This is a sponsored post on behalf of Safeway and Lucerne Dairy.  All recipes and opinions are my own and haven’t been influenced in any way.   

It’s no surprise that I love dairy.  It consumes probably 80% of my diet and is included in almost all of my recipes.  Safeway understands that many dairy items – such as milk, butter and cheese – are staples in families’ diets and need to be purchased regularly. When we went to our local Safeway to purchase our Lucerne products, I couldn’t believe the selection available to us.  Lucerne is the only brand that covers every major dairy category with a wide variety of products. They even had fun holiday items like Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese, Peppermint Whipped Topping and Pumpkin Pecan Creamer!

For 110 years, families have trusted the simple goodness of Lucerne as a wholesome, healthy and nutritious dairy brand they can exclusively find at their local Safeway stores. While Lucerne packaging has been given a makeover, shoppers can remain confident that they will continue to get the same high quality dairy products at a great value that they have come to know and love. 

And because they are awesome, Safeway has given me a $110 Gift Card to give away to one lucky reader just in time for Christmas!  You will receive your gift card before Christmas, so you can head to Safeway and pick up some delicious Lucerne Dairy for your holiday table!  Scroll down to the bottom of the post, below the recipes and leave a comment with your favorite Lucerne product to use during the holidays to win!

With all of the ingredients, I knew that I could make some really delicious food, and decided to make these 6 Christmassy Appetizers with Lucerne Dairy.

Easy Homemade Frozen Yogurt
Crescent-Dog Wreath
Melted Snowman Dip
Three-Cheese Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups
Baked Mozzarella Sticks
Easy Cheesy Philly Cheese Steak Wraps

I was really excited to get cooking when I got home, especially since the holiday season is upon us, and nothing screams comfort food more than cheesy appetizers.  But, before I got started cooking, I knew that I had to make myself a pot of coffee, and try out this coffee creamer.  

HOLY CRAP DELICIOUS!  It made my plain jane cup of coffee taste like a $5 coffee from Starbucks!  Yum!  It was a little sweet, so if you’re not into sweet coffee, just brew your coffee a little stronger, or add a little bit of milk along with this creamer to make it less sweet – but you don’t need too… that sweetness is what makes it so wonderful.  I love coffee.

Well, the coffee got me all sorts of excited, and I started thinking of all of the delicious things I could do with the yummy Lucerne Dairy I picked up.  Not too long ago, I bought an ice-cream maker at the local thrift shop for $5 and have been dying for a chance to use it.  I wanted to make something easy in it for my first try, so after checking out Pinterest for easy ice-cream recipes, I found a recipe for Frozen Yogurt and knew that I had to make it.

Homemade frozen yogurt is so easy, and Lucerne yogurt is the perfect ingredient to make this special treat.  I used peach yogurt, but like anything, choose the flavors you like best – our Safeway had about 6 different flavors from plain, to vanilla to strawberry banana!  Homemade frozen yogurt can be made ahead of time, and served at any holiday party as a fun ‘frozen’ treat.

Easy Frozen Yogurt Recipe

Ingredients:

1 32 oz Lucerne yogurt (I used peach)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until smooth.  Transfer to the fridge and let chill for 30 minutes to an hour or until all of the sugar has dissolved. 
2. Pour yogurt mixture into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer directions.
3. Transfer to freezer, and chill 4-5 hours.

Next on the menu was some simple lasagna roll-ups.  Lucerne ricotta cheese was perfect for these, it had a smooth texture and wasn’t watery like many other brands.  

Easy Three Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles – I used Barilla, but you can use your favorite brand of pasta
make sure to get the oven ready, I’ll explain later.  

Lucerne shredded mozzarella cheese, to sprinkle over the top

For The Filling:
2 cups spinach, wash it and chop it up nice and fine
1 32 oz Lucerne whole milk ricotta cheese, well drained
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 cups Lucerne shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs or 4 ounces Lucerne Best of Eggs
salt and pepper

For The Sauce:
2 28 oz crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz tomato puree
1 28 oz tomato sauce
6 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
meatballs, optional

Directions:

The pasta sauce is ultimately the first thing you should start cooking, like first thing in the morning and letting it cook all day, if you don’t have the time for this, cook it over night, or cook it the day before.  Or… if you must, use a jarred pasta sauce.  Using this recipe for crockpot spaghetti sauce is super easy, and it’s delicious.  

