My Slice of Heaven: Christmas

Meg and Kyle exchanged presents on Christmas Eve at our house.

Megan and Brittany

Brittany, Adam and little Milo

On the menu was...

Alaskan King Crab, Gulf shrimp, corn, potatoes, and jambalaya.

The Chef...

Easy Jambalaya Recipe

Ingredients: 2 cups enriched white rice, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 pound andouille sausage, 1 medium onion, chopped, 2 to 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 (14-ounce) can rotel with juice, 1(14-ounce) chicken stock or broth, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper.

Directions: Cook rice to package directions. Place a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and butter to the pan. Add sausage and onions and cook about 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over the pan and cook 1 - 2 minutes more. Stir in rotel tomatoes, broth and season with Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened. Add rice and serve hot.

Ready for food...

Dinner is served, yummm...

and everyone enjoys!

Believe it or not, we managed to make it to Midnight Mass after this meal!

Recipe Courtesy of Morton's Steakhouse

Morton's Wedge Salad and Dressing

I love this recipe because you can do most of the work a day in advance. The lettuce, tomato, egg, bacon bits, and dressing can be prepared and stored in containers or Ziploc bags so when it is time to make your salads you can literally just get all the ingredients out and quickly put it all together.

Here's what you will need:

1 head of iceberg lettuce
¾ cup Bacon Bits
1/4 cup egg, hard-boiled, chopped
1/4 cup tomato, chopped
1/4 cup blue cheese
blue cheese dressing

For the blue cheese dressing you will need:
1 cup real mayonnaise
1/2 cup plus 1 tbs sour cream
2 tbs buttermilk
1/2 tsp Durkee Famous Sauce
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled

Directions:
The dressing needs to be made in advance. To prepare whisk together the mayonnaise and sour cream. Add buttermilk, Durkee sauce, and seasoned salt. Whisk until well mixed. Season to taste with salt and pepper and whisk again. Gently fold in 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese. Refrigerate for at least 1 day and up to 4 days. To make the salad remove any wilted outside leaves from lettuce head. Strike bottom of lettuce head on a flat surface to loosen core. Pull core out. Cut into quarters. Place each quarter on its side on separate salad plates. Over each ladle dressing across wedge so that it runs over one side. Then sprinkle: bacon bits, chopped egg, chopped tomatoes, and blue cheese over the top of the salad.

Oven Baked Potatoes

This is a favorite of ours. I posted this recipe earlier but thought it was worth putting up again since it will be part of our Christmas dinner. The recipe is from the Sioux City Junior League cookbook "Cornsilk."

Here's what you need:
5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
1-8 oz. package cream cheese softened
1 cup half and half
1 stick of butter, melted
1 tsp. minced dry onions
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. seasoned salt
Paprika

Directions:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Cook potatoes until tender but firm, about 15 minutes; drain. In large bowl, mash potatoes with half of the melted butter and the half and half. With hand mixer, beat in softened cream cheese and seasonings. Beat until very fluffy. Pile in large casserole dish. Add rest of butter on top and a dash of paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Potatoes should be slightly browned on top when done. Again these are a favorite of mine because they can be made the night before and reheated the next day.

Garlic-Roasted Asparagus

Recipe from Southern Living

You will need:

3 pounds fresh asparagus
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Directions:
Snap off and discard tough ends of asparagus; place asparagus on a lightly greased baking sheet. Drizzle evenly with olive oil; sprinkle evenly with garlic, salt, and pepper. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or to desired degree of tenderness. Transfer asparagus to a serving dish; sprinkle with almonds.

Prime Rib Roast

My hubby is the chef when it comes to preparing our main dish, prime rib roast. We had it for the first time last year for Christmas and decided that it was so good that it would be on our Christmas dinner plates for years to come.

Here's his "secret" recipe for perfectly cooked prime rib:

Trim the roast of excess fat. Loosely cover roast with aluminum and let stand at room temperature for about 2 hours. Season rib roast generously with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Place roast ribs side down in your roasting pan and into a 500 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then add 46 ounces of beef broth to the pan and reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and continue to cook in increments of 15 minutes for each pound for rare or 17 minutes for medium rare. Remove from the oven and cover with aluminum. Let rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Prime Roast Au Jus

As the prime rib is resting you can make the au jus juice to serve with the prime rib. To do this simply place the roasting pan that the prime rib was cooked in over two burners on the stove. Then skim and discard all but 2 tablespoons of excess fat from the juices in the roasting pan. Using a heavy spoon, scrape all the dark drippings and any crunchy bits from the sides and bottom of roasting pan. Add beef broth if necessary and little red wine and bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes. The amount of beef broth you add depends on how much au jus you need to make. Season with salt and pepper.

Garlic Bread

What you'll need:
1-cup butter, softened
1-cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large French Or Italian loaf of bread, cut lengthwise

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and spread on bread. Wrap in foil and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
Unwrap and brown slightly under broiler. Slice and serve!

Cakebread Wine

We will also be enjoying a nice bottle of wine with our meal. Years ago we took a trip to Napa and visited Cakebread Cellars. Ever since it has been our favorite wine but since it is hard to find in Texas (and very expensive when you do) we only have it on special occasions. My husband found and bought a bottle on a recent trip to Hubble & Hudson. Now it's just waiting patiently till Christmas to be opened and enjoyed!