Christmas 2011

Road trip?!

This has been a very busy and satisfying Christmas season. We spent 10 days traveling around the Houston area visiting and partying. Santa was very good to me this year and I am very grateful for the thoughtfulness that people put into gift-giving. Most importantly, I got to celebrate Christ's birthday with many friends and family members. Even my Grandma, who spent Christmas in the hospital, was full of cheer.

Of course, the big deal in any Southern family gathering is the FOOD! I have a few recipe highlights from the various Christmas feasts.

From my parents: I got to participate most in the making of this feast, so I'm going to list the whole menu. We made a roast, carrots (steamed with salt, pepper, and nutmeg), green beans (blanched, then sauteed with onions and spices), mashed potatoes (butter, milk, & garlic), and to top it all off: the Brown Liquid Reduction. My brother named that, after wondering what "brown liquid" was bubbling on the stove. It is delicious on everything.

Roast and BLR (actually called Beef Tenderloin with Shallot Sauce)
This is a Southern Living recipe from the 2010 Ultimate Christmas Cookbook. The green beans also come from this book.

1 lb. shallots, peeled & halved lengthwise
2 T olive oil
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper

Toss shallots and 2 T. oil in bowl w/ salt &pepper. Set aside.

1 T. salt
1 1/2 t. each: onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, dried thyme
8 lb beef tenderloin, trimmed (yields 6 lbs meat) (we used a 5 pounder)
1/4 c evoo

Combine 1T salt + next 4 ingredients. Place tenderloin into a roasting pan and rub w/ 1/4 C. Oil. Sprinkle with seasoning rub, pressing in with fingers. Arrange shallots around meat. Bake uncovered at 500 for 25 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 and bake for 15-20 minutes until it reaches 160 degrees in center (cooked Medium.)

3 c. beef broth

1 c dry marsala wine

2 T. flour

3 T. water

3 T. butter

garnish of fresh thyme

Meanwhile, stir broth and marsala in large skillet. Bring to boil 8 min until reduced to 2 cups. Remove tenderloin to serving platter and cover with foil. Add broth reduction to pan and place over medium heat on cooktop, stirring to loosen bits. Whisk together flour & water until smooth and stir into sauce in roasting pan. Cook over medium heat 3 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Add butter, stirring until melted. Stir 1/4 t. pepper. Thinly slice tenderloin and serve with sauce.




Cranberry Salsa

This one comes from my Step-Mother-in-Law. It is very seasonal, since you need fresh cranberries, but it freezes well for at least a month. Just thaw in the fridge and serve. 

12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed

1/2 C. to 3/4 C. sugar, to taste

juice of 1/2 large lime
3/4 bundle cilantro, rinsed, large stems removed
1 T. olive oil

Toss it all into the food processor and grind until it is chopped evenly. This takes less than a minute. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Serve with tortilla chips.



Watergate Salad (From my Mother-in-Law)
This is one I can count on every year and I get to have lots of it because my husband doesn't like it. (Crazy.) I didn't get a picture, but it is pale green and light and fluffy and just absolutely dreamy.
Just mix together the first four ingredients, then fold in the Cool Whip and chill.

1 package instant pistachio pudding mix
1 C. mini marshmallows
1 small, flat can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 C. chopped pecans (optional)
1 Large tub Cool Whip

Lazy Enchilada Soup and Cake Cookies

HEB now has these gourmet soups and the sample lady was really nice and they were on sale, so I had a big jar of Cheese Enchilada Soup on hand. I threw some chicken tenders in boiling water to cook for a few minutes, then dumped them out, dumped the soup in and heated. I tore up the chicken, threw it back in the soup, and voila! Soup! Topped with colby jack cheese, cilantro, and HEB tortilla strips, this was quite a success. Great weeknight lazy meal. (Or for when you intended to have chicken barley soup but find out that you didn't buy celery... which sometimes happens to me. Like this week.)

Speaking of lazy: I have a great recipe for cookies that I had heard of but not tried before. 

Cake Mix Cookies! 

1 box of white cake mix (Betty Crocker Party Rainbow Chip)

2 Eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

Mix these ingredients together and form into balls. Drop onto ungreased baking sheet (I used my Silpat mat) and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. 

I topped these with Rainbow Chip icing (not Funfetti... Rainbow Chip is vastly superior but not always available.) Oh My Goodness these are good! Dangerous but good. 

Homemaking Bits

My kitchen helper.

So as y'all know, while I teach full time and have been the household breadwinner for 5.5 years now, what I really want to do is be Susie Homemaker. That said, if you did a white-glove test on my home at any given moment (especially during the school year), I'd fail. So I'm perpetually on the lookout for ways to manage chores better, despite being exhausted.
In a spree of forward thinking* this weekend, I came up with a plan that will keep our home under control with a minimum of weeknight time, but also not require that Saturdays be marathon cleaning days. I made an agreement with SexyLawyerMan that he'd also stick to it, and half a week in, it's actually working. This is the plan:

	Me	Him
Sunday	One load of laundry	One load of laundry
Monday	Grocery run, sweep floors	Tidy his half of bedroom
Tuesday	Guest bath	Change and wash sheets
Wednesday	Pick up living room and kitchen	Master bath
Thursday	Mop kitchen, entry ways	Vacuum living room
Friday	Tidy my half of bedroom	One load of laundry
Saturday	Catch up if needed	Catch Up if needed

Other chores that are monthly have their own checklists so we know they get done at least once a month (such as straightening the back bedrooms and dusting.) There's also an agreement about kitchen chores that focuses on me cooking and him cleaning up, with each of us in charge of clearing plates and washing our own lunch and snacking dishes.

