It was ...

   "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, ...". Many of you recognize that infamous line, as the opening line in Charles Dickens novel, 'A Tale of Two Cities'. 
   That line is also an all too appropriate title for what's been going on around here the last few days!!!
    The original 'plan' had been, that Byron was going to meet Cyndi last Sunday, to pick the kids up again. But then he had the chance to work a twelve (12) hour shift that day. The paycheck wouldn't be very big without it. So.. we switched 'plans'.
    Brian and I were going to drive down to 'the boarder' (the Michigan / Indiana border, not the Mexico / American boarder) and bring the kids back. Brian had called his dad and asked if we could borrow his car, for a large part of the trip. Riding in our van had gone from affecting my vertigo, to aFfEcTiNg my vertigo. Oh my word had it! The true extent of the cause had been found last week, when Brian had gotten under the back of the van for a different reason. Turns out the shocks were not only worn out, they had broken off in the back. So, riding forty five (45) minutes in it down to his dad's, affects me, but not nearly as bad as riding the whole way would have!!!
   We got to dad's, talked a few minutes, climbed in the other vehicle and set off. We got to the meeting spot a good twenty (20) minutes early. So we took a booth and tried to relax.
   Shortly after we took our booth, a mom and son took the booth behind Brian. She was a very sharp / refined looking lady, of I'm not quite sure which nationality. After looking her over and our smile exchange, I had a feeling that the establishment we were in, was not on her usual dining out list. This was comically confirmed much later, when the son questioned if she had liked her ___'s hamburger.
    As is often the case when you sit in back to back booths, we could heard most parts of their conversation. No, they were not at all loud. It's just that only four booths had people in them, and we weren't doing much talking between ourselves, we were enjoying 'listening in'.
   The mother had brought her son there, to have a good heart to heart talk. She was very firmly, yet also very lovingly, trying to point out different things to him. I guess the son to be around eleven (11) or twelve (12). Things such as, people whom will steal from you, openly mock you in front of others, lie to you and about you, etc. are not really friends. They are the kind of people who are 'using you' and will end up causing you great grief in the long run. You need to cut all ties with that type and keep your distance. She took the time to explain the difference between a "friend" 'mocking' you, and a friend who laughs with you, over something you've done or said. She spoke about how at his age she knows that the number of friends he has, is more important to him than his grades, but that it's his grades that will help him get into the right college to pursue the career he has said he wants. They talked about several other subjects as well.
    My heart went out to the mother. She was trying ever so hard, to teach him, reach out to him, nurture him, and her very carefully chosen words and responses, were obviously coming forth from her oh so heavy heart.
    The son on the other hand, while never being out and out disrespectful, knew his mother well. He knew what to say, to push her buttons.
    Brian got a text, saying that Cyndi was getting off at the exit. I followed the tugging of my heart and stepped over to the neighboring booth. Looking at the mother I said, "I only have a minute before my grand children get here, but before they do, I wanted to share something with you." At first she looked very skeptical and physically backed away. 'Too late now', I thought. And plunged ahead. "As a mom of four sons, I just wanted to let you know, your on the right track. Keep it up. Your doing a great job!" I then turned to the son (who was looking at me all so skeptically) and said, "As a mom of four boys, I totally 'get' where your at. You see your mom as pushing her way into your business. Your pretty sure she doesn't 'get' your world." The change in his expression, told me that I had nailed it on the head. (:->) So I continued. "Your mom LOVES you. That's why she brought you here and why she's saying what she is. Believe it or not, it's not easy for us mom's to do. But doing so, earns us those 'mean mom awards'." He smiled and I heard his mom chuckle, but I did not turn away from him. "It's the mom's who don't earn the 'mean mom awards', who's children the rest of us hate having to deal with!" The mom slapped the table and said, "That's it exactly!". I turned to her and smiled. As I started to say that the kids had just pulled in, she leaned way forward and pulled me into a hug. As the hug broke she said, "I don't know who you are, but I want to thank-you. Your words were exactly what I needed to hear. You are the best New Year's gift I could have ever received!" (It was after all, New Year's Day)
    Brian had gone out to help Cyndi bring the kids in. I was so eager to see them, that I wandered over to the door. Cyndi approached the door, carrying Analyse, then turned back towards the car, talking, as though she was answering Brian. But as she turned, Analyse spotted me. Flailing her arms, bouncing in her mother's arms, wearing a gigantic smile, she started shouting "gammy!!!" Cyndi turned back around, saw me and with a laugh, sat Analyse down and headed towards Brian. I almost didn't get the door open in time, for the rushing towards me Analyse. ;-p Awesomeness!!!
    Brain had sat Elliot down on the bench seat and was starting to remove the seat belts, when Elliot turned tot he sound of my voice. The beamingness that started flowing forth from his adorable little face, was ever so thrilling to this grandma's heart!!!
    Cyndi spent a little while talking to us and looking through the goody's that we had gotten her for Christmas. She also changed Analyse's yuckie diaper.  She warned us that Analyse had thrown up a couple of times that morning, as well as having diarrhea. From the sounds of the coughing coming from Elliot, we knew his congestion was in high form. All-rightly then...
    The weather men had been predicting snow storms. Thus far, our sailing had been clear and continued to be for quite some distance home. Although the super strong winds, combined with the oh so heavy clouds, told us that everything could change at a moments notice. And it did.
