12 Squid (medium sized ones for finger food, not the palm-sized big ones) Clean the inside and discard head and tentacles. Use paper towel to pat them dry.

Stuffing

Imitation crab meat – about 4 oz, shredded

Shrimps – about 12 shrimps, coarsely chopped

Water chestnut (half can) – coarsely chopped

Mix these ingredients together, add sesame seed oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Stuff the seafood mixture in each squid tube and secure with a cocktail toothpick. Lay all the stuffed squid on a baking sheet.

Last Thursday was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and we had dinner at our in-laws. Before I married my hubby, I had no idea what foods are unique to the Jewish people. Here are a few of the dishes we had for dinner.

1. Matzah ball soup. The matzah ball is made from matzah flour. I love this soup.

2. Challah Bread. It’s an egg bread and is commonly used to make french toast at diners. The bread is shown here with mushroon barley soup.

3. Kasha vanishka with bow tie. This is actually an Eastern European food. Kasha is a type of grain.

I learned something really interesting last week from my friend Tiffany. Many sippy cups we use for our kids contain some kind of chemical bisophenol A or BPA, an estrogen like chemical. It seems this can speed up puberty, contribute to weight problems and also lead to cancer.

Now I’m no expert in such stuff like that and you can read more about it over at Tiffany’s blog. On that particular post, she reviewed a couple of different BPA free sippy cups that I found helpful. Thanks Tiffany for alerting me to this. I’ll have to research this further. Who’d have thought we need to watch what we put our food on (or in)?

One of the moms in my son’s playgroup made this once. Taste awesome and just HAD to get the recipe from her! Can’t believe how easy it is to make it.

SAUSAGE BALLS
1 lb. mild sausage
2 (8 oz.) pkg. shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 c. Bisquick
Mix well. Form into small balls. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes and at 350 degrees for 5 minutes more to brown.

We had a great time yesterday. The house was roaring with loads of great conversation and of course, good food. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, Amish potato salad, Amish macaroni salad, steak, baby back ribs, huge chicken thighs too.

Everything was yummy. I especially liked the new barbecue sauce we bought, never tried it before but was good. John Boy & Billy’s Grilling sauce. Anyhow, got too caught up with good company and forgot to take pictures. Carin, we forgot to dig into your absolutely mouth watering Black Forest cake. I haven’t opened it yet oh, girl, you’re spoiling my diet!