FANDANGO Catering Offers Non-Alcoholic Beverage Ideas

FANDANGO Catering offers six ideas for non-alcoholic beverages for your spring and summer events.

If you'd like something non-alcoholic instead of, or besides, just iced tea, punch, or sodas, here are six ideas:

The Madras--mix orange and cranberry juices
Tom Collins--mix lemon sour mix with simple sugar and lemon-lime soda or seltzer water
Cosmo--mix cranberry juice with orange syrup and a dash of lime juice
Tequila Sunrise--mix orange juice with grenadine or cherry syrup
Long Island Iced Tea--mix lemonade with cola
Long Beach Iced Tea--Mix orange, cranberry, and pineapple juices in equal parts, top with a dash of grenadine

You can prepare a batch to have ready when your event starts and line them up on a table or tray. Or buy one of those decorative beverage dispensers with an ice element (keeps drinks from getting watery), or use a punchbowl, which are making a big comeback. Self-serve ice or have your bartender add ice to the glasses filled with the beverage (fill glasses only half full of liquid).

Enjoy!

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Offers Food Tips for Earth Day

FANDANGO Catering is Houston's only dedicated green caterer (we were just written up on April 18 in the Houston Chronicle's section on green living), and in honor of Earth Day 2010 we offer four tips to green your eating this year.

Have at least one vegetarian meal each week--Raising livestock produces more greenhouse gases than every car, ship, plane, and train combined, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Choose chicken over beef--Beef production creates 13 times as many greenhouse gases as chicken production does.

Eat what's in season--Opt for local produce that's in season and hasn't been shipped from far away; you also support local businesses this way, and it tastes so much fresher that any comparison to supermarket produce is impossible.

Buy in bulk--Avoid the single-size or small-size containers as much as possible; plastic packaging is usually made from oil and produces tons of greenhouse gases each year. Also try the bulk aisle for things like beans, lentils, and nuts.

Every little bit helps!

To Earth Day 2010!

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.

Partner, Director of Sales & Operations

FANDANGO Catering

(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Interviewed on Greening the Kitchen

FANDANGO Catering was interviewed by Greg Morago, Houston Chronicle Food Editor, on Greening the Kitchen and Green Catering in honor of Earth Day, April 22, 2010, since FANDANGO is Houston's only dedicated green caterer.

Executive Chef Jesús Lumbreras-Calvo was photographed at the company's facility gardens with three of his signature green dishes:

Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with Drizzle of Handmade Lime Creme Fraiche
Pear, Jamón Serrano, and Mixed Greens Salad with Early Texas Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Artisan Bread, Organic Fruit, and Local Texas Artisan Cheese Platter

We shared tips on greening the kitchen with the Chronicle, and here are a couple.

• "Greening the kitchen" means using the freshest local, seasonal, organic, and/or fair trade ingredients, cooking methods that are as energy efficient as possible, using equipment that is also energy efficient and nontoxic, and using non-petroleum based cleaners.
• If you have or work for a small business, begin a recycling program, put your electronics on a surge protector and really turn them off at night, and print less and in draft mode if you're not printing presentation documents.

Look for the Chronicle article on April 18, 2010. And look for more greening the kitchen tips in honor of Earth Day, which turns 40 this year, here on our blog.

Warmly,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras,Ph.D.
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Offers More Spring Event Tips

FANDANGO Catering offers more spring event tips, updated from a previous monthly FC newsletter issue.

These tips come from our Executive Chef and are great ways to make your events really special this spring, yet are not a lot of work. Your event will be a hit with any of these!

Aperitivos de Cucurucho o de Cajita de Caramelos (Cone or Candy Box Hors d'Oeuvres)
Cut parchment paper into 9" x 6" squares. Make the squares into cones and put the cones into small glass tumblers. Alternately, buy small colored paper candy boxes at craft stores. Fill the cones inside the tumblers or the candy boxes with any of the following:

*Breaded Parmesan Chicken Tenders
*Cream Cheese or Goat Cheese Dumplings or other dumplings brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with fresh chopped herbs
*Arancini (Fried Risotto-Mozzarella Balls)
*Baked Crispy Zucchini Sticks

Line up the cones or boxes on trays, a counter, or another flat area. Put out dipping sauces. These can be served buffet style or as passed hors d'oeuvres.

Aperitivos de Tiesto (Flower Pot Hors d'Oeuvres)
Buy small porcelain flower pots and fill with any of the following:

*Crab Dip
*Shrimp Paté
*Guacamole
*Mango or another dessert mousse

Insert drinking straws in the fillings inside the flower pots so that the straw comes up about one and a half inches above the filling, and insert a fresh non-toxic flower and its stem in each straw. Line pots up on trays, in baskets (make sure basket bottoms are smooth), or on a serving area. These are best served buffet style.

Aperitivos de Cuchara (Spoon Hors d'Oeuvres)
Use a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off to pipe fillings onto silver spoons, then arrange the spoons on a tray in a circle, semi-circle, or a row. For passed hors d'oeuvres.

Filling ideas:
*Finely Chopped Pickled Shrimp Drizzled with Creme Fraiche and Chives
*Greek Yogurt Mixed with Farmer's Cheese and Garnished with Finely Chopped Tomatoes and Fresh Basil
*Lime or Chocolate Mousse Garnished with Finely Chopped Caramelized Ginger

Enjoy!

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Partner, Director of Sales & Operations
FANDANGO Catering
(281) 796-9841

FANDANGO Catering Offers 5 Spring Events Tips

Spring is finally here, and FANDANGO Catering offers 5 tips for making your Spring 2010 events a success.

Spring brings many opportunities for celebration, including Mother's Day and Memorial Day, showers, graduations, picnics, family and friends get-togethers, and more. The mild air, longer daylight hours, and lovely smell of growing things inspire us to celebrate. In today's and upcoming blog posts, we'll provide ideas for making your spring events interesting and fun, not ho-hum.

Here are 5 ideas for making your spring events a sure success this year:

Use glasses--Break up the monotony of an hors d'oeuvres spread with shooter or wine glasses or demitasse cups of a soup or a mousse. Garnish each glass or cup with something relevant to the dish, such as chopped tomato, a single shrimp, chopped chives, or creme fraiche.

Burger sliders are yesterday's news--If you like sliders, try a global variety such as mini paninis, mini emparedados (Spanish French toast ham and cheese sandwiches), or mini pitas. Just cut full -size sandwiches in halves or fourths; try serving with a dipping sauce or two.

Put out a signature cocktail on trays before the event starts--That way guests can get a drink as soon as they arrive and you can arrange and even garnish the tray of cocktails with plenty of time

Have a special treat for children if they attend--Special foods for kids, such as paper cones of kid-friendly finger foods or healthy snacks (or even cascarones, confetti eggs), or a tray of cupcakes. Kids always appreciate a little table with their food or treats at a buffet event.

If you serve iced tea, make it delicious and interesting by adding fruit juice--Fresh (not canned or pasteurized) orange juice and grape juice work well. Begin by adding a little juice at a time to the pitcher of prepared and sweetened tea, and keep tasting until you like the results. Or try half lemonade, half iced tea mixed together.

To Spring!

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.

Partner, Director of Sales & Operations

FANDANGO Catering

(281) 796-9841