Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to all of my bloggie friends!  I hope you had a great New Years Eve and an enjoyable/relaxing New Years Day.  Last night the husband and I got together with some great friends on the Cape for some food, Apples to Apples, the ball drop on TV, and some unexpected dancing and fireworks!  It was a great night!  I can't wait to relax, cook, and scrapbook (oh, and blog!) all weekend because we're going to get ANOTHER snow storm!!!  Eeek!

I thank all the readers that posted their guesses about the food I made for NYE.  Here are the answers, and recipes:)

Photo 1 - Oreo-Crusted Eggnog Cheesecake from www.cookiemadness.net

You will need:

• 40 oreos, crushed - I put 16 at a time in a plastic ziplock bag and crushed them with a roller
• 6 tbsp melted butter
• 4 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp rum 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 4 large egg yolks

Mix oreo cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom and a little over halfway up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.  Set pan on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 10 minutes

Beat cream cheese, nutmeg, sugar, flour, rum, and vanilla until smooth.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, scraping sides of bowl after each egg.  Add the whipping cream and egg yolks and stir until smooth.  Pour into crust.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until center is almost set.  **For mine, it was alittle overcooked at the 1 hour 10 minute mark, so I'd start checking next time after 1 hour**  Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cook before removing rim from pan; place onto serving tray or plate.  Refrigerate 4 hours, or overnight.  Highly enjoyed by those who picked at it with a fork:)  Instead of the original recipe, which called for whipped cream on top, I top it with more crushed oreos - yum!

Not the prettiest cheesecake ever, as the sides seem to be a little too cooked, but it worked:)

Photo 2 - Pistachio Champagne Delight

Whipped cream was a good guess (It did look like that in the picture, very strange!), but this was a great dip with Cracker Quartets.  Since it was refrigerated overnight, and then in a cold car, we had to let it soften a bit at room temperature so the crackers wouldn't break, but I would eat this again tomorrow.  My new fave and quick recipe!  This one is from www.whatscookingamerica.net, a great site!

You will need:

• 3 ounces of goat cheese
• 8 ounces soft cream cheese
• 1/2 cup pistachios, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup finely chopped chives if desired

In a medium-sized bowl, add goat cheese an microwave until soft.  Mix in cream cheese.  Add pistachios and chives and mix it all together.  Refrigerate atleast 8 hours.  THAT'S IT!!

When ready to serve, remove from fridge, let come to room temperature, and serve with crackers or even veggies, like carrots or celery....and champagne:)

 

Photo 3 - Another one from www.whatscookingamerica.net, Goat Cheese, Grape, and Pistachio truffles

I highly enjoyed the four I ate while making them.  Unfortunately, they never made it out at the party because there was so much food, but because they just need to be refrigerated, I brought them back home and will either eat them myself or maybe bring them to work Monday:)  Note - must reallly reallly like goat cheese to enjoy these, as it's a very strong goat cheese taste.  If you want to tone it down, I would suggest mixing the goat cheese with cream cheese.

You will need:

• 1/2 lb pistachio nuts, chopped
• 8 oz (I used 10 oz for 30 instead of the 24 the recipe calls for) goat cheese, room temperature
• 24 seedless red grapes, stems removed, and wiped clean

So easy!  Take about 1/2 tbsp or more of goat cheese in your palm.  Wrap around grape to cover completely.  Do this for each separate grape and then chill on a sheet pan for 15 minutes.

Roll the cheese-coated grapes in the chopped pistachios (I spread the pistachios on a small baking sheet - you can even toast them if you'd like) to cover completely and chill for 30 minutes, or until coating is firm.  I chilled them for almost a full day, until it was time to take them to the party.  Again, they never made it out, but they sure were tasty when I was making them:)   Sorry I didn't take more pictures of these, by this time I was falling asleep while rolling in pistachio nuts:)  I will try to take a picture of one up close this weekend...before I eat it;)

Some of my fave recipes at the party were Eric's Penne Alla Vodka, Melissa's Eggplant Crostini's, Caitlin's mac and cheese, and Ed's homefries (morning after) - I hope to get those recipes and try them out for you soon!

Enjoy the first few days of January, everyone!  I can't wait to catch up on reading some of your blogs:)  This is going to be a great year!  What are your resolutions?  Any new hobbies you want to try?

My word of the year is prioritization; my resolutions are to get in great shape and stay healthy; my new hobby is going to be Zumba...and hopefully more, maybe even floral arranging:)

Enjoy your night!