Stress Free and Good Looking Recipes
Christmas can be a stressful time for everyone, but in particular for my mom. She has to buy all the presents for everyone, send Christmas letters and on top of that she bakes hundreds of Christmas cookies. We have a party every Christmas Eve at our house, so I decided to be helpful and make a party dip as one of the dishes, which was a perfect blogging opportunity. I decided to make spicy corn dip (pictured below) which was something I had never had or made before. I got the recipe from the Upscale Downhome cookbook by Rachel Hollis and she mentioned in the book that this dip was one of the most popular recipes on her website (Hollis, 62) so I hoped it would be a good choice for the party.
When I do cook food I usually always make it last minute when I haven't even fully read through the preparation directions. But this time, since I was making it for a special occasion, I took the time to read through the directions the night before so I knew exactly how long this was going to take me. So, the morning of Christmas Eve I woke up early to start prepping my dish because Rachel Hollis had said in her cookbook "Whether it's for twelve people or for two, or just you and your cat, the fact that you put effort into the preparation made it something special" (Hollis, 8). I had fully made the dip before church and was just able to put it into the fridge until closer to the party when it needed to be cooked. Rachel Hollis was right, everybody at the party enjoyed my dip and I thought the bell pepper and scallions added nice color to the dish, so overall it was a success!
What is your favorite party dish? Why is it your favorite?
Hollis, Rachel. Upscale Downhome: Family Recipes, All Gussied Up. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin, 2016.
