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