Christmas Meal

Christmas Menu

Having successfully put together a Thanksgiving meal, I endeavored to repeat the feat for Christmas.  This time around, I did not try out any of the recipes ahead of time.  Even roasting a duck full was new to me.  It was a calculated risk worth taking.

Knowing that roasting the duck would take the longest, I made the cranberry pie first thin in the morning.  It teased us the rest of the day.  I prepped all the ingredients for the soup, salad, and side dishes ahead of time.  I even got to have all four burners going while the majority of the cooking took place.

Spaghetti and Pea Soup

I chose a light soup to start the meal with.  It was also very simple:  onions, peas, spaghetti, chicken stock with salt and pepper for added seasoning.  After the first bite, the Guinea Pig declared that we are going to be making this soup again...soon!  I guess I'll take that as a very successful starter to the meal.

Chopped Kale Salad

Next up was the salad.  Once again, wishing to keep things light and simple it had few ingredients:  kale, pine nuts, golden raisins, Parmesan cheese with a lemon juice and olive oil dressing.  I think there may have been a bit too much dressing, but that would be my only negative comment about the dish.  All the flavors really came together well.

Oven Roasted Duck

Then came the star of the meal.  As the duck was cooking, it seemed that it was more melting away than roasting.  Having never roasted a duck before and knowing how fatty the breast is, I wanted to see if scoring it would have any effect.  I scored one side and left the other as is.  I was surprised to see that the scored side ended up with more fat under the skin and the other side seemed to have had more of the fat cook off.

I chose a sampling of both light and dark meats to be able to fully evaluate the success of the duck.  I was a bit afraid that having been in the oven for over four hours, the breast meat would be tough.  No such thing happened!  Both types of meat were wonderfully moist.

Toasted Quinoa with Mushrooms

As a side to the duck, I made toasted quinoa with mushrooms.  Mushrooms are always good.  A pound of assorted mushrooms is even better.  Add to that quinoa toasted with garlic in sesame seed oil and cooked with vegetable stock and you got yourself one delicious combination.  While the quinoa was cooking in one pot, I was busy sauteing the mushrooms in a large pan.  It always amazes me how much mushrooms cook down.

Cranberry Pie

Both Guinea Pig and I were being careful not to get too full.  We did not want to miss out on the dessert.  When the time finally came to devour the pie that's been filling the house with delicious smells for the better part of the day, we were not disappointed.  We warmed it up a bit, being careful not to dry it out.  It was a perfect way to end the meal.

Pomegranate Cranberry Sangria

All throughout the meal, and for the better part of the day, the Guinea Pig and I got to enjoy a yummy beverage.  My first sangria came out pretty good.  I made the decision to keep ginger ale out of the mix and add it to order so as not to let all the carbonation out.  I even enjoyed the fruit.

This Christmas meal was another success.  A delicious side effect of making a lot of food for just two people is that we now have enough food to last us the rest of the year.

Braised Pork Belly

Braised Pork Belly

The Guinea Pig has been asking to have a go at cooking something delicious for us to enjoy.  He's off for the rest of the year, which makes this a perfect time to try.  He's good at following recipes to the letter, which makes it the perfect time to try something new and totally out of our comfort zone.

I have to really applaud the end result.  The pork belly was melting at every bite.  The sauce was fantastic!  I think I like this Guinea Pig cooking complex dishes idea.  Especially dishes where the recipe has to be followed as a rule rather than a guideline.

Soba Noodle Soup

Soba Noodle Soup

It's cold outside and a I'm craving a hearty soup.  I found a quick and simple way of making one.  Step one:  stir fry some veggies.  I used carrots, snow peas, onions, and mushrooms.  Step two:  add stock - vegetable for me.  Step three:  add cooked soba noodles.  Step four:   enjoy!  The soba noodles make it a really filling soup.

Avocado Tuna Salad

Avocado Tuna Salad

This one is another attempt to replace mayo with avocado.  It makes for a quick and simple meal with a healthy update.  Mash avocado, add 2 cans of drained tuna, mix.  Serve as a melt between two pieces of wheat toast with a slice of cheese or open faced.

White Bean and Kale Soup

White Bean and Kale Soup

A simple, healthy, and light yet satisfying soup.  All it has is roasted onions, carrots, celery, white beans, kale, rice, and water - not stock.  Roasting the onions, carrots, and celery gives the soup enough flavor that it doesn't need stock, which helps out with keeping the sodium level down.  The rice makes this soup something that my grandma would adore.

For seasoning, I added salt, black pepper, and chipotle pepper.  I wanted to give it a bit of warmth for the cold weather we've been having.

Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash

Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash

 As I try to get better familiarized with gourds, I come across all sorts of ideas.  This one was a combination of wanting to try out acorn squash and having lots of leftovers in the fridge.  The stuffing has quinoa, corn, beans, and mushrooms in it.  I added cinnamon to the seasoning to make it seem sweeter.

The outcome was a lot of food that was very filling.  I could only finish maybe half my portion.  I decided this one was a success when the Guinea Pig ate whatever I had left on my plate after finishing up his own portion.

Thanksgiving Meal

Thanksgiving Meal Menu

This year the Guinea Pig and I celebrated Thanksgiving by ourselves for the first time.  This meant that I had to cook the meal for the first time.  Lots of pressure!  I decided that if I were to make the meal, I would make it my own.  So I took traditional Thanksgiving foods and made them in a new for us way.

I started off with brainstorming the menu.  Then I did a few trial runs of different foods to make sure I didn't ruin it for the Guinea Pig.  I figured out that a sweet potato hash would work better than mash and string beans were perfect on first try.

Kabocha Squash Soup

I had originally wanted to make a pumpkin soup, but when the time came to go grocery shopping, there were no pumpkins to be found.  I had made the same recipe with a butternut squash, but didn't want to repeat it no matter how good it turned out.  I wanted something new.  So I turned to the Kabocha Squash that the grocery store had.  It was a nice change and came out great as expected.

Corn Bread Casserole

I tried making a cranberry corn bread in advance using a fancy box mix, but it came out a bit dry.  I think the only saving grace of the experiment was the addition of cranberries.  Not settling for mediocre, I found a casserole recipe that promised to be moist.  It took a standard box mix and added a whole bunch of stuff to it.  Not having enough time to try this recipe with cranberries before making the big meal, I opted to stick to the recipe as is and was rewarded for my efforts.  The casserole was not the least bit dry like the first attempt.  Even when reheated the corn bread stayed moist and full of corn goodness.  I would feel comfortable adding cranberries the second time around.

Turkey Leg, Sweet Potato Hash,
and String Bean Stir Fry

As for the star of any Thanksgiving meal, the turkey, I had a very specific vision in mind.  I wanted to cook just the turkey legs.  The Guinea Pig loves dark meat.  The legs came out amazing!  Even better than I could have hoped.  Crispy sticky skin and juicy meat.  The sticky sauce was a combination of honey, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.  I see making this combination again and again.

I had originally planned to make the dessert to order.  It would have given the food a little time to settle in our bellies before adding more deliciousness to the mix.  Unfortunately, as we set and the food settled, we quickly realized that we were beyond full and the dessert never came to be.  Nevertheless, I would call my first Thanksgiving meal a huge success.