I threw an last minute cocktail party this weekend to honour my future daughter in law (as my son had been kidnapped and driven to Minneapolis for an NFL game).  Sister #3 shook up her famous Crantini’s and we also served sangria and red wine.

The theme was hearts and love and even the drinks matched the red and pink colour scheme.  We played a number of silly games like “What’s in the Bride’s purse?” and “Who is my celebrity crush?”.  Daughter #2 conducted these admirably and distributed all the love prizes that we had bought at Dollarama (the Valentine stuff was out).  We served these amazing shrimp along with warm brie, spanakopita, artichoke and asiago dip and teriyaki steak and Greek chicken (left over from our New Year’s Eve fondue).

I also made pesto stuffed mushrooms which were a big hit.  Here’s the recipe: Twist off the stems from 12 large mushrooms.  Place caps, stem side up on an ungreased baking sheet.  Combine 2/3 c pesto, 1/4 c Parmesan, 3 T breadcrumbs and the mushroom stems and zap in a blender.  Stir in 3 T pine nuts and fill the caps.  Top with 1/4 c shredded mozzarella and bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until filling is hot and cheese is melted.

You don’t need to focus on male body parts to have a fun bacelorlette party-focus on love instead!

In our family birthdays are celebrated in a major way until you are 18.  Even though we have loved the tradition for the past 35+ years, the last of the grandkids turns 18 next year.  Knowing this our gathering this past gathering was especially sweet.  My middle sister is an amazing cook even though she doesn’t know that she is.  She compares herself to sister #1 who is imaginative and resourceful and to sister #3 who is formally trained and classic food knowledgeable.  Her style is the assembly of many complimentary courses and plenty of it.  “Plenty” also describes her use of butter, Parmesan, cream and garlic-which makes everything rich and delectable (but not low fat).

Her recent menu was approved by the birthday boy.  Spaghetti and whole wheat penne with an Italian sausage and zucchini sauce, a decadent Alfredo sauce and her specialty-tequila chicken.  She served this with Caesar salad and bread sticks but also set out sauteed mushrooms and crumbled bacon.  For dessert she made a 5 layer chocolate cake, with real butter icing.  Whereas I make a lower fat Alfredo sauce-essentially a white sauce with garlic and Parmesan, hers is the real deal with a base of butter, whipping cream and half and half cream.  This is painstakingly stirred until it is a “stick to a noodle” consistency.

Someone commented on her chicken recipe this weekend: “How can you go wrong using tequila, cilantro, lime and cream.  I have substituted the chicken with shrimp to fancy the recipe up for an even more special occasion.  Here’s the recipe: in a medium sauce pan , saute the cilantro, garlic and jalapeno pepper in 2 T of butter over medium hear for 4-5 minutes.  Add 1/2 c chicken stock, 3 T tequila and 2 T fresh lime juice.  Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until reduced to a past-like consistency.  Set aside.  Pour 3 T soya sauce over 1 1/4 lb. cubed boneless chicken breasts and set aside for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, saute 1/4 of a sliced red onion and a thinly sliced red pepper, a half of a thinly sliced yellow pepper and a 1/2 of a thinly sliced green pepper in a T of butter.  Meanwhile cook desired amount of fettuccine noodles.  When the peppers have wilted, add the chicken and soya sauce.  Toss and add the reserved tequila/lime paste and cream.  Bring to a boil.  Gently simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thick.  Toss with well drained fettuccine and garnish with cilantro.

Football and food go hand in hand in our family. There is a gang assembled to watch NFL every Sunday. At the cottage in the summer we watch the CFL at “the big cottage” which is owned by my brother and Mom. At the latter there is an open invitation and you bring along a munchie and your chosen beverage. If my niece is there for the weekend it means Miss Vicky’s chips and some exotic beer or cocktail as well.

On this night we were invited to another brother’s home to watch the CFL final-the Grey Cup. It was an exciting and close game and so there was less interest in noshing than usual. I took along a dip for pre-supper nibbling. I had found some spreadable chevre at 50% off this week and so I’ve plopped it onto a plate and roughed up the surface. I then mixed a balsamic glaze with some honey and poured that over top. Toasted almonds go onto of that. When we arrived, I cut up a green and a red apple and put the slices all around the cheese. It was a big hit. Sister #2 took her famous hot mushroom dip. This is truly addictive and very rich for the old digestive system but remains one of my all time favourites: cook ½ lb. of bacon until crisp. Drain and reserve 2 T of drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon and set aside. Add ½ lb. of sliced fresh mushrooms, 1 finely chopped onion and 1 clove of minced garlic and cook over medium heat until tender and most of the mushroom liquid has evaporated (about 6-8 minutes). Mix in 2 T flour and a dash of pepper. Reduce heat and add 4 oz. of cream cheese (cut into smallish pieces) and ½ c cottage cheese. Also add 2 t Worcestershire sauce and 2 t Soya sauce. Stir in ½ c of sour cream and the bacon. Serve with a solid cracker as this dip is heavy with good things.

