Holly O.! (her recipe and story are below)
Congrats – you've won a soup and cookie basket from Harry & David. Thank you so much for submitting a recipe to The Great Christmas Bowl Recipe Exchange contest during the book's blog tour!
And speaking of recipes – be sure to stop by and pick up a copy of the The Great Christmas Bowl cook book for yourself. The cost is $5 and ALL the proceeds will go directly to the Cook County (my community) Food Shelf, and The Grand Marais Salvation Army Service Unit’s “Merry Christmas for all” Outreach Program. It’s a local program for our community of 1300 that helped 55 families last year “multiply the joy of Christmas” by providing food and gifts to the financially challenged.
The book will be available all month long – so tell your friends to swing by and purchase a copy and help spread the joy of the season!
Visit the event page for the Christmas Outreach Tea for a great Christmas playlist, more great recipes and holiday traditions! Oh, and you can pick up a Christmas Bowl Bookplate for your book too!
Holly O. (winner chosen at random from all entrees)
Story: My Grampy always made this dip every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I first tried it when I was 10 or 12 and ever since, it's been my favorite of the dips he made (he also made onion and shrimp dips). Some years it was too runny and we had to lean over the bowl to eat it, some years it wasn't. When I was a senior in college, my parents had recently moved to Florida, and it was to be my first Thanksgiving away from home. I wanted to share a part of my holidays with my friend Lori's family, and I called my Nany and Grampy's to get the recipe. Lori's family loved it; in fact, her mom just couldn't stay away from it and kept telling me so throughout my stay with them. I'm even more thankful that I got the recipe when I did, because my Grampy passed away about 10 days later and this gives me a connection to him even though he's gone. I make it for the holidays here in Florida, and it's become my signature recipe.
Recipe: Grampy's Clam Dip
2 8oz packages of cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat, but the choice is yours)
2 cans of clams (1 chopped 1 minced; save the juice)
horseradish and Tabasco to taste
Let cream cheese soften to room temperature, add clam juice to thin the cream cheese out. Start slowly, you can always add more, but you cannot thicken a too thin dip! Add the clams and mix in. Stir in the Tabasco and horseradish. Again start with a little at a time, you can add more, but too much of either will create a fireball! I like to let the dip sit overnight to let the flavors meld together (do not throw out the remainder of the clam juice, you will need it the following morning!). Before serving, use a bit more of the clam juice to thin the dip. Serve with Triscuits or potato chips.