Since all my family comes into town after Christmas we decided to throw a housewarming/Christmas party so everyone could see the new house. What started as a small party for five people grew into a party for 16 so of course we had to have a lot of good food.
My mom was in charge of the salad since she is the queen of salads. She made this one

... with romaine hearts, bean sprouts, shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, cucumbers, radishes and Craisins. But it's the dressing that makes the salad - she combines three different mustards, white balsamic and olive oil. It's truly incredible.
No family party is complete without these stuffed mushrooms:

... which came from a newspaper clipping passed down from my mother-in-law to my husband to me. The secret is the pepperoni in the filling.
SP is the king of penne vodka:

... and he managed to whip this up after working all day.
I wanted to try a new Ina Garten recipe so I chose this one:

... for sausage wrapped in puff pastry. It couldn't have been easier to make and was a huge hit with the Dijon mustard for dipping.
This version of 7-layer dip actually had eight layers:

... refried beans, mashed avocado, sour cream, shredded cheddar, shredded pepper Jack, green onions, tomato and sliced olives.
Our supermarket always does a free turkey giveaway during the holidays so we got a 7-pound turkey breast that I roasted with butter, salt and pepper:

... and it was exceptionally moist and flavorful. White meat is notoriously dry, but somehow I managed to cook this one to perfection.
I've seen the folks at America's Test Kitchen make their version of spinach dip so many times that I had to try the recipe:

... which was really, really good. I served it with pumpernickel bread and homemade pita chips.
As the party grew in number SP insisted that I add another dish to the menu so I settled on macaroni and cheese:

... made with mini penne, pepper Jack, cheddar and Swiss and sprinkled with Pecorino instead of bread crumbs. The results were much better than I could have anticipated. The kick from the pepper Jack was a nice touch.
And what party would be complete without chips and salsa:

This was part of our Christmas present from my brother and sister-in-law from Harry and Davids.