Perfect Appetizer Menu for your New Years Eve

The Christmas holiday usually means lots of parties and get-togethers and this year was no exception. Although the year coming to a end, there is still ONE more party to either host or attend, NEW YEARS! Out with the old and in with the new!

This weekend, I tried out a menu that was simple and perfect for our final hurrah which you can duplicate at your end of the year party. Each year at Christmas, I try to get together with my high school girls friends. A few of them have moved away so this annual event is a great way to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new year to come. Wow, how the years seem to pass us by. Even though we only get together once or twice a year, it always feels like yesterday.  

As you know, with any good get together, there has to be great food & a few drinks... those always go hand-in-hand in my book. So, stressed for time, I put together my Pre-New Year menu. Lucky for me, these ladies are pretty easy to please... the menu was simple and delicious with just the right amount of variety.

One great rule of thumb for hosting a party is DO NOT try to make everything by yourself! Accept help where you can, either by having a friend bring the dessert or purchasing a few good, ready-made appetizers that you know everyone will enjoy.  

I hope you'll give my "simple & delicious" party menu a try!

Menu:  (Serves 10-12 people)

California Quinoa Salad

Roasted Winter Vegetables

Cheese and Meat Platter

Mini Quiches

Blackberry Honey Goat Cheese Crostini

Dessert (pick any of LiveBakeLove's awesome desserts!)

California Quinoa Salad:

Ingredients:
2 cups quinoa
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon McCormick seasoning
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-2 large mangos small dice
1/3 cup minced flat leaf parsley
1 bag of frozen edamame 16 oz (defrosted)
1/2 cup of green onion tops , diced small
3/4 cup toasted almond slivers
6 tablespoons, olive oil
6 tablespoons, blood orange olive oil (or a citrus olive olive)
6 tablespoons, white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons, fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 shallot, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of Feta Cheese (optional)

1. Rinse quinoa in water and place in a medium size saucepan with 4 cups of water, 1 teaspoon salt , McCormick seasoning and pepper.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered approx. 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Set aside to cool. Tip: This can be made a day ahead.

2. Combine the mango, parsley, edamame, green onion and toasted almonds in a large bowl. Set aside while you make the dressing.

3. To make the dressing -  place the olive oils, vinegar, lemon juice, shallot, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper in a jar and shake well to combine.

4. To assemble the salad -
~ Fluff the cooled quinoa with a fork and add it to the mango mixture.
~ Add the Feta Cheese and toss gently with a fork to combine.
~ Shake to salad dressing one more time to combine and pour the dressing over the salad mixture. Toss gently to combine and distribute the dressing.
~ Refrigerate until ready to serve

Roasted Winter Vegetable Platter:

This recipe makes a medium sized platter. I used the following vegetables:
Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half
Winter mini squashes (Costco has a nice bag)
Mini Yukon Potatoes
Carrot Medley (different colors)
Assorted sweet peppers

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425
1. Rise and dry all vegetables and put on a large rimmed baking sheet.
2. Sprinkle about 3-5 tablespoons of olive olive, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss by hand to coat.
3.  Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove from oven after the 15-20 minutes and flip with a spatula.  Return to oven and roast for an additional 15 minutes
5. Remove from oven and serve warm or room temp.

Meat & Cheese Platter:

1/2 pound of good hard salami (only spent $4.50 at the deli counter of my grocery store )
1 block of Cheddar (about 12 oz)
1 block of Monterrey jack cheese   (about 12 oz)
1 can of x large black olives
4oz of cream cheese 
3-4 tablespoons of a jalapeno jelly
1 container of cherry or grape tomatoes
One container of mozzarella balls in herbs
12 wooden Skewers (Party city has these cheap)
salt and pepper
Crackers
*Note: add another meat if a lot of men will be attending

1. Use a nice 16"-18" platter
2. Cut the cheeses in to 1/2-1" squares.  Add to middle of platter.  Arrange Salami next to cheese.
3. Take 4oz block of cream cheese and using your hands shape into a thick disk. Arrange on platter. Add the 3-4 tablespoons of Jalapeno Jelly on top.
4. Put the olives in a nice glass bowl and arrange on platter.
5. To assemble the skewers - alternate tomatoes and mozzarella balls. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Arrange on platter.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  
6. Arrange crackers in a platter next to the cheese platter.

