We’ve got a three-fer today. Not only is it National Cheese Ball Day, it is also National Banana Day and National Crawfish Day. Let’s dig right in.
Pineapple Cheese Ball
Cheese balls are the perfect party food. Chances are these days, when I'm invited to a cocktail party, I show up with a cheese ball in hand. They're sort of retro, they're easy to make, and let's face it: They're fun.
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[W]riter and comedian Amy Sedaris....may be singlehandedly responsible for the cheese ball's revival. She and her brother David wrote a play about them, she has included them in her books, developed numerous recipes and even made them with Martha Stewart on Stewart's TV show.
www.splendidtable.org/...
Recipe is in the YouTube description. [6:16]
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Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball
In 1945, Thayer, Nebraska native Steve Henson (1918–2007) moved with his wife to the Anchorage, Alaska, area, where he worked as a plumbing contractor. While there, he invented a new salad dressing.
Henson retired from plumbing at age 35, and moved with his wife to Santa Barbara County, California. In 1956, he purchased a guest ranch in San Marcos Pass and renamed it Hidden Valley Ranch.
en.wikipedia.org/...
Recipe is in the YouTube description. [3:14]
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National Banana Cream Pie Day was March 2, but that doesn’t mean we can’t indulge in its cousin:
Baked Banana Pudding
By 1898, [...] banana pudding was already a trendy, popular dessert.
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In 1921, Mrs. Laura Kerley contributed a recipe to the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph, for a banana pudding consisting of custard, a half-dozen sliced bananas, and one pound of vanilla wafers.
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After World War II, banana pudding's Southern identity really took hold, and by the 1950s, newspaper writers were routinely associating the dessert with the South.
www.seriouseats.com/....
Recipe. [9:05]
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Banana Foster French Toast
"[Bananas were] a huge product for the port," explains Ralph Brennan, owner of Brennan's, Bourbon Street's legendary restaurant. The dessert — bananas, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, rum, banana liqueur and vanilla ice cream — was invented there in 1951.
www.npr.org/...
Recipe. [10:05]
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And finally, let’s enjoy National Crawfish Day.
Crawfish Étouffée
Food historians trace back Louisiana crawfish étouffée to the crawfish capital of the world, Breaux Bridges, Louisiana. According to culinary history, étouffée was first served in the Hebert Hotel in the early 1920s when Mrs. Hebert, along with her daughters, Yoli and Marie, made crawfish étouffée using crawfish tails, crawfish fat, onions and pepper.
cajuncrawfish.com/...
Recipe. [21:30]
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Have a delicious day!