Brachl:

Mini Quiches
Filo Onion Rolls
Tapenade
Cheese and Fruit Terrine
Pesto Torte
Corn/Bean Salsa
"Party Mix"
Fruit Salsa
Jalapeno Poppers
Crab Spread
Crab Puffs, Shrimp Puffs
Chicken Salad

Joe

The children might also enjoy having some chips and dip around. Mine always did - as a matter of fact, my now 21-year-old DD is asking me to pick up some cream cheese and chips for New Years....she'll make the dip!

Easy Cream Cheese Dip:

Soften 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese (low fat and neufchatel also work well). Sprinkle with onion powder to taste. Add 1 tsp of Worchestershire sauce and about 1-2 tbsp of milk (low-fat works fine). Whip using either hand beater or small hand-held mixmaster.

DonnaR/CA

With the Chick Fil-A nuggets for the kids, I don't think you need chicken skewers. Be sure to ask for some dips for the nuggets.

Does your Chick-Fil-A do a platter of cut fruit? Or can you get a fruit platter from a local store? I would add some fruit to your menu. Or maybe you could call a friend and ask him/her to bring a fruit platter.

I've got the Cooking for a Crowd book - it's a good one!

Sounds like a great party!

WOW..that's some pile of food!
I agree with Teresa..fruit...

And yes corn chips and several salsas and a cheese dip!

I've been toying with the idea of a NY Eve party too, or NY Day...We've never had one...I'll have to talk with hubby about it tonight.

thanks for all the suggestions!

fruit is a great idea -- i usually buy fruit trays from whole foods for other folks' party, but i hadn't thought of doing it for myself

i do have chips and salsa at the party (with teenage sons, how could i not?), but it's not on my shopping list, but theirs -which is why i forgot it

joe -is the basil and tomato cheese wheel the same thing as a pesto torte? -basically my recipe is 3 layers of cream cheese -one with pesto, one with goat cheese, and one with sun-dried tomatoes --i go back and forth on whether or not to make one -- people like it, but it is so rich that i always have a lot leftover - i make it in a springform pan -maybe this is the year to buy a smaller pan

we do go to 2 parties on new year's day, and i take food to both -- plus we are having a BCS party this year too(we're LSU fans for football), so if i have any chips or crackers not open, we'll use them then...

terri - i "inherited" our block's new year's eve party years ago, and i've just expanded the guest list over time- it's become a tradition -and a lot of fun, although it is definitely work

teresa -cooking for a crowd is a great cookbook -i have both the original hardback and the paperback, as there are some recipes in one that are not in the other --

thanks again, everyone!

brachl:

It's essentially the same, I would think. I don't know your recipe but here's my version:

Pesto Torte

Ingredients:

2 Tbs olive oil
8 oz provolone cheese, sliced
8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
11 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz sundried tomatoes in oil, with liquid
8 oz pesto (in olive oil)
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs unsalted butter
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp pepper
Assorted crackers

Directions:

Line the bottom of a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing 5 to 6 inches to hang over edges; brush plastic wrap with olive oil.

Line bottom and sides of pan with provolone cheese slices.

Process mozzarella cheese and next 8 ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.

Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the prepared pan, pressing with spatula. Fold plastic wrap over torte; chill 12 hours.
Invert chilled torte on a serving dish; discard plastic wrap. Serve torte with assorted crackers.

Makes 12 to 14 appetizer servings

Joe

My friend made cranberry bars for her New Year's party two years ago. They were good and festive. I don't have a recipe to recommend though. Maybe you don't do desserts. Maybe some cranberry or pumpkin quick bread?

Cranberry salsa - I had it at a party this year and could hardly stop myself. I made it twice over Christmas and everyone loved it. I made the recipe linked here but with a whole bag of cranberries, a whole apple, 5 T sugar, 1/2 lime juice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cranberry Salsa

Lpinkmountain,
I ask others to bring dessert. I figure I am doing enough, and I am not a great baker. I often end up buying some good dessert, though, as I worry that my friends won't bring enough. (Of course they do, but I always worry anyway.)

Gibby,
Thanks for the recipe --sounds great and different, which is what I am looking for. I always have cranberries in my freezer, and I'm from Texas, so I like spicy -and this sounds perfect.

brachl - I'd be interested to hear how it works with frozen cranberries. I made mine with fresh but was thinking about how I can have this next summer!! With 1/2 jalapeno it was not at all spicy - at least not in my opinion - probably not in your opinion either. But in Minnesota many people have a different idea of spicy.....so I played it safe.

