Salad Days! #WhyAlphaChiWednesday

Celebrating the arrival of summer at our annual Salad Days event in May turned into a joyful ritual moment when we recognized our 25-year, 50-year, and 60-year members! Thanks to our president Amy for always being prepared to honor our sisters. Salad Days is usually our largest event of the year, and we are thankful for the attendance of the Real.Strong.Women who live their AXO values, Wisdom.Devotion.Achievement.

Amy, president, conducting the ceremony (L-R, Julie, Barbara, Lynda, Karen)

Britain pinning Annette with the 50-year pin

Britain pinning Maxine with the 60-year pin (to the right, Alyssa, Jocelyn, Amberly, Tara)

Britain pinning Motney with the 60-year member pin

Our 25-year, 50-year, and 60-year
L-R Julie (Beta Lambda), Lynda (Beta Gamma), Karen (Beta Eta), Maxine (Beta Eta), Annette (Beta Eta), Arlene (Gamma Chi), Barbara (Gamma Iota), Amy (Zeta Upsilon), and Motney (Beta Eta),  

And! Amy sent our photo to The Lyre!

Another Successful Salad Days: Welcoming Summer

You will see below, JSBH is NOT a professional photographer, but at least she documents our fun :-) Thank you to our president Amy Z who hosts the yearly event.

We enjoyed a fantastic variety and number of alumnae at our 7th Annual Salad Days and Fruity Drinks fun evening.

Alumnae who graduated last month and 48+ years ago joined us - how fantastic and amazing that we shared the Bond of Sisterhood across the years - good food and drinks will do that. Sisters from nine chapters attended: Pi - Berkeley, Upsilon - Millikin, Beta Eta - FSU, Beta Gamma - LSU, Gamma Epsilon - OK State, Gamma Iota - UF, Zeta Upsilon - CWRU, Theta Lambda - Clemson and Iota Psi - Elon.

from the right going clockwise - Maxine, Britain, Chelsie, Rachael,
Linda, Lynda, Amy D, Amy K, Magie, Tara, Amy Z, Annette



from the left going clockwise:  Maxine, Lauren, Amy C, Ashley H, Danielle, Britain, Rachael, Linda, Lynda, Amy D, Amy K

Amy C (Beta Eta), Amy D (Upsilon), Barbara C (Gamma Iota),
Chelsie (Iota Psi) and Linda H (Gamma Epsilon)



We celebrated our newest alumna's birthday (note the princess crown)

We forgot to photograph the appetizers, drinks:  homemade sangria and watermelon lemonade and desserts:  blueberry + lemon curd pound cake, cream-cheese brownies and The Cake Shop cupcakes, but we did snap a picture of the salads (fruit, tossed, bean, pasta - you name it - all yummy!) We had plenty of leftovers to take to sick sisters who couldn't attend, boyfriends, husbands and roommates!

We can't wait for next year!

Salad Days Recap (a throw back from 2010)

In preparation for our annual event on Monday, May 7, 2012, we offer this glimpse at our 2010 event ... 
HOPE TO SEE YOU MONDAY - CONTACT AMY Z for more information!

Each spring ETE holds Salad Days, a fun get together where everyone brings a salad to share and we share an evening of catching up while enjoying a lot of good food and maybe a signature drink or two. When the weather is nice we sit out by the pool at our President's house.

The weather did not cooperate this past Monday but we had a great time nonetheless and thought it would be fun to share some of the delicious salad recipes.

Tara (Beta Eta, FSU) prepared a fabulous healthy butternut squash sage pasta salad from Self magazine. (Thank you Self for the picture!) This was really yummy - the only difference is Tara used rotini (spiral pasta) instead of penne:

Butternut Squash and Fried Sage Pasta

A hearty bowl of pasta plus savory cheese? You'd never know this whole-grain comfort food is diet-friendly! Squash supplies all the vitamin A you need for the day.

By Kerri Conan

From the February 2010 Issue

INGREDIENTS

• 8 oz whole-wheat penne 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 8 sage leaves 
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced 
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 medium butternut squash (about 2 lb), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 
  
• PREPARATION
• Cook penne as directed on package. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry sage, turning once, until crisp on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a paper towel. Add onion and garlic to skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and golden, about 3 minutes. Add squash, 3/4 cup water, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until squash softens, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water. Return pasta to pot and add squash mixture; stir over low heat, adding some reserved cooking water if necessary, until pasta is coated, about 1 minute. Serve, garnished with cheese and sage. 
•  
• THE SKINNY
• 337 calories per serving, 6.5 g fat (1.4 g saturated), 63 g carbs, 10 g fiber, 11 g protein
•  
•  
• Jenn (Theta Lambda, Clemson) our treasurer made a fabulous traditional peach cobbler that we served hot with vanilla ice cream. YUM!

