Joan’s Homemade Hummus

I LOVE hummus … I do NOT love paying for it in the grocery store, especially for the good stuff; in addition, when you make it yourself you can control the ingredients/taste – I added some extra garlic to mine.  Jen alerted me to her friend Briony’s blog several months ago, Freeze Your Way Fit, and this yummy recipe for homemade hummus.  Full disclosure here – I make a HUGE mess in the kitchen when I make this recipe so I make a lot of it at one time. I can fit 3 “batches” into my 9 cup Kitchen Aid food processor; this time I made a total of 6 “batches”. Tahini is the most expensive ingredient, and it is also the messiest!  Even our local Walmart here in L.A. (lower Alabama, also known as NW Florida) carries tahini, $4.75 for the amount needed to make all of these batches — it probably cost me about $12.00 to make all of the hummus shown below.

Ingredients (for one batch – multiply by 3 to fill a 9 cup food processor):

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I grew up calling these garbanzo beans!)

1 small garlic glove, minced

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground cumin

Pinch of cayenne (red) pepper

3 Tbsp. juice from lemons (I uses concentrate this time and it worked just as well)

¼ cup water

6 Tbsp. tahini, stirred well

2 Tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Step One:  Put chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin, and cayenne in a food processor; process until fully ground. Scrape down sides with a spatula. Make sure all parts of the food processor are put together before you put the ingredients in!

Step Two:  With the food processor running, slowly add the lemon juice and water and continue to process for one minute.  Scrape down the sides with a spatula again.

Step Three:  In a small bowl, whisk together the tahini (easier said than done – it is the consistency of tile grout!) and 2 Tbsp. oil.

With the food processor still running, add the oil-tahini mixture in a steady stream through the feed tube.  Continue to process until smooth and creamy, scraping down sides as needed.

Can be served immediately with crackers.  Refrigerate any not used immediately. Also freezes beautifully!  Freeze small portions. Reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds on full power, stir, and heat another 5-10 seconds.  If it seems a little dry, just add a little bit of olive oil.

Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking, Debbie

Party Pea Salad

 Yes, it is a post! I think all of us here at Threaded Together must have been in summer “vacation” mode the last couple of months, at least when it came to writing, crafting, cooking, etc.  The days may be “longer” but there is only so much time to squeeze in everything that needs to be done!

 It is hard to believe that it is already half-way thru August! In this part of the country school starts early (August 22) – I prefer the model we had when the girls were in school in California … classes didn’t start until after Labor Day. I love the smell of new school supplies, but it is hard to get excited when the temperatures are hovering just this side of 100°

 Depending on how you feel about peas, you will either LOVE or HATE this recipe which came from a co-worker after an office potluck decades ago!  I fall into the category of LOVE it, but never make this dish unless I have somewhere to take it since I’m the only fan in the family! Yesterday it was part of the menu for the surprise party in celebration of my friend, Eileen S., turning the big 5-0 in a couple of weeks (sorry, E, but since you are pretty much the youngest of your “friends your own age” this secret is out!).  If you’re lucky enough to have a garden, or access to a farmer’s market where they sell fresh peas, substitute fresh for the frozen.

 Ingredients:

 20 oz. peas, frozen or fresh (I don’t really worry about exact amounts – I use two of the smaller bags)

1 cup celery, chopped

½ cup green onions, chopped

½ cup salted cashew (pieces—not whole, not chopped)

½ cup bacon, cut into small pieces and cooked/drained — isn’t everything better with bacon?!

1 cup sour cream

1 Tblsp. Lemon juice

3 Tblsp. Mayonnaise

Salt & pepper

Directions:

 If using frozen, thaw the peas in a colander.

Mix peas with sour cream, mayo, and lemon juice. Add cashews, green onions, bacon, and celery. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

If you don’t think it will all be eaten right away, reserve cashews and sprinkle on top as served—they tend to soften in the salad, especially overnight – doesn’t seem to bother people around here, but then again, boiled peanuts are a regional delicacy … Yuck!

