FOOD FRIDAY!!

I'm sitting here at the cottage looking out at a stunning day. I started yet another antibiotic yesterday, but it's yet to kick in. Still, I am DETERMINED to stay on track with my dear blog. Anyway, sitting at the cottage, admiring the coastalness of it all, I'm reminded how blessed I am to live in this part of the country. I'm reading a new YA novel that just came out (it shall remain nameless here). I really looked forward to reading it because it was set on the Carolina coast, and now I'm appalled. First of all, the characters (aged 15-18) speak 6 YO mountain hillbillies with no education whatsoever. I'm very offended, not to mention the fact that detail after detail seem as though the author has spent little or no time on the Carolina coast. It's making me CRAZY. Now I KNOW I have a responsibility to get the truth out there! I know NO ONE who talks like this on the Carolina coast. "...this ain't the same deal at all...He done told me so..." WHAAAAT? I'm offended on behalf of my well-spoken, educated coastland Carolinians. Maybe some of the very, very old folks use ain't as a regular part of their vocabulary and maybe even reckon, but no high schooler who's first in her class. Okay, end of my tirade. (but I reckon I ain't gon' stop the tiradin' inside of me)
Is this what editors want? Because I could create that world, but it's without INTEGRITY!!!

Okay, it IS Food Friday, so I'm going to share with you the easiest darn recipe for spring entertaining that your family will love. While a block of cream cheese is softening on the counter, boil a pile of shrimp with plenty of Old Bay and shell them. Cut the shrimp into smallish pieces. Toss some good cocktail sauce (homemade is ideal or get store bought and add a little extra horseradish)into a bowl (maybe 4-5 T), add softened cream cheese and mix as well as you can. Smarty pants with food processors can process it. Then add the shrimp, sea salt to taste, and more Old Bay to taste. Add some fresh, chopped parsley if you have it, just a small hand full. THen roll the entire mixture into a ball, and serve it with crackers. Enjoy! Whenever I cook shrimp, I pull a few a handful out to make this dip the next day. What a great way to welcome spring.

Another great food tip: Next time you make meatloaf. Line a pie pan (preferable glass) with roasted red peppers. Press meatloaf on top of those peppers, and cook as usual (although a little less because a pie pan is probably more shallow than the pan you usually use). You won't believe how delicious those roasted red peppers are with a simple meatloaf recipe. Other meatloaf tips--use barbeque sauce or salsa instead of ketchup. I don't believe in cooking with ketchup. It scares me, actually.

Have a great week-end, and please share your own Food Friday additions in the comments!