Impromptu Winter Dinner with Friends

little snacks while dinner is cooking :
-Bruschetta topping (Trader Joe's)
Comes in a jar, fresh tasting and nice to keep on hand.

-Thin crackers with seeds (Trader Joe's)
Also good to keep on hand, & inexpensive at Trader Joe's.

-Brie with Fig & Orange Jam (Lunds)
I bought 2 pounds of brie on sale for 9.99 and have been eating it all December. The jam is a perfect compliment to the brie. I first had it at a Christmas party, and I sat close by all evening. After I had made a substantial dent, I asked the host what the topping was, because I couldn't identify the flavors. I searched all over for the jam and have only found it at one place: Lunds. They have regular fig jam, and also the kind with orange: that is my favorite.

dinner for 10:
-Stovetop Mac & Cheese (America's Test Kitchen)
Evaporated milk is the key to making this creamy, old fashioned mac & cheese. It is 100 times better than the pre-packaged kind and really not much work. After I made this recipe the first time, I now keep evaporated milk and macaroni on hand. Add a little (ok, a lot) of cheese & you get easy, creamy, warm comfort food. For a crispy, buttery topping, crumble Ritz crackers on top. I wish I had some leftovers, but every bit was gobbled up.

-White Bean, Kale and Roasted Vegetable Soup (Epicurious)
This soup is healthy and delicious. I add crumbled, browned ground sausage, and whatever other vegetables I have on hand -- sweet potatoes & regular potatoes went in this time. Good for leftovers.

dessert:
-Peach pie
I was seduced by a very large crate of peaches this summer at the peak of their flavor. They were sweet & juicy & beautiful and I could not resist. I bought the whole crate. We ate as many as we could and I still had about 10 pounds left. In one more day, they would be overripe, a shame!

I lovingly treated them to a nice hot water bath, and then plunged them into ice water. The skins slipped off. I removed the pits & cut them in half. They got another little bath in lemon juice to keep their color. They were so beautiful, I took a picture. I packed them in ziplock bags and reluctantly stowed them away in the freezer.

The peaches have since made appearances in white sangria (floating in white white & peach schapps), yogurt, & smoothies. Their culmination was warm, sweet peach pie: a reminder of summer sunshine in the middle of winter snow.