Recipe(tried): Sweet and Sour Chicken, Olive Cheese Puffs, Pineapple Cream Cheese Ball, Dates Wrapped in Bacon, Strawberry-Cheese Ball for Jill

Hi Jill ~

Sounds like you have a lovely group of guests coming for Christmas Eve. Here are a couple more ideas. You could serve Sweet and Sour chicken with white rice, a steamed veggie (your choice), and a tossed green salad. The recipe I posted below is not only easy but very delicious. I have made this sweet-and-sour dish with baby carrots included in the dish. I would double the recipe so you have plenty of sauce for the rice.

An easy, easy way to make your salad is to go to a grocery store that has salad buffet (such as some Safeway Stores) and build your own salad to take home.
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Sweet and Sour chicken

chicken pieces of your choice (thighs, breasts, legs, wings, etc.)
1 bottle of Russian dressing
1 package of dry onion soup mix
1 small jar of apricot preserves

Spray the inside of your backing dish with non-stick spray. Combine sauce ingredients and heat. Pour over chicken arranged in a single layer in a baking dish. Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cover the first 45 min. and uncover for the last 15 min.

This is yummy served with rice.
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(my personal favorite)

OLIVE CHEESE PUFFS

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
50 stuffed olives

Drain olives well. Cream cheese and butter; stir in flour, salt, and paprika. Mix well. Wrap 1 teas. of batter around each olive. Freeze puffs and then bake at 400 . for 15 minutes. Makes 50 puffs.
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Pineapple Cream Cheese Ball

2 pkgs cream cheese
225g can crushed pineapple
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup green pepper
1/2 cup onion

Leave cream cheese on counter to soften.

Drain pineapple very thoroughly (squeeze if needed).

Chop walnuts, onions and green pepper finely.

When cream cheese is softened (you can speed this up by microwaving on power 30 for 1 or 2 minutes), add all ingredients, mix well and form into ball.

Refrigerate until cream cheese is firm again.

This spread goes well on crackers, bagels, celery (and other veggies) or low salt Triscuits.

For a party, you can dress this recipe up by cutting the top off a large pineapple, forming the cream cheese ball into an oval, putting the pineapple top onto the cream cheese oval (so that it looks like a pineapple), and
slicing or chunking the remainder of the pineapple as nibbles or garnish around the cheese ball.
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Dates Wrapped in Bacon

2 boxes of pitted dates
2 packages of bacon

Cut bacon package in half, wrap a date in a bacon half and arrange on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, halfway thru baking turn them around so they bake completely. Drain, let them cool and arrange on a pretty dish with toothpicks.
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Strawberry-Cheese Ball

1 cup mayo
1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 green onions, chopped

Mix in ball and refrigerate over night. Pour 5 oz. strawberry preserves over ball just before serving.
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