Christmas Recipes

We had a few new things this year, and they were winners!! Cranberry Salsa, Methodist Potatoes, and A Cherry Danish. We had a lot of old favourites too...and we just had a LOT of good food all around, but these new recipes are worth trying. First up -

CRANBERRY SALSA

I saw this recipe on ourbestbites.com, and it looked delicious. Guess what? It is! It's easy to make and gorgeous to look at too:-) This is all it is - make fresh salsa, but instead of tomatoes, use fresh cranberries. It's really one of those life-changing wow moments, and I feel our holidays will never be the same. As with all fresh salsa's, you can alter the amounts of ingredients to suit your tastes, I loosely followed the recipe suggestions for my first attempt (mostly I eyeballed their approximate suggestions, but didn't actually measure)

Notes:  Feel free to adjust this basic recipe to taste. One recipe makes enough for 2 blocks of cream cheese.  Often I’ll just serve it over one block at a time and save the extra salsa for another night.

Ingredients
12 oz bag fresh cranberries, washed
2 jalapenos, minced (adjust according to taste)
1/2 cup sliced green onions, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar, more to taste if desired
2 8oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature

Instructions
Place cranberries, jalapenos, green onions and cilantro in a food processor and process until fine.  Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in lime juice, salt, and sugar.  Chill in fridge for about 2 hours or more.  To serve, spread cream cheese evenly in a pie plate or other shallow serving dish.  Spread salsa on top and serve with crackers.

Wheat Thins are amazing with this, but other crackers or even corn chips would be fine too.


METHODIST POTATOES

This recipe is a family recipe from our friends who joined us for Christmas this year. They are wonderful!!

1/2 C onions sautéed in 1/4 C butter
1 (2 lb) bag frozen potatoes (small diced potatoes - could use "fresh potatoes" too, I'd imagine)
1 can cream of chicken or celery soup
1 lrg pkg cheddar cheese, cubed
16 oz sour cream
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Topping:
2C corn flakes
1/4 C butter

Mix everything together and place in casserole dish (9x13). Top with 2 C corn flakes coated in 1/4 C melted butter. Refrigerate, until ready to bake (can be made a day in advance). Bake at 350 for 40-50 mins, or until cooked through

CHERRY DANISH

This recipe is from Kraft, and it's an easy "make ahead" for Christmas brunch. It tastes like (only waaaay better) the danishes you buy at a grocery store bakery. You could substitute the cherry pie filling for another flavor too!

2 cans crescent dinner rolls
2 tubs (8oz ea) cream cheese spread (or use 8oz regular cream cheese)
1 1/2 C icing or powdered sugar, divided
1 egg white
1 t vanilla
1 can (21oz) cherry pie filling
1 to 2 T milk

Preheat oven to 350. Unroll one of the cans of crescent dough. Place in 9x13 baking pan; press into bottom of pan and press seams together to seal.

Beat cream cheese, 3/4C icing sugar, egg white, and vanilla with mixer on medium speed until well blended. Spread onto crust. Cover with pie filling. Unroll remaining can of crescent dough onto wax paper. Pat out dough to form 9x13 rectangle, pressing seams together to seal. Invert over pie filling to form top crust. Discard wax paper.

Bake 30-35 mins or until golden brown. Cool at least 20 min. Gradually add milk to remaining 3/4C icing sugar, beating well until blended and thick. Drizzle over warm dessert. Cut into 24 rectangles to serve. Store leftover dessert in the fridge.