Today’s guest post comes from Verily Sherrilee.
Recently, we celebrated a great achievement of one of our own.
Trail Baboon reader and contributor Beth-Ann Bloom won last year’s Ice Cream Dream Flavor Contest sponsored by Kemps. If you were around last summer you probably remember the daily voting that the baboon community embraced enthusiastically; a few of us even made it to the State Fair to sample Beth-Ann’s ice cream when the voting was narrowed down to only two candidates.
Beth-Ann’s “Mini-Sota Donut” creation was the big winner and now we have a cold treat celebrity in our midst.
It has been a “Miss America” kind of year for Beth-Ann – serving as an ice cream ambassador with TV spots and even a personal appearance at the Woodbury Cub! Now that Mini-Sota Donut is finally hitting store shelves, she’s been inundated with queries about where to find her ice cream.
Ice Cream might be the most sociable summertime treat. There is an urgency to any ice-cream based gathering (eat it before it melts!) and it welcomes a multitude of add-ons. Our ice cream get-together was a potluck affair – everybody brought a little something to the party. Contributions included bananas, chocolate sauce, sprinkle, root beer and ginger ale (for floats) and some apple caramel sauce. We ate out of bright-colored ice cream soda dishes and plied Beth-Ann with questions about the process of becoming a frozen dessert diva and what the past year has brought her. She will be able to gift a charity (ice cream for the food shelf) and she will be one of the celebrity judges for the Kemps contest at the fair this year.
You will notice if you look closely at the carton that each “scround” (that’s what they call the rounded-off square cartons) of Mini-sota Donut Ice Cream bears Beth-Ann’s signature – a rare honor in a world where only TV chefs, pop stars, movie stars and Hall of Fame athletes get to have their names put on food.
Congratulations once again to Beth-Ann as she prepares to pass on the Ice Cream Crown to a new winner.
What food is a “must-have” for your most sociable get-togethers?
Trail Baboon 
nice vs
it was a fun day and the ice cream was wonderful.
the group was almost handcuffed building the theme around ice cream.
the table was so full of variations on an ice cream parlor menu there was barely room for mine when lou showed up after getting his workout pushing his motorcycle after running out of as on his way to the get together.
i think wine is the first thing that comes to mind for a get together for me
maybe chili i do like making chili but in the summer i tend toward hummas or artichoke dip or somethin like that.
a mozzerella tomato olive concoction pops up fairly often too.
ah a weekend of food on the trail. thanks vs and thanks dale.
what do you fix when its 100 out like we have on the forecast this week. give me some ideas.
oh watermelon. i have the last bit of a perfect on to finish before heading back to the fair for day 2 today/ last night was wonderful.
cheese curds
carribian noodles
cheese on a stick
chocolate shake
root beer
and we’re off
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You lucky bastard. Next year will be my turn!
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Morning all. Dale just emailed me that my post was up today… yeah!!
Off to the fair. Everybody have fun today!
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You’re lucky too. Nice Ice Cream post btw!
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Good morning. The answer has to be wine as long as there is no reason an alcoholic beverage can’t be served. I am assuming beverages can be included as a food to serve. Cheese and crackers is always a good choice to go with wine. Actually, there are many kinds of food I like to have at gatherings and it is hard to pick out a top favorite.
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pick 6
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How about 6 times 6? Just kidding. I might be able pick out a few that are top favorites without getting too carried away. Let’s not forget baked goods including almost any kind of cookie, cake, or bar. Humus is good and also chips with salsa.
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baked eggs
guac and chips w salsa
7 layer dip
if linda can bring those little chocolate raspberry tortes i wont have to
and what were those little potatoes linda?
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I think the potatoes were the little red ones baked with onion and green pepper in a cream & olive oil sauce. A good recipe to fall back on for potlucks.
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Pardon the ABD, that was me.
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It was gooood
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chips
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Rise and Shine Baboons!
Tim, you busted Lou. He never told me he ran out of gas! I have done numerous rescue missions due to malfunctioning motorcycles, so I am sure he does not want me to know. shhhh! Nobody tell him I know this.
Meanwhile, BA, this has to be a bit like being Miss Baboon America, as a messenger of goodwill and ice cream in Minnesota. Make us and Kemps proud in the few remaining days of your reign.
Food for gatherings? Hummus and Pita chips, Capresi salad during tomato and basil season, garden veggie pizza, wine, and homemade pie.
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Excellent choices, Jacque.
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Texas Caviar – recipe at Kitchen Congress. Broccoli Salad daughter Lora invented (to our knowledge).
