Old School Fancy Pants Christmas Party 2011 (in 2012)

Back in 2007, I had been married about a year and realized that I would never get a chance to use my wedding china since we always did Thanksgiving and Christmas at our parents' houses. And I had been reading all these homemaking magazines and I decided that instead of missing out on my chance to have a grown-up Christmas feast of my own, I would need to make up an occasion. So the Old School Fancy Pants Christmas Party was born. I collaborated with some close friends and planned a menu. People came in the day before and helped me bake all manner of things. Every year since then, I have gathered a group of friends and shared a feast, and used all the china, crystal, and few silver pieces that I have. Fancy attire is mandatory, with hats and tiaras optional but encouraged. This year, December just kept getting more and more crowded, so we decided to push it back to January and call it a Fancy Pants Birthday Party/Christmas Party. I decorated with my blue and white things (mixed up because I can't seem to find more than 4 of anything that's not stained) and I think it turned out nice.

We had a crowd of 17, despite some last-minute cancellations, and I am very thankful to our future law firm colleagues who showed up early (with appetizers and ice!) after I called in a panic announcing that I wasn't going to finish in time. If I could do things over, I would have made a larger green bean casserole and more sweet potatoes but all in all I think it was OK.

Now, the menu!
Appetizers: Assorted cheeses and veggie tray, chips and salsa, fruit tray.
Dinner: Communish Chicken, Granby's Green Bean Casserole, NSFW Sweet Potato Casserole, and Cranberry Jell-o Salad.
Dessert: Best Ever Banana Pudding.
Beverages: Tea, champagne punch

Now, I don't think I will put all the recipes up this week, but I will share the Banana Pudding. My favorite memory of this pudding is when my two grandmas came to Texas for my high school graduation. To celebrate, we had a party at our house and the two of them (with very conflicting kitchen management techniques) collaborated on this pudding. I also took it to work one year for our Soul Food luncheon and a teacher asked me if I made it with Jell-0. Bitch, please.

Best Ever Banana Pudding
 Combine 2/3 c. sugar, 1/4 c. flour, and a dash of salt in a heavy sauce pan. In a separate bowl, whisk together 14 oz can of sweetened, condensed milk, 2 1/2 c. milk, and 4 egg yolks (save whites for later.) Add to dry ingredients. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until smooth and thickened. Stir in 2 tsp. vanilla.
Arrange Nilla Wafers in the bottom and sides of a 9 X 13 baking dish. Layer 6 sliced bananas on top. Pour custard over bananas and wafers.
Whip egg whites and 1/3 c. sugar with electric beaters until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Fold in 1/2 t. banana extract and spread over pudding, sealing to edge.
 Bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or chill. Yield 8-10 servings. (Or more... it's rich.)

Tortilla Soup

This has been a delightful, spring-like break from winter this week. Temperatures have crept back up into the 70's and more often than not, the sun has been out. This isn't usually what I think of as soup weather, but the February issue of "Everyday Food" had a section on variations on Chicken Soup, so I had to try this one. It was even the cover recipe.
I wanted to make something very special for SexyLawyerMan for our 11th dating anniversary (January 5) but it was my first day back to school with kids, and he was busily studying for the Bar Exam, so I decided that an easy, experimental soup was the plan. Lucky for us, this one was really, really good. It also kept beautifully and it served us lunch for a few days. It's pretty spicy. By that I mean I'd classify it as a "Pace Picante Sauce Medium" level. Spicy for me, but I'm a Spice Pansy.

 Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
In a large pot, heat 3 t. vegetable oil. Saute 2 cloves minced garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add 1 T. tomato paste, 1 c. diced tomatoes with liquid, and 4 t. chili powder. Stir and simmer until most of the liquid is gone. Add 10 c. chicken broth and bring to boil; season with salt and pepper to taste.
Place *shredded cooked chicken, avocado slices, cojita cheese, fresh cilantro, and sliced scallions in bowls. Pour the broth over other ingredients and top with baked tortilla strips and lime wedges.
***Substitutions: I used my own chicken broth. Some of it I already had frozen from previous recipes (my broth recipe is here) but the rest of it I made while I cooked the *3 chicken breast halves, fat removed, for this recipe. I just tossed some cilantro, onions, garlic, salt and pepper in while the chicken boiled. I strained it when I pulled the chicken out to shred and reserved the liquid to start the soup.
I used shredded Monterrey Jack cheese instead of cojita, store-bought tortilla strips instead of baking corn tortillas in the oven as the recipe suggests, and chives from my garden instead of scallions. I had some frozen cilantro (put chopped cilantro in an ice-cube tray, cover with water to fill compartments, and freeze; save in a Ziploc bag in freezer) that I tossed into the broth while it was cooking. It was fine for boiling, but I think that fresh cilantro would have been really good to garnish the soup at the end.
I stored the broth and the chicken and other toppings all separately in the fridge and combined to cook. Don't know if that matters.

Really, Mom?!

I used about 15 oz of Rotel tomatoes with chiles instead of plain diced tomatoes. Very good.
Nutrition Info: 330 cal, 14g fat, 32g protein, 19g carbs, 5g fiber. I'd say this one is "Kidney OK" but not "Friendly" (unless you are on a potassium restriction, in which it would be a NOooOOOoo Recipe). I ate less of the chicken to lower the protein and I didn't add much salt to the broth. (Store bought would have more sodium.) Cheese and tortilla strips can also be adjusted for salt. 

In other news, Berwyn got "fixed" this week. He's recovering nicely, but is not very excited about his Cone of Shame. We have proven to be over-protective parents now that we have both taken him to the vet (two days in a row) to have them check his stitches which we didn't feel were as even/normal/healed as they should be. The vet's office has been very nice and reassuring. However, cone it is. And I think I might be going to Hell after how much I laughed at his lack of success in navigating the house with the it. Poor Berwyn.

New Year's Jambalaya

Berwyn showing off his Christmas presents, a fluffy bed and Blue Dog

Well, it is the 2nd day of the new year and so far so good. I thought I'd share with you something that I'm eating today, since it is Recipe Monday and also it's a New Year's tradition.

First, the story. It was New Year's Day 2009. We had been partying for about 3 days in our small Austin apartment and had quite a few people still in town. I had planned to make Black Eyed Peas, our usual traditional dish for luck in the new year, but I was worried that my tiny can of peas would not feed everyone. So several of us ladies (myself and two good friends, both named Mrs. A but no relation) started digging through my pantry to see what we could add to the peas to make it go a little further. Here's what resulted.

Kick-Ass New Year's Jambalaya

Boil 3 cups rice with 1 T. butter in appropriate amount water (according to package). Toss in some cut-up beef jerky for flavor. Now add canned goods: Ro-Tel tomatoes, black eyed peas, & black beans. Add 1 chopped onion and about 3 cloves minced garlic. Season with Tony's or other Cajun seasoning as hot as you can stand. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer, covered, about 40 minutes or until rice is tender. Reheats well for a few days and serves a lot of people. Pretty good on a hangover.
*Not kidney friendly!

Now in other news, I have resolved to de-clutter. Yes, I should go to the gym more. Yes, I should eat less melted cheese. But I think my big, life changing resolution is going to be to get our stuff reduced as much as is reasonably possible before we move. This sounded like a great idea on New Year's Eve, but after a 4 hour car ride back to Waco, our house looked like a bomb went off and I was tired. Today I have graded papers and made my grocery run (back on that cleaning plan and on schedule so far), but we have Christmas gifts to find homes for and so much laundry! I am really itching to use my brand new Dyson vacuum (!) but I have got to put things away first. Baby steps.
Anyway, I found a neat little calendar online that has de-cluttering tasks for every day so that I can work gradually toward my goal instead of charging at it haphazardly and feeling inadequate until it's done. If I can follow this and my cleaning schedule at the same time, boy will I be a happy girl!