Good Eats Abound

Christmas celebrations mean lots of food. Our holiday meals began at a brunch with the in-laws last week and continued through tasty shopping today.
Brunch included such goodies as sparkling wine, shrimp cocktail, and German stollen. In addition to these purchased yummies we had farmer's casserole (a dozen scrambled eggs mixed with cream of mushroom soup, chopped ham, grated cheese, and sauteed vegetables baked together in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes), hash browns, Paula Deen's French toast casserole http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-french-toast-casserole-with-maple-syrup-recipe2/index.html (though, this time I used a small loaf of raisin bread and cut the rest of the recipe in half because this recipe could feed an army), and some apple sauce my mother-in-law made from scratch. Needless to say, this feast kick started our gift-giving time frame!

A few days later, the family made its way to East Tennessee for Christmas with my clan. Upon our arrival we were greeted with hugs, kisses, and plenty of warm food to combat the unseasonably chilly weather (which turned into a winter storm within hours of our arrival). The guys and I filled bowls of steaming soup paired with mini meatball paninis http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/mini-meatball-panini-mad-hungry. These diminutive sandwiches took my mom some time, but were an excellent addition to our soup and stomachs. (She made them ahead of time, stored them in the freezer, and reheated them in the oven to keep them crispy.) Of course, in our discussion of these tasty snacks we decided that slices of meatloaf would work just as well as the meatballs and take less time and effort. They were like gourmet sliders at home!

Next on the celebration menu was Christmas dinner which included a roasted pork tenderloin (moist and perfect with plenty of peppery seasoning), fruited wild rice, stuffed mushrooms, manicotti, and yeast rolls. Although my brother and his family did not make it to the feast due to snowy conditions, the rest of us enjoyed our meal immensely and were happy to have plenty of leftovers to munch throughout the week. We capped off the evening with slices of ginger roll http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/dec/02/gingerbread-roulade-is-notable-chage/?cid=Facebook , assorted drinks including hot buttered rum http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Make-Ahead-Hot-Buttered-Rum-Mix/Detail.aspx, and a rousing game of Scattergories. (The buttered rum mixture can be used in hot tea or coffee, but I really enjoyed it in warm, straight rum, so I nuked the alcohol instead of adding boiling water!)

Today we continued our eating adventure during a post-holiday shopping trip to Knoxville. We started with several samples at Sam's Club, including a Black Forest macaroon that was particularly good. Later in the day we hit another food heavy store - World Market - in search of bargains and came home with Jeff's favorite cream filled cookies (from Germany, of course) and a bag of white cheddar crunchy "icicles" which are like upscale Cheetos with a sour cream after taste. Meanwhile, a short jaunt through Dollar Tree yielded some inexpensive goodies like chocolate covered orange creams and marshmallow "suckers" for the boy. Finally, though, Pei Wei lured us to end our day with true sustenance in the form of tofu and vegetables in spicy orange sauce, crispy honey-seared chicken, and tender mandarin chicken with assorted types of rice and fortunes. (The boy's said he will be a great philanthropist later in life, which we all took as a good sign of future riches!)

The best news for us, is that since it is only Monday we are sure to have plenty more holiday related treats before the week is out. After all, my mom's cabinets are laden with peanut butter bon bons, English toffee, nougat candy, and multiple varieties of cookies to be tasted throughout the coming days.