Christmas Recipes & Ideas

Ranch cream cheese with red pepper, celery and olives rolled in tortillas and chilled. About 78 pinwheels, no oven, but make them only a day ahead.

Mini sausages wrapped in bacon, rolled in brown sugar and cayenne, then baked crisp. Four ingredients, serves 12, and they freeze before baking.

Raw pork sausage, sharp cheddar and Bisquick rolled and baked at 350F. Makes 26, and the raw sausage is what stops them spreading flat.

Frozen meatballs, grape jelly and chili sauce in the slow cooker. Five minutes of work, serves ten, and it holds on the warm setting all party.

Fresh cranberry salsa over whipped cream cheese, with no cooking at all. Serves 12, needs four hours chilling, and the salsa freezes on its own.

Cream cheese, Monterey Jack and pepperoni chilled in a bundt pan, then rolled in parsley, almonds and sun-dried tomatoes. Serves 10, no oven needed.

Brie and cranberry sauce in frozen phyllo shells, baked for eight minutes. Fifteen bites, three ingredients, and they freeze unbaked for three months.