BROCCOLI SALAD EXTRAORDINAIRE
2 heads of broccoli, chopped
Scallions – 1/3 C (or so) also chopped
1/4 C peanut butter
2 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
2 T olive oil
2 T rice vinegar
1 T white wine vinegar
1 or 2 cloves minced garlic
A few shakes of crushed red pepper
Squeeze of lemon juice
Combine ingredients (from PB down to lemon juice) and whisk, then taste.
If it’s too vinegar-y, add a little more soy sauce or olive oil or both. If it’s too thin add more PB.
Just adjust until you like the taste/consistency, then dress the broccoli. Prepare a couple
hours ahead of time so flavors can meld, and your dog can lick up sticky peanut butter mess.
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Gotta try it! Thanks
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Ooh, bet this could work on green beans too… 🙂 Thanks, Donna!
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or a broccoli green bean combo. the peanut butter oil vinigar mix sounds good diddle with it til you get it. i like the premise.the scallions/garlic add the right layer of flavor. i like it.
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A chilled soup on a day with temperatures above 90º F can’t be beat. I find a chilled, dilled cucumber soup especially refreshing, but now that tomatoes are ripening at an alarming pace, gazpacho is a wonderful choice as well. Ratatouille served at room temperature with fresh pocket bread, yum. Or how about pocket bread stuffed with a fresh tabouleh with mint and maybe some garbanzo beans? And, as Jim suggested, you can never go wrong with a fresh salsa with lots of cilantro and good tortilla chips.
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I made a cucumber mint salad with a bit of yogurt and honey the other day when a co-worker brought in some giant cukes – delightful on a warm day like today. Mostly I try to make sure there are baked goods at any gathering, but that may be because I love to bake. Not doing much of that in the next few days in my un-air conditioned kitchen. In our family, less formal occasions often call for calico beans and more formal occasions call for gjifte (a layered “salad” with cranberries, whipped cream and – of all things – soda crackers).
Sorry I have been off-trail for a few days. Crazy busy days at work. Sorry to hear that there have been work-related troubles for some, that I missed a birthday and likely a few other things as well.
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Glad you’re back, Anna.
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Greetings! Wow — I didn’t realize Beth had a “reign” as queen of the ice cream world with her autograph on the carton as well. Very cool — congratulations. Sorry I couldn’t be at the ice cream social — I really was thinking of attending. We are gearing up to bring Ben to college on Monday to move into his residence hall. If I bring food to a party or pot luck, it’s usually a salad of some kind. I try to make it healthy — usually a green salad. The things that are called “salads” these days are just outrageous and far from healthy. Snickers Salad? Puh-leeze ….. And those pasta salads slathered in mayo or sour cream just don’t qualify either.
My sister-in-law, who is a wonderful cook, always makes a bounteous fruit salad for every gathering. But it’s always full of whipped cream or marshmallow creme or something ridiculous. Tasty, but not healthy. Real, simple foods are tasty and healthy.
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Puh-leeze…….. is right. I couldn’t believe it when Snickers Salad was served to me. What is this in this so called salad? Chucks of candy bar? Really????
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The first time I saw snickers salad was at a potluck where the host provided bread and ham for sandwiches and everyone else was asked to bring a plate of christmas cookies and a salad. My reaction was the same – how on EARTH can this be called a salad???? a dessert maybe (and not a very good one IMO), but not a salad.
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I’m always disappointed when the topic of the day is food since I have absolutely no interest in it – but then, I realize that 98% of people do. Right now, I’m worried about my brother because, for the first time in forever, he doesn’t answer his phone. Does anyone know if he’d planned to be gone???
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He said something in the day about fishbowls about going to Ames for the weekend. I wouldn’t fret. 🙂
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Thank you – I do recall a trip to our hometown – just didn’t realize that it might be this week end. I should probably write down when he’s going to be gone as I worry about him all the time.
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Cool that baboons were able to answer your question, CB. 🙂
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I heard this on Radio Heartland the other day:
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3- or 4- bean salad, esp. right now when the beans are fresh from the garden, and lord knows we need some creative ways to use them!
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Morning all. State Fair was fun yesterday but heat was hard. If you’re planning a jaunt the next few days… get one of the fans on a stick right away (or make one at home). And if you like to do the buildings (eco building, art building, education building, etc.), do those as early as possible in your day. While there were lots of fans up in the animal buildings, the people buildings were stifling. And keep hydrated!
As far as gathering food, I have one recipe that I make every year for my silly gift gathering. I have one friend who has said if I ever DON’T make it, I should let him know so he can skip the party. It’s Reuben Puffs. I make cream puff shells (pate choux), cut them in half, fill them with drained sauerkraut, 1000 island dressing & swiss cheese. Put the top back on and back until they get a little melty. Yum yum.
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Just remembered that in winter, my pot-luck staple is the Chili-Cheese Appetizers I frequently bring to BBC – good for some protein if you know there will be mostly desserts, etc.
