For anyone who's cooking tomorrow on New Year's Day...

[Sugar Beats]

I just made a phenominal recipe! Roasted Red Pepper Cheese Dip! It's so good.

Since I've catered weddings, christmas parties and other events for years, the Holidays & good food are pretty much synomynous for me.

So I've been preparing for tomorrow, for a little soiree @ my house and here's what's on the menu. (I'm trying to start off the New Year right w/ lots of veggies and heatlhy offerings for my guests!)

Roasted Red Pepper Cheese Dip (new recipe~ so good!) w/ fresh cut veggies & wheat pita chips

Goat Cheese, Roasted Garlic & Tomato Croutes (just like crostini)

Spinach Parmesan Dip w/ homemade crudites

Rosemary Beef Skewers w/ Creamy Horseradish Dipping Sauce

Grilled Asparagus

Spring Mix Salad w/ fresh oranges, dried cherries, toasted almonds, fresh parmesan curls & balsamic vinaigrette

Lemon-poppy seed pound cake &

Individual mini-motlen chocolate lava cakes!

For anyone else who is a "foodie" let me know & I'd be happy to share any & all these yummy recipes!

I might need to make some more dip as I inhaled 1/2 of it just this morning. I'm sure it's even better the longer it sits!
I've got to step away! :smile5:

[ForeverAutumn]

You can't just tell us how good that Roasted Red Pepper dip is and then not provide the recipe! And while you're at it, that Spinach Parmesan dip sounds yummy too! :)

I spent my afternoon making cookies and cutting veggies for this evening's festivities. We always spend New Years Eve with the same group of friends and I'm always expected to bring cookies (it's my thing). This year I made German shortbread with jam in the middle (I don't know why it's called German shortbread) and a reverse chocolate chip cookie (chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips).

[Sugar Beats]

Sorry!
Here's the recipe! It's a keeper...:D

Roasted Red Pepper-Cheese Dip

Ingredients:
1-2 Red bell peppers
1 small onion, peeled & halved
Cooking spray
1 whole head garlic
1 Cup plain fat-free yogurt
½ Cup block style fat-free cream cheese
¼ teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsely

Preparation:
Preheat broiler. But bell pepper in half, lengthwise. Discard seeds & membranes. Place skin side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Flatten by pressing down with the palm of your hand. Broil 15 minutes or until peppers are blackened. Place in a zip-loc plastic bag; seal. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove and discard peel. Set roasted pepper asise.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place onion halves, cut side down on a baking sheet coated w/ cooking spray. Remove white papery skin from garlic (do not separate cloves). Wrap garlic in foil and place on baking sheet w/ onion. Bake for 15 minutes or until onions are soft and beginning to brown. Place onion on a plate. Return garlic to oven and roast an additional 15 mins. Cool for 10. Separate cloves and squeeze to extract pulp. Discard skins.

Place pepper, onion and garlic in a food processor; process until smooth. Add yougurt, cheese, cumin and ground rep pepper, process some more until smooth. Spoon into a serving/dipping bowl and stir in fresh chopped parsley. Serve w/ whole wheat pita chips, crackers, breadsticks or chopped fresh veggies!

[Sugar Beats]

I love a good shortbread! Those choco chip cookies sound really good too!

[ForeverAutumn]

That dip sounds great! And low-fat too...gotta like that. I'm definately going to test that recipe very soon.

These shortbread cookies are very good. I made them for the first time this year at Christmas and Hubby's been begging me to make them again. I guess the recipe is a hit!

Oops, and they aren't German. They're called Russian Tea Cakes.

1 cup salted butter
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup of fruit preserves or chopped walnuts

Preheat over to 325F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth.
Add Vanilla
Blend in flour and salt, mixing thoroughly until combined.

Roll tablespoons of dough onto small balls about 1 inch in diameter. Please dough balls on lightly greased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Press down the centre of each ball with a spoon, forming a depression. Fill each with a teaspoon of preserves or nuts.

Bake 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool flat surface. When cool, dust lightly with confectioners sugar.

I don't add the salt. And I don't grease the cookie sheet. I use cookie sheets with an air cushion in them (if you've never used these kinds of sheets, they make a huge difference in how your cookies bakes) and I put fresh parchment paper on the sheet for every batch that I bake. This cuts down on the oil in the cookies and provides a nice, even, golden brown bottom.

[Sugar Beats]

Thanks! I can't wait to try em'!

[Sugar Beats]

FA, I'll post the Spinach Parmesan dip recipe later for you & I've decided to swtich my mini molten lava cakes to a Hot Fudge Brownie Cake. I'll try it tom, it's a new recipe. If it turns out well, I'll send that one your way too. You like Chocolate don't you?

[ForeverAutumn]

Hey SB, I made the red pepper dip this afternoon. I thought that it was going to be a little too liquidy, but it's actually thickening a bit being in the fridge and, most importantly, it's delicious!

I would definately make this again but I think I'll try replacing the yogurt with fat free sour cream. It's just a personal preference. I like yogurt but my Hubby hates it and can taste it in the dip.

Thanks for the recipe!

[Sugar Beats]

FA, I'm so glad you like it! That's a good idea to try it w/ the sour cream. I like yogurt too, but it does have a different taste. The longer the dip sits in the fridge, the better it is! So if you ever make it for company, I think it would taste best if you did so the day before!

[ForeverAutumn]

Hey SB, I made the dip again tonight using sour cream instead of yogurt and I like it better with the sour cream. I reversed the measurements too. The full block of cream cheese and only a half cup of the sour cream.

YUM!

[Sugar Beats]

Thanks for playing around w/ it! I will try it your way, it sounds good. I've been on a chocolate kick today, I should switch to something a bit healthier. Maybe I'll whip up a batch. Did you have the chance to try out any of the recipes from the website? Let me know if you like them or need any copies of anything!

[ForeverAutumn]

So check this out! I made cheese tortellini for dinner with some grilled chicken breast, and I used the dip as pasta sauce. It was faaaaaaaaantastic!

I haven't tried anything off the web site yet. I've been under the weather for the past couple of weeks with a bronchial infection (finally on antibiotics, so that should help) so I haven't done much in the way of cooking other than to make the dip. Hubby's been doing most of the kitchen duties.

Once I've got my energy back and get myself organized, I think that I'm going to do a detox and eat clean for a while to clear out any remaining toxins so, to be honest, I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be regarding your web site right now. Sorry, I was hoping that I'd be able to do a better test drive for you.