My mother-in-law, Lynn, served stuffed celery sticks as an afternoon snack intended to keep us from picking at the stuffing while not leaving us too full for dinner.

Lynn just slathered cream cheese on some celery sticks, and it was very delicious (I sprinkled a little salt on top, ‘cause I think salt makes everything better), but there are lots of variations on this retro recipe. If you want to experiment a little, try substituting one of the following for plain cream cheese:

– Mix 1/2 cream cheese and 1/2 blue cheese

– Mix some chopped olives, pecans and onion into cream cheese; add enough mayo to hold the mix together; chill

– Mix a little Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice into the cream cheese; stir in some chopped pistachio nuts