On the Seventh Post of Christmas I`m Pleased to Share with Thee...

...Seven Snacks for Snacking...

It's that time of year, yummy bites, dazzling drinks and lots of Christmas cheer; the season of holiday entertaining. I love cooking and I love having people over, and I absolutely love Christmas, so it goes without saying that I try to do a lot of entertaining at this time of year. The one thing I don't love, however, is having a party and spending the too much time in the kitchen, away from the fun and conversation. Having hosted a few gatherings now, I've learned a thing or two about what to serve and how to prepare as much as possible ahead of time. Of course there will always be some commitment in the kitchen, it's part of hosting, but with a few tricks and a lot of saran wrap, you too can enjoy your own holiday fete. 

Nuts 'n' Bolts

1 box Cheerios
1 box Crispex
1 box Shreddies

1 bag pretzels
1 bag peanuts

1 lb butter, melted

4 Tablespoons garlic salt or     onion salt

4 Tablespoons celery salt

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

7 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce

Mix cereals, pretzels and peanuts in a large roasting pan. Combine the other ingredients and pour them over the cereal mix. Bake for 2 hours in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven, stirring often. 

This delicious party mix is the perfect salty snack to go with your yuletide drinks; a classic combination with beer, a complementary pairing with sparkling wine, or a nice balance to a sweet cocktail. I don't use peanuts in my batch, it's just a personal preference thing, and you can add other cereals as you wish. This recipe is quite salty as well, and while I normally cut back on salt when cooking, I like my handful of nuts and bolts to have a kick so I don't hold back on the seasonings. Feel free to do so, if you wish. The nuts 'n' bolts can be made weeks in advance, frozen, and then simply poured into a bowl right before people come over.

Baguette and Goat Cheese & Baguette and Brie

1 cup warm water (115-125 degrees Fahrenheit)

3 cups white flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons quick rise yeast

2 Tablespoons cornmeal

1 egg white

1 package soft goat cheese

Herbs de Provence

Olive oil

-or-

Brie and Fig Jam

This year I did two different kinds of cheese/baguette combinations. They're so easy and so fabulous. A French uncle made the goat cheese baguette for me once when I was feeling a bit hungry after exploring the gorgeous city of Strasbourg, and I was quite grateful to him. I made the baguette from scratch because I couldn't find any in town. I used my KitchenAid and quick rise yeast so that it wouldn't take up too much of my prep time. It's not authentic French baguette, but it's good for this appetizer. 

To make the dough, mix 2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the mixing bowl. Put the hook attachment on the mixer and turn on at Speed 2. Add the warm water and let combine for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the remaining flour, then the other 1/2 cup after a minute. Continue on Speed 2 for another 5 minutes or so, until the dough springs back when poked. Let dough rest for 10 minutes in the bowl, then cut it in two and roll it out on a floured surface, squeezing out any air bubbles. Flatten into a rectangle and then roll into a loaf. Place on a greased baking pan sprinkled with the cornmeal. Do the same with the other half of the dough. With a serrated knife, cut five diagonal lines on the top of each loaf. Let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes, or until doubled. Brush loaves with egg white and bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, putting a roasting pan with a few cups of boiling water in a rack underneath. I didn't do this for this batch and they turned out just fine, so it's not strictly necessary, but it is customary to do for baguette.

The second baguette style is a combination of brie and fig jam. The sweetness of the jam goes so nicely with the cheese. I love the fig jam from Bonne Maman; in fact I love all of their jams. I can't find them in any of the stores Up Here, so I'll have to stock up the next time I go South. To make both appetizers, slice the bread and place on a cookie sheet. Slice the cheese and spread some on each piece of bread, then top with either the herbs or jam. The goat cheese with the herbs de Provence gets a dash of olive oil as well. Set the oven to broil and watch closely, taking them out when the tops have turned golden.

Antijitos

1 package tortillas

8 oz cream cheese

Dash of hot sauce

Sour cream

Salsa

Combine cream cheese with as much hot sauce as you are comfortable with, adding a few dallops of sour cream to thin the mixture a little. Spread some of the mixture on each tortilla equally, then roll tightly. Place rolls on a cookie sheet and bake in 400 degree oven until the tops start to golden.

