Ramble - Sweet Potato Casserole, Cucumber Salad, Etc, Etc...

Etcetera, etcetera.....

Published on December 26, 2006 By foreverserenity In Cooking

Oh my goodness! I have to tell you how delicious that recipe of Whip's is!

I followed her Sweet Potato, Pecan, & Coconut Casserole recipe to the 'letter' and man oh man, the preparation was so good you could eat it without putting it in the oven! My 5 y.o., who was helping me to do that particular dish, licked so many spoons in the course of mashing and mixing, I had to have her throw each licked spoon in the sink so as not to 'contaminate' the dish!

If you're interested in the recipe, I didn't get the chance to go back to Whip's blog to link it, but I'll go seek it out after posting this! This is a picture, just before putting it in the oven. When it was done, the pecan and cocunut and all that mixture had melted on top to a crisp, nutty topping! Yummy!

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Below is the result of the salad I made following Xythe's recipe. Not to the 'letter' because we love lettuce and while his recipe didn't have it, I added those, and we like our tomatoes in salads sliced so I did that. Other than that, all the ingredients are the same and man oh man, it's a pretty tasty salad! Usually we make similar salads but not all of the time, and not with the skellions or onion. Again, I have to go search for the link to his recipe, for those interested!

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The rest of the meal came out well, no pictures of those, similar to my Thanksgiving meal really, just not as much food.

I made Ham, caribbean style - that means with dark brown sugar as the coating/base, and other seasonings in order to add more flavor, garlic, seasoned salt, black pepper. Then when the ham was almost cooked I added the cherry w/ pineapple and put even more brown sugar mixture. The end result was very tasty in deed!

Cornish hens done in the oven, garlic and onion stuffed and rubbed with black pepper, seasoned salt, ginger and garlic powder. When it was almost finished, I removed it and made a mixture of Ketchup & barbecue sauce w/ some warm water ( from the kettle - never from the tap) blend well, then throw it all over the hens, and rubbed in with the back of a spoon, then cover and leave to simmer. This keeps the moisture in and if it was crispy, doing this will help it to soften and retain moisture.

Mashed, potato, cornmeal stuffing, cranberry sauce, rice and blackeyed peas and a pasta casserole completed the meal.

Oh yeah, this means no cooking when we get in from work tomorrow! The kids are home though, I'm going to have to warn them to leave food for dinner!LOL!

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Christmas and New Year's Day are usually done in a grand scale, where food is concerned, (how grand depended on how well off you were) and families & friends would come from far and near to eat or kept dropping by. We would go from house to house to drink and eat on New Year's Day as well!

Boxing day (December 26) was usually party time, where we would be doing the party scene and lots of merriment as well. During the daytime as a child, it was a family day of going somewhere to enjoy the day, the beach, Hope Gardens, which was a Botanical Gardens, Funland and Zoo, ot to the movie theatre, which would usually be a double-billed movie and of course anything else parents could think of!

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I managed to send off some of my gift packages and mailed my Christmas cards! My cookie swap partner and some gifts I had for friends all around! I felt like Santa doing some hand deliveries around my town! I missed out on a few people but they will 'hear' from me after the holidays!

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And the grand finale, here's a pic of my 5 y.o. with Santa!

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Another Christmas come and gone (almost anyway at this writing!) I'm glad it's over really. I was getting tired of the fuss about Christmas, who hated it, who were not religious enough...! Why can't we just celebrate it or if not, go off somewhere so as not to spoil it for those who do.

I was really enlightened when I read HBW (Hypobarean (spell?) Wanderer's) blog, where he found out that the Muslims, at least some of them, in general don't mind Christmas at all and actually will put up a Christmas tree! (another link to go find!) I mean, how unexpected is that?! And here we are in our own lives, Christian and non Christians alike making such a big fuss!

What many people seem to forget is that it doesn't matter which day the birth of the Lord Jesus is celebrated on, what matters is the fact that he was born, that he died for us, that he said, "it is finished" meaning, to my mind anyway, that the customs and covenants observed back in the day, are no more.

We move forward and do what we do, individually and we take the time to remember his sacrifice, that he was born to save the world (I'm suddenly thinking of Heroes!LOL...don't ask!) and it's for us to make the choice of what we are going to do to change our lives and to accept him or not. What matters is what you take from it, that's it! Nothing else.

