Party Food

We, my siblings and I, celebrated mom's 80th birthday party at our house last week. We decided we would just have finger food, and as we were planning who was bring what we realized that most of what what we annually make at Christmas time originated with mom. 

                                                  Mom and Maggie at the party

Mom had this drive to learn and do all she could to make things nice for dad and us kids. Her mother didn't cook a lot, being a single mother In the 40s was probably all she could do. So mom was pretty much self taught when it came to party food.

She started with a cheese ball made from Kraft processed sharp cheddar and blue cheeses popular in the late 60s. To this day we all love that cheese ball, although it drives Matt crazy that there isn't an ounce of real cheese in it. She also found a recipe for a veggie dip with puréed cottage cheese, cream cheese and optional clams that hummas will never replace. 

Mom always made cookies at Christmas. Russian Tea Cakes, also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies  and Thumbprint cookies filled with jam were always out on Christmas Day. But our favorite was Carrot Cookies with orange frosting. Mom told me this year she got the recipe while living in Rapid City, South Dakota when dad was in the airforce. Carrot cookies were a favorite in my family as well! John and the kids love the orange frosting. (Jayne never made them for her family because she hated frosting all those cookies as a teenager. Leslie asked me for the recipe this year, saying I live those cookies, but mom didn't put them in our cookbook.)  Unfortunately I haven't convinced a couple of my daughters in law to keep the tradition going. Apparently, carrot cookie is an oxymoron as far as they are concerned.

Mom found a little red candy making booklet that started our Christmas candy making tradition. My mother in law also used the same one, so it must have been popular in Utah in the late 60s and early 70s. She learned how to make peanut brittle, doubling the peanuts because she liked more nuts than brittle, caramels, toffee and fudge that wasn't made from marshmallows. She later found a recipe for pecan brittle and a better fudge recipe that have become my favorites. When we lived in Houston she always included a tin of homemade candy in our Christmas package that made our warm, humid Christmases seem a little closer to home. I didn't even try to make candy in Houston after a couple of failures due to the humidity and a sea level altitude. 

I have always brought or sent homemade candy to my children at Christmas as well. When Matt told Ian we weren't coming this year after Christmas (because of mom's birthday) he exclaimed tearfully, "but where am I going to get my peanut brittle?" Luckily the package was in the mail. 

Licorice caramels are my contribution to our candy tradition. I got a little carried away with the black food coloring this year. Oops. But they were still enjoyed by all

 

Thanks mom for starting and then passing on these traditions. Happy birthday, it was a great party with great food.