Dinner party Thursday, prep time today!

The process begins. I do as much in advance as possible so I'm not tired the day of entertaining and I'm not stuck in the kitchen while everyone else is having a good time! The dinner Thursday evening is is very special. We are celebrating my very close and longest friend Barbara's birthday! She liked the menu, house shrimp is one of her favourites... good thing because I serve it often enough!!

Here is the menu!

Onion cheese wafers
Puffy crab bites
Smoked salmon stuffed cherry tomatoes

Roasted butternut squash soup

Mescalin salad with garlic dressing

The house shrimp!

Lime sherbet

Sliced beef tenderloin in a potato basket with creamy sauce and green beans with lemon

Angel food cake with strawberries and lemon cream


The butternut squash soup was made a couple of days ago and frozen. The recipe is from Fine Cooking magazine and it goes something like this. You fry a few slices of 1/2 inch cut bacon, remove it with a slotted spoon and then add the squash and stir for ~10 minutes. Add a little chopped fresh sage, chicken broth and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Add 1/2 the bacon to the pot and swizzle with an imersion blender. The reaining bacon is for garnish. Freeze for future use!

Today I made the hor d'oeuvres, cheese wafers, crab puffs and smoked salmon filling for some cherry tomatoes.

Onion Cheese Wafers

This recipe was given to me many years ago by my friend Margot. It makes a lot and it freezes well so you have something on hand for unexpected company.

-1/2 cup butter
-1/2 lb. grated old chedder cheese (2 1/2 cups)
Mix in food processor until thoroughly blended
-Add 1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup flour
-1/2 pack onion soup mix
Blend thoroughly. Shape into 2-3 rolls 1 inch in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate or freeze. When ready to serve, slice roll into 1/4 inch slices (must be cold to slice not frozen)and bake on an ungreased pan at 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. I doubled the recipe and have 6 rolls in the freezer for the future!

Puffy Crab Bites

-1 small packet of finely chopped imitation crab meat
-4 chopped green onions
-1 tbsp. chopped parsley
-1/2 cup shredded monterey jack or old chedder cheese
-1 tsp dry mustard
-- a few good shakes of worcestershire sauce
Mix together and set aside.
Now make a choux paste...
-1/2 cup buttter
-1 cup flour
-a pinch of salt
Bring to a boil, add flour all at once. stir together quickly to form a smooth ball. Remove from heat and let cool for 1/2 an hour.
In a food processor, add 4 eggs, 1 at a time until mixture is shiny.
Add the crab mixture and pulse until it is combined.
Drop by tablespoon onto parchment paper. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

I froze these too. They will reheat quickly in a 350 degree oven.

Filling for Cherry Tomatoes

-1/2 container of softened low fat spreadable cream cheese (4 oz)
-2 Tbsp horesradish mayonaise
-1 tbsp. minced capers
-zest of 1/2 a lemon
-1 tbsp. lemon juice
-5 finely chopped slices of smoked salmon
Refrigerate until ready to stuff tomatoes
When these are prepared the day of the party, the cherry tomatoes will be cut in half and seeds removed. I hope to have some pictures when it's all ready to serve.


I also made an angel food cake for the freezer. I never realized it was so simple and it freezes well! The recipe is in last months Canadian Living magazine. You can search on their website for the recipe "angel food cake with strawberries with lemon cream".

The beef tenderloin is trimmed and marinating in red wine with garlic, ginger and peppercorns-4 cloves minced garlic, 1 inch chopped ginger and 2 tsp cracked peppercorns. Rub the beef with this mixture, place in a zip lock bag and add 1/2 bottle of red wine (I used a shiraz).

Tomorrow is another day!