Gather up your favorite china and set a tiny table by the fire. While the snowflakes fall lightly outside, relax with a pot of hot cinnamon tea and a nice meal. Refuse to hurry - winter is here!
We have several elements here for a lovely
fireside tea. The first is a fire, the second is some delicious food and how about a
bouquet to make things cheerful?
And of course, we need something
delicious to eat.
Ham and Gruyere Quiche and a nice Raspberry
Pretzel Salad.
some Holiday decorations on the
mantle.
I used my English Old Country Roses China for my Fireside Dining in my den!
The best part of it all is this:
Here are the recipes:
Raspberry Pretzel Salad: This recipe came from the "Flavors For Fall" by Gooseberry Patch attributed to Kim Fox.
You will need: 2 cups crushed pretzels divided, 3/4 cup of melted butter, 1 cup plus 3 Tb sugar divided, 8 oz softened cream cheese, 8 oz of whipped cream (I added 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar to 1 cup whipping cream and beat them together) 3 oz pkg raspberry gelatin mix, 2 cups boiling water, 1 10 oz pkg of frozen raspberries thawed (recipe originally called for 2 of these but I only used 1)
For the base: Combine 1 3/4 cups of the pretzels, butter and sugar and press into the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees 10 minutes and then cool. (I used 2 smaller dishes to make one to give away)
Blend cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and whipped cream together, spread over cooled crust. Dissolve gelatin in 2 cups boiling water; stir in raspberries. Refrigerate until partially set: spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until firm and sprinkle with remaining pretzel crumbs before serving.
You will need: 1 Tb olive oil, 1 small onion chopped, 1 cup of half and half, 2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk, 6 ozs of chopped ham, 1 partially baked tart shell, 4 handfuls of baby chopped spinach, freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper, 1 cup of shredded Gruyere Cheese
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (original recipe was 325 but I found that not high enough.
In a small skillet, heat the oil and saute onion till golden.
In a bowl whisk half and half and eggs
In the shell: layer ham, onion mix, spinach, spices and finish with the cheese and cream mixture.
Bake 25-45 minutes till set. Cool before slicing.
