With Thanksgiving over, this means that Christmas is right around the corner. Gulp! We are hosting the family Christmas Eve celebration this year. Double Gulp!!
In any case, we could use another Christmas tree, like the one that Balsam Mountain is giving away. Click here to enter the giveaway for a Colorado Mountain Spruce Christmas tree valued at $799.
These cookies were by far the favorite cookie I brought for Christmas with my In-Laws. Mr. Gooch couldn't keep his mitts off of them even before the party.
These are melt-in-your-mouth tasty. The lime flavor is subtle with a buttery finish.
I found the recipe on Oishii, a great food blog. You should check it out. Since I used the recipe exactly as written, I am linking you right back to the original post.
I can't wait for a reason to make these again.
I am still catching up on all my holiday posts. Bad, I know.
But I didn't want to skip highlighting these Lemon Cut Out Cookies. I found the recipe on the blog Cookies on Friday.
I needed to bring several desserts to my Mother-in-Law's house for Christmas dinner. I thought that the lemon flavor in these cookies would be a welcome change from the usual chocolate, mint and candies usually found in desserts around the holidays. Especially since we were all gathering on the 28th of December.
These cookies were a big hit and I recommend them to anyone looking for a citrus-y cookie.
One note, the dough is a bit dry so can be a bit difficult to roll out. Just be patient and use a well floured rolling pin.
Since I followed the recipe word for word and did not make any changes or substitutions, please click here to view the recipe.
I hope your Valentine's Day weekend is as nice as mine is turning out to be.
Nothing says the holiday like a big family gathering. The photo at the top of the post is of some of the many pairs of shoes left at the front door on Christmas Eve at my parent's house while their owners (aunts, uncles, cousins and many other family members) celebrated the holiday.
This year I was able to travel home to celebrate Christmas Eve and Day with my family. Unfortunately, Mr. Gooch was unable to join me as he was called into work. (Boo!)
Christmas Eve is when my extended family traditionally gathers at my parent's home and this year we had 26 for dinner. Close to the previous record of 29 for dinner. We needed to have tables in the dining room, kitchen and family room to accommodate everyone.
This gathering is always a bit chaotic, noisy, happy and all around fun. Everyone always heads home full of good food, loaded down with gifts and already looking forward to next year's celebration.
We celebrated with the usual menu for dinner. The fact that it never changes is another tradition. There is something comforting about eating the same meal at 39 that I ate at 9. Especially since so much in our world changes so quickly. 
Appetizers included
Shrimp with cocktail sauce
Crab Appetizer with Cream Cheese
Cheese and Crackers
Deviled Eggs
Oreo Truffles made with Cream Cheese
For dinner we had
Honey Baked Ham
Green Bean Casserole
Cheesy Hash Brown Potatoes
Baked Beans with Bacon
Layered Salad
Home Style Applesauce
Kosher Pickles
Potato Rolls
For dessert we had
Funfetti cookies with cream cheese frosting
vanilla, milk chocolate or dark chocolate ice cream
I have realized over the last few months that I LOVE ginger. So when I saw this recipe on Money Saving Mom for Orange Ginger Cranberry Sauce, I knew I had my recipe.
The sauce was definitely zingy and that was a nice compliment to our other dishes. I will definitely make this again. I may make up a double batch s coming weekend and freeze individual portions for use throughout the year with various meals.
Homemade Orange Ginger Cranberry Sauce
Source: Erin at $5 Dinners
Ingredients
1 bag fresh cranberries (the bag I used was 12 oz.)
1 orange, juiced (I used about 1/4 cup of OJ)
1 teaspoon orange zest
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ cup sugar
Directions
Rinse cranberries.
Pick out any cranberries that are white in color or have "gushy" spots.
Place cranberries in sauce pan with 2 inches of water, or apple juice.
Boil for 10 minutes, then reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
While boiling, add the juice from one orange.
Add 1 teaspoon orange zest to the sauce.
Cranberries will "pop" while boiling!
Add ¼ cup sugar to the cranberries. Add more sweetener for sweeter sauce, or less sweetener for a more tart sauce. Add ½ - 1 teaspoon of ground ginger.
Allow sauce to sit for at least 10 minutes to "thicken" a bit more.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Mr. Gooch and I had a great day with his mother and grandmother and we all ate until we thought we were going to burst.
I will be blogging about all the recipes we made for today in the coming days, but I wanted to give a quick review of each one in case anyone is celebrating with their family this weekend.
Good Eats Roast Turkey - So moist and tender. The key seems to be brining the turkey. Our 13.5 lb turkey was in the brine for about 14 hours. Also key is the 30 minutes at 500 degrees to brown the turkey and seal in all the juices.
Alton Brown's Best Gravy Ever - Everyone seemed to like it even though I realized well after the fact (when we were starting the dishes actually) I forgot to add the salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.
Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs - These were good. The only change I have is that next time I will add more Parmesan cheese and some roasted garlic.
Orange Ginger Cranberry Sauce - I am not a huge cranberry sauce fan but I realize after eating this version, it was because I do not like the canned kind. The ginger gives it a nice bit of zing and I am a cranberry sauce convert.
Honey Wheat Dinner Rolls - I loved these rolls. They had just the right amount of sweetness. The only problem I had was I left them in about two-three minutes too long and the bottoms of the rolls got a bit burnt.
Dilled Carrots - Always a family favorite.
Creamed Corn with Pearl Onions (a favorite of Mr. Gooch's made by his mother) - based on everyone's reviews, this one was good as usual.
Mixed Berry Cheesecake - Holy cow! This may be the best cheesecake I ever tasted. It was light and the lemon zest gave it just the right amount of citrus flavor. With berries on the side, it was the perfect end to the meal.
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