Holiday Party Tray

with Guest Sandra Leesmith

How are your holiday preparations coming along?  Have you been invited to a holiday party or potluck? We have already been to a couple pickleball potlucks. Pickleball players love to party about as much as they love to play. Smile

Here is what I like to make. It is festive and healthy.

This is pretty obvious so I’m not really going to show photos nor write directions of how to do this.  You do need fresh veggies and a holiday tray. I use an aluminum tray if I don’t want to have to worry about taking it home.

Since there wasn’t much to photograph in preparation, I’m sharing some holiday decorations found here in the desert.

 Just because we don’t have snow and the traditional pine trees, we do make up for it with lights.

We also put up artificial trees which look lovely all lit up at night.

We went to my friend’s house the other night and she not only had an artificial tree in her entryway, but she had decorated her cacti in the front yard.  Notice the lights are chili peppers? 

Another favorite thing to do is wrap lights up the trunks of palm trees. Now don’t laugh. I’m sure there were palm trees in the desert where Jesus was born and surely they were alight from the glow of the angels flying around.

This one is for Ruthy.

Every year my hubby’s family all get together on the 26^th. It is so much fun to see all the cousins and their children and grandchildren. We have a potluck so I will be bringing the veggie tray above and also a Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie. My financial advisor, Jim Dew, sends out a newsletter every month and besides being a great financial advisor, he is a gourmet cook. He always includes a recipe in the newsletter. This Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie looked really delicious.  And it is.

Here is the recipe copied with permission from JimDew’s  November newsletter.

Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie

·       ·  30 small gingersnap cookies, (about 7 1/2 ounces)

·       ·  2 tablespoons raisins

·       ·  1 tablespoon canola oil

Filling

·       ·  1 cup canned pumpkin puree

·       ·  1/3 cup packed brown sugar

·       ·  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·       ·  1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

·       ·  1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

·       ·  2 pints (4 cups) frozen low-fat vanilla ice cream, softened

1 Preparation

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan with cooking spray.

2.     To prepare crust: Combine gingersnaps and raisins in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add oil and pulse

until blended. Press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan.

3.     Bake the crust until set, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare filling: Combine pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a large bowl and mix well. Add ice cream and stir until blended. Spoon the mixture into the cooled pie crust. Freeze until firm, at least 2 hours. Let the pie soften slightly in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

Happy Holidays everyone. 

Sandra