Mini Quiches

Costco buy.... honestly this a great appetizer that always gets eaten.  You can also find them at Trader Joes during the holidays.

Blackberry Honey Goat Cheese Crostini

The platter you see in this picture is not the one from last night's party.... unfortunately, I forgot to buy blackberries when I was at the store (DARN!). This recipe (from a previous event) was too good not to share and would be perfect for New Year's Eve. It's super easy to make and absolutely delicious. Plus, it looks beautiful too!   

Prep: Wash and cut about 1 cup of blackberries in half and allow to dry

Ingredients:
4oz Honey Goat Cheese (in your grocery store near the specialty cheese, very affordable)
2 tablespoons Honey ( i used dessert flower)
1 loaf of a hearty Cranberry Nut bread cut into 1/4" slices then cut into halves or thirds to get 3"x3"pieces
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
Kosher salt
12 mint leave cut into ribbons (aka chiffonade)
Blackberry halves
3-4 cup assorted roasted nuts


Directions:
1. Preheat over to 375f
2. Brush the sliced bread with olive oil, on both sides. Sprinkle lighty with kosher salt and put on cookie tray.
3. Bake for 6-8 minutes and turn over and back for another 5-6 minutes.  Both side should be lightly toasted.  set aside to cool
4. Mix the goat cheese with the honey until completely combined. Once bread has cooled spread about 1 1/2 teaspoons onto one side of the bread.
5. Arrange 3-4 of the cut blackberries on top of the goat cheese and garnish with mint.
6. Arrange crostini on a nice platter.
7.  Sprinkle the nuts around platter to fill in the holes.
8. Refrigerate until ready to serve!
NOTE: you can use Vegan cheese instead of the Goat cheese instead.  Faye was the tester for that one, its delicious!

....AND FROM FAYE AND I, " HAPPY NEW YEAR"  MAY YOUR YEAR BE FILLED WITH LOTS OF FRIENDS, LOVE AND GOOD FOOD!!!!

Springtime Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Lemon Buttercream Frosting

                                                          (Baby Shower cupcakes)

                                               (Easter cupcakes)
   

Spring time is the perfect time for lemon desserts.  I admit I'm pretty lucky since I have a beautiful lemon tree next door which provides the best, juiciest lemons ever! 

A few weeks ago I started working on this recipe for a Baby Shower we were catering for a friend.  I needed a Lemon Cupcake recipe with a fruit topping.  I found a recipe online with the combination of ingredients I wanted to use for this cupcake.  I tried it once as the recipe directed, but was not happy with the consistency of the cake (not enough lemon flavor and not moist enough for me, and the frosting was a bit too sweet).

Faye and I discussed how to modify the recipe a few times and I did a few more trial runs and in the end these lemon cupcakes turned out absolutely delicious! They're moist with the wonderful fragrance and flavor of lemon, and once you top them off with the Blackberry Frosting they're just perfect!

   I have now made these cupcakes for an Easter brunch and also for the Baby Shower and each time they were delicious.   I hope you give my Springtime Lemon Cupcake with Blackberry Lemon Buttercream recipe a try for Easter. Your family & guests will love it!

Happy Cooking.

(Shower :Springtime Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream, Chocolate cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Filling and Peanut Butter Buttercream frosting)

Spring Time Lemon Cupcake with Blackberry Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Adapted from All Recipes
Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

 2 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
dash of salt

½ cup half and half 

Zest of 1 large lemon (I use the a fine grater)

Juice of 1 large lemon

Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

4 cups powder sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ cup seedless blackberry jam

16 blackberries for decorating

Prep Work:

Set oven at 350 degrees.  

Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners
Place 1 cup of granulated sugar and the lemon zest in a small bowl. Using your finger tips, squeeze the zest and sugar together to release the oils from the zest into the sugar. The sugar will become very fragrant. Set aside.

