Well, first up, a start to our Christmas day was sausage rolls, Sedam style. In England,growing up, my Mum had a tradition that we had to eat a piece of pork pie, before we opened our presents. Ideally this came from Pork Farms.
Pork Farm did great pork pies and sausage rolls. Failing this, Fletchers of Hull.
So,since sadly this is not an option, and since my family (except me) are vegetarians,we came up with our own tradition:vegetarian sausage rolls. (My youngest has cheese instead of sausage). I go downstairs ahead of the crowd and make them. This year it was Litelife Smart Dogs 
and Pilsbury Grands biscuits.
You simple take a biscuit, split it horizontally, stretch it into a sausage shape and wrap both bits around the sausage. Cook till golden, and serve.
and Pilsbury Grands biscuits.
You simple take a biscuit, split it horizontally, stretch it into a sausage shape and wrap both bits around the sausage. Cook till golden, and serve.
For Christmas I got lots of great things.
Some of these you will be able to read reviews on shortly.
I did have a Lauders Scotch and Canada Dry ginger ale. No, this is not brand plugging. I would prefer a better brand of scotch, but Lauders is decent, and as Bob Barker would have said, the price is right! As to the ginger ale, when it comes to mixers Canada Dry make the best ginger ale, and schweppes the best tonic water. So unless you want inferior mixed drinks you know what to do.
Now if your mixer is cola that is a different subject, and for now we will let Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola fight that one out.
As the day progressed, and the presents had been unwrapped, the family, and myself
(Yes, as is usual for me! ), returned to food, namely spinach dip. I have made this for
years. It's origins, for me, I think stem from my step brother, or maybe more precisely
from Sylvia, his wife, whom I think made the first I tried.
The recipe I use nowadays comes from the package of Lipton vegetable soup mix.
That is one of it's crucial, and lately, hardest to find ingredients.
Perfect Party Spinach Dip
- 1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets Vegetable Soup Mix ( I usually double this and add dry chopped onions)
- 1 container (8 oz.) sour cream [or non- fat Greek yogurt ]
- 1 cup Hellmann's or Best Foods Real Mayonnaise (We use nayonaise since my daughter as pretty much given up eggs)
- 1 box (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, cooked, cooled and squeezed dry (Drying is a crucial part)
- 1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional but we usually use more)
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in medium bowl; chill 2 hours.
- Serve with crackers or chips or whatever you like
This year I added shredded cheese to a small portion of it! I liked it both ways.
Whilst I cooked some of the dinner items I thought it would be great to have a beer. My hand fell upon a beer in the fridge called Newcastle Brown Winter IPA. If you have had Newcastle Brown, You will know it as a descent flavoured brown ale. This was not like an IPA.More like a failed attempt. 
As to dinner, this year I went all out and bought a hunk of beef: angus beef or rib roast as in Prime Rib, potentially two of my favourite words. I looked online and was going to try the closed door method for cooking, but since I forgot the temperature, and then my son opened the door, I did a quick adjust and went back to the method my dear departed Mother had drilled into my head as a kid: "20 minutes to the pound and twenty minutes left over". I then deducted the twenty minutes, since I have found myself to lean between medium rare to rare more. As to the rub, I looked online for guidance, then did my own interpretation. My rub consisted of sage, rosemary, thyme, fresh and powdered garlic,a little olive oil giving it its moisture. The prime rib was just the beginning. Then there was a staple at my holiday table: Scalloped oysters. (Even when they are bad they are good.) The nutshell version is,:
crackers, oysters, cream, salt, and Worcestershire sauce. I also put in some sauteed onions and mushrooms. Parsnips, brussel sprouts, and of course the ever changing corn casserole roundd out the meal.
Corn Casserole:
Cheese,(chedder, cream cheese,mozzerella,small amount of hot pepper type cheese), crackers, cream, corn, a small amount of those sauteed mushrooms and onions. Bake in the oven, and depending on the year, good, bad, or occasionally great, corn casserole emerges.
