AN ELEGANT HOLIDAY DINNER DOESN'T HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE

MENU

CHEESE PLATE

OUTBACK SHRIMP SKEWERS

CAESAR SALAD

BEEF BOURGUIGNON

FRENCH BREAD WITH BUTTER

CHAMPAGNE

DESSERT PLATTER

HOW TO MAKE IT FRUGAL ALONG WITH RECIPES-

CHEESE PLATE
A cheese plate can be done inexpensively.  You can offer as few as 2 or three cheeses and some crackers alongside.  Some fruit such as sliced pears or grapes are always a nice touch as well.  To make this frugal, the cheeses can be purchased from Aldis grocery store.  They have a particularly good white cheddar with cranberries cheese for about $3 as well as other gourmet but frugal cheeses to try.  Add some nice crackers and a bit of fruit and you have an elegant appetizer that is easy to reuse it's leftovers. Some great articles to check out on the subject:  

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/food/perfect-cheese-platter

http://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/articles/how-to-set-up-a-cheese-platter.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Put-Together-a-Cheese-Plate

OUTBACK SHRIMP SKEWERS

Believe it or not I just visited an Outback restaurant for the first time this past summer.  Their grilled shrimp may easily be my new favorite food ever!  These are amazing and luckily the secret is out thanks to Todd Wilbur, on how to make these gems at home,  To make this frugal - okay shrimp is not the most frugal of proteins however it really adds a dash of elegance and feeling of a party so I love to include shrimp as an appetizer for holidays.  The best and cheapest shrimp I have tried are the large size shrimp from aldis - a nice size frozen bag of these shrimp runs around $7 - not too bad for luxury food!  The shrimp are already precooked and cleaned to save you time so just coat with the spice mix and a quick broil will have them ready to go.

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 dash ground allspice

6 large shrimp, thawed if frozen

fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter, melted

minced fresh parsley

Prepare the shrimp seasoning by mixing the spices together in a small bowl.  Squeeze some fresh lemon juice over the shrimp.  Brush melted butter generously over the top of the shrimp.  Sprinkle a bit of the seasoning on next. Don't use a heavy coating of seasoning.  Place the shrimp onto your hot grill or broiling pan with the seasoning side down. Brush some more butter of the other side of the shrimp followed by another light sprinkle of seasoning.  After 2 minutes or so the face-down side of the shrimp should be browned and showing some light charring. Flip the shrimp over and grill for an additional 2 minutes, or until browned on the other side.  Remove the shrimp from the grill/broil pan and slide them off the skewers onto a plate.

CAESAR SALAD

This salad is one of those sounds fancy but is really easy type of things.  I wont bore you with the dressing recipe because yeah anchovies aren't cheap and noone I know keeps them on hand!  Easy and cheap recipe - get a bag of Italian salad greens from Aldis for $2 - dump it in a bowl and add some croutons and parmesan cheese over the salad.  Serve with a bottled (much easier) Caesar dressing - we have tried Ken's Steakhouse Caesar dressing and it was really good!

BEEF BOURGUIGNON

All this dish is really - glorified beef stew - but it tastes like it should be served in heaven's cafeteria and it sounds like your name should be Martha Stewart if you make it! This is made of regular everyday stew meat and veggies but has the addition of a bunch of wine for the fancy element. My recommendation to fulfill the wine requirement on the cheap is a $2 bottle of trader joes or aldis red wine - add the requested amount to the recipe and drink the rest yourself so you feel festive early!

6 strips maple bacon

3 pounds stew beef cubes

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper for sprinkling

3 tbsp flour

1 1/4 cup beef broth

2 cups red wine (I used Cabernet)

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh parsley, plus more for sprinkling

1 bay leaf

1 pound fresh cremini mushrooms, sliced

Egg noodles

Sauté bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon and place on paper towels off to the side. Add beef cubes to skillet and brown. Remove meat and set aside. Cook carrots, onion, and celery in skillet until brown, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir flour in broth and mix well.  Add to skillet.

Add beef and bacon to skillet and mix.  Place entire mix in bottom of slow cooker.

Add wine, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, parsley, and mushrooms to slow cooker.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours or until thoroughly cooked. Boil water and cook egg noodles according to directions. Serve beef mixture over egg noodles and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

REST OF THE MEAL
That is pretty much it for the elegant dinner - pickup a loaf of french bread (usually only about $1-2 dollars at our local grocery store) and get a stick of real butter to lather the bread with.  Inexpensive sparkling wine or champagne can be procured at places like Aldi's or Trader Joes really cheaply and looks festive or you can get a bottle of sparkling juice if you are a non-drinker.  Lastly add a pretty platter of whatever you decided to bake or buy this year in terms of cookies and chocolates and voila - a fancy feast for a non-fancy price tag!