Cold eggs and hot salads - Mmmm!

This week when Mom made deviled eggs, she laid them out in her egg dish... one that she has used for as long as I can remember. She realized that this egg dish is as old as her BCC! She bought it in Long Grove, an historical village near Chicago, the year that she and Dad were engaged - 1976. Long Grove is actually where they had their engagement pictures taken (one is the picture in the right side bar, of them in front of the old mill). So we thought it would be pretty special to commemorate that with a picture of the book and dish together.

Deviled Eggs (from p. 205 of the BCC): The cookbook gave a friendly tip about storing these eggs that reminded me so much of my thrifty and resourceful (and picnic-loving) Grandma Chandler, that I just have to put it in here: If you are packing them for a picnic or other such adventures, fit the two filled halves together, and wrap the whole egg in foil or plastic wrap. Simple and basic, and probably something many of you already knew, but it was a novel idea to me! (And it gives me a great excuse to plan a picnic... anyone want to join me?) The recipe called for salad dressing, vinegar, or light cream, so Mom used salad dressing and a splash of vinegar. It also called for 1/2 tsp of salt, which we all decided in the taste test was too much for 6 eggs, made it rather too salty for us. Good thing we paired them with a savory-sweet chicken salad!

Hot Chicken Salad (from p. 381 of the BCC): The two cups of chicken and two cups of celery in this recipe were the talk of the Spoon Drop Inn (official name of Mom's kitchen)... Mom loves her celery (like a good Ohio-born cook should) but she was surprised that there was as much celery as there was chicken in this dish. We were also impressed that the recipe said to put one cup of croutons inside the mixture for the salad, which made it a bit heartier. And between the celery, the cup of salad dressing, and the slivered almonds, I really loved the sweetness of it. I also loved the cup of croutons and cheddar cheese that got baked on top of it. The recipe said to make this in six 1-cup baking dishes, but we just decided to make it in a 9x9" casserole dish instead. It was so lovely and golden and bubbly when it was done, that I couldn't resist taking a picture of it as it came out of the oven!