My dad tried to get me to copy down all of the recipes in his old recipe box for him because he got a new recipe box and the old cards wouldn’t fit in it. I copied a few onto the new cards, then I just riffled through the box and lifted some recipes to take home. Ha ha.

When my dad’s family gets together, there’s always a lot of food. And there are, of course, standards that always show up on the buffet. My Aunt Mary’s taco salad, for example. I could eat that stuff by the truckload. I’m pretty sure she makes it with Doritos. It’s hard to go wrong with a salad made of Doritos.

There’s always a chili dip in a big Crock Pot at the family Christmas party, too, but it seems there are several versions, and my palette hasn’t been refined enough to pick up on that. Even though I’ve been eating the stuff at Christmas parties just about every year for 28 years. This is the version that Dad had in his recipe box.

CHILI DIP

2 lbs hamberg

1/2 lg. onion

1 sm. grn. pepper

jalapeño pepper

Hot red pepper powder

1/2 lg (diced) block Velveeta cheese

1 can ea.: tomato paste, small tomato sauce, tomato soup
Brown: Hamb., onions, gr. pepper.
Put in Crock Pot, add all other ingr.

Obviously, Dad believes in using your intuition when cooking. I’ve copied these recipes mostly as-written from the cards. I did correct some of the spelling, and I can’t replicated my dad’s totally awesome, all-capital-letters, block-print handwriting accurately on the Internet. I love reading these recipes, because my dad writes pretty much exactly how he talks. I mean, he doesn’t say “lg grn” (because he’s not Frankenstein’s monster, communicating solely through grunts and violence) but he definitely says “hamberg.” He also says “garlic toes” now instead of “garlic cloves.” That’s just weird.

To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never actually had the next recipe. But we did eat at the A&W drive-in a lot when I was growing up, and I loved it. Judging from the many, many versions of this in my dad’s recipe box and jotted into the margins of my mom’s Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, deciphering the Ultimate A&W Recipe was something of an obsession for those two. This is the one my dad says is the best.

A&W Hotdog Sauce

1 lb hamburg. Brown slowly. Take off grease.
ADD

1/2 c. water

1c. chopped onion

2 cloves garlic

2 8oz. tomato sauce

1 1/2 tbls. chili powder

1 tsp. salt
Cook real slow 3-4 hrs. The longer it cooks the better.

Of course, no family gathering would be complete without dessert. And lots of it. My Aunt Judy used to have to attach a trailer to the back of their car just to get all of the goodies to the party. For the typical Christmas party, she’d start baking in October, and she’d show up with 29 different varieties of cookies, at least a dozen cakes, 20 pies and countless other goodies. I’m only exaggerating slightly. For a chubby adolescent, seeing Aunt Judy and Uncle Dave pull into the driveway was a close second to Christmas morning in terms of awesomeness.

One of the “other goodies” Aunt Judy always made was Oreo Dessert, a concoction that my stepsister and I ate straight from the dish. Aunt Judy still brings desserts to family gatherings, but she doesn’t seem to bring them in the quantities she once did. I haven’t had Oreo Dessert in years, and I was ridiculously giddy when I saw the recipe. I still haven’t made it, though.

Aunt Judy’s recipe are always fun to follow, too. The directions sweep and dart across the page like free-form poetry.

Oreo Dessert
1st

12 oz. pkg. Oreo cookies

1/2 c. melted Oleo or butter
Crush cookies and mix with melted butter. Press into 9×13 pan. Save some of the crushed cookies to sprinkle on top layer.

2nd

1/2 13oz pkg Cool Whip

8oz cream cheese

1/2 c. powdered sugar
Beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Mix with Cool Whip. Spread on top of 1st layer.

3rd
One large pkg. chocolate pudding (mix as directed on box). Spread on top of 2nd layer. (Let this cool.)

4th
Spread the rest of the Cool Whip over pudding. Then sprinkle with the rest of cookie mixture over top. Refrigerate until ready.

Make the night before!!

In the summertime, my uncles always have a great debate over the proper way to make potato salad. They all adhere to my grandmother’s celery seed rule (it’s a must), but they differ on the “soupiness” factor. My grandmother likes it pretty dry, and her boys each opt for varying levels of “soup.”

What are your family’s party standards? And are we the only ones who have these raging potato-salad debates every summer?