Christmas Fare

Last year I made an elaborate Christmas meal, only to have all my kids get sick and not be able to enjoy it.

This year I decided to chill out and enjoy the day a bit more, so here is what we had for dinner:

Christmas Eve

My family has a long standing tradition of eating a "Jerusalem Dinner" on Christmas Eve. Depending on the age of the kids, we would sometimes dress up in nativity costumes and we almost always ate by candlelight. Dinner would consist of things that Joseph and Mary might have eaten in their day. This year we ate fish (lightly pan fried in a little EVOO), dried plums and apricots, olives, and pita bread with goat cheese (as well as some other cheeses that the kids would like). I also had some smoked oysters that a friend gave us when he cleaned out his pantry, so I made a cream cheese spread with them to eat on the pita bread. We drank grape juice with the meal. Leah added to the scene by placing nativity characters around the table.

Christmas Brunch

After the excitement of opening presents, we sat down to cinnamon rolls, mango-berry juice, and CranApple Acorn Squash. I was going to serve grapefruit as well, but we really didn't need anything more - it was a perfect snack to keep us going as we tried out our games and toys.

Christmas Dinner

The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in the kitchen all day, so I found this great recipe for Posole which cooked in the slow cooker all day and served up great with a batch of cornbread and a little salad.

Harvest Pound Cake

This recipe is the result of me trying to make a recipe I found online and realizing I was out of many of the ingredients. I liked it so much I figured I should make note of my "recipe" for posterity.

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup pumpkin or sweet potato puree
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour (I used half white/half wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups chopped or grated apples or pears
1 cup dried fruit (I used a dried berry mix)

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; add to egg mixture and mix well. Stir in fresh and dried fruit. Pour into a two 8x4 loaf pans (greased and floured). Sprinkle with coarse decorating sugar. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Bread Pudding

This is one of those great comfort food recipes that has been passed down through generations... my mom remembers eating it as a child and her mom (my grandma) does as well - it goes back at least as far as my great-great grandmother, Johanna Jurk. It was always a special treat for us as children - we loved it warm and fresh from the oven.

2 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups dry bread, cubed
nutmeg or cinnamon to taste
1/4 cup raisins

Place bread in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Beat the eggs and mix with milk, sugar and spices. Pour the liquid over the bread and let stand until thoroughly soaked. Add raisins. Bake 20 minutes or until firm in a 350 oven.

Those of you who know me know that I view recipes more as suggestions than as a hard and fast rule - which means my favorite recipes are those that are somewhat flexible in their execution. This is one of those recipes. I recently found a bag of gingerbread waffles in my freezer that had been there too long to taste very good on their own, so I used them to make a gingery bread pudding. I didn't add any extra spices to the liquid and replaced the raisins with chocolate and butterscotch chips - it was scrumptious!

Eggplant Pizza

My brother found some gorgeous eggplant at the Farmer's market this weekend, so I dug around online for a new way to make them and found this...

Slice eggplant into 1/2" rounds. Dip in beaten egg and dredge in mixture of
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil in skillet. Place eggplant rounds in hot oil and cook until tender and browned on both sides. Remove to paper towel lined plate to drain. You could also spray the rounds with cooking spray and place under broiler if you don't want to fry them.

After the eggplant has cooled a little, place the rounds on a cooking sheet and top with pizza sauce, cheese, and any other toppings you enjoy. Place under broiler for about 5 minutes - until cheese is melted.

We made individual pizza rounds, but I imagine you could also use eggplant to make a large pizza crust by slicing it a bit thinner and overlapping the cooked eggplant to fill your pizza pan. Just be aware that the crust will not be firm enough to eat with your hands - but it will taste wonderful!

Grandma Marynel's Pudding Cookies

These are the cookies that my husband remembers from growing up... you know, the ones they always talk about until you finally get the recipe from your mother in law... I have to admit, they are pretty good - and very versatile!

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 small package chocolate or vanilla Jello instant pudding
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix flour with baking soda and set aside. Combine butter, vanilla, sugars, and pudding in large bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

This recipe is very easy to change depending to suit the type of pudding you have on hand. This time I had Pumpkin Spice pudding, so I substituted butterscotch chips for the chocolate chips and added pecans - yummy! I've also made them with Pistachio pudding, white chocolate chips and pistachios (of course). The possibilities are endless! If you happen to have the large box of pudding, just double the rest of the recipe and get twice as many cookies!

Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups

Let me start by saying that I love Velveeta Shells & Cheese - it's just so much creamier than regular mac & cheese and feels more like a comfort food - especially when I don't feel up to making the real deal. In fact, I usually won't eat the regular stuff when I make if for my kids. I recently had a chance to try both Easy Mac and the Velveeta Shells & Cheese Cups and while I can tolerate the Easy Mac because it really doesn't taste that different from the regular stuff, I really think Kraft needs to discontinue the Shells & Cheese Cups.

For starters, the shells don't cook evenly in the microwave so you end up with noodles that are part gooey and part crunchy. Then, the extra water that is left in the noodles dilutes the cheese sauce so you don't get that Velveeta taste. In the end, you are left with a gummy, gluey, yellow mess that hardly even tastes like macaroni & cheese. The convenience really isn't worth it since regular Velveeta Shells only take about 7 minutes to make and only cost about 50 cents more.

Baked Plantains

Plantains are those monster bananas that you often see being sold next to the regular bananas. I love them because they are so versatile. When they are green they can be used like potatoes - boiled in stews or fried to chip form. When they are yellow, they have gained a little sweetness, but are still really firm and lend themselves well to recipes like this one. As they get blacker, they get softer and sweeter and are often used in dessert dishes.
For this recipe, you want to use plantains that are yellow with just a few spots. They are really hard to peel in the traditional way, so you want to score the peel down the length of the plantain with a knife and use the knife to pry it away from the fruit. Slice the plantain into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces and toss in a bag or bowl with olive oil and whatever spices you like. Some good ones to try are garlic powder, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. I like a combination of the four spices - but go easy on the cayenne as it will give them quite a kick! Mix well and spread out on a baking pan lined with crumpled foil (the ridges help keep them from sticking) Bake for about 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Cool and enjoy! The result is a spicy-sweet, chewy banana that is great as a side dish with beans and rice or other Mexican and Caribbean dishes.
I actually let my plantains get too ripe this time, so I just tossed them with olive oil and cinnamon and used them as a topping for arroz con leche (rice pudding). You can make a simple version of this by reheating leftover rice with a little condensed milk or dulce de leche and dash of cinnamon or nutmeg - then top with the plantains and enjoy!