Christmas is next week and I know some, if not most of you, will be attending and/or hosting a holiday party! Maybe your party consists of you and your adult cousins still sitting at the kids table; maybe it consists of you not getting a chance to sit down with a hot plate of food because somehow you got stuck wrangling the kids and cooking the meal; or maybe it just consists of you getting drunk on the punch that you spiked even though you were told repeatedly not to do so because 'there are kids here!' Regardless of which scenario you fit into, or whether it's all three, these THREE delicious recipes are sure to help you cope!
#1
Cost effective: YES! The only thing I needed to buy was a tube of biscuits. $1.67!
And I have faith that if I had everything else on hand, you do too! Yes, I'm
talking to YOU, broke college kid who's potentially reading this!
Easy to concoct: YES!
Nutritious: NO!
Here's what you need!
per recipe:
1 tube buttermilk biscuits
¼ cup of unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp grated parmesan
4 gloves (2 tsp) minced garlic
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried parsley
pinch of salt
per average mom:
1 tube buttermilk biscuits
¼ cup of salted butter (because it's what you have), melted
2 tbsp grated parmesan
2 tsp minced garlic
1½ tsp italian seasoning
pinch of salt?
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces.
3. Place all the biscuit bites into a mixing bowl.
4. Measure out your butter into a large, microwave safe, mixing cup and place in microwave until melted.
5. Add your parmesan, seasonings, and salt to the melted butter, and mix.
6. Set aside 2 tbsp of the butter mixture and pour the rest over your mini-scuits and gently mix.
7. In a lightly greased muffin tin (12 cup) place 4-5 buttered and garliced biscuits pieces and pinch them together.
8. Put in oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.
9. Once that oven dings hotline blings, spoon or brush remaining butter mixture on top.
10. Serve and enjoy. Or hoard an entire pan for yourself because they are that damned good.
There is nothing that I would change about this recipe. Well, actually, I would have gotten enough ingredients for two batches. SO GOOD.
#2
CINNAMON & BROWN SUGAR CARROTS
Cost effective: YES! $5, because instead of substituting cinnamon sugar for cinnamon, I finally bought some.
Easy to concoct: YES! Pending you can cut carrots in half.
Nutritious: If you eat the carrots immediately after cutting them.
Here's your trusty list of ingredients:
8 large carrots
3 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp water
1. Wash and peel carrots and then cut into halves.
2. In a casserole dish combine brown sugar, butter, salt, cinnamon, and water.
3. Microwave until butter is melted.
4. Once butter is melted, add and mix your carrots into the 'sauce'.
5. Microwave for 6-8 minutes. Should I have put these into the oven instead? Sure. Did I? HELL NO.
6. Mix carrots.
7. Microwave for another 6-8 minutes, or until tender.
8. Enjoy!
The only thing I would've changed about this recipe is the size of the carrots and the amount of cinnamon. I would have cut the carrots closer to the size of the ones pictured in the recipe because mine sort of came out soggy. But I guess if I had tested them before cooking them for 8 additional minutes the second time this could have been avoided. And as far as the cinnamon goes, I wouldn't have necessarily added less, but I definitely would have added more brown sugar. They were actually a little spicy.
#3 - saved the most difficult for last
MOZZARELLA CHICKEN POPPERS
Cost effective: quantity vs yield these are more than the rest, but for approximately 25 bites you'll spend around $15. I think it's worth it.
Easy to concoct: more messy and time consuming, but not really difficult.
Nutritious: I'm going to say yes for this one!
Here is the down low on the fixin's:
1 lb ground chicken (yes, it looks sketchy as hell)
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 block mozzarella
2 tbsp bbq sauce
seasoned breadcrumbs
1. Preheat oven to 350
°F.
2. Cut the mozzarella into thick slices, and then cut into cubes.
3. In a large bowl combine the ground chicken, bbq sauce, salt and pepper.
It probably would've been easy to use my hands but I used a spatula instead.
4. The method I used to form the 'meatballs' was flattening the chicken into the palm of my hand, placing a cheese cube in the middle, then rolling the sides up and around the cheese.
5. Place chicken popper into breadcrumbs and roll around until covered.
6. Once your fingers are disgustingly coated with raw chicken and breadcrumbs, place poppers onto a greased or foiled cookie sheet.
7. Let them puppies sit in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
8. ENJOY!
For the bbq sauce I chose Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet & Spicy. Guys, Brendon and I looooooooooooved these. As with any time I cook meat in the oven, I always second guess myself when it comes to checking for 'doneness'. I cooked these for almost 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for because they turned out really juicy. In the end I concluded that it was probably form the cheese and we dug in.
 |
| BAM - MULTI-TASKING! |
And of course, our biggest little critic had to inspect everything.
LOVED the monkey bread.
DISLIKED the carrots.
LIKED the chicken poppers.
I say it was a nice outcome for the test run of my holiday party sides and snacks.
Your tinsel might get tangled if you attempt all three at once.
Leia
