Pineapple Jalapeno meatballs

Are you planning a Super Bowl party yet?  I brought these to a New Years Eve party.  I'm not sure if it was my husband eating them all or if people really liked them!  Haha!  My husband had been mentioning meatballs since my Christmas Eve Open House.  I refused him as I was already into 3 days food prep for the party.  He kindly said:  "It's not too late, I can fire up the Crockpot" on Christmas Eve.  To Which I replied:  "Sorry honey, I need the Crockpot for the Hot Cocoa Bar".  So, I decided to love on my hubby by making him some meatballs on NYE.  This is not your traditional recipe.  It was really good, and not burn your lips spicy.  Plus, it's super easy!!

1 lb ground beef
1 egg
2 Tbs water
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 Tbs dried minced onion

For the Sauce:
1 jar pineappple preserves
1 jar jalapeno jelly

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix the beef, egg, water, breadcrumbs and onion well.  Form small meatballs and place on baking sheet.
I got about 35 meatballs from one batch.  Cook in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, turning once.

Meanwhile, put your preserves and jelly into a small saucepan and warm.  I did this just so it would be thinner and spread over my meatballs easier.

Once your meatballs are finished cooking, you can put them in the crockpot and cover with the sauce.  Stir gently.  I kept my crockpot on low just to keep them warm.

Enjoy!

Guest Post: Chocolate cupcakes with Peanut Butter frosting

Don't these look amazing?!  I assure you, they are.  My friend Torie made these once last year for her smallgroup.  I begged her to be in her smallgroup because I wanted a cupcake!  Okay, so food motivates me.  :-)  Anyway, being the sweetheart she is, she brought me 4 of them.  One for each person in my family, but she didn't blame me when I wanted them all to myself.  heehee!  

I told Torie she should guest post for me on my blog, but she wanted it to be a joint effort.  So last week, I joined her in her kitchen to make these.  Torie is an amazing cook, baker, sewer (or is the technical term seamstress?), photographer, home-schooling mom.  I know there's more that she does, and I'm continually amazed at her talents.  So, Here is my friend Torie:

Cake Recipe: 

1(18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil 

4 eggs
1/2 cup water 

She's so organized...everything laid out for us.

Directions :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mix, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water and pour batter into 2 well greased 8 inch pans or evenly distribute between 12 and 24 cupcakes. One note: this batter is thick so don’t be surprised by that. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Peanut butter frosting:
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup cream

Cream Peanut butter and butter together.  Add sugar and cream alternating until you have the desired consistency. What I did was slowly added the sugar 1/3 cup at a time with 1 Tbs cream. after I mixed it I tasted it and repeated. It tasted best to me at 1 and 1 1/3 cup sugar.  It's VERY rich. I used ¼ cup of cocoa powder in half the frosting to do the swirl frosting.  Depending on consistency, you may need to add a little more cream with the cocoa powder.

To swirl the frosting, place 1/2 the frosting in one bag, and the other 1/2 (with cocoa) in another bag.  Then, put both bags in a larger bag and using a round tip frost away!   

Mmmm mmm!  I want to eat one NOW!  

Torie, thanks so much for the experience and the post.  Mostly thanks for the friendship.  :-)

Christmas Eve Open House 2011

As many of you know, we host an open house on Christmas Eve.  We've been doing it for a few years now.  This year was another blessed evening.  I was so blessed by those that came, and hope they were too.  This is the Menu:

Cold

Caprese Salad on a Stick

Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites

Cheese Plate

Olive Plate

Fruit Plate

Warm

Sweet Potato Cakes with Black Bean Salsa

Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Pies

Apricot Bacon Wraps

Desserts 

Assorted Christmas Treats  (see the bottom of this post for a photo)

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

Blizzard Bars

Beverages

Sparkling Jubilee

Candy Cane Punch

Hot Cocoa Bar

The recipe's that are posted should be highlighted.  If they aren't, just hover your mouse over, and you should be able to click to the recipe.  

