My husband just became a US Citizen this past week! We celebrated with friends by having a good old fashioned barbecue – although we had to do it indoors, because we live in a condominium building in Boston.

The cake was fantastic! I ordered it from Party Favors Bakery in Brookline, MA.

I decided to go the traditional route with the menu: hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, baked beans, and of course my mom’s gelatin Waldorf salad. (The last item may not be traditional for every family, but it was in ours.)

For appetizers I served Lipton Onion Soup mix dip with chips and veggies.

The reaction to this dip was amazing! For just about everybody, it sparked memories of childhood which is probably the last time any of us had dip made this way.

Fans of startcooking.com will love this one!

Recipe: Lipton Onion Soup Mix Dip

Mix one envelope of Lipton Onion Soup mix, with 16 ounces of sour cream. That’s it! That’s really ALL there is to it.

Too often, in this day of being health and calorie conscious, the luxury of real sour cream is by-passed for fat-free sour cream or yogurt. These substitutes work – just. But they just don’t have the luxurious taste of real sour cream. I do think this Liptons must have a secret recipe with this soup mix because other brands don’t work as well, in my opinion.

I have also used this mix to make the fantastic meat loaf recipe on the back of the box, but, funnily enough I have never actually made onion soup from this dried mix – which is what it is supposed to be designed for!.

I also served asparagus, carrots and celery sticks with the dip. Much to my amazement all the vegetables got eaten. I really think it was because I blanched them before serving, and it made a huge difference in the taste.

Cooking Tip: How to Blanch Vegetables

To blanch asparagus, wash it, cut off the end, put it in boiling water, with about 1 teaspoon of salt, for about 45 seconds, then, using tongs, put the spears into a bowl of ice water. This stops the cooking and makes them have a beautiful green color. The carrots I peeled, cut into strips and blanched for about 60 seconds.

Serving Tips: Setting Up Perfect-Fit Buffet Tables

When I am doing a buffet table I always get out all my serving bowls and, with post-it notes, label each dish. This way I know everything fits on the table and I am not scurrying at the last minute trying to find that certain serving dish!

We had a great party celebrating David becoming a US citizen!

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