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A Wedding Party, and I'm going to do the cooking?

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Back at the farm, well actually it was a farm at one time. Dale and I decided that because we had not had any kind of wedding reception when we actually got married that we would have a party in the summer. So we invited all of my family and his, the total guest list was 200 people. Of that invitations list 150 responded that they would be attending. Oh boy what had I gotten myself into. Not only did I have to do all the cooking but the house needed cleaning, and where in the world were we going to put all those people. Ok the where to was relativity easy, rent a big tent. The party was in July so the weather barring rain should have been OK. The bathroom situation was a little different. Being that is was an old farmhouse the septic system was not exactly what I would call modern. So rent port potties, OK that handled. Although as it turned out only the men would use the porta potties anyway. I had my hands full with the cooking side of things so my sister Tracy, and my oldest stepdaughter Kellie offered to come and help me clean. I might have made a mistake with that one. I fully admit that I am not the worlds best housekeeper, but I am not sure I deserved the abuse that I got that day. The two of them (remember they are both the same age, which is 9 years younger than me) were in the living room, first is was Tracy screaming about the Jurassic park size dust bunnies, then it was Kellie screaming about the mammoth size cob webs. Then to make matters worse; while they were cleaning the bookcase, they found a book that Dale gave me at one time titled of all things; 500 Ways To Easy cleaning. They were laughing so hard I could not even understand what they were saying, until I read the title and they said obviously you never read this. HA HA.

OK the cleaning under way and all the ribbing later, the cooking should begin. Funds were tight back then so this had to be done with the least amount of money as possible. We decided that a roasted pig would be the main course, and that "I" would do the rest. Can you even imagine making appetizer, and side dishes for 150 people. It took me weeks to decide what to make. I sat many nights looking over cookbooks that I had never even touched before. Finally it was decided the menu went as such, some of the recipes are enclosed:
Roasted Pig - entree
Western Beans - side dish
potatoes Salad - side dish
macaroni Salad - side dish
ColeSlaw - side dish
Vegs & Dill Dip
Clam Dip
Shrimp Cocktail
spinach Dip
Gouda Cheese
French Onion Dip & Potato Chips

The pig was easy we ordered that.

Western Beans was easy and I still make it today the recipes is:
1/2lb ground beef
10 bacon slices
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup catsup
1/4 cup Kraft (I like the one from Carolina Sauces link) barbecue sauce
2 T Mustard
2T Molasses
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 - 16oz can kidney beans, drained
1 - 16 oz can pork and beans , do not drain
1 - 16 oz can butter beans

Brown meat, add onion and cook until tender, then drain. Cook bacon until crisps and chop. Combine sugars, catsup, barbecue sauce, mustard, molasses, and seasonings; mix well. I then mix the beans and meat mixture in the 3 qt casserole. Then mix in the other mixture and bacon. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Now how I "Kick this Up" as Emeril would say.
Add 1 tsp garlic to the meat and onions when cooking, and add 1/4 cup Jack Daniels right before you put it in the oven. It adds a wonderful taste to the dish.


Potatoes Salad: Everyone has a favorites way of making potatoes salad, this is mine. But if you are in a hurry you can always buy the deli kind and doctor it up to make it your own.
potatoes I usually use 6 medium ones
1 cup Mayonnaise
1 Cup Sour Cream
2 TMustard
1 tsp Garlic
1/2 Green Pepper, chopped
1 medium Onion chopped
1/2 cup celery
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 to 1 Jalepeno, finely minced
2T Parsley
4 - Hard Boiled eggs chopped

Boil the potatoes in the skins; when they are cool enough to handle peel them and dice them into a bowl. Mix to this green pepper, onion, parsley, jalepeno, and egg., salt and pepper.
Mix together; Mayo, Sour Cream, and Mustard. Mix this slowly into the potato mixture until you get to the desired consistency.

CloeSlaw: I grate mine. I have a kitchen aid mix master with the attachments (if you don't have one try the link at kitchen universe or unbeatablesales to get one) This appliance can save you a great deal of time and money. Instead of spending the money on pregrated or sliced vegs, or grated cheeses you can buy whole items and do it yourself. It is easy and much less expensive, especially if you are throwing a party of any kind.

