Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas to all!  I hope everyone out there had a very nice Christmas this year!

Christmas here at my house wasn't all that exciting, but that's because we have no small kids in the house anymore.  To me, it's kids that make Christmas fun.  

Charlie and the cats doesn't count.

It was nice to get a quick visit from Steph and Isaac as they were passing through from Fairbanks to Nikiski.  Even though they only stayed one night, it was worth it to see them.

I didn't get any posed "formal" family pictures this year - just didn't think of doing it - so I just have a few snapshots of what went on at our house, which really isn't much.

To me, maybe I'm weird, but one of my favorite things about Christmas is cooking a huge Christmas dinner, even if I do it all single-handedly, which I ended up doing this year cuz Steph and Isaac weren't here for Christmas dinner.  (and PeeWee doesn't like helping in the kitchen).

So I did it ALL BY MYSELF this year!!

We had ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, gravy, and dinner rolls.  Plus desserts (pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and cheesecake.)

We broke a few traditions with our meal this year.  Chuck wanted a ham instead of a turkey, just for a change.  And that was okay, BUT!......  He is one of those people that doesn't like "funky" flavors on his meat, so he insisted that I not put any kind of glaze or anything on it.  So the ham was okay, but I thought it could've used some kind of flavor enhancement.  Anyway, now I have this leftover ham bone to experiment with.

I want to try making some ham and pea soup with it, something I don't remember ever making before, so it will require some research before I attempt that one.

Another tradition broken, but perhaps a new one made, is that I made my own jellied cranberry sauce out of scratch, instead of opening up a can.  What I hate about opening up cans of food, is that I feel like I'm opening up a can of dog food - and then we eat it.  (but that's just me....)  Plus I hate feeling like I'm compromising nutrition for convenience.  But mostly, I was just curious to see if I could actually make a good tasting batch of it, and how hard is it to make?

It was actually pretty easy to make and I was real pleased with the texture of it - surprised that it actually worked out!  And it even tasted good, but if I make it again, I will have to make a note to myself to use less orange juice, and less sugar.  To me it tasted a bit too "orangey", and Pee Wee said it was too sweet.  And if SHE says it's too sweet, trust me, it's too sweet.

Okay, the stuffing.  Usually, I cheat, yes I cheat, I hate to admit it, but I do cheat with this one.  Normally I buy a box of Stove Top and dress it up with onions and sausage and so-forth.  But at the last minute, I realized I FORGOT to pick up a box of Stove Top when we were at the commissary.  And I was NOT about to run to the store on Christmas morning just to pick up a box of Stove Top.  My choices were to either not have stuffing (gasp!), or improvise and make my own from scratch.  Like Chuck often quotes:  "Google is a wonderful thing", so I got on the internet and found a recipe for stuffing that was very similar to how I dress up a box of Stove Top, only it used crumbled up cornbread.  It looked good and sounded good, so I quickly whipped up and baked a pan of cornbread and made stuffing out of it.

At first I thought it tasted almost "bland", but that's because I was used to all those flavors that come in a box of Stove Top.  But it didn't take too long before I realized it was pretty good, and I liked that it didn't taste like it came out of a box.  So, I don't know if I will make it again next year, but it's a good backup plan if I ever forget to buy Stove Top again.

Also something different:  the gravy.

The problem with not roasting a turkey was that I didn't have any turkey drippings to make gravy.  So this too, I had to improvise with the help of my Google friend.  It was good, but somehow I forgot to add salt to it.  But that was okay, cuz people normally sprinkle salt and pepper on their potatoes before they eat it anyway, so it didn't make any difference.  I'm just glad that I had all that extra (homemade) chicken broth in the fridge - that is what made this gravy turn out good.

Anyhoo, now that my fridge is stock full of leftover food (and three kinds of desserts), it's nice to know that I can take a "vacation" from cooking for a few days.  But there's still always dishes to wash.......(.......sigh!)

But what a blessing!  Be thankful for dirty dishes, right?  It means you have food to eat!

May you all enjoy your post-Christmas days before normalcy returns.

Whatever that is!