The Dairy Blog

Put Your Best Dairy Recipes to the Test in the Mix It Up With Mayfield Recipe Contest

The Mayfield Recipe of the Month Club is your best source for creative, easy recipes that satisfy your family and always include delicious Mayfield dairy products.

Now, you can join the club and enter your best dairy recipes for a chance to win fabulous prizes for the discerning home chef.

Occasionally, consumers contact us to see if we have any events happening in their area where they can sample ice cream flavors.  One such event is coming up in Knoxville, Tennessee and I wanted to let you know about it.  February 3rd from 2pm until 5pm is Mayfield Day at the Ice Chalet.  During this time, we will be giving visitors a sneak peek, and more importantly a FREE taste, of our new 2007 Feature Flavors before they are available in stores.

A discounted admission price of $2 will get you into the Chalet and skate rentals will be $3.  So, this would be a fun and affordable afternoon for your whole family to skate and sample some terrific new ice cream flavors!

Also, be sure to tune in to WVLT, Channel 8 and Chef Walter for a chance to win free tickets to the event as well as a Mayfield prize pack.

Jan

It’s the time of year when I get real excited here at Mayfield. New items? Producing new commercials? The launch of feature flavors? Well, “yes” to all the above, but the real source of my fervor is…the Super Bowl!

Since 1979, I’ve made attending the World Championship my goal and annual vacation. Following Super Bowl XL last year in Detroit, I’ve been able to say I’ve attended in person half of all Super Bowls ever played. Ranging from SB XIII, where I saw Terry Bradshaw carve up the Dallas defense to last year’s magical run of the Pittsburgh Steelers, these games have provided this sports junkie with a lifetime of memories.

As a graduate of the University of Tennessee, I’m especially jazzed about this year’s matchup because it features former Volunteer Peyton Manning. Manning will always be the “favorite son” of Vol fans because he opted out of entering the NFL draft after his junior season. Keeping my fingers crossed for him.

See you in Miami!

Alan

The founder of Mayfield Dairy Farms is my grandfather and I want to share with you a little bit about him in my next couple of blogs. I hope you enjoy…

Even though my Great Grandfather (1853-1941) may have sold milk and butter as early as the 1880’s, it is my Grandfather, T. B. Mayfield, Jr. (1888-1937), who we consider the founder of Mayfield Dairy Farms.  I never knew my Grandfather, as he died young, before age fifty, which would be twelve years before I was born.  I’ll try to relate what I do know of him, from memory of things my Grandmother said, and from some of my Father’s remembrances and writings.  There are very few pictures of my Grandfather, and those we have shown him always wearing a hat.

T. B. Mayfield, Jr. (Brient) stood 5’10 ½”, medium build with grey eyes and dark brown hair.  I know from my Father’s writings that “he studied mechanical and electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee.  He understood how simple machines worked and he could fix almost anything.  He was a great teacher who taught several ordinary workers to be good mechanics.  He loved Jersey cows and, while showing Jersey cows at the St. Louis Fair around 1910, he ate his first ice cream cone and decided he wanted to be in the ice cream business.  He had a great vision of the future, which included a 4-lane highway from Knoxville to Chattanooga and how Athens (down in the country where the cows are) was the right location to serve these growing markets.”

During the period from 1910 to 1923, my Grandfather was a partner with his father and together they farmed the 824-acre family dairy farm.  He married Goldie Denton Mayfield (1898-1993) in 1918 and they had four children – two boys and two girls.  In 1913, he built a spring house that used a constant flow of cold spring water pumped by a hydraulic ram.  (This was before electricity was available.)  At age 35, in 1923, he purchased an existing ice cream business that was located in the Athens Ice Plant.

Southern Star's Chicken Chili
		2 medium yellow onions, chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 large cloves of garlic, minced 2 red and 2 green peppers, cored, seeded and chopped 2 teaspoons chili powder 2 teaspoons cumin ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes 2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 cans (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained 3 cans great northern beans, undrained 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts freshly ground pepper, to taste Mayfield Sour Cream
SAUTE onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, in a large stock pot. ADD garlic and cook one minute longer. ADD the peppers, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes and salt and cook for a few minutes longer. ADD tomatoes, beans and black pepper to pot and reduce heat. SIMMER for 30 minutes, uncovered. GRILL chicken while soup is cooking. CHOP cooked chicken into ½ inch cubes and add to the pot. SIMMER for an additional 20 minutes. SERVE chili topped with Mayfield Sour Cream and shredded cheddar cheese. Makes 10-12 servings. Click here for a printer-friendly version.

CHEF'S TIPS

This recipe is a favorite among Southern Star patrons. I like to add a little more red pepper flakes for that extra kick. If you get it too hot, you'll have to be sure to cool down with some Mayfield Ice Cream!

Keep this recipe in mind for those Super Bowl parties coming up next month and you'll have a sure crowd-pleaser! And don't forget to pick up some French Onion Party Dip to serve with some chips for those hungry football fans.

Click here to Join!

Eddie here. You usually hear about how Mayfield products are made from me, but I’ve got something a little different for you this month. Don’t worry, that inside look into life as a plant manager is not lost forever, I just wanted to give you a glimpse into my life as a…

I was inspired by a book called Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer about his climb up Mt. Everest. Yes, inspired to climb a mountain and not inspired to avoid climbing a mountain! So, with that inspiration, I set out to climb Mt. Rainier. At 14,411 feet, Mt. Rainier is the tallest peak in Washington and the most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. Yeah, and pretty dangerous, too!

Well, I wasn’t going to do this alone, so I shared my goal with Scott Watson and got him suckered into it. We have more in common than just both being plant managers for Mayfield! We began by training in December 2003 by running, weight training and taking long hikes in the Smoky Mountains carrying 45-pound backpacks!

It was on May 12 that we arrived in Washington. The next day, along with 12 other climbers, we began our hike at 5,000 feet. With a deep snow and a 30-degree pitch up the mountain, the journey of 4.5 miles took six hours. When we reached the base camp at 10,000 feet, 11 climbers decided to continue the climb. Stay tuned to see if Scott and I were among them…

Eddie

                         ME                                       SCOTT

If you like coffee flavored ice cream, you should try our new one.  It’s called Coffee House Fudge and it’s only available in our Select 2-piece package.  This product is actually a reformulation of our old Jamocha Fudge, except with a much better flavor.  It took some tweaking, but with the help from our friends at Virginia Dare we finally came up with the combination of coffee flavors that we were looking for.  It’s simply a smooth coffee flavored ice cream with a ribbon of chocolate fudge running through it. 

Scott

Holy Cow!  I just did a blog last Friday and something newsworthy is happening today.  I usually post one blog a month, but this is sort of special.  There is a study being released today about eating trends.  It made sense to write something about it since it mentions milk. 

To prepare myself to write about this, I went to the website.  It covers consumption trends and the fact that 22% of the calories we consume are liquid.  It goes into great detail and has some very interesting information.  My conclusion is that those who are interested would be better served if they went direct to the website instead of me trying to repeat what is there.  The website is www.thinkaboutyourdrink.com.