(Blackberry and Sparkling Wine Geletina…yep that’s dessert, not a drink!)

I am a stay at home kind of gal when it comes to New Years. There is nothing better than filling up on food and wine and then only having to walk three feet to the bedroom. Sam’s Club asked a few of us bloggers to throw out some New Year’s Eve party ideas. My theme was Simple New Year’s Eve. Alright, definitely up my alley. I was all good with this until I found out I had to come up with decorations. Umm, Martha Stewart and Sandra Lee I am not. There are not table scapes in my future. So I panicked a little, until one day I came in and my dog (I leave the TV on for her) was watching a painting show on PBS. The lady was paining a bowl a fruit. And there I had it. Fruit is not only art, but edible…and so it began.
Off to Sam’s Club I went to find as much fruit as I can. And what goes better with fruit, than cheese! You already know that Sam’s Club offers some great cheeses, I just had to narrow it down a bit. I planned my menu to have some fruit in every bite. But let’s keep in mind that nuts and olives are fruits too. No, it’s not cheating. I also planned my menu to be as simple as possible, often using some of the same ingredients throughout the party dishes. The Ballarini Gorgonzola is used twice in my appetizers, first in the stuffed dates, and then in the crostini topped with Gorgonzola and a Pear-Onion Jam. The pine nuts that are topped on the dates are also used in the Hummus, which to save time was the Sabra pre-made Hummus, which I buy on a weekly basis (especially the pine nut flavor).
Add a nice Feta Walnut spread that is super simple to make, and is made that much better with a few Diamond Walnuts candied on top. The Zeal Sauvignon Blanc pairs really well with the Feta Dip (lucky for me they had a chart of what wines go with what cheeses right at my Sam’s…because truthfully, I’m not skilled in that area ).
The centerpiece, which is essentially a bunch of fruit. But the fruit doubles as part of the appetizer as pears, grapes, and apples all go lovely with cheese. Or even better, how about a cheese that already has fruit in it, the Wensleydale Cheese with Autumn Fruits has both currents and apples mixed into and aged with the cheese. Yummy.
And for dessert, I went with something that usually surprises people. Blackberry and Sparkling Wine Geletina. Geletina is a fancy way of saying Jell-O. Yep, wine Jell-O. I know it seems a little odd. But if you are a champagne or sparkling wine fan, you will really enjoy these. I made them a few years back with Prosecco but tried them this time with the Beciano Mocsato D’asti. Either work. These are light and refreshing and what is a better way to toast the New Year than with dessert!!!
So head on over to Sam’s Club this holiday season to help make you New Year’s Eve party Simple and Easy. And have a Fruitful New Year! Feel free to come talk a little New Year’s Eve party planning with me over on the Sam’s Club Facebook Page.
*As always, I was compensated for this post, was given a Sam’s Club membership, and a gift card to purchase the food that is in the post, but opinions are that of my own.

If you want to add a little extra cheer in your New Year, why not enter the Sam’s Club “New Year’s Eve Resolutions” Twitter Contest. It starts at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (“EST”) on December 27, 2010 and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on January 1, 2011.
You have the chance to win a 14-piece Cuisinart Cookware Set (Value $149.98)! I could use some new cookware right about now, how about you?
All you need is a Twitter account. Go to Sam’s Club Twitter page to become a follower of Sam’s Club. Tweet your response to the Contest question: “What New Year’s Resolution Have You Achieved?” using the hashtag #jumpstart and mentioning @Samsclub in the tweet. You have the option of tweeting their response on the Sam’s Club Twitter page OR their own Twitter page. However, the correct #jumpstart and @Samsclub must be present in the answer in order for the response to be counted as an Official Contest entry.
One entry per person. There is one winner and contest entry will be judged based on the clear relationship between the tweet and the following criteria: Originality (40%); Pertinence to Theme (40%); Difficulty (20%).
To see more info, go here.

