New Years Eve Party!

New Years Eve, what a great excuse to go all out when throwing a party. I mean lets face it, you can never have too many balloons or too much confetti at a New Years Eve party.  So, this year my sister and I decided to go all out and throw a "fancy" New Years party.  We set the dining room table with the china and crystal and used watches and little clocks to decorate.  It looked so cute! Then we filled a room with balloons and took our party in there after the six course meal was finished, because what's a party without food?

We tried to keep it pretty simple for the meal so that we didn't have to spend the entire time in the kitchen. We served crackers with cheese, a simple tossed salad, shrimp cocktail, tomato and basil soup and a traditional surf and turf for the main course.

The main recipe I want to point out from this photo is the molten chocolate lava cakes served with peppermint ice cream for dessert -goodness gracious.  I love chocolate, so when I had my first bite of a molten lava chocolate cake I was smitten. I have tried many recipes and versions of these little cakes and I finally found my favorite one. Try it, it's easy and oh so good!

It's the Holiday Season!

Okay, so I'm a little bit behind on my posts.  No worries though, I am determined to play catch up!

Oh church cultural halls, how you haunt me with your echos and sterile spaces. Fortunately, this Christmas season I had the opportunity to transform one of these dismal halls into a holiday haven.  Wow that was some dramatic writing -apparently I am in the mood for some theatrics today! Well, back to the party. I used pine boughs, pine cones and ornaments to decorate the tables. My favorite part was the huge sled Alex and I found and decorated with presents -it was the perfect touch.     

For dinner prime rib was served and selfishly I prepared it the way I like it, medium rare..mmm. I found a  website that has directions for making perfect prime rib. I served it up with some raspberry horseradish sauce and it was melt-in-your-mouth amazing!

This is one of my all time favorite dips. It's pretty much just sausage, Rotel tomatoes and cream cheese and it is so good!

Now for my favorite part: dessert! Chocolate coconut pecan pie, need I say more? This pie is a family favorite and it is as rich and delicious as it sounds! And this cheesecake is the best. Easy and delicious, it turns out well every time I make it. The cranberry-cointreau sauce goes perfectly with the rich cheesecake and it looks so beautiful and festive. 

Chocolate coconut pecan pie 

1/2 c white sugar

1/3 c light brown sugar (packed)

1/3 c light corn syrup

2 T butter (melted)

1 t vanilla

pinch of salt

3 eggs

3/4 c shredded coconut (sweetened)

3/4 c chocolate chips

3/4 c whole pecans

19" frozen deep dish pie crust

Place large baking sheet on oven rack and preheat to 350

Whisk sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, vanilla & salt in large bowl to blend. 

Whisk is eggs

Stir in coconut, chocolate chips & pecans. Pour filling into pie crust. 

Place on cookie sheet in oven bake until crust is golden brown and filling is set in center, about 40 minutes.

Transfer to rack and cool slightly. 

Serve warm with a nice dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  

Trifle is such a wonderful way to have dessert, layers of cake and custard -yummy! I pretty much just made this cake and turned it into a trifle by layering it in my trifle dish, a simple and easy way to make any cake a bit more flashy.

And lets not forget about the apple pie, good old apple pie.  This summer apples actually grew on the apple trees in our yard! I couldn't miss the opportunity to make some delicious things out of those apples and of course I had to can some  apple pie filling.