Menu Plan: Next Christmas, Please Give Me Vegetables

In the Little House On The Prairie books, Laura Ingalls and her sisters always got an orange in their stockings at Christmas. Of course, this was way before paved roads and Interstate highways and enormous trucks, when it took time to get things across the country and citrus was a novelty. Not like the oranges I bought today that were just flown in from Florida.

I didn't get an orange in my stocking this year. I got nice things to be sure. A fun pair of socks, a necklace from Johnny, candy. But no orange.

Following the holiday gorge, what with all the cupcakes and candy and stuff clients brought to work, and all the baking (and sampling) I did at home and all the desserts at Christmas dinner, my body is crying out for vegetables. Simple, healthy food that doesn't have sugar in it. And next year I would like some carrots or something in my stocking.

So here's what we'll be eating:

**Brown Butter Tortellini with Spinach and Ham--That's what is in the picture. The recipe is from a nifty little cookbook I got with my Pampered Chef order last month. And I have to say the manual food processor did a bang up job finely chopping the peppers! Anyway, this recipe is really easy and everyone liked it. But one caution. When making brown butter sauce, pay attention! I walked away from my pan for 30 seconds (to show the hubby how nicely the food processor chopped the pepper) and burned the first batch. Luckily, I have lots of butter left over from all that baking.
**Sour Beef and Dumplings--This is a Baltimore favorite and this version is done in the crockpot. I usually don't care for dumplings, the combination of gravy on floury dumplings is a little too slimy and gross for me, but this version is really good. The keys to successful dumplings: the potatoes need to be fairly dry (I use a potato ricer and then refrigerate them uncovered for a couple of hours) and you should mix them just enough to combine the flour and no further because overmixed dumplings are heavy. This will be our New Year's Eve meal.
**Turkey Burgers--My burger monster 7 year old requested these and we have some rolls left over. I'll serve steamed veggies and maybe some kind of fry with them.
**Crispy Coconut Chicken--My latest batch of goodies from ShopRite included a bag of coconut, so I'll make this yummy and easy dish. It uses mango chutney, which is a little spicy, nicely balanced by the sweetness of the coconut. Peas to go with it.
**Linguine with Sundried Tomatoes--Our meatless meal. Easy peasy and a pleaser all around.

Don't forget to pop over to Potluck, where I have several new posts up!

What are you eating these days? Have you overindulged in holiday goodies?

This Is Love: Part Two

When my children have birthdays, I make them whichever cake they request. I hate to bake, but I do it anyway because I love them.

When my husband has a birthday, he requests a meal and I make it for him. Even if it's something that I detest. This is why, eight years ago, I hung my head out the window intermittently to keep from being sick while I cooked him liver and onions. As it turns out, I was newly pregnant. I can't remember what he requested last year, but the year before that, a blizzard hit on his birthday and we were stuck at home, leaving me free to take hours to make Sour Beef and Dumplings.

Anyway, his birthday is today and this year he requested General Tso's Chicken and egg rolls. Not chicken stirfry with some sort of shortcut sauce from the grocery store, but authentic General Tso's Chicken.

So here's the thing. For starters, I don't eat Chinese food unless I make it myself. I don't know what it is about takeout, maybe too much grease, but I can't eat it without later suffering from throat searing heartburn. It's not worth it. I stopped eating it years ago. Plus, I don't like spicy food, something to do with that heartburn thing but also because I'm a big baby and I think Old Bay is hot. (Dude. You KNOW you have eaten crabs with a paper cut before. That stuff hurts!) I don't really know what authentic G.T's chicken tastes like.

All hail the Internets, because he found a great recipe on Food.com and I made it. Same for the egg rolls.

I used practically every pot I own. In the process of seeding the dried peppers, I got pepper juice in a cut on my finger, and when I sucked on that finger, I got pepper juice on my lips, which was just painful. However, I did not stick any fingers in my eyes. Plus, I spent the past two days making fudge and things for Christmas, so every surface in my already crowded kitchen was cluttered with stuff, and all that stuff was covered in a fine haze of glitter because I stupidly bought glittery containers for all the food stuffs and that glitter showers off when you just look at it. And it took some practice to get the hang of rolling the egg rolls.

But both recipes were a hit, so I'm filing them away for another time, hopefully to be done with gloves. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. I couldn't ask for more.

The Fifth Annual Christmas Tree Cutting

Last year, when we went to cut down our Christmas tree, it was pouring rain and freezing cold. We pretty much slopped through the mud to the closest field, picked the closest tree, chopped it down and got out of there.

The year before that it snowed.

The year before that, it was so cold everyone's fingers froze.

And the year before that, the very first year we did this, everything went okay until Johnny got tangled in some baling twine and did a face plant in the gravel.

I know I'm not making it sound very fun and it actually is. I've just learned over the years to keep my expectations low and to bring plenty of gloves.

This year was notable because Santa was at the tree farm and both kids consented to sit on his lap. We found a nice tree (and by nice, I mean it has a nice shape and it's not heavy) and chopped it down, then went on a wagon ride. It was chilly, but we were all bundled up well, including boots, and the sun was out so everything was great. There was some mud, but I didn't have to carry anyone this year and no one complained that it was cold or they had to pee or could we please go get some hot chocolate. Success!