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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

fa la la Ooooo la la


Every family has their own Christmas traditions. Some traditions dictate when to open presents, others instruct whose house to go to for brunch or dinner, and many others simply resolve to spend as much time as possible with as many different family members as possible. Growing up, my family traditions included all of the aforementioned items. Now that I’ve moved away, married, and have two children of my own (ok, ok they are children of the canine persuasion but they are still my babies), Dan and I have created our own annual tradition that I absolutely LOVE and would not trade for the world! On Christmas day, Dan and I sleep in, open presents with the puppies, make breakfast together (Dan makes coffee with Bailey’s, it counts as helping) and then spend the entire day lounging around the house in our pajamas watching parades and various Christmas-themed movies. Sometime mid-to-late afternoon, I get up, get showered, put on some fresh pajamas and start making an elaborate Christmas dinner that is typically served somewhere around 8 or 9pm, depending upon degree of complexity and level of absolute laziness (usually it’s the laziness causing delays). Last year, I created a steak house sensation! It was fabulous and ohemgee delicious and it was difficult to think of something to top it.

For this year’s Christmas feast, I’m dishing up some fantastic French fare and am oh so excited about it!! If you asked Dan, he’d say he’s never eaten French food. That’s because he thinks French food has to be fancy or include things like snails in order to be considered “French.” He has no clue that meals I make on the regular are actually classic French cuisine! He’s had boeuf Bourguignon, poulet cordon bleu, poulet frit au paprika, petit salé aux lentilles, hachis parmentier, vichyssoise (but warm), and his all-time favorite gratin dauphinois just to name a few. Of course, when he asks “what’s for dinner,” I don’t always tell the whole truth as it is much easier to say “beef stew” or “potato soup” (I ask you all dearly to please not mention anything about leeks to him, ever).

I spent quite a lot of time poring over recipe sites and flipping through my cook books to create what, I believe, is the BEST Christmas dinner menu ever!! Also, BIG thanks to Ms. Fonda for letting me bounce ideas off her and for her fabulous suggestions (and just for putting up with my obsessive menu planning behavior in general). If I were to win an award for this meal, I’d totally thank her in my acceptance speech. I do still have one hole in the menu: the salad. However, I’m not stressing over it because I do not eat salad. I’d love to do a salade de pissenlit, but I’m too afraid I’d slip up and tell him he was eating dandelion and he’d ruin the mood by gagging (even if he loved it). So, for the salad course, we’ll just see what fresh field greens I can find and toss them with some shallot and a fun vinaigrette; maybe I’ll do a raspberry champagne vinaigrette!!!!

So without further ado, here is my Christmas Feast:
Appetizer Course: Brie en croûte with Almond Champagne
Soup Course: Soupe à l'ail with Sauvignon Blanc
Main Course: Coq au Vin, carottes vichy, Haricots verts à l'étouffée and Purée de pommes de terre à l'ail with Chardonnay
Salad Course: as we discussed, this is still open and up for debate
Dessert Course: Crème Brûlée with Champagne

I really hope I can pull this off, and that we are able to eat dinner before midnight!

I wish you all the happiest of happy holidays and the best of luck with your Christmas meals, whether they be at your house or another’s. Cheers!!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

dan's BIGGEST challenge

Dan has mastered the art of reheating things; he can use the rice cooker and as long as I put the flour/seasoning in a bag, he can “shake-and-bake” oven fried chicken. It was time. He was ready. And he aced it!! Tonight, Dan used his patented “shake-(pause)-and-bake” method for the chicken; made some rice in the rice cooker; boiled peas & carrots and even … wait for it … simmered a sauce while constantly stirring so it didn’t burn. There were still a few steps left for me to finish when I got home, but GO DAN GO!!!!

Tonight for dinner, we had HG’s Sesame Chicken swap with a healthified fried rice. I’m not going to claim any credit for the sesame chicken (you can find that recipe here), but I am going to outline how to split a recipe up into steps that can be easily done by two different people.

Two nights before:
- Take two skinless/boneless chicken breasts from the freezer and place in the fridge overnight to defrost.

One night before:
- Take the chicken breasts out of the fridge and chop into bite-sized pieces; place in a re-sealable plastic bag with 2tbsp teriyaki sauce (this isn’t in the HG recipe, but the chicken looked so plain and boring by itself) and place in the fridge.
- Place ½ cup of whole wheat flour in a re-sealable plastic bag and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix ¼ cup fat-free chicken broth with 1tbsp cornstarch, stir until dissolved. Add 2tbsp sugar-free pancake syrup, 2tbsp seasoned rice vinegar, 1tbsp ketchup, ½ tbsp lite/low-sodium soy sauce, ½ tsp sesame oil, ½ tsp crushed garlic and stir well. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge with the chicken.
- Line a baking pan with foil and place on the countertop; set out the rice cooker (or microwaveable bowl with lid) and rice near the pan and also the wheat flour. Place two small sauce pans on the stove.
- Write down the instructions for the next day.

Dinner time:
- Heat oven to 350; take the chicken and sauce out of the fridge.
- Drop a few pieces of chicken at a time in the flour and shake to coat; place chicken on the baking pan and place in the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes.
- Place one cup rice plus one cup water in the rice cooker and set timer for 15minutes (or whatever your package directions state).
- Place ½ cup frozen peas & carrots in one of the sauce pans, cover with water and heat on the stove over medium-high heat until boiling, lower heat to keep it simmering.
- Place refrigerated sauce in the other sauce pan and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally to keep it from burning.

****THIS IS WHEN I CAME HOME AND HOW I FINISHED DINNER****

- Toss the chicken in the sauce and place back in the oven to keep warm.
- Drain peas & carrots.
- In a large pan or wok, melt 1tbsp faux-butter and scramble one egg. Add rice and peas & carrots, 1tbsp light/low-sodium soy sauce, ½ tsp of crushed garlic, ½ tsp of black pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Enjoy!