JAMSquared

On Friday, we had dinner with Randy, James’ good friend since they were little bitty and who served as James’ best man at our wedding. Afterward, we went to the movies, which is quite expensive compared to Austin. Since Midland only has only one movie theater, I guess they can charge whatever they want. We saw The Spirit and I don’t recommend anyone go see it. It is based on a comic by Will Eisner and was one of the weirdest, and not in a good way, movies I have ever seen.

On Saturday, we had Christmas dinner with James’ family and opened gifts afterward. There were nine of us: James and I, his parents, his Granny and Pawpaw, his sister and her boyfriend and our nephew Dawson, who spent the first half of his Christmas vacation with his father’s side of the family and did not get home until Friday. Next year, Tami, James’ sister, will get to have Dawson at home the first half of Christmas vacation. James’ grandparents were really surprised by the digital picture frame we all pitched in together and got them. I had pre-loaded it with a bunch of pictures. The pictures ranged from when Dawson was a small tyke of two in 2002 when I first got a digital camera to a couple of pictures of James and the two of us on our November trip to French Polynesia (of which a post is forthcoming).

We left Sunday after meeting the whole gang for lunch at McAlister’s Deli.

I made a scrapbook of our trip to Philadelphia, using the Scrapblog site. I was very pleased with my first foray into digital scrapbooking. The Scrapblog site is very user friendly and the hardcover book I printed out and gave to my Mom for Christmas turned out very nicely. The friends she has showed the book to have been impressed. I also ordered a copy for myself, the bonuses of digital scrapbooking, multiple copies for the work of one. One of the pluses to using Scrapblog is that you can publish the scrapbook to be able to share in a blog. Check it out for yourself. Let me know what you think.

The weekend before Christmas, we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. My parents drove in from Midland and my sister Sarah and her little family drove in from the DFW metroplex to stay at my house and of course my brother and his wife, who live in Austin, came over to celebrate also.

Sarah, my Mom, and I prepared a big lunch Saturday that I had planned out the week before. The pinnacle of lunch was the Stuffed Crown Roast of Pork with sides of Candied Pecan Pear Salad, Apple Butternut Squash, the standard Green Bean Casserole, and rolls. The pork crown roast and stuffing was a breeze for me to make and turned out so impressive. The salad prepared by my Mom and Sarah was delicious. The apple butternut squash was tasty, but I don’t think it is something we will make again. I had planned to make Whole Wheat Rolls, but as I didn’t time it very well, we ended up going with these quick tasty rolls my Mom knew how to make.

Stuffed Crown Roast of Pork

Source: Taste of Home Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2005

Ingredients:

• 1 pork crown roast (16 ribs and about 10 pounds)
• 2 garlic cloves, slivered
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cups apple juice or cider
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ¾ cup butter
• 5 cups soft bread crumbs
• 3 cups chopped peeled tart apples
• ¼ cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon paprika

Directions:

Cut slits in the bottom of each rib; insert garlic slivers. Rub oil over entire roast; sprinle with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow roasting pan. Cover rib ends with foil. Pour apple juice into pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 1 hour, basting occasionaly.

Meanwhile, for stuffing, place the raisins in a small bowl.; pour boiling water over raisins. Let stand for 2 minutes; drain and set aside. In a skillet, saute the onion, celery, and garlic in butter until tender. Add the bread crumbs, apples, parsley, salt, paprika, and raisins; mix well.

Carefully spoon stuffing into center of roast. Bake 1 to 1.5 hours more or until a meat thermometer reads 160°-170°F and juices run clear. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove foil and stuffing. Cut between ribs.

Yield: 12-16 servings

Candied Pecan Pear Salad

Source: Taste of Home Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2008

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon butter
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 1¼ teaspoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds, divided
• ½ cup raspberry vinegar (we used red wine vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (we used honey Dijon mustard)
• 1 tablespoon honey (we used raspberry honey)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 large pear
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (we used lime juice)
• 3 packages (5 ounces each) spring mix salad greens
• ½ cup crumbled bleu cheese

Directions:

In a small heavy skillet, melt butter. Add pecans; cook over medium heat until toasted, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon; cook and stir for 2-4 minutes or until sugar is melted. Spread on foil to cool.

For dressing, in a blender, combine ½ cup pomegranate seeds, vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper; cover and process until smooth. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream.

Cut pear into thin slices; sprinkle with lemon juice. In a salad bowl, combine the greens, pears, bleu cheese, and candied pecans. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with remaining pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately.

Yield: 12 servings (1 cup each)

Apple Butternut Squash

Source: Taste of Home Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2008

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• ¼ cup apple butter
• 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Place squash in a large saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain.

In a large mixing bowl, mash squash with apple butter, cream, salt and cinnamon until blended.

Yield: 5 servings

Opening Presents

After lunch, we exchanged gifts. My family has the best tradition for opening presents. We start with the youngest, who this year was my sweet baby nephew, and then work our way to the oldest before repeating the cycle until there are no more gifts under the tree. This way, we get to see everyone open their gifts. And to me, watching people open the gifts you give them is almost better than getting gifts yourself. The only bad part of this tradition is when one or two people get more gifts than other people. That is why I always get each member of my family the same number of gifts, usually two, so even if one gift is minor, they have something to open up. Growing up, this event occurred Christmas Eve after going to mass or as we got older before midnight mass. Now, that my siblings and I are all married and starting to have families of our own, the when is bound to change often.

Trail of Lights

Saturday night, we visited the Trail of Lights. I’ve lived in Austin for six years now and this was the first time I’ve visited this free Austin tradition. The Trail of Lights is a 1.25 mile trail in Zilker Park decorated on each side with displays containing hundreds of lights. Each display has a theme, such as Disney characters, and is sponsored by local companies like Dell. There are concession stands, a little house where the kids can visit Santa, the Zilker Zephyr miniature train decked out with lights and the big Zilker Christmas tree, which consists of a tall center pole and strands of lights along wires radiating outward from the center pole to form a cone shaped tree. The Trail of Lights usually opens mid-December and continues through Dec. 23rd. It was quite crowded while we were there, so I would suggest going on a weeknight. All the lights were beautiful, but I especially enjoyed the nativity scene with the lighted camels.