Make festive party dips and spreads ahead. Then, give them a quick microwave reheat. You’ll enjoy your party, too! Serve plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits with hot appetizer dips. Minimize the tendency to eat more dip than dipper by serving a variety of the freshest vegetables and fruits you can find. Arrange them attractively on lots of medium-sized platters. Put out a new platter when the supply starts getting low or looking wilted. Vegetables such as carrot and celery sticks, unpcclcd cucumber spears, and broccoli and cauliflower pieces can be pre pared ahead and kept in zip bags with a little water added. Fruit may also be prepared ahead. Apples and firm water pears which turn brown after standing may be sliced several hours head and dipped in lemon or lime juice to prevent browning. Arrange fruits on a parly tray. Cover tightly and refrigerate until right before serving. If choosing crackers to serve along with dips or spread, choose a nutritious variety. Choose crack ers made of whole wheat or other Grainger Saves You Time and Money! Grainger has what you need. More than 22,000 essential products, parts, equipment and supplies for every area of your business. Plus, our convenient branch has the top-notch service you need to get you in and out quickly. Come in and pick up your order or we’ll ship it to you the same day! One-stop shopping at Grainger saves you money because it saves you time, every step of the way. . For more information or your FREE Grainger catalog, call your local branch. Then, stop by or phone to place your order, TODAY! Business to business supplier. NOW OPEN! LANCASTER 15 Granite Run Rd. Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 560-3630 Other locations nearby Harrisburg 431 Amity Rd. Harrisburg, PA 17111 (717) 238-8314 York 1803 Mt. Rose Ave., Suite A 6 York, PA 17403 (717) 845-4811 America’s leading industrial and commercial supplier MICROWAVE MINUTES By JOYCE BATTCHER whole grains for fiber. Look for lower-salt varieties. (Most arc flagged to let you know that they are sodium-reduced.) Crackers low in saturated fat may be a little harder to pick out. Read the ingre dient list If tropical oils such as palm or coconut arc men tioned towards the beginning of the list, choose another brand. Today’s recipes come from a student in one of my adult classes. Cathy Barlhcl from Bloomington, Minn., says she likes quick and easy cooking that tastes and looks like she spent hours working. Don’t we all? Cathy’s recipes arc very easy to make. But flavor, appearance, and everything about them will get raves at your holiday parlies (and throughout the new year, too). Brandied Brie is softened brie cheese with a tantalizing topping of brandied nuts, brown sugar and butter. It’s not a low-caloric appe tizer; in flavor, it’s a winner. Cathy serves it with an attractive platter of thick apple slices. Alter nate red-skinned apple slices with yellow or green apples for variety. Brie is a wonderful cheese for appetizers. It’s most often served GRAINGER whole or in a large wedge with a cheese knife, so guests can help themselves. Brie can be oven baked in puff pastry or micro warmed with a variety of lop pings. A whole brie is round about 1 to VA inches thick and comes in sizes ranging from about one pound to over two pounds. Smaller amounts (cut in wedges) may also be bought. Brie is a soft, creamy white cheese. It has a thin, white edible crust that has a mild blue-cheese flavor. When it is served as a round pr wedge, some people will choose to cut off the crust, and some will choose to cat it. Young brie is a dclicatc-flavorcd cheese, so it’s often served for dessert with fruit. Older brie marked “aged” on the label has a more pungent flavor and may not be as appealing for desserts. In Brandicd Brie, brie is broken into chunks before heating. Since it’s naturally soft, a brief heating on Medium-Low or Medium is all that’s necessary. Too fast or 100 long microwaving will melt it. Hot Chili Dip may be a confus ing name, but there’s no question about the easy preparation and great flavor. This dip is not overly spicy when made with mild chi lies. The flavor is spicy, yet creamy and mellow. Again, prepa ration is simple and there’s not much microwaving. Simply soften the cream cheese, add oilier ingre dients, and heat. To make ahead, follow my directions below the recipe. Brandicd Brie 'A cup brandy* 'A cup coarsely chopped walnuts Product categories: Air circulators, fans, blowers Air compressors Domestic water systems Electric equipment & supplies HVAC Hydraulics Industrial pumps Janitorial supplies Lighting Material handling & storage Maintenance equipment Motors - general purpose, heating/cooling, fan/blower, farm/pump Outdoor equipment Pneumatics • Power transmission Refrigeration Safety equipment Test instruments Tools - hand, portable, power Grainger...unmatched for selection, availability, con venience and speed. A cup coarsely chopped pecans 1 pound brie cheese 'A cup butter or margarine, softened 'A cup packed brown sugar Crisp apple slices and/or firm pear slices and/or whole-grain crackers Combine brandy with nuts; marinate for about 2 hours. Cut crust from brie; discard crust. Break brie into chunks and arrange evenly in a microwave safe small casserole, pic plate or serving dish. With a fork, combine butler and brown sugar. Spoon evenly over brie. Drain nuts. Arrange nuts attractively atop brown sugar mixture. Microwave on Medium-Low (30 percent pow er, about 200 watts) 2 to 3 minutes or on Medium (50 percent power, 325-350 walls) VA to I'A minutes, rotating dish once, until brie is just soft (not melted). Serve with fruit and/or crackers. Makes about 10 appetizer servings. To make ahead: Prepare as above. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving time. Uncover and microwave on Medium-Low (30 percent power, about 200 walls) 3 to 4 minutes or on Medium (50 percent power, 325-350 watts) 2 to 3 minutes, rotating dish once, until brie is just soft (not melted.) Serve as above. Each serving without fruit or crackers; 317 calorics, llg pro tein, 25g fat, 3g carbohydrate, 344 mg sodium, 59mg cholesterol. * Substitute 'A cup orange juice mixed with A teaspoon ground cinnamon. Hot Chili Dip 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese 1 can (15 ounces) chili without beans 1 can (4 ounces) mild green chi lics, undrained 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Ched dar cheese Fresh vegetables and/or tortilla chips Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 16,1989-B5 Place cream cheese in I-quart microwave-safe casserole. Micro wave (High) 20 to 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Skim fat from top of chili. Stir in undiluted chili and undrained green chilics. If serving immediately, microwave (High) 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once, or until hot. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and microwave (High) 20 to 30 seconds or until cheese just starts to melt. Serve with fresh veget ables or tortilla chips. Makes about 2 cups dip. To make ahead: Combine sof tened cream cheese, chili and green chilics. If desired, divide into 2 small microwave-safe serv ing dishes. Cover and refrigerate. To serve, microwave whole recipe on High 3 to 4 minutes or until hot, stirring once. (Or microwave one small dish at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once, or until hot. Top with Cheddar cheese and microwave (High) 20 to 30 sec onds or until cheese just starts to melt. Each 2 lablcspoons without vegetables or chips: 97 calorics, 4g protein, 8g fat, 2g carbohy drate, 148 mg sodium, 18mg cholesterol. Questions for Joyce? Do you have a question about microwave cooking? Send it to Microwave Minutes, % Extra Newspaper Features, P.O. Box 6118, Rochester, MN 55903. Please include a self-addressed, stamped, busincss-si/.c envelope. Recipes in this column arc tested in 600- and 650-watt micro wave ovens. With an oven of dif ferent wattage output, timings may need slight adjustment. Joyce Battcher is an indepen dent home economist microwave specialist. She is author of “Microwave Family Favorites” and editor of “A Batch of Ideas” newsletter. ©1989 Extra Newspaper Features
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