New Years Eve Meal

New Years Eve Meal Menu

For the past few years, it's been just the Guinea Pig and me for New Years.  We usually just make a goose.  A wonderfully, melt-in-your-mouth, fall-off-the-bones, delicious goose.  It has always been more than enough food for us and satisfied our needs.

This year, we had a few guests over, 5 to be exact.  One goose was not going to be enough.  On top of that, one guest was a vegetarian, so the goose definitely wouldn't work.  I decided to make another meal.  I made all the sides/soup vegetarian, this way the one guest could eat everything but the goose and I wouldn't have to worry about her having enough food.

Winter Vegetable Soup

I started the dinner with a winter vegetable soup I've made before.  One of the guests was crazy about sweet potatoes, so I ended up putting a few more in the soup.  She loved the addition and it didn't hurt the flavor.  I kept the seasoning to just salt and pepper, not wanting to over power the rest of the meal.

For sides I went with 3 salads - beet, carrot, and eggplant - and a hot side of pearl barley with peas and mushrooms.  All were a hit.  At the end of the night, I maybe had a tablespoon of each left over and was going to toss it.  One of the guests stopped me saying she'll eat them for breakfast, which she did.

Goose and Sides

The goose was perfect, as always.  All four paws went right away and some came back for seconds.  We barely ended up with leftovers this year, which means everyone enjoyed.

For dessert, I let the Guinea Pig make a layered pudding cake.  Finding a recipe for something called "sex in a pan" will brighten anybody's mood.  I added simple gel icing to it.

Pudding Cake