Wednesday, December 30, 2020

I had some requests for my Christmas recipes so I thought maybe others might like them, too. Are you still in holiday cooking/eating mode? I cleaned up my act and started eating better a couple of days after Christmas, but I know I will splurge for NYE and Day and won’t really be on a good eating plan until Monday, January 4th when I am back to my work from home schedule.

Do you have exciting NYE plans? Ha! We never really do much anymore, even when not in a pandemic. I don’t like to be out on the roads on NYE. We will sometimes do dinner at a restaurant before the rush and then be home at a decent time. Some years we go to a friend’s house. This year I am kind of hoping the boys don’t end up with plans so that it can be the four of us for a special-ish meal and games. Teenagers are very last minute with their plans. Also, it’s hard when other families have seen people and traveled. I feel very lucky that my kids are being cautious and mostly talking to friends on the phone/online. But, it is sad, too.

So, my plans are up in the air and it will most likely just feel like a Thursday.

I plan to drink this from my sister-in-law and also use it the next day for a mimosa! I tried a cranberry mimosa on Christmas and I highly recommend! Yum! I still have plenty of cranberry juice in the fridge.

This would be fun to have on New Year’s Day morning. I think it would be kind of fun to sit around and reflect on the year as a family and maybe make some goals for the next year.

Puff Up Breakfast Casserole:

1 lb. sausage cooked and crumbled – you could do bacon or leave meat out. You could also reduce the amount of sausage like I did.

1 can Grands biscuits

5 eggs

1 and 1/4 cup milk (I used skim because that is what we buy)

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese grated and 8 oz. mozzarella cheese grated (I used a mixture of cheeses we had in fridge – cheddar, Mexican blend, and mozzarella)

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray bottom of a 9 x 13 with Pam.

Cut biscuits into 8 small triangles per biscuit and evenly space them on bottom of pan.

Top with cooked sausage and cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, garlic, and salt and pepper.

Pour over the biscuit pieces, sausage, and cheese.

Bake 30-45 minutes until golden brown.

I think you could prepare this the night before, too, but I did mine on Christmas morning. I liked the biscuit dough as the base. My family has been making one like this but with bread and ham for years and years.

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread:

Put 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a large ziploc bag and mix up.

Cut up 2 cans of Grands biscuits into 8 triangles per biscuit (I did this at the same time as I did my biscuit for the above casserole and it worked out great!)

Put biscuit dough into the baggies and shake around.

Put biscuit pieces that are now coated into a Bundt pan.

Pour a stick of melted butter over the biscuits.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Loosen edges and let cool for about 5 minutes.

Then, invert your pan onto a serving platter.

Make a mixture of milk, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla for your glaze.

You can Google Cinnamon roll frosting but I just guessed.

Pour glaze over the hot monkey bread.

I think you might agree that this is better than the original monkey bread, too! I thought this was simply amazing made this way.

Lucky Foods:

Now, I am not taking any chances on 2021. I plan to eat as many of these things as I can! Maybe I can make a stew out of this? Put them all in a blender and make a smoothie?

Cabbage or greens of any sort – represent money and wealth. I could use more money and wealth. I bought a head of cabbage to use in my vegetable soup!

Lentils – good luck and they are shaped a bit like coins. I found out during Soup Sunday that lentils are a bit intense on my stomach.

Oranges and honey – good fortune, wealth, and gold. I have oranges and I have honey. Done!

Round cake – the full circle of life. Consider the monkey bread your round cake or make my amazing chocolate coffee cake here. Sing the song from The Lion King while you serve it.

Rice – fertility and wealth. Um, I am not looking for fertility right now. I think I might skip the rice since I’m getting wealth from my cabbage.

Noodles – longevity. If you can eat a long noodle without breaking it that is a good sign! We had angel hair for dinner and I didn’t break the pasta before cooking it so maybe I will count that.

Fish – abundance. I think 2020 may have taught us that our abundance was not always good. Remember hoarding toilet paper?

Pomegranate – Fertility, life, and abundance. Again, not all of us want to be fertile right now.

Grapes – Good luck for the 12 months ahead. This is something I do/did? in class every January. The clock strikes 12 times at midnight in Spanish speaking locales and you must eat a grape each time the clock strikes. We reenact this in my classes;I pick two students/they volunteer and I have a baggie already prepared with 12 grapes. I also pick a student who knows the Heimlich to sit up front just in case.

Pork – progress. I did buy a pork tenderloin. I would specifically like progress on my Master Bath. I shall eat my pork tenderloin on my bathroom sub floor. Tom won’t think that is weird at all.

Black eyed peas, greens, and cornbread – pennies, dollars, and gold. I bought a cornbread mix. It can’t hurt and we like cornbread! I still have a can of black eyed peas from January 1, 2020 in my pantry. Sorry, guys, 2020 may be my fault!

What are your plans for NYE and Day? Are you superstitious with the foods you eat on January 1st?

Amy