I was lucky enough to be invited to an amazing event last Thursday as part of Litehouse Food's #SeeTheLite campaign. It was a really awesome opportunity to get together with other Maryland bloggers and influencers over a delicious meal at here in Baltimore, all in celebration of the release of new products and coupons for Litehouse's premium, refrigerated dressings, and other delicious foods here in the Middle-Atlantic region.
I arrived at AGGIO, and was flooded with happy memories from a beautiful evening back in March, when my husband and I visited this upscale Italian restaurant thanks to The Baltimore Sun's Secret Supper event. It was one of the best nights we had since moving to Baltimore a year ago, and to be back just brought a big smile to my face.
I was escorted up to the second floor private room, where a long table decorated with a smattering of Litehouse dressings and other Litehouse branded gear were waiting for us. There was also a demonstration table set up, for our host, Registered Dietician Rebecca Stritchfield, to show off a new recipe she created using the Litehouse Homestyle Ranch Dressing. I couldn't wait to see how she incorporated the dressing into her Zesty Buffalo Ranch Chickpea Sliders. I do love buffalo...
I found my seat, thanks to the cutest guest name cards ever, our names emblazoned on fruits and veggies.
There were a few other bloggers when I arrived, and the whole crew was there within minutes of sitting down. We were ready to go!
After some not-so-brief introductions from each of us bloggers - hey! we love to talk! - we got right down to business: learning all about Litehouse Foods, thanks to the amazing Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Maria Emmer-Aanes.
I learned that Litehouse Foods is a family company, started back in 1882 by The Hawkins Family. I always like a good family-history story, so I headed to the website in search of some more information.
According to the website, "In 1949, Ed was a chef in Spokane, WA when his boss complained about the poor quality of the blue cheese dressing they served on salads. Ed responded to the challenge in an unorthodox manner: he prayed about it. The answer to his prayer was a blend of mayonnaise, spices, crumbled blue cheese and buttermilk. To his knowledge, his original recipe was the first creamy blue cheese dressing." The power of prayer is real! And it lead to Litehouse making some of the single greatest blue cheese dressing of life. Ever.
I should know. I used to eat the stuff like it was going out of style. Somehow, I forgot about Litehouse, and was so glad to have the reminder of the super fresh, refrigerated deliciousness. It's the stuff that you put on food that really makes you want to eat it.
More history: "In 1963 Edward and Lorena scraped together enough money to purchase 12 cases of jars and had Aunt Ethel Ashley design a logo for a label. The family mixed the dressing by hand in soup kettles. The first jars of Litehouse Salad Dressing were sold to the produce department of Rogers Thrift in Sandpoint, Idaho. A freshly made 16 oz. jar of Litehouse Bleu Cheese dressing cost $0.89 and Litehouse Thousand Island cost $0.79." Cool, right??
While learning about the history, we received our menus from the AGGIO staff during our Litehouse education. Everything looked so good!
We also got some of their savory funnel cake, and some delicious bread, which I promptly slathered with the accompanying mortadella mousse and whipped ricotta with olive oil and chives. Delicious.
While we snacked, we learned more about the physical products. Basically, their philosophy is that you should ENJOY what you're eating. When you're satisfied, you feel good, and you can't feel satisfied unless the quality of the food is fresh, and top-tier.
While Litehouse may not be the cleanest of the clean foods, it's pretty darn clean, and that's why you can't find it in the middle of the store. That's why it's conveniently located next to the salad stuff and the fruits. That's why it's so dang delicious. That's why you want to lick the bowl after you finish your salad. That's why you can't contain yourself when the fruit is gone and there's a little dip left and so you dive in with your fingers. That's why they're so dang successful.
The waiter from AGGIO started to come around with salads for us, and each salad had the choice of using Litehouse Ranch or Blue Cheese, and then took our order for the rest of the meal.
Obviously I poured all of the blue cheese everywhere. It's just amazing.
While we ate our salads, Rebecca went into her demonstration for her Zesty Buffalo Ranch Chickpea Sliders.
Rebecca had such an electricity when she was sharing her knowledge with us, and her bubbly personality was magnetic. I really enjoyed learning how to use the tart and tangy Litehouse Ranch to create a fun, vegetarian option to buffalo sliders. It looked SO good!
When she was done, the food started coming out. And as for the food, I couldn't be more excited. For the antipasti first course, I chose the mackerel crudo with citrus, fermented chile, miso ricotta.
The mackerel was sensational. I wasn't the biggest fan of the yellow citrus drizzle, mostly because it tasted like lemon meringue pie filling. It was a delicious lemon meringue pie filling, but it just didn't really seem to belong on the plate.
For the primi, I went with the cappelletti, stinging nettle pesto, goat cheese, baby chioggia beet. OH my GOSH.
This was literally the greatest couple bites of food I'd had in a while. It fully reminded me of another pasta dish I had at AGGIO, the Creste di Gallo, a red wine pasta shaped like the crest of a rooster, with chicken sausage, swiss chard and a sous vide style soft egg.
The cappelletti from the Litehouse event was so delicate, and had that musky, earthy taste from the beets, and the tang from the goat cheese. The pesto was such a beautiful bright beacon in this deep, dark and luscious dish. I was so happy. I wished it could go on and on.
The other options looked delicious too. My next door neighbor, Olivia from ThisNThatWithOlivia.com chose the garganelli with fines herbes, local pork bolognese, ramps and broad beans, and seemed very happy with it. So did everyone else that tried that option.
For the secondi course, I chose the Chicken Parm 2.0, with burrata, provolone, pomodoro, and spaghetti. The sauce was sensational, and it was so perfectly cheesey. Each bite was so satisfying. I wish I could have that dish again too!
Plus, it was a beautiful presentation!
My neighbor selected the halibut, peas, faves, mint, mustard green pesto, pine nut & citrus, and I couldn't help but take a photo.
For the Dolci, I selected the rhubarb semifreddo with vanilla cake, strawberry jam and whipped cream.
It was so refreshing, tart and beautiful. I loved it, and it was a perfect ending to a delicious meal.
The best part was getting to know everyone, make new friends, and learn so much about an amazing company. I can't wait to get my hands on some Litehouse products to use in my own home. I can use these dressings, dips, cheeses and more and feel more than confident that my children and my husband and I are getting great nutrition, while eating something that makes us happy because it just simply tastes really good.
Thank you Litehouse for having all of us bloggers out to AGGIO for an exceptional meal, and a wonderful time!