Christmas Post Game

Day Before:
bake potatoes
saute mushrooms
shred cheeses
be sure you have beans
 Take frittata order the night before.

Stockings this year: toblerone, meat sticks, cheese packets.
Set out as morning snacks: lindt truffles, ghiradelli peppermint bark, almonds in shell, trisket crackers to eat with stocking cheese packets. Nice to get away from the all-candy morning.
Had kids shovel driveway before driving out to fetch relatives. Went for a walk after breakfast, except L who was sick. Most beautiful weather EVER.

Morning
saute kale and spinach
halve the cherry tomatoes
cut up ham

Brunch: Individual Frittatas and Blueberry muffins. 
Frittatas take ~25 minutes to bake.
We did:

• 12 eggs 
• 3/4 cup whole milk s
• liced baked potato 
•  cheese: gruyere or cheddar 3/8 cup per order 
• baby kale 
•  baby spinach 
• cherry tomato 
• roasted red pepper 
• artichoke hearts 
• sauteed mushrooms 
• beans sliced 
• sandwich ham 

 They come out too hot to eat.
Next time, make the frittata first, muffins second?

Dinner:

• Porterhouse Steak 
• Olga's Salmon 
• diced leftover baked potato, rewarmed in microwave (next time bake set of potatoes)
• broccoli was cut, we ate it earlier by mistake.
• pear salad 
• sliced pear, 
• 1/4 cup dried cherries, 
• 1 cup candied walnuts, 
• 5 oz greens, 
• 1/2 cup balsamic dressing (too much: cut in half!!) 
• leftover mushrooms, rewarmed in microwave 
• drinks: 
• martinelli, 
• blood orange soda, 
• watered down grape juice. 

 Steaks on the grill on the deck.
 Genius: J teaches me to light the grill with a long candle lighter instead of using built in battery sparker. 5 minutes first side, 4 minutes second side.
 Salmon prep topping ahead of time, it may take 15 minutes. bakes for ~12 minutes.
 Should have done baked potato ahead of time.

We aimed for a 9:30 breakfast, and ate at 11:00 am (flour bag ripped).
We started making dinner at 3:15 but I wasn't serious about it. and I think started eating before 5pm.

Chocolate Stout Birthday Cake

Once again, I made:
Chocolate Stout Cake
from this excellent recipe Epicurious has.

I substituted a porter this year.  That was a good.
I substituted brown sugar and didn't pack it.  I would have preferred the cake to be a little sweeter.

For fun, instead of the ganache frosting that comes with the recipe, I did an alternative of bittersweet chocolate with sour cream.  Mistake for us.  Not just too tangy, but actually sour in the context.  Next year, back to the given chocolate and whipping cream that epicurious specs out.

Thank you, that is all.

Christmas Morning Plan

Skillet Frittatas
Cinnamon Rolls

Frittatas were:
spinach
3 roasted red pepper, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms
Herbes de Provence
Remember Salt!
12 eggs
mozzarella cheese
4 ounces goat cheese

saute spinach with red pepper, move to bowl
saute mushroom with herbs and salt
preheat single-serving cast iron skillets
slice goat cheese
put spinach/pepper back in pan with mushrooms
mix shredded mozzerella with eggs.

into each pan:
spoonful of vegetables (1/6 of pan)
egg cheese mixture
   (Teenage son put the above in the pans--it felt so good to share the work!  Do that again!)
top with goat cheese
into 350 degree oven for 30 minutes
Eggs stay tasty for hours after finished cooking.  So don't worry.

   (one kid missed having potatoes in it.  But those two kids didn't eat much anyway)

Then put the cinnamon rolls in, unless you cooked them earlier.

Cinnamon Rolls--Alton Brown
Next year: mix up cinnamon rolls and shape on Christmas Eve.
     Teenage son was awesome rolling rolls, slicing, making filling.  Help felt good!  Do that again!
Reminder: rolls need 3 hours for first rise.  Can fridge up to 16 hours.

Christmas Eve Dinner Plan

Easy Mint Chutney for Samosas
Spicy Dried Red Pepper Chutney for Samosas
Beginner Samosas Recipe
Spicy Chickpeas Snack/Appetizer

My Favorite Palak Paneer Recipe and Picture Directions
Makhani Sauce
Pulao Rice
Roast Chicken
Green salad with vinagreite.


what actually happened:
--Store ran out of mint Christmas Eve, and I was shopping at last minute.  Scratch Mint Chutney.
--Got behind schedule as dinner hour approached.  Scratch Samosas after dough and filling made.
--Scratched green salad.
--Snacked on chickpeas made earlier in the afternoon--which saved us as dinner was an hour late.
--Roasted an eggplant on whim and put it in the mahkani sauce.  Baingan Makhani?

Dinner:
Spicy Chickpeas Snack
Roast Chicken
Palak Paneer
Makhani with Roasted Eggplant
Christmas Cookies (sugar cookies frosted with buttercream and sprinkles) for dessert.
 and 'twas perfect.
 Next year:
-----make the makhani sauce hotter.
-----buy fresh mint a couple days beforehand.  Recipe requires one cup chopped.
-----The chickpeas were great both as a snack to tide to late dinner, and as added protein to vegetarian dishes.
-----If you do samosas, make them months before Christmas for practice, and make them the December 23rd for Christmas Eve appetizer.

==========
Edited to add:
Made the samosas a couple days later.  They came out delicious.  Also referred to the Jaimie Oliver recipe and Veg recipes of India.  Next time, I'd like to roll larger wrappers larger than the five inch circles the recipe gives, and make samosas that are more like handful size than wonton size.
   Also, I sprayed the samosas with oil several times during the baking process.  I think next time I won't do that, or only do it with half.  I think the extra oil makes the dough dense and heavy, instead of flaky and bubbly.