Christmas Party

Tis the season for parties and so my work Christmas party was tonight. It is always held at someone's house and this year it was right in the neighborhood. The main part of the meal is catered and everyone signs up to bring in an appetizer, a salad, or dessert.

This year the entree was lasagna from Maggiano's Italian Restaurant. There was a meat lasagna and a vegetable lasagna. I had a small piece of each one and they were both delicious!

There were 4-5 different appetizers; a bread bowl stuffed with a cheese dip, a cream cheese block topped with raspberry chipotle sauce, another cream cheese block topped a cranberry salsa. Those are the ones I remember.

There were 4-5 different salads; Caesar, spinach with mandarin oranges and red onions, a green bean salad with fresh tomatoes, a cauliflower salad and an antipasto salad. I made the antipasto salad which was a bowl of fresh chopped romaine lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, slices of pepperoni, cubes of hard salami, cubes of provolone cheese, sliced roasted red peppers, olives, and pepperoncini all dressed with the Best Salad Dressing in the World (basically an enriched balsamic vinaigrette).

Dessert options were fresh baked brownies, pumpkin gooey bars, chocolate pecan pie, cookies, and peppermint bark.

I started with a little of the cream cheese with raspberry chipotle sauce on a cracker, a little of the cream cheese with cranberry salsa and a little of the cheese dip in the bread bowl. All were fabulous. For my entree, I decided on a small piece of both the lasagnas, some caesar salad, some antipasto salad, and green bean salad.

I sampled some of the pumpkin bars, a sliver of the chocolate pecan pie, a small brownie and a small piece of peppermint bark. Everything was very good, but I did go back for another pumpkin bar.

We always finish off our party with a snowman gift exchange. It's been a very fun evening for several years now.