So, enjoy the “fruits” of your harvest or head to the freezer section of your favorite grocery store, and celebrate something with Party Pea Salad!

Tags: Debbie, party, Salad, vegetables

Refrigerator Bread & Butter Pickles

It is summer, and the living is easy — 99° here at 6 pm on June 4 — after an absolutely beautiful spring, I think we’re going to have a Long. Hot. Summer. We made the first of our annual visits to A & N Blueberry Farm early Friday morning to pick blueberries (I got 10.5 pounds and Jen got around 7… pretty sure we’re going to have to squeeze in another trip!). They also had some other fresh produce for sale and I picked up some of Sarah’s delicious blueberry jam (because I don’t can), cucumbers and a nice big zucchini … I already have some yellow squash in the fridge, so just might have to make some zucchini bread later this week.

I don’t can, did you catch that above? I love the idea of canning and once helped my friend, Jenny K. (Jen’s namesake!), can about 400 pounds of tomatoes (we washed them in the bathtub). My sister-in-law, Rhonda D., is the canning queen — I love visiting when the pantry is full of homemade grape jelly, corn, tomatoes and other yummy treats from their garden. So, since I don’t can, I freeze and refrigerate!  I bought these cucumbers specifically to make some EASY refrigerator pickles.

Ingredients:

7 cups cucumbers (number of cucumbers needed depends on how big they are — I used 4 today)

2 Tbsp. salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup cider vinegar

1 tsp. celery seeds

Directions:

Thinly slice cucumbers — or thickly slice, up to you! I prefer a thinner slice. Place in a colander and sprinkle cucumber slices with salt. Let stand at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile, combine the sugar, vinegar and celery seeds. Let stand until the sugar completely dissolves, stirring occasionally.

Rinse the cucumber slices and drain well. Put the cucumber slices in a large canning jar—my original recipe from about 30 years ago says “or a mayonnaise jar” … can you even buy mayo in a jar these days??  Really cram the cucumber slices in tightly. I finally had an opportunity to use this cute jar that Jen made for our annual holiday cookie exchange!

Pour the vinegar mixture over the top.

And, refrigerate.  Done!

 Now, try to wait 24-48 hours before snacking on these tasty morsels. Won’t kill you if you don’t wait, but they are better the longer they sit in the cider-sugar solution. I’m not sure if these ever have an “expiration” date … I’ve kept them in the fridge for weeks and they’ve been just fine.

Enjoy!

Gooseberry Patch Recipe Roundup

Tags: Cooking, Debbie, garden, pickles, summer

Basil-Tomato Tart

 As the rest of the girls have recently commented, it has been a busy spring. We’ve been spoiled here along Florida’s NW Panhandle with unseasonably cool temperatures and low humidity – I think this is the latest I’ve turned on the air conditioning in years!! So, any free time I’ve had not dedicated to work and school deadlines has been spent outside trying to mitigate several years of benign neglect to my landscaping, especially in the backyard. It is looking good enough that I wouldn’t be embarrassed if unexpected company stopped by, so now that the house is shut up and the air is back on, I’m chained to my desk in front of the computer!

I got the original recipe for this dish out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine, probably about 15 years ago; and with a couple of minor modifications, it has been a friends and family summer favorite ever since. It is best with fresh ingredients, so if you don’t have a garden in your backyard or in pots on the deck/patio, head down to your local farmers market to pick up ingredients. We love the Palafox Farmers Market here in Pensacola! In fact, one of my basil plants came from a vendor there last year. It barely survived the winter in a kitchen garden window, but a few days ago I got enough leaves off of it to make this tasty dish. So let the official summer cooking season begin …

 Ingredients:

1 pie crust (you can use homemade, frozen, or refrigerated—which is always my first choice)

1 cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

3-4 tomatoes (I like Romas)

Left: cherry tomato from my garden. Right: Roma tomato I had to buy in order to make this recipe!