I did get a slice of Thanksgiving style roast turkey from Butterball. I also bought a pre-made crab stuffing. My wife's contributions to the feast included Tofurkey loaf, Gardein stuffed loaf and the gravy that comes with it. She also slaved over some mashed potatoes. The slaved part being extra difficult since I suggested she should use the older potatoes first. They were, as it turned out, small potatoes and so a lot more work. (sorry Tam). Ocean Spray provided its traditional jellied cranberries. The feast is almost complete except for Kroger brown and serve dinner rolls, bernaise that my son prepared whilst all the other crazy stuff was going on, and butter, made fresh from cream, hand shook in a jar by my youngest daughter. The wine was Gato Negro I must let those of you that don't already know me know that I tend to like sweet white wine over any other wine. Sauterne being my favourite thus far. I have my brother in-law, Cliff, to thank for introducing me to it many years ago. Unfortunately it is very hard to find in the USA. I can only guess that it's a wine that is made from grapes that are extra sweet because they are starting to shrivel into a raisin like state,due to what I guess they call noble rot. This makes the wine less mass produceable and thus less profitable so this would not fit the standard American model for success. I do, however, digress
Gato Negro was, in the generous spirit of Christmas, not my favourite moscato.It was ok. Some wines excite the taste buds. This simply said, "Hows it going...............................................Well see you later." So if you have tried other wines and taste this one, don't judge Moscato badly because of it. There are many better versions.
As to dinner, this year I went all out and bought a hunk of beef: angus beef or rib roast as in Prime Rib, potentially two of my favourite words. I looked online and was going to try the closed door method for cooking, but since I forgot the temperature, and then my son opened the door, I did a quick adjust and went back to the method my dear departed Mother had drilled into my head as a kid: "20 minutes to the pound and twenty minutes left over". I then deducted the twenty minutes, since I have found myself to lean between medium rare to rare more. As to the rub, I looked online for guidance, then did my own interpretation. My rub consisted of sage, rosemary, thyme, fresh and powdered garlic,a little olive oil giving it its moisture. The prime rib was just the beginning. Then there was a staple at my holiday table: Scalloped oysters. (Even when they are bad they are good.) The nutshell version is,:
crackers, oysters, cream, salt, and Worcestershire sauce. I also put in some sauteed onions and mushrooms. Parsnips, brussel sprouts, and of course the ever changing corn casserole roundd out the meal.
Corn Casserole:
Cheese,(chedder, cream cheese,mozzerella,small amount of hot pepper type cheese), crackers, cream, corn, a small amount of those sauteed mushrooms and onions. Bake in the oven, and depending on the year, good, bad, or occasionally great, corn casserole emerges.
I did get a slice of Thanksgiving style roast turkey from Butterball. I also bought a pre-made crab stuffing. My wife's contributions to the feast included Tofurkey loaf, Gardein stuffed loaf and the gravy that comes with it. She also slaved over some mashed potatoes. The slaved part being extra difficult since I suggested she should use the older potatoes first. They were, as it turned out, small potatoes and so a lot more work. (sorry Tam). Ocean Spray provided its traditional jellied cranberries. The feast is almost complete except for Kroger brown and serve dinner rolls, bernaise that my son prepared whilst all the other crazy stuff was going on, and butter, made fresh from cream, hand shook in a jar by my youngest daughter. The wine was Gato Negro I must let those of you that don't already know me know that I tend to like sweet white wine over any other wine. Sauterne being my favourite thus far. I have my brother in-law, Cliff, to thank for introducing me to it many years ago. Unfortunately it is very hard to find in the USA. I can only guess that it's a wine that is made from grapes that are extra sweet because they are starting to shrivel into a raisin like state,due to what I guess they call noble rot. This makes the wine less mass produceable and thus less profitable so this would not fit the standard American model for success. I do, however, digress
Gato Negro was, in the generous spirit of Christmas, not my favourite moscato.It was ok. Some wines excite the taste buds. This simply said, "Hows it going...............................................Well see you later." So if you have tried other wines and taste this one, don't judge Moscato badly because of it. There are many better versions.
As to the rest of dinner, the prime rib was tasty, though not the best I ever had. But then I've tried a lot of prime rib. It could have been slightly more tender, but it was delicious, moist, and a very good medium rare. Oh, I forgot to mention I bought a frozen uncooked lobster tail. I wanted surf and turf. The lobster tail was tasty and cooked just right, with a little garlic and a small chunk of butter. Vegetables all came out good, the parsnips a little soft but tasted good. The corn casserole was lighter on the cheese and heavier on the corn than some family members liked. As to the vegetarian loaves, I thought they were all decent, but not able to replace my prime rib for delicious flavour.
Ok, so this post went on for longer than most, but then Christmas dinner is one of the year's biggest taste sensations. So until I taste again I bid you peace.
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