Perfect Party Peanut Mix

A Recipe for (Snacking) Success By Deli Manager Taylor Kline

Peanut and Pretzel Mix: a football Sunday Kline family tradition, which in all reality became a requirement for every Menard’s run. By no means is this a high society party mix. It is a simple mix made for the simple pleasure of all day snacking and its often what we had in our “snack” dry pantry.

The best part about party mixes are that they can be used seasonally or as basic as desired. Think the Holiday season with almond bark-dipped pretzels or for Thanksgiving throw in some roasted pumpkin seeds.  But for snack simplicity, this is what I crave with an ice cold pilsner and the refreshing disappointment of Minnesota professional sports, minus the Lynx.

Basic necessities:

• Pretzels 1 bag (12 oz) / Stick Pretzels - or tub (32 oz is typically what the Butter Spindles come in)
  Any basic snack-size sticks work great. But when we discovered Butter Spindles, our mix hit the next level of salty, buttery greatness.

• Dry Roasted Peanuts - 2 containers (they typically come in 14 oz containers).   1 container of dry roasted & 1 container of honey roasted.

• M & M’s - 1 bag (12 oz) - Regular M & M’s are absolutely fine, but come on, this is indulgent. Go for the peanut, peanut butter, or even the pretzel M & M’s.

• Rice and/or Wheat Chex Cereal - 1 box of Rice and or 1 box of Wheat

• -Raisins - 1 bag (10 oz)

The Mix

• Pour into a large bowl:

  • Full bag of pretzels ( if you are using the Butter Spindles, use half the tub)
    Each container of peanuts. 

  • Half a bag of M & M’s

  • Half a box of Rice Chex & half box of Wheat Chex

  • Half bag of raisins (if you prefer more raisins to mix ratio, add more.)

Store unused items in cupboard for the next batch. 

There is nothing better than snacking the Big Game Day away and enjoying bevs with your friends and family. Enjoy this simple, yet delicious recipe, while watching two teams that Minnesotans dislike in our hometown stadium - No deflated footballs here!

SKOL 

5 things - What's New in Mail Order

5 things coming to you from the desk of the Mail Order Director this week. I've had an amazing year in 2017 at the Smokehaus. From learning the ropes from my dear colleagues Flo and Mary (and the whole staff really), to being given the autonomy to research and implement new systems and processes to grow this department, to learning that you can have a job that is actually fun, challenging and creative but not all consuming. What a find, I think. I made it through the busy month of December, and now there's time to breath and dream and scheme (as they say around here) on all the fun things we can do for our amazing customers this year.

For starters - here's 5 recent additions to our Mail Order website (in case you missed them):

#1 Country Pate (we know it’s not for everyone, but once you try it, you may get hooked) is now offered in 3 sizes: 1/3 pound, 1/2 pound, whole loaf. The 1/3 pound is obviously the cutest, coming in the small container we affectionately call “the casket.”

#2 We’re working on amping up the grocery items available to ship. Many have asked for them, and more to come. So far, you can purchase our Hausmade Kimchi, Kraut and Crayo. Take your home sandwich-making up 10 notches with these badass items.

#3 Cheese and crackers. It’s as simple as that. You can now add Cheese + Crackers to your order for $10. Just need the crackers? You can do that too. And you know you want to add them, because it’s the easiest way to enjoy so many of our products, and the fastest way to get a party started.

#4 We have a new section on our website for “Seasonal” items/gift boxes! With our plans to offer new pairings, seasonal offerings, and promotional discounts, you can find all those good things now in the Seasonal section. In case you missed it, right now, we have super awesome Super Bowl snack packs, and a Valentine’s Day box for sweethearts everywhere.

#5 And we’ll be working on a great many more things this year! Be on the lookout for Ham Steaks (in case you don’t want the whole 7 pounder), Portioned Porkettas (dinner for 2?), and Atlantic Salmon Boxes including 4 pieces of a single flavor (i.e. we know those purists love the Traditional Style!).

