Had a little family party for Baby D – Colleen and Mitch’s great (grand?) nephew.    There were presents:

 Cake:

And, of course, taking selfies with Baby D.

I made vegetables with Green Goddess dip but honestly wasn’t thrilled with the recipe I used for the dip.  What I should have used is my standard Green Goddess dressing recipe:

Green Goddess Dressing

1 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt
1/3 cup canola mayonnaise
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice
dash of hot pepper sauce (such as Sriracha or Tabasco)
½ tsp anchovy paste or 1 chopped anchovy (though this can be skipped, it just won’t have as deep of flavor)
1 minced garlic clove
2/3 cup parsley leaves
1/3 cup fresh dill
¼ cup fresh chives
pinch of dried tarragon

Blend the first 7 ingredients in a food processor until combined. Add in the herbs and process until they are finely chopped and dip is smooth. Serve with veggies.

Now the next dip, however, it went fast despite the other 3 cheese based appetizers on the table (hey, it’s the Midwest and it is COOOOOOLD outside.  We need another gooey, warm, cheesy dip).  It is the  Baked Brie Appetizer from White on Rice Couple.

This was about as easy as it gets.  I even put it together in the morning, wrapped in in foil and popped it in the oven (uncovered) when I got to the party.  It’s temperature flexible too because it just needs to melt – since there was something already in the oven at 375, I just shortened the cook time to 21 minutes.  Here’s a picture half-way through eating it, after it was deemed blog- worthy.

Have a great year Baby D. If you’re lucky, you’ll grow up to be this guy: