Progressive Dinner: Brie

Pastry-Wrapped Cranberry Brie

A flaky crescent roll crust encases creamy brie and tart cranberry sauce. It's an easy yet impressive appetizer.

Prep Time: 20 Min

Total Time: 1 Hr 20 Min

Makes: 12

INGREDIENTS:

1

can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1

round (8 oz) Brie cheese (do not use triple crème Brie)

3

tablespoons whole berry cranberry sauce

1

tablespoon apricot preserves

1/2

teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed

2

ripe medium unpeeled pears, thinly sliced

User Rating: 

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Unroll dough and separate crosswise into 2 sections. Press dough into 2 (7-inch) squares, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
• Cut cheese round horizontally to make 2 rounds. Place 1 cheese round, rind side down, on center of 1 dough square. (Do not remove rind from cheese.) In small bowl, mix cranberry sauce and preserves. Spread over top of cheese; sprinkle with rosemary. Top with remaining cheese round, rind side up.
• With small cookie or canapé cutter or sharp knife, make 1/2- to 1-inch cutouts to look like poinsettia petals from each corner of remaining dough square. Roll 3 small pieces of dough into 3 small balls; set cutouts and dough balls aside. Place remaining dough on top of cheese round. Press dough evenly around cheese, folding top edges over bottom edges; press to seal completely. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• On 7-inch square sheet of foil, arrange dough petals to look like a poinsettia. Place balls in center on top of arranged petals. Lift foil square with poinsettia and place on cookie sheet next to wrapped cheese.
• Bake poinsettia 8 to 11 minutes or until light golden brown around edges. Lift with foil from cookie sheet; cool. Continue baking wrapped cheese 25 to 30 minutes longer or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet; place on serving plate. Place poinsettia on top of wrapped cheese. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm with pears.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft):

No change.

Nutritional Information:

1 Serving (1 Serving)

• Calories 160
• (Calories from Fat 80),

• Total Fat 9g
• (Saturated Fat 4 1/2g,
• Trans Fat 1g),
• Cholesterol 20mg;
• Sodium 270mg;
• Total Carbohydrate 15g
• (Dietary Fiber 1g,
• Sugars 7g),
• Protein 5g;

Percent Daily Value*:

• Calcium ;

Exchanges:

• 1/2 Starch;
• 0 Fruit;
• 1/2 Other Carbohydrate;
• 0 Skim Milk;
• 0 Low-Fat Milk;
• 0 Milk;
• 0 Vegetable;
• 0 Very Lean Meat;
• 0 Lean Meat;
• 1/2 High-Fat Meat;
• 1 Fat;

Carbohydrate Choices:

• 1;

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Progressive Dinner: Southern Sweet Potato Casserole

10 sweet potatoes
1 stick butter, cut in pieces
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
3 large eggs beaten
2 1/2 cup hot milk

Topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick butter, chilled cut in pieces
1 cup chopped pecans (I did not do this for the dinner)

Bake sweet potatoes at 350 for 1 hour until tender. Put on pan or line rack with foil because they will spit juice and make a mess below. Cool 10 minutes, then peel. In a large bowl beat potatoes on low speed; beat in butter. Add sugars, honey, vanilla, salt and nutmeg. Blend well.  Add beaten eggs; beat for 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low; gradually add hot milk. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9x13 dish. Pour and spread potatoes. Mix together topping until mixture resembles course meal. I did mine with a few pulses in the food processor. Stir in Pecan if you are so inclined. Sprinkle on potatoes and bake 35-40 minutes until topping is golden.

You can make and freeze (freeze topping separate). I always make a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. Just set on counter in the morning and cook later. Needs about 7 hours to thaw.

Progressive Dinner: Wassil

1 gallon of apple juice
1 cup of Tang powder
2 tablespoons mulling spices

Bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes

Progressive Dinner Spinach Craisin Salad with Tangy Poppyseed Dressing

Salad:

Spinach
Romaine
Toasted Almonds
Red Apple Slices
Craisins
Little bit of red onion thinly sliced

Dressing (mix in blender except poppy seeds)

1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 Cups Oil
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon minced onion
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Progressive Dinner Sassy Sauce

Susan’s Sassy Sauce (Good on Pork and Salmon)

Ingredients:

Champagne vinegar (White wine vinegar is cheaper and works also)

Soy Sauce

Red Chili Flakes

Garlic

Minced Onion

Brown Sugar

Tomato Paste

Salt

Butter (one stick)

Combine in saucepan

½ Cup Champagne vinegar (White wine vinegar is cheaper and works also)

½ Cup Soy Sauce

1 tsp. red chili flakes

1 TBS garlic

2 TBS minced onion

Simmer and reduce 50 percent. Watch that it doesn’t boil over. It will. You can bring this to a boil first to get it going. It takes about 45 minutes. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less.

Add to reduced sauce:

½ Cup Soy Sauce

2 Cups brown sugar

2 TBS tomato paste

½ tsp salt

Simmer 3 to 5 minutes. Take off heat. Whisk in 1 stick of butter cut in pieces. 

Progressive Dinner Pork Loin from allrecipes.com, served with Sassy Sauce

Pork Roast With The World's Best Pork Loin Rub

Rated: Submitted By: National Pork Board Photo By: branchan Servings: 8

"Rubs are mixtures of spices that act like a dry marinade. The can be applied 10 to 20 minutes before cooking or longer to intensify the flavor. This rub also works well on chops or tenderloin. Serve with roasted potatoes and steamed vegetable medley."

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin roast 1 1/4 cups brown sugar 2/3 cup sugar 3 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper 2 tablespoons kosher salt 2 teaspoons ground ginger 4 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

4 1/2 teaspoons onion salt 1 tablespoon dry mustard 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper (cayenne) 1 1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper (cayenne) 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Stir together brown sugar, sugar, black pepper, salt, ginger, garlic powder, onion salt, dry mustard, crushed red pepper, ground red pepper, cumin, paprika and thyme in small bowl. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the brown sugar mixture* evenly on all sides of the pork roast; use your fingers to rub into pork. Place roast on rack in shallow roasting pan. Roast, uncovered, until internal temperature is 150 degrees F., 40 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from oven. Cover with foil; let stand 15 minutes before slicing.