At California Casualty – we love doing things for the folks who do so much for our communities. As a way to say thanks, we are running a March Madness Bracket Challenge for the NCAA tournament. The contest is open to anyone who is an educator, peace officer, nurse, or firefighter.
The premise is simple – make your tournament picks, and the entrants that get the most correct will win the following:
– 1st Prize, iPad 2
– 2nd Prize, $200 Visa Gift Card
– 3rd Prize, $100 Visa Gift Card
Get in the Mardi Gras spirit with this great recipe for King Cake!
This traditional Mardi Gras dessert makes two king cakes each topped with a creamy glaze and festive gold, purple, and yellow sugar sprinkles.
Yield: Makes 2 cakes (about 18 servings each)
Ingredients
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 (1/4-ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 to 6 1/2 cups bread flour*
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Purple-, green-, and gold-tinted sparkling sugar sprinkles
For the Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
Stir together first 4 ingredients. Stir in 2 tablespoons milk, adding additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until spreading consistency.
Cake Preparation
Cook first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Set aside, and cool mixture to 100° to 110°.
Stir together yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a 1-cup glass measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.
Beat sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until smooth. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add enough remaining flour (4 to 4 1/2 cups) until a soft dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top.
Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until dough is doubled in bulk.
Punch down dough, and divide in half. Roll each portion into a 22- x 12-inch rectangle. Spread 1/3 cup softened butter evenly on each rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border. Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle evenly over butter on each rectangle.
Roll up each dough rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, starting at 1 long side. Place one dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends of roll together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Repeat with second dough roll.
Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Bake at 375° for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden. Slightly cool cakes on pans on wire racks (about 10 minutes). Drizzle Creamy Glaze evenly over warm cakes; sprinkle with colored sugars, alternating colors and forming bands. Let cool completely.
Cream Cheese-Filled King Cake: Prepare each 22- x 12-inch dough rectangle as directed. Omit 1/3 cup softened butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Increase 1/2 cup sugar to 3/4 cup sugar. Beat 3/4 cup sugar; 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened; 1 large egg; and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on each dough rectangle, leaving 1-inch borders. Proceed with recipe as directed.
Tomorrow is national Read Across America day – as well as Dr. Seuss’s birthday! As a way to celebrate this important event – we wanted to share our own recipe for Green Eggs and Ham!
We encourage you to join with thousands of educators across the nation in sharing a love of reading with our children…and maybe share in the preparation of this unique breakfast. Would you try them?
Ingredients:
– 8 eggs
– 2 tbl milk or cream
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1/4 cup of chives
– 1/8 cup chopped, fresh parsley
– 4 oz of cubed cooked ham
– 1/4 cup of your favorite cheese, grated
– extra parsley, chives, or tomatillo salsa for garnish
Directions:
Mix all ingredients except the garnish and ham in a large bowl. Place a pat of butter (or a healthier oil) in a hot skillet, and saute the ham until heated through. Pour in the egg mixture and scramble until the eggs are cooked to your preferred consistency.
One thing I love about working here is that I hear a story about how someone made a customer’s experience wonderful on a nearly daily basis. The folks here at CalCas take a great deal of pride in the care they give customers, and it shows when we receive letters like this, from Joseph and Hilary in Oregon (edited a bit to remove some personal information).
Fred –
My wife and I have been with California Casualty for many years and have always enjoyed your competitive rates. Not until recently have we had to deal with your claims department and to be honest hopefully we don’t have to again for some time as being in an accident is not fun.
However it is important that you know how AMAZING our experience was with the claims department. We had a bad accident which caused a tremendous amount of stress in our lives. It was quickly determined that we had a total loss and Richard took over our claim. He quickly reached out to us to informed us of how the process would work.
Richard kept the communication lines very open and we felt that we were truly appreciated as customers throughout the entire process. We felt that Richard went out of his way to show us that he and your company cared about helping us move past this unfortunate situation. Here are a couple of the things that really stuck out from our interaction with him however there were many other moments that he exceeded our expectations with his service……
-Our claim was on his desk to be processed on the 31st of January. We had a new car in mind that we were getting at a discount but must be purchased that day due to end of the month push. I informed Richard of this the morning of the 31st and asked how much our settlement would be for so that we could determine if this was the right choice for us. He moved us to the top of the pile and got the info back to me within about 3 hours. This allowed us to save a good amount on our new car purchase.
-Richard made the process of getting the funds released quickly very easy on us. He gave simple instructions of what he needed from us and informed us where we were at along the way and we now have the settlement check (much faster than anticipated I should add).
