Friday Friend Recipe #130 -- Crab Dip (mom's)

Come with me as I continue to countdown my Friday Friend Cookbook!

What is it, you may ask?

In a nutshell...
About 17 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.
I decided to count those down!
Why?

Because  one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog"
The Handyman--who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said,  "you'll never EVER do that."
Well,  maybe I will!  Maybe I'll show him!

Which brings me to recipe #130 My mom's Crab Dip

This is good!  So...So...SO good!

I didn't use 'fake' crab tho.  I bought a can of real crab.  Good crab.

Cream cheese.  Sour Cream. Mayonnaise.

This is not a low-fat or low-cal appetizer,  so just put all those diet thoughts away as splurge for the moment.  You won't regret it cuz this tastes so good!

This is my mom's 22nd time in the FF Cookbook Countdown. 

If you want to see all her recipes just click here!

So...speaking of diets.  What?  Yes, I did, earlier, I said to put your diet thoughts away and splurge on this crab dip!

My parents have been life-long dieters.  They loved a fad diet.  A get rich  (or thin) quick scheme.

There was of course:  the Slender diet (like slim fast, before there was slim fast), the Olympic Ski Team diet, the grapefruit diet, the Scarsdale diet, the Ayds diet (mostly my grandma did this one--it was a little square like caramel candy that was an appetite suppressant.  My brother and I LOVED them!) The  Cabbage Soup diet, The Beverly Hills diet and finally Weight Watchers!  They landed on Weight Watchers and stuck with that (thank goodness!)  whenever the mood to diet struck them, from the 1980's on.

My personal favorite, while growing up was the Grapefruit diet--because I loved grapefruit.  You sprinkled all that sugar on top--YUM!

Oh, right, we weren't supposed to put sugar on them.  I never could seem to get that right.  I had an aunt  once who broiled the grapefruits with brown sugar, now those were so good!

But I digress.

I liked when my parents did the grapefruit diet, as we got to have grapefruit with every meal.

A variation on the low-carb fad, this diet suggests that an enzyme found in grapefruits helps burn fat when eaten with high fat meals containing things like eggs and bacon. It didn’t really peak in popularity until the ’70s, but grapefruit doesn’t really burn fat, so nothing was really lost in that time.

I once asked my parents what was the strangest weight loss technique they ever tried, their answers are below.

It's funny because I would ask them each separately and so many times their answers were so similar.

I guess that's what happens when you are together since kindergarten.

What was the funniest diet fad you ever tried?

my mom---

the funniest diet fad that I have ever tried was to have staples in my ears.  When you were hungry, you were supposed to wiggle the staples and it would take the hunger away!  And we both lost a lot of weight!

Jay and Sue went with us to Nampa, ID to have this done and once we got there, Jay chickened out, so Sue's mother had it done. 

It was fun, but stupid.

My dad---

I've been on every diet known to man but probably the strangest one was when we had staples placed in our ears.  It was a type of acupuncture and was placed in the middle of the ear and when jiggled, it was supposed to suppress your appetite.  We (jay & sue butner) and your mother and I traveled to Nampa, Idaho to have it done and good old Butner backed out, so just the three of  us did it.  I lost over 40 pounds, but I'm sure I t was psychological.  Before I had a chance to go back to the Dr. and have it removed, I caught a towel on it while drying my hair and it ripped out!

So that's my mom story!

As well as recipe  #130

168 to go!

Friday Friend Recipe #129 -- Tortilla Crisps

My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #129!

(#willreallyfinishthissomeday)

Darleen's Tortilla Crisps

and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....

...and the rest is cookbook history!

Let me just say YUM!  I don't really need to say anything else, right?   We've all had these, we all like these--cinnamon and sugar and something fried?  How can you go wrong?

My edges got a little bit overdone, but they did not taste burnt, they just look really brown. So watch these carefully as they fry up fast.

Tortilla Crisps

Darleen Evans

Pasco, WA

Heat oil in a deep skillet to 375.

Cut tortillas into pie shaped wedges.

Fry till crispy and golden brown.

Drain on paper towels.

While still hot, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

This is Darleen's 3rd time in the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown!

