If you love eating fries from a metal cone, the way some restaurants serve them, here’s a fun item from Gibson Table Compliments.

The four-piece French Fry Serving Set has metal coned with ceramic inserts, a drip-proof alternative to the paper liners used at restaurants. There are two dipping cups that attach to each cone as an optional way to serve condiments.

Beyond French fries, you can use the cones to serve other veggie fries and fried foods like mozzarella sticks. In fact, you can serve anything in them, from breakfast cereal to an ice cream sundae.

A set of four is $25.00 at Amazon.com. All parts are dishwasher safe.

If you prefer butcher paper in your cone instead of ceramic, here’s a similar cone-only product.

The white tissue liners are sold in packs of 2,000. If you’re going to load up, consider this version, printed to look like an English, French or Italian newspaper.

Love them!

How many different types of French fries have you had? There are almost 30!

For National Meatball Day, March 9th, here are two fun recipes with meatballs, courtesy of Casa Di Bertacchi. Both will be popular with busy moms, because the ingredients are quick to assemble.

We don’t often use recipes that use a can of soup or canned potatoes as an ingredient, but here we make an exception to make it easy to celebrate National Meatball Day.

The meatballs, too, are purchased frozen from Casa di Bertacchi.

Of course, you make it from-scratch, using your favorite homemade pot pie recipe.
 
 
RECIPE #1: MEATBALL POT PIE

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F.

2. COMBINE all ingredients except the crusts in a 2-quart bowl. Place one pie crust evenly over the bottom and sides of a deep-dish pie pan, pressing it up over the sides.

3. FILL the pie crust with the meatball mixture. Cover with the second crust, sealing the edges and cutting slits in the top to vent steam. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.
 

[2] These frozen meatballs are delicious.

[3] Fun food: Try meatball kabobs. Recipe and photo courtesy Casa di Bertacchi.

Spell it kabob, kaboab, kebab or kebap: The word is transliterated from Arabic, so there’s no single definitive spelling.

Originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, a kabob consists of pieces of meat, fish or vegetables roasted or grilled on a skewer or spit.

Ingredients For 6 Servings

†If using bamboo skewers, soak in water for 30 minutes prior to assembling kabobs.
 
Preparation 

1. THREAD a meatball, bell pepper slice, yellow squash slice, mushroom and tomato on a long metal skewer. the Repeat pattern ending with a meatball.

2. REPEAT for the other five skewers.

3. COMBINE the Caesar dressing and black pepper.

4. PLACE the meatball skewers directly on a hot grill. Baste the kabobs with the dressing.

5. GRILL for 6–8 minutes, turning and basting every 2–3 minutes until done. Makes 6 kabobs.

The cocktail’s name derived from its green color. While it reputedly originated at Tujague’s, a landmark bar and Creole restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the story is a bit more complicated, as you’ll see below.

Grasshopper Cocktail Recipe: 3/4 ounce cream, 3/4 ounce white creme de cacao and 3/4 ounce green creme de menthe. Shake with ice and pour into a Martini glass.

> September 15th is National Creme de Menthe Day.

> The year’s 6 cider and applejack holidays.

> The year’s 31 pie holidays.

> The year’s 49 cocktail holidays.

Below:

> The year’s 8 mint holidays are below.

> The year’s 7 liqueur holidays.

> The history of the Grasshopper cocktail and Grasshopper pie.

> Grasshopper pie recipe.

> Ice cream Grasshopper pie recipe.

 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE GRASSHOPPER COCKTAIL

The recipe, created by Philibert Guichet Jr., owner of Tujaque’s restaurant in New Orleans, began as an entry submitted to a cocktail contest in New York City. It won the second place prize. Of note is that the contest was held in 1928—before the end of Prohibition (1920-1933). [Source]

The cocktail gained popularity in the South during the 1950s and 1960s.

In the 1950s, liquor became much more widely available as it filled grocery store shelves across the land. With women doing most of the grocery shopping at this time, the popularity of sweeter, dessert-type drinks increased. By the 1960s, the Grasshopper had become a standard cocktail.
 
 
THE DEBUT OF GRASSHOPPER PIE

At the same time the cocktail became a national standard, the pie appeared. Chiffon pies were very popular at that time, and food historians speculate that the recipe was invented by food companies to promote their products.

In the 1997 American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes For The 20th Century, Jean Anderson writes, “I suspect—but cannot verify—that [Grasshopper Pie] recipes descend from one that appeared in High Spirited Desserts, a recipe flier published jointly by Knox Unflavored Gelatin and Heublein Cordials. [Source]

There are two easy recipes below: the standard version and a frozen version.
 
 
RECIPE #1: GRASSHOPPER PIE

Prep time is 30 minutes plus several hours to chill (or overnight).

You can play with the garnishes, using chocolate chips instead of chocolate shavings. If you want a more vivid green for St. Patrick’s day, add food color before you whip the cream.

Ingredients For 8 Servings

For The Crust

 
For The Filling

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the crust. Stir together the wafer crumbs, sugar and butter in a bowl to combine. Pat the mixture onto the bottom and up the side of a buttered 9-inch pie plate. Bake the crust in the middle of a preheated 450°F oven for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

2. MAKE the filling. In a heat-proof bowl or the top half of a double boiler, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/3 cup of the cream; let it soften for 5 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, crème de menthe, crème de cacao and egg yolks. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture registers 160°F on a candy thermometer.

3. REMOVE the bowl to a larger bowl of ice and cold water. Stir the mixture until it is cooled and thickened.

4. BEAT the remaining 1 cup cream in a separate bowl until it holds stiff peaks. Fold it into the crème de menthe mixture thoroughly.

5. POUR the filling into the crust and chill the pie for 4 hours, or until set. Sprinkle the pie with the grated chocolate.

________________

*Green & Black’s and Lindt are two brands of mint chocolate bar available at many supermarkets.
________________
 
 
RECIPE: ICE CREAM GRASSHOPPER PIE

This version is even easier, using store-bought mint chocolate chip ice cream (photo above left). It’s a kid-friendly recipe without the liqueurs; but feel free to add 1/8 cup of crème de menthe to the softened ice cream.

Ingredients

[2] A Grasshopper cocktail (photo © Kuje Sakazar | Unsplash).

[3] Crème de Menthe, a liqueur made from peppermint—often specifically Corsican mint (Gemini photo).

[4] Recipe #2: The easiest Grasshopper Pie is made with mint chip ice cream (recipe plus photos #3 and #5 © Taste Of Home).

[5] The popular flavor combination has been ported into Grasshopper Cupcakes. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[6] How about a Grasshopper Baked Alaska? Here’s the recipe.

[7] Grasshopper Cheesecake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Betty Crocker).

1. SPREAD the ice cream into the pie crust. Sprinkle with the cookies and candies.

2. DRIZZLE with the ice cream topping and freeze until firm. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

[8] How about grasshopper cupcakes? Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Baking).
 
 
THE YEAR’S 9+ MINT HOLIDAYS

 
Plus

 
 
THE YEAR’S 7 LIQUEUR HOLIDAYS

 
Plus

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