Christmas Dinner

Christmas is a time for family bonding, cooking, traditions and fun but Christmas in the B household this year was more like a commercial for a pharmacy. The week before Christmas, my entire family got hit with a nasty flu/cold bug. Lucky for me, I was the lone healthy one (thank you sweet Jesus!!!) I wasn't even sure if we'd end up having Christmas dinner but thankfully by Christmas Eve, people were starting to show signs of life (after finally coming downstairs three days later, we nicknamed my dad Lazarus).

 

Instead of the usual turkey or ham or turducken for Christmas dinner, this year I went with a lamb roast. And it was good, I mean it was REALLY good. I paired it with Pioneer Woman's duchess potatoes, homemade cheesy bread, sweet glazed carrots and asparagus.  I was really excited because I had been SO looking forward to making the lamb. Last spring, I found an amazing recipe for an herb encrusted lamb roast with a mint vinaigrette that was crazy good and I had been craving it ever since. The recipe is very straightforward and the mint puree is divine. I think I may have started a new Christmas tra-dish-ion (see what I did there?)!

 

Start by making the herb rub, fennel, cumin seeds, salt, & peppa. Then brown it in the ol' cast iron skillet.

Once you get a nice brown crust on the first side, flip it over and put the whole thing in the oven at 350. This roast was 4.5lbs and I cooked it for about 3-3.5 hrs. In hindsight, I would have pulled it out after 3 or maybe even 2.75 but it was still scrumptious!

 

Tasty herb crusted lamb. OH. SO. GOOD.

The vinaigrette. Mine looks a LOT less green than the recipe I followed but I used the exact same ingedients so who knows, I smell a little color enhancment in ye old photo shop!! 

The duchess potatoes pre-egg wash and baking.



Had I read the recipe in advance, I would have known that you need to chill the potatoes for a half hour or so before brushing on your egg wash... this was NOT happening since dinner was almost done and the potatoes weren't set up enough to brush anything on them. What to do, what to do? Pour egg wash all over the entire batch and check out the awesome eggy film it creates in between servings. Hey sometimes you gotta improvise!

Activating the yeast for my cheesy bread.



Let the dough rise, form it into long, twisted baguettes, let rise again and slap em in the oven for 20 minutes. 

After the bread bakes, resist the urge to not devour it immedieately. Instead, slice little pockets into it for, wait for it... CHEESE

Slather on a generous helping of garlic butter and try to contain your excitement as you wait the 5 to 10 minutes for it to melt in the oven.



NOM, NOM, NOM

And there you have a delectable Christmas dinner that will heal the sick... or at least coax them out of bed long enough to get seconds!

Here's a follow up to my card wreath. It looks SO much better filled with cards!



A few shots of the tree.

 

 

I snagged a few of the snowflakes I made for my office Christmas party and hung them in the kitchen along with some evergreen boughs.

 

 

My glittery reindeer! Mr. B keeps offering to "fix" his neck, funny guy that Mr. B!

My grandma's vintage Christmas decorations circa 1960. It's not Christmas until this lil guy goes up.

I hope this holiday season finds you surrounded by the ones you love and remember, as cliche as it sounds, Jesus is the reason for the season!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

XOXO,

Mrs. B