Christmas China...and a great meal!

This Holiday season my husband and I finally got one of the gifts we've {him sometimes more than I} been eyeing.  My parents treated us to 6 place settings of Lenox Holiday China! {only 2 full, and 4 dinner & salad plates... but we were just as pleased!}  We got to open it early, so we could put it to use - and boy have we enjoyed it!  The hubs even got up early one morning and make breakfast, just so we could use it. We've been looking for a good excuse to put it to real use - so last night we had over some great friends to break in our holiday dishes and celebrate the season!

I wanted to share some new recipes we tried, and I promise you - they will all be repeats.  They were quite delectable if I do say so myself!

We had a mixed greens salad with cucumbers, pistachios, feta and cranberries to start- served with a champagne vinaigrette dressing that is to die for...

For the main course, we served a Stuffed Pork Tenderloin drizzled with Grilled Peach Whisky Beurre Blanc.

We modified the recipe some because I wanted to use the kale in the mashed potatoes... but I know it would certainly be delicious over the kale as well. We also discovered that you don't need the entire habanero pepper - maybe a quarter will do! It was SPICY!!

On the side we served Giada's Mashed Potatoes with Kale and even the guys couldn't get enough.

It was a fun-filled night with delicious food and great fellowship!  Now we're ready for a long, relaxing Holiday break.  I'll be off the grid for blogging for the week or so... so Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2013 to all of you!