Christmas Eve Salad

 We've hosted an annual Christmas Eve dinner for family for the past several years. One of my favorite things about this meal is that I don't have to even think about what to serve anymore. My parents started a tradition of having snow crab legs on Christmas Eve when I was in elementary school, and we've carried that for decades now. They moved 6 hours north of us about ten years ago, so my husband and I took over the hosting duties. While the guest list may change from year to year, we always make room for family. This year we will welcome my in-laws and our brothers.

The other menu items have been established throughout our hosting years. We will have twice-baked potatoes, steamed green beans, biscuits with cheddar and garlic, and my Christmas Eve salad recipe. I adapted this from some recipes I found online for Ensalada de Noche Buena. This is the only time I make this salad so we look forward to it each time!

Ingredients for the salad:

    1 head of romaine (we prefer the heart)

    1 bunch fresh spinach

    1/2 of a small red onion, sliced thin

    the arils from 1/2 of a large pomegranate

    1 small jicama, peeled and sliced thinly into strips

    about 4 mandarin oranges or clementines, peeled and segmented

Ingredients for the dressing:

    1/2 cup orange juice

    1/4 cup (to taste) red wine vinegar

    about 1/2 to 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 

    1 tablespoon of honey

    1 tablespoon of dijon mustard

    1/2 to 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper 

Start by chopping your lettuce and spinach into bite size pieces. I make sure to remove most of the stems from the spinach as they can be awkward to eat. Rinse the greens very well and dry in a salad spinner. If you don't have a spinner, you can drain them on a cotton dish towel or several paper towels. 

Lay the greens in the bottom of a large salad bowl. Top with the orange segments, sliced red onion, jicama slices, and the pomegranate arils. The amounts used may vary depending on the size of the produce and personal taste (we like lots of jicama and oranges). Keep chilled until ready to serve. 

I like to use a shaker bottle for mixing the dressing as it will separate as it sits. Add the orange juice and red wine vinegar to the bottle, then add the dijon mustard and honey. Add the salt and pepper and then add the olive oil on top. Put the lid on and shake well to emulsify. I try to make this as close to the meal as possible since the olive oil and honey will harden if you refrigerate. If you do make this ahead, remove from the fridge at least 15 minutes before serving and shake very well. 

We don't dress the full salad when serving, but rather place the dressing on the table and allow people to use as much as they like.

If you've found this recipe, I hope that you try it out and enjoy with your favorite people. May you have a very Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Eve

 

15 Bean Soup Instant Pot

 A little bit cooler today! Hubs and I tracked down a bale of straw and some pumpkins to put on the front porch next to the werewolf. Most all of the Halloween decor got put out yesterday. We have a couple more things we may put out yet. 

After we found our straw and did a little grocery shopping, we came home and I started this soup in the Instant Pot. While it was cooking, we made some chocolate chip cookies and some dinner rolls. Soup turned out better then I expected! Used leftover ham from last Sunday’s supper that we froze for later use. Ham was slow cooked with brown mustard and ground cloves.

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

4 large carrots, diced

5 stalks celery, sliced thick

1 pound dry 15 bean soup mix, rinsed and drained

6 cups water

2 cups ham juice (leftover from slow cooker) - use extra water if not available 

1 ham bone (some meat left on is fine)

1 bay leaf

3 cups diced ham (also leftover from slow cooker)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon dried parsley 

1 teaspoon dried thyme 

1 teaspoon dried oregano 

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika 

2 teaspoons chili powder 

1-2 teaspoons red wine vinegar 

Salt and pepper to taste

Set Instant Pot to “Sauté”. Add olive oil, onion, and carrots. Sauté 4-5 minutes. Add bean mix, celery, water, ham juice, bay leaf, and ham bone. Seal pot and set to high pressure for 35 minutes. Natural release for 10 minutes, then remove lid. Stir in tomato sauce, ham, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. Add vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste. 

I totally eyeballed the measurements on this, and still turned out very good. Carrots were a little more done than we prefer, so next time I’ll probably add with the celery instead of sautéing.

Apple Butter

 Jotting this down so that I have it in case this turns out as good as I hope! I’ve got my big 7 quart slow cooker about half full of peeled, cored, and chunked up apples. Not sure of the variety, they’re from my in-laws property and it’s a tree that just grew up on the edge of the bluff. I poured over about a cup of apple cider (just grocery store brand, nothing fancy), added 3/4 cup light brown sugar. Then I put in about a quarter cup of Kraken spiced rum, 1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla bean paste, about 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg. I’m cooking it overnight (10 hours) on low, then tomorrow I’ll mash it up with the immersion blender and add some lemon juice for zing. Not sure if I’ll can it or just freeze it once it’s done. Depends on if I wanna share!

Chex Mix

 Every year around this time, I get a craving for Chex Mix and go searching for a recipe. But all of them nowadays are microwave and alterations on the one I loved growing up. So, I’ve come up with my version below.

2 sticks unsalted butter

6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons Lawry’s seasoned salt

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

4 cups each

       Rice Chex

       Corn Chex

      Wheat Chex

      Crispix

3 cups pretzel sticks

3 cups Gardettos snack mix

2 cups deluxe mixed nuts

Place butter in large roaster pan, and put into cold oven. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. While oven is heating and butter is melting in pan, mix together seasoned salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir together cereals, pretzel sticks, snack mix, and nuts in very large bowl. Once oven is heated and butter has melted, sprinkle seasoning mix over butter and add the Worcestershire sauce, stir together until well mixed, then add cereal mixture and stir again. Bake for one hour, stirring well every 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

This makes a very large batch, but we go through it very quickly since we only make it around the holidays. I usually put a big jar of it in my father-in-law’s Christmas goodie basket as well. 

Day in the Life

 So, the last couple of weeks I’ve found myself watching a lot of YouTube vloggers and their “Day in the Life” videos. Which is fine, you know, get some ideas for organizing, some projects to try out. But they’re all in their 20s with little kids. My kids are in high school and middle school now! Why can’t I find someone neat to watch that’s more relatable? 

Adding a pic of the dog because he’s cute. 

Maple Bacon Ice Cream

 This stuff is so delicious. Sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy. Unanimous decision that it was the best dish at our bacon and beer festival this weekend. And my beer also won! Heretic Shallow Grave. Really smooth porter. But I excluded myself from the prizes since I bought them...lol. 

Here’s the recipe. But this makes like a gallon, so scale down appropriately if you're not feeding two dozen people. 

5 cups heavy cream

5 cups whole milk

8 egg yolks

1 cup maple syrup, grade A

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until temperature reaches 170 degrees. Strain through fine mesh sieve into large pitcher and chill in fridge overnight. Next day, churn in 4 batches. When ice cream reaches soft serve consistency, add 1/4 of the chopped bacon (recipe follows). Churn until ice cream will stand on a spoon, then store in freezer overnight before serving. Let soften slightly before serving.

Maple Candied Bacon

2 pounds thick sliced double smoked bacon

1/4 cup maple syrup, grand A

1/2 cup brown sugar

Line baking sheets with aluminum foil. Lay out bacon across pan, barely touching each other. Drizzle half of the maple syrup over the bacon, then sprinkle half of the brown sugar over. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from oven, drain off the grease into a heat proof container. Flip the bacon over, drizzle with remaining syrup and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake an additional 10 - 15 minutes, or until desired crispness. Cool completely, then chop into small pieces.