When we had little kids it was really hard to go out and celebrate the New Year coming in! So, we picked up something I loved my family doing when I was growing up and it is a great New Years Eve tradition! Everyone looks forward to it, every year!
New Years Eve
So, on New Years Eve we do the following:
- Pick some fun movies to watch (often something we got for Christmas)
- Play some games (we usually get one or two new games for Christmas)
- Have a fondue! (This is the really fun part!)
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Fondue
Who says you have to have just one?!
My mom often did an oil fondue, but I think it is just a pain and your meat takes forever to cook. All it is, is warmed up oil to cook bite sized pieces of meat and vegetables. This can be really dangerous, especially if you have kids participating in cooking and dipping. (My brother knocked the oil over one year! Luckily no one got burned and a fire was avoided)
Here are some or our traditional fondue choices:
- oil (not my favorite)
- cheese
- caramel
- chocolate
Oil
We have heated oil in a fondue pot or on the stove. Like mentioned above, be really careful as the oil can drip or tip over and cause burns. We don’t do this one anymore because the meat takes a long time to cook and everyone wants to get to the really good stuff, anyway!
This year I am thinking about making some chicken wings to go along with all the fondue! Cooking it in the crockpot will save time and be less of a hassle.
Cheese
There are so many recipes! I’ve been searching for the one I have used in the past, but I’m having a hard time finding it! It had gruyere cheese, which I love! Most of the recipes I’m finding have alcohol in them, but I don’t cook with alcohol so I’m trying to find some other cheese recipes, so I have to make fewer substitutions.
I’m considering this recipe, for this year. Another one of my favorite cheeses is smoked gouda! https://www.mysequinedlife.com/creamy-smoked-gouda-dip/ Of course we will be using a gluten free flour in it.
This recipe looks like the gruyere one I have used before. . . now I need to decide which recipe to do! http://lovetobeinthekitchen.com/2010/12/27/cheese-fondue/#_a5y_p=3483027
Caramel
Caramel is always a guilty pleasure, but putting it with fruit makes it seem not quite so guilty!
http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a51660/salted-caramel-fondue-recipe/
Chocolate
I have so many favorites when it comes to chocolate, but just like with caramel, indulgence with fruit makes it seem like something I don’t have to feel as guilty about. Plus, tomorrow it will be a new year and tomorrow is a good day to start over and enjoy today!
Years ago, I had a chocolate fountain which made it a little easier. For Christmas, my daughter gave me a new chocolate fountain! I’m so excited to do the chocolate in the fountain, this year!
https://www.bestfondue.com/chocolate-fondue-fountain-recipes.html
What to dip?!
Oil
If you choose to do oil, everything is cut to bite size:
- steak
- meatballs
- chicken
- Potato chunks or baby potatoes
- Vegetables
Cheese
Everything should be bite size, it will make it easier to dip and eat:
-
- broccoli
- cauliflower
- gluten free pretzels
- gluten free bread- (Scharr’s baguettes cut into small pieces is nice for this)
- cooked meat
- sausage
- salame
- crackers
- chips
- Potato chunks cooked and still firm but not mushy
Caramel and Chocolate
Pretty much whatever tastes good on one tastes good with the other. You can even get creative with double dipping!
- Apples (my favorite to dip are the green Granny apples)
- Mandarin oranges (keep a spoon close by to fish them out if they fall apart, still worth doing because they taste so good! Best in the chocolate, never tried in caramel.)
- Pineapple chunks
- Bananas
- Red grapes
- Strawberries (Perfect whole, without cutting!)
- cinnamon bears
- Gluten free KinniToos or Glutino sandwich cookies
- Gluten free Graham crackers
- Gluten free animal cookies
- Gluten free gingerbread cookies
- Gluten free wafer cookies
- Marshmallows
- Gluten free Pretzels
How we do it
When our kids were smaller we did the fondue pots on the table, but as they got older we do them on the island counter. Everyone has a plate to put their dipped goodies on and everyone dips and eats, dips and eats, dips and eats, all night long!
On the table we put the items to be dipped in small bowls that could easily be passed. Now we put things on the counter on cute trays that everyone can pick at.
Fondue pots come with great fondue sticks, but if you don’t have those, use long skewers instead.
Also, having the fondue on the counter makes it easier to play games and still be able to go back for more yum!
We have a few rules
We have a rule that you don’t eat from the skewer because the skewer goes back into what is being dipped. Plus fondue forks have very sharp ends and can hurt a little ones throat or mouth.
This time of year there’s a lot of sharing of colds and sickness and this helps minimize that kind of sharing!
So, everyone has a plate to put their dipped foods on and a fork to eat them with. This also helps to keep one person from hogging the cheese, chocolate or caramel. Having a spoon close by also helps in fishing out lost food that won’t stay on the skewer!
*If you dip it, you fish it out. Don’t leave your lost food behind.
A tradition to look forward to
Every year I look forward to this tradition and spending time with our family. Even though the girls are older and have New Years dances and parties to go to, they still have a little time to fondue before leaving.
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