    We made it back the east/west highway and changed onto the north/south highway with out any problems. But by then, the night sky was starting to darken, and the winds started picking up even more, and the white stuff started swirling. The sky went from darkening to black so quickly it was like God had hit the light switch. Everybody went from driving a tish slower than normal, to quickly dropping speeds. The thin layer of freshly fallen snow, was hiding black ice. Wicked stuff! 
    'Normally', it takes us about twenty (20) minutes to get from the highway exchange to dad's exit. We're not sure... we 'think' it took us forty (40) minutes this time, or was it an hour? All we know for sure is, that we never went faster than forty (40) miles per hour. Most of the time though, we were going twenty five (25) to thirty (30) miles per hour. And during that trip, we saw some frightening scenes.!
     At one point in time, the car which was barely ahead of us in the other lane, was instantaneously trying to squeeze in front of us. "What the heck!!!" As Brian let him over, we saw his reasoning. The car which had been in front of him, was rocking to a complete stop - with it's headlights facing on coming traffic!!! Yikes!!! The inter lights of the car were also on and we could see the two people who had been in the front seat, scrambling to exit as fast as they could, out the passenger side door. This was at the very beginning of the bad stretch, approaching traffic was still doing seventy (70)!
    A bit further on, I suddenly saw what looked to be a newer year Suburban, which had been maybe three cars in front of us, swerve towards the outside of the road. It then went airborne, flying our across the ditch and beyond. During it's flight, it turned like it might land on it's side. It then seemed to pick up momentum and for a split second, tuned upside down, before righting itself again. It landed. With a THUD! Then bounced far enough up, that the tires cleared the ground, before again thudding back down. It landed facing the highway, but at least twelve (12) feet back from the highway. "It's suspension is now shot" I commented. "And it's probably sunk a couple feet in, seeings how the ground hasn't fully frozen over yet this year." Brian added. The interior lights of the vehicle came on and we could see the driver putting his cell phone to his ear. We felt it okay to keep driving.
    Yet another bit further, we spotted red flashing lights on the other side of the highway. As we got closer, we spotted a semi sitting on the inside of the highway, just past a highway overpass. Quite a ways behind it, was where the police car was sitting. Curious. As we got closer, we saw a small sized car sitting behind the semi. The front of it's car facing us. The passenger side of the car had huge smash-in's in it. We could not determine who had hit who.
    It was so darn dark, with such heavily falling, swirling snow, that a couple of different times we thought we saw more cars going off the side of the road, only to learn as we got closer, they were taking an off ramp.
    We debated whether we too should get off and take the back roads, but decided that if anything should happen, we'd be far more likely to be found and get help if we stayed on the highway. So we prayed our way forward. Praying for our own safety. Thanking God that the accidents we'd seen happen, didn't appear to have severely injured or killed anybody.
    We got off at dad's exit, stopped to refill his gas tank, and ventured on to his house.  He was ever so thrilled we'd made it there safe.
    Dad just loves hearing Analyse say "Hi Papa 'Honey'! :-D" And it's a good thing, because she said it at least thirty (30) times. ;-p
    Dad had already shown all of the guys what he had picked up for her for Christmas, and to a one they hoped she wouldn't like it so they could have it. ;-p. There's a big hard plastic ball on top of a long round handle. You push the buttons on the stick, and the lights on the inside of the ball light up. And flow in patterns around the inside. Two alternating patterns, at the same time. And Ms. Analyse, being herself, just had to keep showing "Gammy!" her new toy, by running to me and shoving it up towards my face. Me.  Still being 'Ms. Vertigo'. Who had just survived what kind of a ride?! Dad at least claims, he does too love me. o;-p.  I now know that I need to pack many more 'vertigo pills' than I 'think' I'll be needing.
     Brian and dad turned the TV on and checked the weather reports. In the car I had told Brian, that I was in favor of just spending the night at dad's, but it would be his call and I would support it. It looked like we had passed through the worst of it. B-u-t, there were two more 'bad patches' we'd need to pass through to get home. "So ya gonna spend the night then?" dad asked Brian. Brian was silent a couple of minutes, looking at me, then the kids, then me.... then with a sigh answered, "Yeah, I guess so. If it was just the two of us, I'd press on. If something happened, we could always start the car for a bit to warm up, then turn it back off. But with the little ones with us, it's best we stay here.".
    Dad got me out a pair of his draw string pajama pants and a T-shirt to wear for the night, and laid a long robe out for me. I went in and changed. When I came back out, with the intention of feeding Elliot a bottle and hopefully rocking him to sleep, Analyse came over to investigate the robe. She pulled the front of the bottom apart, stepped inside, closed it, then peeked out and said "peek-a-boo" to the two pappies. They roared with laughter!!! It was so good to hear dad laughing like that!
     I was able to Elliot asleep and then sat holding Analyse on my lap, watching TV.  Before I had a clue she had done so, she fell asleep. Sound asleep. We had promised to have her call Cyndi before we put her to bed, but did not want to wake her back up to do so. So Brian called Cyndi and 'splained, while I put Analyse down on her blanket bed. Amazingly she stayed asleep. For awhile that is.
    Both young ones were asleep, so we decided it best we head to bed too. We just drifted off, and Elliot woke up. I had to climb over Brian to get to him, didn't want to chance waking Analyse, who's blanket bed was next to my side of the bed. Took a bit, got him back to sleep, and she woke up again, due to having horrible diarrhea. Gotr here changed, and rocked back to sleep. This time, as I was laying her down, she did what she has usually done (her whole life) when you lay her down. She opened her eyes for just a minute. At first her eyes focused in on my smiling face, she too smiled and started to relax. But then, with her eyes still open, she turned her head sideways. Her mind did not register what it was she was seeing. She sprung her head to look the other way. That did not register either. Sleeping was no longer happening! I tried again rocking her to sleep, she'd just start to drift off, and force herself back awake. She kept requesting to watch different ones of her shows. Papa 'Honey' doesn't have those type recorded like we do.  Our emergency diaper bag shall soon contain a DVD of them!
