Our family Christmas celebration wasn’t until Saturday, December 27, so this year Dan the Man and I celebrated December 25 at home alone.  I decided that we needed to start a new tradition that I named “Apps and Naps.”  I fixed a bunch of appetizers (apps) and just by accident (!), we took naps on the couch.   You may want to co-opt this idea for your January-1st-I’m-on-the-couch-with-a-hangover New Year’s Day.  Our naps were successful, as were most of the appetizers, though I did have a few app failures (CRAP ALERT!).

The appetizers seen in the picture above were called Mini Hummus and Roasted Pepper Phyllo Bites.  I got the recipe here:  http://www.cookincanuck.com/2014/12/mini-hummus-roasted-pepper-phyllo-bites-recipe/.  I didn’t use roasted red peppers; instead I chose red pepper hummus.  While I enjoyed the taste, the phyllo cups got quickly soggy, and Dan the Man picked off all the cucumber.

These bites are called Easy Three Cheese Pinwheel Appetizers from http://www.kissrecipe.com/2013/12/easy-three-cheese-pinwheel-appetizers.html.  They were indeed easy to make, but the appetizer tasted too much like dough and too little like cheese.  Regardless, we (mostly me) ate them all.

We had crackers with cream cheese and roasted raspberry chipotle sauce — one of my favorites.  I use a little of the cream cheese to make the pinwheels, so when I cut the remaining six ounces of the cream cheese to try to make the appetizer look like a Christmas tree shape, it was very short and squatty.  Oh well, it tasted good.

I cut a few beautiful red pears into slices and sprinkled grated sharp cheddar over the top.  Yum!

I also served a tray of assorted cheeses, summer sausage, green olives, and sweet pickles.  This is one of our favorite casual meals that we often enjoy with bread and a bottle of wine.

Next time Dan the Man and I have an Apps and Naps evening, I’ll ditch the first two appetizers and try some other recipes.  Any suggestions?