Cantaloupe with Prosciutto Recipe by Ruth Paget
Serves 4
Ingredients:
-1 cantaloupe peeled with seeds removed and cut into fourths
-12 slices San Daniele ham
Steps:
1-Cut each cantaloupe quarter into 3 slices to make 12 slices total.
2-Wrap each cantaloupe slice with a slice of San Daniele ham.
Serve with a chilled, sweet white wine.
Source: Ruth Paget – California 2023
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Cantaloupe with Sherry Recipe by Ruth Paget
Serves 4
Ingredients:
-1 cantaloupe cut into fourths with seeds removed
-1 cup sweet sherry or other sweet wine
Steps:
1-Scoop out a depression in the center of each cantaloupe fourth.
2-Pour sherry into the depression of each cantaloupe fourth and serve.
Source: Ruth Paget – California 2023
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Cannellini Bean Salad Recipe by Ruth Paget
Serves 4
Ingredients:
-1 (15-ounce) can cooked cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
-1 tomato, chopped
-1 (5-ounce) can tuna packed in water, drained
-1/4 cup chopped red onion or spring onion
-8 cubes feta cheese
-oil and vinegar dressing
Steps:
1-Mix everything together and place in a salad bowl for serving.
Source: Ruth Paget – California 2023
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Tuna Starter Salad Recipe by Ruth Paget
Serves 4
Ingredients:
-1 romaine lettuce head cut into ½-inch strips
-2 tomatoes, chopped
-1 (5-ounce) can tuna packed in water, drained
-1/4 cup chopped red onion or green onion
-1/2 cup feta cheese cubes
-8 pitted black olives (optional)
-oil and vinegar dressing
Steps:
1-Place romaine lettuce strips on a round serving dish.
2-Mix tomatoes, tuna, onions, and cheese cubes together. Place mixture on top of the romaine leaves.
3-Decorate salad with olives, if using.
4-Serve with dressing on the side.
Source: Ruth Paget – California 2023
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Potato Soup Recipe by Ruth Paget
Serves 4
Ingredients:
For Mirepoix:
-5 baby carrots, minced
-3 celery sticks, minced
-1 large onion, minced
-2 russet potatoes, cubed
-32 ounces chicken stock
-4 cups water
-2 tablespoons dry basil
Steps:
1-Sauté carrots, celery, and onion in a pot for 5 minutes.
2-Add potatoes, chicken stock, water, and dry basil to the mirepoix.
3-Bring soup to a boil and let boil for 30 minutes.
4-Remove pot from heat. Purée soup with an immersion blender.
Taste soup before adding salt. Celery has some natural salt.
Source: Ruth Paget – California
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Dijon: The Mustard Society Game by Ruth Paget
Number of Players:
Unlimited as long as the mustard lasts
Materials Needed: All the materials you need for this game can be ordered from the Mustard Museum in Wisconsin (mustardmuseum.com).
-3 different kinds of mustard
-pretzel sticks Game
Preparation:
-On a sheet of paper, note the name of the three different mustards with a line after it where players will note a number of a matching mystery mustard. Make copies of this game sheet for the number of guests coming to your game
-Put out a dish with many pretzels so people dip once to avoid double dipping and germ spreading -cover the jars with paper so you cannot see the labels. Number them 1 – 3.
Game Play:
-Each guest will use one pretzel stick per mustard jar to scoop out a taste. -Guests will discuss mustards and note on their game sheet what mustard they think the mystery mustards are.
-Take the white paper of each jar to reveal the mystery mustard.
Everyone is a winner if you set all the mustards out to go with brats, hot dogs, or kielbasa and potato salad, coleslaw, and chips.
People who got everything right can take a jar of mustard home, if there is any left.
Mustards you can order from the Mustard Museum in Wisconsin include:
-Colman’s Original English
-Bornier Original Dijon
-De Echte Zaanse Mustard
-Löwensenf Bavarian
-Lakeshore Wholegrain with Irish Whiskey
-Bacik Spicy Horseradish and Honey
-Amora
-Clovis Herbes de Provence
-Edmond Fallon Honey
-Delicious Gourmet Big Easy Cajun
-Pommery Moutarde de Meaux
-Inglehoffer Sriracha
-Kocsiusko Spicy Brown Mustard
-Australian Outback Mustard
-Baumgarten Horseradish Mustard
-Löwensenf Extra Hot
-Sierra Nevada Stout and Stone Ground
The Mustard Museum has an online catalog that you can request to make unique parties with society games.
Happy Gaming!
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Arkansas Appetizer Lunch by Ruth Paget
The heat and humidity in places like Arkansas where it is already in the 80s at 7 am make cooks rise early to get baking and cooking done for light lunches on screened-in porches to keep mosquitoes out and lunches untouched by flies. Pitchers of icy sun tea to drink keep you from dehydration.
Main dishes in Arkansas mostly feature rice, duck, and chicken according to Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley, the editors of Best of the Best from Arkansas Cookbook. Rice is the major cash crop of this state that lies along the Mississippi River.
There are recipes for many chicken dishes and casseroles in this cookbook, but I love mixing appetizers and muffins to make light lunches. (This is a habit I learned from eating appetizer platters at Middle Eastern restaurants as a child in Detroit, Michigan.)
I thought the following the following recipes make a very healthy appetizer table with items that you can prepare ahead of time:
-dilly garden dip made with blended cottage cheese, lemon juice, carrots, green onions, parsley, and dill
-cheese and bacon spread made with cheddar cheese, cooked bacon, green onions, almonds, and mayonnaise
-homemade Boursin made with blended butter, cream cheese, garlic, basil, chives, dill, marjoram, thyme, and pepper. Very easy to make if you have an herb garden
-Monterey cubes – baked eggs, Monterey Jack cheese, flour, cottage cheese, and mild green chilies that are cut into cubes after bakin
-spinach cheese squares – baked onion, cheese, spinach, eggs, flour, and milk that is cut into squares into squares after baking
-marinated whole mushrooms
-crabmeat mold – a refrigerated gelatin spread made with crabmeat, cream of mushroom soup, cheese, onion, and celery
-Mexican corn bread made with green chilies, corn meal, creamed corn, skim milk, cheddar cheese, and egg whites
-peach muffins – made with peaches and almonds -blueberry oatmeal muffins
-applesauce muffins
-apple muffins made with raw apples
-black cherry almond coffee cake -sour cream coffee cake – I lived on this in high school
-spicy pineapple zucchini bread made with walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg
-turkey cranberry sandwiches - taste great with sun tea
-watermelon rind preserves – a delicious no-food-waste item
Cooks interested in using garden fresh ingredients and orchard fresh fruit will find many useful recipes in Best of the Best from Arkansas Cookbook edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
