Friday, January 2, 2009

Snackfest '09

Yesterday being new year's day seemed like as good of an occasion as any to get together with family and eat a bunch of food!
One of my favorite things to start (and end) with is a lovely pineapple cheeseball. I've made this particular one for many a gathering and always get nice comments on it. It was especially lovely after my talented daughter artfully arranged the Ritz crackers around it.
My hubby made his guacamole that everybody but me loves...I'm just not an avocado person. I know I'm wrong for it.

And I put together some yummy bruschetta. It's pretty much just diced tomatoes, chopped basil, a drizzle of olive oil and coarse salt and pepper. This is some of my favorite stuff!

I didn't take a pic but I also made some wonderful buffalo chicken dip. If you haven't tried it, go and get everything you need and do it today. I could just have a bowl of that stuff and a spoon and be a happy girl.

We had this cute football shaped shrimp platter especially with my son in mind. There have been times he could clean off one of those by himself, but he wasn't especially feelin' it today.

To make sure we got a little meat in our diet we had some pineapple chicken skewers and bacon wrapped dates. I'd never had the dates before...I enjoyed the flavor but was not sure about the squishiness level of the dates. Will have to try them again sometime.

To keep our collective blood sugars from dropping we had to have some sweets. I made some s'mores brownies that I found a recipe from Food Network's site. (recipe below) They were pretty darned good but were quite a pain to cut. Also had some cranberry bars that weren't too bad. I liked the oatmeal in them; gave them a nice texture.

Check out the inside of those brownies...super fudgey!

Crust: 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs 2 tablespoons sugar Pinch fine salt

Brownie:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped 1 cup packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup white sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon fine salt 4 large cold eggs 1 cup all-purpose flour

Topping: 4 cups large marshmallows

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 by-8-inch square baking pan with foil so it hangs over the edges by about 1 inch. For the crust: Lightly butter the foil with some of the melted butter. Stir the rest of the butter together with the crumbs, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the brownie. Put the butter and chocolate in a medium microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave on 75 percent power for 2 minutes. Stir, and microwave again until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. Alternatively, put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl on the pan without touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted. Stir the light brown and white sugars, vanilla and salt into the melted chocolate. Add the eggs and beat vigorously to make a thick and glossy batter. Add the flour and stir until just incorporated.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is crispy and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean, with a few crumbs, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully position a rack about 6 inches from the broiler and preheat on low. Layer marshmallows across the top and toast under the broiler until golden, (keep an eye on it, it can go quick), about 2 minutes. Cool on a rack, gently removing the brownies from the pan using the aluminum flaps. Carefully separate any marshmallow from the foil and fold away. Cut into 12 (2-inch) squares.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG food fest galore! I mean whoa, next time I'm a comin'.

Julie said...

C'mon over!

MDtripmom said...

Wow, that's a lotsa food! We love cheeseballs in our home. My hubby told his friends as a teenager that he would have a wife that makes cheeseballs and he found one in me! I've never had one with pineapple and it's piqued my interest! -from a fellow SITSta and food lover :)

Unknown said...

Okay, now I want brownies for breakfast!!

Great recipes! Came over from Sits....have a great day!

Marlene

Lori said...

This is how you eat? What time shall I be there. . lol. Food looks delish!!

Tiffany said...

I love munchy foods like that. Those brownies look awesome! My kids would love those (if I didn't eat them all myself)

Tabitha Blue said...

OK, YUM!!!!!! Wow, I wish I were there. What a great feast! Perfect way to remember the holidays and start the new year!!!

:)
~Tabitha~

freshmommyblog.com

AndreaLeigh said...

yum! that looks delicious! I'm just stopping by from SITS to say hello and wish you a fabulous week.

Preston said...

What a spread! There wasn't one thing on that list that I would not have eaten! It all looked so yummy...and I think I went into a sugar coma just looking at the picture of those smore brownies!

Stacy Uncorked said...

Those brownies look decadent! YUM! Over from SITS - I'm getting hungry looking at all that yummy food! LOL!! And don't worry, you're not alone...I'm not an avocado person, either...and probably wrong for it, too! LOL!!

Bethany said...

WOW look at all that food! Looks like you had a great time- the pineapple & chicken skewers look especially good to me :) Wandered over from SITS :)

Captain Dumbass said...

It's only just past breakfast, but mmmmm, that looks good.

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a feast. I want some of those brownies (and you need to come and visit me and bring the rest of the food).

Aubrey said...

Wow! Now that is the way to bring in a New Year! Yum!!

Anonymous said...

You just made me hungry!

James said...

Happy new year!

Could you do an edible version of this blog post please - it all looks sooooo good!

Like the idea of dates instead of prunes with bacon, and marshmallows on top of brownies? That's just something else!

Anonymous said...

Those brownies look almost too good to be true!