WELCOME 2013 DINING FIRESIDE

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.

We are having some

Ham and Gruyere Quiche and a nice Raspberry

Pretzel Salad. 

As you can see we are still enjoying

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.

And some wonderful HAM AND GRUYERE QUICHE taken from the Menu's and Music Afternoon Tea Boxed Set.

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.