Happy Belated Birthday Post

I have been negligent with my posts for two weeks now, to the extent that I had to spend some time today getting my blog's password reset since I managed to forget it in that time span.  My only excuse is a flurry of birthday activities for my son (now 5!).  We usually have both a family party and a friends party, which leads to so much partying in January we are grateful at last to settle into February with its almost complete lack of plans!

For my son's "family" party, I decided to make Sarah's Hamburger Sausage Dip (p. 3) and Wanda's Meatballs (p. 63).  Unfortunately both recipes called for slow cookers, and I had only procured the use of one from my mother-in-law, so the meatballs got top honors and were done in the slow cooker and the dip was heated on the stovetop (actually a great deal faster than intended, since I lost track of time and started this late - still melted together fine, FYI). 

There was a heavy contingent at the party that loved the hamburger sausage dip.  I mean LOVED.  I had put a small amount out near to the chips and at one point heard my sister tell her husband, "Don't worry, there's a whole pot in the kitchen", whereupon he ran off to the kitchen to get a plateful for himself.  Later in the party he told me he was going to do his best to eat all the remaining dip.  My friend Marlene was also a big fan.  Despite their efforts, we had leftovers of the dip, which I enjoyed slathered on pretty much anything I could find.

Wanda's Meatballs recipe starts with 2lbs of meatballs, pre-made, much to the merriment of my husband ("leave it to the Wil Research Cookbook to have a meatball recipe that starts with frozen meatballs").  This recipe is all about the sauce, which is an interesting blend of pineapples, brown sugar, vinegar, and tomato soup.  The sauce is surprisingly sweet, with an almost Asian flavor, and I found it surprisingly delightful and a nice departure from regular marinara sauce.  My sister almost tried it, but then someone told her what was in it (pineapple).  She loves to have them around to look at (her husband loves them) but never to eat them.  Everyone else (none of them have a weird relationship with pineapples) seemed to like them a lot.  Even my son ate some (and more and more as leftovers during the next week), so he must have thought they were pretty good!

After the party, my friend Marlene whisked me off to a quilt shop (yay!), and ended up staying for dinner.  To accompany dinner, I decided to make Howard's Winter Fruit Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing.  I've had my eye on this recipe for awhile because it is very similar to one I make regularly.  The differences are:

1. Use of swiss cheese rather than blue cheese
2. Specifically uses a Granny Smith apple rather than any apple you happen to have on hand
3. I have never bothered to make the dressing for the other recipe but I suspect it is different

As for item 1, I would prefer blue cheese but can certainly see where many, many people would opt for swiss, since blue cheese is a love it or hate it sort of food.  For item 2, Granny Smiths are not my favorite, but they did taste delicious with the dressing.  For item 3, I'm pretty proud of myself for making this dressing.  It wasn't terribly difficult, as I had long suspected oil-based dressings might be.  And, it was yummy.  And, now I know that if I don't have salad dressing, but happen to have lemons, onion, and poppy seeds laying around I am in business.