Just like Mom used to make... Quick and Easy Clam Dip and a bonus stuffing recipe

For Thanksgiving we were invited over to my brother John's home again this year for the holiday. They put out the spread, and my husband and I brought a few snacks and such to share.  The challenge this year was dairy. My sister-in-law has given up dairy because it seems their newborn son has issues digesting it.  Before hand we were discussing the menu, and our Mom's recipe for stuffing came up.  We figured it was safe because only one substitution would have to be made (they used butter substitute.)

This is Mom's basic recipe:

1 - 2 bag(s) of bread shredded by hand
1 small onion diced
2-4 eggs
1/2 - 1 stick of butter
A few  good shakes of Bell Seasoning
A dash of salt and pepper

Mix well with your hands and cook inside the bird!



Now for snacks we came up with the idea of deviled eggs, since eggs and mayo are not considered "dairy," and thanks to our chickens producing about 5 eggs a day now (we have one holdout) we have tons of eggs. (Expect future blogs with egg recipes!) Beyond that I was a bit stumped, but after discussing the stuffing, Mom and some of her recipes were on my mind.

In March our Mom passed away after a very long and heartbreaking cycle of strokes and a surgery that did more harm than good.  It's around the holidays that the pain is a little more present because these are the times when families gather, and memories come a bit closer to the surface. Also, I kind of suspect Thanksgiving was one of her favorite holidays: family and food being two of her favorite things, so the feeling of loss is a bit stronger.

Without getting too sappy, I'll tie this all together and get to the main recipe.  For the record our Mom was a junk food lover.  She of course wasn't supposed to eat it post diabetes diagnosis, but a bag of Jax or potato chips was one of her guilty pleasures.  I too am a bit of a junk food junkie, but I am pretty good about not buying it. However, the other day my husband and I went to a local deli and with our awesome sandwiches they gave us a little bag of chips, which was like giving recovering addicts a sample of their favorite drug. With dairy free Thanksgiving, chips and Mom on my mind I knew what I had to make: Mom's Party Clam Dip!  This addict needed some Ruffles or some Wavy Lays and some Clam Dip, bonus that it's dairy free!!

This is the quick and easy recipe that my parents used to bring to parties.  I have no idea where this recipe came from, it's just a party staple that I can remember all throughout my childhood and beyond. I occasionally bring it to parties too, mostly so I can eat it, but also because it's quick and easy to make. It may not be exactly how Mom used to do it, but this is how I remember and make it.  Enjoy!

The Lazy Diva's Quick and Easy Clam Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

3- 4 cups of Ketchup
1 can of chopped clams with about 1/2 the juice retained
1/4 cup of Horseradish or more (we had some homemade)

*These measurements are not exact, this is a taste as you go recipe.

 STEP ONE:

Squeeze about 3 cups of Ketchup into a bowl.

STEP TWO:

Pour about half the liquid from the can of clams into the bowl, then drain the rest.

STEP THREE:

Add the clams.

STEP FOUR:

Add the horseradish.

STEP FIVE:

Stir it well, and taste to see how it is...  I could see that the consistency was a little watery and I like it with a bit more bite, so I added more Ketchup and horseradish.

STEP SIX:

Serve with chips or crackers and enjoy. 


So, that's the Party Clam Dip!  I don't want to confess how much of this I ate myself!!! 

Also, I guess a kind of third recipe, if you omit the clams and juice, this is our homemade cocktail sauce (well, we probably add a larger amount of horseradish). Ketchup and Horseradish, that's what we use when we serve shrimp, I haven't found a store bought sauce that measures up to that simplicity. 

**NOTE: I just got a new point and click camera, and it's probably partly user error, but although it's 6 megapixels better, I do not think it takes pictures as well as my old camera.  If the coloring is a bit off, or a tad blurry in the pictures, that's why.  I need to work with it more to see if I can get it to cooperate better... or I'll go back to using my old, battery dropping out, nice, user friendly auto/manual camera.

As always, thank you for reading!  Hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday season!

When your husband hands you a bowl of Blackberries and Raspberries.... Add Some Sugar and Make Jam

When we bought our house several years ago, one of the added perks was finding out we had lots of wild blackberries and raspberries growing all over.  We've had to cut them back a bit, and some of them were choked out, but this year we had a pretty good yield.  Other than picking them, and maybe adding some whipped cream,  we've really never done much with them.   So I was kind of surprised when my husband called me at work and said he had picked a bowl of berries and was wondering if I'd like to make jam as my next blog project, or if I wanted him to go ahead and make it himself.  Obviously, I chose to blog it!  I've never made jam before, but I figured now was as good a time as any to learn.... besides, all the hard work was done!  (Thank you to my hubby for spending all the time picking the berries and then waiting for me to make the jam!  After the 'You made all the apple sauce without me! I was going to blog that!' incident of 2013, he's learning!)

Now that I had a bowl of berries, I needed a recipe!  At the time I started this I completely forgot I had gone on a pectin buying spree last fall, so I searched for recipes that did not need it.  Every recipe was pretty much the same, and for my first time out, I figured I'd go with the most easy and basic. I had no idea how much sugar was in jam!!  Since we didn't have a huge yield... I decided to do refrigerator jam and leave the canner in the basement.  I also decided to leave the strange grinder/seperator mechanism in the cabinet, and just leave the seeds in, why make more work.

So here is the super easy recipe:

The Lazy Diva's No Pectin Raspberry and Blackberry Jam

4 cups of berries 
(we didn't have a ton of raspberries, so we just mixed them in with the blackberries)
4 cups of sugar
A splash of lemon juice (Some recipes called for it, some didn't. The ones that did would say a tsp. for each cup of berries.  I didn't think it was necessary, but I added a splash in anyway.)

Heat on High for 5-10 minutes, then reduce heat to medium and cook an additional 10 minutes.

STEP ONE:

RINSE BERRIES WELL

STEP TWO:

ADD BERRIES AND SUGAR TO A POT AND HEAT ON HIGH FOR 5- 10 MINUTES.

MASH AND STIR AS YOU COOK

STEP THREE:

REDUCE HEAT TO MEDIUM AND COOK FOR AN ADDITIONAL 10 MINUTES. IF THERE IS A LOT OF FOAM, SKIM THE TOP.

STEP FOUR:

I used half pint jelly jars, and with about 6 plus cups of fruit, I ended up with about 3 1/3 full.

POUR INTO JARS, LET COOL AND THEN REFRIGERATE.

STEP FIVE:

ENJOY

NOTES:  

~ Do not walk away from the pot because this bubbles right up to the top if not stirred.
~  It's molten hot, so don't try to sample with your finger, or try to move the jelly jars without a pot holder for quite a while.
~ This leaves a layer of jam on all the dishes, and it looks horrific. If you just soak it for a little bit it comes right off.

Had I known that jams and jelly were this easy, I probably would have tried them much sooner!  Next time I will probably can them to keep them for an extended time.  This time we gave some away and kept the partial and a full jar for ourselves. With 3 full jars that would be enjoyed sooner rather than later I couldn't see dragging out the canner. 

Bottom line, first attempt at Jam was a delicious success!  Once again, a huge thank you to my husband for picking the berries and also for supporting my blog and creativity!

Thanks to you as well for visiting the blog!