1 ½ cup mozzarella cheese, grated

4 cloves fresh garlic, chopped

¼ cup Parmesan cheese (if you don’t use freshly grated, please at least buy the grated in the refrigerator section – do not use the powdered stuff off the supermarket shelves!)

½ cup mayonnaise (do not use Miracle Whip!)

1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:

Bake the pie crust according to directions. Remove from oven. Sprinkle bottom with ½ cup of the grated mozzarella. Cool completely.

 Cut tomatoes into thin slices; drain on paper towels.

Arrange slices in layers on top of melted mozzarella (usually go 2-3 layers, depending on how thin I’ve sliced the tomatoes). In a small bowl, combine basil and garlic with remaining mozzarella, mayonnaise, Parmesan, and pepper. Mix well.

Spread evenly over the top of the tomato slices. Note:  I like to let a little glimpse of the tomatoes peek out so I don’t completely cover!

 Bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes, until top is golden brown. Let set for 10-15 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Serve with a green salad and you’ve got a refreshing summer meal for brunch, lunch or dinner! Enjoy!

Tags: Cooking, Debbie, fresh produce, summer

Sesame Asparagus

I ♥ asparagus, and as far as I’m concerned, it is officially spring (even if my northern friends still have snow on the ground) when the price of asparagus goes below $3.00/pound. When we first moved to MCAS El Toro back in the late 1980s (before development started the creep which eventually contributed to local governments supporting the closing of the USMC bases in Orange County), we were surrounded by orange groves, strawberry fields and acres of asparagus. Have you seen asparagus fields?? The asparagus we’re accustomed to buying in the store or at a local farmer’s market grows one “stalk” at a time, straight up out of the ground.  I’m sure one reason it is so expensive is that the only way we ever saw it being harvested was by hand. The girls’ Grandma D. used to tease them by calling it “asper-grass”.

Found this information on Wikipedia:

Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennial[1] plant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Alliaceae and asparagus in the Asparagaceae. Asparagus officinalis is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia,[2][3][4] and is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.

This next paragraph falls under the “everyone wants to know, but they aren’t going to ask” category! ☺ I am, are you (one of the 22%)?? More interesting, but probably useless information from Wikipedia—The effect of eating asparagus on the eater’s urine has long been observed:

• “[Asparagus] cause a filthy and disagreeable smell in the urine, as every Body knows.” (Treatise of All Sorts of Foods, Louis Lemery, 1702)^[5]
• “asparagus… affects the urine with a foetid smell (especially if cut when they are white) and therefore have been suspected by some physicians as not friendly to the kidneys; when they are older, and begin to ramify, they lose this quality; but then they are not so agreeable” (“An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments,” John Arbuthnot, 1735)^[6]
• Asparagus “…transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume.” Marcel Proust (1871–1922) ^[7]

There is debate about whether all (or only some) people produce the smell, and whether all (or only some) people identify the smell. It was originally thought this was because some of the population digested asparagus differently from others, so some people excreted odorous urine after eating asparagus, and others did not. However, in the 1980s three studies from France,^[8] China and Israel published results showing that producing odorous urine from asparagus was a universal human characteristic. The Israeli study found that from their 307 subjects all of those who could smell ‘asparagus urine’ could detect it in the urine of anyone who had eaten asparagus, even if the person who produced it could not detect it himself.^[9] Thus, it is now believed most people produce the odorous compounds after eating asparagus, but only about 22% of the population have the autosomal genes required to smell them.^[10][11][12]

Storage Issues, or, You May Think You Need Ft. Knox, But It Really Isn’t Necessary:

Have you ever brought some of that expensive asparagus home from the grocery store, not cooked it right away and then been dismayed to have to discard an limp bunch of limp graying greens which got buried in the produce drawer in your fridge? I came across this tip a long time ago and have successfully stored asparagus for days and days — it will stay fresh and crisp! So, next time you don’t plan on cooking asparagus the day you bring it home from the store (my favorite method is to steam it, top with a bit of salt and pepper and then make a meal out of it!), try this storage method:

• keeping it bundled, cut ½ – 1 inch off the bottom – just enough to “open” it up
• place in a container (something tall enough that it won’t tip over when you add water and the asparagus)
• add a couple of inches of water
• put it on the top shelf of your refrigerator – where you won’t forget about it!

