Christmas Menu

Roasted Tomatoes and Roasted Peppers

Grilled Polenta

Herbed Goat Cheese and Smoked Mozzarella

Ciabatta Rolls (par-baked from Trader Joe's)

Salad

Lasagna Carnivale

Chocolate Peppermint Cake

I've wanted to post this menu ever since Christmas, since it worked out so well. It was by far the most stress-free meal I've ever served a group of people. That was because most of it was done the day before.

Schedule:

2 Days Before:
~ Shopping
~ Prep lasagna ingredients (Sauce, Shred Cheese, meatballs)

1 Day Before:
~ Roast Tomatoes
~ Make Polenta (can be done at same time as tomatoes.)
~ Bake meatballs
~ Assemble lasagna
~ Bake Cake

Day of:
~ Glaze Cake
~ Cut and grill/broil polenta
~ Assemble appetizer tray (tomatoes, cheeses, bread slices, polenta)
~ Bake Lasagna
~ Prepare salad
~ Bake par-baked bread, while lasagna is sitting

Serve and enjoy!

Oven-Roasted Canned Tomatoes

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2+ hours

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: The Italian Country Table

This is another great simple recipe from The Italian Country Table. It makes a delicious spread or something nice to put on pasta. It takes a long time to cook, but there is very little hands on time here.

Polenta

Total Time: 90-120 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: The Italian Country Table

This recipe is very simple, but takes a while to make. You make the polenta in a double broiler, so it cooks slowly and doesn't need as much attention. You just have to stir it every 20 minutes (although more often the first 20 minutes).

It is good soft, but I love to put it into a pan and let it solidify first (you can use a sheet pan or a loaf pan - both work). Then I cut it into pieces, brush with a little oil and either grill or broil. It gets crunchy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.

I love to have this with roasted peppers or tomatoes and it makes a nice appetizer for an italian meal.

The Italian Country Table

I don't have a lot of cookbooks, and 80% of those that I own come from America's Test Kitchen (Cook's Illustrated). But Lynne Rossetto Kasper's The Italian Country Table is one that I have kept. Part of the reason is that it is a fun read, talking about different country areas of Italy. There are a few recipes in here that are really great and simple and this will remain a keeper for me.

Whole-Wheat Pasta with Kale and Fontina

Total Time: 28 minutes
Cook Time: minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (October 2003)

If you like kale, then this is a good recipe. I love that it is so quick, and the ingredients in here really do taste well with the whole-wheat pasta (although, technically, my pasta is not 100% whole-wheat - Ronzoni.) I had some extra fontina left from the Baked Pasta dish last week, and this was perfect way to use up the extra, because it just calls for a little bit.

This calls for just a little bit of bacon which really adds to the flavor. I always freeze my bacon that I buy on sale in one and two piece portions so I always have some on hand. (A bonus: it is really easy to cut frozen bacon.)

Melting Mint Brownies

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Cool Time: 1 hour
Icing Time: 10 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur's Flour Baker's Banter Blog

These are pretty good, but I give them a "-" because the brownie itself is nothing great. The icing is what makes these good, I think. It is an all-cocoa brownie, and I usually like recipes that use melted chocolate, and those that are a little fudgier. But the icing/glaze has some butter in it, and is really rich and with the mint adds more flavor. They are pretty too, without much effort, so I liked that aspect of these.

Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage

Prep Time: 38 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food

This may not look that appetizing, but it is a very delicious baked pasta dish. The recipe makes two casseroles, one for eating tonight, and one for freezing, which is nice. It does use a little cream, which adds a nice richness, but overall, this is not a very heavy dish, considering it is a baked pasta dish.

I like that is included spinach, but I would probably chop it up a little first, because it got a little bit stringy. Otherwise, this works great as is.

Vanilla Biscotti

Total Time: 90 minutes

Grade: B+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur's Flour Baker's Banter

This is a nice simple recipe that only takes a while because you are baking twice (as you would with any Biscotti recipe.) It is very good. The recipe is very flexible and you can add other flavors or add-ins to the dough.

30-Minute Meatloaves

Prep Time: 27 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: B+

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (Septebmer 2006)

I didn't exactly make these in 30 minutes. Not sure why I was slow. But they are quick and fairly easy. I did like these more as leftovers than originally. I think when I first ate it, it was too hot. But they did taste good and I may make these again, but first I will be trying the other ATK meatloaf recipes, and there are quite a few.

7 Layer Bars

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Grade: B+

Make Again: Maybe w/ changes

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (February 2007)

These are a little bit different than the easy recipe from on the can of the sweetened condensed milk. The recipe adds toffee bits to the crust (good change), toasts the nuts and coconut (good), adds milk chocolate and rice krispies (fine, but couldn't tell the diff) and also used twice as much condensed milk (maybe not such a good change). I felt like these were just a little bit too gooey. And while I didn't mind the extra chocolate, I'm not sure it added much, so I might skip that step along with the cereal. Of course they tasted good, but just not sure all the updates are necessary.

Chocolate Peppermint Cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 45-60 minutes
Cool Time: 1 hour
Glaze Time: 10 minutes
Rest Time: 1 hour

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (December 2004)

I made this for desert on Christmas Eve, and it went over very well. Even my 3 year old neice said "this is very good!" The mint is only in the frosting, so it could be skipped. The cake is very moist and dense, almost like a brownie. I didn't do a good job with the glaze, I don't think I really got the boiled cream to the chocolate fast enough, and it wasn't super smooth. Then I went back and tried to even out a part, which made it look even less smooth. It can be very pretty and shiny when done correctly.