Starters

This is one of my most requested recipes for dinner parties or holidays.  But, it is just as delicious and comforting on a cold winters day.  It is supposed to get really cold and yucky weekend for most of the country so stock up on these ingredients and make this drink and I promise you will not regret it.  It does have alcohol in it, but you can easily leave it out for the kiddos.  My kids love this drink (non alcoholic of course unless I need them to sleep, just kidding) and request that I make it on hunting weekends for them to take in thermoses to keep warm while sitting around for hours in the wet and cold-doesn’t that sound fun? Yeah thats why I stay back at the house while they go “bring home the literal bacon”.

We are in the home stretch of this 2017 year and I can’t believe how fast it has gone.  I feel like it was just Halloween and I was scrambling to find candy to pass out and now we are planning New Years Eve? It goes by in a blink doesn’t it?

Eggnog is one of those things you either love or hate.  I  love it and my husband hates it which is kinda funny because I really don’t like nutmeg. Have you ever heard a chef say “just grate a little bit of nutmeg on a green vegetable to give it a unique flavor?” Ick! I think that flavor is awful!:) But I love nutmeg in sweet things and eggnog is the most classic of all nutmeg sweets.

When the holidays roll around and you realize the enormous list of people you have to buy for it becomes daunting to think about buying “little” gifts for neighbors, teachers, tutors…. And when you realize this not only are you out of energy, but you are out of money! These pecans are the perfect “little gift” for all those people on your list that you need to give something to, but not much.  

It the party season and it seems that every night of the week there is a party of some sort to attend.  It is so much fun to see friends and catch up over a cocktail and yummy food and remember that calories don’t count during the month of December:)

We all need a cocktail recipe in our back pocket for holiday get-togethers and this one is delicious!  It tastes like a grown up fall apple cider and it goes down very easy:)  You can make a large pitcher of this and just pour over ice when your guests begin to arrive.  I will be serving this before Thanksgiving dinner!

Ok, so now that you have Thanksgiving dinner covered and breakfast covered you need snacks for guests.  Or you might be asked to bring an appetizer to Thanksgiving dinner or a party. These Buffalo Chicken Meatballs are DELICIOUS!  And they are easy to make, especially if you use a melon baller to help scoop them into perfect balls. 

Hummus is one of those things we always have in the fridge at my house because it is a great snack with raw veggies or crackers. I typically buy the pre-made hummus at the grocery store, but it always has this metal taste or mass produced taste that just kinda bugs me.  SO…I started messing around with recipes to see if I could make my own and I came up with a perfect, quick, EASY recipe for homemade hummus.  

I have been waiting all year to make this dip.  It truly is one of the best dips on the planet! Ask anyone that has ever tried it and they will say “it’s addicting”.  There are absolutely no redeeming qualities about it-it is calorie laden, cholesterol laden and I am certain one day they will find that buffalo sauce causes some form of cancer.  But, it is soooo good!

It’s here! The day we have all been waiting for since Thanksgiving.  Yes, it’s Super Bowl Sunday!  The second most fattening day of the year. I have been told that calories don’t count on Thanksgiving and Super Bowl Sunday.  Man, I hope they are right!  

It’s Saturday and it’s almost Christmas so that means parties and more parties.  If you are hosting one of these festive occasions this is a great drink to get your guests in the holiday spirit.  Now, I know a lot of people don’t like eggnog, mostly because of the texture. But, if you mix store-bought eggnog (I mean who in the world has time to make their own eggnog??) with vodka and a few other yummy ingredients then you get the hint of eggnog without the thick calorie laden drink you are thinking of.

I promise I will post something about everyday weeknight meals, but it is the holiday season and that means small bites.  People ask me all the time what they can serve that is easy to eat, not messy and not sweet.  This is one of my go to recipes.  You can put it out on a buffet or you can pass them on a tray easily. I am not sure when I came up with this recipe or where the inspiration came from, but this is not some crazy, out of the blue appetizer.  I am sure many, many people have very similar recipes in their back pocket.

A very dear friend of mine, Rebecca, introduced me to this amazing dip!  She served it at her annual Christmas party several years ago and I remember about 4 of us stood around the food table and devoured this dip.  It was SO good!  It is rich, creamy, spicy and just YUM.  

The week has finally arrived-Thanksgiving!  It is my favorite holiday as I have mentioned before.  No gifts to worry about, no tree to decorate, no holiday work parties… just food, drink and family.

So, I was at Costco (the greatest place on earth) and they had PEARS!  My family loves pears.  I promptly bought two boxes, yes that is 24 pears.  Seems like a lot, right? Nope-they are almost all gone.  We use them in smoothes in the morning, snacks after school, in yogurt… They are such a great fruit and very Fallish.  

It’s Fall and that means Homecoming! The football games are in full swing and the parties and tailgates are in even more full swing.  Let’s face it that the reason we have Homecoming is so that we have an excuse to get together and have a party! 

Sweet and Salty is the perfect flavor combination. Who does not like it? It’s seems like it shouldn’t work, but we just can’t get enough of it.  It’s addictive!  Think of salted caramels, chocolate covered pretzels or kettle corn. YUM! 

Now that summer is officially over and you have to put away the linen, even though it is still 112 degrees outside,  the “party” season begins. Not the holiday season, but the tailgate, dinner club, football watching party season. I personally think Fall is the best time of the year.  The weather cools off and football is on, ALL the time, and everyone is looking forward to the holidays and the food.  It’s just an exciting time of year.

This jalapeño appetizer is very easy, but looks and tastes complicated. Serve these fabulous little bites with a cold beer or a Berry Mojito.  I put these out while I was finishing up the burgers I was making and they were gone in about 5 minutes.  So be sure and make a lot!