By now, everyone knows about our love for everything Gooseberry Patch. I adapted this recipe from their cookbook, Celebrate Spring (page 100). I love the subtitle of this cookbook:  “A freshly-gathered bouquet of tender recipes, brand new how-to’s and tempting tips for the joyous days of springtime.” Even after our relatively short, mild winters here in NW Florida we look forward to the dogwoods blooming and bursts of color from the azaleas!

 Ingredients

1 lb. fresh asparagus, woody stalks broken off and cut into approx. 2” lengths

2 Tbsp. peanut oil (I used canola)

2 Tbsp. shallots, minced (I didn’t have shallots on hand, so just sliced some green onions)

1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

2 tsp. soy sauce

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Dash of lemon juice

Directions

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil and asparagus. Cook asparagus for about 4 minutes, stir and cook 3 more minutes. The asparagus will be slightly browned.

Add the shallots (or green onions) and sesame seeds and cook, tossing the asparagus in the mixture for about 3 minutes. Add soy sauce and pepper, toss again, then transfer to serving plate and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Can be served either warm as a vegetable side dish, or chilled as a salad.

 And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

1.  Lison M, Blondheim SH, Melmed RN. (1980). “A polymorphism of the ability to smell urinary metabolites of asparagus”. Br Med J 281 (6256): 1676. doi:10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1676. PMC 1715705. PMID 7448566. Grubben, G.J.H.; Denton, O.A., eds (2004). Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA Foundation, Wageningen; Backhuys, Leiden; CTA, Wageningen. 
2. “Asparagus officinalis”. Flora Europaea. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Asparagus&SPECIES_XREF=officinalis&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK=. Retrieved 2010-05-19. 
3. “Asparagus officinalis”. Euro+Med Plantbase Project. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem. http://ww2.bgbm.org/_EuroPlusMed/PTaxonDetail.asp?NameId=38660&PTRefFk=500000. Retrieved 2010-05-19. 
4. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. “Asparagus officinalis”. Germplasm Resources Information Network. Beltsville, Maryland: National Germplasm Resources Laboratory. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?300050. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
5.  McGee, Harold (2004). “6″. McGee on Food and Cooking. Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 315. ISBN 0340831499.
6. Arbuthnot J (1735). An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments 3rd ed.. J. Tonson. pp. 64261–262. 
7. From the French “[...] changer mon pot de chambre en un vase de parfum,” Du côté de chez Swann, Gallimard, 1988.
8. C. RICHER1, N. DECKER2, J. BELIN3, J. L. IMBS2, J. L. MONTASTRUC3 & J. F. GIUDICELLI (May 1989). “Odorous urine in man after asparagus”. Br J. Clin. Pharmac. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1379934&blobtype=pdf. 
9. S. C. MITCHELL (May 1989). “Asparagus and malodorous urine”. Br J. Clin. Pharmac. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1379935&blobtype=pdf. 
10.  “The scientific chef: asparagus pee”. The Guardian. September 23, 2005. http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,1576765,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-21. 
11. Hannah Holmes. “Why Asparagus Makes Your Pee Stink”. Discover.com. http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970115/skinny1.html. 
12. Lison M, Blondheim SH, Melmed RN. (1980). “A polymorphism of the ability to smell urinary metabolites of asparagus”. Br Med J 281 (6256): 1676. doi:10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1676. PMC 1715705. PMID 7448566. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=7448566

Tags: asparagus, Cooking, Debbie, spring, Storage, vegetables

Spinach Sausage Bake

After a cold winter here in NW Florida, and more than a week down with some kind of “superbug” I was looking for something different to cook, that was NOT soup – don’t get me wrong, I still love soups of all kinds, just need a temporary reprieve!! I love Greek food so when I saw this recipe for Spanakopita (Spinach Bake) from a Taste of Home contributor, it caught my attention. I changed it up a bit, mainly by adding some meat to make it a hearty main course – serve with some toasted pita and you have a meal. It would also make a delicious brunch dish.

