Christmas Treats, Appetizers, and Party Food
It’s that party time of the year. Although I married into a family of
really good cooks in the grand old Southern tradition, and we really
can put together an out of this world meal, I love party foods too. When
our kids were young we used to save up so that we could order a family
Christmas present of treats from Swiss Colony. Back then they had many
luscious offerings, and although they were kind of pricey for us, they
were sizable enough to feed a family of five generously. Now they seem
to offer tiny quantities of not so appealing stuff, so we make all our
own things, or put together our own charcuterie selections.
Anyhow, my husband and I still have what I consider to be party food
or snacks instead of supper a couple of times during December. I like to
make cheese balls and serve with summer sausage, dips, crackers, maybe
meatballs, etc. Right now we have some of the best venison smoked
sausage I’ve ever had.
Here is a recipe for venison meatballs. Of course you can use beef, but
it isn’t nearly as good. I never have recipes, except for breads or
cakes, so just have fun with this.
Saute an onion and several large cloves of garlic, finely chopped, in
olive oil or butter until onions begin to be translucent. Add a
tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar, salt pepper, and seasonings you
like to taste. I use three onion seasoning by Epicure.
Mix a pound and a half of ground venison with a half pound ground
pork, an egg, bread crumbs or almond meal, and the onion mixture. Shape
into small balls and bake at 375 until brown, which should take around
25 minutes, but check on them to be sure. Every oven is different. Drain
and serve with your favorite sauce.
Here’s the link
to a recipe for mini corn muffins with a cheddar filling. Being a
Southern gal, I absolutely refuse to put sugar in my cornbread, so I’ll
be leaving that ingredient out, but that’s an argument for another day.
I would especially appreciate any crab dip or crab cake recipes, as
well as easy to make recipes. What are your favorites cheeses and dips?
And since I can’t find the small rye bread loaves we used to serve
anymore, does anyone have a recipe similar? I used to find these little
loaves of rye bread in the deli section of stores, especially at holiday
time. They were bigger than crackers, but not by much, maybe about 2-3”
square. Also, I’d love a tried and true recipe for lamb pops, an
appetizer my favorite Greek restaurant serves.
Sometime later this week we will have our regular Christmas recipe
post, and since I have grandkids coming over Friday night for cookie
making, I might do a post on treats to make with kids. I really have put
a lot of time into finding easy to make cookies and candies for the
little ones to be hands on with. Several years ago I started making
gingerbread men with my youngest grandson, but when it expanded to the
whole crew, and other treats came into play, it became a huge mess and a
lot of trouble. So now I limit what we make to easy stuff that
hopefully won’t take hours to clean up after.
I hope your holiday season is filled with joy. Happy Advent.
