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Even
though you may not be rolling in the dough, you can
still throw parties that are festive, yet inexpensive,
and brilliant in their simplicity. Our guests, Andrea
Olguin and Pam Kietzman are authors of the book
“Carefree Food Buffets”. These gifted food enthusiasts
have come up with an A-Z guide that leaves virtually all
of the guesswork out of throwing fast, fun and fabulous
summer soirées.
Carefree Gourmet was conceived of in 2000 by Andrea
Olguin. After spending time catering, attending chef
school, avidly reading food magazines and trying new
recipes out on her family and friends, as well as
providing advice to friends and family on party
planning, she identified the need to create a way to
make entertaining more approachable and affordable.
Too many of the current publications focused on
complicated recipes, hard to find ingredients and
techniques that required training and practice.
People she spoke to were intimidated by the recipes,
didn’t have the time to learn, or a clue as to how
to get started. Their only other option was to hire
a caterer, which didn’t’ fit into everyone’s budget.
So many friends chose not to entertain at all.
Andrea shared her idea with Pam
Kietzman a photographer and fellow food enthusiast.
Together they built upon the concept and created the
first book,
Carefree Gourmet Buffets – Dazzling Desserts,
Bountiful Brunch, Tea Anytime, Brazilian Bar-B-Que,
Casual Cajun and Classy Cocktail for up to 20 Guests.
Carefree Gourmet is meant to be just that, carefree
entertaining, while still providing a quality
experience for your guests. Fresh foods, nice
presentation, simple recipes, menu items you can
make ahead and fun party ideas we hope will inspire
you to have a few friends over. Start small if you
like and build your confidence over time, try the
recipes a few times, mix and match the menu items
and create new party combinations. Use these recipes
to take great tasting food to your next potluck,
people will think you fussed over your contribution,
but you will know it was done in a snap.
Food is central to life in so many
ways. It is, of course, critical to our body
function, but it is also social, cultural, and nuturing.
Where to people congregate in a home? The kitchen.
Where to friends meet to catch up? A favorite
restauant. How do we celebrate special days and
accomplishments? With parties including lots of
food! How do we show love? By making a
favorite meal or special dish. Most of us have a
special memory of a certain recipe our mom or
grandmother made espcially for us that made us smile
both with anticipation and knowing that we were loved.
Recipes passed down from generation to generation help
us to stay connected with our heritage and share our
culture with friends and family.
Food today, however, has become
rather complicated. TV chefs whip up dishes that
are difficult, time consuming, expensive and require odd
or many ingredients. And what do you do with the
leftover spice that you only have one recipe to use it
in? Information on what is good for you and what
isn't is so confusing. Is organic best? Or
should it be locally grown? Is corn fed beef ok?
Or should I buy only grass fed? Maybe I shouldn't
eat meat at all! And wow, fish is getting a bad
rep too with all that mercury or pollution that it
contains... Who has time to sort through this all
and make a good choice for their family?
Pam and Andrea know what it's like to
be a woman on the go today. Pam works full time in
local government. Andrea is an entrepenuer in the
health & wellness industry as well as a real estate
investor. They have full lives with husbands,
kids, aging parents, siblings and wonderful dogs. They
know what it is like to be short on time, juggling lots
of to do's and still wanting to spend quality time with
loved ones.
On this site, they share great recipes, kitchen
shortcuts, recommend helpful products , offer video how
to's to demonstrate easy recipes, a food blog and are
available to answer you food questions. All of the
recipes provided have been tested in a home kitchen with
home tools, so they know they work! They publish a
new recipes each month in their newsletter.
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