ingenuity

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. 

- Frank Capra

Sometimes, my family likes to party like rock stars. Take yesterday for example: my mom decided to rent a hotel room just to have a place to crash and relax for the night. It was our little pre-Thanksgiving shindig, to include throwback gaming, movies, and my mom's famous shrimp dip.

This stuff is a staple at family functions. It's a good sized tray of dip, isn't expensive, and is super easy!

                            

Shrimp Dip
8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/3 C mayonnaise

1/2 C sour cream

15 oz salad shrimp, thawed and patted dry

8 oz seafood sauce

1 1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese

15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained well

1 bunch green onions, sliced

Stir together the cream cheese, mayo and sour cream until well blended. Spread in the bottom of a party tray (I think ours was about 15 inches in diameter?). Sprinkle salad shrimp over cream cheese mixture. Spread seafood sauce over shrimp, then top with mozzarella, tomatoes and green onions. Serve with crackers of your choice! 

***

Here's the funny thing about making this dip yesterday... We bought the ingredients on the way to the hotel and assembled the dip there. We had the foresight to bring the tray and a container to mix things in, but had to get a little inventive with a few things. 

My favourite (because I thought of it... hehe) was softening the block of cream cheese by setting the container on the heater fan, using a paring knife to prevent it from sliding off. Then there was thawing and draining the shrimp using mom's Melitta coffee maker. Oh, and a makeshift "bloody mary" using the drained tomato juice and a green onion. 

Yep, a little creativity can go a long way.

For dessert, I baked a lattice-top cherry pie (Mom's favourite). We had a great time pigging out, laughing at old memories and making new ones (primarily involving Mom's hilarious N64 skills). Good people, good times.