The first year I moved off campus, I lived in an apartment with 6 other people. We took turns cooking dinner for each other and this was probably everyone's favorite recipe.

Actually, this one has no cooking involved! We usually served this with those pop-n-fresh croissants.

In a large bowl, mix together:
1 1/2 lbs. smoked turkey cut into 1 in. cubes
(We usually used smoked ham, or turkey ham - less expensive!)
1/2 lb. cheddar cheese cut into 1 in. cubes
2 C green grapes, halved
2 C red grapes, halved
1 C cashews
1 C sliced celery

In a smaller bowl, mix together:
1 1/2 C Mayo (We use Miracle Whip)
1/4 C med dry sherry (never used this)
2 T Dijon mustard

Mix together.

If you are going to make this ahead of time, I recommend adding the cashews right before serving so they stay crunchy.

barbara_warner, November 13

Six thumbs up for this one :-) I shared this as a snack with ourfriends
who came over to talk computer games with DH, and all three of us really
liked it.  It's on the 'quick lunch' roster. (We each had a small bowl,
with fresh out-of-the-breadmaker cracked wheat bread. Yum.) 

First off, I halved the recipe. (DH hates grapes, celery, *and* nuts, so
I was the only one in the household who would eat it.) I also made it
from memory so I'm only assuming that I had the amounts right, but with
the number of times I've looked at the recipe in order to remind myself
what ingredients to buy...I don't think I had a problem. 

I only made two minor substitutions: I used deli sliced smoked turkey,
since that's what DH bought home. For the dressing, I used mustard
powder and a little vinegar and water, in place of the dijon mustard
(which I'm not overly fond of, and didn't have in the cupboard). I mixed
it with a little plain mayonnaise, probably 1/3cup for the half recipe.
A dash of salt and pepper, a thorough stir, and I was off to the races!

One negative point for me - this recipe turned out to be much more
expensive than I'd guessed. It's mainly due to the cost of the turkey
and nuts --- cashews are mvery expensive here :-( (The full recipe would
have called for $7Cdn of cashews -- that's almost $5 for the nuts.) I
think as a student I might have been tempted to use peanuts.  These
days, I consider the Cooking Club my hobby, and spend freely on the
recipes (since they're infinitely less expensive than DH's computer
games, and yummy to boot!)

The Hashbrown omelets are next on the list, (might do them for guests
tomorrow at brunch?) and then we're circling back to try a couple
recipes we missed....DH wants to skip the Mexican recipes, though, and
given my personal tastes, I'm inclined to agree with him -- or just make
them when my Dad -eater-of-anykind-of-food- is visiting!  Mexican just
isn't one of DH's or my favourites. I'm more wiling to try than he, but
beans and spicy foods don't react well with my tummy anyway. :-(( 

--Barbara 



fdrc, November 15

I made this over the weekend, too. I have to admit, I was skeptical of
how well grapes, cashew nuts, turkey, and celery would combine -- but I
put my faith in Jodi's good judgment, and it turned out very well! I
found the most tedious part to be slicing all the grapes; I think I
should have dried them off better after rinsing them because they slid
everywhere while I was halving them! I also substituted roasted salted
almond pieces for half of the cashews (because they were on sale when I
went to buy the nuts, and as Barbara has noted, cashews are normally
quite expensive).

I used thin-sliced smoked turkey, as that is what I had available when I
went shopping at our very limited supermarket up the street; it worked
OK but cubes of turkey (as called for in the recipe) would definitely
have been even better. Thanks for sharing a great recipe, Jodi!

Fiona