Please keep eating our food, and staying in touch with us 🙂 We love to hear from you, and we love to feed you.

Blanket Buds

Besides being incredibly tasty and hand-made with love by our surly team of smokers, our Bison Buddies are versatile. You can eat them on their own, pair them with your favorite spicy mustard or use them as a non-mysterious hot dog meat alternative. But, if you have 9-12 minutes and you want to make some extra special buttery, flaky snacks, we suggest: Blanket Buds. You only need two ingredients plus what ever adventurous dipping sauce you prefer.

Ingredients

Pillsbury™ Butter Flake Crescent Dinner Rolls

A six pack of Bison Buddies

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven and cut your Bison Buddies into smaller pieces. After prepping your buds, you're going to follow the Pillsbury™ instructions word-for-word with an additional and easy step of cutting the pre-indented dough into smaller triangles.  Number of buds = number of triangles you'll need. Six buds should yield around 20 +/- Blanket Buds. It's up to your math.

Bake the buds and share with friends!

FOR AN EXTRA CHALLENGE:

Add cheese. You won't regret it. Add the cheese.  

5 Things: Plus Bonus Best of 2017

5 Things

1. We got to feed the new senator! Tina Smith celebrated her first public appearance in Duluth right down the street at Hoops Brewing, and we supplied the snacks! Jeremy and I threw together some adorable little “bites” – gravlax, ham and pimiento, and salmon pate all made appearances. We enjoyed a pint and watched as hundreds of folks piled into the taproom.

2. Superbowl Madness! We are concocting specials, unique grab-n-go items, fantastic décor, and many an attempted sports pun this month in preparation for the big game (it’s in Minnesota this year, doncha know). Flo has been sending ADORABLE “Stadium Status” newsletters and postcards, and the shop is looking cute enough for ‘Ye. Annemarie is a closeted football fanatic (Go Seahawks), so it’s been pretty fun to watch her squirm as the rest of us in officeland struggle with the terminology.

3. Budget Task Force has new members, and a bigger whiteboard. We’re rearing to go for 2018. We even created a wish list, with new ovens at the top. Jerry’s going to be BUSY this year, guaranteed.

4. We sliced cheese on the electric slicer, and life will never be the same. We did this years ago, but the dulling effects and overwhelming prep list shut us down, but we now know that it’s a (nother) goal for 2018 to bring back the fresh-sliced cheese – it is delicious!

5. Cookbook genesis: we are beginning in earnest to create a Smokehaus cookbook! We’ve amassed tons of recipes, images, stories, and artifacts over the past 20 years, and we’re ready to compile it into some kind of (gorgeous) semblance of order. Stay tuned!

EXTRA 7, Best Of 2017 (According to Mary, General Manager):

1. New website pictures: with Flo’s styling, Stephen’s photography, and the collective editing of Smokehaus Team Creative, the website looks like a million dollars. Our food deserves it.

2. Boot in the Barn: a dream come true feast at Hemlock Preserve, this event was smashing. We plan to sell the very special porchetta in upcoming holiday seasons (and for events), and now know the secret behind great limoncello (hint: it’s lemons and time).

1. T.K.’s (and others’) experiments: from half-sour pickles with chile to cumin slaw to “Tickle Sauce,” there are some truly awesome new things coming down the pike at NWSH. As soon as we have the proper space and plans, customers can expect to jump on the pickle/tickle train, too. In the meantime, Nic’s romesco and Caesar salad may make appearances as soon as this winter.

4. The big board: we’ve used it several times this year and every time it’s absolutely glorious.

5. “Goodbye Horses” radio on Spotify.

6. The Budget Task Force – we are starting to practice open book management and it’s awesome! We already have several ideas for business development, and the energy and ideas during these meetings are genuinely enjoyable.

7. So many wonderful times at the Restaurant: I haven’t even begun to process the fact that I can’t eat those wings whenever I want, but instead I’m feeling grateful that we had our time together. From the wine list to the INCREDIBLE staff, the restaurant defines a lot about what made 2017 great.