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Everything Else Food

Saturday Couples Shower Menu & Recipes

My parents & 3 other couples hosted a couples shower for Matt & Katie this past Saturday night. Matt & his family have been family friends of ours for over 20 years! My brother is in the wedding & we’re really looking forward to their Oct 4th wedding in Wilmington.
Mom & her friends got together a couple different times to plan the meals & alcohol. The SAH ladies cooked some Friday then Amy T joined Mom & I Saturday.
I was put in charge of making my Oreo Brownies. I also helped with the fruit salad by melon balling, cutting up strawberries, grapes, pineapple (I ate the core!). Amy & Mom steamed shrimp using the Old Bay seasoning recipe. I was the official stirrer of mom’s Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw & I encouraged adding more craisins! (recipe below.) I feel like there was something else, but I’ve forgotten.
I don’t have all the recipes, but here’s approximately the menu.
Appetizers: Hot Corn Dip (version of recipe below), Cherry Tomatoes halved with basil & fresh mozzerella inside with basalmic dip, Chipolte Raspberry Cheese Ball, & Steamed Shrimp.
Dinner: Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Spiral Ham, Curried Fruit Chicken Salad (with Costco Rolls), Fruit Salad, Deviled Eggs.
Dessert: Oreo Brownies, Creme Puffs & Strawberries with chocolate dip.

Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw
Ingredients
4 c coleslaw (1 bag)
1 bunch broccoli
8 slices cooked bacon (we omitted)
1 small chopped purple onion (we used Vilada)
1 c craisins (or more)
1 c mayo
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 c sugar
Optional: silvered almonds or chopped walnuts
Directions
Mix first 5 ingredients in medium-large bowl. Set aside. Mix last 3 ingredients in a large bowl (they’re the dressing). Combine all ingredients just before serving.

Hot Corn Dip
Ingredients
1 (11 oz) can Mexicorn
1 c mayo or sour cream
1/2 c Parmesan shredded cheese
1 c Mexican mix shredded cheese
3 tbsp finely chopped Jalepeno peppers (Mom uses 1 (4 oz) can green chillies)
Directions
Combine and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Serve with scoops.

Curry Fruit Chicken Salad (Jan said she got it from allrecipes.com which is where I found this one but not sure its the same, but its close though)
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked & diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 small apple, peeled, cored & chopped
1/3 c golden raisins
1/3 c seedless green grapes, halved
1/2 c chopped toasted pecans
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp curry powder
3/4 c mayo
Directions
Combine & stir all ingredients together. Serve & enjoy.

Categories
Food

More Pampered Chef Recipes

Maria, the pampered chef consultant emailed us her recipes from the party Saturday. I’ll split these up into two posts.
I’m looking forward to making the artichoke dip for our next party (have yall noticed I’m really into artichoke dips recently?!).

I’m not a huge onion fan, so I’d probably reduce the amount of onion in the salsa. But it was really cool how she mixed & cut it all up with the Pampered Chef Salad Chopper (I might have to borrow it from Marie to make this!).

Elegant Artichoke Cups
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
24 square wonton wrappers
1 can artichoke hearts, drained & coarsely chopped
1/2 medium red bell pepper
1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 c grated fresh parmesan cheese
1 lemon
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, pressed
Add’l grated fresh parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Place vegetable oil in small bowl. Place wonton wrappers on cutting board. Lightly brush one side of each wonton with oil using basting brush. Press one wonton wrapper into each cup of the mini muffin pan (which I will soon have!). Repeat with remaining wonton wrappers. Bake 6 mintues or just until edges are light golden brown.
Meanwhile, coarsely chop artichokes and place in medium sized bowl. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper & dice finely. Zest lemon to measure 1/2 tsp zest. Finely chop parsley (she did it using the pizza cutter!). Add bell pepper, grated cheese, zest, parsley, mayonnaise, and pressed garlic to bowl. Mix well with spoonula.
Fill each wonton cup with about 1 tbsp of artichoke mixture; sprinkle with add’l Parmesan cheese. Bake 8 minutes or until edges of wontons are golden brown & cheese begins to melt.
Remove wontons from pan & serve immediately. Makes approximately 24 appetizers.

Mango Salad
Ingredients
3 large tomatoes
1 small red onion
3 green onions
1 jalapeno pepper (take the seeds off, or keep if you like really spicy)
1 mango
juice of 1 lime
1/2 c cilantro leaves
3 tbsp olive oil

Directions
Cut all ingredients into smaller pieces and chop using the salad chopper until you reach desired consistancy. Serve with tortilla chips.

Categories
Food

This Weekend’s Recipes, part 1

I gave my mom her Mother’s Day Pioneer Woman Cooks book Friday night. I’d mentioned earlier last week that we might want to try a few things from it this weekend~ I didn’t tell her that it’d be from her own book though!

