My Christmas menu.

Merry Christmas Eve!

I let myself sleep in a bit and am now about to tackle a rather long to-do list, but I am happy to say my grocery shopping is done! It took me two days and two separate stores, but I survived.

It will be just me on Christmas morning, so I bought some canned cinnamon rolls from Trader Joe’s to make — I’ve had them before and they’re pretty delish!

For Christmas lunch, I usually do charcuterie, but I wanted to switch things up and attempt to recreate a lunch I had in Paris this year: Fried goat cheese with mint yogurt and lettuce, along with sardines and toast.

There definitely wasn’t a recipe out there for what I was looking for… so I’m totally winging this one after scouring all of the frozen food aisles looking for a similar option.

So, I bought plain goat cheese and wonton wrappers (the ones I had were little rolls), plain Greek yogurt, mint, and butter lettuce. I have a deep fryer, so wish me luck!

Once you have the fried cheese rolls, you wrap one roll with lettuce and dip it in the mint yogurt — I think it adds some freshness to the friedness of it all, and it is so good! Not sure if I’ll be able to recreate it, but if I can, that will be a Christmas miracle!

I also bought some sardines, olives and little toast crackers.

For dinner, I have made a stew for the last few years and am keeping that going. I’m going to make it Christmas morning and put it in my crockpot all day.

I got the recipe from Haylie Duff’s cooking show (I don’t think it’s on anymore), and she uses short ribs, but I just get stew meat.

It’s basically meat, shallots, barley and rosemary, served with bread — but it’s very tasty and good for any winter night. It will be 75 here in Austin, but hey, we’ll be cozy!

For dessert, I cheated and bought a cherry pie from the store. Cooking has just not been my strongest area this year, and that probably won’t change much in 2020.

I’ve learned to pick my battles, cook from scratch when I can, and search for the healthiest premade options when that’s all I can do. If you’re doing the same, don’t beat yourself up over it.

I also bought some wine, mimosa fixins, and all of the ingredients for lots of South Bend Shovel Slayers (orange vodka, cranberry juice, soda, orange twist).

So, we’ll see how it all goes. I plan on posting a little something tomorrow, but if I don’t catch you then — I’m wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas! I hope it is fun, relaxing, and everything you hoped it would be.

Cheers!

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