Christmas Week Menu

This week I wanted to make some great meals, incorporate a little meat (organic of course!) and use up some items in the fridge.


Sunday
Stuffed Chickens adapted from Martha Stewart Living & Beer Braised Cabbage from KathEats

Beer Braised Cabbage

Out of the oven

Stuffing, YUM!

We ended up only eating half of one bird!  These were chickens, not cornish hens, like the Martha Stewart recipe called for.  I just couldn't buy 2 birds for $16 at Whole Foods when chickens were $5 each.  I saved the other bird and some cabbage as a chicken-soup-starter which I will use this winter.  Finally finished up the head of cabbage from last week's farmers market.

Monday
Butternut Squash Lasagna from Martha Stewart Living

Look!  A squash rainbow!

Bet this would freeze well.  It was good, but definitely needed parmesan cheese on top.  Maybe cottage cheese instead of ricotta next time.

Tuesday
Curried Potatoes from White On Rice Couple

 Had to put the potatoes in the oven because:

1. The potatoes were burning due to no lid for this pan
2. Since the potatoes are larger than called for, they were taking forever to cook

As you can see...they didn't smash well at all.  I used regular brown potatoes and they didn't fare well.  Couldn't find fingerling potatoes anywhere I looked.  The sauce took a very long time to thicken up and I ended up just pouring it on the potatoes anyways.  Thought this meal would have been a disaster, but it didn't taste too bad.  Not something I would make again though.

Wednesday
Lentil and Bean "Meatloaf" from Chef In You

This being our last day of work for the year, we actually went out for sushi instead.  When I am in a sushi mood, I need my sushi  :)   Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I made the loaf and froze it.

Turned out pretty well even though the bf left it in the oven for 1 hour over the time it was supposed to be in while I was at yoga.  Luckily it didn't burn...but then again, we don't know what temp our oven is at, so it was probably lower than called for.

Thursday
Sweet Potato and Leek Roulade with Xmas Stuffing from Taste.com

This was the grand finale of the week.  Our very own Christmas dinner before heading out tomorrow to visit the family.

 I didn't have white bread, so I used leftover pancakes.  Nothing shall go to waste!

 Being that they were buttermilk pancakes I thought that we would be able to taste pancake, but it tasted like normal stuffing.

 This is the outside layer of the roll.  Used a 9x13" pan because I don't have a swiss roll pan.

 Sweet potatoes for the middle layer.

 Bread crumbs in the center.

Even the dog got to try a piece.

And he normally doesn't eat veggies.