In case you are wondering "Sparkling Jubilee" is 1 bottle of White Grape juice,  and 1 2 liter 7-Up in a punch bowl.  I add fresh cranberries and fresh mint to garnish.  I just thought it needed a fun and festive name.  :-)

Christmas cheese plate

This was fun and easy to do.  Just a more festive way to serve cheese and crackers.

Candy Cane Punch

This is almost dessert rather than punch.  It was sooooo good!  I mean, I thought it would be good, but it was way better than I expected.  I was going for festive, and it was, along with deliciousness!
I found the recipe on Pinterest, and it's actually from Taste of Home.  My guests at the open house loved it!  My only regret... no picture!!  I was bummed.  But, you can see a photo of it here.


Ingredients
2 jars (10 ounces each) strawberry jelly
2 liters lemon-lime soda, divided
2 quarts peppermint stick ice cream
Miniature candy canes, optional

Directions:
In a large saucepan, melt jelly with 2 cups soda. Chill the jelly mixture and remaining soda. Just before serving, place 6 cups ice cream in a punch bowl. Gently stir in jelly mixture. Add remaining soda. Add remaining ice cream by scoopfuls. Garnish with candy canes if desired. Yield: 3-1/2 quarts.

Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites

These are delicious!  And almost too pretty to eat.  The recipe comes from Yummy Mummy.  I love how in her post she compared them to her sparkly shoes.  So creative!  I adapted it a little.  Instead of cranberry chutney or relish, I used jellied cranberry sauce and warmed it a little so it would be thinner.

Sugared Cranberries

2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup good maple syrup
1 cup granulated sugar

Rinse cranberries and place in a medium bowl. Heat syrup in a small sauce pan just until warm. Pour over cranberries when syrup is warm, not hot, or cranberries may pop. Cool, cover, and let soak in the refrigerator overnight.
Drain cranberries in a colander. Place sugar in a large bowl or baking dish. Add cranberries in 2 batches and roll around until lightly coated in sugar. Place on a baking sheet until dry, about 1 hour.

16 crackers
8 oz Brie cheese
cranberry chutney or cranberry relish (I used cranberry sauce)
fresh mint for garnish

Assemble crackers with one slice of brie, a light layer of cranberry chutney, and 4 or 5 sugared cranberries. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Pies

This appetizer is a great seasonal one.  How I love pumpkin!  And I love goat cheese... so of course they're great together!  This was definitely a more tedious appetizer to do, but I felt it was worth the work.  :-)
I found it on Give Me Flour.

For the Dough:
2 cups of flour
1 1/3 stick of unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
1 egg beaten
3 tbs heavy cream or yogurt (more if needed)

1. Place flour, salt and butter in a big bowl. Work with your fingertips or with a pastry blender ‘til the mixture resembles coarse meal. You want to keep some visible pieces of butter

2. Beat together egg and 3 tbsp of cream. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients.

3. Using your fingertips, mix them smoothly by making circular movements. Don’t knead the dough.

4. Keep mixing. The dough should get together quickly and if it doesn’t happen, add one more tbsp of cream.

5. Don’t worry about spots, visible pieces of butter and stripes of cream; they are a good sign. Press to form a ball, cover with plastic film and keep on the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

IMPORTANT: You can keep this dough on freezer for about a month. Just place it on the fridge and let it defrost overnight before using.

For the filling:

1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 small onion chopped

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 tbs fresh sage chopped

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Salt and fresh ground black pepper

4 oz goat cheese

Sauté chopped onions and garlic in olive oil. Add all ingredients, (except cheese) mix well and let it cool completely before using.

Preheat oven to 350F˚.

Place dough in a floured surface and roll it out into a 1/8 inch thin layer. Using a 4 inch round cookie cutter cut the dough into circles. Place the pumpkin filling in the center of the circle, place a piece of cheese on top and fold the dough over into a semicircle. (I had goat cheese in log form, so I crumbled it to place on top) Crimp down the edges and arrange in a baking sheet. Keep doing the same process until the whole dough is gone. It makes approximately 24 pies.

Brush with eggwash, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 30 minutes or until golden in color.