed with Gran Marnier, Cointreau-soaked maraschino cherries dipped in chocolate, crushed pistachios, fresh berries, or homemade ice creams like coffee or chocolate jalapeno. Our “Martini Curtain” is another popular option where martini glasses are hung from a coat rack giving the impression of a glass “wall.”
Another way to make a dessert station memorable is by having a chef-attended station. Having a uniformed chef present really adds a big impact for many guests. They can ask questions, interact with the chef, and if they want their food prepared a specific way, the chef can accommodate the order. Examples of action stations for dessert include cherries jubilee, sautéed pound cake (with different toppings), any flambé dessert, or a crepe station.
If you’re looking for a more traditional, plated dessert, there are still a number of ways to make them memorable. We really believe two is better than one, and three is better than two. While a lemon curd tart is delicious, it is even better when paired with fresh raspberries or a blueberry-tarragon compote. When served with some homemade chocolate soufflé cookies, the combination of all three flavors is unbeatable. Another great add on is to add a complimentary beverage pairing to the course. This can range from a small sample of a good champagne to a shot of liqueur or even an Italian soda or smoothie. They are just so unexpected, guests always remember them.
Finally, coffee service is one of those areas where if don't offer it, people may get upset. However, coffee is often an afterthough. There's usually just regular OR decaf, rarely both. Sweetners may or may not be available, and once you get your glass, a refill is often hard to get. Inspired Occasions likes doing a coffee bar, where regular, decaf, and hot water (for tea) are available. Then we offer an assortment of tea bags, chocolate shavings, cinnamon, whipped cream, warm cream, orange peel, and other gourmet condiments. We often serve Irish Cream or Whiskey with the bar, if the client likes. This just shows that all the details are taken care of, and guests can get what they want, when they want.
We’ve included a few pictures of our desserts, so please enjoy. If you have any questions, feel free to email me any time at lon@inspiredoccasionskc.com, or just post your question on our Facebook Fan page, and I’ll be sure to get back to you. Thanks so much!!!