A Year of Holidays: Ring in the New Year Cocktail Party (Part 1)

Ring in the New Year Cocktail Party (Part 1)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Normally I’m in Canada with the family for the holidays, but this year I stayed in LA and was able to make it to my good friend’s annual New Year’s Eve bash.  That means I was able to actually cook something for the celebration, instead of being pushed out of the kitchen by my mom and aunts!

I opted to make the Spinach-Artichoke Dip, Salted Pita Wedges, and Cocktail Wieners (both the spicy and bbq ones).  The recipe for the wieners is only available in the cookbook, not on her website (at least not that I’ve been able to find).

I made the salted pita wedges in the morning, well in advance, and it was very simple – cut bread into wedges, brush with olive oil, arrange on baking sheets, sprinkle with salt, and bake.  I wasn’t sure how many people would be at my friend’s party, so I cut our pita bread into 8 pieces instead of 6 to make 48 wedges instead of 36 (note that her recipe claims it makes 18 wedges, but if you cut 6 pita bread into 6 wedges you get 36, not 18…so you’ll actually be getting even more than expected!).

Next I prepared the spinach-artichoke dip up until the baking process.  The garlic, spinach, and artichoke are cooked over the stove first, and then the sauce is made by cooking flour, butter, and milk in the same skillet.  The cheeses are melted in, and then some spices, the spinach, and artichoke are all mixed in.  It’s poured into a small baking dish and sprinkled with some remaining pepper Jack cheese.  At this point I just wrapped it up for travel.

The final step was the cocktail wieners!  Both the spicy and bbq versions were super simple – mix all ingredients together in pot, add in wieners, and let simmer until heated through.  Yep, that’s it.

Once I got to my friend’s place I popped the spinach-artichoke in the oven for about 20 minutes to bake before serving.

Taste: 10/10 for the Spinach-Artichoke Dip and Salted Pita Wedges, and 8/10 for the Cocktail Wieners

Cocktail wieners just aren’t my thing.  Maybe someone else would find these amazing.  The dip & wedges on the other hand?  AMAZING!!!!

Difficulty: Easy

All three of these recipes were very simple.  The artichoke-dip was the most involved, and might teeter on more of an “average” difficulty rating.

Cost: Expensive (Except Pita Wedges = Cheap)

The pita wedges are really cheap, but there’s a lot of ingredients involved in the other two recipes!