April 3
· Filed under Recipes · Tagged drinks, mexican/spanish, party food
This recipe came from “Lisa” on allrecipes.com. It was super easy to make (even as a first-time sangria maker) and very tasty.
You probably won’t need ALL this fruit (see photo, ha ha), so use what’s left to garnish your glasses.
1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange
1 1/2 cups rum
1/2 cup sugar
1 750-mL bottle dry red wine
1 cup orange juice
Have the indgredients well-chilled. Slice the fruit into rounds and place in pitcher. Pour in rum and sugar and chill in refrigerator for two hours to develop the flavors.
When ready to serve, crush the fruit slightly with a spoon and stir in the wine and orange juice. Adjust sweetness to taste.
We made this in February, but I totally recommend it for a summer evening.
October 4
· Filed under Recipes · Tagged dessert, party food
These little desserts were a hit at a party I hosted recently. I topped mine with caramel and pecans / chocolate and strawberries.
One of my guests commented they made it easy to control portion size. 
I’d like to see how well they’d turn out with fat free cream cheese. Thoughts?
1 c graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp margarine, melted
3 8-oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
3/4 c sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
Mix together cracker crumbs, sugar, and margarine with a fork. Place one packed tablespoon of mix into each muffin cup. Bake 5 minutes; cool.
Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Mix in the eggs. Pour mixture into muffin cups, filling each to 3/4 full. Bake 25 minutes. Cool completely in pan before removing.
Top with desired toppings (fruit, pie filling, etc). Refrigerate until ready to serve.
July 8
· Filed under Recipes, Uncategorized · Tagged dip, party food, seafood
I made this recipe for our recent housewarming party, and it was a hit! We were going for kind of a “seaside” theme, and this shrimp dip was a great choice.
The recipe came from user prissycat at allrecipes.com. The only change I made was adding a few drops of red food coloring at the end to give it more of a pinkish color. (Oh, and we made a quadruple recipe… ha ha!)
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1 lemon, juiced (or 2 Tbsp lemon juice)
1/2 0.7-oz pkg dry Italian salad dressing mix
4.5 oz can shrimp, rinsed and drained
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream and blend with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add lemon juice and dressing mix; mix well. Add in shrimp and mix. Chill dip overnight and serve.
March 17
· Filed under Recipes, Uncategorized · Tagged dip, fondue, party food
I had some girlfriends over for a Fondue Party on Friday night. I hadn’t actually made fondue before, so it might not have been the best idea… Anyway, I used some recipes I found online and adapted them slightly. This was the cheese fondue recipe I used. It tasted a bit more like wine than I was expecting, but was easy to make and VERY tasty.
1 clove garlic, cut in half
1 c dry white wine
4 c shredded Swiss
2 Tbsp grated Romano
3 Tbsp flour
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Rub a 1-quart round casserole dish with the garlic. Pour wine into casserole dish and microwave high for 1½ minutes or until bubbles form (not boiling). Combine Swiss, Romano, flour, and nutmeg. Add to wine and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes or until cheese is completely melted, stirring often. Transfer to fondue pot.
Suggested dippers: cubes of bread, broccoli, celery, cherry tomatoes, chicken, ham