You can see all her recipes here (just click)

Darleen is my favorite Aunt-in-Law.  She was only 3 1/2 when the Handyman was born.  He calls her Auntie--more to be ornery than anything.

Once upon a time when the Handyman and I were living in Los Banos, California, he got a ticket.  It wasn't for speeding or doing anything reckless--it was for not wearing a seatbelt. This was right at the start of when the seatbelt law was taking effect across the states, so I'm sure he wasn't the only one who got ticketed.

A few days afterwards, he receives a phone call from his Auntie Darleen, who worked for Border Patrol in Southern California at the time, and she says,  "why were you pulled over the other day?"

Handyman says,  "Why?  Are you 'running' me?"

running--I guess that's slang talk for what law enforcement does to check up on people.  To see if they have any prior law breaking activities or any warrants out for their arrest, etc.

Auntie Darleen says, "Well, yes I am.  I periodically run everyone in the family.  Just to make sure you're all on the straight and narrow!"

BUSTED HANDYMAN!!

You can never hide from  Auntie Darleen.  She knows all!

I know this isn't a great photo of Marv -- but he was on the verge of laughing at something very funny, so it makes me smile.

Marv passed away about 8 years ago.  We all miss him a lot.

And that my friends is Recipe #129.

169 more to go!

*************************************

Barbara Brown, my editor and original publisher, told  me  her friend Linda Pederson (Hi Linda) is a fan of the blog --  because she likes my wit.

This has put so much pressure on me! 

I can't wait till there's a Barbara Brown Recipe (only 2 more to go in my drafts until I get there),  I'm going to be really witty and fun then!
Cuz...man do I have a story!!

Friday Friend Recipe #128 -- Banana Slush Punch

Friday Friend Recipe #128--My Mom's Banana Slush Punch

Making my way thru my Friday Friend Cookbook, one recipe at a time.

What is the Friday Friend cookbook: I have about 50 of my closest friends and family on an e-mail forum which I called the Friday Friends (from all over the county). At first, most of them didn't know each other, (they knew me) but over the past 18 years, we've answered and shared silly--and serious---questions, exchanged Secret Santa Christmas gifts, had a dieting contest in which we paid a $1 a week and that money went to a scholarship fund for a Friday Friends son's memorial scholarship, and we went on a great vacation for my 52 birthday.

 

AND, we contributed recipes for a cookbook.

 

I was looking at the cookbook the other night and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog."
The Handyman--who knows me better than I know myself (this happened to be a question on the Friday Friend forum once---does your spouse/partner know you better than you know yourself?)--said,  "you'll never, EVER do that."
WELL---maybe I'll show him!  Maybe I will.

 

Which brings me to this... recipe #128

 

My Mom's

Banana Slush Punch

Banana Slush Punch

4 ripe bananas

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups water

large can of pineapple juice

Rum...the recipe doesn't say Rum, that is my option.  But really?  You should.

Blend the first 3 ingredients and all the rest.  Freeze in a large bowl.  Add to cups and float a splash of rum (or maybe 7-up?) on top.

Enjoy.

Are you wondering why there are Halloween decorations? And the movie, Beetlejuice?  I made this punch last October (2016) for a Food n Flix post, and I'm just now getting to post it for the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown.

A frozen, slushy, banana flavored punch.

Perfect for kids.

Unless you top it with a splash of rum--which is what I did.

I always like a little splash of rum in my punch.

It was very banana-y.

I handed one to the Handyman and he kept trying to take the little brown specs out of it, until I said those were banana seeds.

You've heard me complain lately about running out of stories, right? It's true--it's getting harder and harder to think of a story about my Friday Friend peeps, so soon, we should be back to a 'fun fact' or two and one photo or two.... but for today, you get this.

Since the photos contain some Halloween decorations, I pulled out my trusty notebook of family questions and found one where I had asked my parents about Halloween.

Same question--again, similar answers:

(they grew up in the 1940's and 50's on the same block in a  small --1000 population--rural town in Oregon)

From my mom---

On Halloween we had a lot of fun as kids.  Us girls would steal your dad's parent's garbage can and roll it somewhere so he would have to hunt for it.  We also tipped over his wood pile.  They cooked and heated with wood, so they always has wood piles and dad was always the one who had to stack the wood!!  We always soaped things up good and got lots of candy. I can't remember ever telling ghost stories.