The Lady and Sons Peach Cobbler

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen, 2007

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup self-rising flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (28-ounce) can sliced peaches in heavy syrup, un-drained (use fresh peaches if available; see note*)
• Cinnamon, for sprinkling, optional
• Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream, for serving

Directions

*If they are available, by all means use fresh peaches. In a saucepan, mix 2 cups fresh peach slices with one cup sugar and one cup water. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir often, making sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Substitute this for the canned peaches.

*Cook's Note: The most important part of this dish is not stirring the mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Put butter in a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish and place in the oven to melt. Stir sugar and flour together and mix well. Slowly add milk and continue stirring to prevent the batter from lumping.

Being careful not to burn yourself, remove hot baking dish containing melted butter from oven; pour batter directly over butter in baking dish. Do not stir.

Spoon fruit on top of batter, then gently pour syrup on top. Do not stir. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of batter, if using. (The most important part of this dish is not stirring the mixture at this point in the recipe.)

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Your batter will rise above your fruit, producing the most wonderful of crusts. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Betty A (Gamma Zeta, K State) made a Paella Recipe and she collaborated with our famous gourmand about the recipe:  Mary "Faith" Sappington Whiteside Bingham  (a beloved sister and alumna of Beta Eta chapter who passed away in 2011. At one time Faith owned a kitchen store in Tallahassee and published a cookbook - see below links.)

Paella Salad (very colorful!)

one medium (1 lb) pkg yellow rice

1/8 t dried mustard powder

2 T wine vinegar

1/3 c grapeseed or olive oil

1/8 t salt

1 c frozen peas

1-2 c cubed chicken

1 c diced tomatoes

1/2 scant c chopped celery

1/8 c diced onion

1/2 c chopped green pepper

1 3 oz jar pimento

1/2 c sliced black olives

5 drops tabasco sauce

1-2 c boiled shrimp (may use all shrimp or all chicken or mix it)

Cook rice according to directions. While warm, toss rice with dressing made with 1/8 t mustard

powder, the wine vinegar, oil and salt.

When the rice is cool, add the remaining ingredients. Serve with turmeric dressing.

Tumeric Dressing: Mix 1 c mayo (low-fat is fine) with 1 t turmeric and 2 T lemon juice.

Salad notes - add more chicken, shrimp and veggies - enough to make ~ 8 servings

Faith's obituary, http://www.apalachtimes.com/articles/mary-9624-faith-whiteside.html

Faith's cookbook, http://www.worldcat.org/title/faith-in-the-kitchen/oclc/48935596?tab=details

Salad Days Success!

A big thank you to our wonderful sisters who came out Monday evening and contributed to help make our bath and bedding drive for Refuge House a success! A special thanks to our guest, Diane Jefferson, Development Director of Refuge House, who made us all feel like we are truly making a difference for the women and children Refuge House serves. 

Sisters from seven Alpha Chi collegiate chapters with Diane Jefferson of Refuge House. 

Standing (l to r): Diane Jefferson, Lynda (Beta Gamma, Louisiana State), Margaret (Beta Sigma, Univ of Georgia), Amy (Zeta Upsilon, Case Western Reserve Univ), Kristen (Gamma Iota, Univ of Florida and Beta Eta, Florida State), Chelsie (Iota Psi, Elon Univ); seated (l to r): Aimee (Beta Eta, Florida State), Britain (Beta Eta, Florida State) and Jennifer (Theta Lambda, Clemson) 

The big stack of towels, twin sheet sets and pillows we collected for Refuge House!

Sisters with the donations

All of us helping Diane load the donations in her car - luckily she had big enough vehicle to hold everything! 

Thanks to Alumnae Panhellenic of Tallahassee for awarding us their Philanthropic Grant, the proceeds of which went toward these donations. Thanks also to cash donations from our members (as well as from  Beta Eta alumna Danielle and Zeta Upsilon alumna Amy from the Tweet-up they held for Refuge House) we had a cash donation for RH for $150 to go along with all the linens. 

In addition to helping a great cause, we enjoyed a lovely evening (inside, unfortunately, due to the overly warm weather) and delicious dinner with the variety of salads everyone brought along. It was a wonderful evening enjoying the society of our sisters!