Christmas....Away, Day 2

On Christmas Day, Adam and I headed to his folks' house for Xmas Dinner #2. This time, we were in charge of cooking. Adam loves cooking, and I don't mind helping so we thought us taking over the bulk of the food would result in a low stress day for his parents. And I think it worked. (Probably because we were busy cooking) we don't have any pictures from the day, but I can share some of the food that we made!

Course 1: Adam's sister, Nora, made cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches that were super tasty.

Course 2: Adam's family made spinach salad with my mom's spinach salad recipe which was so thoughtful of them! Of course, I loved it.

Course 3: Main course: Adam made 2 different stuffed pork tenderloins- one stuffed w/ maple syrup breakfast sausage and one stuffed w/ more spicy chorizo type sausage. He butterflies the meat himself and stuffs it. Very impressive. I had little role in this part of the meal- I guess I made the glaze, which was orange marmalade, lemon zest, and garlic, but the recipe was his.

Course 3a: We had three delicious, veggie based, and mostly healthy side dishes. I

think my favorite is the Celery Root Puree. I'd never heard of the root of the celery being eaten until Adam made this a few weeks back. Well, after a lot of chopping, cooking, and blending, you end up with a delicious, very healthy version of mashed potatoes. All the flavor and texture but with a healthier, fresher tasting ingredient. I love it!

Course 3b: Winter Root Vegetables. Also a really good one. This is a combo of carrots, sweet potatos, and parsnips mixed w/ raisens and I think a touch of brown sugar. What a great way to eat some super colorful, anti-oxidant laden veggies! We had this at Thanksgiving at my brother's house, too--> I just can't get enough of it!

Course 3c: Wild Mushroom Ragout. This is the dish I spent the most time on. Apparently, you are not supposed to wash mushrooms because they don't cook properly, ruining the texture of the finished product. So I spend a good 40 minutes brushing the dirt off over 2 lbs of mushrooms- crimini, skitake, portabella, and some other kinds whose names I forgot- I brushed away dirt FOREVER! I told Adam I want a speical de-dirting mushroom brush (yes, there is such a thing) for next time.

Course 4: Dessert. Adam's mom had a huge spread as usual. There was red velvet cake, cookies and this pear based dessert (Adam's sister's recipe). All very tasty and I worked hard not to overeat!

Hope your Christmas dinners were as delicious as mine!

(Note to self: Bottle of wine to remember for the future: Ridge Geyserville- super tasty!)