Friday Food: Christmas Food Traditions

Friday 

Short version: Lamb chops, leftover rice, carrot sticks with ranch dip

Long version: Four of the six family members had the lamb chops, which were just fried. The recent birthday boy finished the leftover shrimp, and I had a salad with some hardboiled eggs and feta in it.

Saturday

Short version: Green chili hamburger stew, crackers, molasses cookies

Long version: I spent a very long time in the kitchen this day making Grandma Bishop's molasses cookies. 

Batch seven or so starts to get a little wonky.

I double that recipe when I bake them at Christmas, so it takes a few hours. For this reason, I knew I would have no energy left to get back in the kitchen to make dinner later. That's why, while the cookie dough was chilling, I made green chili hamburger stew to have for later.

Good call. Good cookies, too.

Sunday

Short version: Posadas potluck

Long version: This was the night we went to our parish Christmas celebration. The potluck featured several stews with a ton of chili in them. I tried one piece of meat from a red chili from one of the boys' plates and almost burst into flames from the spice, so I stuck to the posole. This was made very mild, with a red chili sauce to be added as needed. I didn't need it. The bland posole was just fine for me, thanks.

I brought these cheesecake bars.

Yum.

For once, I actually followed the recipe. Except for the fact that topped them with drizzled salted caramel sauce instead of berries. I don't regret it, either.

Monday

Short version: Tuna melt sandwiches, potato chips, cucumbers

Long version: One child was sick. One child had been in a city with A., where they ate a very late lunch and weren't hungry when they got home. For the two children eating, I made some tuna salad that I used to make them tuna melts. They were very pleased with this. 

My mother had left the potato chips for us, which were also appreciated.

Tuesday

Short version: Linguine with bull bolognese, green salad with vinaigrette, eggnog and molasses cookies

Long version: I unearthed a frozen container of the second half of the double recipe of bolognese I made for the insane lasagna lo these many months ago. The night before a big holiday is always a good time to make something easy for dinner. This seemed like it would be easy and celebratory.

It was.

I use this recipe for eggnog, because it neatly takes care of the egg yolks I have after separating eggs to make our Christmas chocolate roulade. And eggnog with molasses cookies is the perfect combination. The recipe actually calls for six egg yolks. I have seven left after making the roulade. The extra egg yolk doesn't make much difference, except that I always have to thin the eggnog a little with milk after it's chilled.

Wednesday

Short version: Christmas ham, scalloped potatoes, carrots with maple syrup and butter, green peas, sauteed mushrooms, chocolate roulade

A relatively easy meal. The ham was a fully-cooked spiral sliced ham that just needed to be re-heated. I coated it in mustard and maple syrup, which was good.

I don't even use a recipe for scalloped potatoes. I just layer thinly sliced peeled potatoes with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cream, and milk in a buttered Pyrex until it's full, and then bake it uncovered until most of the liquid is gone. It always takes longer than I think, though, so the potatoes were in the oven for like an hour after everything else was done. No matter. I just stuck everything else on top of the woodstove to keep warm and we ate at 6 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.

The roulade is probably the most labor-intensive part of this meal. I forgot to butter the parchment paper before pouring the batter on it, and I was sure it was never going to come off, leaving me with a mess of chocolate sponge chunks. With some very careful unrolling and coaxing with a spatula, however, I did manage to get it all off. So that was nice. And it was, as always, delicious. A welcome light dessert after a heavy meal.

I didn't get a photo of the buffet. Oh well. It looked pretty much like last year, anyway.

Oh! And I did find enough parsley in the garden for the mushrooms. This is always very satisfying.

Thursday

Short version: Ham and rice skillet

Long version: I used leftover rice, diced ham, peas, carrots, onions, and cheese to make a skillet meal. Very tasty. Anything with ham is.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?