White hot chocolate

I started making this 2 years ago for my cookie party and am tired of having to look it up every year so this year I am putting it in my blog. It is so good and my new fave!

From Sandra Lee

1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
4 cups half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
Vanilla whipped topping, for garnish
Candy cane, crushed or whole, for garnish
Peppermint liqueur, optional
White chocolate liqueur, optional

Directions
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine white chocolate chips and heavy cream. Stir continuously until white chocolate chips have completely melted. Stir in the half-and-half, vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Stir occasionally until heated through.

Pour into mugs and top with a dollop of vanilla whipped topping and a candy cane.

The BEST Appetizer EVER

Me and my mom once went to Carraba's Italian Restaurant and had the most wonderful appetizer that they call Scotty Thompson. I had a log of goat cheese that I was wanting to make for dinner and that's how these next two came about!

1 log of soft goat cheese
1/2-1 cup of marinara sauce (I used Prego)
6 slices Texas Toast
1 stick butter
1 tbl garlic powder

Heat oven to 400. Place log of goat cheese in pan sprayed with Pam. Cover cheese with marinara sauce. Bake for about 20 minutes until it's nice and melted. Meanwhile melt butter in microwave dish (I use a glass measuring cup) and then stir in the garlic powder. Place Texas Toast slices on a baking sheet. Cut off crusts and then spread the butter mixture over both sides. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Serve the toasts along side the goat cheese mixture. YUM!

NYE Apps

We decided to just do an appetizer night for New Years this year. It was great! We snuggled into our lounge clothes and I tried to keep Kevin awake til midnight. Well we did end up toasting at 11:00 with the Disney count-down (yes I'm a huge Disney fan, I love Hannah, the Wizards of Waverly Place, yep I'm a dork) and then Kevin went on to bed. I started watching a Lifetime movie and stayed up til 1 am.

Here is what we made:
both of these are from the Pilsbury website!
Italian Pinwheels
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (2 oz)
1/2 cup sliced pepperoni, finely chopped (I used turkey because I had it on hand and will never make it like that again, it tasted funny all chopped up)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves--I used a tsp of Italian Seasoning
1 egg yolk
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations™ refrigerated flaky dough sheet
1 egg white, beaten

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix cheese, pepperoni, oregano and egg yolk. (I doubled this mixture due to other reviews and was glad I did)
2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate dough into 4 rectangles. Firmly press perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles.
3. Spread each rectangle with about 3 tablespoons pepperoni mixture. Starting at shortest side, roll up each rectangle; pinch edges to seal. Cut each roll into 6 slices. Place, cut side down, 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with beaten egg white. (I then sprinkled with some parmesan cheese).
4. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.


I made these at Thanksgiving and they got rave reviews so I made them again!
Cheese Crescent Triangles
4 oz tomato-basil feta cheese, finely crumbled (1 cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions (2 medium)
1 egg, well beaten
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations™ refrigerated flaky dough sheet
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix feta cheese, green onions and 3 tablespoons of the beaten egg.
2. If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate into 4 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles.
3. Press each rectangle into 7 1/2x5-inch rectangle. Cut rectangle into 3 rows by 2 rows to make 6 (2 1/2-inch) squares. Top each dough square with slightly rounded measuring teaspoon feta cheese mixture. Fold dough over filling, forming triangle; press edges to seal. On ungreased cookie sheets, place triangles 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining 3 dough rectangles and feta cheese mixture.
4. Brush tops with remaining beaten egg. Sprinkle lightly with Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.


Buffalo Chicken Dip

and Bacon Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates
I totally winged this idea after getting the idea from the girls on the What's Cooking board:
I made about 12 dates
Slice Dates 1/2 way open, remove pit and discard pit, place about 1 tsp on goat cheese on inside of date.
Slice 4 slices of bacon in thirds roll a date inside a slice of bacon.
Sprinkle with some brown sugar and bake for about 25 minutes at 350!

And I made my mom's Hot Chocolate (I have no idea where she got this recipe, she's made it for years!)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup baking cocoa (I use Hersheys)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
6 1/2 cups hot water (I will half this with heavy cream or 1/2 and 1/2 if I have it on hand to make it creamier)
Mix all of the ingredients and heat through in a pot on the stove over medium heat and then reduce to low if you will be drinking on it all day. I also make this in the crockpot and it works just fine, just mix all ingredients in crockpot place on high until everything gets mixed together well and then put on low. I like it in the crockpot better, if you place it on the stove it begins to get a film on the top but once moved aside the hot chocolate is still wonderful!

Our NYE Menu

We are having a quiet night in this New Years. We decided to do an appetizer night as my hubby didn't get enough of the Buffalo Chicken Dip over Christmas! So I made a menu that we will hopefully love!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates wrapped in Bacon
Feta Triangles
Easy Italian Pinwheels

Bread and crackers to serve alongside (oh and spray cheese, yes we love the stuff and we love to pig out on it over New Years! I will admit I am beginning to be a foodie but I won't give the stuff up!)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip served with Nilla Wafers for dessert
Chocolate Pockets (forgot to blog about this when I made it last, they are soooo good!)

Fruit Dip

I knew with all the cheesy rich food I was serving for our Christmas party I needed to serve some fruit and I decided to make a fruit dip to go along with it. So I once again turned to allrecipes.com to help me out.

Allrecipes.com
Ingredients

1 package cream cheese--softened
1 jar of marshmallow cream

Mix ingredients together. Store in the fridge in a covered container. Serve with fruit.

Garlic and Honey Meatballs

These are from this recipe from allrecipes.com.
They were so good and a great addition to our Christmas party. They got rave reviews and my sister kept asking me "how I made them again!" This is how I made them!

Ingredients
About 40 frozen meatballs
3 Tbl Soy Sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup ketchup (I actually used what I had left in the bottle)
4 tsps minced garlic (I just used the jar stuff)

Place meatballs in a slow cooker, cover with remaining ingredients. Stir to coat. Place on low for 4 hours.

These were perfectly saucy, sweet and garlicky!

Blue Cheese and Walnut Spread

I wanted to make a cheeseball for our Christmas Celebration but ended up making this as a spread instead. I had all of the ingredients on hand so it was perfect! This was very tasty and everyone loved it!

Adapted from recipes I found on allrecipes.com

1 package cream cheese--softened
about 4 oz blue cheese--more or less depending on your taste
1/4-1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix all ingredients together. Serve with french bread or crackers.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This dip is also known as Crack Dip because it is so darn addicting. I finally made it after seeing all of the girls on the What's Cooking board making it. I knew my dad would love it so I made it for our Christmas with my family. I was right my dad loved it along with my sisters and hubby!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
adapted from the What's Cooking board
I got it off cookingthisandthats blog

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cooked and shredded
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup blue cheese or ranch dressing
3/4 cup hot pepper sauce (I like the Frank's Buffalo sauce)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and blue cheese dressing. Cook, stirring until blended and warm. Mix in the cheddar cheese and transfer to a 2 quart baking dish.
Cook for 20 minutes or until bubbly.