Welcome to the Rave Reviews Blog
Thoughts on cultivating a positive corporate culture through the power of event
October 01 2012
Quick, Healthy & Delicious Fare for Corpoate People with Full Plates
Bringing people together is our specialty.
At a corporate team building event or at home cooking with family and friends, making chili is a fun and tasty way to bring people together. Fall is here and cooler weather approaches. Perfect timing for our Quick Draw Chili recipe. Enjoy!
Photography by Kristin Allison Photography
Ingredients:
1 pound ground buffalo meat
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1-2 small cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans, drained
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans
1 (15.5 ounce) can kidney beans
12 ounces of your favorite beer
Water, ½ cup if needed, or enough to bring chili to preferred consistency
Directions:
Brown ground buffalo meat in olive oil
Add onion, garlic & spices to pan & cook on low for 2-3 minutes until onions are soft
Add crushed tomatoes, beans and beer
Bring to boil
If chili is too thick, add water
Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes
Serve with your choice of toppings
Shredded cheese
Diced onions
Sour cream
Diced avocados
Sliced jalapeno pepers
Crushed corn chips
And a sprig of cilantro for freshness
Or
To get your corporate team building events cooking, give Rave Reviews a call. The Rocky Mountain Rodeo and Chili Cook-off arrives with a slew of western games, a country store brimmin’ with chili ingredients and a recipe for team building that’ll knock yer boots off.
September 19 2012
Quick, Healthy & Delicious Fare for Corporate People with Full Plates
Rave Reviews Events is famous for Mama Pascucci's Ravioli and Tap Dance Lesson, a team building event that has helped corporations build cohesive, energized, well-fed teams.
Mama Pascucci has fed groups large and small with her amazing cooking but when she goes home at night, she secretly removes a jar of commercial pasta sauce from the cupboard and a package of frozen cheese ravioli. She doctors them up to make Mama's Ravioli on the Run, a tasty, quick version of her famous recipe. I hope you'll try this authentic tasting dish. Perfect for dinner any night of the week.
Photography by Kristin Allison Photography
Mama’s Ravioli on the Run
Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
2 lbs Italian link chicken sausage
2 large cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoon dried basil
1 (64 oz) jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1 cup sodium free chicken broth
Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Brown sausage in olive oil – remove from pan
Add garlic and spices to pan and lightly brown
Add sausage back to pan
Add tomato sauce and chicken broth
Bring to a boil
Lower heat and simmer for ½ hour
Pre-made meat or cheese ravioli – Found in the freezer or refrigerated section of your grocery store
Cook ravioli according to package directions
Drain and arrange in bowl
Top with pasta sauce and cooked sausage
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese
Add a sprig of basil for freshness
Or
To get your corporate team building events cooking, give Rave Reviews a call. Mama Pascucci’s Ravioli and Tap Dance Lesson® is an Italian food experience that will bring your team together to prepare a delicious meal. You will dance and dine and, when the day is over, you won’t have to worry about dinner.
September 13 2012
Welcome to our new series Recipes to Rave About. We hope they'll make your life easier...tastier...and add a little spice to your day. We do several food related corporate team building events at Rave Reviews. We think that cooking together builds great teams. So gather your family and friends and try one of our recipes. It's a fun, engaging way to bring your favorite people together.
Quick, Healthy & Delicious Fare for Corporate People with Full Plates
Photography by Kristin Allison Photography
Pizza Pronto
Ingredients:
1 Large Freshetta, Naturally Rising, 4-Cheese Frozen Pizza
Toppings: select from below
Meat Toppings
Pepperoni
Italian sausage
Diced or shredded cooked chicken
Salami
Spices
Red pepper flakes
Fresh or dried or dried oregano
Fresh or dried basil
Minced garlic
Veggie Toppings
Green and red pepper rings
Fresh or sun dried tomatoes
Diced or sliced onions
Sliced mushrooms
Black olives
Fresh baby spinach
Preheat oven to 400°F. Peel apart plastic wrap. Place frozen pizza on a cookie sheet on center rack.
Using your creativity, place selected toppings on the pizza.
Bake for 19-23 minutes. Cooking time may vary according to oven variance.
When baked to perfection, remove from oven and let rest 3 minutes before slicing and serving.
Or
To get your corporate team building events cooking, give Rave Reviews Events a call. Grandpa Vito’s Pizza Franchise™ focuses on employee productivity. Your team will design, build, create and toss – all the skills needed for an upper crust team building event. This hands-on, hand-tossed, pizza-making experience is the perfect recipe for innovative team collaboration.
You ask! We’ll deliver!
