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 Let's face it - the middle of winter is a dreary time and it’s all to easy to enter into hibernation mode and be antisocial.
Why not indulge yourself and host a luxurious dinner party for you and your girlfriends. Fine food, good wine and fantastic company – what a way to spend a winter evening, without even having to leave the house...
We've nutted out a few simple, but utterly delish and impressive ideas to give you a good base for a menu plan...
Starters Place the following tasty morsels on a big platter  Pita crisps and hummus
You can buy pita crisps already in a bag, or make your own by cutting up pita breads into bite size chunks, brush with olive oil, season with herbs of your choice and bake at 170°C until crispy. Serve with hummus. Place two pieces of Regal Smoked Salmon Morsels onto small skewers. - Roast red pepper, mushroom and cream cheese bruchetta
Cut thick slices of a sour dough or wholemeal loaf. Brush with olive oil and bake at 180°C for 15 minutes until golden. Spread with low fat cream cheese, top with roasted red peppers and marinated mushrooms. Main Meal Moroccan spiced chicken on couscous with lemon yoghurt sauce 5 cloves garlic 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger 1 tablespoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon brown sugar 2 teaspoons paprika 1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds Grated rind of one lemon Juice of two lemons 2 tablespoons olive oil 4-6 chicken breasts  Whisk together the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Add the chicken breasts to the bowl of marinated. Mix so all chicken breasts are coated in marinade. Refrigerate overnight, or for a minimum of 2 hours. Cook the chicken breasts either in a hot fry pan, or bake in the oven at for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Yoghurt Sauce: 250g unsweetened natural yoghurt 1 teaspoon lemon rind Juice of one lemon 8 mint leaves chopped finely Serve the chicken on couscous, cooked per the instructions on the packet. Drizzle with the yoghurt sauce and serve with steamed vegetables of your choice on the side. .jpg) DessertMini berry cheesecakes If you don’t have mini size tins, you can use a normal sized dish to make one big cheesecake. The mini ones do look very cute though. This is a cheat’s way of making cheesecake so you don’t have to spend too long slaving away in the kitchen to prepare your dinner party. For the base: 1 packet of wine biscuits, crushed into crumbs 150g melted reduced fat margarine For the filling: 1 tin of boysenberries drained, juice set aside 1 500g pottle of Tararua Simply Divine Cheesecake Filling 1 50g bar of white chocolate Method: Mix the melted margarine and wine biscuit crumbs together. Press the mix firmly into the bottom of mini spring form tins, or one large tin. Chill until the cheesecake filling mix is ready.
Mix the cheesecake filling and berries. Spoon the filling mix into the pan/s. Chill until set.
Break up the white chocolate bar, and melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Drizzle over the cheesecake. With the berry juice, heat in a small pot and when serving, pour in a circle around the cheesecake and drizzle a little on top.
Nicola
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