March 19, 2024
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Cornbread Chorizo stuffing, ready for oven tomorrow.

While I wait for the next step in gravy making, I thought I’d share some of our Christmas food with you… or at least share some ideas and sources with you and for anyone reading this if you know where to find me, then you’re welcome to drop by to sample anything I mention.

As I sit here in the kitchen I’m looking at the counter laden with:

  • A thawing lasagna – my grandmother’s recipe – not a speck of Italian in her blood, but this was one of her specialties.  It’s the best lasagna I’ve ever had and thankfully she left a great recipe to follow so it’s pretty accurate each time.  No… sorry, not sharing that one.
  • Fruitcake – this came from Fine Cooking magazine (http://www.finecooking.com).  If you aren’t familiar with Fine Cooking, and you like to cook, then you need to get to know this great magazine. The fruitcake recipe is from #108.  It contains only real fruit (not candied fruit) and even those who aren’t too keen on fruitcake like this one.  Like any good fruitcake, it’s not a quick task and has several steps, but well worth it in the end.
  • Molasses Spice Cookies with Orange Essence  – this is a new recipe for us (he actually made it, not me!).  These are amazing cookies… crispy on the outside, soft inside, with a wonderful sugary/citrus bit on the outside! Awesome with a “good cup of tea”.  Recipe at http://bit.ly/16R4sZR
  • Tourtiere – There is nothing at all homemade about this.  It’s right from COSTCO, but no apologizes.  We had this last year and IF it’s the same one (fingers crossed) it was delicious!!  They don’t carry it all the time so when we saw it we grabbed it.  It’s Plaisirs Gastronomiques brand from Boisbriand, Quebec.
  • Gravy was in the oven, now on the stove… this is a make ahead gravy from Jamie Oliver.  I’m hit and miss with gravy and while this one is labour intensive and time consuming, it seems like it will yield something good in the end, so giving it a try.  You’ll find the recipe at http://bit.ly/13ZebvM.

    GravyStarting
    The first step for the gravy…

The lasagna and Tourtiere are for supper tonight… lasagna will easily serve 6-8 and the Tourtiere suggests 16 servings, thought that’s foolish of course… but 8 would be reasonable… there are only 4 of us… so again, if you’re around, feel free to drop by!

Earlier today I made cornbread chorizo stuffing.  We started that a few years ago… it’s not at all traditional (well, I suppose it is for someone!) but it’s pretty darn tasty!  I used this recipe this year http://bit.ly/1GY2BPs. I deleted the cilantro and added some fresh cranberries.

Tomorrow will be turkey (free range, local, from Cape Breton) with traditional bread stuffing, potatoes, carrots and turnip and sweet potatoes done with orange juice, brown sugar and maple syrup (I’m sure there are many recipes online for that, but we won’t bother with one – those things together in any proportions will equal goodness!).  Dessert will be homemade blueberry pie, thanks to his mom! She is the queen of blueberry pies!!

Speaking of the blueberry pie queen… we also have two loaves of bread out of the freezer!  The raisin bread is amazing and uses allspice instead of cinnamon… this is SO good when toasted… oh… 90 minutes before supper… maybe I should have a slice now!

Also around here somewhere are:

  • Cape Breton Pork Pies (no pork – the filling is date, topped with maple frosting). These are delicious, and almost to the “make my teeth hurt” point of being sweet!
  • Chocolate Biscotti – with chocolate chips and roasted almonds.  Mmmm!
  • Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti (http://bit.ly/1GY4PhL) to which I add a little Grand Marnier and some orange zest.

If you haven’t already figured this out, I’m posting this to share with friends, but also to have a record for ourselves. So, after the turkey coma’s have subsided, we’ll update and let you know how all of this works out!

Best wishes to everyone! Enjoy your eating! 🙂