Directions

-In a large bowl, mix flour with baking powder and salt with whisk. Set aside.
-Beat ½ cup of butter with the 1 cup of lemon sugar for about 3 minutes, till light and fluffy. Add Vegetable oil and mix until combined.
-Add eggs, egg yolk and vanilla. Beat till well incorporated.
-Mix in the flour mixture just until incorporated.
-Combine the half and half with the lemon juice in a small bowl. Gradually add this to your batter just until combined. Do not overbeat.
-Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans.
-Bake for 16-18 minutes, remove from oven and place the pans on cooling racks. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Frosting

Beat softened butter and vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar till creamy.   Finally add the blackberry jam and lemon juice and mix until well combined and fluffy.

Frost each cupcake and add a blackberry on top.

                         (Easter baskets filled will Springtime Lemon cupcakes)

Fresh Blackberry & Meyer Lemon Bread

In case you haven't noticed, I am in love with Meyer Lemons so I am taking every opportunity to enjoy them these last few weeks while they're still in season. This Fresh Blackberry and Meyer Lemon Bread will remind you of spring time even in the dead of winter- it's light, airy and absolutely delicious!

 

 

 

For this month's Leftovers Club, I was paired with Charlotte, who has a cute new Blog called Pickle. For the February swap she baked some Banana Bread Scones with Brown Butter Glaze that look really yummy. I'm definitely going to have to give her recipe a try.

 

If you're interested in joining The Leftovers Club and receiving delicious treats in the mail every month, I encourage you to sign up at Food Ramblings.

 

 

 

Fresh Blackberry and Meyer Lemon Bread

Makes Three 6" Loaves or one 9" Loaf

 

** Note - I used 4 small meyer lemons for this recipe

** Tip - zest the lemons before extracting the juice

 

Bread Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon fresh meyer lemon zest

1/4 cup fresh meyer lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, room temp

3/4 cup fresh blackberries, cut into chunks

 

 

Glaze Ingredients:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon meyer lemon zest

1 tablespoon fresh meyer lemon juice (+ more if needed)

 

 

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 325. Prepare a 9"x5" loaf pan (grease and flour). I used four 6" paper loaf pans (bought at World Market).

 

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Set aside.

 

In another small bowl, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Set aside.

 

In the bowl of your electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using your electric hand mixer), beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy (approx. 2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

 

Add eggs one at a time and mix at low speed just until combined after each addition. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.

 

At low speed, mix in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the sour cream mixture. Repeat ending with the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mixing only until just combined after each addition to prevent overmixing.

 

 

 

Gently fold in the blackberries. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan(s) and spread into an even layer.

 

Place pan on baking sheet and bake until a tootpick inserted in the center comes out clean. My three 6" loaves took approx. 40-45 minutes. A 9" loaf may take from 60-80 minutes depending upon your oven. Tip: Check for doneness towards the beginning of the bake time. If the tops of your loaves get too brown before they are done, tent with foil to prevent over browning.

 

Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire cooling rack.

 

 

 

 

While the bread is cooling, prepare the glaze:

 

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl until combined. Add more fresh lemon juice as needed. The glaze should be a thick, drizzling consistency.

 

 

 

 

Drizzle the bread with glaze & enjoy!

 

Store leftovers tightly wrapped for up to 1 day.

 

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Easy Blackberry/Raspberry Cobbler

What to make,what to make...That is the question 

I was asking myself last week. A friend recently asked me to bake  a dessert for a dinner her and her husband were attending. Originally I had apples in mind, but as soon as I went to the store and saw the beautiful in season berries, my whole idea changed! This is one of the great things about going grocery shopping... it's filled with endless ideas.  So with my basket filled with blackberries and raspberries I headed home. I looked around for a good recipe and finally settled on one by the Pioneer Woman.  I have changed the recipe up quite a bit, but the foundation is the same - to really focus on the seasonal fruit.  I did a test run on the recipe the day before, just to make sure all my flavors were working the way I pictured they would.  All I can say is this Easy Blackberry/ Raspberry Cobbler is DELICIOUS!  I rely on Earl for the final seal of approval when I do my taste testing.  He had two helpings, so yes, it passed the test! The blackberries and raspberries work wonderfully with the vanilla and orange zest. This dessert is fruity and fragrant, sweet and tart; the perfect combination. Top it off with some vanilla ice cream and you have nothing but perfection! Easy and Delicious, my type of recipe.

Happy Cooking!