(My attempt at a centerpiece )

Fruitful New Year’s Eve Menu

Appetizers:
Red Grapes
Apples
Pears
Medjool Dates Stuffed with Gorgonzola and Pine Nuts (recipe follows)
Feta Walnut Spread with Candied Walnuts (recipe follows)
Crostini with Gorgonzola and Pear-Onion Jam (recipe follows)
Hummus with Olive Tapenade and Pine Nuts (tapenade recipe to follow)
Wensleydale Cheese with Autumn Fruits and Keebler Entertainment Crackers

Dessert:
Blackberry and Sparkling Wine (I used Beciano Mocsato D’asti this time around) Gelentina (see recipe here)

Drinks:
Zeal Sauvignon Blanc

Beciano Mocsato D’asti

(Feta Walnut Spread with Candied Walnuts and Hummus with Olive Tapanade and Pine Nuts)

Feta-Walnut Spread with Candied Walnuts

8 ounces Feta Cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 TBSP minced parsley
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup chopped walnuts

Using a food processor, blend all the ingredients until smooth. Place spread in bowl and top with candied walnuts.

Candied Walnuts:

3/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of sea salt

Place a sheet of parchment paper onto a baking sheet.
Using a medium saucepan, add sugar. Use a wooden spoon or any heat resistant spoon to stir around to avoid clumps. Sugar will turn liquid and start to turn a nice brown color. Don’t go too dark or it will be bitter.
Toss nuts into the caramel sugar and coat the nuts with the caramel. Sprinkle sea salt.
Pour onto prepared pan to let them cool.

Hummus with Olive Tapenade and Pine Nuts

1 (1 pound , 9 ounce) container of Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus
Olive Tapenade
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

Place Hummus in a serving bowl. Place tapenade in center of dip and top with pine nuts.

Easy Olive Tapenade
1 cup pitted black olives
2 cups green olives
3 tsp. olive oil
3 tsp. Balsamic vinegar
3 TBSP pine nuts
1 clove garlic, minced
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in the blender or food processor and blend for a few seconds until smooth.

(Crostini of Gorgonzola and Onion-Pear Jam and Dates stuffed with Gorgonzola and Pine Nuts)

Crostini with Gorgonzola and Pear-Onion Jam

8 ounces Gorgonzola, at room temperature
8 ounces Cream Cheese, at room temperature
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
2 baguettes or French bread if you can’t find
Recipe for Pear-Onion Jam (get recipe here)
Using a stand mixer, blend together the cheese and spices until fully incorporated.
Slice baguettes thinly. Spread a generous tablespoon of cheese mixture on top of bread. Place under broiler until cheese gets bubbly.
Top with Pear-Onion Jam. Can be served at room temperature.

Dates Stuffed with Gorgonzola and Pine Nuts

1 pound Medjool dates, halved with pit removed
8 ounces Gorgonzola, at room temperature
8 ounces Cream Cheese, at room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup pine nuts

Using a stand mixer, blend together the cheese and spices until fully incorporated.
Pour pine nuts into a large shallow bowl.
Spoon or pipe cheese mixture into date half. Press cheese side into pine nuts, so that they stick to top. Serve at room temperature. Amount of appetizer depends on size of dates.

Most everything is still in boxes and very unorganized sadly. Most of my bake ware is still packed up (I know, I know) yet I still get asked to go to parties and bring things. Ahhh. I had a party to go to and even though they told me not to bring anything, I got a call later telling me that their kids wanted to know what Peabody was bringing. Otherwise known as guilt. Ugh.

So I turned to Sam’s Club to help me out. And though they have a ton of  beautiful desserts already to go, I kind of wanted to make something a little fun for the kiddos. The minute I saw the brownie bites over in the bakery I had an idea form in my head. Cheesecake Christmas Trees, and the brownie bites could be the bottom. Lucky for me Sam’s Club carries Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake in the frozen section. My Sam’s had both a plain (or original as they like to call it) and a pumpkin cheesecake. I picked both. I also stopped by the baking section to pick up the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company Dipping & Candy-making Bar. It comes in both white and a double chocolate flavor. I chose to go with the white as I wanted to color my trees green.

