The first appetizer from the 2016 Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck was made by my cousin (and friend!) Michelle. They are super easy and colorful little skewers.

As you know, most of the recipes from the party are ones I found online and sent out to the guest to choose from. If you would like to see the original post for this recipe, with many more photos, go HERE.

Antipasto Skewers

• Bamboo skewers
• 24 mini fresh mozzarella balls
• 24 small basil leaves
• 12 slices of salami, cut in half
• 1/2 pound fresh tortellini, cooked
• 1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced
• 1 jar of artichoke hearts
• 24 olives

Using bamboo skewers layer your ingredients in the order shown, starting with the mozzarella balls and ending with the olives.

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On Christmas Eve eve, December 23rd, I hosted my annual Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck party. It’s a great format for a fun stress-free holiday party. To find out exactly how it works, go to This Post from the 2015 party and get all the “How To” details.

In the days to follow, I’ll post the recipe for each. As an added bonus – at the end of today’s post you’ll find my signature cocktail for the evening.

Here is a rundown of the dishes made and brought by the guests … with a few contributed by me.

Antipasto Skewers

Greek Quesadillas

Bacon Wrapped Maple Brussels Sprouts

Smoked Salmon-Cucumber Rounds

Spicy Chicken Cheeseballs

Caesar Dip and Crudités

Bacon Candy

Shrimp Scampi Dip

Holiday Brie en Croute (no photo)

I’m calling my signature cocktail “winter berry” but in all honesty, these are summer berries. Oh well, summer or winter, it’s a keeper!

Winter Berry-Rosemary Cocktail

• 1 pint fresh raspberries
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1 pint fresh blackberries
• 1 cup fresh small rosemary sprigs
• 6 limes, cut into wedges
• 3 cups simple syrup *
• 4 cup vodka
• Juice of 8 more large limes
• Ginger ale, chilled
• Garnish
• 16 small fresh rosemary sprigs
• 8 lime slices, cut in half
• Reserved berries

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One of my favorite recipes on this site is courtesy of Chef Robert McGrath. Robert’s Green Chile Macaroni is the most delicious mac and cheese I’ve ever had.

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas, car issues, computer issues, and life in general, the very last thing I want to do is cook dinner. After picking my car up from the shop yesterday, during rush hour, the only option to get back into traffic was to make a detour past Costco. I decided to go in and brave the insanity since I needed a couple of last-minute gift cards anyway.

I decided to pick up a package of the prepared macaroni and cheese. In general, I like Costco’s prepared food, but the mac and cheese aren’t all that special. The only reason I chose it was because I knew I had two poblano peppers and a partial bag of frozen corn at home.

From the moment it hit my cart and all the way home, all I could think about was jazzing up this prepackaged mac and cheese.

It was delicious! Not as delicious as Robert’s version, but pretty darn fabulous for a cheat!

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I found a version of this “dump, sauté & bake skillet dinner” on Pinterest and decided to make my own take on it using “everything Trader Joe’s.”

Of course, you can spin it any way you want whether you have a Trader Joe’s in your neighborhood or not.

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I was invited to the December gathering of a gourmet group that I had once been the cooking instructor for. When I initially received the call, I assumed I was going to be asked to lead the group in a cooking class again, but instead I was invited to be the group’s newest member. Fun!

The hostess had originally asked someone to lead the group in the making of holiday treats, but the woman backed out, so I became a co-hostess and we made the Oreo Truffles from yesterday’s post and this sweet treat.

We’ve all seen these pretty candied pretzel rods around during the holidays. They are a snap to make and serve at parties or give as gifts.

I will admit that having a group of nine fun and rowdy women making them at the same time was a bit of a mess, but a very fun mess. Especially because there were holiday Moscow Mules involved! You’ll find the recipe for those in tomorrow’s post.

These keep really well, so you can make them a week or so ahead for holiday gift-giving!

One important note – depending on the brand and flavor of melts, the coating may need to be set up some before heavier decorations and candies are sprinkled on. As you can see from the photo above, we learned the hard way.

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I was going to start this post with “Only ____ days till Christmas!” but I’m in denial and I’m afraid that if I say the number out loud, type the number or even think of the number – I might have a full-on panic attack, so how about I just get to my post about easy Christmas treats.

Oh, before I do that, I’d like to apologize for an error in my last post. I said that the segment featuring Steve’s Christmas Casserole would air on 12News yesterday (Dec 12) and it did not. I set up my TiVo and was disappointed to not see it. I asked Tram and she let me know that it is airing NEXT Monday, December 19th at the 6:00 a.m. hour. If you set your DVR or got up early yesterday, I’m sorry.

