2011 Christmas Celebrations

Our Christmas Celebrations are always jam packed with activities, family and food!  This year was no different.

Christmas Eve Afternoon
We spent the afternoon at my grandparent's for lunch and games.  Grammy has the most beautiful china and always gets to set a lovely table.  She also researches great games, puzzles, and trivia for us to play to bring back great childhood memories, learn more about the history of Christmas or just have fun. She served her famous Swedish Meatballs that take forever to cook and she hates them for months after serving them but they always are a huge hit with everyone!

Grammy's beautifully set table

Christmas Eve Night
We spent the evening after church at my parent's house.  We enjoyed playing BuzzWord and snacking on a wonderful Bass spread of Christmas jello, clam dip, chips and dip, cheese and crackers.  After the game we opened our yearly Christmas Pajamas and Ornaments.

Jeanine's famous Christmas Jello

Christmas Day
The morning each family spent at their individual homes unwrapping presents.  The afternoon and evening were spent at my house for games and dinner.

Every Christmas Dinner I like to try a different recipe but always with lamb.  This year was Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with a Cabernet sauce served with Roasted Carrots, Mushrooms and Brussel Sprouts and Mashed Potatoes.  My sister and I artistically plated each serving and provided extras family style for people to have seconds.  After two years of rack of lamb its been decided we will try a different cut of lamb next year to spend less time getting to the meat ;)  I still think two chops look the best and so elegant on a plate.

Table set for Christmas Dinner

For our wedding we received a large trifle bowl as a present but it cracked in shipment. I returned it and decided to get 12 individual trifle bowls from Pier 1 instead.  I love them for entertaining.  I wanted to make a family favorite, Raspberry Trifle, but my husband doesn't like fruit deserts. He wanted chocolate.  So I ended up making half Raspberry and half Chocolate.  Not only do the deserts look delicious, they are much easier to make then they look and with Sugar Free or Fat Free options can be a nice lighter desert.

Raspberry Trifle and alternative Chocolate Trifle

The best part of hosting a party is seeing all the empty plates and licked clean bowls of desert.  We all enjoyed a round of Disney Apples to Apples, a Christmas present opened that morning, while moaning at how wonderful the meal and the entire day was.

Clean bowls and fun games!

BBQ Kabobs: Chicken, Beef and Veggies

Our family loves hosting weekend barbecues with friends and family but after awhile everyone gets sick of the same old burgers, hot dogs or chicken.  A couple of years ago my mother and I decided to try something different and make shish kabobs. We found some marinade recipes online and gave them a try.  Like always, after trying the recipe for the first time I started making all kinds of changes to heighten the flavor.  Now we're going to share the perfected marinade recipe with you to enjoy at your summer BBQs!

Meat and Marinade
2 pounds cubed chicken, beef or both!
2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

Pasta Meal: Bachelor vs Newlywed

While we were dating, my husband would make his 'famous' meat sauce pasta. After a few times having it I helped make it even more delicious and healthy. Both versions of this recipe are quick, delicious and can impress your girlfriend, family, and friends.

This is also a great recipe to get started experimenting in the kitchen. The ingredients aren't too daunting and the instructions aren't complicated.

The Original Bachelor Recipe 

Serves 4.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground beef
1 box of angel hair pasta
4 cups Prego marinara sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

Follow the same instructions as the Newlywed Recipe, just skip all the vegetables!

The Newlywed Recipe
Serves 6. Pasta serving size 2 cups (513g): 574 kCal, 15g fat, 73g carbs, 37g protein, 80mg cholesterol, 1419mg sodium. Slice of Garlic Bread using french bread: 194 kCal, 15g Fat, 2g carbs, 13g protein, 29mg cholesterol, 611mg sodium. Calculated at MyNetDiary.com based on ingredients. Information will differ based on your brand choices.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground turkey
1 box of whole wheat pasta
4 cups Prego marinara sauce
1 onion, diced
3 gloves of garlic, sliced or chopped
1 can diced tomatoes (Hunt's No Salt Added)
1/2 bunch fresh parsley, coarsely chopped (or substitute with 3 Tbl dried parsley)
3 Tbl Italian seasonings

Simple Yet Sophisticated Fillet Mignon

My mother and I love to cook...
But, like in everything, we approach it with our own unique style. Jeanine strictly follows recipe, enjoying the pleasure of nurturing her family and friends.  Jenn, on the other hand, loosely follows recipes, loving to mix up the flavors and enjoying the calm that comes from stirring a slowly simmering sauce.  Most of the recipes I'll share here will have a Jeanine 'Traditional' version and a Jenn 'Creative' version.  (Isn't our company name just perfect for us?)  That way you can choose the recipe that works best for you. They will both be yummy, though in my biased opinion most of the Jenn recipes are yummier. ;)

However, for the first Creative Tradition recipe it's a Jenn Original recipe!  It's what I made for my husband and I for Valentine's Day this year.  I took a picture of it to share with my friends on Facebook then suddenly I was sharing the recipe in the comments. So really this recipe is what led to me finally getting around to starting our blog. So let's get to the good stuff...

Simple Yet Sophisticated Fillet Mignon
Doesn't this meal look so sophisticated and yummy?  Can you believe it only takes about 30 minutes?

INGREDIENTS

2 fillet mignons
1 bag of baby carrots with caps
1 bag of frozen Ore-Ida Steam-N-Mash Russet Potatoes