Lane Family Holiday Extravaganza

So I’m worried that I exhausted all my baking energy within the first 5 days I was home from break.  All semester I waited for this break, patiently collecting recipes and dreaming dreams of daily baking adventures. What a better way to start of my break than to throw a fabulous Christmas party with all our family friends and just cook/bake my brains out?

Well, friends, that is pretty much what I did. My big brother Dan and I cooked up a storm for about 30-40 family friends the weekend before Christmas and I haven’t really been in the kitchen since.  Or updating this little blog of mine… Luckily, I have plenty of posts to catch up on since I haven’t really made anything new since then.  Hopefully by the time I finish with these, I will have recharged and be back in my apron!

Since this is more of a sweet treats blog, I will do a quick run-down of the “real” food that we made, and then catch up on the REAL food (i.e. the dessert table) in more detail!

First up, Dan whipped up some awesome bruschetta – some with goat cheese and kale and some with mozzarella and tomatoes. I was skeptical about kale at first, but I think I am a convert – it was delicious cooked up with some onions and garlic!

Next up was some Baked Sweet Potato Falafel from 101 Cookbooks. These were pretty good, and I thought they were a nice interesting appetizer.  One note – these taste MUCH better warm than luke-warm or cool. I didn’t get a picture, but follow the link above to see these little beauties!

Dan made a HUGE Bulgar Salad with raisins, chickpeas, parsley, and some lemon juice.  I think we are STILL eating leftover bulgar… but it was yummy! A little goes a long way though…

I cooked up some little cornbread muffins.  I did some in my pretty molded pan and some in a mini muffin tin and then drizzled honey on top. The honey looked really pretty in the molded muffins! Recipe from King Arthur Flour!

For the meat-eaters, we made some Stuffed Mushrooms with turkey and cheese and onions, recipe courtesy of Pete Bakes. I used ground turkey instead of sausage, which turned out nicely. As far as these go, the bigger the mushroom, the easier to stuff. We also made some with tofu for the non-meat eaters! I only got a picture of them pre-baking – then they got eaten all up!

We also made Chicken Meatballs, using this yummy recipe from Smitten Kitchen. They were a big hit, and particularly good with extra tomato sauce brushed on top before AND after baking!

We also had some mac and cheese for the kids, although I can’t find the recipe (and it was kind of wonky anyways).  Other highlights include Dan’s homemade spinach hummus, yummy cheese and fruit platters, etc.

Dan says Yum!!