Joe-
Thanks for the pesto torte. I feel I now have enough for New Year's Eve, but will try it soon.

I made these last year and although it sounds like an unusual combination of ingredients, after people tried them, they didn't last long.

SAVORY DATE RUGELACH Â makes 4 dozen

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups walnuts, divided
4 oz. blue cheese, cut into cubes
48 pitted dates (about 12 oz.)
1 large egg white
1 tsp. water

Dough:
In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Stir in flour and salt just until blended (or use mixer on low speed). Divide dough into 4 equal pieces; flatten each into a disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Filling:
In food processor with knife blade attached, pulse ½ cup walnuts until finely chopped; reserve in small bowl. In same food processor, pulse blue cheese and remaining 1 cup of walnuts 7 to 8 times or until a coarse mixture forms.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large cookie sheets with foil; grease foil. (I used parchment paper.)

On floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll 1 disk of dough into a 10-inch round. Cut into 12 equal wedges. Beginning 1 inch from outside edge, sprinkle 1/2 cup blue cheese mixture in 2 Âinch wide ring on dough, leaving dough exposed in center. Place one whole date crosswise on wide end of each wedge. Starting at wide end, roll up each wedge, jelly-roll fashion.

Place rugelach, 1 inch apart, on cookie sheets, point side down. Repeat with remaining four dough disks. In small bowl, beat egg white and water. Brush rolls with egg white and sprinkle with reserved walnuts.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden, rotating sheets between upper and lower racks halfway through baking. Let stand for a minute or two and then transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature up to 3 days.

To make ahead: Arrange unbaked rugelach in single layer in jelly roll pan; cover and freeze until firm. Remove from pan and place in freezer containers with waxed paper in between each layer. Seal and freeze up to 3 months. About 45 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 350. Line 2 large cookie sheets with foil; grease foil.

Arrange frozen rugelach on prepared cookie sheets and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden.

Your menu is fabulous!

smoked salmon platter w/cream cheese, capers & onions

My husband would be in heaven with the salmon, cream cheese and onions. But make sure to have thinly sliced purple onions!

Michelle

Michelle,
What kind of bread would your husband want to put the smoked salmon on? I'm never sure what to offer -- I think full-sized bagels are too big, so I usually offer pumpernickel or rye party bread, but I don't like either of those myself, so I'm looking for something different this year. I am fortunate to live near a Trader Joes, a Whole Foods, and a fabulous gourmet store, A Southern Season, so I'm going to look at all three in the next 2 days or so.

This is our biggest entertainment night of the year, so I do a lot. Most of the year we have a few families over to watch sports on our big TV, and I do much less.

Lisa

What about gougeres (cheese puffs)? You can make the pate a choux, portion it, and freeze it up to a week in advance and then bake them off the day of the party. You can use pretty much any kind of cheese or go more savory with spinach and bacon, or caramelized onion and cheese or ham.

Cheese Gougeres

1 cup milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 eggs
1 cup grated fol epi (young French-style Swiss cheese),
Gruyere, or other Swiss cheese)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Heat the milk and butter in a medium-large saucepan over medium-high heat. When the mixture simmers and the butter is melted, add the flour all at once and stir. Add the salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium and stir for 1 to 2 minutes to dry the mixture out. Turn off heat and stir a bit more to cool slightly.

Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well to incorporate each egg before adding the next. Stir in the cheese, mustards, and cayenne and mix until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag with a large plain tip. Pipe the mixture onto to a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet in rows of kisses, about 1- inch in diameter. Smooth out any bumps with a fingertip dipped in flour.
(The recipe can be made to this point up to 8 hours in advance and refrigerated, or frozen for up to a week. Thaw at room temperature before baking.)
Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and continue baking until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes more.

What kind of bread would your husband want to put the smoked salmon on? I'm never sure what to offer --

For Joe is has to be full sized bagels but usually the bagels are cut in half. You just put cream cheese, salmon and then top with purple onion and eat it open faced. It works out well for situations where people are standing and eating. Make sure you get a nice variety of bagels, plain, salt, onion, poppy seed, sesame seed are the best with salmon.

There are mini bagels but I've not seen them in years now. But they still would have to be cut in half for convenience.

You can also offer sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumber and chopped chives which are all good with the salmon and cream cheese.

I am now craving bagels, salmon and cream cheese!!! I was going to make appetizers for New Years Day to munch on during the games, but I think I might just get some bagels and salmon, I've got the onion and cream cheese!!!

Michelle