That's How We Roll

There are many traditions in my family. One that has been around longer than I have is returning some one's dish. If someone brings you food in a dish, whether it's a piece of cake on a plate or a casserole or a pot of stew, there are two rules to returning said dish.

1. The dish must be cleaned
2. The dish must not be empty

Ok the clean part is a no brainer. That's just tacky to give back a dirty dish. But, in my family, you never give back an empty dish. If you give back an empty dish, you might not get it back filled up! So, if you got it with something in it, you return it with something in it and hopefully you will get it back again!

We've never traded casserole for casserole. But you have to put something in the dish. A common item in a returned dish is a few pieces of candy. We have been known to be off the wall in my family, so when you get your dish back, you never know what is going to be in there.

For the family Christmas dinner at Mike and Mary Jane's, we took two dishes. I made a candied corn (which was FABULOUS!) and a layered dessert (thanks, Ruth, for the recipe!!). Both were so NOT good for you but were SO delicious. When we left Mike and Mary Jane's, the left overs stayed behind. Mike said he's bring my dishes to work. And, that he did. Of course, he also brought treats in the empty dishes.

No one would believe me if I just told you what was in those dishes, so I thought I should show you. This is what I found when I opened the bag.


A little closer look will show that my treats consisted of cayenne pepper! Be wary of any dinner invitations from us in the near future!


Three oranges and a nectarine.


A head of garlic!


And, in the bowl was two tomatoes and two Twizzlers! SCORE!


I gotta tell you, it was like Christmas all over again! Now that's filling empty dishes with treats!

Yeah, that's the way our family rolls.