Two Christmas Dinners

Classic Lenox Christmas china (photo by Lenox)

Darlene's Christmas Table before it was set.

Darlene and Rick from a couple of years ago.

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We lucked out and went from no plans on Christmas Day to TWO dinner invitations. I had my camera but forgot that it was in the car so these pictures are from years past. Rick made oyster stew that was really good. Even Roger liked it. My mother used to make oyster stew for Christmas Eve dinner but this stew was full of herbs and it was great. The recipe came from Cooks.com. I will try to find it and post it. (Upon searching, I can't figure out which of 150 recipes Rick used. His had Half and Half and chives in it. It looked and tasted to me a little like the Knox vegetable soup mix that you make dip with. Anyway, I will have to ask him for the specific recipe.)

Darlene set the table with her beautiful crystal and her Lenox Christmas china. She made a perfect prime rib, roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts (Rick and I love them but Darlene and Roger HATE them.)

As luck would have it, our friends also invited Jaime, Aaron, Mia and Roger and me to dinner around 5:00. Roger was so tired he couldn't make it but I went and was treated to a beautiful rare roast beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding. Aaron is crazy for Yorkshire pudding and it was very good. Oh, and we had roast potatoes and (you guessed it) Brussels sprouts. Mia loved the special decorated ice cream dessert. I was not able to even try it.

I was sorry that I could not eat very much because it was a beautiful supper. We still have a couple more celebrations to go to before the end of the year. If you add in the Hannukah dinner I had at Irma and Mark's and the Christmas breakfast that Aaron and I made together, we have eaten quite well this Christmas Season.

Sunday Lunch - Roast Beef Sandwiches

Picture from FoodNetwork.com

Yesterday as I was herding the little girls to the birthday party, I stopped long enough to put a frozen roast into a pot. I added a couple of inches of water and some onions in the bottom and set the oven at 325 degrees. It was nice to have supper ready when I got home. There was a brown crust on the bottom of the roast and the gravy was very rich and brown. I made more gravy with a packet of "Better Than Gravy" gravy mix and served the roast with coleslaw and some leftover mashed potatoes.

Today, Cory and Stephanie surprised us by riding their bikes over to our house. I was making lunch so they stayed a while. I chopped up the leftover roast and put it in the gravy. Then I sauteed some green peppers and onions. I put the meat and gravy and peppers and onions over some hamburger rolls and melted thin slices of pepper jack cheese over the top. It was kind of a combination of French Dip and Philly Steak. We all had cold drinks and big, warm plates of the stuff. It was fun. I never seem to get around to actually inviting them over for a big supper, but this was better. Spontaneous. So what did I feed Roger for supper later? Beans and franks and some warm rolls.