Christmas Meal Plan

My husband and son just told me they want to be in charge of appetizers this year; we make certain traditional appetizers, and hubby wants to mix things up this year.

I usually take advantage of our grocery store's free ham promotion, but I came up just short ($20... ARGH!) of making the shopping requirement to do so.  I have to admit, I'm sort of happy to have to make something other than ham this year!

The challenges include that it can't be beef and it can't be "fowl."  I'm thinking lasagna.  I'm thinking THIS lasagna, which my husband has made for us once before.  It's really time consuming, so I'm glad we have the longest possible Christmas break this year!

So here's the menu so far:

Appetizers:
Pending

Main course:
Classic Italian Lasagna
Salad
Garlic Bread
Vegetable (maybe green beans?  broccoli? something different?)

Dessert:
I haven't started to think about dessert yet.  In my lasagna searching, I came across some interesting looking lasagna style desserts, which might be fun to play on the theme.
Apple Pie Lasagna
Chocolate Peppermint Lasagna
White Chocolate Cranberry Bars


Any suggestions to improve my menu?  What are you making this holiday season?

Party menu

We are having our annual summer party this weekend.  Here's what I've planned so far for the menu; your thoughts are welcome!

We are currently expecting 15 adults and 9 kids.

Appetizer (being brought, don't know what it is)
Crudite 
Chips and Dip (Hot Corn Dip, Skinny Poolside Dip, Artichoke Dip)
Clams (maybe, being brought)

Potato Salad (being brought)
Cole Slaw (being brought)
Meatballs and Sausage (being brought)
Chicken Teriyaki Burgers
Hot Dogs
Tomato Cucumber Salad
Grilled Corn

Raspberry bars (being brought)
Cupcakes (being brought)
Dessert (not sure, being brought)

Santa Hat Brownies

Over the weekend, we attended a Christmas in July party. The hostess was serious--we were NOT celebrating summer but rather the holidays; we all wished each other a Merry Christmas and Santa even made an appearance.

I had no idea what to bring, because it was to be a 100 degree day (so who would want to have a hot appetizer or Christmasy dessert?) but should be Christmas themed as well.  To make things slightly more difficult, I was planning to prepare the dessert at my parents' house, so wouldn't have all my normal tools.

A friend suggested this, which has been making the rounds of Pinterest.  I went lazy and used pre-made brownie bites and purchased frosting.  Lazy.

I'm not over-the-moon about how they turned out; I used a zipper sandwich bag with the corner cut off and the piping didn't come out at nicely as it should have.  They were, however, delicious, and flew off the table at the party!

Here's the original recipe, should you (or I!) want to make the brownies and frosting from scratch.

Santa Hat Brownies Source:  Daisy's World

Santa Hat Brownies
Yields 12-16 brownies
Ingredients:
1 pan of your favorite brownies, cooled and cut into desired size and shape (I used a round cutter)
12-16 small strawberries, cleaned and hulled
vanilla-mascarpone buttercream (recipe below)
Mascarpone Buttercream
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
2-1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Method:
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and mascarpone cheese until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla extract and salt.  Add 2-1/2 cups of sugar, half a cup at a time and continue beating until smooth.  Add more sugar, if needed to reach desired consistency and sweetness.
To assemble, pipe a ring of vanilla buttercream on top of each brownie.  Cut off the base of a strawberry so it is flat and place it upside down on each brownie, pushing slightly to secure in place.  Top the tip of the strawberry with a dot of buttercream to finish the santa hat.
Adapted from this recipe found on Erica’s Sweet Tooth

Nutter Butter Snowmen

I was looking for something to bring to a holiday party this weekend, and went to Brown Eyed Baker's blog to see what she had up.  She'd recently posted this recipe, which looked so fun, sweet, and easy that I went for it.

Not only were they fun, sweet, and easy, but they were a perfect afternoon baking activity for my four year old and me.  We had a ton of fun "gluing" the M&Ms as well as sneaking them, and decorating them too.  In addition, they were a big hit at the party!

I have to admit, the orange Tic Tac was a little weird with the other flavors, so next time I might use orange frosting instead.

Nutter Butter Snowmen my pretty purse via Brown Eyed Baker

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper; set aside.

2. In a small to medium bowl, melt the white candy melts according to the package instructions.

3. Working one at a time, dip a Nutter Butter cookie into the melted coating and flip it over to coat completely (a fork is great for this). Remove and let any excess drip off then place on the wax paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining Nutter Butter cookies. Place the baking sheet into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so the coating can set.

4. Attach a small decorating tip (I used a #2) to a pastry bag and fill with black icing (I just used Wilton decorating icing to make it easy). Dab a small amount on one side of an M&M and place on the coated cookie. Repeat with another just below to make the two “buttons”.

5. Dab another small amount on the bottom of half of a Tic Tac and affix to the center of the top of the cookie for the nose. Again, repeat.

6. Now squeeze out small dots for the eyes and the mouth. 

Sugar Cookie Madness!

I've never really made sugar cookies in the past, at least, not that I can recall.  I know my husband made them with our son a few Christmases ago, rolled them super thin and they were...crisp.
But our budget for our son's first birthday party required getting creative, so I made these as the party favors for all the guests, after being inspired by a friend with whom I planned a baby shower doing an awesome job and assuring me they were so easy!  I contacted that friend, and she mentioned a Paula Deen recipe, but I went to allrecipes and found this one.

I remembered to make sure I rolled the dough about 1/2" thick.  These cookies came out awesome, and I went ahead and froze the cookies after they cooled.

Then, I defrosted them on Wednesday and frosted them using the Wilton recipe and directions, which I found on Brown Eyed Baker's website (her tutorial was super helpful!)

I then used a stamp on card stock and made a tag, wrapped them in a cellophane bag, and had a really nice looking favor.  I thought they looked really professional, for a not professional.

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies, from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. 

Royal Icing, from Wilton, via Brown Eyed Baker

4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water
Mix all ingredients on low speed for 7-10 minutes or until the icing loses its shine. Add more water by the teaspoon if it appears too stiff. At this stage you want to be able to pipe it easily:

Brown Sugar Smokies

When trying to plan our appetizer meal for New Year's Eve, I turned to a message board I use for inspiration.  Several of the ladies there suggested Brown Sugar Smokies, so I turned to the internet for a recipe.  I found one on allrecipes, and it seemed super easy.

To healthify this a little bit, I used both turkey Little Smokies and turkey bacon, and they still tasted delicious.  (Though I've recently learned that pork bacon is actually more healthful than turkey bacon for a variety of reasons.)

This was a BIG hit, especially with the kids.  I think my Godson ate 5 of them (he's five and doesn't seem to eat a whole lot) and kept asking for more.  In the future, I will probably double the recipe.

I started this in the slow cooker, but not enough in advance for it to be ready on time.  I'll definitely do that again next time.

Ingredients

• 1 pound bacon
• 1 (16 ounce) package little smokie sausages
• 1 cup brown sugar, or to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cut bacon into thirds and wrap each strip around a little sausage. Place the wrapped sausages on wooden skewers, several to a skewer. Arrange the skewers on a baking sheet and sprinkle them liberally with brown sugar.
3. Bake until bacon is crisp and the brown sugar melted.