Ingredients
1 stick Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Self-Rising Flour
1 cup Whole Milk
1 vanilla bean
1/2 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup Raspberries (rinsed and patted dry)
1 cup Blackberries(rinsed and patted dry)
1/4 cup Turbindo Sugar (raw sugar works good too)


Prep work:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Butter a 2 quart casserole dish, set aside
Scrape vanilla bean and put seeds into 1 cup of milk, set aside.

Zest orange, 1/2 tablespoon is about one medium orange
In a small bowl, Melt butter (about 30 seconds in Microwave)

Directions:
In a medium size bowl pour white sugar  and flour. Mix using a whisk.

Add vanilla milk and whisk together.

Add melted butter,  Then add orange zest.

Mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated
Pour mixture into casserole dish. Spread evenly.

Taking the raspberries and blackberries, place them over the batter, 
pressing down lightly until the majority of the batter is covered.

Sprinkle Turbindo Sugar on top

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.  Top will be a light golden brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!!!

Black & Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

 

 

The weather in San Diego this past weekend was unusually warm which had me thinking of Summer fruit. It just so happens that Blackberries were on sale at Sprouts for only .99 cents a package so I had to indulge.

 

On their own, the blackberries were sweet and delicious; definitely some of the sweetest blackberries I have ever tasted, but I bought so many of them I wanted to incorporate them into a coffee cake/dessert. I also had some buttermilk in the fridge that was about to expire so I decided to make this Blackberry Buttermilk Cake which I am calling Black & Blueberry Buttermilk Cake because I ended up throwing in some Blueberries.

 

The cake is tender, moist and delicious. The addition of fresh lemon and orange zest compliments the fresh berries perfectly and made them taste even better! If you make this cake, which I sure hope you will, definitely do not skip out on the fresh citrus zest.

 

My husband brought some of the cake to work with him 3 days after I baked it and it was still moist, fresh and delicious. I don't recommend going beyond 3 days since fresh berries can spoil pretty quickly.

Black & Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/3 cups sifted cake flour (sift the cake flour first, then measure out 2 1/3 cups)
6 ounces fresh blackberries and 3 ounces fresh blueberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar for the topping
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar for the cake batter
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1 cup well shaken buttermilk
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Position oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degress F.

Butter a 9-10" springform pan. Place a circle of parchment paper at the bottom. Butter the parchment paper and lightly dust the entire inside of the pan with flour.**Alternatively you can use a 9"-10" cake pan, but please make sure you butter and flour the pan & use the parchment paper. This helps prevent the berries from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Into a medium size bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.** Essentially you are sifting the flour twice - before you measure it and again in this step. Don't skip this step, it gives the cake its' light fluffy texture.

Sprinkle the berries in an even layer into the bottom of the prepared pan, then sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar over the berries.

When this photo was taken, I realized I didn't have enough Blackberries so I filled in the gaps with blueberries. Hence the name Black & Blueberry Buttermilk Cake.

In the bowl of your electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using your electric hand mixer), cream together the butter and the 1 & 1/3 cups granulated sugar until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes).

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed.

Beat in the lemon and orange zests and the vanilla at low speed and mix just until combined.

At low speed, mix in the flour mixture and buttermilk alternating between the two. Start with 1/3 of the flour, mix just until combined, add 1/2 of the buttermilk, mix until just combined and repeat. Be sure to mix just until combined during this step so you don't overmix the batter.

Spread the batter in an even layer into the prepared pan.

Place on a baking sheet and bake for approxinmately 45-50 minutes. Since each oven is different, be sure to check for doneness at the beginning of the bake time (around 40 minutes). If the cake isn't done, repeat checking for doneness periodically until done. If your cake starts to brown too quickly, tent it with a piece of foil. The cake is done when it springs back when lightly pressed in the center or a toothpick in the center comes out clear. Be careful not to overbake.

Remove from oven and cool in pan on cooling rack for 15 minutes. Remove the sides from the springform pan and invert only a cooling rack. Carefully remove the parchment paper being careful not to pull off the berries.

Allow to cool a few minutes longer then dust generously with powdered sugar.

Place on a cake stand or platter and serve (dusting again with powdered sugar if needed).

 

 

Store leftovers tighly covered at room temperature. Since this cake is made with fresh berries, I recommend eating within 2 days although my husband brought our leftovers with him to work on day 3 and the cake was still moist and delicious. I wouldn't go any longer than that....