Happiness and Cheer

Cranberry Upside Down Cake. Recipe from Eating Well. This was tangy and tart, not too sweet. Right up my alley. Loved it. Good as a breakfast cake.








Then baked ham with mustard and pineapple, brown sugar glaze. Nothing smells better than ham baking.





P was looking for a tiny pickmeup to truly get into the full holiday spirit so I made him a Bloody Mary. Good and spicy!




Due to muffins created around my waist and a little extra back fat on P, we opted for less courses, not necessarily low-cal but I'll say, thoughtful. The first snack was chorizo bites with arugula pesto dip. This was a recipe, however when they don't specify Portuguese, Mexican or Spanish it's hard to know what to choose. Every kind I've tried is my favorite. This must have been Spanish. P picked it up. Instead of the costly basil, pine nuts, I made arugula with walnut pesto. This was a treat. Just a splash of balsamic vinegar gave the bites a great little glaze and allowed them to brown up quite nicely. They were so purdy I just wanted to look at them all day in the sun.


So my big creation of the evening if you will was born out of my craving for artichoke dip, the really cheesy decadent kind that has everything bad in it. Normal people allow themselves this on holidays. Well P wasn't having any of that, but the girl had to have it! How could I make it happen? I thought about it all week. The results, an artichoke dip tart with lots of fresh spinach and artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. And then thin sliced lemons to roast on top.



I constantly invent things only to find them written about, photographed and done better on the internet. This one I'm hoping is my invention alone. It was so green and good, not heavy but satisfying.

The lemons made it extreme. I'm way into this.



Christmas Day.