With three family birthdays, Christmas, and New Year's within a two-week period, this is a very celebratory time of year in our house.
Friday
Short version: Tamales, chocolate roulade
Long version: Such a simple meal . . . that takes so long.
This was the second year I made tamales, and, as with anything, it was faster and easier this time as I implemented my own shortcuts.
I started it the day before by pressure-cooking beef ribs, which makes stock, meat, and rendered fat. All of those things are in the tamales. Most people, of course, use purchased stock and lard, but I figured it was a good way to use up some beef ribs. Plus, as a general rule, the fewer the purchased ingredients in anything, the better it tastes.
Tamales are a lot of work, but they are worth it.
Ditto the roulade.
Next year, though, I need to remember that the quantities in the tamale recipes I consult ("follow" isn't really the right word . . .) don't really make enough. The recipes say they make about 30 tamales. This year I made one recipe's worth and ended up with only 21, so I made another half recipe and had 34 tamales at the end of it. But really, I should just double the masa mixture to start with so I can have 50 and can freeze some. Because if I'm going to all that effort, I should definitely get at least one more meal out of it.
Anyway. That's just me talking to myself.
Saturday
Short version: Spaghetti and meatballs, Christmas mushrooms, green salad, eggnog, molasses cookies
Long version: The tamales were actually our big Christmas dinner, albeit on Christmas Eve, but this meal was almost as popular.
The meatballs were some I had made a month or so ago and froze, so all I had to do was make the spaghetti, to which I added a bag of roasted tomato sauce from the freezer and some Latino cheese.
The Latino cheese is made by a local-ish cheese factory that sells their cheese in the grocery store of one of the small towns we go to sometimes. I think they made up the name entirely, because an Internet search revealed nothing about it. Anyway, it tasted like a slightly less aged Parmesan, so I grated it and added it to the pasta. The kids didn't notice any difference, which is great, because I can't get blocks of Parmesan here. Having a local substitute--like the asadero cheese we use in place of mozzarella--is really useful. I hope they keep making it.
The mushrooms are a Christmas tradition going back to Cubby's toddler days. When he was very small and offered some mushrooms to try, he declined by saying he only ate mushrooms on Christmas. I suspect he was just trying to delay the mushroom consumption to some far later date and randomly chose Christmas, but it has now become an unalterable family tradition to have mushrooms on Christmas Day. Three of the four children actually like mushrooms now, but the one who doesn't still gamely eats his yearly Christmas mushroom piece every year.
The molasses cookies are a recipe from the MiL's Grandma Bishop, of chocolate cake fame. The recipe as written uses lard and would make something like 100 cookies, which is what farm women used to make to fill their cookie jars. I made half a recipe, with butter, and they are delicious. The combination of spices is very Christmas-y, and they make a perfectly seasonal dessert with some eggnog.
I made the eggnog, too, using this recipe. It used up the seven egg yolks left after making the roulade, and was perfect with the cookies. Mine was too thick after chilling, but I just thinned it out with some milk.
Sunday
Short version: Beef stew, bread and butter, cheese
Long version: I had taken out a random bag from the little freezer labeled "beef for BBQ," which I think was from the last time I made beef stock with soup bones. I actually used that for the tamales, and so I didn't need the beef from the ribs. I used that beef for this soup, which also included beef stock left from pressure-cooking the beef ribs, the last of the roasted tomato sauce, some already cooked onions, potatoes, carrots, and frozen green peas.
Monday
Short version: Birthday chips and meat, cake and ice cream
Long version: I do cook my own birthday dinner, because that way I'm assured of getting exactly what I want. I had bought some tortilla chips awhile ago, so I just combined the last of the tamale meat and the rest of the rib meat with more salsa, shredded cheese, some leftover canned black beans, and sour cream, and served that with the chips. Everyone scooped up the meat with the chips, and yes, that is what I consider to be a celebratory meal.
I still believe chips make everything better, I just don't often indulge in them.
I made the ice cream using this recipe and the last of a bag of Oreos Cubby had bought with his own money at the store last time we were there (he gave me permission). You may recall I had tried this sort of condensed-milk-based no-churn ice cream before, with overly sweet results thanks to too many chocolate chips. This one was not too sweet, although it does have an odd mouthfeel. It sort of coats. I suspect it's our ersatz "heavy cream," however, which has thickeners and nonfat milk and all kinds of weirdness in it. And is the only kind we can get. Sigh.
Anyway.
The ice cream was good with the cake, though, which was, of course, Grandma Bishop's cake and which Cubby made for me.
Oh! And the MiL's brother, who is the family historian, sent me some photos of Grandma Bishop. Including this one that features the MiL herself (in a baby bonnet!) on Grandma Bishop's lap.
