Bunco

I don't like Bunco. So, when it was my turn to host it -- I said we weren't going to play. My favorite part of playing Bunco with my friends is seeing my friends...and eating. So, on my night, I decided we'd just visit and eat. I asked everyone to bring a dish plus the recipe. I'll make copies of the recipes for everyone. And we'd chat. I told them they could bring a craft they were working on, if they wanted. These are the recipes I fixed :

Hot Beef Dip

1 – 8oz pkg Cream cheese, softened
½ Onion, minced
1 C sour cream
½ t Garlic powder
½ Green pepper, minced
1 pkg dried beef, cut in 1” squares

Mix everything together and bake ‘till bubbly, 30 minutes @ 350. Serve with crackers. When I bake this in my stoneware loaf pan, it stays hot on the way to a party covered with foil, even in winter.

Isaac, you do not bear
The wood alone,
For on your father’s heart
It weighs like stone.-Charles L. O’Donnell

Cheese Cake

4 – 8oz pkg Cream Cheese
Grated zest of 1 lemon, 3t dried or 1T fresh
½ C Heavy cream
Grated zest of 1 orange, 3t dried or 1T fresh
1 ½ C Sugar
1 t Vanilla
4 Eggs, lightly beaten

Mix cream cheese, sugar & cream until smooth. Add eggs & beat again. Mix in the zests and vanilla. Pour into a buttered 8x3 inch round pan (I use a springform). Place this pan in a slightly larger pan. Pour boiling water into the larger pan to come two thirds up the side of the cake pan (I used tap water). Bake until firm, approximately 2 hours, adding more water when necessary. Turn off the oven, open the door, and let sit until cooled. Invert onto a platter. Garnish with strawberries.
[Her actual recipe calls for ¼ lb finely ground blanched almonds to be placed in the bottom of the cake pan before you pour in the cheese cake so that when you invert it, the almonds are on top. I don’t do this step.]
I bought grated zests in the spice isle just for this recipe – a great investment!

A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on. – Carl Sandburg