 Ingredients

2 cups (16 ounces) cottage cheese

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

6 ounces crumbled feta cheese (the original recipe calls for 8 ounces, but all of the containers of feta that I could find were 6 ounces, and at least $4.00, even at Walmart; not wanting to double the cost for this recipe I decided to try it with just 6 ounces which worked just fine!)

½ teaspoon pepper – if you are not a pepper lover you might want to cut back a bit here

¼ teaspoon salt

4 eggs, lightly beaten

½ pound mild sausage, browned, drained (and I always rinse mine too) – optional if you want the traditional meatless version

Directions

In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese, spinach (make sure you break up those “squeezed dry clumps”) and feta cheese. Add the dry ingredients (flour, pepper, and salt).

Add the sausage.

Add the eggs and mix well. Note: Cracking the eggs and beating them in a separate bowl is one of those steps I often skip in a recipe, but in this case (mainly because the ingredients were a bit spendy–didn’t want to destroy $4.00+ of feta cheese!–I made sure to do this before including with the rest of the ingredients).

Place in a lightly greased 9-inch square baking dish.

Bake, uncovered in a preheated 350° oven for one hour or until eggs are set and knife inserted comes out clean. Edges will be golden brown. Cut into squares. Makes 6 (main course) or 9 (side dish) servings.

I think I’ll go heat up a leftover piece for lunch!

Tags: Cooking, Debbie

How to Make Candied Cinnamon Almonds

Yesterday, my son walked in a parade with his Cub Scout pack.  It was a good ole hometown fall festival and parade with high school marching bands, games, amazing food, generous smiles, Civil War re-enactors, monster trucks, and more! 

My daughter and I sat on the sidelines waiting for the parade to start, and during the parade, enjoying the friends and fun.  I thought ahead and brought drinks and snacks so I wouldn’t be breaking my budget.  However, a certain food trailer was calling out to both of us (especially after our friends went and bought some)…Candied Nuts.  Almonds, walnuts, peanuts and pecans.  All covered in crispy wonderfulness and incredibly addicting.

After delighting in the fantastic taste, as is usually the case, my first thought was: I can make this!!!  I had several bags of almonds from a plan to make a previous recipe, so I figured I would go ahead and give it a try!  Often times, I try foods like this and think, surely it must be difficult to make them, especially since they can get away with charging $4.00 for a cup of them!  Wrong!  They were super duper easy and quick and provided instant taste gratification!

I went to my usual resource, allrecipes.com, and looked up the recipe.  The original called for two cups of nuts, but my 16 oz. bag was three cups so I changed the serving size to get an accurate recipe.  For this one I could have just done it on my own, but in case you don’t know, you can change the size of the recipe in allrecipes.com.  You just put in the number of servings you want to make, press calculate, and it makes the alterations for you!  Here are the numbers I ended up using:

Candied Nuts

• 3/4 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 cups almonds (any nuts of your liking will do)

Mix all ingredients except almonds in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add almonds.  Boil and continuously stir until water has evaporated.  Spread out on wax paper lined cookie sheets and cool 15 minutes.

The trick to this, as per the comments on allrecipes is to constantly stir and MAKE SURE you cook away all the liquid.  If it is syrupy at all still, you are not done!  It took just under 30 minutes for this process to complete.  30 minutes of standing and stirring is SO WORTH IT for this recipe.  They are DELICIOUS!  As soon as I do everything else I need to accomplish today, I am going back to make the recipe with my walnuts and peanuts too!  I’ll probably try adding something like pumpkin pie spice and see if it changes the taste at all.

I even used a cake decorating parchment triangle to wrap the candy up.  It looked just like the package we bought the nuts in at the festival.  Very authentic and this would make a GREAT homemade gift to hand out to friends at the holidays!

