It’s the close of a year! Oh, the meals we’ve made over this past year. As I sit here pondering our wonderful December meals I am also watching the Xmen movies with my family. Every year we watch some series together and this is what my guys chose. In the past we’ve done Lord of the Rings, and Marvel movies. It’s a good family time!
Anyways, on with some deliciousness eh! 🙂
Meals the Lad Made
So I’ve been wanting my lad to cook at least one meal a week and it’s just been a battle to get him to follow through. I finally said “You know what, your friends cook meals at home for their families, so you can cook meals for us too.” He wanted to choose a mid-day to do it but I said “NOPE! You can cook Sundays. It’s a day I don’t want to have to fuss in the kitchen so it’s your day.”. It’s working out really well. A consistent day, no school to interfere, and I or hubby am around to help should he need it.
He’s made this month
- Manwich
- Chicken wings with sides
- Turkey Croquettes. We used this recipe that hubby found.
The croquette recipe caused the lad to ask a ton of questions and have to do some problem-solving. He was quite pleased with himself at the end of it and thoroughly enjoyed them.
Baking
It’s Christmas… baking happened. One needs treats for eating over the holidays even if you don’t have friends and family coming over.
Most of the cookies we made I’ve already chatted with you all about.
But we also did homemade turtles, dipped pretzels, and …. oh shoot.. I know I made something else but I can’t recall right now.
Homemade Turtles, we made some with pecans and others with pretzels as the base.
Christmas Dinner
Well.. I made the BEST STUFFING EVER! See I don’t much like stuffing, but this stuffing was good… in the turkey and done on the stove top. BEST EVER!
So what did I put in it? Stuffing from a box, half pack hash browns (those diced potatoes), apple, pepper, onion, celery, carrot and various seasonings. I made have used bouillon/chicken stock instead of water. REALLY GOOD. I hope I can replicate it next year!
Other than stuffing we also had Turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, cauliflower with cheese sauce, beans, plain potatoes, gravy, and cheese buns. Very tasty indeed!
More Wonderful December Meals
Parmesan Herb-baked Salmon Fillet. First time ever really cooking with a salmon fillet. Oh my.. YUMMY!!!!! Changes I made… I used more salmon so I needed to adapt the recipe and used dry basil instead of fresh. It disappeared too fast to get a picture.
I got inspired after visiting my mom and she had made an apple pudding. I thought the lad’s would enjoy this meal and I was right! Taste of home’s recipe was the one I chose to use.
We’ve made a number of hot sandwiches using bagettes. Manwich, tuna salad, turkey fry with cheese, egg/potato hash, etc.
Jerky! We made both rabbit and beef jerky. The rabbit made using a teriyaki recipe, the beef with basic jerky recipe. It was funny, the lad was threatened by his father…. for going a bit overboard on the jerky eating. Next time we have jerky apparently the lad will be helping to make it so he knows how much work goes into it! Tons of apologies. I think next time sharing will happen a bit more readily eh? 🙂
In between Christmas and New Years I have to admit we did a lot of leftovers and junk food. We did cheese and crackers, and chicken wings, and cookies, lots of cookies. 🙂
How about you? Does your meal planning go a bit wonky over the holiday season? Did you make any wonderful December meals? Do share them if you’ve a mind to. I love discovering new recipes to make.
I have quit meal planning, honestly, as it seems to always go awry. I plan something and the needed components get eaten. I guess that is what happens when every member of the household can fix their own food and normally have to for breakfast and lunch. If I want to have something specifically available, I have to claim it and make it well known that there are plans for it. So, not often worth that effort. 🙂
It is good to see the lad increasing his skill set and learning more all the time.
i don’t meal plan at all… other than if I think I want to make a special meal and need something specific. it is good to see him learning.