Mom’s Favorite Shrimp Dip

1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix
8 ounces shrimp, cooked and finely chopped
3 green onions, chopped, white ends and green tops
Club crackers

1. Beat sour cream, cream cheese and salad dressing mix in small mixer bowl until creamy. Stir in shrimp and green onions.
2. Transfer to serving dish. Cover; refrigerate for 1 hour. Serve with club crackers.

Makes 2 1/2 cups dip.

Needless to say, it is important to keep anything with mayo cold. If you don’t own a shrimper or icer as it is sometimes called, then you can create one by using two glass bowl, one significantly smaller than the other. Line the first bowl with crushed ice making sure it goes up the sides. Push the smaller bowl into the ice firmly. Use the smaller bowl to mound dip, mayonnaise based chicken or tuna salads in or even fruit salad… anything that should be kept or served cold. This will not protect the salad or dip without a few other precautions. Do not put in direct sun light, keep an eye on the ice and replenish as necessary and return the dish to the refrigerator as possible if you are outside… of course, with this shrimp dip, your biggest chore will be refilling the bowl!

With July 4th almost on us… and in my mind, the mid-point of summer, a thought left over from my own school days… farmer’s markets have sprung up all around us. From road side truck beds full of tomatoes and watermelons to multi-block affairs with protective roofs in big cities, there are opportunities in every area to procure fresh foods for our summer family suppers and celebrations! On our recent trip to Spain (where I took these photos), we were enthralled with the beautiful multi-storied Mercados  that displayed fish and meats on one level, fresh fruits and vegetables on another along with deli style stalls with cheese, breads and olives!

How daring are you? Think you could invite friends to join you for dinner without a clue as to what you are going to cook? Or maybe, a bit less daring with a few ideas up your sleeve, but nothing on concrete until you get to the market and see what looks good. I have been known to plan everything down to every last morsel as well as just throw caution to the wind and hit the markets! It is certainly easier now that I can look up recipes online by ingredients and quickly have dozens, even hundreds of choices!

This year, we have our own mini ‘farmers market’ in our backyard which is overgrown with cucumbers and includes squash, jalapenos, cayenne peppes, red bell peppers and, that old Southern standby, tomatoes. I have Googled cucumbers right and left because cucumber salad is good, but we are in need of some variety!

So… with cucumbers on the brain, let me share with you my favorite recipe for marinated cucumbers. This is similar to the recipe my mom used for cucumber sandwiches, which were a staple at summer teas in the South. At least in our part of the South! I’ll give the variation for the tea sandwiches as well!

Marinated Cucumbers

1 cup Rice Vinegar

1/4 Canola Oil (or VERY light Olive Oil)

16 pkts of Splenda sweetner (you can use sugar, about 1/3 c – 1/2 c, or to taste. A sweet-n-sour effect)

1 1/2 tsp dried basil (or 4-5 fresh leaves, chiffonade cut)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together.

Peel, halve and thinly slice one onion (we like sweet yellow onion varieties like Vadalia)

Peel, halve, seed and cut into 1/4″ half moon slices.

Toss onions and cukes in a glass container. Pour dressing over and toss gently once more. Cover and refrigerate, stirring every day. Will keep 3-4 days, the more they marinate, the better!

Tea Sandwich Variation:

Make marinade as above. Slice the cucumbers and the onions so thin you could almost read thru them. Marinate overnight, at least.

For each sandwich, cut the crust off of 2 slices of good quality white bread (not rustic white, instead opt for grocery store-1950s-variety WASP white bread) . Spread each slice generously with a high quality mayonnaise (my momma used Hellman’s, so that is what I use).  Drain cucumbers with a slotted spoon and place a couple of layers on the mayonnaise, then top with the other slice of bread. Cut into desired shapes… or forget the tea sandwich aspect and just eat!

Peppered Pear and Spinach Salad

2-3 ripe pears, peeled, cored and quartered

8 large handfuls washed and dried baby spinach or mesclun salad mix

Dressing:

3 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs freshly ground pink and black peppercorns

Juice 2 lemons

Topping:

2 large good quality croutons

1 Cup toasted pecans

3/4 freshly coarse grated Parmesan cheese

Mix dressing ingredients together. Toss pears and greens together. Pour dressing over, gently tossing. Add toppings and toss again. Serves 4-6

This great cookbook can be ordered for $20.00 plus $5.00 shipping from:

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520 Main Street

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Here it is a week before the American holiday known as ‘The 4th’… American Independence Day! It’s is the perfect holiday to be as cheesy as possible with lots of the National colors of red, white and blue, stars, stripes, fireworks, cookouts and friends!

