Holiday Recipe Round-up

Hello my pretties, and happy Monday!

Can you believe that it is less than two weeks until Christmas?  If you are hosting and have family coming in like me, they could actually be coming in as soon as this week!  I realized (and not really soon enough) that my sister and her hubby will be here on THURSDAY.  Yes, that’s in like four days.  And my parents come in on Saturday.  I better start my shopping… and wrapping!  Sheesh.  It’s funny because it’s true.

Before I get into it, I just have to share. I got my hair done over the weekend and I am in LOVE with the result. The cut, the color, everything is perfect. Decided to go with a shortie blunt bob. Every time I think I’m going to grow out my hair, I end up chopping it off. Where my short hair girls at?? Also, I am so happy to be able to curl with a flat iron again. When my hair is too long it totes doesn’t work, but it’s my favorite way to curl my hair. Do you do that?? What do you think, can you tell?

Since my husband and I moved into our house a few years ago, we have hosted Christmas.  It just so happens that my entire side of the family lives long-distance, so this also includes having house guests for a week which is all part of the fun!  We always celebrated Christmas Eve growing up, so I like to keep that tradition alive.  We added in ugly sweaters last year, which is fun!  Then on Christmas day, my in-laws come over, too.  All in, we never would have more than, like, 11 people.  Well, that’s not true.  My SIL has six kids, so if they were ever able to make it up, we’d cap at 19.  But no matter who’s coming, I always find that I make enough food to feed a small army.  Everyone is welcome and there are always plenty of leftovers!

This year, timing will be a little different because my sister is coming in early and then going back home to Nebraska for Christmas with her husband’s family.  I’m also going to try to start a new tradition of baking Christmas cookies!!!  Which if you know anything about my family, the “royal” women don’t bake.  It should be interesting!  Then we are doing a Faux Christmas Eve on Sunday.  AND I’m so excited because we’re going to try our hand at fondue.  I’m thinking cheese with crusty bread and veggies, then Coq Au Vin with beef, shrimp and more veggies.  We will also have a signature cocktail which is STILL TBD.  If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears!

So, I don’t have a go to fondue recipe yet (but will definitely share what we do after we do it!) but this week, I wanted to share my most favorite holiday recipe with you.  I’ve been perfecting all of my dishes over the course of a few years and finally have our menu pretty much set.  For Christmas dinner, we will serve the following:

Short Ribs
Roast Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing (my husband’s family recipe)
Green Bean Casserole
Peas (um, buy frozen bags)
Cranberry sauce (usually canned, but sometimes I get fancy and make it)
Crescent rolls

Sometimes my husband will make his world famous hazelnut pumpkin pie, sometimes we’ll buy something for dessert.  This year, we’ll eat the Christmas cookies we make, so hopefully they’re edible!

There are a few things that we do with our turkey that I think make a big difference.  Some are similar to what you would hear from the majority of people, some things (I think) are a little different.  

1. We uncover the turkey the night before and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight.  This helps the skin dry out and gets you a much crispier exterior.
2. I use butter.  The holiday time is not a time to be shy, and I will yell it from the rooftops. I USE BUTTER!  I separate the skin a bit and smush softened butter all under there, and then cover the top of the skin too.  Let’s get real here- it’s messy.  I end up up to my elbows inside a turkey.  But the turkey gets that beautiful golden color and crispy skin and I am here for it.
3. I cook my turkey for 13-15 minutes per pound, and to be completely honest with you, it is usually on the low end of this range.  I calculate out how long both would be so I have my low and high end of cooking time (for planning purposes, if for whatever reason the turkey isn’t registering the temp I want it to when the 13m/# is up).
4. We roast the turkey for 20 minutes at 475* and then turn down to 350* for the remainder of the cook time.
5. I baste about halfway through.  Melt about a ½ stick butter in a cup of vegetable (or chicken) stock and grab a little of the drippings in the pan and mix it in, then squirt it all over the turkey.
6. If needed, I will tent with aluminum for the last 30 minutes if it’s looking a little too brown.
7. You want your turkey to register 165* in the thigh when you take it out, and then rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Since I started doing this super easy and simple preparation, our turkey has come out a-mazing.  The first year that we hosted Thanksgiving, I did all kinds of fancy things with the turkey, got a brined one from Whole Foods and found some fancy schmancy recipe with apples and onions shoved in there with all sorts of herbs.  It was fine.  I mean, sure it tasted good.  But the flavors of everything else kind of overtook the beautiful simplicity of a turkey dinner.  Hubby suggested perhaps we go a little simpler next time.  And I’ve never looked back.

BUT I think my biggest claim to fame is that I have managed to recreate a stuffing recipe that my husband’s family has had in their family for generations.  And improve upon it, if I do say so myself.  (although that may be up for debate depending on who you ask!)

It is my husband’s grandmother’s recipe, that honestly could have been from even before that.  Traditionally, his grandmother and my MIL cook the stuffing inside the turkey.  I understand this is something that many people do, and have done.  I don’t particularly like it that way, and so when I took over Christmas (and CT Thanksgivings), I decided that I would make it my mission to recreate the recipe, cooking it outside of the bird, and somehow making it taste the same.

Now this is not an easy undertaking.  My husband has been eating this stuffing for his entire life. My FIL has been eating this stuffing for his entire life.  I knew it had to be perfect if it was going to even remotely compare to the original.  So, I set out to make this happen, and consulted the all powerful recipe provider, Google (and probably Pinterest for good measure).  As I did my research, I found out something very interesting.  My best bet was going to be to make this infamous stuffing -wait for it- in the crockpot.

Say whaaat?!  It was going to be the most effective way to keep the texture as close as it could be to being cooked in the bird.  Albeit it would be a little less greasy outside of the turkey, and ultimately would get a little of that crispy edge on it (can I get a YAASSSSSSS!), but all in all it would likely not dry out the way some stuffing can.  Win.

It really is the easiest recipe, and combined everything from the original with a few necessary changes.  I usually make two, one for dinner and one for leftovers, because it goes so fast.  Everyone gobbles it right up.  And the best part, is that my father in law (who can be picky!) loves it.  He says that it reminds him of his childhood, and I got a big thumbs up!

Tell me.  Does your family have recipes that have been passed down to you?  Do you make them as-is or have you tweaked them slightly to make it your own?  It’s so hard to decide what the right answer to this is!  You want to keep the integrity of the dish, for it to taste the same, look the same, smell the same!  But at the same time, some of the oldies but goodies need a little makeover.  I refer to it as a recipe that is “slightly modified by a younger generation”  but (hopefully) just as good if not better.

PS- I promise I will share the recipe for the short ribs, too. They’re seriously BOMB DOT COM.