Following the brunch at the Hollands, we headed over to my mom's to help her prep for our annual Christmas Eve cocktail party with the neighbors and some of our oldest family friends. After my dad passed away, my mom decided to mix Christmas up and start new traditions by hosting a Christmas Eve cocktail party and making a non-traditional dinner, Indian butter chicken. We look forward to Christmas Eve so much and enjoy getting to see everyone when we're home!
Taking our annual photo in front of the tree....Mandy, Maggie and I have been friends since the summer of 7th grade when we move to the neighborhood.
We served all kinds of appetizers for the party. Above are mini taco bites in mini bell peppers, which were delicious! Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 1b ground beef
- 1 package (1 oz) Old El Paso™ taco seasoning mix
- 3/4 cup water
- 1-1/2 lbs mini bell peppers
- 1 cup cheese
- Cilantro Cream Sauce:
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 °.
- Slice 1/3 of the pepper off lengthwise, reserving for later use. Seed the peppers. Peppers naturally have one side that is straighter than the other. When slicing the top of your bell peppers, try to slice the side that is curvier off so that the flat side remaining is the side we are stuffing.
- Chop the reserved peppers finely and set aside 3/4 cup.
- In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and reserved 3/4 cup chopped peppers over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix and water. Cook over medium heat 5-10, stirring occasionally. Let mixture slightly cool.
- Fill each pepper as full as possible with the beef mixture and place on a baking sheet. Bake peppers for 13-15 minutes.
- While peppers are baking, make the Cilantro Cream Sauce.
- For the Cilantro Cream Sauce, I just mixed all of the ingredients in a bowl instead of mixing everything in a food processor. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Remove peppers from oven and top with cheese. Return to the oven for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top with a dollop of cilantro cream sauce.
We made goat cheese, fig jam, proscuitto, and basil crostinis, which were delicious and very easy to assemble.
Since the meatballs at our party were such a hit, we made double the batch and this entire plate was devoured!
Ingredients:
Meatballs
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 Tbls minced garlic
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 3 Tbls Teriyaki sauce
- 1/3 cup diced water chestnuts
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce
- 2 green onions, sliced, optional
- 2 Tbls sesame seeds, optional
- 2 green onions, sliced
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Gently stir together meatball ingredients (using hands if necessary) and form 1 to 1 1/2 inch meatballs.
- Place meatballs on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until meatballs are thoroughly cooked.
- Toss meatballs in 1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce. Sprinkle on additional green onions and sesame seeds if desired. Serve immediately.
We made a few other apps including buffalo chicken dip, gruyere puff pastry bites, and a crab and artichoke dip. It was really fun getting to cook with my mommy :)
The boys and me
Mother dearest and her two kids!
We finished the evening with mom's Indian Butter Chicken and watched the Interview on Google Play (not your typical Christmas Eve movie!).
Ingredients:
- 2-3 lbs. chicken breast, 1" cubes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons garlic paste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon green chile pepper, chopped
- 2 cups tomato puree
- salt to taste
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon dry fenugreek leaves
- 1 cup heavy cream
Directions
- Marinate chicken in a glass dish with lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chili powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and marinate in refrigerator for about an hour. Pour off excess liquid from yogurt if any exists.
- Combine with 2 tablespoons garlic paste, 1/2 tablespoon garam masala, chili powder, salt, butter, ginger paste, olive oil and lemon juice.
- Combine yogurt mixture with chicken and marinade and return to refrigerator for another few hours. Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Skewer the chicken pieces. Place skewers in a baking dish in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Chicken will be nearly cooked through.
- To prepare the sauce, in a saucepan melt the butter and stir in 1 tablespoon garam masala. When the spice begins to sputter, stir in green chile peppers, and ginger. Saute 5 minutes, stirring in the garlic paste near the end (don't allow it to turn brown). Stir in tomato sauce, 1 tablespoon chili powder, salt and water. Bring up to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Stir in the fenugreek and honey.
- Put the chicken into the saucepan. Cooking over medium heat for another 5 minutes, or until chicken is tender and done. Pour in the fresh cream at the last minute and remove from heat.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
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