Ugh! I really don’t like this post holiday time of year. All the ads in the Sunday paper switch from decadence  to exercise equipment and workout clothes. Plus, sometimes my holiday spirit has just kicked in (working in retail that tends to happen!). But, if you can’t beat ‘em, you might as well join ‘em.

Many of us, ok probably most of us, have overindulged at the holidays. I know I had day long love/hate relationship with a Clausen’s cookie tray that was dropped off for staff.  However, I do have pat myself in the back for taking a break from the hors d’oeuvres table on Christmas  day and eating a Pretty Belle Navel Orange (trying to set a good example for my toddler!).  Alas, the good intention of that orange was likely (surely!)  negated by what soon followed, but a girl can try and at least I got my vitamin C in something other than a beverage.

When attacking my new healthy eating agenda for 2010, rather than following a strict diet (they never work anyway for me), I have instead devised a new shopping strategy called Two-Thirds Healthy. I’m working on a catchier name, but nothing has come to me yet. I’m thinking this will be much simiplier to follow that some diet I will never stick to. 

Two-Thirds of This

Here goes… So, all Brennan’s stores are basically divided into two: the fresh fruit/vegetable side and the wine (my fav)/cheese (another fav!)/snacky (yum!)/beer side. What I’m thinking is that if when I’m done shopping my cart should be filled with at least  2/3 stuff from the fresh side and 1/3 stuff from the beer/wine/snacky/cheese side. Therefore, my meals should follow suit — mostly healthy with some other fun stuff mixed in to keep things interesting. This will have to involve some new healthy recipes, too. I vow to post the good ones I make on our recipe page. Yes, I will have to change the recipe landing page from fondue and cheesy things to fruit and vegetable packed things. A resolution I will keep for 2010!

Of course, there is going to have to be exercise involved.  That’s just common sense, right? But I will say, “Ugh and another ugh for good measure.”

So, that’s my plan. I think it’s pretty simple. Of course, time will tell! To all of you in the same boat, good luck with your resolutions! Happy New Year!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is THIS Thursday? Wasn’t it just Halloween last week? Though I should have realized because my Halloween candy is somehow all gone. Not that I’m not excited, because Thanksgiving is ultimate foodie holiday– a day filled with food, tradition and no stress about gifts. You can read the Black Friday ads and imagine that you will finish your Christmas shopping in one glorious day. Note, I did say imagine.

Well, anyone who knows me well knows that side dishes are my passion, so Thanksgiving is my dream day. In fact, I’m not sure if there will be room for turkey on my plate! Maybe on my 2nd. If you’re not following us on Facebook, check us out because we are doing a countdown to Thanksgiving with a new side dish recipe everyday or you can visit our recipe page for more ideas.  

Of course, if you are looking beyond side dishes. Jacobson’s is stocked with fresh turkeys. Contact the Jake’s nearest you to reserve your bird. And.. we are fully stocked on fresh baked pies. Choose from Pumpkin, Apple, Cherry, Strawberry Rhubarb and more!

Whether you’re hosting Thanksgiving or traveling, wine is a must. Our wine selectors are sampling wines perfect for your holiday feast, including New Zealand’s South Island Pinot Noir, a true crowd pleaser. If beer is your thing, then you are in luck because we are fully stocked on Winter brews including Hales Wee Winter, Scuttlbutt 10 Below and Tommy Knocker Cocoa Porter. Just to name a few. Mix and match a 6-pack with some Brennan’s Amber or Pils and you’ll have something for everyone.

Because this is Wisconsin, you cannot talk about any holiday without mentioning cheese. Besides traditional cheese and sausage platters to snack on when watching the Packers take on the Lions, I add cheese into my mashed potatoes and even to my green bean casserole. If you are looking for a hostess gift our cheese boxes are on display and ready to take or ship!

OK… clearly I could go on forever. I will wrap up and say, “Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving from all of us at Brennan’s!”