We had a haunted house right across the street (kitty-corner) from my house and just down the street from your dad's.  The people had moved out long ago and left the furniture in it and everything. Someone had covered everything with white sheets and there was no electricity, so it was really scary!  We broke into it once and I borrowed some material for my mom to sew with.

It was really nice stuff and we could not afford it.  Your dad was always with me when I was in that house and we were always scared that the police would catch us and arrest us. To this day, I look at that house and think of it as haunted.  We thought we could even hear sounds coming from it!

From my dad--

We did the old 'trick or treat' when I was very young, then we graduated to playing pranks around town. Probably the best one was filling a gunny sack with fresh cow manure, putting it on the front porch of our Algebra teacher's house and setting it on fire.  We rang the doorbell and when he cam to the door, he naturally stomped it out!  One other time, Mike Hays and I were letting the air out of the only cop car in town and the office came out to his car and started chasing us.  We ran around the back of a building and cut across a lot.  I ran into a clothes line and it hit me about adams apple level. Flipped me up in the air and on my back.  I couldn't talk for hours, wonder it didn't cut my throat.

I don't remember telling ghost stories.

When I was growing up, there was an old vacant house just down the street.  The owners were gone-she had moved to California when he was killed during the 2nd World War, and everything was left inside just as it was when they lived there.  We would go in and explore, of course no lights so we either had flashlights or candles (wonder we didn't burn the place down).  It was about as close to a haunted house as you could get, especially late at night.

While these photos below are probably from two different parties and most likely not Halloween parties, they are combined forever in my mind.

I grew up adoring these 'girls'.  My parents graduated with a class of 32 and they  all remained close friends for the rest of their lives.  They had a gazillion reunions and get togethers and  stories were always told and laughed about and we kids had big ears, or at least I did.  I just lapped that stuff up.   I was infatuated with their 1950's Happy Days, lives.

While my parents are gone now, most of their friends are still living and some I even exchange Christmas cards with.  I should ask their version of Halloween and Haunted Houses!

Now the photos!

In my mind, it's Halloween and either the girls had just gotten back from tipping over my dad's woodpile or were just getting ready to sneak out and do so, while my dad and his friends were letting air out policeman's tires and lighting manure on fire on their teachers porches!

My mom and Betty and Gwen (her best friends)

My mom....and this had to be Halloween, as my mother never smoked and rarely drank!

Especially not when she was a teenager.

Notice the magazine Gwen is reading from! 

Love Romances?

Good Bedtime stories!  Sweet Dreams.

Slumber Party!!

Gwen and my mom.

Slumber Party again!

So, here are the girls--drinking and a smokin'!

When I got older I would give them a bad time about this, but they always swore, SWORE that it was rootbeer and they were just pretending.

(and then they'd giggle)

And that my friends is recipe #128!

170 to go!

Friday Friend Recipe #127 -- Chorizo and Eggs

Come with me as I continue to countdown my Friday Friend Cookbook!

What is it, you may ask?

In a nutshell...
About 17 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.
I decided to count those down!
Why?

Because  one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog"
The Handyman--who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said,  "you'll never EVER do that."
Well,  maybe I will!  Maybe I'll show him!

Which brings me to recipe #127 The Handyman's Chorizo and Eggs

First of all, let me give you the recipe.....

A few things:

1. The 'soft' kind would be Mexican Chorizo.

2. The Handyman never gets this fancy, he just fries up the chorizo and adds the eggs, scrambles them altogether. (correction, he just told me he always adds milk to his eggs.)

3. And as our editor/publisher , Barbara Brown asks:  How did HE get in this book?

Chorizo?

is a type of pork sausage.  Traditionally, it uses natural casings made from intestines, a method used since Roman times.