Chili Cheese Cubes
7-8 eggs
½ C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ – ¾ tsp. salt
Combine in blender briefly, till lightly colored.
2-3 C. shredded cheese (Monterey jack, cheddar, etc.)
1 – 1 ½ C. cottage cheese
1 4-oz. can (chopped) mild green chilies
Optional: any sautéed veggies like green and/or red peppers, onion, maybe some garlic…
Fold cheeses and chilies into blended mixture. Turn into greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake for 40 min. at 350°, till golden on top and firm in center. Let stand at least 10 min. Cut into small squares, serve hot or at room temp.
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These are excellent. I always hate sharing with other baboons when BiR brings this
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I’m sorry to have missed the Mini-Sota Donut ice cream social.
Like Joanne IBL I like to bring something nominally more healthy than what one normally finds at pot-lucks. That usually means vegetables. You can sometimes have a pot luck that ends up with all desserts or no desserts but there are rarely too many vegetable contributions. Last night, at a potluck, I brought something called Spinach Brownies. They were really spinach-cheese-quiche-esque bars. With all the cheese, they weren’t terribly healthy but the spinach and onions upped their value a bit.
Of course a guaranteed winner at pot lucks is devilled eggs.
(spellcheck says that that should be spelled “deviled” but I’m sorry, that can’t be right – rhymes with reviled!)
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OT – Husband and I are celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary today. How the heck did we make it this long, especially in view of the fact that I just now found this video?
I have been doing it wrong all these years!
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Oh my. “His topics of conversation are always more important than yours.” Classic.
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congrats pj
34 more years and you may have the kitchen done.
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Thanks, tim, I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. Nice windy day today, so we’re heading out to fly our kites, and afterwards we’re going to construct a little free library for in front of our house. Do we know how to celebrate or what?
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Those sound like very fun activities to me. Let us know how the little free library works out (building it and people using it).
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Happy anniversary, PJ. Somehow I think you might take that video as an example what not to do rather than the other way around.
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What a relief, Jim. I don’t do the subservient wife real well, it would be a shock to husband’s system if I changed now.
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Sounds like a fine way to celebrate, PJ. Congratulations.
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Happy Anniversary you two!
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I’m usually a homemade dessert person when it comes to sociable get-togethers. But on a day like today, some homemade limeade or lemonade over ice sounds like it would be perfect. And maybe one of those yellow, round watermelons from the farmers market – ice cold, of course.
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How about lime jello, marshmallow, cottage cheese surprise?
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I think I’ll stick with iced limeade or lemonade and watermelon.
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Those chocolate cookies… what’s in them? Amaretto and cherries, was it?
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ABD, those chocolate cookies do have dried cherries which are soaked in amaretto. And, of course, I add the soaking liquid along with the cherries when I throw them into the dough.
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That question was from me. Fruit soaked in alcohol – it doesn’t get much better than that.
You know, I didn’t have any problem at all with WordPress until I made the mistake of checking the “Remember Me” check box. Since then I’ve been consigned to doilyhood and anonymity unless i remember to type in my e-mail address. The WordPress “Remember me” function should be more accurately renamed “Forget me”.
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Here is a recipe from Carol Gelles 1000 Vegetarian Recipes that I think works very well as a dish to bring to a gathering.
Corn and Black Bean Salad
Mix 1 1/2 c. cooked corn with 1 c. cooked black beans, 2/3 c. diced green pepper, 1/2 c chopped onion, and 1/4 c. fresh chopped parsley. Mix 1 1/2 tb. red vinegar, 1 tp. veg. oil, 1/2 tp. sugar, salt, and black pepper. Combine the dressing with the other ingredients and you are done. To spice it up add some chilies.
Easy to make, very tasty, and fits in well with other food that is usually served at gatherings.
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I just made a very nice tomato and corn salsa this week. Every recipe the last three weeks has had tomatoes and I think it will be a at least a month before I can make anything WITHOUT!
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It’s good they are so tasty, vs.
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My go-to recipe is easy peanut butter fudge (posted on Kitchen Congress) which many of you have sampled. Takes about 20 minutes to make. Nothing to wash up except a saucepan, a wooden spoon, an 8X8-inch pan and a knife.
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I would insist on anything cold! Just returned from Fargo after moving daughter into her dorm. It was in the high 90’s and very humid. The dorm is not air-conditioned. We just heard on the radio that Fargo Public Schools has cancelled school until Thursday for 5 elementary schools due to too high of heat indexes. It is good to be home. I hope daughter can manage at least 4 hot days and nights during orientation.
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Way to go, Renee – and good for Fargo schools. My mom always said, when she was teaching, that the first week of school ALWAYS got up in the 90s. It’s out to the screen porch for me tonight…
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Congrats Renee. We have three more days to go here!
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