This holiday season will be very different than most we can remember. Distance and safety SHOULD make for smaller gatherings but if you and your “pod” do gather appetizers are great and the jokes about balls are easy to make. So let’s get this going and start with “Family Favorites” from the Seniority Craft Group of Indian Path Medical Center of Kingsport, Tennessee.

Sausage Balls

1 lb Sausage meat browned	2 c Bisquick
8 oz grated Cheddar Cheese

Fruit Balls

16 oz Cream Cheese (soft)	1 can Fruit Cocktail
3 oz pkg Instant Vanilla Pudding	Chopped Nuts
	Graham Crackers

If you prefer real estate agents from Columbus Ohio….

Cheese Tuna Ball

1 can Tuna, drained	1/4 c Parsley flakes
1 1/2 pkg Cream Cheese	1/4 c Walnuts , finely chopped
1 med Onion, finely chopped

More to come! Yes, that’s a warning.

Let’s start with Charles Dickens’ Mulled Wine as presented by the wonderful How To Drink….

If you can’t get enough of Victoriana and Dickens you might also want to visit PBS’ The History Kitchen article by clicking the image

This one has a hugely important bit of info taped to the inside cover

Very Slow Oven–250 to 275 degrees

Slow Oven–300 to 325 degrees

Moderate Oven–350 to 375 degrees

Hot Oven–400 to 425 degrees

Very Hot Oven–450 to 475 degrees

Also tucked into that book is the recipe below.

Baked Potatoes with Tuna & Broccoli in Cheese Sauce

Microwave the potatoes on HIGH for 8 minutes. Remove and wrap in foil. Let stand to finish cooking. Microwave broccoli on HIGH for 5 minutes. In medium microwave safe bowl combine tuna and cayenne. Stir in broccoli. Cover and heat 60 to 90 seconds. Cut potatoes in half length wise, top with tuna/broccoli. Sprinkle on bacon and green onions.

I know you want one. Below are 3 adventurers daring enough to make one.

Little Kitchen of Horrors

These are called crispy mice. Very convincing actually.

Ghoulish Goodies

I own this book. Some things are too complicated for me but things like this punch–very easy.

The Necronomnomnom

Let’s look at one that’s nearly impossible to pronounce.

Who wouldn’t want cinnamon buns with runes and sigils on them?

The recipes are for real things–buns, chowder, etc but they have a fun cosmic horror spin. If you aren’t amused by that genre this isn’t going to excite you but that only means you aren’t the audience.

Also, best review evar

The Wicked Baker

This one is very stylish

The photographs are so beautiful, as is the layout of the book itself.

I haven’t made any of the recipes here but reading them they seem to be solidly constructed. But if you don’t cook/bake and just love food photography this is still a great book.