Casual New Years Meal: Tequila-Drunken Mussels and Chorizo with Roasted Peppers

This New Years eve I'm looking forward to a simple night at home. No big fan fare, no cover charge and no waiting for a cab. The holiday season has taken its toll on me and I'm looking forward to curling up with a good movie; perhaps a rousing game of Wii tennis just to get the blood flowing.

The food for the evening needs to match my casual plans: comforting but not heavy. December is prime mussel month and it would be a shame to not take this last chance to enjoy them.

Adding tequila to a classic wine broth along with the lime really adds a punch to the mussels; these are stout, not for the faint boozer. The chorizo and roasted peppers add heartiness to the meal.

Enjoy Fat and Happy mussels and chorizo for the casual night at home. This dinner filled two of us with a few uneaten mussels and sausages left over. It could be stretched for four if you are light eaters and/or have an appetizer or dessert planned.

Peanut Butter and Caramel filled Chocolate Bark

You may already know that my family is crazy about Holiday cookies, making well over 50,000 every holiday. Those cookies are simply amazing. But I was challenged to come up with a new recipe that was drippy, gooey and downright screen licking good.

Two layers of chocolate, a layer of peanut butter, a layer of caramel and a topping of toasted nutty goodness with deep bittersweet cocoa nibs. Yup, that should do it.

This is not a cookie for the tray. This peanut butter filled chocolate bark is going to leak gorgeous, gooey caramel everywhere. Hold off on cutting until you are ready to serve and enjoy fairly soon after cutting.

The Fat and Happy holidays are upon us, celebrate now before the-January-days-of-detox are here.

Classic Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

My family makes THE BEST CHRISTMAS COOKIES EVER! Hands down, they are the cutest, tiniest, most precious cookies you'll ever see. We make somewhere over 50,000 of them. I participated in Cookie Week again this year and it's honestly like going to math camp!

Manning two ovens at different temperatures, each cookie needing specific minutes on both the bottom and top rack, while also making 2, 8 and 14 batches of 11 different cookies and keeping the number of cups of flour based on the butter ratio - 2/3 cup x 8- all in my head??? Math is hard- let's go shopping!

But seriously, the time with the family can't be beat. We are all in it together and nobody leaves till all the cookies are baked...except for me since I live out of state and my plane departs on Thursday at 1pm.

I chose to share our family Gingerbread recipe for two reason:
1. It's delicious.
2. The recipe is great for cookies and walls (for gingerbread houses).

One night some friends and I took on the task of making a gingerbread house...in the form of Luke Skywalkers' boyhood  house on Tatooine. Luckily this recipe makes an incredibly large batch because we ate as much as we decorated with; dipped in buttercream frosting we couldn't resist!

Whether cookies or architecture - everybody loves gingerbread. Don't hesitate making these fat and happy delicious gingerbread cookies today.

Simple Holiday Appetizers: Walnut Stuffed Endive and Herbed Cheese, Apple and Meat Skewers

Like it or not, the Holidays are upon us. My guess is that most of us enjoy this time of year but feel so much pressure for a myriad of reasons.

My gift to you is these simple Holiday appetizers. Rather than slave in the kitchen when you have shopping, wrapping and decorating to do, these little hors d'oeuvers shine by elevating basic ingredients

The Walnut and Goat Cheese Stuffed Endive get an unexpected flavor boost from honey and jelly while the Cheese, Apple and Meat Skewers boast an unexpected herb treat.

Reduce your stress (if even just a little) while enjoying tasty snacks at the same with these Fat and Happy appetizers.

Turkey Enchiladas with Pumpkin Mole

Every year we host a 'Left Overs Party' a few days after Thanksgiving for our friends and family. The goal of the party isn't just to eat up all the left overs, but to test my creativity and ability to come up with a new dish.

One of the hardest left overs to work with was the remains of a pumpkin pie. To completely reinvent a dish would mean to turn a sweet dish into a savory one. This pumpkin mole does just that. With a hint of sweet to cool off the spicy peppers, this mole is delicious and screams Fall comfort food.

Before we get into the recipe, let me state this is not a traditional mole with 20-some ingredients. But it is a simple, delectable, deep rich sauce; though it does not require a pumpkin pie. Roasted or canned pumpkin will work just fine.

Set your leftovers free and you will be rewarded - hopefully with this gorgeous pumpkin mole!

Wine and Port Spiced Pears with Cardamom Mascarpone

A meal is not finished until dessert is served. Don't get me wrong, I don't eat dessert every day. But you cannot throw a dinner party without the grand finale. It's like a fireworks show without the closing scene; it would still be good, but lacking something. 

Dessert don't need to be sugar laden or stuffed with chocolate to be amazing. Case in point- these spice simmered pears served with a spoon of creamy mascarpone are elegant. Stunning. And surprisingly delicious. This is coming from an anti fruit-as-dessert person.

The most difficult part is peeling the pears. If you can manage that, you can manage this dessert.
Finish your meal with bang with these Fat and Happy Wine Port Pears. You can thank me later.