#eatboldly

We love using our mustard to make salad dressings. This is one of the most popular uses of our product. They’re simple, tasty, and healthy. What’s not to love?

That’s why we developed this definitive guide to crafting mustard vinaigrette salad dressing, complete with videos, gifs, tips, and tricks. Your salads will be forever bolder.

Are you ready?

Make a bold and simple salad dressing

A bold and simple salad dressing requires only 30 seconds and 3 ingredients:

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Any flavor of Mustard and Co.

Honey Curry gives it a sweet tangy kick. Classic and Garlic Dill yield a more traditional mustard dressing. Smoky BBQ makes a marinade fit for a grilled steak salad. Black Truffle is extra fancy, so you better call it a “vinaigrette.”

This is how you #eatboldly

Likewise, you can mix up the vinegar depending on your taste. Use red wine vinegar if you’re feeling more French than Italian today. It’s simple and tasty.

Now, if you want to take the boldness to the next level, try this:

Extra Spicy, Extra Bold Salad Dressing

For the boldest of the bold, bold mustard is a great start, but it ain’t bold enough. You need a little something extra to unleash the bold flavor.

We use a secret ingredient: Gunpowder Oil. Our friends at Other Brother make this chili infused olive oil, and it goes great with our Classic mustard.

This extra kick pairs especially well with chicken and steak salads. Mix it together and enjoy. 

We have one more tip for you:

Make dressing to get the most out of every jar

We’ve all been there before: Scraping at the edges of your nearly empty jar for those last bits of bold flavor. 

Friends, there’s a simpler way to do it. Use the jar to mix your dressing! 

All you need to do is pour in olive oil and vinegar and shake it up.

That’s it! Pour it over your salad and enjoy :)

Let us know how you #eatboldly with your salad dressings. Share your recipe tips with @mustardandco on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

If you’re looking for ripe, local produce for a fair price, look no further than Rising Sun Produce in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood.

Rising Sun (no relation to the classic Sean Connery / Wesley Snipes action adventure) has been going strong for nearly four decades.  Owner Bud Goodwin entered the business in the late 1970s when he peddled Yakima asparagus on a street corner in Montlake. It was the '70s folks.

People loved it, so he opened a stand in the Roosevelt neighborhood, on the northwest corner of 15th and 65th. Rising Sun remained there until 2012, when it moved a whopping 40 feet to the southwest corner of the same intersection.

In a city that’s undergone such rapid change, it’s refreshing to see a simple business with such staying power. They source local produce, and most items are ripe and ready to eat right off the shelf.

Rising Sun’s offerings change with what’s in season. They always have apples, but the varieties vary throughout the year. For the most part, they’re a no frills produce stand, but sometimes they’ll surprise you. It was here that I discovered carambola, aka starfruit. You better believe I’ll be picking up some more next time they’re in season :)

It’s our favorite place to pick up a peach on a warm Seattle summer day. We love snacking as we stroll through the woods in nearby Ravenna Park.

Of course, their local products aren’t limited to produce. We’re proud that Rising Sun carries all five of our flavors. Plus they support our friends at Bonache, Los Roast, and a handful of other boldly flavored condiments and ingredients.

We’re proud to be In Good Company with Rising Sun Produce.

Do yourself a favor and swing by their shop next time you’re in the Roosevelt neighborhood, and for now, show them some love and like their page on Facebook. They’re open 8am-8pm, every day of the week. 

Be sure to snag one of their snazzy banana barbershop quartet tees. They’re always in season :)

We’ve all been there before: Scraping at the edges of your nearly empty jar for those last bits of bold flavor. 

There’s a simpler way to get the most out of every jar: make a salad dressing. 

All you need to do is pour in olive oil and vinegar and shake it up.

Shake boldly.

That’s it! Pour it over your salad and eat it up.

People love using our mustard to make salad dressings. It adds a fresh, bold flavor to your salad. Our recipe requires only 30 seconds and three simple ingredients:

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Mustard and Co. Mustard

Any flavor works. Honey Curry gives it a sweet tangy kick. Classic creates a more traditional mustard vinaigrette. Smoky BBQ spices up a grilled steak salad.

Likewise, you can mix up the vinegar depending on your taste. Use red wine vinegar if you’re feeling more French than Italian today.

For some, New Year’s Day means binge-watching bowl games and feasting on chili cheese dogs and cold brews. For others, New Year’s kicks off resolutions for exercise and healthy dieting.

If you fall into either category, this Smoky BBQ Slow Cooker Chili Recipe is for you.

Chili is one of the most customizable dishes around. This recipe will create a nutritious and delicious base that’s low on carbs and sugar. From there, we’ll throw out some suggestions to customize, so you can season your spicy stew to your taste.

This recipe takes a few hours to complete, though much of that time is inactive -- waiting for the beans to cook and the chili to stew. Believe us, it’s worth the wait.

“To bean, or not to bean...”