    Soon Elliot was again awake. His congested coughing being the culprit. Once I got him to sleep again, Brian said he would stay up with Analyse. The vertigo had me tilting and spinning something fierce on the inside! Worked out that while I did get more sleep than Brian, neither of us got much sleep that night.
    The next morning Brian was asleep more than he was awake, sitting on a couch. finally he took my encouragement and went to bed for awhile. He even got some sleep. That is, until while I was feeding Elliot a bottle and papa 'honey' had left, and she slipped into the room and tried to join him in bed. Once I rescued him, he slept some more. That is, until the sleeping Elliot I had left in there, decided that a twenty (20) minute nap was all he needed. And on it went. Around eleven (11) he decided the roads should be cleared enough, the snowing had stopped, and we'd head out. Dad had gotten between four (4) to six (6) inches - just depended how deep the wind had left any particular spot.
    As we traveled home, we were amazed at the lessening amounts of accumulations along the way.
    The night before, we could tell that Analyse did not understand why we weren't going on home and seeing her daddy! While she was thrilled to play with papa 'honey', she also wanted her daddy! So Brian and I decided that we would surprise Byron and stop by the movie theater he works at and let his kids and him see one another. No sooner had we decided that, then he called requesting it. Spoil sport! ;-p
    Speaking of "playing with papa 'honey'. Analyse had drawn on a couple pieces of paper. Later, while papa 'honey' was sitting next tot he table holding Elliot, Elliot kept trying to grab one of them. Brian sat down just around the corner from them, and started moving the paper so that Elliot could just get a hold of it, then Brian would tug it away. They did not want it going in his mouth! Brian had told his dad that he wished he could see all of the expressions on Elliot's face, they were priceless. After a bit Elliot's combined strength and wigglelyness was wearing dad out, so Brian took him and dad started moving the paper. Brian said he enjoyed watching his dad's enjoyment of playing with Elliot, as much as he had enjoyed watching Elliot's face!! Then one time after Elliot had gotten a hold of the paper and it they were in the process of tugging it away, the paper tore. In two. Brian's dad's eyes got bigger than his glasses! Elliot started giggling with glee. But his expression said that he too was surprised. "Damn strong little bugger, ain't he?!?!!!!" Dad questioned. Brian then had to reassure him that he WAS remembering right. Elliot really is only five (5) months old.
   The kids had fallen asleep en-route home, but we knew seeing her daddy would be worth waking Analyse up for. We were right! Not sure who was more excited - Byron or his kids. ;-D He showed them off to everybody working. Everything went great till it was time to leave again. Miss Analyse would not accept that her and pappy would pick daddy up from work together soon! She was most indignant!
   Thankfully when we got home, Uncle Brent!, Auntie Kayla! and 'Boo and Daisy'! were at our house. They had come back to our house after plowing all night, and instead of just picking the dogs up, seeings how neither of them had to work that day, they had gone to bed. Thank-you Lord! You KNEW we would benefit from them being there!
   Brian and I slept so sound that night, that when Byron came in to question us something about Elliot puking, he had quite the time getting either of us to respond. And it was only 10:30 when he did so! We had gone to bed early... we were so-o tired!!!
   The next morning, Analyse got sick at both ends again. And that night, Elliot did the same. Thankfully Byron had had the day off, so we had each taken and cared for one child all day.
   That night, I too surcame to the flu bug. Not willingly mind you.  Last night, it hit Byron. We're really hoping that Brian doesn't get hit as well. His work doesn't grant sick days. And besides, he did take a half day off yesterday.
    Why? The house was quite cold when I got up yesterday morning. I figured it must be that I was running a fever with everything else. A couple of hours later, it dawned on me that I had yet to hear the furnace come on that morning. Humm...  I went and checked the thermostat. The in house temp read fifty two (52). "That's not right!"  Us Michigander's are funny. Out of doors, temps in their fifty's aren't all that bad, just depends on the wind factors. But in-doors, temp's in the fifties are cold! I got brave and turned the temp control knob up. Clear up to seventy two (72). NO, that is not the normal temp we keep our house at. I was just sure that by turning it that far up, the furnace would be clicking on in no time flat. But it didn't. At all. Bother!
    Even though I was quite sure that Brain already knew I had touched the thermostat ("Dad's have a sixth sense about those type of things. Similar to mom's sense about the baked goods jar. ;-p), I called his cell and left him a message about the situation. He found the message at the beginning of his lunch break and headed home, hoping he could fix it himself. While he did figure out what part had failed, it wasn't something he felt sure enough about to replace himself. So we waited till the repair man came. We knew they had both listened to Brian's explanation of what he'd figured out, and looked up our file from when they installed the furnace, because he came with exactly the right part in hand! He wasn't here a whole ten (10) minutes. But we again have heat! :-D
    So far today, no body has thrown up (that I know of). The diarrhea has continued on for several of us. But wellness is lurking ahead!
    The house is showing huge signs of "it's been the worst of times". Yikes. I got started on that.. but then the dizziness hit...
    I had made dinner.. which night was that?! Geesh! Anyways, a "tonight's special". I dubbed it "Stuffed Ham Logs".  It turned out a success. I took pictures, and wrote down ingredients. Some day I shall post about it...  Hopefully I'm back to posting regular like.... I have all of those pies to post about for you, and the....   But no promises. You know how often my life goes according to 'plan'. ;-p

