“Summertime and the living is easy” as the famous song goes and that means it is time for grilling and great summertime food.

A favorite in our family is grilled corn on the cob. There is nothing like bringing home that paper sack of fresh picked sweet corn and getting it ready for the grill. Since the kids liked to help, we prepared it the easy way…

1. Pull of the husks and remove the silk. You can get off any excess strands of corn silk by running a damp paper towel down the cob. They should pull away and be gone.

2. Tear off pieces of aluminum foil that will completely roll around the corn.

3. Put a dab of butter/margarine on each piece of aluminum foil. You can also use the margarine spray (in the refrigerated section by the butters/margarines).

4. Roll the corn around in the butter. Season each piece with a bit of fresh ground pepper and coarse ground salt. If you have kids, they might not like the pepper, but give it a try.

5. Roll the aluminum foil around the corn to enclose it.

6. Pop the corn on the grill for about 20 – 25 mins (depending on the size of the ears). Turn occasionally.

7. Now for the fun part – and this can also be the messy part.

Unroll that gorgeous piece of corn and slather it with butter and go for it. The slathering is the messy part, especially with kids. The other part of the butter thing is that you can end up with pepper and corn and an indent in the top of your butter for the summer.

Daisy will love this one! Here is the perfect kitchen gadget that will keep your butter looking like a stick of butter all through the corn season. I was given one as a gift years ago and absolutely love it.

Corn Butter Holder

There are a several options available and in various price ranges. My experience is with one similar to the Fox Run Craftsman model. Jacard makes excellent, high quality products also.

So enjoy that corn even more with this wonderful little butter spreader and take the mess out of cleaning up.

I have several favorite ways to serve this versatile dip mix, depending on the season.

In spring, my favorite way to serve Divine Dill Dip Mix is to combine it with cream cheese, crushed pineapple, and chopped pecans and spread it on thin slices of white bread to make deliciously delicate tea sandwiches.

Of course, you can also combine it with those same ingredients and form it into an impressive cheeseball and serve with crackers.

If you’ve tried Divine Dill Dip Mix from the Three Angels Gourmet Co., what is your favorite way to serve it?

The Three Angels Gourmet Co. has recently become a sponsor for the National Writing for Children Center. Be sure to visit this great site if you’re a classroom teacher, parent, or aspiring or published children’s writer.

The National Writing for Children Center is the home of the Children’s Writers Coaching Club. Each month, members of the coaching club receive packets with information and other resources for children’s writers, parents, and teachers and/or school librarians. Just to make the packets more fun to receive, the Three Angels Gourmet Co. includes a packet of one of our heavenly gourmet mixes in these packets each month.

We’ll have other news to share with you next month because the Three Angels Gourmet Co. has some exciting changes in the works!

Just when I thought I’d seen every kind of food peeler out there, I ran across this new Palm Peeler. It’s designed “for contoured peeling of fruits and vegetables.”

The Palm Peeler slides onto your finger, then fits in the palm of your hand for almost effortless peeling.

This is surely the latest gadget we’ve all “gotta have” for our kitchens. Don’t you think?

These rich and creamy bite-sized chocolates make the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for someone you love. The secret is to buy the best chocolate you can afford.

For 25-30 basic chocolate truffles you will need:

4 oz. good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped in small pieces

4 oz. good quality semisweet or milk chocolate, chopped in small pieces

6 T. unsalted butter, cubed

2 tsp. instant coffee crystals dissolved in 3 Tbsp. warm water

1 Tbsp. of your favorite liqueur (optional)

COATINGS (Any or all of the following):

Unsweetened cocoa powder

Toasted, finely chopped pecans, almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts

Finely chopped sweetened coconut

Very fine graham cracker crumbs

Powdered sugar

Melt both chocolates, butter, and instant coffee liquid in a double boiler over simmering water. Stir with a rubber spatula until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat.

Stir in the liqueur. Pour chocolate mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm (at least 1 hour).

Use a melon ball scoop or a couple of teaspoons to mold the cold chocolate mixture into truffles.

Put each of the coating items in a separate shallow plastic container that has a lid. Place each truffle into any one of the coatings and roll it around until covered (Hint: When you have 5 or 6 truffles in any one of the coating mixtures, put the lid on the container and gently shake it until the truffles are completely coated).

