Holiday Recipes
I don't want to make and take the things I used to before but they are so familiar and easy but now pouch friendly.
I am looking for suggestions what other have taken to a pot luck dinner since they have had their surgery. My 1st Christmas party is with our support group so I need help so I can treat this wonderful people right.
Thanks for your help and suggestions in advance.
Geri
10 oz. goat cheese (I buy mine at Food Basics- 2 for $5.00)
1/4 to 1/2 cup skim milk
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. basil pesto (homemade or store-bought)
5 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped ( sometimes I used slivered almonds)
Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
Line the inside of a 2-cup sharply sloping bowl (about 4 inches across the top) with plastic; let the ends extend over the sides a few inches. In a mixing bowl, mash the goat cheese and 1/4 cup of the milk with a fork and season with 1/4 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper; add more milk if the cheese hasn’t softened.
Spoon about one-third of the cheese into the lined bowl and pack it into an even layer. Spread the pesto almost completely to the sides of the first layer of cheese. Top with another third of the cheese, the sun-dried tomatoes, and all but 1/2 Tbs. of the pine nuts. Top with the remaining cheese. Pack down, fold the plastic over, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Half an hour before serving, take the bowl out of the refrigerator. Pull on the edges of the plastic to loosen the terrine from the bowl. Invert the terrine onto a plate, drizzle with a little olive oil, and let sit for 1/2 hour to warm up. Sprinkle with the remaining pine nuts, season liberally with pepper, and serve.
You can form any homemade cheese ball into any shape you want and it's a good protein source. For example:
Christmas present - mix all your fav ingredients together to form cheese ball. Put cheese mixture into a small square or rectangular container (LINE CONTAINER FIRST with plastic wrap!) and put into the fridge for a couple of hours or until it hardens. Remove block from container and place on a tray. Use chopped up red and green peppers as "wrapping paper" decorations and tie the present (4 way tie) with a ribbon made from whole chives.
Christmas Tree - roll the ingredients into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge 'til it's hard enough to shape. Remove and place on a cookie sheet. Roll and form the cheese into a cone shape (like a pine tree). When warmed up enough, roll the cone in finely chopped parsley and dill. Place on a tray and decorate your tree - nuts pressed into the cheese to look like a garland, red/green/yellow peppers pressed on as ornaments, a star for the top cut out of a yellow pepper, etc. Place crackers around the tree to look like presents.
Etc, etc, etc.! :)
I'm making these for my pot luck here at work on Dec 2.
Karen
Ontario Recipes Forum - http://www.obesityhelp.com/group/ontario_recipes/