A Last Minute Easy Appetizer

Happy New Year's Eve, dear readers! Tonight's the big family New Year's Party. We start off the evening with a vast appetizer spread at my place, with parlor games (scattergories, guesstures, pictionary, etc.) for the young and old. After a couple of hours, when everyone starts to wilt or get wild, we have a change of venue and head to my mom's place for a taquito extravaganza. My favorite part of the night is a little game my mom started decades ago. Everyone writes down the three very best things of the past year on a 3 by 5 card. The cards are collected and read aloud by noisy me, and we all try to guess to whom it belongs. My mom saves all the cards so we can still read about the time that my best memory was an Adam Ant concert. It really was a great concert, I tell you. The toughest part of my mom's game is limiting the three best things to THREE best things. For this year, I'd have to include our recent trip to Europe, a family reunion this summer, the births of the newest babies to our evergrowing family, getting the Quiet Man one step closer to his doctorate, watching my daughter dance in the Nutcracker or with her nose in a novel, seeing my little boy overcome his fears and play his violin in public and also his current obsession with his villainous ability to raise one eyebrow, and just living everyday knowing that I have enough of everything that I need to be healthy and happy. And of course, starting this Prudence Pennywise blog, which has brought me truckloads of fiber, vitamins, minerals, calories and unabashed joy in 2008.

And here's a quick appetizer for your big parties tonight:

Spread out a sheet of saran wrap on a work surface and lightly coat it with cooking spray.

Take an 8 ounce block of cream cheese from the fridge.

Pat it onto the saran wrap into a 8 by 6 inch rectangle.

Spread about 3 tablespoons filling to within 1 inch of the edges. I've used raspberry chipotle jam here, but I love hot pepper jelly, fruit jam, cranberry sauce, barbecue sauce, chili sauce, red or green salsa, chutney, or even sweet and sour sauce.
Gently roll it up, using the saran wrap to roll it along. Store it in the fridge until serving time...or serve immediately with crackers, chips, or bread. Garnish with fresh herbs, chopped scallions, nuts, or spices. If you were able to get your cream cheese for $1 a block, then this appetizer won't cost you much more than that!

Have a very very Happy New Year. Here's looking forward to an economical but magically delicious 2009.