Rave Reviews Events
http://www.ravereviews.net
303-695-9002
November 16 2011
Looking for a way to get into the holiday spirit of giving? Rave Reviews invites you to share in our exciting holiday project: making no-sew fleece blankets for the needy. A simple and fun activity, making these blankets will not only warm your heart but will bring warmth to families in need. (See instructions below.) If you have questions, call us. This no-sew event is also a no-fee event.
The blankets will be distributed through The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless or you can bring them to a local charity or homeless shelter.
This is a fun, do-it-yourself project, an interoffice activity or a company-wide event. Make one at home or bring yards of fleece to the office and have everyone participate…a great team building, morale boosting opportunity. You can even include family and friends.
If you’re in the neighborhood, you can drop them off at Rave Reviews (8201 East Pacific Place, Suite 510, Denver, CO 80231) or call us (303-695-9002). We’ll be happy to come pick them up before December 20th if you’re in the Denver Metro area. If you’re outside Metro Denver, just take them to any local charity or homeless shelter. This is a great event that will not only bring your employees together but will bring smiles and warmth to some needy families. Hope you’ll join us.
Call us if you have any questions or you need help putting this together. This is not only a no sew event, it is also a no fee event.
Happy holiday season!
Instructions
The Simplest, No Sew Fleece Blanket – This is the absolute easiest to create. To make:
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Buy 1½ - 2 yards of colorful, medium to heavy-weight fleece
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Trim the blanket until all the edges are even, removing the rough machine finished edges in the process. The smooth, cut edges of the blanket won’t fray and in just a few minutes you’ll have a simple, snuggly blanket
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Time involved…a trip to the fabric store and 5 minutes to remove the rough edges.
The Simple, Fringed, No Sew Fleece Blanket – Also very easy but the fringed edges dress it up a bit. To make:
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Buy 1½ - 2 yards of colorful, medium to heavy-weight fleece
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Trim the blanket until all the edges are even, removing the rough machine finished edges in the process.
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Using a sharp scissors or a rotary cutter fringe the opposite edges of the fabric so that you have two smooth edges and two fringed edges. (Fringe can be approximately 1” wide and 4” long.)
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Voila! A warm, cuddly blanket
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Time involved…a trip to the fabric store and 30-60 minutes to fringe the edges.
October 10 2011
I have a new toy. It’s called a mezzaluna. A mezzaluna is a specialty knife consisting of a curved blade with a handle on each end. I saw David Rocco using one on The Cooking Channel and I had to have one. I’ve been using mine to chop herbs for pestos and pepper relishes that remind me of my childhood.
So, how does my mezzaluna experience relate to corporate meetings and event planning? It’s not as much of a stretch as you may think.
Really great pesto requires top notch ingredients: a large bunch of fresh basil from the garden, 2 plump garlic cloves, ½ cup toasted pine nuts, a handful of freshly grated Italian Parmigianno Regianno cheese and some wonderful extra virgin olive oil.
Gather the first three ingredients on a chopping board and begin rocking the mezzaluna back and forth across the basil, garlic, and pine nuts melding them into one amazing creation. Scoop the mixture into a small jar. Add the cheese. Top with olive oil, a little salt and pepper and shake…the jar that is.
Meantime, cook whole wheat pasta (one lb.) in a large kettle of boiling water until al dente. Drain. Combine the drained pasta and the pesto and serve in a large bowl. Top with halved cherry tomatoes and more Parmigianno Regianno. Bella!
The same principals of creating a great pesto for a fabulous dish of pasta apply to creating a great meeting or event.
1. Incorporate the best ingredients you can find…the best talent…the best venue…the most creative agenda…the best techinical support…the freshest ideas…the most engaging team building…the best tools (like my mezzaluna)
2. Add a large quantity of organizational skills and meld these ingredients into one, cohesive, exciting corporate meeting and event.
3. Finally, top with hard work, enthusiasm and an additional heaping cup of creativety. Bella!
June 20 2011
I can’t believe it but Rave Reviews has been in business for 21 years. We’ve traveled the country, met amazing people, worked for over 300 local, national and international companies, and in the process have had a great time learning a lot about the events business.
This blog will serve as a forum to share some of the insights I’ve gained and the excitement I feel being a part of this ever-changing industry. I have compiled a list called, 21 Lessons I’ve Learned Working in the Corporate Events’ World. Each of the next several blogs will include one or two of those lessons.
Finally, there will be articles I find educational or simply interesting, and sometimes, whatever thoughts pop into my head. As I am very interested in food and health related topics, you’ll find an occasional recipe or an idea that might make your life a little better.
I encourage you to post your comments, questions or ideas as well.
To start, I’d love to introduce our new website: http://www.ravereviews.net This .will give you an idea of what we’ve been doing the last 21 years and why we’re celebrating this momentous occasion.
Here’s to 21 more!
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