I was too busy cooking and then wanting to die to take pictures of yesterday's food, but this is the same raspberry cream pie I made for Thanksgiving that was a hit.
Raspberry cream pie:
1 pkg frozen raspberries
1 6 oz pkg raspberry jello
3/4 C sugar
1 C evaporated milk
1 T lemon juice
Bring raspberries to a boil; add jello and sugar. Stir until dissolved; set aside to cool and thicken. Put evaporated milk in bowl in freezer until frozen around edges. Remove and add lemon juice. Whip until stiff. Add the thick jello mixture to whipped milk, mixing well. Pour into baked pie shell and chill. Top with Cool Whip and serve.
Anyway, yesterday was our 2nd annual holiday dinner. We did this last year - a dinner with some friends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That way I get to make my own turkey and whatever sides I like, and enjoy our friends before everyone is busy with family.
I ended up taking Friday off work because I was feeling overwhelmed with gifts to be made, shopping to do, and food to make for the holiday dinner. I'm so glad I did. I was able to enjoy my FIL's surprise visit Thursday night, time with family on Friday night, and the perfect Christmas-y atmosphere on Friday.
Even though I'd gotten a jump on food Friday, I still spent 12 hours working nonstop (mostly in the kitchen) on Saturday, and had to draft Nathan to clean the house. It was insane. By the time we started dinner, I really hurt and was exhausted. Nathan had to put away the leftovers and the dirty dishes didn't get touched. At least I had kept up with dishes until then.
But you know what, it was worth it...I think. The food ranged from decent to great, we enjoyed the company, and I won't have to cook for a few days. And by tomorrow, I'll stop aching.
Here's what we enjoyed:
Turkey
Garlic-cheddar rolls (recipe link)
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Jello salad - the one my mom always made
Rye-sausage stuffing
Apple-pecan french bread stuffing
Sweet potato casserole (recipe link)
Green bean casserole
Deviled eggs
Pumpkin pie
Raspberry cream pie
Toll house cookie pie (recipe link)
Cinnamon peach pie
I also made cranberry sauce from scratch but I forgot to put it out, dang it! I had to scrap my plans for funeral potatoes when I ran short on time.
I think the only things here not from scratch are the green bean casserole and the jello in the raspberry pie. I made the rye bread (recipe link), french bread and rolls, cooked pumpkin and sweet potatoes, used a jar of home canned peaches, made my crusts from scratch, and my mom's jello salad actually uses gelatin and fruit juice instead of jello. Hence the hours of work.
I also made two more pies to give away on Friday, and a breakfast casserole for the church Christmas brunch. I didn't actually get to go because I was so short on time, so I just sent Nathan with the food.
Mmm, just re-reading my list makes me want leftovers.
2 comments:
We had our Christmas Day dinner last night cause we will be traveling on Christmas evening. So we invited cousins and had a delicious meal - simpler than yours, though.
Ham, potatoes, rolls, asparagus, fruit, home canned grape juice and pear pie. It all was delicious and we had a lot of fun. I normally don't like a full house - it stresses me out, but it was very enjoyable.
What in the heck??? That's a lot of food! You know, you can save some to make next year. Or maybe next week. :)
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