There’s a whole Wikipedia section dedicated to the controversy over chili ingredients, particularly whether to bean, or not to bean. (Who knew chili could be so existential?) In spite of the hazards of high wind, I stand boldly with the beans. So boldly, that I double up on them:

It doesn’t get much bolder than this.

Here’s what you need:

1 pound dried black beans

1 pound dried small red beans

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 can tomato paste (12 oz)

1 can sweet corn (16 oz)

1 red onion

4 roma tomatoes

3 bell peppers

4 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons Smoky BBQ Mustard

Organic extra virgin olive oil (or cooking oil substitute)

Worcester sauce

Cayenne pepper

Ground cumin

Garlic powder

Paprika

Get cooking.

Prep your beans.

Rinse the black beans and red beans separately, and stick each variety into its own pot. Add water.

Cook your beans.

Place pots on the stove, and set to medium heat until they’re at a simmer. Once simmering, set temp to low. It’ll take about a 1 hour and 30 minutes to cook. Stir occasionally, and make sure water level fully submerges all beans so that they cook evenly.

*Note: I used to soak beans for 8-12 hours before cooking. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats convinced me otherwise.

The rest of the chili takes 30 minutes of active work, but the beans need about 90 minutes to cook, so it’s around this time that I take a 1 hour break and catch up on a good book. I’ve been reading City of Thieves by David Benioff. Highly recommend it.

Prep your veggies.

Chop onion, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Mince four cloves of garlic. Open and drain sweet corn.

Prep your beef.

Mix 2 pounds of lean ground beef in bowl with a dash of Worcester sauce, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of ground cumin and one tablespoon of garlic powder.

Heat large skillet.

Set to medium-high heat. Cover thin with extra virgin olive oil. (I like my Lodge cast iron skillet).

Move beans to slow cooker.

Plug in your slow cooker and turn it on high. We’re about to move our now-cooked beans in here, but before we do, we want to make sure they’re cooked. They should be soft but not creamy. Good? Add them to the slow cooker. This should clear some space off your stove.

Cook beef then veggies.

Add your beef to the hot cast iron skillet. Cook it until it browns evenly. (Don’t get it too dry. It has more cooking to do in the slow cooker.) Once browned, add it to your slow cooker on top of the beans. Add a bit more oil to the skillet to keep it slick. Add veggies to skillet. (I like using the same skillet used for cooking the lean ground beef, as it adds some of that beefy flavor into the veggies, and you’re sure to get a couple crispy beefy bits cooked in.)

Add it all to the slow cooker.

Once onions are lightly caramelized, add veggies into slow cooker. Stir in tomato paste, and a dash of chili powder. Add three tablespoons of Smoky BBQ mustard. Mix the ingredients with a large spoon or spatula. Cover the slow cooker, and leave it on high for 90 minutes. Go back to your book, and give the chili a stir at each chapter break.

Adjust to your liking.

After 90 minutes you’ll have your baseline chili. Now you have a chance to safely customize it to your preferences. Eat a spoonful and see what it needs.

Too spicy? Add a can of beans. Black, pinto, kidney, or refried all work great. Not spicy enough? Add more chili powder, cayenne, and/or your favorite hot sauce. Check out our friends at Bonache. Want some sweetness? Sprinkle in some brown sugar. 

I always tinker, often adding more garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper to taste.

After this first round of tinkering, I set the slow cooker to low, and I give it another hour. (Medium if I’m feeling impatient).

Congrats! You’ve made enough chili for a weeks worth of meals. It’ll get better with age over the next couple days, and will last for about a week in the fridge in the proper tupperware.

Watching a bowl game? Add it on your hotdog with shredded cheese, sour cream, and jalapeños. Eating healthy in the new year? Serve it on a bed of spinach with a dollop of guacamole.

I’m working off my holiday belly, so I went with the latter option.

How do you customize your chili? Let us know in the comments!

There’s nothing like a warm snack on a chilly December day. Sweet Potato fries give you a taste of summer to help get you through winter. They’re a wonderful appetizer, and a consistent hit at parties.

Our friend Krista Nelson from Krista’s Baking Co. crafted this recipe and photographed the process. Check out her website for more wonderful baking recipes.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the fries…

2 large sweet potatoes

1 Tbsp olive oil

Pinch of salt and pepper

For the aioli…

½ Cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp Mustard & Co. Classic mustard*

½ Tbsp lemon juice

Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1.     Preheat oven to 400°, line a baking sheet and set aside.

2.     Peel sweet potatoes and slice lengthwise into fries.  In a medium bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Lay them out on the baking sheet and baking for 40 minutes, flipping them half way through.

3.     Meanwhile, make the aioli by putting all ingredients in a small bowl and mixing until fully combined.

4.     Enjoy!

*This aioli works great with our Classic, Garlic Dill, and our Smoky BBQ flavors. It depends on what you and your guests are craving. Even our Honey Curry variety gives it a unique sweetness. Play around and see what you like best.

Get inspired. Visit Krista’s Baking Co. to find more treats for the holidays.