Holidaze discussion

a spot for your appetizer recipes

i borrowed and adapted this one from Ms. R. Ray last year at Christmas as a quickie make ahead brunch dish and it was the first request i got when word went out that dinner was being served here this year for Thanksgiving (a pleasure i usually forgo in favor of cooking at Christmas due to family mostly being out of town either visiting or hunting over the Thanksgiving holiday). These were so popular that 2 doz. of them were gone in less than 30 mins!

i am cutting and pasting her recipe here to make it easily accessible, with notes at the end about my modifications.

BLT Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

*12 extra-large eggs
*3 slices good-quality bacon, finely chopped
*About 1-1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
*About 2 teaspoons hot sauce
*1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard or Dijon mustard
*2 rounded spoonfuls mayonnaise
*About 2 tablespoons onion, grated
*Salt and black pepper, to taste
*A couple of small leaves crispy Romaine hearts, thinly sliced or finely chopped
*cherry tomatoes, cut into pieces to top eggs

Directions:

Place the eggs in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cover the pot, turn off the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Run the eggs under cold water, crack the egg shells and soak for a couple of minutes. Peel and halve the eggs or cut the top third of the eggs off to serve them upright – you'll have 12 upright eggs versus 24 halves. Scoop out the hard yolks into a small mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, brown the bacon until crisp and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Add the bacon bits to the egg yolks. Add the Worcestershire suace, hot sauce, mustard, mayo and grated onion and mash to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Place the filling in a small sealable plastic bag and cut the corner off to form a makeshift pastry bag. Pipe the filling into the egg whites and top with shredded lettuce and sliced tomatoes.

*Notes: several bonus tips here; the ziploc as pastry bag to fill eggs is simply brilliant, and the egg boiling directions will ensure you perfectly boiled eggs that are easy to peel every single time.

i opted to try the upright egg method, which has the added bonus of giving you the perfect storage container (your empty egg carton) to chill them in until serving. This was also a brilliant idea. The catch was getting the yolks out without splitting or tearing the whites. i did it with a nut meat picker (shown here), and very carefully broke up the yolks and scooped them out into a bowl.

Also, i did not chop the lettuce and top the eggs with it. Instead i took single leaves of Romaine and 'lined' the inside of each egg with them, and then piped in the filling and topped with chopped tomato, rather than pieces, which had a tendency to topple off. Chopped seemed to 'stick' better for me.

And finally, i left out the hot sauce, not being a fan of anything that burns my mouth or breaks me out in a sweat. I figured the Worcestershire sauce gave me enough bite without sending it over the top on my heat scale.

Chesapeake Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

*12 eggs, boiled/peeled
*1/4 cup mayonnaise
*1 tsp. dill pickle juice
*1/2 lb. cooked crab meat (i use blue crab backfin)
*1 tsp. garlic, minced
*a dash of salt
*1/2 tsp. black pepper
*1/2 tsp. old Bay seasoning
*sprinkled Old Bay seasoning
(can't find Old Bay? any other spicy seafood seasoning will do)

Directions

Cut the eggs in half and remove the yokes. Put the yokes in a bowl and break them up, add mayonnaise, pickle juice, crab meat, garlic, salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning. Mix well and add the mixture back into the egg whites ( shell ). Sprinkle with a little Old Bay seasoning and put in the refrigerator to chill. Makes 24 egg halves.

I love deviled eggs and the Blt one sounds Amazing!!!!

Chex Mix (called TV Tidbits in the 1970's when created)

Save the cereal boxes to store the finished mix!

1 box each of: Cheerios, Wheat Chex, Corn Chex, Rice Chex
1 bag slim pretzel stix
1lb spanish style peanuts
seasoning:
4C. vegetable oil(I find Mazola works best)
4tsp each of: garlic salt,celery salt,seasoned salt, and Accent(it is MSG, so you can substitute a 'food enhancer'), and Worcestershire sauce

Use paper grocery bag with newspaper under it to mix the dry stuff. I use 2 bags with 1/2 of the entire dry mix in each, it is easier to stir.
Stir the dry stuff together well
Whisk seasoning & oil in a large 'batter bowl'
Pour 1/2 seasoning mix into each bag of dry mix
Stir together well with something with a long handle to get everything coated.

Bake in roasting pans & shallow baking pans at 225 degrees for 3-4 hours
Stir every 1/2 hour.
I find a savory book to read between stirring!

If you are a non-traditionalist, you may add variety such as: goldfish crackers, bagel chips or plain M&M's(only add M&M's AFTER mix has cooled)--I DO add the goldfish & leave out a few servings of Cheerios since the Cheerios have the biggest box.

This stuff is THE BEST! It will be all snacked up before you know it!