YUM!

Tags: almonds, candied, gifts, how to, Marissa, nuts

Mummy’s Brunch!

Cheesy, I know, but I couldn’t help myself…it is Halloween season, after all!  Today we will be highlighting my most recent entertaining extravaganza (this morning!)….Mummy’s Bruch!!!  (list of setup and design details shown at the end of the post)

A group of my girl friends, mostly from the neighborhood, are always looking for an excuse to get together and have a good time.  Last month, to celebrate our children’s return to school we went out to eat at a local brunchery.  Inspired, we decided to make it a monthly ordeal, but to host it at our own houses.  This month was our first, and I volunteered to start the partying at my place!

There are two things we KPB girls (yes, we have a name for ourselves) take very seriously in life: 1) our food and 2) our alcohol.  Both must be present in abundance whenever we get together…the majority of us are military wives!  Most of our children are all in school so this was a Mummies only meeting.

I began my planning by putting together a menu of the foods I wanted people to try the most.  I knew I would need some things sweet, some savory, some heavy and some light to make everyone happy and keep the food interesting.  After making the menu I tried to figure out how I was going to lay my house out to hold all the women.  Today there were 13 of us, but there can easily be 30 or more depending on how many of us are able to show up!

My mother would be proud of me…I decided today was finally the day to bust out the good silver!!!  That’s right!  Those boxes came out of the closet and were used (the silver, not the boxes) for the FIRST time since I have had them.  Probably the first time in 20 years!!!  Why you ask?  Well, why the heck not?  All they have been doing is sitting and wasting space in my closet.  You know what I do to things that waste space in my closet?  My family does!  I THROW THEM AWAY!  Obviously, that was not an option here, so I figure I better use them!  They were so gross and tarnished and I was NOT looking forward to polishing them…hence the reason why they have been in their containers for so long!  How do I do it?  Where do I start?  Do I need to have hazmat on speed dial?

Well, when I moved into my house the people we bought it from actually left a container of silver polish in a cabinet.  I have stopped myself from throwing it away a million times because “you never know when I’ll need it.”  And I finally needed it!  I prepared myself for a long night of scrubbing and polishing and sweating, and bleeding and aggravated skin.  Guess what though?  I polished ALL of my pieces in under an hour!  It was so stinking easy and actually remarkably FUN!  I know, right?  But seeing the age disappear from the silver pitcher before my very eyes was amazing.  They shined up like I had just bought them yesterday!  Needless to say, I highly recommend Wright’s Silver Cream. 

Before polishing the silver, I had no plans to do a theme at all.  I was simply going to make some yummy (mummy) food and put it out to eat.  However, after I had all these beautiful pieces lying around I thought, “October!  I HAVE to do a haunted style brunch set up!”  It was so fun!  I spent very little money making it all happen.  I bought the candies webs, bugs, etc. at the Dollar Tree, and since it was brunch, I had most of the items on hand to make the food I was making.  So below I will entail all that I did and  How to Throw a Mummy Brunch!

Theme:

MUMMY’S Brunch! 

Decorations:  

1) “Haunted” silver platters and bowls.  The perfect touch to make the room look like one on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney.  Don’t have silver?  The Dollar Tree carries a plastic type of silver looking stuff (sorry, I really don’t know how to describe it) that really would do just fine.  I would have had no problem using it!

2) Cobwebs on the wall, tables, staircase, and hanging from the chandeliers.  I only purchased one bag at the Dollar Tree and STILL had leftover!

3) Foil wrapped chocolates that looked like eyeballs tossed over the tables amongst the cobwebs. One bag (Dollar Tree) was more than enough for four tables.

4) Wine glasses.  I have had my eyes on these glasses since I spotted them this summer.  They are tall, big, thick and pretty darn sturdy glasses.  Why so special?  DOLLAR TREE!  I had thought about buying the throw away champagne flutes to have fun with them, but those were sold two in a pack for a dollar.  So instead, I spent 16 dollars buying the 16 brand new glasses I have wanted for a while.  Now what to do with my miss-matched Waterford glasses that I never use because I don’t ever want anyone to break them!!!?