Anyway, this ended differently than I planned, but I'm leaving it as is.

Thank you for reading with me!

Comments

foreverserenity

on Dec 26, 2006

I'm glad you tried the recipe again, and that it came out as expected...yummy!

And how! My god, we can't stop eating it! And I love nuts, and that casserole is like....mmmft! Thank heavens I'm not working out right now!

I had to chuckle when you said you had tried it with almonds instead of pecans, hahaha. Sacrilege! Came out better this time, didn't it? Hahah!

Hah! What was I thinking! Now I see what you mean and you're abosolutely right! I tell you, it's going to be my fav dish at every major affair from now on!

! You've created a beast!

Sounds like you had a lovely day, FS...time to relax and regroup now, thank God Christmas only comes once a year, hmm?

I did! It was great just being with family and talking to those far away and just chilling! I hope your day went well too. BTW a hug for you and a prayer too.

I just fininished searching your blog and here's that link for those who want to try it! Link Scroll down to see the recipe for the casserole.

And yes, regroup, whew! You try not to get caught up, but somehow you do, ya know?!

I'm going to go search Xythe's and HBW links now....I'm such a nerdy detailer!

foreverserenity

on Dec 26, 2006

Here's the link to Xythe's Cucumber Salad Link

and Hyperborean Wanderer's article Link

foreverserenity

on Dec 26, 2006

Reply By: little-whipPosted: Tuesday, December 26, 2006Now I gotta talk you into trying that Colcannon recipe. (Irish potatoes with curly kale.)So you don't have to go looking for it again, i'll wing it here.

It sounds yummy! I'm going to give it a try. I see a lot of Mustard Greens here too but will search for Kale! I usually end up buying the greens frozen or canned! In Jamaica we have a similar greens that is called Callaloo. It's cooked in the same manner and can be a side or main dish. The rastafarians like to eat it a lot because it's a vege and it's a regular dish for most Jamaicans. I'll let you know when i've tried this dish!

Trudygolightly

on Dec 26, 2006

Great Picture!
and she's a doll!! that's the cutest picture yet of her.
I think Santa looks cute too

.....

your meals sound scrumptious!!

you're truly the cook around here!

foreverserenity

on Dec 26, 2006

Great Picture!
and she's a doll!! that's the cutest picture yet of her.
I think Santa looks cute too .....

your meals sound scrumptious!!

you're truly the cook around here!

Thx Trudy! I do enjoy cooking and trying new things! Yes, that's a cute picture of Amanda. She's so cute! But I'm just biased about that!LOL!

KellyW0498

on Dec 26, 2006

I'm glad your family had a wonderful day. I love the coming to the table and eating a meal that is prepared special for the holiday.

I am going to have to hit you up for your ham recipe.

Shovelheat

on Dec 26, 2006

I made a HUGE pot of chili, that's REAL chili, and a pot of beans and took a small 1.33 gallon keg of Heineken's. Yum, but your caserole looks FANTASTIC.

adnauseam

on Dec 26, 2006

Sounds like a great Xmas feast Forever, and a cute little girl to go with it. Enjoy the holidays!

foreverserenity

on Dec 27, 2006

Thanks Kelly, Joe and Adnauseam! Yes, it was great!

Wow Joe, that sounds delish! And with a Heineken, perfect! Aren't those little kegs cute?! Yeah, yeah, I'm a woman, it makes a fashion statement to me!LOL!

Kelly, a recipe, anytime you're ready girlfriend!

SanChonino

on Dec 27, 2006

Hey Donna! Thanks for the package! I've been off the grid for a few days and have been unable to thank you.

I love the hot sauce, it kicks my mouth around like a little school girl.

But - merry late Christmas! Hope your holiday season continues to be wonderful!

PS Hey Kelly, did you ever get my package?

foreverserenity

on Dec 28, 2006

Hey Donna! Thanks for the package!

So glad it made it! Heehe, I thought you would enjoy that sauce! I wrote the card rather haphazardly that day I was mailing it I had forgotten to do it before and had to write it right there with the postal person waiting and a long line! So, my writing was crappy! I'm usually a crappy writer, but not that bad!

! Thx for letting me know!

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