    Now, to address those whom I know have questioned whether I thought I had to write a novel seeings how I opened with a quote from a novel. My answer is no. I just wanted to put all of this into one posting, instead of making it too a series. :-D

Party Foods #14 - Sausage Dip

     Back when my friend Amie Moran was getting married, the two of us sat down and went through all kinds of recipes for hors d' oeuvres and appetizers. That was the type of food they had decided they wanted at their wedding reception, but they most definitely did not want it to look like a high school graduation open house! Other considerations that came into play were, she wanted us to attend the ceremony, so a lot of last minute assembling was out of the question. How to get the most bang for our buck. While they were appetizer type foods, they actually also needed to be filling. We wanted a couple of things that were relatively 'new' at the time.
    We went through my personal recipe file, which was rather limited in that section at the time. We talked about things she had had elsewhere and had liked. And we went through my hanging "gonna try this someday" file.
    That last file gave us some good ideas. Turned out that I had several similar recipes for certain dishes. We went over the variations, and came up with our own version. Yes, we were going to be brave and experiment with them on her close family and friends.
    The cool part was, that both of the things we came up with our own recipes for, were total hits!!! :-D  One of them was the bruschetta, which I've previously posted about.
    The other, was a sausage dip. Originally, we had planned to serve it in phyllo dough cups. I had never worked with the stuff before. And my attempts at making the cups did not produce something I wanted to serve at her reception! Bother! So instead, Brian headed to GFS and picked up box's of several types of crackers, and we gave her back the phyllo dough. The irony was, the crackers cost more than the dough had. We charged her nothing. Wasn't her fault I couldn't get a grip on what I had promised to make for her.
    For her wedding, we served two varieties of the dip - 'normal' and 'zesty hot'. I only made the 'normal' variety for Christmas.

    This week I have been doing the postings about the snackie foods we made for Christmas, due to how how it is New Years and lots of people either attend parties which they are suppose to take "snackie foods" to, or, they make that type of foods to eat while watching the football game on New Years Day. The foods we made were: Fresh Vegetable Pizza, Bacon Cheese Ball, Spinach dip with Pumpernickel, Shrimp Dip, "Italian" Meatballs in Parmesan Sauce and Sausage Dip. This is the last posting about those items. At the bottom of this posting, you will find links to the other "party type foods" I have previously posted about.

    First step - I browned up the sausage in my greased electric skillet, breaking the meat into very small pieces.
   You can use a skillet on the stove if you prefer to.

      (this time I had done up two packages of the sausage)

   When thourally browned, dump onto a cookie sheet lined with three (3) layers of paper towel.   

    Re grease the skillet and melt the butter. Add the green onions.

    Cook till the onions are quite tender.
   
   Add the mushrooms and salt and pepper.

    Add the cream cheese,

     (confession time here - I hadn't correctly calculated how much cream cheese I was going to need for everything, so I only had 8 oz. for this. Which is the amount for a single recipe. But I was making a double recipe. And had thus used double the amount of the other ingredients. It turned out "okay". Maybe "good" even. But not "awesome", like it does when you use the right amounts of everything.. .  Live and learn!)

    breaking it up and smooshing it down. When everything is quite blended

     add the already cooked sausage.

     Sprinkle that with the flour.

     then blend everything together thourally.

     I put it into a crock-pot, set on low.

   
     If it thickens up too much, you can add a little bit of milk, blend it in, and add a bit more if needed. ( <--- BONUS TIP there) Then enjoy!