How we celebrate differs from region to region, city to city, even neighbor to neighbor! Baseball in the park, a backyard barbecue, splashing at the beach, or a boat ride on the lake, there are as many choices as there are people in the USA! It’s not too late to organize your own celebration for next weekend:

1)    First, check out the offerings in your community. Will there be a parade. fireworks display, community concert or block party? If there is something that you can tag your party onto, planning will be much simpler! For instance: if there is a parade, can you gather some family and friends to enter a float, decorate a golf cart or even bicycles? Part of the party will be the decorating! If there is a fireworks display, invite everyone over for an old fashioned pot luck supper, asking everyone to bring a favorite dish to go with whatever you are throwing on the grill. Then at dark, go as a group to see the fireworks, serving homemade ice cream out of a cooler with cookies as you all Ooohh and Aaahh!

2)    Select your venue, be it a nearby lake, your summer home, a public park or your own back yard! Don’t hesitate to ask guests to bring their own lawn chairs if you need more outdoor seating, but keep in mind the summer heat, especially in the South. Make sure that you have enough shade. You may need to rent a tent or use pop-up canopies to provide relief from the sweltering sun. If parking will be an issue, suggest that your guests carpool if possible.

3)   Organize your guest list, keeping in mind how many people your venue can accommodate. A list of total strangers to each other will not an exciting party make. While it is smart to include new folks in your mix… that is how people get to know one another, after all… be sure that a simple majority know and like each other or have such a huge list of common interests that they will think they have known each other always!

4)   Plan your menu. For a small crowd, I usually do everything myself and if guests insist on bringing something, I usually steer them in the direction of an appetizer, beverage or dessert. We were invited to a large 4th of July party this year in which the invitation broke everything down ‘church supper style’.  That is to say, people with the last name initials A-D were to bring appetizers, E-H were ask to furnish the salad of their choice, I-L a vegetable dish, etc. This is a great way to organize a crowd and make sure the potluck offerings are evenly dispersed!

Of course, you may wish to provide the entire menu yourself, but the Independence Day holiday seems to bring neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend in a way that we rarely see any longer. It is this old fashioned gathering together that makes a pot luck dinner a natural!

5)    If you don’t have some built in activities, like swimming, boating or horse back riding, that are part of your venue, plan some group activities that will get everyone involved! Such a tug or war game, volleyball, croquet, or pitching horseshoes, just to name a few. Appoint those folks who won’t or can’t participate to be the official photographers, others to be the score keepers, and those that are left to be the cheering squad! The important thing is: Don’t leave anyone out!!!

6)   Check with your city or county ordinances regarding the use of personal fireworks. Some areas ban them completely while others allow some, such as sparklers, but not nothing that shoots into the air. Whatever you do, make sure that you follow your local laws. More importantly, if you do ’shoot off’ fireworks, designate one person to be in charge of safety. That person needs to make certain that no one does anything to harm themselves or others by holding fireworks or aiming them at people or buildings. Provide a bucket with sand to place bottle rockets and Roman candles in, a water house with the water  running… just in case, and a first aid kit. Children should never be allowed to light fireworks on their own. Be certain that there is nothing on the ground that will trip the designated lighter as he or she makes a dash away from the lit explosive. Last, but certainly not least, the lighter of the fireworks should not have imbibed in any ‘adult beverages’ that would impair his or her judgment or physical abilities.

7)    Last, but not least… remember WHY we have able to celebrate our independence since 1776.

For the next several days, I am going to post some great 4th of July recipes. The first is my Aunt Mary Frances’ Barbecue Sauce. Enjoy!

West Texas Barbecue Sauce

1/2 C   Hot, brewed, decaf coffee

1/2 C   Ketchup

1/4       Sugar

2 Tbs   Worcestershire Sauce

2 Tbs   Vinegar

1 tsp     finely grated onion

1/2 tsp Salt

Dash of pepper or to taste

Combine all ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Makes 1  1/3 cups of sauce. Delicious on brisket, ribs, chicken, and makes a great topping on meatloaf.

Of course it is not just the wedding itself that heralds the wedding season. It is the plethora of teas, showers, luncheons, cocktail parties and dinners that lead up to the big day that are the fanfare prelude to the ‘I do’ that seals the deal! Here in the south, we tend to go overboard… why have a couple of parties, when a dozen would be more fun?

