Orange Salad Gramma’s Between Course Palate Cleanser

Gramma Rinaldi’s holiday dinners were more like attending an event than just a family gathering. Being together during the holiday was an important part of her meal planning. Everyone looked forward to the traditional dishes she served at every holiday. We each had a favorite dish that we couldn’t wait to savor.

Gramma’s meals usually consisted of four main courses; soup, several entrees, salad, and dessert. However, in between each course she believed in serving what she termed a palate cleanser. Soup was served with homemade bread, appetizers before entrees, salad was served after the main course, and then another palate cleanser before dessert. Sometimes it was celery stalks soaked in anisette, or my favorite, orange salad.

After dessert, the women and girls cleared off the tables, cleaned the dishes and kitchen. Finally, we all sat around the table with bowls filled with mixed nuts. Nutcrackers and picks in hand we got down to cracking open those nuts, picking out the tasty morsels, and enjoying the last palate cleanser of the meal. While nibbling on the nuts, some of us played cards or took out Gramma’s Pokeno game to play. The men sat around smoking cigars, sipping glasses of red wine, and talking. Neighbors and family members drifted in and out throughout the day picking at the leftovers until it was time to head home to bed. If you were lucky, you got to take home a piece of your favorite part of the meal to enjoy again the next day.

Gramma’s Orange Salad

• 3 peeled and sectioned navel oranges

• 1 can of drained large black olives

Drizzle with olive oil and toss. Sprinkle with black pepper.

Side notes:
For a light lunch add shrimp, red onion, baby spinach, and a splash of balsamic vinegar to the above. Or, go crazy and add a bit of sliced fennel. Experiment with different flavor combinations to make it your own.

Easy Strawberry Cookies

I have been searching for a recipe to clone the strawberry cookies from a local strawberry farm store. After perusing several websites, I decided to try one that I found on allrecipes.com. It sounded way too easy to be very tasty, but since I had most of the ingredients I gave it a shot anyway. As usual being too lazy to go to the store, I had to “Mommy MacGyver” but the cookies still turned out great. (I did not have the regular type of non dairy whipped topping; so I used the canned spray whipped cream.) I think that trial and error is a great way to learn how to cook. It makes for a very creative cook. If the recipe doesn’t turn out right, make improvements for the next time or just don’t make it again.


Strawberry Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package strawberry cake mix

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 1 (8 ounce) carton frozen whipped topping , thawed

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, egg and whipped topping until well combined.

2. Place confectioners' sugar in a shallow dish.

3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into sugar; turn to coat.

4. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges

This recipe made me think of another way that I think I’ll try to post recipes: Twitter. My new project is going to be trying to post quick, simple, recipes on Twitter.  So keep following!