    This is great served with crackers! I'm betting it would also be good served in a pastry shell. o;-p

    And now for the actual recipe -
       Sausage Dip
          recipe by Amie Moran and Cheryl B.

  (Single batch)
   1 lb. Bob Evans(R) roll Sausage
        either 'regular' or the 'spicy hot' variety - your choice
   2 Tablespoons Butter
   6 Green Onion stems, cut fine
   1 small can Mushrooms, drained and chopped fine
   1/2 teaspoon Salt
   1/2 teaspoon Pepper
    8 oz. Cream Cheese
    4 Tablespoons Flour

   Brown sausage in greased electric skillet, breaking meat into very small pieces. When thourally browned, dump onto a cookie sheet lined with three (3) layers of paper towel.
   Re-grease skillet and melt butter. Add green onion stems and cook till quite tender. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Add cream cheese, breakingit up and smooshing it down. When everything is quite blended, add already cooked sausage. Sprinkle with flour and then blend everything together thourally.

   Good served with crackers!
   Could be served in phyllo dough cups.
  
~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;->
You might also enjoy these postings: 

~ "Party Foods" -
   - #1 - Bean Salsa (also known as "Rugby dip")
   - #2 - 'Polish roses' and Pickle Wraps
   - #3 - Garden Fresh Bruschette
   - #4 - Deviled Eggs
   - #5 - Chocolate Covered Strawberries
   - #6 - Improvised Chili Based Dip Recipe 
   - #7 - Bacon Cheese Ball
   - #8 - My version of Fruit Pizzas
   - #9 - Brownie Cups
   - #10 - My version of Veggie Pizza
   - #11 - My rendition of Spinach Dip   - #12 - Shrimp Dip
   - #13 - 'Italian' Meatballs in Parmesan Sauce

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:

  ~ "Simply Delish Sunday('s)", are hosted by KB and Whitesnakes, at 'KB and Whitesnakes Home' (http://kbandwhitesnakeshome.blogspot.com)
 ~ "Creative Monday's", are hosted by Clair Justine, at 'Clairejustineoxox' (http://clairejustineoxox.blogspot.com/), and Judy, at 'Judy-H-JS Thoughts' (http://judyh-jsthoughts.blogspot.com/)
  ~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven'  (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)'  (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
  ~  "Kitchen Tip Tuesday('s)", hosted by Tammy, at 'Tammy's Recipes'  (http://www.tammysrecipes.com/). 
 ~ "Tuesday's Tasty Tidbits", hosted by Susan, at 'Permanent Posies / Creative Chaos' (http://permanentposies.com/)
 ~ "Totally Tasty Tuesdays", are hosted by Mandy, at 'Mandy's Recipe Box' (http://www.mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace'  (http://www.blessedwithgrace.net/).
  ~ "Foodie Wednesday('s)", are hosted by Bibi, at 'Daily Organized Chaos' (http://www.dailyorganizedchaos.com/). 
   ~ "These Chicks Cooked Link Party", hosted by Katie L, at 'This Chick Cooks' (http://thischickcooks.blogspot.com)
 ~ "Full Plate Thursday('s)", are hosted by Miz Helen, at 'Miz Helen's Country Cottage' (http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/).   ~ "Foodie Friday('s)", are hosted by "Gollum" (aka: Michael), at 'Designs by Gollum' (http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/)     
 
LATE add on - 1/25/12 - 
Terri, at 'The Freshman Cook', "Super Bowl Eats and Treats Party!!"
(http://www.thefreshmancook.blogspot.com/2012/01/super-bowl-eats-treats-blog-party.html)

Date night last night ;->

   Brian and I went out on a date last night. Just the two of us! We haven't done that nearly enough lately! After dinner at Logan's(R), we went shopping at Kohl's(R).
   While my side of the family no longer does gift exchanging, and we draw names with our own kids (although everybody gets a gift for the grand children, and will till they reach the age of 18), we do still get our kids "something", as well as fill their stockings. And we do gifts for/with Brian's side of the family. Over the years, I have had great success at finding lots of "perfect gifts", on great sale, at Kohl's(R), close to Christmas. So unless I have something else explicitly in mind, I always just start there.
    Kohl's has this Christmas program, where you earn 'in store credit', based on the amount you spend. The only catch is, that you have to use it between the day after Christmas and New Year's Eve.
    Therefore, we headed back there last evening, to spend those 'free' dollars. We had earned enough, that combined with them being on sale, we were able to get me new shoes (not sure how old the ones I had been wearing were - 3, 4 years?).

   We also picked up a couple of birthday cards (Brian had started looking at them, while I went to the bathroom...). And one item each for our daughter-in-loves. For next Christmas.  No Kayla, you can't just see it now. o;-p    We then hit three other places for other things. All in all, a nice low key evening. Like I said, "Nice!"

   Today we're doing this and that. Tomorrow evening we get to pick our grand kids back up from their mom. :-D  Aw the bliss of their noisiness again! ;-p

   [ For The Record - This was in no way a paid advertisement for any of the listed places or products!!! None of them have any clue I wrote any of this, and probably never will.]