OK, back on track… I made these treats at a party last week. I’ll tell you all about the party in tomorrow’s post in which I’ll share “Easy Christmas Treats” Part 2. This is Part 1 and it is super easy and pretty darn yummy too.

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A week ago today, my 7th Blogiversary contest winner, Nancy Bull, came over and we cooked her favorite recipe together.

I asked Nancy to send me the recipe ahead of time so that I could purchase the ingredients and get set up for our time together. Since this is an overnight recipe, I made one the day before and popped it in the oven when Nancy arrived.  She brought a casserole dish with her, I pulled another one from my cupboard and we each made a pan of Nancy’s Chili Rellenos.

Since Nancy was my guest blogger, I asked her to write up a little something about the dish:

“We’ve been making this dish for probably 25 years or more.  My mom found the recipe in a church cookbook and thought it would be a great breakfast casserole for Christmas morning.  Every Christmas Eve, after cleaning up from dinner, all the Bull girls gather in the kitchen to make the casserole(s) for the next morning.  Thank goodness it’s so easy because by the time we get to this, there have been festive beverages consumed!  We pop it in the fridge for the night and bake it while we open presents on Christmas morning.  The family has grown over the years so now we make 2….leftovers are never a problem!

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we have over the years!  Cheers!

Nancy”

This recipe could not be easier. In fact, Nancy was a little embarrassed about this at first, be I assured her that people, my followers included, LOVE easy-breezy recipes. And you can rest assured – this one is a winner! I know, because the two of us enjoyed it for dinner that night and I had some for breakfast the next morning. Just as good the next day!

A few notes: Nancy’s recipe called for a 4-ounce can of diced green chiles. I only had 7-ounce cans. Nancy said that we should use the 7-ounce cans – the more the better. Good idea! The recipe called for garlic powder, but I didn’t have any, so I used a mini-chop and ground-up dried minced garlic to make my own powder.

Since I actually made two pans, the one Nancy and I enjoyed and the one I made with her, I asked her if the cooked dish could be frozen. She said they never have had any leftovers, so she didn’t know. I was leaving town the next day, so I baked my second pan, let it cool, then refrigerated it. Next, I removed it from the pan, then I double wrapped it in plastic, then wrapped that in heavy foil, and froze it. I pulled it out six days later, transferred it back into the baking dish, let it defrost in the refrigerator, and then reheated it in the oven.

The verdict: It does not freeze well. It was soggy and not even close to as delicious as it was when it was freshly baked.

Lastly, when the casserole comes out of the oven, it is puffy as all get out.

In the five minutes that it rests before cutting, it deflates. That’s natural and what is supposed to happen, so don’t fret.

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Connor’s friend, Rachael, brought these super easy and super tasty little appetizer picks. Luckily I was able to snap a photo before they were all snapped up!

No one had signed up for chips and dip, so I asked Connor to provide those.

You have to have chips and dip!

I threw together a red, white, and blue flag snack tray using, red grapes, banana slices, strawberries, yogurt-covered pretzels, blueberries, and raspberries.

Lastly, I purchased a mock gingerbread house at Trader Joe’s, which was really a sugar cookie White House and I pretended like it was Christmas in July. I loved putting it together since our long family tradition of Marissa and Connor each assembling their own Christmas gingerbread houses has fallen by the wayside. Mostly because they hate it! Oh well, a mom can reminisce.

These were a few of the little extras at the 4^th of July Party Pot-Luck Pool Party. The main course and dessert details will follow in the coming days.

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This dessert recipe could not be easier or have less ingredients. Is four ingredients few enough for you?

Photo

I made them for our small 4th of July Pool Party, so one batch is just enough. I found a video from dingster.eats on Instagram and immediately knew that this is my kind of baking recipe and that it would be perfect for the 4th.

They are made in Mason jar bands and are the cutest things ever.

I’ll also be baking my All-American Berry-Cherry Flag Pie.  For that recipe, I’ll need a can of cherry and a half can of blueberry pie filling.

With that in mind, I decided to use three pie-filling flavors for the hand pies; apple for the White, the other half of a can of blueberry for the Blue, and a few tablespoons of the cherry for the Red. For the flag pie, I plan to supplement extra fresh cherries with the cherry filling I swiped from the can. Ignore the can of peach pie filling, I was waffling between the apple and peach and ultimately decided that since it’s the 4th of July, it had to be an apple!

One last thing – I used a Silpat to line my baking sheet. I don’t recommend that the bottoms did not brown properly. Use parchment or just grease the baking sheet instead.

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Kim gifted me with fresh Mission figs and sweet little plums. I know, it’s like a darn fruit stand over here!

I ate all the plums straight away and then worked the figs and all those peaches, ripening and being picked each and every day, into our meals.

What follows is one of the quickest and easiest of the bunch.

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