It's difficult to top our Holiday party of 2008, the day TC proposed to me, but last night was great fun celebrating the upcoming holidays and the last week of classes EVER for TC and his classmates. They deserved a night of fun after their stressful semester. I love any excuse to entertain and try new recipes, so it was fun for me too! The last hour or so is always chaotic putting all of the appetizers in the oven and setting up all of the food, but the stress is worth it when I see everyone enjoying the food. My goal was to have no leftovers and we barely had anything left! I made way too much for our first party so I cut back on the amount of appetizers. It's always hard to know how hungry people will be and what they will enjoy. Here is the menu of appetizers, desserts and beverages below. I have links to a few recipes and I will post some others this week! Hopefully you will get some great ideas for appetizers and desserts to try for your holiday parties with friends or family!
Beverages:
Wine
Soda
Beer
Assorted liquors for mixed drinks
Appetizers:
Crudites with dip
Shrimp with cocktail sauce
Brie and Manchego cheeses with red grapes, assorted olives, crackers and salami
Jalapeño Popper Dip with tortilla chips (I'll post this recipe)
Pigs in a blanket (Click on the link for the recipe)
Stuffed Mushrooms (I'll post this recipe)
Pigs in a blanket are the easiest appetizer to make and definitely the most popular. I think I made close to 50 of these because I knew they would be gobbled up and they definitely were! I like to serve them with a nice mustard or fruit preserves to make them seem a little more classy. : )
A cheese tray is simple to put together and most of your guests will enjoy one of the cheeses you display. I used my slate cheeseboard for the first time to display the cheeses, salami, grapes and assorted olives. It comes with chalk so you can write the names of the cheeses right on the board. Love that!You can find it at Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel if you are interested in buying one.
Desserts:
Peanut Butter Blossoms (click on the link for the recipe)
This was the only dessert that I made. I had a few other girls help me out with desserts because I knew I wouldn't have time to get everything done. Peanut butter blossoms are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. I posted the recipe last year so if you would like it, just click the link above under the dessert menu.
Our friend Becca brought these decadent red velvet cake bon bons covered with milk or white chocolate. They were sinfully delicious. I have the link to the recipe above.
Our friend Devon brought oreo truffles which were also rich and yummy. I'm a chocaholic so these were right up my alley. The recipe is above as well, just click on the link!
I'll be back this week with recipes for the dip and stuffed mushrooms! I felt they were worthy of their own posts! Happy Monday!
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