Spanish and Basque Chorizo is firm like salami---you can slice it and serve with crackers and cheese or THE BEST way is to grill them and have them at your Weinerfest!  (which is a hot dog party I have ever summer)

But Mexican Chorizo---  the Mexican versions of chorizo are made from fatty pork, but beef, venison, chicken, kosher, turkey, and even tofu and vegan versions are made. The meat is usually ground (minced) rather than chopped, and different seasonings are used. This type is better known in Mexico and other parts of the Americas, including the border areas of the United States, and is not frequently found in Europe

(I am quoting Wikipedia)

This is what we use:

Chorizo con huevos is a popular breakfast dish in Mexico and areas of the USA with Mexican immigration. It is made by mixing fried chorizo with scrambled eggs

(again with the Wikipedia)

We like it very much---it's easy, kind of spicy and good.   And of course, anything the Handyman cooks is good, because I can just relax and not worry about doing the work!

It's always been a family favorite, but especially for our Grandson Eli.  Eli is very picky, but for some reason he LOVES chorizo and eggs.   Now--- get this--he doesn't like eggs.  Won't touch them.  In any way or form--except when his Granddad makes chorizo and eggs.  He requests it every time he visits us and has also helped crack the eggs into the pan.  But when asked if he wants an egg (scrambled, fried or hardboiled) he makes a gagging sound.

You must add the spiciness to the eggs for them to be any good!

It's true!  He is picky, but he loves spicy stuff.

I took these photos of Eli and his twin sister Emerson over a year ago...on New Year's day.  I had to document everyone's  First book of the year.  We had Chorizo and Eggs the same morning.

One of my most favorite Eli stories is this conversation between he and his mom --  she sent this:

Eli: I'm playing tic-tac-toe with the stars.

Me: Are you winning?

Eli: I won the first game.

I have no idea how one plays tic-tac-toe with the stars, but as we drove home in the dark night and Eli would occasionally shout "3 in a row" the sentiment seemed both innocent and poetic. May he always play with the stars.

I, too, hope he always plays with the stars!

Recipe #127 down,  171 to go!

Friday Friend Recipe #126 -- Rainbow Jello

My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #126!

(#willreallyfinishthissomeday)

My Rainbow Jello

and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....

...and the rest is cookbook history!

Before I begin, I am wondering why I don't see green or red Jello in this dish? Most likely the reason is that I just  used what I had on hand, but it is much prettier if you use a variety of jellos.

I used to always make this for Easter dinner, because it's so pretty. It's a bit time consuming, but  so--well--pretty!  Usually I make it in a 9x13 pan so the squares look uniform and the same size, but this time I used a glass bowl, thinking I could show you the layers better.

The only photo I managed to get once it was 'dished' up was this one from the Church potluck, but you get the idea...very pretty and festive.

The story is mine this time...

I've done some pretty long posts recently, so it was my intention to have a teeny-tiny post for me/this recipe.

We'll see how that goes!

I've been cleaning out closets lately.  I've been tossing lots of stuff and giving lots of stuff away.  

I was never the mom who saved every single paper my kids ever did (I know some like that), but I did have a big box for each boy which held mementos and photos and crafts that they did.  Those boxes meant a lot to me, but I decided to give each boy their box.  They are in their 30's now and have homes of their own--they can store there own memories, right?

Except they don't treasure them as much as I do.

For example, I found that each one held a  Cub Scout book.  I thought "awwww...."

They said  "toss them."

But LOOK, I said,  "you took after your dad, the Handyman, early on." 

(it must have been a foreshadowing, if I had only known)

They said, as a group, "yeah, we don't really want them."

WHERE IS THE SENTIMENT?  WHERE IS THE EMOTION?

(this would be where daughters would come in handy)

I searched but couldn't find a picture of any of them in their Scouting uniforms, they were all Scouts at one time or another... and I was their Scout Leader/Den Mother, at one time or another.

I found a family photo of the 'time period' they were all in Scouts at the same time ---  then High School came and they all dropped out, one by one.

The summer after this Christmas photo, I was in charge of the Cub Scout Day Camp. 

A grand time was had by all!

(it was a lot of hard work, but fun at  the same time)

The funniest thing tho, is that while I was going thru the memento boxes, right next to the Scouting books, I found this certificate for the Handyman.

Thanking him for allowing me to do be a Scout Leader?

It's hysterical!

Oh my how times have changed!!

For the record--I did not find an certificate for me, thanking me for my time. Just one to my husband, thanking him for making possible my service!

And that's my story!

I used to be a Scout Leader and I used to make Rainbow Jello for Easter dinner.

Recipe #126

172 to go!