New Years Eve Layered Nachos and Baked Brie Cheese Platter

Last night was a wonderful New Years Eve.  We had a nice relaxing and fun celebration with plenty of good food and snacks.

For lunch I made one of my favorite go to quick meals- layered nachos.

Layered Nachos is a fun and easy recipe.  Here's how I make mine.

You'll need-
1 large can refried beans, 1 pound of hamburger, a tablespoon of dehydrated onions, 1 can black beans drained and rinsed, 1 can corn drained, your favorite salsa or picante sauce, 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar or Mexican blend cheese, a large can sliced black olives.

Start by thoroughly cooking and browning the hamburger with dehydrated onion, you can also add a few dashes of cumin or if you like extra spice you could even add a little taco seasoning. (You can also make this dish vegetarian by just leaving out the hamburger)  Drain the cooked burger and set aside.  Then spread the refried beans in the bottom of a casserole dish, you can either preheat the beans in a pan on the stove or heat them up in the microwave, if I am using a casserole dish that fits in the microwave, I heat the refried beans up right in the casserole dish in the microwave.  When the beans are heated, top with about half a cup of salsa, then add a layer of half the can of corn, half the can of black beans, half the black olives, and half of the cheese, then top with all of the cooked hamburger, then add another layer of salsa, the rest of the corn, black beans, olives, and cheese.    Here's what it will look like.

Then heat the whole dish either in the microwave or in the oven on 350 F. until the cheese is melted, like this.

Serve with nice sturdy tortilla chips (I used the "scoop" variety of tortilla chips which work great), serve with sour cream.  Set out plates and everyone can scoop out some layered nacho dip, top it with sour cream and enjoy with a side of tortilla chips.

I love serving sparkling limeade drinks with spicy foods, just fill a glass with ice, fill half the glass with limeade, add a maraschino cherry or two, fill the rest of the glass with lemon lime soda, then top with a slice of lime.  This is one of my favorite beverages, and the cherries and lime slices make it festive!

After lunch it was time for board games and fun tv shows.  We had a snack of l'il smokies wraps, a classic appetizer. :)

Dinner time arrived and we had pizza and watched Gilligan's Island on the DVD, I found the complete series on special after Christmas, and am excited to watch one of my childhood favorites with the whole family.

We were full and sleepy after dinner, so we all had quiet time for awhile so we would be able to stay awake to ring in the new year.  We watched the tribute to Dick Clark special on TV, it was fun watching some older clips and older music.

Last year I made baked brie for New Year's Eve, I really enjoyed it so I wanted to do that again.  This year I didn't add anything to the brie, I just wrapped it in crescent dough, cut out some leaves and made fruit shapes out of the extra dough for the top, brushed it in an egg wash and baked it according to the temperature on the dough, until it was nice and golden brown.  Using my favorite new platter from Ikea, I made a platter of grapes, apple slices, crackers, some delicious Kalamata Olives, and another New Years eve favorite- bacon wrapped dates.

To make bacon wrapped dates cut a package of bacon in half, wrap each date (pitted whole dates) with half a piece of bacon, secure with a tooth pick.

Set them on a foiled lined baking tray with a oven safe cooling rack on top (like below), bake at 375 F. until bacon is cooked through and crisp.

Here's how our baked brie cheese platter turned out, a yummy snack to enjoy with our sparkling apple grape juice as we rang in the New Year.

I am looking forward to the New Year, we have had a beautiful sunshiny day all day, reminds me of spring which will be on it's way before we know it, and all the new projects and goals I have for the New Year.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and ~  Happy New Year!

The kids put New Year's Leis on our Xena, and she has kept them on all day, very festive and cute! :)