Spinach Artichoke Dip

• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. mayonnaise
• 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c. cubed mozzarella cheese
• 1-2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of its juices
• 1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, chopped

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Place in shallow casserole dish
3. Bake at 325 for 15-20 min.

Avocado Dip

This is another one from Grandma Manning's cookbook.  She says this is "absolutely the best served with potato chips."  I'm on a veggie chip kick.....like these....

These + Dip = :)

The Recipe:

• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp chopped onion
• 1 tsp salt
• dash Worcestershire sauce
• 1 c. mashed avocado pulp
• 8 oz. cream cheese

1. Mix lemon juice, onion, salt, and worcestershire
2. Add avocado 
3. Gradually add mixture to softened cream cheese.  mix until well blended.
4. Refrigerate until served

Feast

Yes, I spent all day Thursday eating. And I don't regret it one bit. We went to Idaho for Thanksgiving and saw aunts, uncles, cousin, and grandmas. It was a fun couple of days!

While I was up there I paid close attention to what I could consider our "traditional" family foods. So, I thought I should spotlight a few treats that are special in our family.


**note: these pictures are just pulled off of google- I was too busy eating to take pictures of the real thing last week.

First: CHOCOLATE FUDGE (the actual recipe is called 5-pound-fudge...because that's how much it makes, and also because you know that's how much you've just added to the scale after devouring a tray full of it)

Years ago when Katelin was in elementary school, she had an assignment to write a report and draw a picture of one of her favorite parts of Thanksgiving. She chose fudge. She wrote that Grandma Allen always brings fudge to Thanksgiving and it's her favorite treat, etc. etc. She drew a lovely picture of the fudge on the front. She brought that school project with her to Idaho that year to display by the fudge on the hors d'euvres table, only to find that Grandma had decided to make something different that year and there was NO FUDGE. Grandma felt so so so terrible about that and we've never had a Thanksgiving since without fudge :)


The Recipe:

• 5 c. sugar
• 12 oz. chocolate chips
• 12 oz. hershey bar
• 13 oz. marshmallow cream
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 cube butter
• walnuts or pecans
  

1. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, and butter in a 4 qt saucepan.
2. In a separate tupperware bowl, put the chocolate and marshmallow.
   
3. Stir heated mixture constantly on high heat until boiling.
4. Boil 5 minutes and turn to low.
5. Simmer 5 minutes.
6. Pour mixture into chocolate/marshmallow tupperware
   
7. Have pans ready: 9x13 with nuts and 7x7 plain
8. Rub butter around pans
9. Pour mixture into pans
10. Set for 1 hour

Next up: CARAMEL CORN

Grandpa Joe used to love this caramel corn.Grandma says he just couldn't leave it alone until it was gone. She'd always tell him he'd be sick if he kept eating it but he said it was all worth it. She said he actually did end up sick a lot of the time from all the butter, but he really didn't care. I think we can all relate to Grandpa on this one! Now Dad is carrying on the tradition- he loves it. Grandma made him three huge bags of it this trip, but you can probably guess we'd finished it off before we got home on Saturday!

The Recipe:

• 2 cube butter
• 1 c. Karo syrup
• 3 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 8 qts popcorn.

1. Bring butter, Karo, sugar, and salt to a boil.
2. Stir for 5 minutes
3. Drizzle over popcorn.
4. Bake at 250 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Last thing we'll talk about is the CHEESE BALL. You can't have Thanksgiving (or Christmas or Tyson's birthday) without a cheese ball.

Last Christmas I made a cheese present- instead of shaping it in a ball I made it a box and made a bow out of green onions. Wish I still had that picture.....

The Recipe:

• 2 blocks cream cheese
• 3 tsp accent salt
• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp milk
• green onions
• beef lunch meat

1. Mix together the cream cheese, accent, worcestershire, milk, and onions
2. Add anything else you feel like having
   
3. Mold mixture into a ball
4. Cover outside with diced lunch meat
5. Serve with crackers
   

Happy Halloween!

Here are some close ups of our HORROR D'EUVRES...... most of these ideas I got fromthegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com- her blog is grrreat! That got me thinking (googling) about other recipes and I think it all turned out pretty good in the end!

First up, the Halloweenies. Vienna sausages with crescent rolls to mumify them. Mustard eyes add the final touch!

Next time I'm using real hot dogs. I didn't know it until today, but apparently vienna sausages are disgusting.

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Puffs: Reese's peanut butter puffs cereal + scotcheroos recipe = YUM!

Witch's Hats: Fudge stripe cookies and a Hershey's kiss- so easy. The tube frosting we used was solid rock though. Made it tough. But Kennedi and Dad did a great job. Don't you agree?

Candy Corn Trifle: Yellow cake, butterscotch pudding, cream cheese/whipped cream... Collette made this all by herself. Wonderful job :)