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Easy Holiday Recipies For Entertaining (or even just easy recipies)


ChasUFarley
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On Christmas morning I have half of a Greek village coming over to my house (hubby's side of the family). We host a Christmas morning brunch every year. But this year, being as I'm getting great with child, I'm not into being much of a domestic goddess....

What simple but spectacular sippies and munchies do you "wow!" your guests with?

Many thanks for your help!

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Okay, dessert first!

Forget 'Em Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat 2 egg whites till frothy. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar and continue beating till mixture forms stiff peaks. Fold in 1 cup chopped nuts and 1 C Brickle Bits (they sell them in the baking aisle, where the chocolate chips are).

Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets lined with brown paper (I've used the inside of a brown grocery bag in a pinch). Place in oven and turn oven off. Leave overnight. Store in covered container. (Sorry, I forget how many cookies this recipe makes.) Everyone I've made them for has liked them, and it doesn't get any easier!

For something that takes only a little more effort but has great eye appeal and is really yummy...

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 lb cream cheese (room temp)

3/4 cup sugar

1 t. lemon juice

2 eggs

1 teaspon vanilla

1 can Comstock cherry pie filling

1 box 'Nilla Wafers

Miniature cupcake liners (the kind with foil on the outside are great...you can just put them on a cookie sheet)

Beat cream cheese with sugar, then add lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until fluffly.

Put one 'Nilla Wafer at the bottom of each cupcake liner, followed by a rounded tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Top each with a cherry and some of the filling.

Bake 15 minutes...voila, baby cheesecakes. Festive and tasty!

For an easy brunch type sandwich:

Make ham and swiss sandwiches on good sandwich rolls (Kaiser or something more substantial than a hamburger bun). Add a dab of your favorite mustard. Wrap each sandwich in foil in put them on a cookie sheet. Heat in 350-degree oven until the cheese melts and the sandwich is nice and warm. Serve them right ouf of the oven. (You can assemble them the day before and just pop them in the oven at the last minute.

Hope these help!

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Here is an appetizer that is no muss, no fuss, and perfect for that mom-to-be to wow guests and yet get her needed nap time in.

Take a block of cream cheese

1 can of small shrimp or small clams

1 jar of cocktail sauce

1 package of ritz crackers

Put block of cream cheese on plate, open can of small shrimp (or whatever) and drain.Pour drained shrimp onto block of cream cheese. Cover with jar or cocktail sauce. Serve chilled.

Arrange crackers on plate next to or around creation with a butter knife and watch guests DEVOUR!!!!!

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Chaz,

Here are a few of my thoughts. First off.. EASY is the name of the game and with that in mind, Linda's Mini cheese cakes sound like the perfect dessert. Cindy's recipe is one I have also used and it IS delicious. I've also used smoked oysters but then you run into the problem of folks who don't like oysters.

A Honey Baked (or any other spiral cut) Ham is always a big hit. You can put out little breads, cheeses, pickles, mustards and garnishes so folks can make up sandwiches. We have one several times a year. Easter, Thanksgiving and of course, Christmas. Problem is.. a big ham is $60!!

Want to do cheap?? Do a heaping helping of Rotel dip and plenty of chips. It's very filling. 1 can of Rotel to 1lb of velveeta cheese melted together. That's it. Best if you melt it in a double boiler but the microwave works good too. Also, if you want more heat, you can buy (at least in the grocery stores around here) hotter Rotel's and mild or hot Mexican Velveeta.

Also around here, you can get a shrimp platter fairly reasonably but make your own cocktail sauce for Heaven's sakes!~ I don't know WHY these stores have such awful tasting sauces. I can tell you simply how to make your own if you don't have a recipe.

If you're wanting to feed a lot of folks with not a lot of money, go get yourself one of those turkeys the grocery stores are always practically giving away this time of year. You thaw it... wash it in the sink with cold water really well... then oil it down with plain liquid vegetable oil... salt it real good and sprinkle on poultry seasoning (it's mainly just sage if you don't have poultry seasoning)... a little paprika (if you have it) for color and maybe a little ground pepper. That's it.

Plop it into a Reynold's Turkey bag and cook for about 3 hours depending on the turkey size. The directions come with the package of Reynold's turkey bags. You can't go wrong. It always comes out tender and juicy... and cheap!!!

sudo
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Ok Linda...I'll hafta find it in my holiday recipe file!!!

