Christmas at Elery's

annie1992

14 years ago

We just had the first family Christmas dinner of the year, with Elery's family. We decided to have food that could be eaten "out of hand" instead of a sit down dinner so we made pizza with homemade dough and our own homemade mozzarella. I used a different dough recipe and had some real issues, it was dry and crumbly and needed almost an extra cup of water. I eventually dumped it out of the Zo and kneaded it by hand and eventually saved it, but that's what I get for trying a recipe that's new to me when I'm feeding other people. (sigh) It was made Tuesday night and put into the garage for a slow two day rise. Thursday we made pizza:

Elery put some ribs on the grill, because we all know that I don't care for pizza. The ribs were delicious, although we cooked them a bit too long and they were "fall off the bone" tender. I like them a bit chewier but they were very good:

WE wrapped some water chestnuts in our home smoked bacon:

I mixed up a batch of southwestern salsa from a jar of my homemade salsa, a can of black beans and a jar of the southwestern corn relish with the recipe from Readinglady:

Elery made cannoli from the homemade ricotta we made from the whey after we made the mozzarella:

I made lots of cookies, from left to right, maraschino cherry and white chocolate shortbread, peanut butter cookies, rum balls that Elery made, peanut butter and chocolate fudge, craftyrn's cuccidati (fig filled) cookies and some Venetian almond paste cookies.

Elery's youngest son, Ben, just got engaged and his fiancee brought chocolate covered Oreos:

The grandkids unwrapped gifts, Elery and I got a new set of Lock N Lock containers because we're always lecturing the kids to BRING BACK OUR LOCK N LOCKS. (grin) After the kids left, the guys did their own celebrating with a nap on the couch. That's Pancho, Elery and Cooper, all happily fed and resting. Merry Christmas, one meal down, two to go....

Annie

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Comments (11)

User
14 years ago
Oh Annie, that last picture says it all. All the men in your life are full, happy and content.