Join the fun! If you are getting married, Yea! If you know someone who is getting married, help them celebrate by hosting a party in their honor! Below are some suggestions for party and shower themes. Please remember, that brides should only be treated to one or two showers and the guest lists should never overlap. How tacky is it to ‘request’ gifts over and over from the same people?

Showers (other than the tried and true ‘Kitchen Shower’ or ‘Miscellaneous Shower’ -

Recipe Shower – Guests are sent a recipe card to be filled out with a family favorite and brought to the shower. It can also be fun to ask the guests to bring a spice that is included in the recipe! Hostess gift: A recipe box or book.

Christmas Ornament Shower – Guests bring one ornament for the newlyweds Christmas tree. This party can be tweaked to accommodate other religions and/or holidays! Hostess gift: Tree Skirt, personalized Christmas Stockings or the tree topper!

Bar Shower – This is a great couples shower for those wishing to stock their home bar with libations and ‘tools of the trade’… shakers, bottle openers, etc. Hostess gift: electric corkscrew or set of wine glasses

Tool Shower – Another wonderful guy or couples shower… everyone needs a hammer, tape measure and some picture hooks! How far you take it, is up to the hostess! Hostess gift: Tool Box or electric screw driver.

Garden Shower – Wonderful for the couple who love the outdoors and own their own home with yard space. Rakes, bulbs, gardening gloves, bird feeders are all welcomed presents! Hostess Gift: Yard Cart or tool organizer.

Movie Night Shower – Guests shower the couple with DVDs of films for great low-cost entertainment during the early, lean years of marriage. Suggestions of preferences or a play list can be sent with the invitations. A variation of this party can be gift cards to video stores or to an Internet rental service such as Netflix. Hostess gift: Popcorn machine, basket or box to organize DVDs or framed vintage movie poster (if you are certain that it will ‘go’ with the newlyweds decor).

Fragrances Shower – With so many candle choices now, this is a great way to help the couple keep the sweet fragrance of young love hanging around for for quite awhile. Simply send a list of fragrances that the couple is partial to such as ‘vanilla’ or ‘almond’. There are candle brands and sizes for every budget. Hostess gift: candle snuffer or candle lighter! Another great hostess gift would be a ‘candle tray’ on which to gather and display candles!

Non-Shower Parties -

Ladies-Only Night on the Town: This does not have to be a bar crawl, but can be  fun and/or elegant! This is a great ‘dutch treat’ party in which all participants pay their own way! Start with drinks and appetizers at a special place with plenty of atmosphere… a great view of the skyline, a lake, park or ocean… move on to a special dinner, then enjoy a late concert, play or movie. Wrap the evening up with dessert and coffee!

Ladies-Only Night In: Starting with fun cocktails and appetizers, ask your guests to bring a favorite munchie or dessert. Skip the entree and concentrate on fun food only! Enjoy an evening of old classic movies such as “Father of the Bride” (the original Spencer Tracey – Elizabeth Taylor version or the Steve Martin – Diane Keaton remake), Robert Altman’s “A Wedding”, the 1978 satire where everything that could go wrong, does go wrong or any of the romantic comedies of the last 15 years or so! Allow some wind down time to chat and visit… the idea of this party is to allow the bride to slow down and enjoy her bridesmaids and/or other friends in the midst of the hectic pace of the wedding planning.

Spa Day: This is a great party for the female family members of the bride to host for the ladies of the wedding party the morning of the wedding. Contact a local day spa about package rates on Manis-Pedis. The girls can come in their PJs, breakfast can be brought in and served while the girls are getting pampered. If there is a hair salon attached, this will be a great time for them to have their hair done for the wedding, as well. Depending on the size of the wedding party, some day spas will open early for the party only! Almost like having a private spa of your very own!!

Cooking lesson: This party works well for small groups as they are invited to gather around the cooking island (if in a private home) or the demonstration table (at a cooking school) while the chef demonstrates easy to fix yummy food that will also serve as the party food for the event. The chef will usually ask the bride to act as sous chef and assist him during the prep! The price of the event can be creatively handled by hiring a senior culinary school student to be the ‘guest chef’!

