Last year we began hosting Christmas at our house for both friends and family. We had just moved into our lovely/big new home and wanted to show it off and now it's become more of a tradition. On the advice of J's aunt I bought a Butterball turkey and it came out flawless and delicious. Cooking the turkey was the easy part, defrosting it was another thing. Did you know some turkeys take days to defrost? Last year I had to get up every half an hour through out the night to refresh the cold bath for the turkey in order for it to speed defrost in time and I was still pulling out ice chunks from it's cavity right before cooking. This year I learned my lesson but still had to speed defrost part way through, but luckily not through the night.
I know fresh is better but I was too late last year and this year I bought it ahead of time in order to not repeat last year's mistake. A fresh bird also takes up too much space in my already cramped fridge. Next year I'm going to try it and brining now that I've got about 5 turkeys under my belt.
On the surface of our Christmas dinners everything seems lovely and calm. The kitchen, however, looks like a bomb went off and my nerves are always slightly frayed. When everyone is finally sitting down eating I start to feel better.
I was also always behind schedule. This year I managed to overcome the timing hump and had the turkey out and ready when my family arrived. I think it had a lot to do with the sides I chose, I needed something delicious and easy, lucky for me Nigella came to the rescue. Now I just need to work out timing so that all the food is warm when it's time to eat.
For a the friend party I did a mix of the indulgent and healthy. First off was the red salad. A delicious combo of red wine vinegar, kidney beans (protein), red onion, parsley and sweet cherry tomatoes.This simple assembly idea was easy to do but could have used a bit more pizazz. In the end I added more salt and pepper but I think a splash of balsamic could have given it the lift it needed. It had a fresh taste and was a good change from the turkey-potato combo. Plus it took no time and looked Christmas-y with it's green and red colours. I paired it with Gluten Free Girl's potato puree which was super rich with full fat cream and butter and very delicious. B+ for the red salad and A+ for the potato puree.
I know fresh is better but I was too late last year and this year I bought it ahead of time in order to not repeat last year's mistake. A fresh bird also takes up too much space in my already cramped fridge. Next year I'm going to try it and brining now that I've got about 5 turkeys under my belt.
On the surface of our Christmas dinners everything seems lovely and calm. The kitchen, however, looks like a bomb went off and my nerves are always slightly frayed. When everyone is finally sitting down eating I start to feel better.
I was also always behind schedule. This year I managed to overcome the timing hump and had the turkey out and ready when my family arrived. I think it had a lot to do with the sides I chose, I needed something delicious and easy, lucky for me Nigella came to the rescue. Now I just need to work out timing so that all the food is warm when it's time to eat.
For a the friend party I did a mix of the indulgent and healthy. First off was the red salad. A delicious combo of red wine vinegar, kidney beans (protein), red onion, parsley and sweet cherry tomatoes.This simple assembly idea was easy to do but could have used a bit more pizazz. In the end I added more salt and pepper but I think a splash of balsamic could have given it the lift it needed. It had a fresh taste and was a good change from the turkey-potato combo. Plus it took no time and looked Christmas-y with it's green and red colours. I paired it with Gluten Free Girl's potato puree which was super rich with full fat cream and butter and very delicious. B+ for the red salad and A+ for the potato puree.
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