Happy New Year!

Here we come down to the final countdown of the holiday season. We'll have a family gathering tomorrow at my parent's house; then my brother and family will be heading back to Cincinnati on Friday, and my husband and I will start our final prep and frantic activity before leaving on Monday to go back to Georgia.

In the meantime, I'm making some "hoovy doovies" (as we say at my house) for my family tonight, along with some goodies for the family dinner tomorrow.

Tonight we'll be having cocktail wieners in "secret sauce", the best queso dip with chips, and either pastrami sandwiches on sub-buns or beef fajitas, not sure which. I also have some chocolate peanut butter chip cookies I made last night (just the standard recipe from the back of the Reeses' peanut butter chip package, no secret to this one!) and some snow-drop cookies I made this afternoon. We'll probably toast the New Year in with eggless eggnog, if we're still awake.

Tomorrow's menu will include black-eyed peas with rice; Mexican cornbread; coleslaw; and a variety of chips and dips and desserts. For my contribution, I've already made a pot of black-eyed peas--my Mom makes hers with the leftover ham bone from Christmas, I make mine just like I do 10-bean soup, with chicken and ground meat. I have poppy seed cakes in the oven as we speak--one to take to family dinner tomorrow, one made as two loaves to gift to a couple of people. I'll also be making spinach dip and crab spread, (made with a combination of crab and shrimp this time) and will probably take a plate of leftover cookies.


I love the smells going on in my kitchen right now--peas are simmering, cocktail wieners are parboiling, cakes are baking...Ummmm, makes me want to bottle this up and give it away!

Hoping you and yours will have a happy and safe New Year!

Good cooking, and good eating!

Feeling a Little Crabby Today, Two

I know I just gave you a crab salad/spread recipe, but now in the party season I want to give you another, totally different one. This one makes a pretty presentation, is super easy, and is, as always, delicious.

• 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
• 1 bottle of cocktail sauce
• 1 can of crab meat, drained, or equivalent in frozen or fresh (cooked) crabmeat

Spread the softened cream cheese directly onto your serving plate, almost to the edge. Pour the bottle of cocktail sauce into the middle, and spread almost to the edge of the cream cheese. Take the drained crabmeat and break it apart, and sprinkle on top of the layer of cocktail sauce.

Serve with butter type crackers, like Ritz or Town House.

Note: this is NOT one that should be made very long ahead of time, as it can tend to start getting a little watery if it stands a long time.

Variations:

You could use little cocktail shrimp,or chopped up larger shrimp, in place of the crabmeat.

This recipe, like most of the ones I use, is deceptively simple. Everything can be kept on hand in your grocery stockpile, put together at the spur of the moment, if necessary.

Good (un-)cooking, and good eating!

Feeling a Little Crabby Today

One of my absolute very best favorite dips/spreads to make and eat is technically called "Crab Salad". I use this as a spread with crackers. If you wanted to make it a little more healthy, or are watching carbs and/or gluten, you could probably put it on celery sticks.

Here is the basic recipe:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c mayo or Miracle Whip
• 1 t garlic salt
• 1 t worchestershire sauce
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese
• 6-8 oz crab meat

Allow the cream cheese to soften, then mix in mayo/miracle whip and seasonings. Once well blended, sitr in grated cheese and crab meat. Refrigerate for several hours-overnight is best, it lets the flavors really blend. It gets really stiff when cold, be sure to remove from the fridge for a while before serving, to allow it to soften back up a little for ease of spreading.

Most of the time I use imitation crab meat--you know the stuff I'm talking about--I drain it, and chop it fine before adding to the cream cheese mixture. If I do use real crab meat, I break it up a little with my fingers before mixing it in. I double this recipe a lot, and when I do, I usually use one package of the fake crab meat, and one can of real crab meat, or frozen if I can find it. (I seldom have the budget for fresh crabmeat, but by all means use fresh if you have access to it). If you buy canned, fresh, or frozen crab meat, buy the cheaper stuff, not the more expensive white or lump crab meat. Save the expensive stuff for a fancier recipe than this one.

As far as seasonings go, I use Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning mix in everything, so I use about a teaspoon of Tony Chay Chay's as we call it in my family, and leave out the garlic salt & the pepper. I do use the worchestershire sauce, though.

If you don't like crab, or you have someone who is allergic to shellfish, leave out the crab meat, add about an extra cup at least of grated cheese, to make it more like a cheese ball.

I usually put this in a pretty pink fluted glass serving dish that I have, that has a matching round serving dish that I use for the crackers. You can garnish it with a little parsley if you'd like.

Tune in tommorrow for another good dip/appetizer recipe.

Good cooking (sort of) and good eating!