Yes, the day has finally come. The road to Brennan’s Oconomowoc is open! No more orange cones. No more detours! To celebrate we are announcing that our Grand Opening Celebration at Oconomowoc will be held Saturday November 21st! Please join us for a fun-filled day of events for the entire family!

Oconomowoc Grand Opening Events– Saturday November 21

• Horse-Drawn carriage rides from 11:30am – 3:30pm
• The singing stylings “The Easy Days Quartet” from the Oconomowoc Performing Arts Center: Noon – 2:00pm
• Activities for the littlest Brennan’s customers in the greenhouse including kids’ crafts and giveaways: 11am- 4pm
• Free Balloons for the kids
• Free Roses to the first 500 customers
• Prize Drawings

We hope to see you there!

The first time I saw them I knew I had to try one. The first time I tasted one I knew that you had to try one. I’m talking about Mom’s Original caramel-wrapped, then chocolate-dipped pretzels. My favorite  is Milk Chocolate with Pecans, but you can choose your fav from Milk Chocolate with White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate with Walnuts and Dark Chocolate with White. Of course, all 4 flavors have that thick, thick layer of  caramel. It’s the salty, sweet, creamy combination  that gets me very time and keeps me coming back for more.

In face, I got so wrapped up in eating the pretzel samples that I totally ignored the Mom’s Mix, until the horrible moment when I realized that I had eaten my last preztel and was cursing myself for sharing in a weak moment. So, I opened the bag. To be honest, my hopes weren’t too high. Afterall, my pretzels were gone!  Ah, but to my surprise the Mom’s Mix didn’t disappoint. White chocolate covered pretzels, crispy cereal, nuts and candy pieces.Yum! I tasted peanut butter and looked at the ingredients, but there wasn’t any peanut butter listed.

So, I called Taran Hensley, daughter of Mom from Mom’s Originals and asked. Indeed, she confirmed that there isn’t any peanut butter and the rest is history. We just got in our first shipment of Mom’s. I hope that you enjoy Mom’s Preztels and Mix as I much as I do!

That’s right. Tony’s coming back to see us! Last year he visited over Labor Day weekend and we had to convince him to sample in the stores and not take off with his new Harley friends down to the Summerfest Grounds to see Bruce!  This year he’s disappointed there aren’t any big Harley festivities, but he’s excited to see his Brennan’s fans, sample his wines and visit our new Oconomowoc store.

Now, I think listening to his accent is one of the best things about his visits, but then (duh!) I remember his great lineup of New Zealand wine. While his Legacy Brut Sparkling is my favorite,  his Pinotage is full of berry, cherry and mocha flavors. His Gewurztraminer is spicy and citrusy with just the right amount of sweetness. While he’s here, you can pick your own fav!

Friday October 9

11:30am-2:30pm: Watts Road

3:00pm- 5:45pm: University Avenue

Saturday October 10

11:30am – 5:30pm: Oconomowoc

Sunday October 11

Noon – 5:00pm- Brookfield

A great pizza, burger and spaghetti wine!

You’ve enjoyed them as a value buy in our Vineyards of Value, now get twice as much for only $9.99!  Our Bootleg Reserve Red and White blends are now available in 1.5 liter bottles-perfect for entertaining, tailgating parties, and just everyday drinking. 

The Mixed White is a unique blend with inviting aromas of melons, pears and citrus fruit.  It’s packed with flavors of honeydew, casaba melon and bosc pear with understated nuances of kiwi and lime, and finishes crisp with nice lingering fruit.  This wine pairs well with mild cheeses such as Colby, Brick and Farmer, as well as with poultry, pork, seafood, and egg dishes. 

The Mixed Red opens with aromas of wild strawberry and raspberry with hints of clove and leather.  The palate shows bing cherry flavors with nuances of dark red berry and mineral.  The finish is soft with more lingering fruit.  This is a great every night wine, pairing well with medium to sharp cheeses, pizza, spaghetti and burgers.

