Holiday Party 2011

Oh the holidays. So busy. So lively. So full of food!

So dear readership - the 2011 Holiday party menu was as follows:

* Chickpea Rosemary soup
* Grilled Lamb Skewers
* Mint Verde as a side of said skewers
* Bruschetta (from the Hubs)
* Date Cheese Ball (recipe below)
* Hot Buttered Rum (also from the Hubs)

From our guests:
A few very nice cheese selections and homemade sourdough bread (their bread is superb!I may have to try to steal some of their starter ;p)
Some delicious Gingerbread men (Gianna's brand and AMAZEBALLS)
A delightful bottle of wine

Verdicts:
The Chickpea Rosemary soup was very flavorful but either needed to be blended more or less. It was more of a very thick while stil liquidly consistency that made for a great soup as long as you had a spoon. My hopes for it had originally been to be able to allow people to drink it straight from the mugs laid out to accompany it. As left overs it was awesome and I ate it for lunch for two days following, spicing it up by adding in two spoonfuls of garlic salsa to my soup bowl with each serving! Super tasty!

The lamb was incredible. I plan on tweaking the marinade just a bit and posting it at a later date for the masses. Suffice to say that a good 4 hours marinade can really pack lamb chunks with tasty flavor goodness. I used left over lamb in chili where the rosemary that had been used in the marinade made a fantastic showing.

The date cheese ball was an unexpected hit with the guests. It was my first time making a cheese ball at all... let alone one which incorporated dates.

Here is that recipe:

Date Cheese Ball (Vegetarian Times, Dec. 2011 issue)

1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 8oz. package reduced-fat cream cheese *I used neufchatel in mine
1 4oz. log goat cheese (or blue) softened
1 tbs. grated orange zest *I used the zest of one medium sized orange
1 tbs. fresh thyme leaves
1 pinch of salt
1/3 cup chopped pitted dates
* I also added in a pinch of fresh ground black pepper

1. Toast almonds until light brown and set aside to cool.
2. Process cheeses, orange zest, thyme, salt, and pepper in food processor until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and stir in dates. Coat a large rectangle of plastic wrap with cooking spray, and scoop cheese mixture onto it. Shape into ball, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour.
3. Roll cheese ball in toasted almonds (I did so by putting the almonds in a bowl bigger than the cheese ball and swirling), pressing to adhere. Let stand at room temp for 10 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Info: Per 3 tbs. serving: 134 cal; 6g protein; 9g total fat (5g saturated fat); 8g carbohydrate; 20mg chol; 203mg sodium; 1g fiber; 7g sugars

Until we eat again...