Because 2 days is never enough.

We had a holiday party on Saturday and I thought it turned out to be good fun. I decided to keep the food relatively simple because we were expecting about 25 people. On the menu:

1. Spinach Dip
I always get so many compliments on my spinach dip and I am always sorry to admit that it I just follow the recipe on the Knorr veggie soup mix box. It says water chestnuts are optional, but I believe they are essential. Anyway, this stuff is like crack, but upon reading the ingredients on the box and finding MSG, I think I discovered why. I’d love to find another, more natural recipe, but I’m skeptical that it would be as tasty.

2. Fresh Salsa
I tried something new with the salsa this time.

Ingredients:
6 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow onion chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeño peppers, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of cilantro
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon cumin
juice of 1 or two limes (I’m not sure because I couldn’t find fresh limes and had to use a generous squirt of lime juice from a bottle)

Combine onions and garlic in a medium frying pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes, onions should still be white. Add jalapeño, coriander, and cumin and cook another minute. Remove from heat and combine with tomatoes, cilantro, and lime juice. Let stand, covered, in the fridge for two hours before serving.

3. Fondue
My dad gave Karl a fondue pot for Christmas last year and he has emailed me about once a month since, asking if we’ve used it yet. The last time he emailed, he wrote, “I guess it was a kind of stupid gift.” Naturally, that broke my heart some, and I realized that we HAD to use that thing before we went home for Christmas this year. So, I added it to the party menu. But, it turns out it wasn’t a stupid gift at all! People were raving about the fondue and we went through a full pound of cheese.

I used a half pound of Gruyere and a half pound of Emmenthaler, both from Sahadi’s. Karl picked up a cheap Pinot Grigio, which the salesclerk made him promise he wouldn’t drink. I tasted it, it’s a fair promise to extract. Flour, nutmeg, mmm.

4. Sugar and Gingerbread cookies
These were both from the Betty Crocker cookbook and we both very good. We didn’t have ground cloves, so Karl diligently smashed up whole cloves and I actually think the larger chucks of clove improved the gingerbread recipe. Doug and Kelly did a great job decorating the cookies.

5. Mulled wine
This was tasty and festive. I didn’t really follow a recipe, just dumped dried orange peel, juniper berries, star anise, cloves, cardamom pods, black pepper, and cinnamon in a cheese cloth with some red wine.

6. Mindy’s Pumpkin Pie: with amaretto whipped cream!

7. Christina’s chocolate chip cookies