New Year's Eve

This was the 3rd or 4th year in a row for my annual NYE dinner party.  I make all the food, and just ask that guests bring whatever they want to drink.  I've made guacamole and spinach dip every year, but those are probably the only menu items that have stayed consistent.  I feel like my kitchen expertise has grown by leaps and bounds in the last year, and I put a lot of thought into making this year's menu the most spectacular spread of food I have ever accomplished.  

Due to various conflicts, only a handful of people were able to make it this year, but those of us that were there had a great time and agreed that the food was amazing.  

Sweet Potato Cannelloni

filled with crab, onion, celery, cream cheese, alfredo

Cider-BBQ Pulled Pork

pork tenderloin rubbed with flour & cinnamon

slow-cooked in the crockpot for 9 hours

Slider Rolls

choice of plain or cider

Mini-Quiche

choice of bacon or mushroom

Quinoa Salad

with carrot, celery, broccoli, mushroom

olive oil/garlic/ginger 

Cole Slaw

choice of honey & mustard or mayo & ranch

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

spinach, artichoke, cream cheese, alfredo sauce

Guacamole

avocado, lime juice, salt, garlic powder, tomato

Pumpkin-Cheesecake Truffles

choice of dark chocolate or white chocolate

The biggest hit!

I'm told they "melt in your mouth"

I didn't eat any of the white chocolate ones, but I definitely devoured some of the dark.

I'm gonna have a tough time beating this menu next year!  

But I will find a way...of course.

As a side note: as far as I'm concerned, the year ends in June and starts in August.  Which means there are about 5 more months to get through before the year ends. 

But for those of you who go by the number you write at the end of the date...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cider Slider Buns

I've been thinking a lot about the menu for my annual New Year's Eve party.  Every year the food gets a little fancier and requires a little more work.  This year, I think one of the things I'm going to do is pulled-pork sliders.  And I'm going to make all of the slider buns myself.  Since I've never made sandwich buns before, I figured I better experiment beforehand...

I have made bread many times, but always with water for the liquid, and it always comes out denser than I like for sandwiches. 

Yesterday, I tried out this recipe for homemade hamburger buns from Williams-Sonoma.  They came out pretty tasty.  I cut the recipe in half, and ended up with 8 buns that were somewhere between slider size and hamburger size.  

They tasted good with the sloppy joe's I made for supper last night, 

and with the tuna salad I made for lunch today.

So that is definitely a recipe I can use for my New Year's Eve menu.  However, it is not my recipe.  It belongs to Williams-Sonoma.  So of course, I had to do something to make it mine.  

Today, I substituted apple cider for the milk, and bacon grease for the butter.  Now, it's my recipe. 

Since I had absolutely no idea how this would turn out, I cut yesterday's recipe in half, and made 4 buns. 

So, if you want more than four small buns...double or triple this recipe.

Cider Slider Buns

3/8 c apple cider

2 tbs  bacon grease

1 1/8 tsp yeast

1 1/4 tbs sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 c wheat flour

3/4 c flour

Put the cider and grease in a small saucepan and stir on medium heat just until the grease has melted.  Remove from heat, add yeast and sugar, stir.  I'm too lazy to wait for the yeast to proof...but you can if you want.  Add the salt and flour, stir to combine, knead til smooth.  Cover and let rise for an hour or two.  Divide into buns, put them on a baking tray, and let them rise again.  (Mine didn't really rise the second time...but they came out fine in the end so I don't think it matters.)

Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

They are tasty.  They definitely won't go with everything...but I think they will go well with my cider pulled-pork.  I'll make some regular buns as well though, in case some people are scared of cider-bacon buns.  

In other news...I just realized this is my 200th post!  I've had this blog for 20 months, and posted 200 times. I feel like I should have done something extra-super-special.