A Foodie Christmas

When our family gets together and that is quite often one thing is always guaranteed. There is an abundance of great food. Would you expect anything else from a foodie family? We had planned on stopping at a family Christmas Eve party then heading to the kids later in the evening but the weather quickly changed our plans so we were on the road in the early afternoon of the 24^th trying to stay ahead of the weather. We arrived safe and sound glad to be out of the snow.

All of our kids are very good cooks! One thing I enjoy about visiting any of our kids is they are a bit more daring when it comes to food. Sure they have the tried and true family favourites but they step away from simple home style cooking as well. Wednesday night we enjoyed a pasta with shrimp dish. Seafood is a family favourite and we do go through a lot of shrimp during the holidays so it was no surprise that the kids used shrimp as the main feature for a dish. Oldest grandbaby loves pasta! Christmas day the kids made homemade beef noodle soup. I showed them how to use the pressure cooker to cook the soup bones to make a rich stock. I will post more on that later as I made a vegetable beef soup using the same method when we got home. The kids found these wonderful spring rolls at a little shop in the GTA. If you buy them fresh they are 50¢ a piece but if you buy them frozen they are 20¢. I don't need to tell you which ones they bought. They served the spring rolls with plumb sauce for an easy appetizer. These fall under the category of "please bring me some home the next time you come down". They were very, very good and would make a nice appetizer to have on hand for entertaining. They also fall into the category of "I want to try making these from scratch" so I will be experimenting. The kids made easy panini for lunch. Now the beauty of these were unlike regular grilled cheese no butter or margarine was used at all. They were very good! I am now convinced I need to go shopping for a panini press.

Friday night the kids ordered pizza and wings. I cannot believe how much cheaper delivered pizza is where they live! Honestly a large pizza with 2 lb of wings where we are costs $37.49 delivered. That is one reason we make our own at home. They ordered 3 large pizzas, 2 lb wings and breadsticks for under $50 and it arrived in under a half hour! That's still expensive but it was more of a treat. Pictured is the buffalo chicken pizza. This was very nice. I seriously am going to be making this at home so watch for that recipe coming very soon.

Our toaster gave up the ghost a few months ago but I didn't replace it. We use the grill and indoor grill for toasting so a toaster wasn't a high priority. Parents to youngest grandbaby gifted us with a beautiful stainless steel Hamilton Beach® toaster with slots large enough to toast bagels and thicker slices of homemade breads. Parents to oldest grandbaby gifted us with a really nice French fry cutter. My husband is really into making homemade French fries at the moment so this is a much appreciated gift. One of my husband's clients gifted him with a lovely gift basket filled with items from Orange Crate Food Co. This is a Canadian company specializing in gourmet foods with no MSG or preservatives.

After all our adventures we arrived home Saturday night. Sunday we were both exhausted and sore because not being of sound mind we discovered the kid's Wii. Silly grandma and grandpa were quite entertaining! I heated up frozen hamburg soup served with stone ground wheat crackers for a quick and easy yet very filling dinner. I love having ready meals in the freezer!