I made some really good marmalade yesterday. It's very easy and so tasty. It could just be the oranges I used too. They are a thin skin small navel. Easy Orange Marmalade It makes one jar and is good on toast, or for whatever recipe you use Orange Marmalade for. 1 medium navel oranges 2 tablespoons water 1/2 cup sugar Select Navel oranges that have the thinnest peel. If the orange is large double the amount of water and sugar. Wash the orange thoroughly. Cut off both ends of the orange. Cut the orange in half, cut each half in about eight sections. Place the orange sections in the food processor and pulse until the peel in is tiny pieces. In a medium saucepan place the processed orange, the water and the sugar and bring to a gentle boil. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. (It could take more to get thicker) Let cool, then place in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Refrigerate to store. When it is cold it is ready to eat.

Thanks! I use a very similar recipe for meatballs in the oven. It is an old family favorite, so this will be great to come home to after work!

Hi, Stacy! Your post just struck such a chord with me, and I wanted to share my experience for what it's worth... My family had always (and I do mean *always*, as in for the last 100 years at least) had a huge Thanksgiving feast with turkey, dressing, ham, homemade rolls, along with countless side dishes and lots of desserts. Then we'd repeat the exact same menu for Christmas dinner. Besides hours of grocery shopping and days of cooking, there was silver to polish, linens to iron, crystal and china to hand-wash, etc., etc. Like you, we usually had a crowd of 16-18, so it was a massive undertaking. But with several good cooks and lots of willing helpers, it was always great fun -- very definitely a pleasure rather than an obligation. A couple of years after I 'inherited' hostess duties from my mother, though, suddenly the joy was all gone and it became overwhelming. Our family reached a point where the grandparents and others of their generation were too old and feeble to help. And the grandchildren were still too young to assume any meaningful responsibilities. There was absolutely nobody to help me with this huge project. Well, except for my sister-in-law, but I refuse to go there.... After serving Thanksgiving dinner that year, I was on the verge of collapse. (As usual, SIL didn't even offer to help with the dishes!) And all I could think about was the fact that it would be deja vu all over again in less than a month -- PLUS all the shopping, wrapping and decorating that makes Christmas 10 times more chaotic. In order to save my mental health, something had to give! So I did the previously unthinkable and announced that our holiday food traditions were about to change dramatically. The Thanksgiving menu would remain basically the same, but Christmas dinner would be way different. I promised them it would be elegant and delicious, but it would also be extremely simplified. To my shock and amazement, all the oldies were extremely supportive. They said it made lots more sense under the circumstances, that they were sure they'd love anything I served, and it would be fun to start a new tradition. (Pretty cool 'tude for people in their 80's and 90's, huh?) The ones who howled with indignation were my kids! I actually had wild-and-crazy teenaged boys up in my face, accusing me of "throwing generations of family tradition down the tubes..." It would have been riotously funny if they hadn't been so genuinely upset. Who knew they had even noticed the enormous effort I put into holiday celebrations, much less cared??? Despite a negative PR campaign (orchestrated by my oldest son) that would have done any politician proud, I stuck to my guns. The result? The most wonderful Christmas dinner you could imagine! I put the boys in charge of the salad. One prepped the spinach and red leaf lettuce and sliced some red onion. Another cooked the bacon and shredded the Swiss cheese, while the third mixed the poppyseed dressing. Their other assignment was to cook the beef tenderloin. (They weren't real great in the kitchen at that point, but they were already superstars on the grill.) Yes, it put a lot of pressure on them to cook such an expensive entree -- but I knew they'd step up to the plate. And they were sooo proud when the beef drew raves! For the first time, one of them invited a girlfriend to join us. When she insisted, with obvious sincerity, that she'd like to help, I accepted her offer. With me providing the recipe and a minimal amount of supervision, she prepared a wonderful crabmeat concoction for our starter course. All I had to do was layer the ingredients for a potato gratin and cook a green veggie, pop some rolls in the oven, and later pull out the cheesecake I'd made two days in advance. It was the most wonderful Christmas dinner! So wonderful, in fact, that we've repeated it every year since. For once, I was able to relax and enjoy it as much as everyone else did. And, of course, the 'cherry on top' was that my sons readily admitted afterwards that they had been wrong and that having a different menu for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners actually made both meals seem more special. Talk about feeling vindicated!! You don't sound like you're on the verge of a mental breakdown over your menu like I was. lol But I would really encourage you to try this different approach! However, like several others have said, stick to the basics. Stuff something that needs help, not this. I've found it's best to allow 1/2 lb. per guest. Unless you have a crowd with unusually large appetites, you'll even have a little bit left over. Good luck! sm P.S. Almost forgot to share the best part of the story. The lovely young woman who so thoughtfully insisted on helping prepare that crab dish 5 years ago? To my joy, she became my DIL last month. Just one more reason our first Christmas dinner without turkey will always rank up there with the most wonderful ever!! :)

This is a nice side dish with roast beef or roasted chicken Roasted Fingerlings and Green Beans With Creamy Tarragon Dressing Makes: 4-6 servings Prep: 15 mins. Bake: 44 mins 1 ½ lb. fingerling potatoes* 1 ½ tbsp. olive oil, divided 1 tsp. salt divided ¾ tsp cracked pepper, divided ½ lb tiny green beans (haricots verts) Creamy tarragon dressing 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut fingerlings in half lengthwise and place in a large bowl. Toss with 1 Tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Place potato halves, cut sides up, in a jelly-roll pan. Toss green beans with remaining ½ tbsp oil, ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp pepper and place in another jelly-roll pan. 2. Bake potatoes at 425 degrees for 30 to 32 minutes or until tender and browned. Remove from oven, and let potatoes stand in pan. 3. Bake green beans at 425 degrees for 12 min. 4. Arrange green beans round roasted potatoes on a serving platter. Drizzle with Creamy Tarragon Dressing. *1 ½ lb small red potatoes, halved may be substituted with a bake time of 35 minutes. 1 ½ russet potatoes, quarted may be substituted with a bake time of 40 minutes. Creamy Tarragon Dressing: Makes: about ¾ cup Prep: 10 Min ¼ cup buttermilk 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1tsp sugar 1tsp Dijon style mustard ¾ salt ¼ tsp coarsely ground pepper ½ cup olive oil 2 tbsp finely chopped green onion 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon 1. Whisk together first 6 ingredients in a small bowl until combined. Gradually whisk in olive oil in a slow steady stream whisking constantly until smooth. Whisk in green onion and tarragon. Use immediately or store in airtight container