Found it!

Get a pound of fresh mushrooms, remove the stems and grate them, mix in italian breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and onion (diced VERY small), add enough olive oil to make it moist and stuff into mushroom caps

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

MOST yummy, our kids demand them every holiday!!!

Edited by Cindy!
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Well I've just finished preparing my traditional holiday treat - Kim Chee!

Just chop up a Napa cabbage, place in a vegetable press with an 8 oz. jar of Kim Chee base, add a few chopped green onions, maybe a squirt or two of SriRacha pepper sauce. Let it set for a couple of days in the press. Take it out and seal it in quart jars and leave them in a warm place for a day or two. When you can see bubbles starting to percolate up to the top of the jars, it's done.

Oh, did I mention that Kim Chee is sort of an acquired taste? That, and because of the garlic, nobody wants to be around you after you've eaten it. But, hey! It's traditional!

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Bul go gi and mondues?

I dunno, they're new ones on me. I should point out, I have no Korean ancestry whatsoever, and the taste I've acquired for Korean food is purely coincidental (and the "tradition" of making Kim Chee at Christmas - at least around my house - is entirely my own invention).

Can you describe the aformentioned treats? I may well have had them (I do dine at a Korean bar-be-que fairly regular), but the names of a lot of that escape me.

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quote:
Also around here, you can get a shrimp platter fairly reasonably but make your own cocktail sauce for Heaven's sakes!~ I don't know WHY these stores have such awful tasting sauces. I can tell you simply how to make your own if you don't have a recipe.

Please tell! Does your version of cocktail sauce have horseradish in it?

I have my own very simple and and easy recipe for thousand island dressing: equal parts mayo and ketchup and 2 T pickle relish. It's gud!

Reikilady, I have several of those types of recipes but will have to look up for you when time permits.

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George, If you have had Kim Chee--- you have had both of the others!! Its just my spelling!

Bul go gi--- Korean BQ-- Strips of Steak marrinated in Soy sauce and stuff! The mondues are the little meat pies - somewhat like egg rolls!

Years before TWI I lived in Chicago with a Korean friend-- who was working on his PHD in Theology (Garrett Seminary at Northwestern).

I remember Plum wine-- and good food --- and incredible conversations!

In Korean I can ask how you are-- and Thank you ... but spelling would be impossible and insulting.

Hummm...those were the days...........

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Reikilady, I have a couple of those recipes too, I'll look when I get home.

You can also make Sticky Buns, which are sooooo easy and good!

I hafta get that recipe from my mom.

Chas, I'll bet you have some awesome Greek recipes! Sounds like a blast!

My stuffed mushrooms are cheap and probably not as good as Cindy!'s but they ARE quick and easy:

At the seafood section of the grocery store they carry tubes of seafood stuffing (some stores have frozen tubes of the stuff in the frozen food section). I buy a tube of that and either stuffing mushrooms or baby portobellas and put a spoon full on each mushroom, top with a pat of butter and pop in the oven till browned on top. (If I'm feeling REALLY fancy, I put garlic butter on the bottom of the mushrooms before adding the stuffing icon_wink.gif;)--> )

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For Reikilady

CHRISTMAS SOUFFLE

9 x 12 Pan

Ingredients:

12 slices Pepperidge Farm bread. Cut off crusts. Butter one side of each

1/2 lb grated Swiss cheese

1/2 lb cheddar cheese

1/2 lb. chopped ham

4 eggs

1.5 cups milk

1/2 tsp. dry mustard (milk mixture)

crumbles corn flakes

Layer 6 slices of bread, butter side down, then cheddar, then ham, then bread, then Swiss.

Pour milk mixture on top.

Soak overnight in fridge.

Crumble cornflakes on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes

(I add a little nutmeg to the milk mixture....also I used thin sliced deli ham instead of the chopped ham.)

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Thanks! One recipe that is a real crowd pleaser is chili and it's so easy to make. What I add beyond the chili spice packet is more garlic, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and cinnamon. When I have the desire, I also make it with both pork and meat that isn't ground up. I like to serve chili with cinnamon rolls. I leave the beans out the chili. I put in a whole onion cut up coarsely, (not fine) if the people eating it can eat onion.

