Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas Eve was just Tony and me. I still am sick and it took all my energy to make dinner. After dinner we put out the Christmas gift under the tree and watched Love Actually. I love that movie. The dogs were already trying to get into their gifts. So funny how they know Christmas.


I made a ham, stuffing, and vegetables for our Christmas Eve dinner. The stuffing was AMAZING! I always dread homemade stuffing. Many if not most people have no idea how to make it. Me including. I got this recipe from Tastefully Simple. Tony wants me to make it all the time now.



Creamy Wild Rice Stuffing

Creamy Wild Rice Soup Mix - Tastefully Simple
5 cups hot water
2 tsp. Garlic Garlic - Tastefully Simple
2–3 Tbsp. Onion Onion - Tastefully Simple
6–8 slices diced bacon
4 stalks diced celery
14 oz. bag seasoned bread cubes
½ cup dried cranberries
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine first 4 ingredients; simmer 60 minutes. Sauté bacon in large skillet until browned; add celery. Cook until celery is tender. Toss bread cubes in large bowl with bacon mixture and cranberries. Add prepared soup, and season to taste with salt and pepper; mix well. Place stuffing in greased 9 x 13 baking pan; cover with foil. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 10-12 servings.




The ham recipe I pulled off of Oprah's website a few years ago. This is the best ham recipe I came across through the years.

Glazed Ham

10 – 15 pound bone in cured ham (not spiral ham)

Glaze:
1 cup light brown sugar
¾ cup mustard
¼ cup honey
¼ cup orange juice
½ ts cayenne pepper

Score rind of ham with tip of a paring knife forming 1/2 inch diamonds

Place in oven at 350 degrees until ham temp reaches 140 degrees, about 2 – ½ hours. Combine glaze ingredients. Remove ham from oven and brush the glaze generously over ham. Return ham to oven for 90 minutes and brush with glaze every 30 minutes.

Add flour to pan drippings to make gravy. Add small amounts of flour until it reaches the right consistency of gravy.

I cut the ham and brushed more the glaze on the meat. Put it back in the oven for a few minutes. I was perfect.



Now for dessert! OMG was this good. I am trying to keep my winter weight off and not doing so well. I found this dessert by Hungry Girl. Click on the link for the recipe.
http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/show/1850



I did find the crust was not enough. Instead of four sheets of crackers I used in package inside the box and double the light butter.