Crafting for the wedding: Almost entirely gone are the days of ‘rice bags’ to toss at the departing couple after the ceremony, mostly due to fear of liability… rice can cause slip and fall accidents and for that reason has been replaced by birdseed, which crunches flat when stepped on. Still some venues disallow any sort of toss be it rice, birdseed or flower petals as an issue of cleanup. However, there are many options to chose from that are just as wonderful to wish the happy couple a great life! Bells, bubbles or sparklers are fine choices… dress them up with a bow and a card thanking your guests for joining you on this special day! Invite a group of friends to help with any sort of ‘crafting’ job for the wedding, from stuffing programs, tying bows, & packaging favors to grander projects like flower arrangements and welcome bags for out of town guests!

Never feel that you alone must host a party. Most parties today are hosted by as few as two or as many as two dozen hostesses depending on the type of event, the number of invitees and the projected cost of the party. More hostesses help keep the cost of the party manageable. Always prepare a budget upfront that everyone is comfortable with. If the actual costs will be higher than the initial budget, add more hostesses if you cannot reasonably trim costs. NEVER overspend your budget without consulting all hosts and/or hostesses prior to spending more than agreed upon. Keep in mind that asking about money while all together in a group can be uncomfortable for some people. If someone is reserved and quiet during initial discussions about budget, it is kinder to ask confidentially what their expectations of expenses are for the party. It is unfair to allow peer pressure to cause someone to overextend their circumstances and go into debt. Be kind.

I learned just this week of a shower in which all the details had been agreed upon by the hostesses. Quite out of the blue and right AFTER the invitations were in the mail, the rest of the ladies received an email from the hostess in who’s home the party was held explaining that the party was going to cost 5 times the agreed upon amount, asking them to cook the food (rather than having it catered as planned), and adding an additional segment to the party that the other hostesses had voted down. In other words, she paid no attention to what the majority wanted and went off on a tangent of her own choice. At the end of the email was a somewhat snarky comment (thought by some to aim at instilling guilt) that she alone would pay the difference and to not worry about the additional expense. I know that at least some of the other ladies decided to indeed let the ‘overboard’ hostess pick up her overages! This has ruined the party for the ladies and has caused a riff that may never be cured! Totally unnecessary.

Wedding season parties are suppose to be fun, creative and never should they ‘break the bank!’

Send me ideas of your best parties and showers to share!

Valentines, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Passover, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Eeyore’s Birthday (you know, Eeyore, from “Winnie the Pooh”!)… None of these carry the same entertaining pressure that the Fall and Winter celebrations do, which makes celebrating them far more relaxing!

I will have much more about this in the coming weeks. So put your thinking cap on and start planning some fun late winter and spring gatherings. Don’t forget that wedding season is upon us… more about that coming as well!

Valentine’s is up first so check out are great goodies from LovedTheParty.com and send some love to your favorite people!

I was caught in this race year after year until I eased the pain a bit with pre planning. This year I am relying totally on a timeline list. It works for me in every other area of my life… when I remember! I have been delaying a huge project in my life due to many factors, most of which were unavoidable. Yesterday, Hubby insisted that I set a deadline (in 3 VERY short weeks) to get it finished and off of our minds. To make this happen in the midst of work, family and the coming festive season will require long days and short nights, but strangely enough I feel released. I also know that this pre planning will make life so much better.

I suggest to everyone that a reasonable timeline  is a great guide for anything that you need to tackle, be it work or play. Just remember to not cram too many chores into the Holiday schedule… it only creates more stress…. I know that from experience! I have been guilty of that very thing more times that I care to count! An example follows:

• Do your deep cleaning first and soon. However, unless it’s absolutely necessary, don’t attack a huge project now.
• Make a list or lists of events, guests, menus, chores, gifts… everything should be committed to a list and off of your mind.
• With your lists in hand (or on the computer), plan your calendar so that you can allot some play time in between to ‘must dos’. Of course the more you do early, the more stress you remove from the Holidays… or so I’ve heard!
• With early planning, bundling your entertaining ventures together into consecutive days is a favorite trick of many hosts and hostesses. The major prep is done once so that cleanup and set up for the next event is much easier! Just make sure that you build from small to large party so that the last event is the one that will require the most after the fact cleanup.
• Research early to find what events are planned for your community that you are interested in attending or that your guests would find fun. Planning a party around a community carrolling stroll, a production of a holiday play, a concert, a parade or lighting show… whatever is happening in your area… gives you an instant theme and entertainment all in one!

• Leave time for simple pleasures: driving to see the Christmas lights, a cold weather picnic while choosing a tree, gathered around the fireplace with hot chocolate and cookies looking at photos of Christmas’ past. The memories are the gifts we give ourselves!

