Christmas in January

Since we traveled to Disney World at Christmas, I missed out on what I see as a traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day experience. For me, this involves soup of some sort on Christmas Eve (preferably gumbo), followed by an assortment of cookies. Christmas Day favorites include ham and sweet potato casserole.

I mentioned to a group of friends that I thought I should have Christmas in January to capture the things I missed in December. This idea was greeted with great enthusiasm and we had a dinner party last night.

Offerings were:
Cheese ball
Cream cheese with pepper jelly
Bruschetta

Salad with homemade dijon viniagrette
Cran apple casserole
Green bean casserole
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potato casserole
Tomato Spinach Artichoke Soup
Ham
Rolls

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (with rice krispies inside, yum!)
Magic Bars
Pecan Tassies

It was a wonderful time of food, fun and friends. I contributed the following:

Tomato Spinach Artichoke Soup (from my friend Aimee's recipe blog!)
4 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
15 oz can artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup frozen chopped spinach
28oz can chopped tomatoes, with juices
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/3 cup sour cream

Saute onion in olive oil.
Add garlic and thyme and saute a tad longer.
Add remaining ingredients, except sour cream, and let simmer 30 minutes.
Add sour cream and heat for 5 more minutes.

Pecan Tassies
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sifted flour
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Blend cream cheese and butter.
Stir in flour.
Chill for at least 1 hour.
Shape into small balls and place in ungreased mini muffin pans.
Press dough against bottom and sides.
Place 1/2 of pecans into shells.
Beat together egg, brown sugar, 1 tbsp butter, vanilla and salt.
Put topping over pecans in shells.
Top with remaining pecans.
Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.

I forgot to read my own directions and greased the muffin pans. I think the crust would have been crispier had I not done this. Maybe I'll remember next time!

Sweet Potato Casserole
3 lbs. sweet potatoes
3 eggs
1/3-1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp or more vanilla

Boil sweet potatoes until soft.
Remove potato skins and mash with fork.
Beat remaining ingredients together until smooth.

Top with:
left over pecan tassie filling
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 - 1/2 cup butter, melted

(The recipe actually calls for 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup melted butter, so feel free to use this if you're not making pecan tassies on the same day.)

Mix all together and put on casserole. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, uncovered.