Christmas: The Food

Yes, I am sorry but the food this Christmas does indeed need it's own blog post. After closely observing Pasty at Thanksgiving in Austin, I was bursting with ideas of how to spoil my family with wonderful holiday treats and food whilst still enjoying their company and not spending the whole time chained to the stove. 

For Christmas breakfast to accompany the English Muffins, homemade jam, Sister Schubert rolls were a recipe I'd been dying to try: Ina's Sticky Buns. They were so yummy and so easy! I made them ahead of time and froze them which maybe made them a little tough for my taste. Next time I will try to avoid freezing. But with a base of puff pastry, brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins and pecans, what could be a better morning treat! 

In our family there's no such thing as Christmas lunch. It's a hefty breakfast to get the day started, heavy hors d'oeuvres and cocktails leading the way to a decadant dinner. In my family growing up we did Mom's Yankee Christmas: Standing Rib Roast and Yorkshire Pudding. (You may recall what I did to the Yorkshire Pudding last year). Mom's thought was why do another Turkey when you just had it at Thanksgiving. I've tried my hand at a couple beef recipes to try to keep with Mom's thinking, which frankly makes sense to me. But I've never made it work. 

So I went against the grain and abandoned Mom's "Roast Beast" for Turkey. But done a new way. Ina's Turkey Roulade was a huge flattened Turkey breast stuffed and rolled with stuffing, dried fruit, vegetables and sausage. My mouth is literally watering remembering. The stuffing itself looked like Christmas, all red and green, and the finished product those much larger than I'd anticipated was gorgeous, holiday worthy and delicious! And since it's not a whole bird, it does not take that long to cook. 

For my greens, well Ben is a typical southern boy who loves his beans cooked and cooked and then cooked some more. But being half-yankee I couldn't bring myself to do that. So I looked to Texas and a cookbook I got from Patsy for this totally easy and awesome side: Green Bean Bundles with Bacon. Handfuls of green beans wrapped in bacon slices and topped with a brown sugar glaze. Bake for a few minutes and you're done. You know you want some…

All the hard work paid off and I had a very full and happy family following dinner that night. Then 2 days later I dropped off Patsy and Ben at the airport, and soon thereafter was diagnosed with pneumonia. Spent the rest of my vacation praying for death. But in the end, it was all worth it. :)