DETAILS & RULES

Prize: Win a whole case of our all-natural, made in vermont croutons (6 packs, retail value $25).

Includes all flavors: Butter & Garlic, Parmesan Pepper, Vermont Cheddar & Dill, Garlic & Herbs, Multi-grain & Garlic

All you have to do:

1. make sure that you’re following the Healthy Living account on twitter: (HealthyLivingVT) http://twitter.com/healthylivingvt, and the Olivia’s Croutons account on twitter (OliviasCroutons) http://twitter.com/oliviascroutons

2. Tweet @OliviasCroutons with your favorite dish for croutons, and you’ll be entered to win.

If you don’t have twitter, it’s quick and free to sign up and easy to learn: here’s a video on how to get started: http://www.howcast.com/videos/149055-How-To-Use-Twitter

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Timeline: The contest will start as soon as it is announced on Healthy Living’s twitter page, and end exactly one week after the first tweet.

Selection: The winner will be selected based upon the judges’ favorite dish/recipe, and announced on both twitter accounts, Olivia’s Croutons facebook fan page, and this blog!

Questions? Email Alex@peoplemakinggood.com.

Hi Everyone,

In case you missed this when it was live on facebook, here is the recording of our interview at NASFT.

Thanks,

Francie & David

Follow the link below to read her review:

http://artandentertainme.blogspot.com/2010/02/olivias-croutons-for-health-nuts.html

If you tried the little pack of croutons that we were handing out and have to have more, we are gladly taking orders from retailers – please see our website for more information.

We were especially excited to appear on the NASFT live feed, and we’d like to thank members of our Facebook fan page for tuning in live. We’ll be posting a video of the interview soon.

Thanks for reading!

Francie and David Caccavo

Owners of Olivia’s Croutons

If you make it let me know how it turned out.

Thanks CrankyCakes for the inspired recipe!

–Francie

Can’t wait for Thanksgiving, Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2 c coarsely crushed Olivia’s Traditional Stuffing

2 c chicken broth (reserve 1 cup for gravy)

1 ½ c chopped onion, ½ large, (reserve ½ cup for gravy)

1 c chopped celery, 2 stalks

1 lb lean ground turkey

1 lb lean pork breakfast sausage* (reserve ¼ lb for gravy)

1 t poultry seasoning

2 eggs

2 T flour for gravy

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl mix stuffing and 1 c chicken broth. While stuffing is soaking, prepare onion, celery and add to stuffing mix along with ground turkey and ¾ lb lean pork sausage, eggs, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Combine ingredients, but do not over-mix. Place meatloaf mixture into a large loaf pan or hand form into a loaf shape on a cookie sheet. Bake for a total of 60 minutes, or until center of meatloaf reaches a temperature of 155 degrees.

Prepare gravy in a 12” fry pan over medium heat. Sauté remaining ¼ lb of sausage and ½ cup of onion until tender. If your sausage is very lean you will need to add 1 T butter. Add 2 T flour and stir until combined. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and simmer stirring frequently until gravy has thickened. Adjust thickness by adding sifted flour or chicken broth if necessary. Salt and pepper to taste. When meatloaf has baked for about 40 minutes, add gravy to the top and finish baking, approximately 20 minutes.

This is a yummy, moist meatloaf that reminds me of the flavors of Thanksgiving, a combination of turkey and stuffing wrapped into one. Enjoy!

*If you can’t find lean pork sausage (the commercially prepared varieties can sometimes have too much fat) you can make your own by mixing 1 lb lean ground pork, 2 t brown sugar and 2 t poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.

One of my favorites is Split Pea soup with Olivia’s Butter & Garlic croutons. I can’t have one without the other. Pea Soup is so easy to make. Its best with a ham bone, but a quick substitute can be bacon. I start with a ham bone that at one time or another I have stuck in my freezer. Add about a quart of water, a large onion, a couple bay leaves, a few pepper corns and a little salt. I let this simmer for an hour or two until the ham is falling of the bone and the broth has some taste. I remove the bone, pick the meat from the bone, return it to the soup, add about 1-1 ½ cups of green split peas and let simmer another 2-3 hours on really low heat. Sometimes I add carrots toward the end of the cook time, too soon and the color of the soup gets a little questionable… Because I work at home, it’s easy for me to check my soup periodically.

If you don’t have a ham bone, sauté about a pound of bacon, cut into small pieces, remove most of the fat and proceed as above, you might want to add some vegetable broth to prop up the flavor.

If you work outside your home, try a crock pot. It’s really hard to beat this filling, delicious soup, generously sprinkled with the croutons. The butter and garlic are a perfect combination with the peas and ham.

Enjoy! Francie

Location is The Essex Culinary Resort & Spa Essex, VT.

It promises to be a good conference, you can check the speakers out by clicking this.

Say hi if you’re there!

–Francie

Here’s another of my favorite recipes. The wild rice, the herbs, and the multigrain croutons give it a really rustic, fall appeal. I think its perfect for the ‘heritage breeds‘ of turkeys that are becoming popular. It’s also a fantastic stuffing for pheasants, or other small game birds; these make a wonderfully festive winter holiday meal.

If you prefer a vegan or fully vegetarian option, it’s an easy matter to substitute a few of the ingredients; so for example, use vegetable broth rather than chicken broth (BTW there are some really great, all natural and organic imitation chicken broths on the market, you’d never know that they are chicken free!).

I really recommend you try this with the dried cranberries or prunes.

Olivia’s Wild Rice and Multi Grain w/Garlic Stuffing

• 2 cups cooked and seasoned wild rice (If you don’t have any pre-cooked wild rice, ½ cup of uncooked wild rice will yield the necessary amount. It takes a good 45 minutes to cook the rice, plan to do it well in advance or you’ll be standing around waiting for it. Seasoned means salt, pepper and butter to taste).
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup (about ½ medium Spanish) onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup (2 medium stalks) celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup (1 medium) sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 2 cups (a little more than ½ a bag) Olivia’s Multi Grain w/Garlic Croutons
• 1 cup chicken broth (you may choose more or less)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: ½ cup dry cranberries or chopped dry prunes

For preparation you will need a large skillet, at least 12″ across and 2-3″ deep. Be sure your rice is taken care of. Melt butter in skillet. Add vegetables and fruit if you choose, and sauté over medium heat, about 10 minutes until onion begins to look clear. Turn off heat. Add seasoned rice, stir, add Olivia’s Croutons, add broth and stir again, gently. Let stand about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until broth is absorbed into croutons. Your stuffing is complete. You can use it in your bird, or put it in a covered casserole and bake 30-40 minutes and use it as a side dish. Yield 6-7 cups of 37 oz.

Bon appétit!

–Francie