It isn't even 7 AM on the west coast and I'm craving ribs.
mustangs81
14 years ago
Annie, I'll bet you just blow Elery's family away. Love it, the guys look so full and comfy. Please give Elery a Christmas hug from me.
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Claudia sorry to hear about the trouble. But what a blessing that they are here to celebrate future Christmases with. Tragedies at theses special times of the year seem to have so much more impact in our lives. It does sound like so many of you are having the perfect family times coming together. I rather like to spread out the events over time. It makes it last longer that way. Not just one big bang and then itÂs done. So although we had the really big gathering here night before last, weÂll be enjoying Christmas until after the 30th. When I was growing up my grandmother never came to stay with us until after New Years and she would always bring Christmas with her. I use to love the idea that I got more than one every year. We just had the Christmas play tonight with all the kids. Such a delight to see the precious little ones as shepherd, wise men and angels to remind us of the real reason for all we do. The story of a babe out of the mouth of babes. craftyrn your Italian Lemon Cookies were a big hit with the finger foods after the play tonight. And the Rocky Road Bars too. Those will definitely be a Potluck item for the church as they are way to rich to have a pan full of those in the house. And the "Coop Poop" Caramel corn disappeared too. I had several requests for that recipe. Linda I had to laugh when you said it seemed like summer was just here. Every year we say we canÂt believe it Âs 20-- because weÂre still saying it seems like it was just the year 2000. LOL Now itÂs 10 years later. And to all those who are not where they want to be or with whom they want to be with know that our prayers are with you and may God grant you a special blessing. So everybody enjoy the day for what it is, make the memories oneÂs that will last ,take lots of pictures so you can remember them when you canÂt remember them any more, and have a blessed Christmas/ Hanukah and look forward to a Happy New Year. Mike
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Since it was just the two of us (DB and me), we went out, which is our tradition on such holidays. It was difficult to find a place open (except near the beach), but many places in the Marina had brunch specials, and so we ending up going to the Warehouse Restaurant in Marina Del Rey. I had a 12 oz. (small size) prime rib au jus (medium rare) with horseradish sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans. Kevin had turkey breast with cornbread stuffing and gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. We also had hot dinner rolls. There was so much food that we took half of it back with us. I saved the extremely rare part of the prime rib and will have it tonight. We had our meal at 1:00 p.m., and for dinner we had spicy chicken tamales (which Kevin bought from someone at work - made by a co-worker's mother!) with green salsa, broccoli rice, bean dip, guacamole, and tortilla chips. We follow the tamales at Christmas tradition, and these were especially good - much better than what I have bought at stores, although she was a bit heavy handed with the chilies, which is why we needed all the side dishes! The Warehouse Restaurant was a lot of fun, and even though it is extremely close to my house (and we drive by it every time we go to Ralphs supermarket), we had never been there. They have a very nice koi pond in front with a fake dock that you can walk out onto. It was very sunny while we were there, but 30 minutes after we got home, we had another downpour of rain. I guess we had good timing. Lars
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I'm the polar opposite of Grainlady. I don't particularly care for kitchen gadgets (although Elery does) and seldom use them, opting for basic knives, pots, etc. I LOVE my Nesco, though. I have the 6 quart and the 18 quart and I use both of them regularly. I don't have a toaster oven, a counter top convection oven, etc., although Elery does have a countertop rotisserie oven. Of course he does. (grin) The 6 quart does a wonderful roast chicken, and I use it in place of a crockpot. I can cook outside in it when it's hot and the kitchen is steamy, which was an issue in my old house, although for the first time ever I'm living in a house with air conditioning, so it might not be an issue this year. I've cooked in the garage, I did lamb on the back porch so I could avoid the smell, and I've dragged it to my daughters' houses when they were short on space. I use it for additional cooking/oven space on holidays, although now I have double ovens, so I might not have to do that either. The big one I use to simmer large batches of stock for canning or freezing, to make the baked beans or au gratin potatoes for family parties (we have a lot of those, we like to get together, what can I say), I've used it to bake brownies when my oven was on the fritz and I can take it with me and just plug it in and not take up kitchen space when we're at one of the girls' houses. We took it with us when we did Christmas with Elery's family too, so we didn't mess up the oven/stove assignments at his son's house. So I'd say yes you need one, although I would encourage you to borrow one for this particular gathering and see how you like it. You very well might decide that you need one after all. Annie
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I have a cherished bowl like that given to me by my Mother years ago. I do keep it oiled and often beeswax for a sturdy sealed glaze. (i did treat it like crap for a while until i found it lovely). -tend to re-visit forgotten things. So glad it did not crack in my miss-use. ! Mine came with a olive wood handled chopper. I think she purchased on a trip to Europe...so guessing it is meant to be a herb/and or chopped salad server. Tuna or an anchovie salad fits that chop and toss, chop, and serve idea. My Christmas was calm and all about needing sleep. Happy to add my first Staub, a grain pot, and a couple enameled bowls for when we do 'tasting/testing' appetizers. We are eating more variety and mini meals. And DH gave me the classic garden Japanese garden knife. -and then the box of fruit from Florida...oranges. I need to juice and freeze. oy. We don't care much for orange being so sweet but so much better than cookies/bad chocolates. On the list to juice tomorrow.
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doucanoe
14 years ago
I am full just looking at all those great food photos!

Sounds like you got the holidays off to a good start, that meal will be hard to top!

Happy Holidays!

Linda
woodie
14 years ago
Beautiful pictures, Annie! You're lucky to have such an extended family to party, party, party with and cook, cook, cook for!

Pizza and ribs are on my craving list, thank you very much.
sheesh
14 years ago
Pretty funny picture! Elery is on the curve, the dogs have the best spots! They all look pretty pampered.
dedtired
14 years ago
What a beautiful and yummy Christmas. Man those guys look happy! That is my idea of a perfect celebration. Merry Christmas to you all.
sheshebop
14 years ago
Annie, your cookies are awesome. Sounds like you had a super Christmas. (Hmmm, I need to go buy some Lock n Locks.)
sooz
14 years ago
How wonderful!!! Thank you for sharing your lovely celebration with us!!!
User
14 years ago
Pizza and ribs, I'd be a happy camper! Great pics Annie sounds like you all had a great time. Certainly the "boys" look well taken care of.
gldno1
14 years ago
Looks like very contented boys!

I have never successfully made ricotta from left over whey and I have tried several times. When you get a minute, I would love to hear how you all do it.

glenda
annie1992
Original Author
14 years ago
Glenda, I use the whey after I make mozzarella. If I carefully scoop out the curds, I don't get much ricotta, but if I'm careless and break up the curds I get quite a lot.

I bring the whey to 200F and simmer it at 200F for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it set. When the milk solids rise to the top after another 5 or 10 minutes, I pour the entire mixture through a sieve lined with a linen tea towel, then I pull up the corners of the towel and let the ricotta drain.

Don't let it drain too long, though. I did this batch and had to add a bit of cream and some butter to make it soft enough to stuff the canoli!

Yes, the dogs always get the best spots, LOL, and the ribs were the best part of the meal.

Annie

Christmas at Elery's

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Christmas at Elery's

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