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Sudo had a great idea with the ham, however if cost is an issue, here is a super easy recipe for ham, that is so delicious and simple.

Place a whole ham in a baking bag, add brown sugar, honey, and a can of pineapples (with juice).

Close and seal the bag, put it in a deep pan and place in the oven and slow cook (about 250) you can put this in the oven the night before or first thing in the morning if you want it for lunch.

By the time it is ready, it is falling off the bone tender. Serve it up with some bread or rolls, and cheese....it is fabulous.

A great yeast roll recipe ...that goes great with this is....

I package of jiffy white cake mix.

a package of yeast.

3/4 cup of warm water.

1 3/4 cup of bread machine white flour.

dissolve yeast in the very warm water, and let sit. In a seperate bowl mix your flour and cake mix, add a pinch of salt. add yeast mixture, cover and let sit 1 hour.

After one hour, it should have doubled in size, take it out and on a floured surface, kneed a little bit (adding a little flour to keep it from being too sticky) and flatten it. Then cut like biscuts and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Let sit in a warm draft free place for another hour and then bake for aprox 10 miniuts on 350.

Fabulous and really easy.

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Oh yeah! The ever popular "Rotel Dip"

1 lb of Velveeta Cheese (do not skimp on no-name brand)

2 Cans of Rotel Tomatoes (drain 1 of the cans)

Cut the cheese into tiny cubes and melt it with the rotel tomatoes

For variation add:

ground sausage or

ground beef or

chili

Serve with Tostito Scoops, Fritos or veggies

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We just got two fondue sets from WallyWorld at $4.77 each.

I found the following recipe for sugar-free diabetic chocolate fondue:

1 cp Milk

2/3 cp unsweet Cocoa

1/2 cp Sugar Twin

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

We will also setup a cheese sauce fondue using powdered Cholesterol-free cheese sauce.

Both for fairly cheap, anyone else want to try? We have relatives who are diabetic and/or watching their cholesterol, but this may be an option.

Galen's Eggnog:

1 qt milk

6 eggs

1/2 cp sugar

1 Tbl powdered milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1 cp black rum [bacardi black if you can find it, all navy bases stock it. Or black seal rum is good too. Dont use any kind of spiced rum, dont use white rum, the darker the better]. Limit spiking it with Everclear as it will curdle the milk.

Flaming Green Dragon:

1 jigger Bacardi 151 Rum

1/2 jigger Green Creme de Menthe

1 jigger vodka

Mix all three in a short wide-mouth glass, ignite and drink. This one is where you learn to drink while exhaling. Also it is a good idea to sneak up on this one from underneath, never ‘look down’ at the glass and if you have facial hair smooth it down first (as stray hairs will first ignite themselves and then they will ignite the rest). If you have everclear, you can bring the Cr?-de-Menthe up to a full jigger so long as you add a ½ jigger of everclear. The additional Cr?-de-menthe will ‘smooth’ the dragon’s bite. But without the additional everclear, it will also extinguish the flame. I was introduced to this, while serving on-board various subs in Holy-Loch Scotland. If you do not use the ‘smooth’ version, then you may require a cold beer on hand to sooth your throat afterward. When challenged to match someone ‘drink-for-drink’ I usually pick ‘Flaming Green Dragons’. They will often desire to stop the challenge soon afterward.

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ChasDarlingicon_smile.gif:)-->

I am so proud of you.....YOU GO YOU DOMESTIC DIVA!

One question....is this visiting Greek village Orthodox? In other words do they do meat over the Christmas holiday, or fish, eggs, etc?

My job in DC had me traveling like a maniac, and I collected cookbooks wherever I went. One of my favorite is The Ellis Island Emmigrant's cookbook. They have a number of recipes that feed armies on pennies. One is a greek recipe for "dipping your way in the pot" from Breakfast till supper. Let me know....it sounds yummie, I can post it.

Since you are doing brunch, you could do a bagel and topic selection....but I don't doooooo carbs icon_eek.gif. How about four big fritatas? Kind of like big omelettes, all sauted in their pans, then finished off in the oven, they can each easily feed 10 folks per fritata...you pick the variety, onion, bacon, shrimp, spinach and olive, cheese...etc. Serve them up with Bloody Marys or Toritos (the mexican version.....gotta have that tequilla!)

Let me know....love you.......

ror

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