Memorial Day

I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Memorial Day. I also hope you took some time out to say a little prayer for all our service members and their families. Where would we be without their sacrifice?
And what would Memorial Day be without a cookout? Boy did we have some good food yesterday! Good company, too! My inlaws, my parents and of course, us. We had the usual cookout food, hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, yada yada yada....The real stars of the cook out were the appetizers! I have seen recipes floating around about chocolate chip cookie dough dip. This is right up my alley so I decided to give it a try. Oh, I wasn't disappointed!

This picture can't do it justice! It was super simple to make, too!

INGREDIENTS
8 Oz. Cream Cheese (not reduced or fat free)
1/2 C. Butter
1 C. Powdered Sugar
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar (I used Sucanat)
1 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C. Chocolate Chips
1 C. Toffee Bits

Cream together cream cheese and butter. Once smooth, add it the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.
We served it with graham crackers but apple slices would be sublime. Of course, baby girl decided to eat it by the spoonful once everyone left!

Another faithful standby is potato chips and onion dip. When I was growing up, there was never a family get together that DIDN'T include potato chips and onion dip. Onion dip is the simplest thing to make and it is sooooo much better than the premade junk at the grocery store!

INGREDIENTS
16 Oz. Sour Cream
1 Envelope Onion Soup Mix
A couple dashes of Worchestershire Sauce

Mix all ingredients together and chill for an hour.

We had this with Kettle Chips. Oh.My.Goodness!!!! I have never been a huge fan of potato chips but kettle chips are amazing!!! So crunchy. I was eating a few on the couch in front of the tv (no, I do not advocate eating chips and watching tv but sometimes a girl just has to!) I actually had to turn the tv sound up because I couldn't hear it over my crunching.
Anywho, dontcha love the star shaped platters? I cannot remember where I got them, only that I think I have had them longer than I have had my kids! There is one more platter in the set but it doesn't have a dip holder section so I used it for.....

There are few things as easy and as rewarding as deviled eggs. Simply take hard boiled eggs and halve them. Take out the yolks and  smash them up and add ANYTHING you want. I tend to stay pretty traditional. I add finely minced onion, sweet pickle relish (if I'm feeling particularly wild, I add dill relish instead!), a little mayo to hold it together, a dash of dry mustard, salt and pepper, and powdered garlic. Mix it until nice and smooth then stuff it back in the egg whites and sprinkle with a bit of paprika. Took me all of about 10 minutes because I already had the eggs boiled and peeled. My inlaws brought a huge platter of summer sausage, cheeses, crackers and (my personal favorite) cream cheese and red pepper jelly! Pops got the HOT pepper jelly this time and can I just say WOW! If you have never had this particular combination, may I ask WHY????? Simply take a hunk of cream cheese and pour a jar of red pepper jelly over the top and smear it on crackers. Oh, my mouth waters just remembering all that goodness! Well, as usual, we ate so much of the appetizers that by the time the grilling was done no one was all that hungry. Oh, it didn't stop us from gorging, we just weren't hungry when we started. Afterwards, we all laid back in the chairs and looked like ticks! Ahhh, good times!
Here's a few pics of the decorations, just for fun....

Good times, good food and the best dang family ever!