CHRISTMAS DINNER PARTY!!!!

Saturday night we had a Christmas Dinner Party and it was such fun!!!  I love all the cooking and cleaning and prepping, tons of fun.  This dinner we started off with marinated shrimp with lots of lemon served in martini glasses, love that!!!  Dates stuffed with cream cheese, roasted pecans and wrapped in bacon and fried, can't eat too many soooo rich, yum!!!  Then I fixed radishes with a sliver cut out stuffed with butter and dipped in sea salt, very fun and festive,savory basil/pesto crackers topped it off.  And last but not least were mushroom tarts. these are the ones where you cut the cheap white bread into 4 pieces dip in butter and put in a mini muffin tin, then you make a mushroom, onion, garlic and cheese mixture and bake they were the keepers of the appetizer portion!!!!

Then we headed into a creamy turnip and leek soup, topped with turnip greens and a gremolta, (a mixture of orange rind, fresh garlic and flat leaf parsley all chopped up together and sprinkled on the soup,) very good, a keeper!!! 
Salad was organic greens with pear, toasted pecans, onion, black olives and a balsamic vinegar with honey and olive oil, not bad!!!

For the entree I tried something new called a panade, it was rather blah, needs a revamp, it was made with roasted garlic bread, torn in pieces and toasted, layers in a pan with a mixture of onion, garlic, mushroom and spinach, cheese and covered with broth and baked.  It sounded so good, I served it with baked salmon, but it was missing alot, needs much more spice and something???

Dessert was a chocolate truffle cake with candy cane whipped cream, very rich and delish but alot after that heavy meal!!!  All in all it was a successful dinner, that's the fun trying new recipes and figuring out what went well or not.

My youngest son Brandon is flying in tonight from Missouri and we're off to pick him up soon.  We are excited for him to be home for the holidays, our just married son and wife are staying home for Xmas, we hope they change their mind , we'll see!!!???

Only a few more days before Christmas and I have some serious sewing to do, an apron for a 4 year old and a walker bag and cell phone necklace.  My Dad was telling me about the radiation that comes off the cell phone, not sure how much but he thinks I should find some fabric that blocks it, I haven't googled this idea but if anyone has any thoughts please let me know what you know or think!!!

Have a fun week, such a fun time of year enjoy it!~!!!