It’s that party time of the year. Although I married into a family of really good cooks in the grand old Southern tradition, and we really can put together an out of this world meal, I love party foods too. When our kids were young we used to save up so that we could order a family Christmas present of treats from Swiss Colony. Back then they had many luscious offerings, and although they were kind of pricey for us, they were sizable enough to feed a family of five generously. Now they seem to offer tiny quantities of not so appealing stuff, so we make all our own things, or put together our own charcuterie selections.

Anyhow, my husband and I still have what I consider to be party food or snacks instead of supper a couple of times during December. I like to make cheese balls and serve with summer sausage, dips, crackers, maybe meatballs, etc. Right now we have some of the best venison smoked sausage I’ve ever had.


Here is a recipe for venison meatballs. Of course you can use beef, but it isn’t nearly as good. I never have recipes, except for breads or cakes, so just have fun with this.

Saute an onion and several large cloves of garlic, finely chopped, in olive oil or butter until onions begin to be translucent. Add a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar, salt pepper, and seasonings you like to taste. I use three onion seasoning by Epicure.

Mix a pound and a half of ground venison with a half pound ground pork, an egg, bread crumbs or almond meal, and the onion mixture. Shape into small balls and bake at 375 until brown, which should take around 25 minutes, but check on them to be sure. Every oven is different. Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.

Here’s the link to a recipe for mini corn muffins with a cheddar filling. Being a Southern gal, I absolutely refuse to put sugar in my cornbread, so I’ll be leaving that ingredient out, but that’s an argument for another day.

I would especially appreciate any crab dip or crab cake recipes, as well as easy to make recipes. What are your favorites cheeses and dips? And since I can’t find the small rye bread loaves we used to serve anymore, does anyone have a recipe similar? I used to find these little loaves of rye bread in the deli section of stores, especially at holiday time. They were bigger than crackers, but not by much, maybe about 2-3” square. Also, I’d love a tried and true recipe for lamb pops, an appetizer my favorite Greek restaurant serves.

Sometime later this week we will have our regular Christmas recipe post, and since I have grandkids coming over Friday night for cookie making, I might do a post on treats to make with kids. I really have put a lot of time into finding easy to make cookies and candies for the little ones to be hands on with. Several years ago I started making gingerbread men with my youngest grandson, but when it expanded to the whole crew, and other treats came into play, it became a huge mess and a lot of trouble. So now I limit what we make to easy stuff that hopefully won’t take hours to clean up after.

I hope your holiday season is filled with joy. Happy Advent.

 

 

 

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