Granny Gathering

I'm back from my "bloggy break" of last week. We had VBS in the evenings at church and I watched the twins so my daughter could teach in the art room -- we both had fun! Then this weekend I was preparing for a "Granny Gathering" at my home Sunday for lunch and sharing of pictures of all the grands. We had such fun! I had a Granny luncheon about 2 1/2 years ago when several of us from church had grandchildren all around the same time and invited some other grannies as well. It was such a fun celebration that I planned to do another one after the twins were born last August and never seemed to be able to find a great time to do it -- so I decided to wait until this weekend when it seemed that the next round of grand babies arrived. (we've added 5 new grand babies and 3 new grannies to the group since our last granny gathering) I'll be posting the tablescapes on Thursday but in the meantime - I thought I would share the fun and food. I was so busy preparing the food right up until the last minute that I didn't get any pictures of the food - but I'll still share the menu and recipes.


Here's a photo of five Grannies at our baby boy table. We started out with a choice of beverages: Iced tea (sweet and unsweetened), lemonade or water and an assortment of salads: "Italian" garden (romaine, cucumber, tomato, celery, black olive, green pepper, green onions and Parmesan cheese; Spinach, with strawberries, walnuts and red onion - dressings: poppy seed, Greek or oil and vinegar. Frozen fruit salad: recipe -

2 cups sour cream
1 small can crushed pineapple
3 tablespoons chopped maraschino cherries
3 bananas diced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 C. sugar

I froze this in muffin tins - made 1 dozen.


We also enjoyed an assortment of finger sandwiches. Homemade chicken salad on mini croissants; homemade pimento cheese on whole wheat bread, a spread made of cream cheese, crushed pineapple and chopped pecans on raisin bread, and tomato on white bread.

Pimento Cheese recipe - it's a little "zippy"
8 oz. block of sharp cheddar - grated
8 oz. block of extra sharp cheddar - grated
small jar (2 oz) pimentos with juice
splash of Worcestershire sauce
4 drops of Tabasco sauce
a few shakes of cayenne pepper (told you this was zippy)
enough mayonnaise to make this creamy

Chicken salad recipe -
boil whole chicken - then chop in food processor - (when I use all breasts I boil them in chicken broth for extra flavor)
2 stalks celery chopped finely
2 tablespoons pickle relish - I've used sweet and dill whatever I have on hand
salt
pepper to taste
enough mayonnaise to hold everything together


For dessert we had an assortment of sherbets: orange, lemon, lime, raspberry and pineapple, with cookies and a sprig of mint for garnish.


Four of us shared the baby girl table. After we enjoyed the meal - we all had a great time of sharing photos of all the grands. Lot's of oooohs and aaaaahs.


Here's our group of happy grandmothers.
Front row: Grandma Sue (2 grandboys and 1 grandgirl), Grandma Dixie (1 grandboy), Grammy/Gi Gi Beverly (2 grandboys); Second row: Grandma Sharon (1 grandboy and 1 grandgirl), Gamm Sandra (blue print sleeveless) (2 grandgirls and 1 grandboy); Nana - (me) (4 grandgirls); Third row: Grandma Barbara (1 grandgirl); Grandma Brez/Grandmamama Brenda - (3 grandgirls); and our "top granny" Nammaw Jane (1 grandboy).

I just realized posting this that I'm the most "granny" of us all!

See ya!