Early Christmas

As Greg will be in TN this year and I will be here in CA, I wanted to have a Christmas meal with him before he left.  As we had a belated Thanksgiving meal a week after Thanksgiving (a whole turkey & all the fixings) because my jaw was finally back to normal after 2 weeks, I didn't want to prepare a whole bird.  I had been looking for ideas on what to make.  I usually don't watch the show 'Guy's Big Bite' on the Food Network, but I found 2 yummy recipes from the one episode I watched:  Turkey Cordon Bleu and a Green Bean Casserole.  We never ate green beans growing up.  It wasn't until I was an adult when I tried fresh green beans.  I still won't eat them from a can. 

What's Christmas without a tree?  Since I am home this year, my friend was kind enough to let us borrow his old tree.

I made the mushroom sauce for the green bean casserole.  It smelled amazing.

Here it is with chicken broth.

The heavy cream and sour cream has been added.  I would've been content putting this into a bread bowl and calling it a meal.

No holiday meal is complete without some cranberry relish.

I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes the next morning after cutting this pepper. Owie!!  Who knew chili oil could last so long, even after several hand washings?

Fresh green beans & soup topped with grated Parmesan cheese.  Ready for the oven!

My mise en place: Monterey jack cheese, brie, ham, diced chili, and cut twine.  Chef Anne Burrell would be so proud.

Not having a meat tenderizer, the turkey breast didn't quite flatten like it was supposed to.  It came out more like a roast,  but there's nothing wrong with that.  It just took longer to cook.

Again, Christmas would not be Christmas without this other Goss tradition.

I added chicken broth to the covered pan to help with cooking and keeping the bird moist.  Unfortunately, most of the brie oozed out of the bird.  But it did not go to waste!  It soaked up all the yummy chili flavor while it was in the broth.

Complete with fried onion goodness from Trader Joe's.  First green bean casserole I've ever eaten.

Here is Jessie modeling some delicious shortbread cookies that are covered in dark chocolate from Trader Joe's.

Rudolph was able to join us.

Dean liked having a pretty lady on his arm.

He even dressed up for the occasion with his red tie!  It wasn't until after I was posting pictures when I realized Dean resembles Santa in the background.

Kitty always has to supervise.

Ham, chili and cheese spiral.

It turned out really good if I do say so myself.  Leftovers the next day were even better.

None of us were ready for this shot.

 Safe travels to TN lil brother.  Eat some yummy food while you're there!

Thanks Giving Pies

This is Eli.  He's the president of the men's organization (Elder's Quorum) at church while I'm still president of the women's organization (Relief Society).  

We spent one Friday night making pies for people in the ward to thank them for being awesome and for all the work they put into making our ward (congregation) great.  We made 4 pies (2 apple and 2 pumpkin) and bought one berry pie.

I put Eli in charge of peeling and cutting the apples.  We used Granny Smith.

At this point it was already smelling good with the cinnamon and sugar goodness!

I wanted to try an oatmeal crumble on top.  Full of butter and brown sugar!

Baked up beautifully!  Next time I'll bake it half way with a cover and take it off so the top doesn't get so dark.

The pumpkin pies were a lot faster to make as we used canned pumpkin.  (Sorry Mom!)

Our Bishop loves berry pie so we bought one just for him.

Kitty got tired of supervising.  It can be exhausting meeting new people and keeping track of Mommy's shenanigans.

The pie shells were really full!  They poured a little over the side while trying to place into the oven.

But I still think it has a beautiful color!

We didn't get to sample any but hope they tasted as good as they smelled.  

Thank you to everyone in the Highland Ward for their friendship and positive attitudes in working together.