To get into the winter season or escape from the winter blues its fun to plan parties, events and gatherings to look forward too. We are starting the tradition of a holiday cocktail party. This can really be done at anytime. To prep look up some of your favorite drink recipes, have them poured and ready to go on platters. Add a few easy and quick appetizer foods to mix in and your ready to go. Our tip is to keep it simple. For our party we are only making about 4 different appetizers but spreading them out all over the house on cutting boards and festive platters.
On the menu tonight; smoked salmon with capers, lemon and arugula, bruschetta crostini paired with pesto and sundried tomato crostini, flank steak crostini and a mix of grapes, cheeses and nuts. That’s it and all you need for a fun and successful holiday party. Cheers.

Hot Pepper Sauce “ Bomba”

• Ingredients:
• 4 cups hot we use habanero –any kind will work
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• salt/pepper

To assemble:

In a food processor pulse peppers until finely chopped. Take peppers to skillet and add oil. Turn stove top on to medium heat and light cook for about 5 minutes. Make sure not to burn peppers. Turn off heat add a dash of salt and pepper and let cool until caning. Peppers will last in your fridge for months or in a dry cool place. Enjoy

It is so easy to create waste and waste money by throwing out unwanted foods. Why not add the leftover fruits to recipes, to delicious bread, muffin or even pies. No matter what fruit you have left over, such as strawberries, peaches, oranges, blueberries, banana’s, melons you can always find an alternative to throwing out these foods.

So why not try out a mixed fruit crumble.

Combine your leftover fruit with 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 cup cooking oats, 3 tablespoons of butter and a touch of cinnamon. This is a great healthy alternative make use of your unwanted fruits. You can also add the fruit to any pie crust and prepare a great desert.

Left over fruit is also great topped on yogurt, with nuts and honey. Our favourite way to use left over fruit is by adding it to a large serving dish and topping it with lemonchello or any liquor. Let sit for about two hours and this is delicious to serve on its own, topped with whip cream or even added to club soda for a delicious drink. Fruits are great in muffins such as bran, add them to bread recipes like banana bread, peach bread.

Try adding berries, or peaches to pancakes. There are so many alternatives to using unwanted foods in your home. It just takes some time to try out new recipes and to get out of the habit of pitching the leftovers. So search your home and see what is around to recreate. Happy cooking!

Full Recipe coming in 20 min