January 1, 2011 - New Year's Day Dinner

I decided that I'd like to host New Year's Day dinner with my parents, my in-laws and husband.  Everyone has a holiday that is their own.... Easter, Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day.... and I didn't have one.  Usually my in-laws host most of the big holidays because their family is so large.  I wanted a holiday that I host at our house and create a new tradition..  We just got married this year (oh wait, it's 2011... last year!) and I thought it was time to start creating our own traditions.  The unfortunate situation was that I decided to host this New Year's Day dinner on the Wednesday before.  This didn't leave me a lot of time to create a menu and do all the shopping.  I had to make it work.  I was sold on the idea and I had to make it happen.  Here's what I planned.

Appetizers:
To make it simple, I decided on making one dish, buying some items at the grocery store and counting on my mom to help with me the last.  We were having 7 people total so I thought this was fairly sufficient.

From the help of the market.... Cut up salami (the little salami that you can buy near the deli), a hunk of cheddar cheese, an olive medley and of course some delicious crackers.  I arranged everything on a beautiful platter and it looked perfect.

From the help of allrecipes.com.... A spinach artichoke dip.  This is my claim to fame.  It is such a delicious recipe!  Because I have been making it so often, I have made a few modications.  If you'd like to find it directly on allrecipes.com, it is called "Artichoke & Spinach Dip Restaurant Style (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Artichoke--Spinach-Dip-Restaurant-Style/Detail.aspx)"  Here's how I tweaked it.

Ingredients

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) container Alfredo-style pasta sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place garlic in a small baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven 20 to 30 minutes, until soft. Remove from heat. When cool enough to touch, squeeze softened garlic from skins.
3. Combine all the ingredients listed above. 
4. Cover and bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until cheeses are melted and bubbly. Serve warm.  Serve with tortilla chips, cut up veggies or pita chips. 

From the help from my mom:  the famous pigs in a blanket.  You know... the mini hot dogs wrapped in cut up crescent rolls.  Delicious! 

Dinner:I have been working on a menu that I could cook for guests.  My husband told me that I perfected my pork tenderloin.  Well, pork tenderloin it was!  I chose to make the pork tenderloin with a baked/roasted sweet potato and carrot mixture, a salad and garlic bread.  And my mom made some green beans!  Perfection.

Pork Tenderloin....
Ingredients

• 4 lbs of lean pork tenderloin (I use a total of 4 tenderloins.. that's how the market sells them)
• 16 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
• 2 tablespoons of dried rosemary
• pepper
• salt

Directions

• Pre-heat the oven to 435 degrees F.
• Rinse the pork tenderloins with warm water and pat dry.  Once rinsed, place in roaster pan, fatty side up (I use two 9 x 13 glass pyrex dishes).
• Combine 16 cloves of minced garlic with 3 tablespoons of evoo, 2 tablespoons of dried rosemary and some pepper).
• Take a knife and make slits into the pork.  Each pork tenderloin should have about 5-6 slits along the top.
• Fill each hole 1/2 with salt.
• Take the mixture and put into the holes to fill up.
• Take the remaining mixture and rub on the tenderloins.  You may need to add more evoo.
• Place the tenderloins into the oven.  (I use a meat themometer and it comes out perfect every time!)  Place an additional pan (can be an 8 x 8 pyrex dish) filled with water (1/2 full) under the pork tenderloins.
• Cook until the pork reaches 100 degrees F.  Lower the temperature to 375 degrees F.
• Cook until the pork reaches 165 degrees F.
• Rest for 10 minutes.
• Slice.

Baked/Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Carrots....
Ingredients

• 4 sweet potatoes
• 4 carrots
• 2-4 tablespoons of brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
• some salted butter

Directions

• Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Tip:  You can throw this in at the same time as the pork at 425 degrees F and then leave it in when the temperature is lowered.  It's perfectly fine and super easy!
• Peel and slice the sweet potatoes and carrots into about the same shape.
• Place the potatoes and carrots in a large roasting dish (again... I used a 9 x 13 pyrex dish)
• Met some butter and pour over then sprinkle with brown sugar.  With your hands, combine the vegetables with the butter and sugar.
• Cover with tin foil and place in the oven.
• Needs about 45 minutes to an hour or until the vegetables are soft.

My infamous garlic bread....
Ciabetta bread...4 cloves of minced garlic...some butter...some evoo...garlic powder.  Delicious!

Dessert:
My friend recently bought me mini triffle bowls for Christmas.  I really never made a triffle before let alone even really like them!  I was puzzled as to how I was planning on using them.  I looked up some recipes and was excited about what I found!

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/grand-raspberry-trifle

Ingredients
I recommed it.  It's unbelievable!  Delicious and the mini triffle bowls were a success!  What a fabulous idea to be able to deliver to each person, none other, than their own dessert! 

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 4 cups raspberries
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 pounds favorite pound cake

Directions

• In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and lemon juice to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool.
• In a small bowl, combine jam with 3 cups raspberries, mashing slightly. In a large bowl, whip cream and 2 tablespoons sugar to stiff peaks.
• Slice pound cake 3/4 inch thick; brush both sides of slices with lemon syrup.
• Fit 1/3 of slices snugly in the bottom of a 4-quart trifle dish or other glass bowl, trimming edges if necessary. Gently spread top of layer with 1/3 of raspberry mixture, and then 1/3 of whipped cream. Repeat one more layers; garnish with remaining cup raspberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.

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Until next time.  XO, the Cooking Foodie