Welcoming in 2014

This was our first New Year's Eve together so we decided to just stay in and celebrate with some champagne and tasty appetizers!  For starters, Jim just had to impress me with some fresh homemade bread and a creamy and delicious artichoke and jalapeno dip.  He whipped the dip up so quick!  Just made a little rue, added some milk, Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, artichoke hearts, and chopped jalapeno.  This was just cooked up in a pan for awhile and then put on the bread!  Yum!!!  We also had some smoked salmon so this just got mixed with some cream cheese for another wonderful option to enjoy on the bread.

And what is New Year's Eve without shrimp cocktail?  To me, nothing!  I decided to kick it up by making my own cocktail sauce with ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, and a bit of hot sauce.  With some fresh shrimp it was divine!  What a great way to bring in 2014 even though we were in bed before midnight...