It's become my favorite tradition at the holidays to cook up a storm for each of the big days. This year was no different, although we had to get a little creative about which days we chose to cook around our vacation time. Thanksgiving was fairly typical though. Our turkey turned out juicy and delicious, and we simplified the feast this year. Instead of making way too much food that would just make the cooking stressful and crazy, we stuck to the basics: Turkey, Gravy, Potatoes, Rolls and Stuffing.
Since we were traveling home on Christmas Eve this year, we had to push out our Italian Feast to the day after Christmas. But it was maybe one of the best results we've ever had. With our new Christmas toys, we ground up our own lamb meat to make a delicious Lamb Ragout Sauce for our fresh Cheese Ravioli. This was one of those "What About Bob" meals for me, where the audible "YUM" sound kept escaping from my mouth. The home-made pasta along with the high quality Lamb meat just couldn't be beat. Amazing!
Next, we did Stuffed French Toast and Berry Compote for Christmas Day. Hubby's traditional Christmas Day meal is his mom's French Toast, so we just stepped it up a notch. This meal also turned out amazing. The ham and cream cheese stuffing helped to balance out the super sweet bread and berry sauce. I sliced the bread too thick, but this is something easily remedied next time we decide to make this meal.
Last but not least, we did our own Steak and Lobster at home this year for New Year's Eve. We usually step out for a fancy dinner for this holiday, but with the College Football Playoffs happening the same day, and our desire to keep testing out the new cast iron pan, we decided to stay home this year. Ultimately, it was a great decision because that was the starting point of hubby's cold (which is now what I'm trying to kick). This meal turned out just ok. I under-cooked the steaks, but it made for some fantastic steak sandwiches on New Year's Day. The lobster was a bit over-cooked, but my Bernaise Sauce turned out pretty good! Not quite the perfect consistency, but better than I've ever done before! I also cooked up a batch of amazing brownies, which went so well with the leftover berry compote for dessert.
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