5) Three bags of small plastic creepy crawlies (Dollar Tree):

• The long skinny ones were placed in napkin rings with long black paper napkins
• Medium sized ones were tossed around the tables with the foil eyeball chocolates
• Small ones were rings.  These I used to “label” the wine glasses.  These rings are so small they always have slits so you can break them apart in the back.  It was a super easy, cheap thing I came across on accident to wrap around the wine glass stems.

I know this seems like an advertisement for the Dollar Tree, but really, I have become a DT addict!  I never knew I could find so many things there that I need, for my entertaining needs especially!

6) Table cloths that match my normal rooms.  These really made the silver POP!  I found the BEST tablecloths at Bed Bath and Beyond.  They feel soft and look nice, but they are totally stain resistant!  When you spill something on it, the water literally beads up and doesn’t soak in.  Any food that was spilled, I had NO problem wiping up with a sponge.  I am SO excited to have these now!  And they are made out of recycled plastic bottles.  Good for the environment too!!!

Mummy Menu:

Drinks:

1. Bloody Mary’s
2. Bloody Mummy Mimosa’s: 2 bottles champagne mixed with almost one full carton OJ and a splash of pomegranate juice in each individual glass
3. Brainy Bellinis: 1 bottle Prosecco mixed with 2/3 cup white peach puree
4. Coffee with the option of Bailey’s or a fall tasting creamer (cinnamon, caramel, etc), also make sure you have regular milk and sugar out for it
5. Sparkling water
6. OJ, Cranberry Juice, etc

Appetizers:

1. Cheese and crackers (I had a goat cheese, smoked gouda, pepper jack, and rosemary)
2. Garlic Olives (these were torn up…I try to always have something out that people can just pop)
3. Fruit and fruit dip (strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes)
   1. pull the grapes off the stems before you put them on the platter…people will be more likely to eat them
   2. fruit dip: one small container of marshmallow fluff and one package of cream cheese (8 oz?) – put them in a bowl and beat the heck out of it on high until it’s nice and creamy…YUM

Mains/Sides:

1. Brunch Strata (made a perfect amount…two or three more people and there would have been no leftovers)
2. Pumpkin Scones/Bread served with sweet potato butter
3. Tomato Basil Tart – a tradition of my mom’s…I’ll have to post another day
4. Maple Bacon Cupcakes

On a side note….Garrett, from Vanilla Garlic comment on my Maple Bacon Cupcake last night..  His taste buds must have been tingling because I received a text from my sister who is aware of my little bloggy blog crush.  Literally while I was in the middle of baking the same dish for my brunch: “Vanilla garlic left a comment on your bacon cupcake post!!!  I know u r swooning right now lol!”  My response: “Please catch me while I fall!”  :)

Dessert:

1. Monkey Bread brought by a friend of mine, but her recipe is pretty similar to mine – again, I’ll have to reserve another day of posting for this one, even though it is super easy and quick.

Well, I fear this post has already turned into a novel.  I’ll let you go now and leave you to your own mummification.  Don’t forget…use the junk you’ve got sitting in a closet.  What’s the point in having the beautiful extras in life if you aren’t ever going to use them?  ANY occasion can be made special enough to dust the china off for!

Linking up to:

Tags: brunch, drinks, Entertaining, food, Halloween, hosting, How to throw a Mummy Brunch, silver

Chicken Pot Pie – Pretending autumn weather is here!

Ingredients

2 pie crusts (1 box – remember, I do NOT “roll”)

2 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt & pepper, cooked (I bake them for 20-25 minutes at 350°) and cubed

1 can condensed cream of potato soup (I like the Campbell’s brand)

1 package (10 oz.) frozen vegetables (see “Options” below)

½ cup onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup milk

½ tsp. poultry seasoning

Directions

Place one crust in lightly greased pie plate.

