Celebrating the Holiday Season

We had a few fabulous meals together with family surrounding the Christmas holiday. To me food is love, and I really wanted this year to be special. Our Christmas Eve Dinner included Pumpkin Orecchiette with Goat Cheese and Toasted Pepitas

I love this dish. I love pumpkin and the combination of crunchiness from the pepitas and creaminess from the goat cheese are fabulous.

Herb Garlic Bread from The Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
Christmas Salad

Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Basil Curry Mayonnaise

And, due to a small change in plans, I ended up hosting Christmas dinner also - which was fabulous. We snacked on brie with fig jam and crackers. Then, we had our traditional ham, "lightened" potato casserole, homemade rolls, carrots, asparagus, and salad. And, finally, dessert was Peppermint Layer Cake.

Layers of white and red velvet cake with peppermint cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with crushed canes.

Christmas Morning Breakfast

We had a fabulous breakfast on Christmas morning. Fabulous in that most of the prep was done the night before and, then, baked off Christmas morning while we opened presents. Tuck these ideas away for next year! Simply plated Christmas breakfast.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, which I found here, but the source is Williams-Sonoma's Family Meals cookbook.

Fresh Fruit Salad with Honey Vanilla Yogurt ala Ina Garten. Found at foodnetwork.com.

{Christmas Casserole}
recipe from The Lybbert family
7-8 slices of bread, cubed or broken (Iused French bread
2 C shreddedcheese
1 1/2 to 2 lbs pork sausage (I used ham)
4 eggs
2 1/4 C milk, plus 1/2 C
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1 can crm of mushroom soup.

Place read in a greased aserole dish. top with meat, then cheese. Mix 21/4 C milk with eggs and dry mustard. Pour egg mixture over casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight. in the morning dilute soup with other 1/2 C milk and spread over casserole. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Baked French Toast

For Breakfast on Christmas Eve, I made a Baked French Toast and topped it with Cream, Carmelized Pecans and Strawberries. I had the idea of what type of dish I wanted and went searching for a recipe, but I couldn't find one. So, I combined ideas from a couple different recipes and I loved the results!

{Baked French Toast with Caramelized Pecans, Strawberries and Cream}
1 loaf Challah bread
8 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt

Slice challah into 1" slices. Arrange slices in a 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish sprayed with cooking spray in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. Combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and saltin a large bowl. Whisk together. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Use this baking time, to prepare your toppings.

{Toppings}
1 pound fresh strawberries, sliced
3 tablespoons sugar, divided
3/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together strawberries and 2 tablespoon of sugar. Set aside.

In a food processor, blend together heavy cream, cream cheese and 1 tablespoon sugar until thick and creamy.

In a skillet over medium heat, add the pecans, brown sugar and butter. Stir until sugar has melted and pecans are coated and sticky.

Last Week's Dinner Menu

My in-laws have been here this week for Christmas, and I have been busy-busy. I have gotten a lot done with them here, but sadly I have ignored this little blog. That's okay at the holidays, right? Here's what we have been eating.

Sunday - Ina's Company Pot Roast, Baked Potatoes with Yogurt Sour Cream, broccoli, and salad
Monday - Homemade Pizza, salad, fruit
Tuesday - Baked Beed Taquitos made with leftover Pot Roast
Wednesday - Chinese Take-Out
Thursday (Christmas Eve) - Pumpkin Orechiette with Toasted Pepitas and Goat Cheese, Beef Tenderloin with Basil-Curry Mayonnaise, asparagus, Herb Garlic Bread, and Christmas Salad
Friday (Christmas) - Ham, Lightened Funeral Potatoes, Rolls, Salad, Red Velvet Peppermint Cake
Saturday - Butternut Squash Soup with Fontina Crostini

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

I got this recipe from a friend of mine. I had never made a gingerbread house before so this was a fun adventure. This makes great gingerbread for cookies. I ended up drying the gingerbread house piece in the oven for a while to make them stiff enough to hold up the candy.

{Gingerbread Cookies}

1 C packed brown sugar

1/3 C Shortening

1 1/2 C dark molasses

2/3 C cold water

7 C flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix brown sugar, shortening, molasses, and water in a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Roll 1/4 of dough at a time 1/4" thick. Cut with floured cookied cutters. Place 2" apart on a baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna

We obviously have an obsession with Butternut Squash. The day that my sister came home from school for the holidays we tried this:

The recipe can be found here at Closet Cooking. Closet Cooking is a food blog that I have come across before, but not spent much time perusing. I will definitely be adding it to my list of favorites!