I did have to switch one thing around. Originally, I was scheduled to clean the master bath and he did the guest bath. Well, see... guests use the guest bath. And... um... he's really bad at cleaning stuff. (I had to teach him this week how to turn off the faucet and use a cup to wash dirt from Berwyn's bath down the drain. I thought everyone knew that trick.) So we switched and now I will clean the bathroom that other people see and he can practice on ours. I had a 22 year head start on learning to clean, and he's getting there, but it's slow going. Old dog, new tricks, yes?

What I like about this system is that I no longer feel perpetually guilty for not cleaning NOW. If I have done my load of laundry, for example, I know I'm keeping up and I will get to the bathroom on its regularly scheduled day. No guilt. Also, assuming we can stick to it, my house is cleaner because I'm actually doing it. This is a vast improvement over my old system of not doing it until I get sick of how dirty everything is and I got to the "Bad Place" where I listen to angry music on my iPod and scrub furiously for a few hours while sighing and glaring a lot.

I saw this idea on Pinterest.

In another attempt at Domestic Diva-ness, I have resolved to be greener about wiping counters. We go through a lot of paper towels, so I decided that I need to have washrags in easier reach. I rolled them up and stuck them on the paper towel holder, hiding the actual paper towels under the sink in case we need them. There's a big basket in the kitchen where I can collect used towels until they are washed.

*I also laid out a week of school outfits. Aren't I fancy?

Chicken with Parmesan Grits and Tomatoes

I love, love, love this recipe! I found it in October's issue of Everyday Food Magazine. It comes from a section called Cooking for One, and the recipe as written really does only feed one. I doubled it and it fed my husband and me with a tiny bit left for lunch. Mrs. A was home by herself and promised Mr. A that she wouldn't  eat cupcakes for dinner again, so I passed this one on to her and she LOVED it. Success! So here goes:

Chicken with Parmesan Grits and Tomatoes

Chicken with Parmesan Grits and Tomatoes

Season one piece of chicken (recipe calls for thigh but I used breast) with salt and pepper and panfry. I used a non-stick skillet and no added fat. When done, set aside and cover. In same skillet, saute 2 t. olive oil, 1/4 yellow onion, 1/2 c. grape tomatoes, and 1 clove garlic, minced. Cook about 5 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, cook some instant grits according to package. This recipe calls for 1/4 c. grits in 1 c. boiling water. When cooked, stir in 2 T. parmesan cheese. (Or more.) I added a pinch of salt and some butter, though that might have actually added too much richness. Top grits with chicken and veggies and serve. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Lilac Pepper

Italian Paste tomatoes

Fenced off for safety

In other news: We are nearing winter now, and have had about a week of freezing temperatures. I brought most of my potted plants indoors. This confused Berwyn quite a bit, since he's allowed to pee on pots that are outside yet not allowed to pee on the same pots when they are in my kitchen. (People are weird.) I'm hoping to save the tomatoes that have been slowly but surely coming along. I also have herbs, peppers, and my big aloe vera plant indoors.

Shout out to my grandmother, who broke her hip yesterday morning. She seems to be in good spirits but should be having surgery tomorrow to reset the bone. Keep her in your prayers.

Food Mondays!

Ok, I am absolutely not promising anything, but I would like to start and end-of-year resolution that each Monday I do a new post, preferably with a new recipe. Monday is a good day for blogging since I usually watch my Programs and do some sitting on my ass.
So it is resolved: new food posts on Mondays! I'll start today, even though I made a post already about all the other stuff I've been doing instead of blogging. Here goes:

Citrus-Cilantro Cous Cous

Citrus-Cilantro Cous Cous
This recipe came from the October 2011 issue of "Everyday Food" which is a tamed-down Martha Stewart cooking magazine with fewer strange ingredients than her regular magazine. It's super easy and tasty in a mild and comforting way.
Boil 1.5 C water. (I salted mine slightly.) Stir in 2 T. orange zest and 1.5 C plain cous cous. Cover and remove from heat. Stand 5 minutes then mix in 1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro while fluffing with a  fork. Season with coarse salt.

My only note would be to buy two oranges because one average sized navel orange doesn't make 2 T zest. I used 1 orange worth, and I think it could go with more.

While I'm at it, have you tried these yet? Just Apples dehydrated apples. They are tart and awesome. Kinda pricey, but if they keep me munching on green apple bits rather than jelly beans, then they are worth it. Best part is the ingredients list: apples.

And because I just can't help it:

Isn't he cute?!

Celebrations

We have had a busy Fall including lots of celebrations.  I'm going to summarize with pictures again.

My classroom has been up and running, and I think it might be my prettiest classroom yet. It's not super fancy, but has a more streamlined, uncluttered look. You saw the "before" video earlier, so check the above video for an "after" tour.

Granby turned 92! She's one feisty lady. 

Aggie Football with good friends! Whoop!

Mom's 60th Birthday was this year. I sincerely hope I age like her. We also celebrated Dad's birthday over Thanksgiving, yet somehow I have no pictures from Thanksgiving other than food pictures I took with my phone. He's a keeper. :-) 

My youngest Bussells cousin got married, so I am no longer the only granddaughter  on that side. We were thrilled to add his wife to the family! They had a fabulous Charleston wedding. 

Law Prom celebrated the beginning of the end, with only weeks to go before graduation!

We finally made it to Ren Fest for closing day of the season. I made this skirt special to fit with the "Celtic Christmas" theme better than my usual garb.