Christmas Dinner Party - Amy Style

We hosted a dinner party for some of our neighbors last night and I wanted to share some of the highlights of the evening with all of you.  I love to host dinner parties and last Christmas, I was so busy with my business that I didn't have the time to do any hosting.  This year, I made sure that I saved time to host my own party - in addition to my personal chef responsibilities.

The purpose of this party was to get some of my neighbors together to celebrate Christmas and enjoy time together over a delicious meal.  I had invited 14 people so I had to set up 2 separate tables.  My dining room table seats 10 comfortably - 12 uncomfortably.  Since there were only 4 kids attending, I set up a table in the kitchen as the "kids table."

The centerpiece for the kids table was made from greens cut from my holly bushes and my blue point juniper.  The place card holders are felt moose with cinnamon stick arms and legs.  I made these as favors that the kids took home with them.

I set the dining room table with a set of gold rimmed Christmas dishes and I used red chargers to make it more festive.
 

The kids cut some fresh holly leaves and I inserted one sprig into each napkin ring.  I love fresh greenery.

I planned to serve a variety of hot and cold drinks because the weather has been so crazy in Georgia that I didn't know what the temperature would be for my party.  I made cranberry lemonade and sweet and unsweet tea.  I put the cold drinks in big canisters so guests could help themselves to refills.

I also made hot spiced tea and decaf coffee.

My daughter and I made mini gingerbread houses to sit on the side of the mugs.   (I will post a blog about these later in the week.) 

We started the evening with appetizers.  We had shrimp stuffed mushrooms, spinach artichoke dip and sausage bread.

We started off our meal with a creamy, rich shrimp bisque soup, apple raspberry salad  with raspberry honey vinaigrette and

 

fresh baked rolls with honey cinnamon butter.

For our main course, we had prime rib.  It was my first attempt at cooking prime rib so I'm still working out the kinks.  I also served crispy smashed potatoes, herbed basmati rice and almond roasted green beans. 

For dessert, I put together a chocolate bar.  No - not a Hershey bar but a selection of homemade and store bough chocolates.

Included in the chocolate bar: chocolate covered strawberries

buckeyes

Chocolate Caramel Pretzels

Peppermint Bark (Blog to follow soon)

Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds (from Trader Joe's)

Chocolate Almonds (also from Trader Joe's)

 And last but not least - triple chocolate mouse mini cakes with white chocolate leaves.

I certainly had a lot of fun at this dinner party and I hope that my guests did too.  Check back on the blog throughout this week for more recipes from this menu.

Bon Appetit!