First, soak your pasta.  Use either boiling water, or the hottest water from your kitchen sink, and fill a large casserole dish.  Place lasagna noodles in the dish….continue reading.

Well, we had some leftover tomato sauce, so I used the Lucerne String Cheese and the sauce, and made some delicious and really stinkin’ easy baked mozzarella sticks.  Make them even more special, buy purchasing Lucerne milk, and making your own homemade mozzarella cheese! 

Easy Baked Mozzarella Sticks Recipe

Ingredients:

12 pieces Lucerne string cheese
¼ cup flour
2 eggs or 4 ounces Lucerne Best of Egg
1 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Freeze string cheese for about 30 minutes before making.
2. Bread cheese by dipping in flour, then egg and then in bread crumbs and then back in egg and back into bread crumbs.
3. Place on a sheet tray and bake at 450 for 10 minutes
4. Serve with homemade marinara sauce

All this delicious cheese!  But, I wanted to make something a little sweet and I thought about what I could do with the products I had left, and there was still some cream cheese, and a little bit of ricotta cheese.  I looked for some inspiration on Lucerne’s Pinterest page, while keeping a Christmassy frame of mind, and thought that a fruit dip would be a nice appetizer, so I decided to mix up my cheese with some powdered sugar and whipped cream for a delicious, sweet and fluffy melted snowman dip!

Melted Snowman Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chocolate chips (mini)
1 8oz Lucerne Cream Cheese, softened
1 15oz Lucerne Ricotta Cheese
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Lucerne Heavy Cream, whipped to stiff peaks

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix cream cheese, ricotta cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
2. Gently fold in whipped cream, until combined.
3. Top with mini chocolate chips or maybe a few pretzel sticks to make it look like the snowman’s arms… get creative!  
4. Serve with whatever you think would be tasty like; strawberries, cannoli chips, fried flour tortillas sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, broken up waffle cones… 

What do you think would be tasty with this dip?

This recipe for crescent dogs is a classic, but by cutting the hot dogs, and forming the crescents like a wreath elevates this meal from drab to fab, and all your guests, kids included will love it!

Mini Crescent Dogs Wreath Recipe

Ingredients:

1 roll Safeway Kitchens Crescent Rolls
1/2 package hot dogs (4 hot dogs)
8 slices Lucerne Deluxe American Cheese Slices, cut in thirds

Optional for presentation;
Lucerne Best of Eggs
Green food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. With a sharp knife, cut hot dogs into 3 pieces.
   
3. Unroll crescent roll dough, and press seams together to form squares/rectangles of crescent dough.
4. Cut each square into 3 pieces and place a piece of hot dog and a slice of cheese on each piece of dough and roll to seal.
   
5. Place crescent dough wrapped hot dogs in a circle to form a wreath on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, being sure to press edges together to ‘seal’ the wreath.
   
6. Optional, Mix a couple tbsp Lucerne Best of Eggs with a few drops of green food coloring, and brush the top of crescent rolls with a silicone pastry brush.
   
7. Bake for 15 minutes.

How easy, right?  The last thing that we made was Easy Cheesy Philly Cheese Steak Wraps with a beef tenderloin that we got at Safeway from the Managers Special for 50% off, Lucerne American Cheese and Lucerne Mozzarella Cheese.

Easy Cheesy Philly Cheese Steak Wraps Recipe

Ingredients:

2 lbs finely sliced beef (we used a beef tenderloin because it was on sale, but you can use whatever you want)
1/2 sweet onion, finely diced
1 green bell pepper, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 slices Lucerne Deluxe American Cheese
1 cup Lucerne Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
salt and pepper
flour tortillas

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add onions and bell pepper and cook until onions start to soften and get translucent – about 8 minutes.
2. Add beef and cook stirring frequently until meat is just cooked – about 5 minutes
   
3. Top with Lucerne American and Shredded Mozzarella cheeses and place a lid over the top until cheese is melted.
   
4. Spread cheese and meat mixture out on a flour tortilla and roll up like a burrito.  Cut in half and serve immedately.
   

This is how I used Lucerne from Safeway for my Christmas Appetizers, how about you?  What is your favorite Lucerne product to use during the holidays?  Share with me below in the comments and be entered to WIN a $110 Gift Card from Safeway just in time for Christmas!

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