Another football favourite is La Cocina’s Hot Hamburger Dip. La Cocina is a Manitoba company that makes the best tortilla chip that I’ve ever tasted. It is airy light and salty. The chip is more fragile for dipping but this keeps me from going over board (will power would also do the trick). We also like to scatter the chips over a Mexican dish or salad (a good use for the last ¼ of the bag). I digress…the Hot Hamburger Dip recipe is: Brown 2 lbs. of ground beef and 1 chopped onion. Add ½ lb. of cheese (processed like Velveeta is best but we rarely have it in the house). Then add 1 can tomato soup and 1 can of mushroom soup as well as ½ a chopped red pepper and another ½ chopped green pepper. This is where you can experiment by adding other peppers, celery, carrots, etc. Finish with 2 t chili powder and ½ t garlic salt. Simmer 20-30 minutes and serve in small bowls or in a crock pot.

I wrote recently about the annual Christmas baking exchange that my sister co-ordinates every year.  Well today is my baking day-I say day because I don’t plan on doing anything else because something can always (and often does) go astray.  One year when I had this brilliant idea to make Dream cookies (otherwise known as Imperial or Diplomat cookies) I got a migraine and spent the day in bed instead.

I’ve decided on Caramel Pecan Squares.  I’ve never made them so I warn you that this is an untested recipe but if you’re interested here goes: Combine 1 c flour, 1 c finely chopped pecans, ¾ c rolled outs, 2/3 c brown sugar, ½ t salt and ½ t salt together in large bowl.  Then cut a ½ c butter into mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Add one beaten egg and stir well.  Press evenly into a a greased 9 x 13” pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 mins.  Sprinkle 3 cups of white mini marshmallows (Julie Child would roll over in her grave).  Drizzle 2/3 c of caramel ice cream topping over marshmallows.  Sprinkle with another 1 1/3 c of chopped pecans.  Bake again for 20 mins. until golden brown.  Let stand on wire rack until cooled completely.  Cut with hot/wet knife to prevent sticking.  Cuts into 54 squares so I’ll be making 2+ batches: for the exchange, extra to take to a class that I’m enrolled in and some to share with my grown up kids for their entertaining.

The recipe is from Jean Pare’s Company’s Coming Special Occasion Series entitled “Baking, Simple to Sensational”.  I kind of evolved as a cook as Jean Pare evolved as a cookbook writer.  In one of her first cookbooks (entitled Salads) there was a recipe for Caesar salad which was (I’m paraphrasing but only slightly): cut up a head of romaine lettuce and toss it with Kraft Caesar dressing, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  I am NOT kidding.  Having said this, my family’s favourite Banana Muffins come from another of her early books-circa 1985.  Sometimes I don’t feel like preparing the muffin tins and try to make a banana loaf instead and my family won’t have it!  When my son went on a car trip of western Canada this spring he requested a dozen muffins for the road but couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t be consumed by Headingley.  (If you are from the Winnipeg area, you would know that Headingley was once considered the first town on a western trip but today is more like a suburb of Winnipeg.

Any other closet Jean Pare fans out there?

Seafood Pizza

Another of our family traditions (we are a family who loves traditions) is Friday night pizza night.  We’re rarely order in-if we are heading up to the cottage we may stop and pick one up at Sobey’s on the way out of town or we also love the Oetker thin crust pizzas.  When our kids were young we would make ham and pineapple or triple cheese (so called because even when our kids were very young they were impressed with “gourmet” names to everyday food) it would have mostly mozzarella, a little but of cheddar and Parmesan.  Nowadays we love to experiment.  My husband has mastered a traditional margarita pizza with a homemade sauce: raw mozzarella and fresh basil leaves.  Last night we had a fruita de mare pizza because we searched in Cinque Terre when we were there this fall for the best that my husband had tasted on a previous trip but were unsuccessful.

Disappointing Pizza in Riomaggiore

We bought a frozen seafood mix which included mussels, shrimp, squid and octopus and let it partially thaw.  When the pizza was almost baked we put it under the broil to ensure that the fish was cooked enough but not too much.  The moisture in the fish spread around the pizza top and that makes all the difference in taste.  All it needed was a dash of pepper and a good glass of white wine.

I have a bread maker and make our pizza dough out of the basic white bread recipe on the dough setting.  I actually never bake anything in our maker as I find the shape too odd and also find that the bread sweats in the chamber.  We love our bread to be crunchy on the outside and light and soft on the inside so we have a tendency to make two long skinny loaves out of one batch. There are all kinds of other recipes that I use this basic dough for including submarine and hamburger buns, along with braided breads and pull-apart recipes.  My families’ favourite bread variation is this one:  from one batch of bread dough, roll out two long and skinny loaves.  Along one edge cut the dough with kitchen scissors every ½ inch (but not right through) so that it resembles a comb.  Then pull one piece of dough in one direction and the next in the opposite direction.  It doesn’t really matter what it looks like because the goal is just to create lots of uneven bread surface.  In the mean time melt ½ cup of butter with liberal amounts of dried herbs (fresh are to delicate for this robust taste) we like rosemary, oregano and basil and LOTS of garlic salt.  When the bread comes out of the oven, move to a platter.  Then pour all of the butter sauce directly onto the bread.  Encourage people to pull off a chunk and mop up the additional butter that will have pooled onto the plate.  In our house whenever I make this, my son says it smells like Christmas.