Category: Menus

Menu: Holiday Party 2011

This weekend was our annual holiday party. As usual, it was a fabulous time! We loved seeing everyone and are so grateful to our friends who took the time out of their very busy holiday season to spend a few hours with us.

This year’s menu was pretty much all new recipes for me. I know you’re not supposed to try new recipes out for company, but I always have cheese and crackers stashed away and grocery store down the road in case a recipe flops. I lucked out this year – everything got rave reviews. In fact, I think it turned out even better than usual. For the first time ever, almost everything was eaten!

A couple recipes are already posted (and linked to) and I linked those recipes that I won’t be posting, probably because I forgot to take photos. Any recipe without a link is something that I plan on posting in the next week or two. (Please let me know if you’d like any recipes sooner than others!)

Happy holidays!

2011 Holiday Party Menu

Savory

Sweet

Nibbles around the House

Drinks

  • Assorted White & Red Wine
  • Assorted Soft Drinks & Lemonade
  • Assorted Liquors

Serving Notes: I made double batches of the rocky road bark, the cookies & cream bark, the meatballs, and the crab cakes. This menu was designed serve approximately 50 people. We probably had closer to 60 people, many of whom look forward to this event and might save a lot of room in their tummies for whatever “The Bakery” might serve. I had had 5 cupcakes and a couple pieces of chocolate leftover – everything else was gone.

If you’re looking for more menu ideas, check out the 2009 Holiday Party or 2010 Holiday Party menus.

Menu: Thanksgiving 2011

My family has never really had any big Thanksgiving traditions. Sometimes we would spend the day with my extended family, and sometimes my immediate family would eat a quite dinner alone. It’s just the way it was, with most of my family spread out across the U.S. I was never impressed with the holiday – I didn’t care much for most of the food and I couldn’t stand the football games that would play on the television through the day. My husband, on the other hand, always had big family dinners with the extended family (just about everyone lived within a couple hours of each other). And, the true southern family that they are, there was lots of football.

Since neither of our families live nearby, the hubby and I usually celebrate Thanksgiving among friends. We don’t usually host, since our big holiday party is in early December, and to be honest, I’m squeemish when it comes to handling a turkey. They’re big and slippery, and I hate pulling the innards out.

This year, we get the honor of hosting not only my family for Thanksgiving, but my hubby’s family as well. We’re thrilled to have everyone traveling to spend the holiday with us, and I’m thrilled that I will have a lot of people to delegate the turkey-touching to. (Hubby doesn’t know it yet, but he’s cleaning the turkey and brining it!). There will be 9 of us, including one vegetarian.

I put together the below menu, with what I hope will be a mix of the traditional foods from both of our families as well as some new favorites.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011 Thanksgiving Menu

Serves 8-10

Appetizers & Cocktails

Cranberry Lime Bellinis
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
Deviled Eggs
Veggies with Ranch Dressing
Butternut Squash Soup

Dinner

Roast Turkey with Sage Butter
Stuffing with Pine Nuts & Fennel
Stuffing with Sweet Italian Sausage
Baked Sweet Potato Casserole
Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese
Italian Green Bean Salad with Asiago
Dinner Rolls
Salad
Canned Cranberry Sauce

Dessert

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Molasses Cookies

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie
Chocolate Espresso Pecan Pie

Favors

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

Birthday Menu & Shrimp-Mango Salad

A while ago, I received a copy of Williams Sonoma’s Cooking for Friends as a gift. Every month or so, I take out the book and look through it, my mouth watering at the delicious-sounding recipes and the incredible photos. However, some of the recipes are a little fancier than my crowd is used to, so alas, I never got around to making any.

For my birthday last month, I decided to raise the bar and fancied-things up, to include a recipe from this cookbook. Hubby and I had about 20 people over the house for cocktails. I went all out and made two birthday cakes (I couldn’t decide which I wanted more and the vote to my friends was split), a cocktail, and three appetizers. Here’s what the menu included:

Amaretto Sour with Prosecco
Almond Cake with Raspberry Layers & Amaretto Buttercream
Toffee Brownie Torte
Cheese-Stuffed Mushrooms
Shrimp-Mango Salad
Baked Fontina & French Bread

I was excited to try the shrimp-mango salad – a little fancier than the usual appetizer and elegantly served in these mini-martini glasses. Neither me nor my guests were disappointed. It was nice and light, tangy and sweet, the perfect addition to our cocktail party.

Modifications: I used all shrimp instead of a combination of shrimp and crab, as reflected in the recipe below. I skipped the avocado because mine didn’t ripen in time (plus allergies).

Shrimp-Mango Salad

Adapted from Shrimp, Crab and Avocado Salad in

Williams Sonoma’s Cooking for Friends (p. 62)

Makes 12+ servings in mini-martini glasses

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. cooked fresh shrimp, diced (or combination of fresh cooked crab and shrimp)
  • 1 mango, diced
  • 1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 c. rice wine vinegar
  • 1/4 c. fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 c. cilantro, minced (plus sprigs for garnish)
  • 1 jalapeno, minced
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • sea salt
  • ground black pepper
  • 1/2 head butter lettuce, shredded
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • lime wedges

In a medium bowl, toss the mango, olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno, and shallot until mango is coated. Season with salt and pepper. Add shrimp (and crab), tossing until coated.

In your serving glasses, line the bottom with some of the butter lettuce, followed by the mango-shrimp mixture. Top with avocado (I would have tossed it in with the mango and shrimp at the last minute) and garnish with lime slices and sprigs of cilantro.

Menu: Holiday Party 2010

Christmas time is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year. The tree goes up as early as the hubby will let me. In fact, because of a crazy couple weeks, we put up the tree just before Thanksgiving this year. I think I drove the hubby crazy because we returned from Thanksgiving with Christmas presents from my parents – I immediately arranged them under the tree and then asked, every day, if we could open presents. The pile has been growing as I’ve finished Christmas shopping – wrapping the presents and adding them to the pile (I even had a wedding gift and birthday present under the tree!)

I also love to celebrate with our friends and family at our annual holiday party. Its our one huge party of the year where everyone is invited. I’m probably pretty annoying, asking friends whether it’s on their calendar well before the party. I start planning the menu in October and start cooking and baking in November…. but its well worth it. The party is always a ton of fun!

So, without further ado, here’s this year’s menu.

I’ll be posting links to more of the recipes this week, but for those of you still searching for ideas for your own holiday parties, I wanted to get this out sooner. If you’d like a recipe before it gets posted, please just let me know and I’d be happy to send it to you.

2010 Holiday Party

Savory

  • Create Your Own Ham Slider: roast ham, swiss cheese, mustard, and dinner rolls
  • Duo of Pesti: Artichoke-Parmesan Pesto & Sun Dried Tomato Pesto served with freshly baked french bread
  • Honey-Apple-Brie Bites (thanks to K for bringing these tasty bites and for sharing the recipe!)
  • Cheddar and Bacon Mini-Quiche

Sweet

Nibbles around the House

Drinks

  • Assorted white and red wine
  • Sam Adams Winter Lager
  • Assorted Soft Drinks
  • Assorted Liquors

Note: This menu served approximately 50 people.

If you’re looking for more ideas, check out the 2009 Holiday Party Menu.