Saturday Night Wine-Tasting & Entertaining!

Tonight we entertained some friends with a wine-tasting party! The way we set this up is each person brought a bottle of wine from a set price and an appetizer. Our theme was Virginia wines, so each person was responsible for bringing a VA winery wine, white or red.

Also, each person ranked the wines based on a simple scale of 1-to-5. Just to keep track of whichever wines they prefer!

Here’s what I made with the recipes:

• London Broil Sliders with blue cheese horseradish sauce
• Bacon & Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms
• Cucumber Ranch Bites
• White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry

London broil sliders:

Unfortunately, I can’t share the recipe for the marinade because it’s a guarded family secret, luckily I married into it! Nevertheless, the LB marinated for 24 hours prior to grilling it. Heat the grill to 550 and grill for 12-15 minutes total, only flipping once. This will cook the meat medium rare. Let the meat rest for five minutes after grilling. Then thinly slice and then cut into 1 inch strips. {This way when you add the meat to the dinner roll it’s easier to bite into and requires less tearing}

Prior to starting the meat you’ll want to make the blue cheese-horseradish sauce. In a food processor combine: 1/2 block of cream cheese (4 ounces), 2 tablespoons of sour cream, 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese, 1 1/2 tablespoons of creamy horseradish, and 1 teaspoon soy sauce – blend until smooth.

Slice dinner rolls and let guests makes sandwiches with the meat and blue cheese horseradish sauce!

Bacon & Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms:

You’ll need two packages of white mushrooms. Get started by gently snapping the stems off each mushroom cap and then lightly brushing (wiping) the mushroom cap with a paper towel. {You don’t want to wet the mushroom as they will get slimy} Take approximately 1/2 the stems and chop. Place the chopped stems in a bowl.

Prepare four slices of bacon in the microwave. Line a plate with two sheets of paper towel, then lay your bacon slices on the paper towel, cover with another sheet. Microwave for about 3 minutes, or until the bacon is crispy. Be careful the plate will be extremely hot and there will be bacon grease on the plate. Use caution. Dab the bacon with another, clean paper towel to remove excess grease.

Combine the mushroom stems, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, and crumble the bacon. Gently mix with your hands.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray (PAM). Line your mushrooms up with about an inch between each mushroom cap. Stuff the mixture into the mushroom caps, be careful not to break the caps.

Cook in 400 oven for 25 minutes, and serve!

Cucumber Ranch Bites:

Total party favorite, ridiculously easy to make!

• Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits
• 4 ounces light cream cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon light mayo
• 1/3 package of Ranch Dressing with Dill Mix
• Cucumber
• Dried Dill

Combine the cream cheese softened, with the mayo and ranch dressing. Be sure to mix well. You can add more mayo if the consistency isn’t creamy enough – but I prefer it remain firmer. Thinly slice the cucumber, then cut the slices in half. To assemble take a triscuit, smear with a small amount of the cream cheese mixture, top with a cucumber half and sprinkle with some dried dill. Voila!

source: www.nabiscoworld.com

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry:

Such a wonderfully light and easy dessert. You’ll need:

• 2 packages of sugar-free, fat-free white chocolate pudding
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 small containers of lite Cool Whip (whipped topping)
• 1 small container of raspberries
• graham crackers

In a mixing bowl, pour the two packages of pudding mix and add the milk. Using a wire whisk, mix together for about two minutes. The pudding will begin to take shape – add the whipped topping and blend with a spoon until incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to the mousse can set.

Crumble enough graham crackers to cover the bottom of your serving dish. I used 12 disposable wine glasses (the small, short, plastic ones). It took me about 6 full graham crackers to get enough chunks in the bottom of each glass.

You can spoon the mousse over the top or pipe it. I added the mousse to a large zip lock bag, cut the bottom corner off the bag and created a “pastry bag”. This allowed me to control the flow of the mousse onto the graham cracker base. Top with a few raspberries and 1/4 of graham cracker for garnish. Dig in!

source: A. Garrison 🙂

Enjoy your Saturday night, we did!

B.