We’re excited to welcome Soy-Zen-Zay Edamame Dips  to our family of products.  The dips are all natural, creamy in texture, rich in flavor, high in nutritional value (Edamame is very high protein!) and vegan. The dips are dairy and gluten free with no preservatives added.  

Made by a small family company in Kansas, these dips are sure to be hit with anyone looking for a new, delicious snack.  It’s just a bonus that they are healthy!

Available in 4 tasty flavors: Original, Cucumber, Garlic and Spicy Asian. They can be enjoyed right out of the tub with carrots, snap peas, flat bread, cucumbers, apples and celery. But don’t stop there. Spread on a sandwich or a wrap, rather than mayonnaise. Mix it with mashed potaotes. Layer it with fresh, chopped veggies for tiered dip. Even try it as a side dish to meat and fish.

We can’t wait for you to try. Let us know which is your favorite and how you use it!

Join Paolo Milani and Brennan’s Wine Selectors

We’re thrilled to welcome back Paolo Milani, Italian Wine Guru Extraordinaire, to our stores this week. There are so many different Italian wines that it’s hard to know what’s what. No worries. Let Paolo and our wine selectors help you navigate the exciting world of Italian wine. We’ll be sampling some of his classics, as well as his newest offerings.

Thursday September 24

Stop by and say ciao. We hope to see you!

I get all the email that goes to our general email address on our website. Everyday I wade through lots of spam  to find emails from our customers. We get all kinds of comments, requests and more, but none as cute as the one I got this morning from Angela Eisenhut, a customer at our Oconomowoc store. It’s so cute that I had to share it.

Photo by Dan Eisenhut

To the staff at Brennan’s in Oconomowoc,

 A family tradition in my husbands family was always picking fresh free-stone nectarines from their tree in their backyard in California. Ever since the tree was removed from their yard it has been a quest of my husband’s to find the perfect nectarine. Brennans has it. He tried the Summer Fire nectarines and they are just like

Nectarine Face by Dan Eisenhut

the ones from the tree they used to pick. Since we could not let our 4 month old son watch us eat them without getting a taste, we let him suck the juice from part of one. Here are a few photos of Trenton getting his first taste of the best ever Nectarines. Thanks for finding these for our family.  Angela E.

This email made my day and I know it made our produce buying team’s day. Thanks Angela for taking the time to write (and send photos!).

We’d love to hear from you, too!

I often answer the phone at one of our stores and right now the number one question is: Are your Idaho Peaches in? It so nice to be able to say that, “Yes, they are!”  While some say they will be right over and hangup (I imagine them grabbing their keys and tearing out of their garages.), a lot of people share their Idaho Peach story with me.  One customer today told me how she always used to can Georgia or Colorado Peaches, but ever since she tried our Idaho Peaches several years ago they have been her go-to canning peach. Another customer relayed that one year she hadn’t had time to can peaches all summer and was pleased to find we had peaches in September. So, she gave them a try. Now she waits for them every year and makes special trip from a hour way to pickup cases for herself and her neighbors.

We love to hear those kinds of stories from our customers. For our produce buying team, it makes all their hard work worth it. Now, we’ve seen that a lot of the stores near us have been advertising Idaho Peaches this summer and we know that they wouldn’t be advertising Idaho Peaches if it was for the fact that Skip Brennan had taken the time to drive to Caldwell, Idaho oh-so many years ago. There he met with John and Jim Symms, peach growers extraordinairre and a true partnership was born.

We know that we are the only ones who are in constant contact with the Symms, the only ones who drive out to the orchards ourselves to pickup our peaches and the only ones who put so put so much attention into displaying them and hand-selling them. We know this is why we hear stories like the ones above and many more.

So thank you to Skip, to our produce buying team and to our customers… many of whom are Idaho Peach fanatics, too! We’d love to hear your Idaho peach story, too!