What are your food traditions for Christmas? Do you celebrate on Christmas Eve or do you wait until the 25th to party with your people? We celebrate on Christmas Eve with a scratch-made (almost) Mexican dinner, and then on Christmas Day we join with more family and enjoy a go-to fare of finger foods. Everyone who can shows up at my parents’ home–at various times, but ending up together around 4:00 pm or so–for munchies of the savory AND sweet variety–followed by a rousing game of WINNER–one for the littles and one for the not-so-littles (by age)–this is usually followed by games of Trivial Pursuit–where it’s women vs. men–Psych, maybe a favorite Christmas movie and some football, of course.
My offerings this year were Kris Kringles–a family tradition which is like Rice Krispy Treats on steroids–and this new dish that I found on Pinterest. You know how sometimes you try a recipe from there and sometimes it bombs? This one didn’t–it delivered as promised. I seriously went back into the kitchen numerous times for more of these celery treats instead of more sweet stuff. I know–it’s hard to believe, but it is true. I must be growing up.
Alas, the celery ran out before the filling did when I was putting them together. So what’s a girl to do? Form said filling into a cheese ball, put it on a small platter, and arrange crackers around it. That was tasty, as well. A versatile and visually appealing recipe. I am adding this one to my holiday favorites.
- 12 celery stalks, cleaned, cut into portions
- 1/2 lb crispy cooked bacon, drained and crumbled
- 8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup pecans, toasted in butter and chopped
- 1/2 cup craisins, chopped
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Cook bacon until crispy, drain on paper towels, then chop.
- Chop pecans, Craisins, and green onion.
- In a small bowl, combine: Cream cheese, bacon, pecans, Craisins, green onion, heavy cream, and garlic powder. Stir to mix well.
- Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes so that the flavors connect well with each other.
- Clean celery and cut into desired portion size.
- To stuff celery, carefully spread cream cheese mixture into each portion of celery.
- Refrigerate until time to serve--keep chilled.
- Our original source used glazed walnuts, but I couldn't find any at the store so I substituted pecans which I already had on hand.
- The original recipe suggests using a piping bag with a LARGE tip or a Ziploc bag with a large hole cut in a corner to stuff the celery. I tried this, but my filling was too stiff, so I just used a small knife to spread it--and sometimes I just placed some in with my fingers.