Pomegranite Salsa

My sisters were talking about this salsa, when we were together to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday. They said they would save me some but, alas, they did not. So I broke down and made it wor myself. I love it! A light "salsa" in the middle of winter.

{Pomegranite Salsa}

1 avocado, diced

seeds of 1 pomegranite

red onion, finely diced

lemon juice

salt, to taste

a little bit of pepper

Mix all together to combine flavors. Eat it fast, or someone else will!

This Week's Dinner Menu

Sunday - Anniversary Chicken, Scalloped Potatoes, Tri-Colore Salad
Monday - Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Crostinis
Tuesday - "Meal Swap" night
Wednesday - Italina Baked Chicken and Pastina, Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Parmesan Crust
Thursday - Dinner at Mom's
Friday - Creamy Baked Chicken Taquitos with Salsa Ranch and Jalapeno Ranch dipping sauce, corn, fruit
Saturday - Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells, breadsticks, salad

Surprisingly Delicious

Remember when Jessica Seinfeld's book "Deceptively Delicious" came out and she was on Oprah and all the rage. I remember reading mixed reviews about some of the recipes. People were saying that their kids questioned why the chicken nuggets (dipped in broccoli puree) were green. So, I didn't really try any of the recipes at the time.

Well, I recently revisted her recipes through a friend's suggestion. Today for lunch we had Macaroni and Cheese 1. And, the boys ate it up!!!

This is what the toddler looked like at the end of his meal. Two servings down.

{Macaroni and Cheese}
modified slightly from Jessica Seinfeld
3/4 C shaped macaroni
1/2 T olive oil
1/2 T flour
1/4 C non-fat milk
1/4 C pumpkin puree (the original recipe calls for butternut squash puree)
3/4 C shredded cheddar cheese
2 oz cream cheese (I will cut this down to about 1 oz)
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of black pepper and paprika

Cook noodles according to packages direction for al dente. Make a rouxe out of the oil and flour, let cook about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk. Cook, stirring occassionally, for about 4 minutes and sauce will thicken. Add remaining ingredients and stir until smooth. Mix in noodles and serve.

What is that?

A friend asked what this was, when she saw it on last week's menu, so I thought that I would share it here also. The whole idea came from a local pizza place, The Rock. They have unique combinations for their pizza and every pizza is named after a rock song. They do a Garlic Mozz Bread, and a Brown Sugar Mozz Bread. Here is what i do:

{Brown Sugar Mozzarella Bread}
my version
1 pizza crust (small)
1 garlic clove
2 Tbsp oil (I use olive oil)
brown sugar
shredded mozzarella

Slice garlic clove. Heat oil in a saucepan, add garlic. Watch so that garlic does not burn. Roll out pizza crust. Remove garlic from oil, and spread oil on pizza crust. Top with a layer of brown sugar, then, a layer of mozzarella. Bake on a pizza stone heated to 500 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Slice pizza in half, then perpendicular strips. Serve with peppercorn ranch for dipping.

I know this sounds weird, but we had a waiter that we totally trusted who reccommended that we try it. We did, we loved it! Oh, and don't skimp on the brown sugar and mozzarella. I tried that once - not a good idea. Another reason we love the restaurant, it is loud, the music is turned up and that means our kids aren't distracting to anyone.

This Week's Dinner Menu

Sunday - Potato Latkes with Applesauce, Roasted Chicken, Salad, and Homemade Jelly Filled Doughnuts
Monday - Potstickers and Terriyaki Noodles
Tuesday - "Meal Swap" Night/Relief Society Activity
Wednesday - Sundance Chicken Tortilla Soup, Pomegranite Avocado Salsa
Thursday - Anniversary Chicken, scalloped potatoes, salad
Friday - Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells, breadsticks, salad and vegetables
Saturday - Eat out before visiting Snowflake Lane as part of our Christmas Advent

And, apparently, last week was so busy that I forgot to post our dinner menu. Here is what I remember:

Sunday - Dinner at Mom's before the siblings go back to school (Thanksgiving again)
Monday - Butternut Squash Ravioli
Tuesday - "Meal Swap" Night
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza (BBQ Chicken, Pepperoni, and Brown Sugar Mozzarella bread)
Thursday - Award Winning Pork Chili, salad
Friday - leftovers
Saturday - Office Christmas Party