Party foods #13 'Italian' Meatballs in Parmesan Sauce

    Right off the bat, I think that I should make it clear that this is not a "true" 'Italian' recipe for meatballs. I have a feeling that if my Uncle Ernie, who is a 'true' Italian (he married into the family), were to read this recipe, he might shake his head and chuckle over it being called such. But he'd still love me. ;->.
   Why then did I dub it such? I took a recipe for "Cocktail Meatballs" that I got off of the wife of one of Brian's co-workers, many jobs ago. Combined it with a recipe I'd clipped out of some magazine, at some point in time. Added in my imagination. And wrote down what I did as I went along. All the while "hoping" they would turn out!
    See, I have had very few successes when attempting to make meatballs over the years. But I have been ever so determined to conquer doing so!! Why? Because I can barely stand the 'store bought' variety, and most everybody likes meatballs.
    Why don't I like the 'store bought' ones? The fact of how many we both served and ate over our years of working for caterers, probably does have something to do with it. But the biggest reason really, is that I just don't like the taste of the meatballs themselves. Yes, you can put different types of sauces on them. (Trust me, I've had them with LOTS of different ones on them!) But the sauce never penetrates the whole meatball. So you still end up, in the middle of them, tasting only the meatball itself.
    But back to why I dubbed them 'Italian' Meatballs. I had to name them something. And as I read down the list of what I had added, the majority of the items were ingredients that we use in America's renditions of 'Italian' cooking. Make sense?  It did to me.

   This week I have been doing the postings about the snackie foods we made for Christmas, due to how how this weekend is New Years and lots of people either attend parties which they are suppose to take "snackie foods" to, or, they make that type of foods to eat while watching the football game on New Years Day. The foods we made were: Fresh Vegetable Pizza, Bacon Cheese Ball, Spinach dip with Pumpernickel, Shrimp Dip, "Italian" Meatballs in Parmesan Sauce and Sausage Dip.
    Today I am posting the recipe for the Meatballs. At the bottom of this posting, you will find links to the other "party type foods" I have previously posted about. You'll have to come back and visit us again, to find the recipe for the other item. ;->

    I used three of our tubes of Bison meat, as well as one tube of Meijer (R) brand sausage.

     Blended them together, using a pastry blender.

    Add 2 cups fine bread crumbs.

     2/3rds cup of (not fresh) parsley (only because I didn't have fresh ;-p)

     1/3 cup garlic powder, 1/4 cup Italian Seasoning and 1 teaspoon black pepper

     top with 1 cup of fresh grated Parmesan Cheese (store bought - NOT in a green jar)

     Add four (4) large sized eggs. (remember to take a picture of them if you plan on doing your own posting. 8-/) Why eggs?  They help bind / hold everything together. Why did I use four? One for each tube of meat. ;-p  ( <--- BONUS TIPS there)

   Blend everything together, at first using the pastry blender, then switching and using your sprayed hands.

    Spray your cookie scooper, so that you really do make all of your meatballs the same size. Then roll it into better balls (you don't want them flat on one side).

      This recipe made six (6) dozen (= 72) meatballs.

     Bake in sprayed pans at 350o for 40 minutes.

     Place pans up on wire cooling racks and let cool for 20 minutes.

    Meanwhile, start making your sauce.
    Place 1 cup butter in a large sprayed sauce pan (or small dutch oven).

      When enough of the butter is melted to fully cover the bottom of your pan, dump in 2 cups chopped onion.

     ( as you can see from the picture, we used a mixture of Spanish Onion and the white ends of Green Onions.)

      Simmer on low until the onions turn clear, stirring occasionally.
     Add 2 cups of the fresh grated real Parmesan cheese, and blend everything together.

     Dump in 3 cups regular flour.

       Blend it all of the way into the butter mixture, until it's a lumpy, blurry (sorry!) mess.

       Add 1/3 of a gallon (in other words, I forgot to measure) of whole milk.

      Stir constantly over medium high heat, until it bubbles and thickens.

      Turn burner off!  (No, I didn't forget. Just don't want you to either.)

     Put one layer of the cooled meatballs into the sprayed liner of your crock-pot.

      Keep adding layers till you've got all of your meatballs in. (You get far more meatballs in by layering them in, then you do by just dumping them in. < --- BONUS TIP there)

       If this took you too long and your sauce got a top layer on top of it, use a whisk to get everything smooth again. ( <-- 'Nother BONUS TIP ;->)

      Pour the sauce in on the meatballs. Use a long handle spoon, run it down the sides all around the crockpot, helping the sauce sink in further. This in turn will help you add more of the sauce to the pot. You might be able to add all of your sauce. You might not.

    Cook on high for about a half hour to help get the meatballs heated through again, then cook on low for a couple of hours.

     Yes, this could easily be made up a couple of days ahead of time and stored in your fridge. Just let the crock itself loose a lot of it's chill, before putting it in it's base and plugging it in. 

    And now for the actual recipe -
       'Italian'  Meatballs in Parmesan Sauce
               recipe by Cheryl B.     

