Holiday Recipes for December Deliciousness: Cheesy Potatoes, Pineapple Cheese Spread, Hot Rum Cider and Poinsettia Dirt Cake

Hello my friends and happy holidays to you! I hope you had a WONDERFUL Christmas! The thing I love most about the holidays~ other than being with family and watching the kids open gifts~ is EATING my way all over town from one gathering to the next! Yummy food just happens to be our theme for this edition of the Weekend Warriors! This month, we are bringing you some December Deliciousness! I'm here to share some of my favorite holiday (or any day) recipes that you can PRINT and save in your recipe book! Here you will find an easy peasy side dish, a festive dessert, a tangy appetizer and an adult beverage too!

When someone in my family offers to entertain, everyone helps out and brings a dish. There are certain favorites that make their way to the table every time. My delicious favorite and the easiest ever thing to make is...CHEESY POTATOES! Oh, I could eat those potatoes every day of my life and never be tired of them! Do you love them too?

We ate them twice on Christmas Day! Once for brunch... and again at dinner! If you have never made them before, they are really easy! Just dump in all the ingredients, mix and bake! I usually make a huge tray and double the recipe for a party.  They can be made with all low fat ingredients and that means we can go back for seconds! :) The secret to success for me is using the Ore-Ida brand cubed hash brown potatoes. I have discovered that all hash browns are not created equally!

The kids in our family BEG for dirt cake (Oreo cookies, pudding and cream cheese) for birthdays and the holidays. I purchased a plastic pot and garden trowel that I ONLY use for serving up my dirt cake. This is my Christmas version. A plastic poinsettia stem or two peeking out from the cake adds a nice festive touch for any holiday party.

For the adults, a delicious holiday treat is some hot buttered rum punch! You can brew it in a large percolator or serve it piping hot from a slow cooker. Add a cinnamon stick and you have a wonderful warm, winter cup of goodness. It also makes the whole house smell nice!

My family loves this recipe for an appetizer that was shared by my dear friend and former teaching partner. It's one that was just told to me so I never do any measuring. It's just a mix to taste sort of thing! I serve the pineapple cheese spread with pretzel chips. I use almond slices on top instead of pecans.

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All this talk about food has made me hungry! How about you?
:)

If you think you might want a copy of my recipes for your cookbook too, you can download a set of 3x5 cards {here}.

 I made a set in both color and black and white.