Store the truffles in an airtight container (in a single layer) lined with parchment paper. They will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to a month.

Packaging Idea for Valentine’s Day:

Go to a crafts store and purchase candy papers or mini-cupcake papers, one per truffle. Also buy a white candy box and some red or pink tissue paper. Line the box with the tissue, then fill with truffles in individual papers. Decorate the outside of the box with Valentine’s Day stickers or tie a bright red ribbon around the box.

“Nobody knows the truffles I’ve seen!” - unknown

Ring in the New Year by cleaning out something old – your spice rack.

This is the perfect time to replace those old jars of spices that have been on your spice rack so long you don’t even remember when you bought them.

Ground herbs and spices retain their best flavor for only a year. So pitch out those jars from years gone by. Whole spices will remain flavorful for up to 2 years, so you can keep those a little longer.

To determine whether a spice is so old it needs to be replaced, check to see if the color has faded, or if the spice has caked up. An unpleasant odor is another sign that spices have passed their prime.

Light, heat, and moisture will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor more quickly. Move your spice rack away from the stove if that’s where you have it now. It’s also best to choose ground herbs and spices in metal tins with tight fitting lids (instead of clear glass jars) to lessen their exposure to light.

Keep your spices in a cool, dry cabinet or pantry and they will retain their flavor longer.

Get this Spice Rack here.

New Year’s Day is full of traditions. Watching college ball games on TV, making resolutions, and eating certain foods that are thought to bring good luck are just a few typical traditions in the USA.

Black-eyed peas are a New Year’s Day tradition in the South. Eating them on this day supposedly brings good luck and riches for the coming year. Many Southerners make something called Hoppin’ John, a mixture of black-eyed peas, rice, and bacon (which is typically eaten with collard greens) for New Year’s Day.

If you’re planning a New Year’s Day celebration for friends and family, you’ll want to serve Black-Eyed Peas for good luck, of course. But Hoppin’ John and collard greens just don’t seem like the perfect snack when guests are watching those college ball games on TV. Try this delicious Black-Eyed Pea Dip instead. It’s bound to assure everyone’s good fortune for 2007.

BLACK-EYED PEA DIP

1 1/4 c. cooked or canned black-eyed peas
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. cumin (or chili powder for a spicier dip)
1 1 /2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 bunch of green onions, minced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a food processor, combine the peas, garlic, cream cheese, pepper, cumin, and salt and pepper. Place the dip in a pie pan. Top with the shredded cheese. Bake until the dip is heated thoroughly and the cheese bubbles (about 20 minutes.) Sprinkle the green onions over the top. Serve with tortilla chips.

Here is one of my favorite bar cookies that isn’t made from a mix. These Toffee Crunch Bars hold together well, and kids and adults alike love them. Plus, the recipe is very easy, so you’ll surely want to bake some of these bar cookies for the holidays. They’d be perfect for a New Year’s Day Buffet.

TOFFEE CRUNCH BARS

1 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt

Cream shortening and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Mix in flour and salt. Press into greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes (until brown on the edges). Frost immediately with chocolate powdered sugar frosting. Cut into squares when the frosting has set.

Sometimes I hate technology.

It’s great when everything works correctly.

But it’s so frustrating when things don’t work, yet you can’t figure out WHY they aren’t working correctly, so you have NO clue as to how to fix them.

If you have had trouble signing up for our mailing list - so you’d receive our free ebook - The Twelve Days of Dip Mix Ideas - try this:

Send an email to: suzannelieurance@hotmail with the words “12 days of dip mix ideas” in the subject line and I’ll email you a copy of the ebook.

I’ll also keep working on the opt-in box. Someday maybe I’ll be able to figure out why it isn’t working correctly. Thanks for your patience until then.

Suzanne Lieurance
Three Angels Gourmet Co.

Our Dilly of a Cheese Ball makes an impressive appetizer for a holiday get-together.

But here’s an additional tip:

Spray a Christmas Tree cake mold with cooking spray. Then line the mold with chopped parsley and chopped pecans. Pack the prepared cheeseball into the mold, then cover with more chopped parsley and chopped pecans and put the mold in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

Before serving, pop the cheeseball out of the mold and place on a decorative serving tray. Surround the Christmas tree cheeseball with assorted crackers.

“Ho!Ho!Ho!”

Oops!

Make that - “Yum! Yum! Yum!”