     Meatballs:
     3 pkgs. Bison Meat
     1 (16 oz) pkg Ground Sausage
     2 cups fine Bread Crumbs
     2/3 cup Parsley Flakes
     1/3 cup Garlic Powder
     1/4 cup Italian Seasoning
     1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
     1 cup shredded fresh Parmesan Cheese
     4 large Eggs

     Blend the meats together. Dump on the rest of the ingredients in order given, and blend everything together thourally. Use a sprayed cookie scoop and then your hands to from the meatballs. Place them in greased baking pans.
     Bake at 350o for 40 minutes.
     Cool in the pans on wire racks.

    Sauce:
    1 cup Butter
    2 cups finely chopped Onion
    2 cups shredded fresh Parmesan Cheese
    3 cups Flour
    1/3 gallon whole White Milk

    Put the butter in a large, sprayed, sauce pan. When melted butter covers the bottom of your pan, dump in the chopped onion. Simmer over med. high heat until onions turn clear, stirring occasionally.  Then add the Parmesan Cheese and stir it into the butter mixture.  Dump in the flour and stir till it's all blended in. Pour in the milk, stirring constantly until mixture bubbles and thickens.

    Layer by layer place meatballs into sprayed liner of crockpot. Pour the sauce over the top, helping it in, by running a long handled spoon around the sides. Place cover on top. Heat on high for a half hour, then on low for a few hours.

   This could easily be made up a couple of days ahead of time and stored in your fridge. Just let the crock itself loose a lot of it's chill, before putting it in it's base and plugging it in. 

~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;->
You might also enjoy these postings:

~ "Party Foods" -
   - #1 - Bean Salsa (also known as "Rugby dip")
   - #2 - 'Polish roses' and Pickle Wraps
   - #3 - Garden Fresh Bruschette
   - #4 - Deviled Eggs
   - #5 - Chocolate Covered Strawberries
   - #6 - Improvised Chili Based Dip Recipe 
   - #7 - Bacon Cheese Ball
   - #8 - My version of Fruit Pizzas
   - #9 - Brownie Cups
   - #10 - My version of Veggie Pizza
   - #11 - My rendition of Spinach Dip
   - #12 - Shrimp Dip

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:

  ~ "Foodie Friday('s)", are hosted by "Gollum" (aka: Michael), at 'Designs by Gollum' (http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/)     
  ~ "Simply Delish Sunday('s)", are hosted by KB and Whitesnakes, at 'KB and Whitesnakes Home' (http://kbandwhitesnakeshome.blogspot.com)
 ~ "Creative Monday's", are hosted by Clair Justine, at 'Clairejustineoxox' (http://clairejustineoxox.blogspot.com/), and Judy, at 'Judy-H-JS Thoughts' (http://judyh-jsthoughts.blogspot.com/)
  ~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven'  (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)'  (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
  ~  "Kitchen Tip Tuesday('s)", hosted by Tammy, at 'Tammy's Recipes'  (http://www.tammysrecipes.com/).
 ~ "Tuesday's Tasty Tidbits", hosted by Susan, at 'Permanent Posies / Creative Chaos' (http://permanentposies.com/)
 ~ "Totally Tasty Tuesdays", are hosted by Mandy, at 'Mandy's Recipe Box' (http://www.mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace'  (http://www.blessedwithgrace.net/).
    ~ "Foodie Wednesday('s)", are hosted by Bibi, at 'Daily Organized Chaos' (http://www.dailyorganizedchaos.com/). 
   ~ "These Chicks Cooked Link Party", hosted by Katie L, at 'This Chick Cooks' (http://thischickcooks.blogspot.com)
 ~ "Full Plate Thursday('s)", are hosted by Miz Helen, at 'Miz Helen's Country Cottage' (http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/). 

Oops, wrong word... chuckle, chuckle...

    The task I tackled and accomplished yesterday afternoon, effected my vertigo far greater than I had predicted it would. That's life. But that's also why I headed up to bed quite early last evening. Sometimes just laying still on my right side helps.
    Brian leaned over to kiss the still awake me, after he came up a couple of hours later.
    "Are you wearing lip gloss?" I asked.
    In a comical, but highly offended tone, he replied, "I do not wear lip gloss!"
    "Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle"
    He snorted and moved further away from me.
    "(Chuckle) Did you put on your Vaseline lip gel before coming to bed?"
    "THAT, I did do"
    I kept chuckling.... he harrumphed me. More chuckling....