So a cheesecake, some brownie bites, and a baking bar and I was basically in business. All I needed to add was some festive sprinkles and some food coloring. If you haven’t had the brownie bites, they are super yummy. They make a nice, dense, fudgy brownie, just the way I like em. And the cheesecake is from the Cheesecake Factory, so really, need I say more. The baking bars are great, as they can even be microwaved, which considering the fact I don’t have any pots right now (I do, they are just hiding somewhere), this made my life a lot easier. Just add a little green food coloring to the chocolate and you are good to go. And more importantly it took hardly anytime at all.

If you don’t even have time to make these Sam’s does offer up some wonderful desserts that you can simple just pick up and go like the Cheesecake Factory Red Velvet Cheesecake (yes, I know I mention this all the time…for a reason people!) Chudleigh’s Caramel Apple Blossoms both found in the frozen dessert case, along with the two cheesecakes I purchased. Or the Bakery department has a Caramel Pecan Silk Pie, Harvest Orchard Pie, Cherry Pie, Chocolate Truffle Cake and Chocolate éclairs that are baked there and ready to serve at your next holiday gathering.

Also, be sure to join me on the Sam’s Club page on December 20th and participate in a Holiday Meal Planning Discussion with me.

*As always, I was compensated for this post, was given a Sam’s Club membership, and a gift card to purchase the food that is in the post, but opinions are that of my own.

Cheesecake Christmas Trees

Makes 12 Trees

1 Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake

1 Ghirardelli Chocolate Company Dipping & Candy-making Bar, chopped up finely

1 container Brownie Bites (there will be extras…just eat them )

Festive sprinkles for decorating

Green and Yellow food coloring

Keep cheesecake frozen, this will help with the chocolate setting up quickly, as well as moving the cheesecake to wire rack. The cheesecake is pre-sliced (yay, because don’t know where my good knives are right now). Remove each piece and place them on two wire racks with a cookie sheet underneath (to catch the extra chocolate drips).

Take out one cup of chopped up chocolate candy making bar and set aside. Microwave the rest according to the directions on the back. Add a couple of drops of green food coloring to it. When it is pourable, pour over the cheesecake tops, use a spatula to smooth out over top of cheesecake. Work quickly to add sprinkles as chocolate will start to harden.

With the leftover green chocolate adhere the brownie bite to the base of the cheesecake. Put into freezer or fridge if you have more time to firm up.

Prepare a cookie sheet or large plate with parchment paper. Microwave remaining chocolate but this time add a few drops of yellow food coloring. When smooth, add to a piping bag and make stars onto the parchment paper.  Place in freezer to firm up. Once firm add a little more melted chocolate to top of tree to adhere star. If the chocolate that you are using to adhere stars has hardened up, just reheat and use.

Place in an airtight container in the fridge. You can serve them upright if you want a more fun presentation.

If you want a non-tree shape, the pumpkin cheesecake just was covered in white chocolate and then chopped pecans. Those didn’t photograph pretty though.

So most people know that I cook for Canadian Thanksgiving and then go out for American. But sadly I miss out on the best part of Thanksgiving when I do that….the leftovers. I will be honest and say I really don’t get all that excited about Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t like turkey warm at all. What I actually want is a turkey sandwich. But not just any one, I want one with stuffing and cranberry sauce in it as well.

So when Sam’s Club* asked if I would be interested in highlighting Thanksgiving dinner items, I asked them if I could just skip to the left overs. Which lucky for me they said sure. They are nice that way. I also told them that I would want to make a recipe for my readers, so could I mess with some of the stuff, and they again said sure.

Since there is only one person (and one dog) that eats turkey in this household I set out looking for a smaller turkey or just a breast. I found a nice, small sized Butterball turkey breast that was already cooked. Which was perfect, as I was using it for sandwiches. Though I must admit that if I was not doing turkey, I was so going to make the Jack Daniel’s Pork Loin (which I’m so going back for). Sam’s Club also offers a variety of Fresh Gourmet Side Dishes, with everything from Green Bean Casserole to Lobster Bisque. But for my sandwich I needed the Stuffing and the Cranberry Orange Relish. The really awesome thing about the Cranberry Orange Relish is that there is actual mandarin orange slices in there, not just the flavor. Made for a nice surprise as I was eating my sandwich. Which I put on just a half of one of the ginormous hoagie rolls I got there as well. I see a bread pudding made of hoagie rolls in my future.

