christmas dinner

This Christmas, my parents and I decided to have dinner just the 3 of us. Cooking a Christmas dinner for only 3 people without going overboard is hard, and I think we have enough food to feed my family for the next two weeks. I had lots of fun cooking it because it was the Thanksgiving dinner I never got to make. But next year, I'm demanding an all seafood feast for dinner.

Oh god, ok. So last year when Neal and I made Thanksgiving dinner, we hadn't tied up the one of the brine bags, and during the tragic 5 seconds that we looked away from it, 2 gallons of liquid spilled all over my tiny apartment floor. The worst part is that my floor was at a slight angle, so it all went rushing like a salty river of doom right under the radiator. But it was still the night before, so we managed to get more vegetable stock from the gas station (thanks Shell) and make a delicious turkey. I thought this would the worst thing to ever happen, but I was wrong because the same thing happened this year, except on Christmas morning when there are no stores open. I was lifting the brine bag with the turkey out of the sink and into the cooler, but the stupid bag was ripped and turkey popped right out of the bottom. All the brine went down the drain. So after some tears (a lot, actually) and freaking out, I just did a plain salt water brine with some brown sugar and cayenne and let the turkey brine for only 4 hours instead of 10. It turned out really moist and perfect...a Christmas miracle, or something like that, right?

My mom's "creative" plating of prosciutto wrapped asparagus

Bacon wrapped green beans (really loving the meat wrapped vegetables this year)

Garlic mashed potatoes with cream cheese and chives

 Mushrooms with thyme

 Balsamic brussell sprouts and shallots

Acorn squash with butter, brown sugar, walnuts, and cranberries

I also made gravy with the pan drippings (mmm) and an orange-cranberry sauce.