    [I prefer regular 'flavor' Chap Stick (R). He, on the other hand, prefers Vaseline's lip therapy (R). ]

Party foods #12 - Shrimp Dip

    The year before Brian and I were married, my family went up to Sutton's Bay, Michigan on vacation. (A beautiful area!!). My parents had rented a cabin and is often the case, we became 'friends' with the people staying in a nearby cabin. At one point, we were getting together and of course we were going to eat. Seeings how I had my own 'wheels' (a red 1976 Buick Skyhawk), I was sent into town to pick up a few ingredients (a task I enjoyed doing!! o;-p) The list given to me by the lady from the neighboring cottage, included canned shrimp. I was happy to pick it up, just had plans on not eating even a bite of the stuff!
   See, I do NOT like any type of "sea food". Not fresh. Not canned. Not frozen. I do not like it 'Sam I am!!' ;-p  My husband does. Most of my close girl friends do. But I do not!
   At least usually. There have been two exceptions. One of them being the Shrimp dip. Figures, eh?
   The irony is, I also as a rule do not care for Triscuit (R) crackers. Which is what the lady served the shrimp dip with. But somehow, some way, which I have yet to figure out, the combination of the two was great!!! To the point that I always wished I had gotten the recipe from her!
    Then one time (s-e-v-r-a-l years ago now), as I was browsing through my sisters copy of a little cookbook made up by Better Homes and Gardens Realtors, There was the recipe! I knew it was the same, because I clearly remembered what all (or at lest the main ingredients) the lady had put in hers.
    The first time I made it for Brian, he was quite amazed I liked it, due to how often he had tried to get me to like "sea food" products. Maybe I like it because the shrimp is diced up very fine and thus blend ever so much better with the other ingredients. I still do not know 'the why' for sure.

     Like I've mentioned the last two days, this week I am doing the postings about the snackie foods we made for Christmas, due to how how next weekend is New Years and lots of people either attend parties which they are suppose to take "snackie foods" to, or, they make that type of foods to eat while watching the football game on New Years Day. The foods we made were: Fresh Vegetable Pizza, Bacon Cheese Ball, Spinach dip with Pumpernickel, Shrimp Dip, "Italian" Meatballs in Parmesan Sauce and Sausage Dip.
    Today I am posting the recipe for the Shrimp Dip. At the bottom of this posting, you will find links to the other "party type foods" I have previously posted about. You'll have to come back and visit us again, to find the recipes for the other items. ;->

     First step is to soften even further, your room temp cream cheese. Short stints in the microwave work great for this! ( <-- BONUS TIP there)

     Get it nice and smooth.

     Blend in the mayo.

     Add the finely chopped celery.

     The finely chopped onions.

       (we were making a double recipe)

    The miniature shrimp, diced small
       [we used frozen shrimp, thawed and drained]

        (I always dice it much smaller than this! But Brian did the dicing, and when he asked me if it was chopped down enough, I said sure, seeings how I knew that would make me leave more of it for him o;->)

     Add the lemon juice

     Blend everything together thourally and chill.

    And now for the actual recipe -
          Shrimp Dip
              from the lady at the rented cabins, as well as the BH&G Realtors Cookbook

    8 oz. of Cream Cheese
    1/2 cup Mayo
    1/2 cup finely diced Celery
    2 Tablespoons dried onion
          - OR - 1/4 cup fresh onion, chopped very fine
    1 can miniature shrimp, drained, and chopped small
         - OR - frozen shrimp, thawed, drained, and finely chopped
    1 1/2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

    Get your cream cheese good and soft, and 'blend' it till smooth. Blend in the mayo, then the diced celery, the onion, the chopped shrimp and the lemon juice.
     Chill!
    Serve with crackers, especially the Triscuit ones.  ;->

~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;-> ~ ~ ;->
You might also enjoy these postings:

~ "Party Foods" -
   - #1 - Bean Salsa (also known as "Rugby dip")
   - #2 - 'Polish roses' and Pickle Wraps
   - #3 - Garden Fresh Bruschette
   - #4 - Deviled Eggs
   - #5 - Chocolate Covered Strawberries
   - #6 - Improvised Chili Based Dip Recipe 
   - #7 - Bacon Cheese Ball
   - #8 - My version of Fruit Pizzas
   - #9 - Brownie Cups
   - #10 - My version of Veggie Pizza
   - #11 - My rendition of Spinach Dip

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:

 ~ "Full Plate Thursday('s)", are hosted by Miz Helen, at 'Miz Helen's Country Cottage' (http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/).  
  ~ "Foodie Friday('s)", are hosted by "Gollum" (aka: Michael), at 'Designs by Gollum' (http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/)     
  ~ "Simply Delish Sunday('s)", are hosted by KB and Whitesnakes, at 'KB and Whitesnakes Home' (http://kbandwhitesnakeshome.blogspot.com)
  ~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven'  (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)'  (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
  ~  "Kitchen Tip Tuesday('s)", hosted by Tammy, at 'Tammy's Recipes'  (http://www.tammysrecipes.com/).
 ~ "Tuesday's Tasty Tidbits", hosted by Susan, at 'Permanent Posies / Creative Chaos' (http://permanentposies.com/)
 ~ "Totally Tasty Tuesdays", are hosted by Mandy, at 'Mandy's Recipe Box' (http://www.mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace'  (http://www.blessedwithgrace.net/).
    ~ "Foodie Wednesday('s)", are hosted by Bibi, at 'Daily Organized Chaos' (http://www.dailyorganizedchaos.com/). 
   ~ "These Chicks Cooked Link Party", hosted by Katie L, at 'This Chick Cooks' (http://thischickcooks.blogspot.com)