-I am not sure how much say Richard has but we were also very happy with the settlement amount and Richard’s explanation of how it was determined. This prevented in arguing back and forth about what we were entitled to.
Again there was more but we don’t want to go on too long. I know from our interactions that Richard is a great asset to your team and brings a real value to being a California Casualty client!
Richard told us in an email that he still holds onto “the belief that you pay premiums for coverage AND service”. Before this accident my wife and I didn’t believe this. We do now!!!!!
If we can give any other feedback on our service from your claims department (specifically Richard) please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Just in time for Valentine’s day, one of our Field Marketing Managers, Rebecca Stumpf, has provided us with a great guest blog post. Did you forget to make that V-day reservation? Worried about crowded restaurants? Want to save money and have a fun dinner at home? Becky has your solution:
I have always been a fan of the fondue themed restaurants. Expensive prices, over-eating and a recommendation from a friend led me to the idea of having my own home fondue experience. The result, a wonderful meal at a reasonable price and none of the wait, tipping or other diners 3 feet away!
Start with a simple cheese fondue, one that includes a combination of cheeses such as Gruyere and Emmenthaler. Once prepared this is a great snack while prepping the main course. Set out vegetables, crusty bread and even cooked pieces of meat (salami, meatballs, etc…) to go with this fondue. A cheese fondue is easy and fun for kids, plus it’s a great incentive to get them to eat their veggies! *Ok, my kids like fondue, there are no guarantees your kids will too, but give it a try!
I have found that it’s best to coat the freshly shredded cheese with a flour mixture containing salt, pepper and paprika. Adding kirsch or cognac is optional as these can be expensive liquors. However, the liquor brings out a certain flavor that really makes this fondue pop. Try other cheeses and other spices to make a unique blend special to your family!
Now onto the main course of steak, filet and seafood! At first I was hesitant to trust my abilities to cook raw meat; chicken and seafood at home in a pit of boiling broth. What seemed like an invitation for sickness due to undercooked meat became a silly notion after successfully cooking my first chunk of filet!
I have tried two different ways of cooking raw meat fondue style: hot oil and hot broth. The hot oil fondue is also referred to as bourguignonne. There are many recipes on the internet that are as basic as hot peanut oil to more elaborate that have extra ingredients to give the oil a certain flavor. This method was good but I didn’t like that my kitchen smelled like a deep fat fryer for hours, seriously stinky!
Another option is to use hot broth instead of hot oil. My husband, kids and I like the Coq Au Vin recipe from the Melting Pot. Vegetable broth, red wine, garlic, mushrooms and green onions are the only ingredients to this fondue giving each piece of meat and/or seafood an enhanced richness, full of flavor. We like to serve the meat with Chantilly Cream, a mixture of sour cream and horseradish. You can find many other dipping sauce recipes online.
Now, if you haven’t already caught on, you will need two fondue pots or plan to be washing pots between courses. If this is your first fondue experience you may be feeling that something is missing if you don’t have the chocolate! Yes, you’ll have to clean a pot and prepare the chocolate; however this is the best part of the fondue experience! There are many great recipes online for chocolate fondue whether you like milk chocolate, white or dark or perhaps you want to add in caramel or something else to jazz up the fondue. Fruits, sweet-dense cakes like pound cake, marshmallows, and graham crackers are all good dipping items for chocolate fondue.
If you’re lazy like me, you might find that cleaning a pot only to make another fondue is just too much for one night. Typically I will pick up a fabulous dessert from my local bakery or grocery store. A beautifully decorated cupcake or cheesecake with a cup of coffee is just the right sweetness to end a great meal!
I am lucky that my children (4 years and almost 2 years) eat almost everything that my husband and I eat, so they had a great time with this meal. Prior to having kids my husband and I liked our romantic dinner at home and now we get to spend our Valentine’s Day with a couple of cute kiddos who appreciate good food and family as much as we do!
If you want to see Becky’s detailed recipes, check out our Facebook Page.
We also teamed up with Identity Theft 911 to provide all of our Facebook fans a great guide to protecting yourself at tax time. We’re not advertising just yet, so I wanted to give blog readers first crack at it. We’re going to share a lot of Fans Only content in the coming year – so click that “Like” button and bookmark that page! Go here to get the guide.
At California Casualty – we love doing things for the folks who do so much for our communities. As a way to say thanks, we are running a March Madness Bracket Challenge for the NCAA tournament. The contest is open to anyone who is an educator, peace officer, nurse, or firefighter.
Get in the Mardi Gras spirit with this great recipe for King Cake!
Tomorrow is national 