Holiday Food Roundup

You may have noticed I took a blogging break last week because my house seemed to be full of people every other day.  We hosted Christmas lunch, a mini reunion with friends from out of town, and a GIGANTIC New Year's Eve bash.  On top of that, we insulated and decked the attic and did other various home projects.  It's the kind of vacation you need a vacation from, haha!

Let's start with Christmas Eve.  There's a good stuffed tomato recipe I found on Pinterest (you can see it here ) that I like to bring to parties but it takes for-ev-er to make because you have to scoop out all of those little cherry tomatoes.  This is probably the last time I'll bring it because people get excited about it and then they don't actually eat much of it because there's so much food!

I also made buffalo chicken meatballs that I found here but forgot to take a picture.  They were good but they don't keep very well.  (They get a little dry on reheating.)  I also made a yule log, or two, actually.  The first one I attempted was from the Southern Living Christmas Cookbook and I forgot what a dud that recipe was.  As a reminder so I don't make this recipe a THIRD time I put a sticky note over the page that says "This recipe is complete crap!" so hopefully I'll avoid making that mistake ever again.  I went back to my old standby from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (aka the Kitchen Bible) and it worked like a charm.  I should do a separate post on that someday because it's not as intimidating as it sounds!

Moving on to Christmas lunch...

Is there anything as beautiful as a clove-studded ham?  Perhaps a cooked clove-studded ham?  I like to use Guy Fieri's recipe for Jimbo's Hambo minus the salsa, because I find fruit salsa rather odd.

Here's the spread:

-Christmas Ham, sliced
-Maw-Maw's corn casserole
-Hassleback potatoes with toppings
-Mom's dressing
-Broccoli-Rice Casserole
-Green Beans Amondine
-Burch family fruit salad (fruit in whipped cream)
-Rolls (Sister Schubert's!!)

I did not get a picture of the desserts because I was too busy making coffee and then stuffing my face, but they included:
-Pumpkin pie
-Clementine cake (half cake, half whipped cream)
-Cherry-o cream pie
-Coconut cream pie
-more fruit salad

The pies made another appearance at the reunion. 

New Year's Eve featured:
-Adam's famous chili
-guacamole
-bruschetta dip
-mulled apple cider
-lots of other stuff that people brought to the party

For the new year we're trying to focus on eating healthier (like 99% of the country) and I'm drawing some inspiration from a book on the Mediterranean diet.  As I typed that I was interrupted by the timer on my oven that let me know my bread pudding was done...looks like I need to study up on this "healthy" thing!

What are your goals for the new year?

Adi