Veg's & Dil lDip: Krisite my stepdaughter spent hours and hours cleaning vegetables. I would guess Krisite who at the time was only 16 years old spent at least 24 hours total cleaning those vegetables. Krisite was a great help to me during that time, and many others in the future.
Dill Dip:
1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp dill weed
2 T parsley flakes
2T Lawrys Seasonings
2 T minced onion

Clam Dip: This is an easy quick appetizer recipe; if you have an unexpected party or guest this is easy and quick to throw together. Canned clams are fine; but to really get an excellent dip go to grating Fish link and buy fresh ones.
1 lg pkg (8 oz) cream cheese (I prefer to use the kind that comes in a tub. It is creamery and makes better dips.
1 can (8 oz) minced clams, I prefer to use chopped clams they are bigger. I like my dip to give you a good bite of clam when you eat it. Even better would be to use fresh ones and steam them and chopped them yousrelf. (Go to Gorton Fresh Seafood link on my page to buy some. )
dash of garlic salt
1 tsp lemon juice

Shrimp cocktail: Anyone can do this just
Simply buy large 21-25 count cooked and devined shrimp (Again Gortons has the best)
arrange them on a platter and add cocktail sauce. You can make your own cocktail sauce simply by mixing ketchup and horseradish and a little lemon juice.

Spinach Dip: This is my dads favorite
2 (10 oz) packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 (16oz) carton dairy sour cream
2 cups mayonnaise
2 (8oz) cans water chestnuts, drained and chopped
2 (1.2 to 1.8 oz) packages dry vegetable soup mix
1 cup chopped green onion, don't forget to use the green part too
2 round loaves, pumperknickel bread

Combine spinach, sour cream, mayonnaise, water chestnuts, soup mix and onions, I use my hand mixer to mixes it together great. Cut bread into cubes for dipping. Refridgerate until ready to serve.

Gouda Cheese Dip: This is my step son Erik's favorite.
1 (7 oz) Gouda Cheese round ( try some from the linkat i gourmet)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
dash garlic powder
dash Tabasco sauce
1T minced green onion
1 T pickle relish
1 T minced green pepper
1 (2.5 oz) package smoked beef sliced
Cracker for serving.

Remove shell from Gouda cheese, if there is one, and cut into 1/2 cubes. Combine, cheese, sour cream, mustard, Worcestershire, garlic powder, and tabasco. Stir in green onion, pickle relish, green paper, and beef. Refrigerate, covered for several hours.
To serve bring back to room temperature, surround with crackers.

French Onion Dip w/potatoes Chips: I buy this one just because I like the brand.


It was all of a weeks worth of cooking but finally the day had arrived. Luckily it was a beautiful sunny 70 degree day. I could not have asked for anything nicer. Dale and my uncle Bill hoisted the tent that morning, it was beautiful white 40 x 60 tent with sides that folded down. We set up numerous table and chairs inside the tent. Dale and Uncle Bill got the beer two barrels if I remember correctly, (remember this is Wisconsin and we love our beer). They of course had to test it to make sure it worked right. Things were going great until I thought about the fact that I had all this food with mayonnaise or eggs in them and it was warm outside. My dad and Dale came to the rescue, they build for me that morning a table with a plastic lining so that we could fill it with ice and set the bowls etc on it. What a life saver that was. Kristie, Kellie, Tracy and my Mom were all there to help me put the dishes out. We made signs telling people where to park, the porta pottys were set in the back yard, the volleyball net went up, and we were ready to party. I was extremely pleased on how the day went; everyone was there and having a really great time. The appetizers went over very well, and the beer flowed steadily. When the roasted pig arrived, Dale took over to carve it. What we didn't realize was how juicy and greasy the pig would be, Dale was a mess by the time he got done carving. But he didn't seem to mind and some of the littler kids were there to get nibbles as he was carving. Again the meal went over beautifully, almost everything was gone. I was so pleased. Now it was time to cut the cake, we did the traditional hold the knife together and cut the first piece together. Then it was the feed it to each other tradition. This is Wisconsin and it can get messy. I was nice and gave Dale just a small swipe on the nose, he however was not as kind as he shoved the entire piece into my face. The people around us were shocked. Everyone thought I was going to get angry. My sense of humor is much larger than that, and luckily Kellie was right on hand with a towel to clean me up. It did rain later that night but it didn't seem to dampen anyones spirits, we partied late into the night and everyone had a great time.

This was my first experience with a big party; and I was hooked. I had so much fun preparing the meal that I couldn't wait to do it again. The part I think I liked the best were the appetizers. It didn't take long for me to make an excuse to have another party. I can not say that I have ever town one quite that big again, but I have come close. As time went on my family began to call me the appetizer queen. Tracy and her husband Matt, make a game out of counting how many trips it takes us to get everything in from the car at Christmas time. I do believe that the day of our wedding party was the real start of my interest in cooking.

Signing off for now Tamra a/k/a ddcooker
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