 Note:  Those directions on the box that say “do not microwave to defrost” … they mean it!! Had a sticky mess because I tried to take a shortcut.  I ended up rolling each crust into a ball, adding some flour and rolling it out (I repeat, I do NOT “roll”).

 Not pretty, but functional!

 Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Fill bottom crust with meat and vegetable mixture. Top with remaining crust, seal crusts together and place a few slits in the top for steam to escape.

Bake at 375° for 45-50 minutes, covering pie crust edges until last 15 minutes of baking time. Serves six.

So, it is not exactly symmetrical, but it was tasty!  This tastes great the next day as lunch “leftovers” and also freezes well.

 Options:

• Replace chicken breasts with 1 can (12.5 oz.) drained tuna
• Replace chicken breasts with leftover turkey or roast beef (delete the poultry seasoning if you use roast beef, and substitute a bit of garlic powder or seasoned salt)
• Instead of a box of frozen vegetables:
  • Use an assortment of frozen/fresh vegetables
    • I had peas and beans in the freezer, borrowed some frozen corn from the neighbors (Thanks, C & TH – I owe you) and grated some fresh carrots
  • Use fresh vegetables of your choice (e.g., zucchini, carrots, bell pepper, etc.)
  • Keep a container in your freezer to save those spoonfuls of leftover vegetables — you can keep adding over a couple of months … no more throwing away just a couple of “bites” – time to make a pot pie when you’ve got a container full of vegetables

So, light a harvest-scented candle, turn down the A/C and make some comfort food!

Tags: Chicken, Cooking, Debbie

Tailgate Party Food – Jill’s Hamburger Dip

It is a tailgate party without football!

In honor of football season (we take our football very seriously here in the South!), Kathy, the owner of  Needle Delights, declared that “tailgating” would be the theme of this September’s All Night Stitch.  While the party activities were atypical – not a television or football game in sight, just a lot of cross-stitch and needlepoint going on! – even the most hard core football fan would have been comfortable with the menu:  all of the fixings for make-it-yourself sub sandwiches, pasta salad, hot wings, and lots of chips and dips (I think I even saw a few carrots and celery sticks), along with plenty of desserts to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth.  

My contribution was Jill’s Hamburger Dip. I originally got this recipe from my dear friend, Jill, when she had a group of wives and kids to her home for some kind of party when all of the husbands were on deployment. We were living on base in California so it has to be before 1991. Since then it has been one of my favorites (who needs chips, just give me a big spoon!), and I often bring it to casual get togethers/potlucks. Especially during the fall and winter I try to keep these ingredients on hand — you never know when there will be a last minute get together to watch your team crush their opponents (or not!). I have heard this hot dip called many things, including Dog Food (thanks, for that one, Sherry!).  I guess it does look a bit like gourmet dog food, but I will always think of it as Jill’s Hamburger Dip, and have sweet thoughts of Jill and fun memory-making times every time I make it!

 Here are the basics:

 Ingredients:

 2 lbs. ground beef, browned & drained (I also rinse mine with hot water)

1 large box (16 oz.), Velveeta, cut into chunks (I tried to use a cheap substitute once and it just wasn’t the same!)

1 large jar of chunky salsa (your choice:  mild – hot)

Directions:

 Mix all ingredients. Either microwave until cheese is melted and serve in a bowl on a warming plate, or place all ingredients in a crockpot on high until the cheese is melted and then turn down to low or warm. Keep the dip warm up until and during serving because as it cools it will quickly thicken (then you’ll need a grout trowel instead of a spoon or a chip).  Makes:  A lot!

This is the basic recipe. Some options:

• Substitute sausage for the hamburger
• Substitute Rotel tomatoes for the salsa
• Add chopped onion, green pepper, tomatoes, etc.

 Not sure how appetizing this looks (guess it does look a bit like dog food!), but it is yummy! Serve with tortilla strips, Doritos, or corn chips.

And, I’ll leave you with this thought, GO GATORS!!

Tags: Cooking, cross-stitch, Debbie, Tailgate Party