  Just 5 days to go!! Don’t forget to comment to enter this month’s giveaway for the treats pictured above. Just in time for Christmas: Shortbread cookie mix and a set of cookie cutters to make a cookie Christmas tree!! I told you in my last post that I would put up some “finger food” ideas for the holiday entertaining season and this is the next in that list. Hope you can use it!! A long time ago, an employer took me and friends to a restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was quite an experience for a younger person who didn’t have two pennies to rub together. There were no prices on the menu and so I have no idea how much the meal cost. However, I’ll bet that the bill would be considered astronomical even today! Appetizers were ordered first and I chowed down on the Crab Louis on crackers. I had never had caviar and made a pig of myself. As has always been my habit, I took mental notes of the tastes and the ingredients as the flavors slid over my taste buds. I have no clue what I had for dinner and dessert. I just remember the appetizers! And of course, when I went back to the real world of the lowly, young wife of a farmer, I experimented until I created that appetizer to use for my own entertainment occassions. It may seem like a bit of work, but the neat thing is that you can make the sauce days ahead of time and just keep it in the frig where the longer it sits, the more the flavors combine. You can cook the crab ahead of time or you can use frozen claw meat or lump crab meat. Assembling the treat just takes a matter of minutes so it’s all in the planning! You will impress your guests and they will think that you are really posh. Do we use that word anymore??? For a lighter version, you can use light mayonnaise and the low-fat half and half. And if you think that I spent a bunch of money on caviar, think again! Shhhhhhhh. It was on the top shelf at Walmart with the canned oysters, canned shrimp and canned tuna!! That means that anyone can serve the “Toity” without it being so “Hoity”!! Ingredients: Louis Sauce: 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 Tbsp heavy cream (or half and half) 2 Tbsp Heinz Chili Sauce 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1/4 tsp shredded, fresh horseradish 2 Tbsp finely chopped green pepper 2 Tbsp finely chopped green onion 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice Other Ingredients:  In a small mixing bowl, add mayonnaise  Add cream  And chili sauce, worcestershire sauce and horseradish  Add chopped green pepper and green onions  Pour in 1 Tbsp lemon juice  Mix all ingredients together until sauce is smooth. Place in the refrigerator to cool. May be made several days ahead of time. This sauce is very good as a substitute for tartar sauce with fried or baked fish or shrimp.  Steam enough crab to make one cup of meat when cracked. For a quicker preparation, frozen lump or claw meat is acceptable too.  Shell the crab using kitchen shears and a nut pick.  Place crackers on a plate and put a small dollop of sauce in the center of each cracker.  Toss one tablespoon melted butter with the crab  Put a mound of crab onto the cracker and into the sauce.  Place another small dollop of sauce on top of the mound of crab  Add a small mound of caviar onto the sauce.  And there you have it. Tasty appetizers!!  |
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Posts Tagged ‘Finger Food’
The “Toity” Without The “Hoity”!
Friday, December 14th, 2012
Virginia – Texas – Oklahoma – Whatever!
Monday, December 10th, 2012
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Don’t forget to comment to enter this month’s giveaway for the treats pictured above. Just in time for Christmas: Shortbread cookie mix and a set of cookie cutters to make a cookie Christmas tree!! Tis the season to be eating…or that’s the way it is around here. Between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, Americans consume more calories than any other time of the year, but based on all of the holiday pastry baking going on all over the rest of the world, I’m thinkin’ we aren’t alone!! Office parties, neighborhood get-togethers, church luncheons and private bashes make up the months of November through January 1st, and finger foods and hors d’oeuvres occupy every hostess’ or host’s brain. Of course, these days, the fat content and calories are considered as well – maybe! I thought that for the next few posts, I would give you some of our favorite goodies that can be prepared either lower calorie or the good ol’ Southern way. I’ve been making most of these recipes for years of entertaining and they are easy and delicious. This first one was given to me by my friend, Mary, wayyyyy back in the late 1970’s. Having grown up in Virginia, Mary was proud of her state and her heritage and treated me to this concoction called Virginia Hot Dip. I loved it and immediately got her recipe. That IS the official name – however, if you are from Tennessee, you can call it Tennessee Hot Dip or from Michigan – it can be Michigan Hot Dip. I think that we should just label it as the 50 state treat that it is!! So here is the recipe. It takes all of maybe 15 minutes to prepare and then 20 minutes to bake. It can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator until just before time for serving, at which time it is baked and then served hot. Ingredients: (This recipe can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled and any other ‘uple’ you wish according to your crowd size) 1/2 cup chopped pecans (I use a little more) 1 Tbsp. butter (for low fat use 1 tsp) 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened (fat-free or Neufchatel is fine for lower calorie and fat) 1/2 cup sour cream (light sour cream works well too) 2 Tablespoons milk (skim or 2% for lower calorie) 1 Tablespoon minced onion 1 1/2 (2 oz) package Carl Buddig original sliced beef or any other dried beef brand 1/2 tsp garlic salt Directions:  Place cream cheese, sour cream, onions, milk and garlic salt into a mixing bowl.  You can make your own garlic salt by adding 2 Tablespoons of salt and 1 Tablespoon of garlic powder into a small jar and shaking to mix. These amounts can be increased proportionally for larger batches.  Cream ingredients until smooth  Slice and chop beef into small pieces  Add beef to the creamed mixer and mix well  Spoon mixture into a greased casserole dish. I use spray on olive oil to grease my dish.  Melt butter in a skillet  Add chopped pecans and lightly saute in the butter.  Sprinkle pecans evenly over the surface of the creamed mixture. At this point, the mixture can be chilled until it is ready to use. Just before time to serve, bake at 350º for 20 minutes and allow to cool just slightly before serving with crackers.  Yummy!! |
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