Quick ideas and reminders:

• If you want trick or treaters to come to your door, leave a porch light on. Make sure that the walkway to your house is clear of any fallen twigs, excess leaves or anything that may impair little feet from safely walking on your front walk.
• As tempting as it may be, if you are expecting children that you don’t know, and more importantly, who don’t know you don’t offer homemade treats such as cookies, cupcakes and popcorn balls. Parent have rightly become so wary of such items that your hard work and great effort will most certainly end up in the trash.
• A treat bag with several small, wrapped candies inside and tied with a ribbon or raffia is a nice way of presenting the goodies. It also serves two purposes: it keeps everything fair without the squabbles of who got more and it allows you to put a mix of candies, packaged cookies etc together without anyone complaining that they ‘don’t like that kind’… they can swap those around once they get home.
• Dress up for fun yourself! It’s great to be a kid again!
• At a reasonable time, it’s ok to turn off the lights and no longer answer the door. That does not mean that your doorbell will not ring, but it will lessen the chance and of course, you need not answer the door after ‘lights out’.
• Keep your outside animals inside on Halloween. With so much activity around the house, there are many opportunities for your pets to get excited, confused and/or injured. Speaking from experience, the vet’s office late on Halloween night is a sad place to end the fun.
• Have fun and remember if a lot of children show up at your door from other areas of town by the carload: their own neighborhood may not be a safe place to trick or treat and their parents deem yours to be better.

We don’t hear the chime of young voices at our door very often anymore. It seems that fewer people in our area are going door to door as more families opt for the community Halloween carnivals and Fall Festivals offered by local churches and other non-profits as well as private parties hosted by friends. It’s no wonder that parents shy away from sending their children door to door begging for treats… especially when every time we turn on the news we hear of  awful things happening to children.

That said, there is still plenty of fun things going on for children and adults on All Hallows Eve! The following menu is quick and easy with a hint of fall! Enjoy!

Meatball and Pasta Soup (aka – Veins and Brains Stew)

1 lb    Commercially made meatballs (usually found in the frozen foods section)

4         Slices thick bacon

3         Cloves of garlic, chopped

2         Onions, medium sized and chopped

1          Bell Pepper, chopped

2          Quarts commercial beef stock

16oz   Crushed canned tomatoes

1 c       Baby Carrots, halved

1 can  White beans

1/2 c  Parsley, fresh

1/8 t   Oregano, dried

8 oz     Ziti Pasta, cooked ‘al dente’

Thaw meatballs. Cook bacon in heavy soup pot or Dutch oven until almost done, but not totally crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Remove all but 1 tbs of bacon fat. Saute onions, garlic and bell pepper in bacon fat over medium heat until soft, but not brown. Add meatballs to heat, about 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add the tomatoes, carrots and stock to the pot and  simmer over medium heat about 20 – 30 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Add the beans, spices and pasta and cook an additional 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes 8 servings.

Fall Fruit Salad

2      Firm apples, cored and diced large (pealing, optional)

2       Pears, cored and diced large

1c     Red seedless grapes

1c     White, sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2c Mayonnaise

3-4 pkts   Splenda Sweetner

Mix Mayo and Splenda together and lightly toss with other ingredients. Chill. Serve in lettuce cups if desired. 8 servings.

Easy Parmesan Crackers

Too easy and soooo good!

1          Loaf thin, white, bread, frozen

1c        Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese (not the canned stuff)

1c        Corn flakes, crushed

1/8t    Garlic powder

1 1/2c Butter, melted (no substitutions)

Mix cheese, crumbs and garlic powder together. Work with a couple of bread slices at a time, keeping the remainder in the freezer… remove crusts from bread. Dip in butter, then cover in crumb-cheese mixture. Place on cookie sheet lined with waxed paper or sprayed with baking spray. Cut into ‘fingers’ of about 4-5 pieces each. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes or until browned. Keep an eye on them so they don’t brown too quickly.

These will keep a week in the refrigerator or for 2 months in the freezer.

Apple Spice Cake

1 1/2 c       Corn Oil

2 c               Sugar

3                  Eggs

3 c               Apples, unpeeled and chopped

1 1/2 t       Soda

1 t                Salt

1 t                Vanilla

1/2 t           Cinnamon

1/2 t           Nutmeg

1/2 t           Cloves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt cake and set aside. Mix together sugar and oil on low speed of mixer. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, with a whisk, mix together flour, soda and spices. Fold into sugar mixture. Add apples last, folding in carefully. Pour into Bundt pan. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan onto cooling rack.

Have fun and be safe!   HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I think it turned out great!