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A Christmas surprise

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kokopelli
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23 Dec 2024, 4:08 pm

Christmas is a current event so this should be the right forum.

I just found out an hour ago that I'm responsible for cooking Christmas dinner!

I have no idea who will be there. It could be as few as four people or as man as twelve. Maybe more.

Fortunately, I bought a ham last Friday ($10 off a $29 ham!) and have been slicing it off a bit at a time to fry for sandwiches and other meals. I also have some pecan glaze for it.

I also have a frozen turkey breast in the freezer that I was planning on cooking later so that I could have roast turkey for a week. So I put it in the refrigerator to thaw out. It's 4 1/2 pounds so it ought to be thawed out.

I also have some Marie Calendar's stuffing mix.

Best part is that I have some rolls that I don't particularly like. Many other people like them so this might be a good time to get rid of them. That's the way it is supposed to work, isn't it?

Now I got to go to the storm for a few things. Lettuce, radishes, and cucumber for a simple salad -- I already have carrots and celery for it. One or two pies -- pecan and pumpkin. Some vegetables -- I have several packages of frozen vegetables such as lima beans, broccoli, green beans, green peas, and field peas -- I love field peas. I also have some opened vanilla ice cream and some butter pecan ice cream in the freezer at the top of the refrigerator and some full Dutch chocolate and some strawberries with homemade vanilla ice cream in the deep freeze. I will need to transfer the ice cream from the deep freeze to the freezer at the top of the refrigerator to make it easier to dig out.

If I had more notice, I could have gotten ready to cook something that I would like better. Perhaps a roast beef and some fondant potatoes. Or maybe some country potatoes -- potatoes and onions -- that I really like.



Gentleman Argentum
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23 Dec 2024, 4:17 pm

kokopelli wrote:
Christmas is a current event so this should be the right forum.

I just found out an hour ago that I'm responsible for cooking Christmas dinner!

I have no idea who will be there. It could be as few as four people or as man as twelve. Maybe more.

Fortunately, I bought a ham last Friday ($10 off a $29 ham!) and have been slicing it off a bit at a time to fry for sandwiches and other meals. I also have some pecan glaze for it.

I also have a frozen turkey breast in the freezer that I was planning on cooking later so that I could have roast turkey for a week. So I put it in the refrigerator to thaw out. It's 4 1/2 pounds so it ought to be thawed out.

I also have some Marie Calendar's stuffing mix.

Best part is that I have some rolls that I don't particularly like. Many other people like them so this might be a good time to get rid of them. That's the way it is supposed to work, isn't it?

Now I got to go to the storm for a few things. Lettuce, radishes, and cucumber for a simple salad -- I already have carrots and celery for it. One or two pies -- pecan and pumpkin. Some vegetables -- I have several packages of frozen vegetables such as lima beans, broccoli, green beans, green peas, and field peas -- I love field peas. I also have some opened vanilla ice cream and some butter pecan ice cream in the freezer at the top of the refrigerator and some full Dutch chocolate and some strawberries with homemade vanilla ice cream in the deep freeze. I will need to transfer the ice cream from the deep freeze to the freezer at the top of the refrigerator to make it easier to dig out.

If I had more notice, I could have gotten ready to cook something that I would like better. Perhaps a roast beef and some fondant potatoes. Or maybe some country potatoes -- potatoes and onions -- that I really like.


Sounds delicious.

I am busy too cleaning house because I have company arriving Christmas day. The joint is OK but cat hair everywhere. Had to wash the sofa covers, sweep, light mopping. Also gave the cats a bath, which they hate.


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kokopelli
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23 Dec 2024, 4:22 pm

Gentleman Argentum wrote:
Sounds delicious.

I am busy too cleaning house because I have company arriving Christmas day. The joint is OK but cat hair everywhere. Had to wash the sofa covers, sweep, light mopping. Also gave the cats a bath, which they hate.


It could turn out pretty good, but it could also turn out to be a disaster.

I like cats, but only outdoor cats. We used to have 100 to 200 barn cats at any one time. One time my oldest brother's wife went out to feed them and was petting them while they ate. One of them had some oddly rough fur. She looked at it closer and realized that she was petting a skunk. The skunk didn't seem to mind.

I always wanted a pet skunk, but only an outside pet skunk.



BTDT
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23 Dec 2024, 4:26 pm

Good luck with the Christmas dinner!

I also bought a ham on sale! A pre-cooked boneless spiral ham.
I started eating it yesterday.

For Christmas I have my choice of a lemon meringue pie or a coconut layer cake.



kokopelli
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23 Dec 2024, 4:39 pm

BTDT wrote:
Good luck with the Christmas dinner!

I also bought a ham on sale! A pre-cooked boneless spiral ham.
I started eating it yesterday.

For Christmas I have my choice of a lemon meringue pie or a coconut layer cake.


Hams are great. The one I got is a Smithfield sliced ham cooked enough to be safe to eat, but it never hurts to cook them more. I prefer to fry them in a pan. Some uses:

1) Fried ham sandwich -- Oddly enough, when I lived in a really big city years ago, I only knew of one place that served fried ham sandwiches!
2) Ham fried rice -- Fry some bite-sized pieces of the ham, add rice while stirring often, and then some peas and some soy sauce and fry a bit longer. It's not real authentic, but it can turn out pretty good.
3) Field peas with ham -- Cook the field peas along with slices of onion, salt, and black pepper. About halfway through, fry some bite-sized pieces of ham and add them to the field peas. (This is also good with a smoked sausage.)
4) Fried ham and fried eggs
5) Scrambled eggs with fried ham
6) Fried ham with sauteed vegetables
7) Slices of ham with various vegetables
8) Bite-sized fried ham with stir fried asparagus over rice -- At the end, add Sriracha (sp?) sauce and cook another couple of minutes. This really spices it up. Wear a mask when you add the Sriracha sauce.
9) A slice of fried ham and fried egg on an English muffin
10) Bite-sized ham and broccoli stir fried together with some diced peppers on egg noodles.
11) Chicken fried sliced ham with cream gravy.

Did I miss any?



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23 Dec 2024, 11:20 pm

I hope your dinner goes well and everybody likes your cooking.


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kokopelli
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25 Dec 2024, 12:58 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:
I hope your dinner goes well and everybody likes your cooking.


It's almost done. I don't know if anyone else is coming, though.

Insert Edit Here: I got a text message saying that they would be here in 15 minutes.

I suspect that they will be here sooner or later, but I decided not to fix the green vegetables I was going to fix. Also, not as many of the brown and serve rolls.

All is not lost, though. One of my nephews who I ever see is supposed to be here tomorrow. There is a big split in the family caused when that nephew abandoned his wife and kids and married one of the nuttier people around here. My nieces and his kids are not about to let the split heal, but they won't be here tomorrow so it should be safe.



kokopelli
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28 Dec 2024, 9:50 pm

Everything went okay other than them being late. They still liked the food.

I have come to a decision. The next time I'm cooking Christmas Dinner, I will cook chicken fried steak with cream gravy, mashed potatoes, green peas or green beans, and Texas Toast. Precede that with a green salad and have pecan pie for desert.



CockneyRebel
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28 Dec 2024, 10:57 pm

I'm glad things went well for you.


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kokopelli
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29 Dec 2024, 12:15 am

CockneyRebel wrote:
I'm glad things went well for you.


Thanks.

I still have one good turkey sandwich out of the leftovers.