Combining our love for Tillamook, Olympics, and The Hunger Games! District 12 taking on Archery!

By Sean

I’m a lucky lady! It’s my job to think about tasty ways to use Tillamook Ice Cream in the kitchen. With the Olympics on my mind, I can’t help but be inspired by English food. I found myself staring at my freezer full of Tillamook Ice Cream and a light bulb went off…well two lightbulbs to be exact.

Lightbulb number 1: It’s been years since I’ve had an English trifle and it was time to change this fact. I wanted to put a milkshake twist on things so I grabbed my Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream out of the fridge and got to blending

Ingredients
3 scoops Tillamook Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream
2 tablespoons Sherry
4 lady finger cookies
1 handful mixed fresh berries
½ cup milk

Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and mix. It tastes absolutely decadent but it lacks the custard flavor that a classic English trifle is known for. My solution: substitute the Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream for French Vanilla. French Vanilla is known for it’s custardly smoothness so it’s bound to be a good option.

Lightbulb number 2: A friend of mine always orders a London Fog when we go to coffee shops. For those of you not hip to fancy tea orders, that’s Earl Grey tea with vanilla and warm milk. Trust me, it’s tasty. So what would be even tastier? London Fog in milkshake form, of course.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
4 Earl Grey tea bags
2 cups water
3 scoops Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
¼ cup milk

Directions
In a sauce pan over high heat add the sugar, tea bags, and water. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Discard tea bags and place the mixture in the fridge to cool. Once the tea is cool, add 1/3 cup of tea mixture to the blender along with the Tillamook Ice Cream and milk. Blend. Try not to eat all in one big gulp.

I found that last direction hard to follow. I drank mine rather quickly and then found myself using my finger to get every last drop out of my glass. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I dare you not to do it! It’s impossible :)

By Kelly

Patriotic loafs

The London 2012 Olympic Games begin tonight. The stage is now set for athletes around the world to deliver their peak performance and be named World’s Best. However, we couldn’t be more excited that today also marks the beginning of the Tillalympics! Tillamook has already been called World’s Best, but we still have to deliver our peak performance every day. To honor cheese fans around the world that are dedicated to natural, tasty dairy delights and our farmer-owners for their hard work day in and day out, please join us in cheering on our champions as they take on:

• Tillamook Table Tennis (see below)
• 5 lb Cheese Shot Put
• Cheese Relay Race
• Loafy Pentathlon
• Synchronized Tillamook Eating
• Loaf Weightlifting & Cheese Boxing
• Loafy Volleyball
• Tillamook Archery

By Gillian

A special Tillamook torch

As we approach the start of the 2012 Olympics, we’ve been brainstorming ways to take part in the excitement that’s happening way across the pond in London. With the Opening Ceremony only days away, the anticipation has been through the roof. My personal favorite moment is when the Olympic Torch enters the stadium and lights a cauldron to officially mark the start of the Games. For the past two months, the torch has been winding its way through the United Kingdom before entering the home stretch near London. I’ve been watching with envy as famous British athletes like David Beckham and Andy Murray carry the flame to rapturous applause from fans. So I thought I’d join the action with my own version of the torch – a cheesy torch.

The design above is merely a prototype (and a lovely by-product of daydreaming about Tillamook Cheese during snack time). It would be great to see a real life Tillamook Olympic torch, but I wonder: could such a tasty torch make it all the way across America without being eaten? Actually, scratch that. Do you think the torch could even make it out of Oregon before being devoured? It’s a tough call. Pride for the USA is one thing; pride for Tillamook Cheese (and a growling stomach) are quite another matter.

If you’re feeling extra patriotic and adventurous, why not try sculpting your very own torch out of a Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese loaf? Or better yet, get that flame extra hot with some scorching Hot Habanero Jack. Share your creative torch creations in the comments below!

By Kelly

The ingredients – plenty of Tillamook!

There is nothing I love more than cheering on my fellow Americans competing in the Summer Olympics. Watching the world’s countries come together, each contributing their best to one single event, is thrilling. I get swept up in the excitement and start to think I missed my calling when I opted to play with my Easy Bake Oven instead of dedicating 12 hours a day to track & field or table tennis as an 8 year old.

I may not be able to represent my country in this year’s events, but I can bring nations together in my own little way. To celebrate the Olympics I am collecting the best of America and England, this year’s host nation, in my kitchen. Representing the United States of America after winning the World’s Best Medium Cheddar Cheese award is Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese, and for the United Kingdom I’ve selected the English muffin. (The English muffin was a clear choice given that it has the country name in its title.) The Olympic Games are all about bringing nations together, so I opted to make a grilled cheese using my two competitors.

Step one: Make English Muffins. Sure, you can buy them but making them seemed like an Olympic feat so I went for it. Using a recipe I found online I greased up my griddle and produced some pretty spongy muffins, if I do say so my self.

With the English muffins cooling on the rack, I grabbed America’s representative, Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese, and went to slicing. Although it wasn’t a team event, Tillamook Salted Butter made an appearance when I slathered it on the inside of my English muffin in preparation for the big event – grilling the sandwich. I opted to put the muffins on the griddle inside out because they were already pretty toasted on the outside.

Grilling on the griddle

One look at the final product and I knew I had created a grilled cheese worthy of any gold medal. If the Olympic committee opts to add competitive sandwich making into future Olympic Games, I am sure to obtain my childhood dream of representing my country. In the meantime, I will sit back, eat my tasty sandwich, and enjoy the blend that American and English products can create.

What English staples do you make with Tillamook products?

By Kelly