And last but not least I went traditional. Pumpkin Pie. I do love it so. And they make an almost 4 pound pumpkin pie for under $7. You can’t really beat that people. Since I figure I can clear half a pumpkin pie in a day , I needed to get creative with what to do with the rest of the pie. And though I fully support pie for breakfast, I decided to cleverly disguise it as real breakfast. If you consider donuts real breakfast, which I do.

So I scooped out some pie filling, mixed it with heavy whipping cream, made some donut holes, dipped in glaze and filled with the pie filling. Um, yeah. I should have been doing this years ago. Years ago people! Oh my. Wear your stretchy pants.

So if you want an easy, econmical (my entire meal was under $40) and stress free holiday, head on over to Sam’s Club to make your life a little more tasty and easier.  Also, they offer a Red Velvet Cheesecake that I tried when I was out in Arkansas visiting Sam’s Club. Go find that. Seriously. Awesome. It’s in the freezer section.

*As always, I was compensated for this post, was given a Sam’s Club membership, and a gift card to purchase the food that is in the post.

Pumpkin Pie Filled Glazed Donut Holes

3/4 cup scalded milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup unsalted
2 eggs, beaten
Oil for deep frying

For glaze:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons milk
For filling:
2 cups fully baked pumpkin pie (just scoop out the filling, no crust)
4 TBSP heavy whipping cream

In a medium bowl, stir together the scalded milk, sugar, and salt. Set aside to cool until tepid. If using nutmeg, stir it into the flour, and add 2 cups of the mixture to the milk, and beat until well blended.
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Stir into the milk and flour mixture, and then mix in the butter and eggs. Mix in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. When dough is firm enough, turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead for 3 to 4 minutes. Place into an oiled bowl, cover and allow dough to rise until doubled in bulk. This should take 30 to 45 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/2 inch in thickness. Cut into donut hole size with a circle cutter. Set aside to rise for 30 to 40 minutes, or until light.
Heat one inch of oil in a deep heavy frying pan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Fry donuts a few at a time. Cook on each side until golden brown, and then remove to drain on paper towels. Glaze while warm, or just sprinkle with sugar.
To make the glaze, stir together the confectioners’ sugar and 6 tablespoons milk until smooth. Dip warm donuts into glaze, and set aside to cool.
To make the filling simply mix the cream and pie filling together in a bowl. Put into a piping bag. Using a small tip (so that it will poke into the donut but big enough for filling to come out) pipe filling into center of donut hole.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

So if you are like me then you love going to warehouse clubs and getting the free samples. Well if you are near a Sam’s Club you are in BIG luck this weekend. Big luck. Heck, even if you don’t live that close to one, the drive might be worth it.

This weekend, Novmeber 19th, 20th, and 21st from 11am to 6pm, Sam’s Club will be hosting their annual Holiday Taste of Sam’s Club Event. In which they will be featuring everything from appetizers, to main meals, to dessert will be featured. I was lucky enough that when I went to Arkansas in September to get to sample EVERYTHING that they were having in the clubs for the holiday season. Now I did not sample everything as this girl got full. But I did sample EVERY dessert. I’m surprised that I did not go into a sugar coma, but I didn’t. The Cheesecake Factory® Red Velvet Cheesecake is worth the trip alone…I could have eaten the whole thing if they would have let me.

In addition to the food, they will also be doing tree trimming decorations. While I was in Arkansas they served us a holiday meal using all of what they had to offer, as well as had the whole room decked out in super cute holiday decor (I wanted to run home and put my tree up). All for very reasonable prices. So come and see cute ways to decorate your tree and home as well as get your fill of yummy samples…save room, you will need it.

To see what is going to be there go here. Or you can check out their Facebook page here.

Disclaimer: Sam’s Club has compensated me for my post, but opinions ar 100% my own.