These creamy, spicy tortilla pinwheels are always a hit; serve with salsa and sour cream for dipping. For Christmas, use sun-dried tomato and spinach tortillas (I couldn't find spinach tortillas Up North, but I was happy to find the sun-dried tomato ones so I alternated with plain). I rolled mine a little too loosely, so they didn't make a nice spiral like they should, but they were still delicious! To please the crowd, I made the white rolls normally, then made the red rolls with a lot more spice. I like it spicy but not everyone does.

Spinach Dip

1 8oz package of cream cheese

1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/2 package frozen chopped spinach
1 teaspoon each of Epicure herbs (see below)

Put all ingredients in a bowl and heat in the microwave. Stir and serve. Don't worry about thawing or draining the spinach. I made the mistake of buying spinach that wasn't chopped, so I let it thaw slightly and chopped it on a cutting board. The original recipe called for mayonnaise, but I add a bit of sour cream instead because I didn't like how the mayo affected the taste. This year I served the dip with nachos and also a nice loaf of bread that I got in town and cut up into pieces. If you keep cream cheese and frozen spinach around (and who doesn`t, really), it's a quick and easy dip to make for an impromptu poker night as well. If you don`t have the sour cream, no biggie.

The dip really works best with these herb mixes from Epicure, which I got from a friend who was selling the stuff. It's the 3 Onion Dip Mix, the Lemon Dilly Dip Mix and the Cheese, Chives & Bacon Dip Mix. If you can`t get a hold of the Epicure herb mixes, you can put in some garlic powder, paprika, pepper and salt and whatever else you have around the herb cupboard and see what happens. Some onion soup mix would probably work in there too.

The four previous appetizers are not only tasty, but they can be prepared in advance the afternoon of the party, or even the day before. The spinach dip can be made and simply reheated right after guests arrive. The antijitos can be rolled and stored on a cookie sheet, then heated right before your party is about to get underway. The bread can be sliced and placed in a Ziplock bag. It doesn't matter if they get a little stale because you're going to be broiling them anyway and you want them a little crispy. I even get the baguettes completely prepped about 1/2 hour before the start time and then just pop them in the oven after the antijitos are done and while the spinach dip is re-heating. 

Oriental Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup soy sauce
A few dashes worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger)
2 cloves garlic, minced

Freshly ground pepper

1 jar plum sauce

Mix all ingredients except for the plum sauce, then form into balls and fry in a pan on medium heat until cooked through. The balls will shrink slightly, so make them a little bigger than you'd like them to turn out. The meatballs can be made days ahead of time and frozen until party day. Then, simply place them in an ovenproof dish or slow cooker and pour plum sauce over top. The slow cooker is a better option if you've got one, so your balls stay warm until they're gone. Of course, you could also buy frozen meatballs and not worry about all the fuss of making them, but the fresh ginger, parsley and garlic make these homemade balls much better than the store-bought ones, so go for it!

Festive Party Mix

7 cups Cheerios

7 cups Crispex

7 cups Pretzels

3 cups peanuts

1 lb Smarties

2 packages white chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons oil

Melt chocolate over low heat and add oil. Pour over the first 5 ingredients and mix together. Spread onto cookie sheets and let cool, then break up any clumps and store.

I call this mix "Christmas Crack" because it is highly addictive; I could eat half the bowl in an afternoon easily. Make sure you don't break up all of the clumps, as there's nothing better than pulling a nice lump of goodness from the bowl. The mix of sweet and salty is out of this world. This mix can also be made well in advanced and frozen.

Well, there you have it! Some fool-proof appetizers that you can make ahead of time so that you can spend your party gabbing with your guests instead of slaving over your stove. As an added bonus, these snacks are all finger foods (serve the meatballs with toothpicks), so there`s no need to dirty silverware. I hate having a huge stack of dishes after a party almost as much as I hate missing the fun preparing the food. Lastly, the variety of flavours are guaranteed to make your party a success...ok, maybe not a guaranteed success, but at least people won`t leave with an empty stomach. The rest is up to you, unless you stay tuned; there are still lots of posts of Christmas to come...