Dads & Grads
What I’m making in this season of celebration.
June is the time when we honor dads and grads and it takes on exponential meaning in my life this year: two recent graduation commencements (for my college daughter and my high school senior), a big grad party at our house, an 80th birthday celebration for my father-in-law and weekly trips up north for quality time (and favorite treats) with my dear dad who is in fragile health. Not to mention, Father’s Day is this weekend!
Uffda! But each momentous occasion reminds me of the special role cherished family recipes hold in our hearts, as an integral part of milestone celebrations and offering a dose of nostalgia or source of comfort when we need it most. Here is a little peek at what I’ve been making this month in honor of my favorite grads and dads.
Graduation Goodies
We kicked off the whirlwind season of celebration with Lucy’s graduation from Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, Minn. with a lovely commencement outdoors in the football stadium. Since graduation day at Gustavus also happens to be move-out day for the seniors, it was a hectic day but we were able to squeeze in a little picnic lunch under a tree outside of Lucy’s apartment just before the big event.
We noshed on some small turkey buns, Supreme Spaghetti Salad and rhubarb pie bars, a variation of this family-favorite recipe for Apple Bars. I also made Dill Pickle Pasta Salad, a favorite of Lucy and her pickle-loving roommate. I got the recipe from my friend Staci who has a fun blog called Random Sweets and shares my affinity for recipes with Midwest flair and all things vintage! Her mother-in-law Maria is known for this pro-pickle pasta salad and has been making it for years. Highly recommend.
For my son Charlie’s graduation from high school, we celebrated in typical Midwest fashion with a big backyard/garage party at our home. This meant weeks of home projects and yard work to spiff up our space in addition to planning a hearty yet efficient menu to feed a crowd.
These types of open house events can be a challenge as you don’t know what to expect and plan for. How many people will actually come? Will they all eat? What kind of quantities should I plan for? How will we keep all this food hot (or cold)? Good GOD, what if it rains?! Where will we put everyone?
This was by far the biggest party we have ever hosted at our house where we actually fed people (and weren’t just drinking out of Solo cups…LOL!). We planned a menu of some of Charlie’s favorite foods including Caribbean foods such as rice and beans, plantains and Jamaican patties (which we secured from a local Caribbean grocer called Galaxy Foods) and rounded out the buffet with 20 pounds of shredded pork and slider buns, Caribbean coleslaw, ‘Lil Smokies, watermelon and cupcakes!
My contribution from the family-favorites department was Snicker Salad, a special request from the graduate. What’s not to love about chopped green apples and pieces of Snickers bars mixed in a dressing of Cool Whip and cream cheese? This tasty dessert “salad” appears on the regular at our family celebrations ever since I got the recipe from my sister-in-law Marica whose late aunt Carolyn would make it and many other crowd-pleasers for their family gatherings.
Hot tip: A little birdy just told me…this “salad” is just as good when made with Milky Way candy bars if you have someone in your life with a nut allergy.
Desserts for Dad
Father’s Day is this weekend! I typically like to make some sweet treats for the dads in my life…maybe a rum cake for my father-in-law and some gluten-free cookies for my husband. This year is a bit different as I am with my parents as my dad completes a stay in short-term rehab after breaking his shoulder. I wanted to make him a special treat so I’ve been tinkering with one of our family-favorite recipes that my mom has made for us throughout the years.
I made a chocolate version of these Self-Filled Cupcakes that start with a cake mix for the cupcakes, but add a surprise filling of cream cheese and chocolate chips to the center and are topped with a rich, chocolate frosting. In addition to swapping out the vanilla cake mix for chocolate, I made a peanut butter-cream cheese center made by blending in a few tablespoons of powdered peanut butter into the cream cheese mixture.
I love the flavor of peanut butter and chocolate together. I hope my dad will too!
If you have a special grad or dad in your life, I hope you find ways to celebrate them and honor them this weekend or throughout the month!