Nana had already gotten steaks for Saturday night so we planned appetizer & sides based on that. For Saturday, we made PW‘s Hot Artichoke Dip, Burgundy Mushrooms, and Creamy Rosemary Potatoes. We also had salad and homemade peach ice cream! The ice cream maker’s motor kinda broke, so we had a hand turn it… a lot of work but it didn’t seem to be getting thicker, so we gave up. We ate dinner then Pawpaw & I brought it up thinking we’d be having peach milkshakes… instead we think it was on right because somehow it worked! So yummy!
Ok here’s Sat night’s PW recipes:

Hot Artichoke Dip
Ingredients
2 14 oz cans artichokes hearts, drained
8 oz block cream cheese
1 c mayo
cayenne pepper
2 green onions, chopped (We omitted)
1 c grated Parmesan cheese
dash of salt
black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Put cream cheese, mayo & one can of artichokes in a food processor (we used a blender). Puree for just a minute then add the cayenne pepper (& green onions if you want). Pulse the mixture a few times to get the artichokes chopped up and mixed with other ingredients. Add in the cheese and salt and pepper. We put in 9 or 10″ pie plate. Chop the other can of artichokes roughly then add into the dip. Bake for 15-20 minutes. We served with baked Ritz pieces, Wheat Thins & randomly buffalo chips. I liked it best with the Ritz crisps.

Burgundy Mushrooms (we halved this recipe but the mushrooms cook down a lot)
Ingredients
4 pounds white button mushrooms
2 sticks butter
1.5 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1liter Burgundy wine (other dry red wine will work)
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 c boiling water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
4 beef bouillon cubes (we omitted)
1 t dill seed
1 t garlic powder
2 t salt
Directions
Wash mushrooms and put in large stock pot. Add all remaining ingredients except the salt. Bring to boil over medium-high heat then reduce heat to low and let simmer. PW recommends simmering covered for 6 hours then uncovered for another 3. We put our mushrooms on around 6 and ate around 8. I think we had more sauce remaining, but we just poured over steaks. Add salt to taste at the end. The mushrooms turned dark and had the best flavor!

Creamy Rosemary Potatoes (this recipes kinda labor intensive but worth it!)
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter
1 c half and half
1 c heavy cream
5-6 medium potatoes (we used 5 large ones)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (we used garlic powder to taste)
1 medium onion, finely diced
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
.5-1 t salt to taste
black pepper to taste
2 T minced rosemary leaves
3 green onions (we omitted)
1 c grated parmesan cheese
3 T minced chives (we omitted)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of 9×13 dish. Combine half & half and cream in large measuring cup. Thinly slice the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and drizzle with half the cream mixture. In large skillet over medium low heat, melt butter, garlic and onion. Cook until clear stirring occasionally (about 4 minutes). Cut bar of cream cheese in half and add to the skillet. Keep stirring until smooth & cream (about 3 minutes). Add other half of the cream mixture and keep stirring. Add salt & pepper ~ we tasted a few times and added a little more. Add rosemary (yay for Nana’s rosemary plant!) (and green onions if we chose to). Last, add 1/2 c of the parm and stir until mixed. Pour the potatoes into the 9×13 then top with the skillet mixture. Sprinkle the other 1/2 c of parm. Bake for about an hour. PW says until golden brown & bubbly. Ours cooked a little quicker than we were ready so we covered with foil. Delicious that night & made great lunch leftovers!!!

Categories
Food

Healthy Spinach Artichoke Dip

I heard about this recipe from Jenny who swears its super yummy even thought its a fairly healthy way to make Spinach Artichoke Dip. I promise to make this for my next party or gathering. She got the recipe from here.

Healthy Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients

2 c (8 oz) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, divided

1/2 c fat free sour cream

1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened

1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry

1 (13.5-ounce) package baked tortilla chips (about 16 cups)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and next 6 ingredients (through spinach) in a large bowl; stir until well blended. Spoon mixture into a 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Categories
Food

Dips!

I went to a dip themed dinner club last night. I realized when I was making mine that I didn’t have the recipe posted.

Pizza Dip

Ingredients
8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
approximately 8 oz pizza sauce
1 c shredded part skim mozz cheese
pizza seasonings

Directions
Spread cream cheese on bottom of dish. I use 9″ pie plate. Top with pizza sauce, then seasoning, then cheese.
Bake at 350 until cheese is all melted. Maybe 10 mins.
I serve with sliced French bread which I sprayed with Pam then broiled until crisy.

The below dip Lindsay B brought. It was a huge hit! She just emailed it to us so I thought I’d post (this way I’ll remember & be able to find the recipe!).

Artichoke Dip

one 14 oz. can (water packed) artichoke hearts, chopped
3/4 C plain lowfat yogurt
1 C grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 T fresh basil chopped

*I added some chopped fresh spinach as well.

Microwave 3 minutes on high. Stir. Microwave 2 more minutes. Serve
warm with chips, bread or pita bread.