Sister Dinner-Independence Day Style

In July we did our Sister's Cookbook Dinner on the 4th of July at Nancy and Robert's house. These strawberries are NOT from that cookbook, but from some craft blog that I frequent. Aren't they SO cute? I'm totally going to do them every year on Independence Day or for anything that requires a patriotic flare. Strawberries dipped in white chocolate then dipped in blue sugar. Yum!

We had a bunch of stuff from the Sister's Cookbook and also not from the cookbook. Nancy made the dip in the wooden bowl, Creamy Salsa Dip (pg. 5) It was very tasty and I usually have all these ingredients in my pantry. Yum!

1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sour cream

1 1/2 c. chunky salsa

Tortilla chips

In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Stir in sour cream and salsa. Cover and refrigerate several hours. Serve with tortilla chips.

See those funny yellow balls in the front on the right? Those are Baked Cheese Balls (pg. 10). I had to try this crazy recipe. Not bad. Not worth it, though. I was hoping for more of a cheese ball that you would buy in the potato chip isle at the grocery store (or as Emily would put it, "the grocery." :)), but they were more like a cheesy mini biscuit. I had to guess what was "1 sm. jar cheese with bacon". I could only find that cheese-in-a-aerosol-can cheese. This recipe was totally not worth the $3.50 for the canned cheese but fun just to try.

1/8 lb. butter (what?! Can't you just say 1/2 a stick of butter? Who says 1/8th of a lb of butter?!)

1 sm. jar cheese with bacon (good luck finding this.)

3/4 c. flour

Mix butter with cheese. Mix in the flour. Form into balls, about 1 tablespoon of dough for each. Place balls on a cookie sheet and refrigerate several hours. Baked in a preheated 350 over for about 10 minutes and serve hot. These can be made up and kept in the freezer until you need them.

Nick is much more of a chef then I thought he was! He made the Mediterranean Tart on page 114. It was very tasty!

3 T. butter

1 onion, chopped

1 c. mushrooms, sliced

2 tomatoes, chopped

4 oz. can black olives, halved

2 T. flour

1 c. chicken broth

2 whole chicken breasts, boned, parboiled, cubed

1 lb. sausage

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 c. fresh parsley

1/2 c. grated Parmesan

1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm puff pastry (freezer section)

Brown sausage. Brown onions, mushroom and chicken in butter. Add olives and tomatoes. Add flour and broth, basil, pepper. Put above ingredients in casserole, approximately 8x12". Top with parsley and Parmesan. (At this point you can put in refrigerator to bake later.) Before baking, cover completely with puff pastry; brush with beaten egg. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden.

Here's Nanc- showing off those beautiful strawberries. Can you see the one lone cheese ball on the strawberry Jell-O? Nice.

I've made this Jell-O delight many, many times. I love it! Emily made it back when we had a thousand feet of snow fall in the DC area and couldn't share it with all of us. But she's already typed it up. RECIPE. I always laugh that this is called Strawberry Pretzel SALAD (page 31) and that it's in the "Salad" section of the cook book even though there's not one single thing that's green or salad-like in it. When did anything with Jell-O in it get to be called "salad"? Anyway, I still LOVE this dessert. You should make it too!

We had a lot of fun at this dinner! Afterwards, I drove a bunch as close as possible to the DC mall to see the fireworks there then I drove home and had a pleasantly quiet evening watching the fireworks on tv. :) That bunch came home on the metro and Scott, Jake, and Sam stopped by our closest 7-11 for a midnight slurpy or, as we all now like to call it, a sloppy. :) Good times!