Today, she’s having half a turkey and butter sandwich (one of her favorites), a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese (which she picked out at the market), a few snap pea pods with a tub of leftover ranch dressing from Popeye’s Chicken (I have 2 ounce cups with lids for ranch dressing on order from Amazon but I was pleased to have figured out a way to do it in the meantime), a small plum, a leftover fortune cookie, and a container of shelf-safe milk.

Someday she’ll prepare her own lunch and I’m sure I’ll be relieved, but for now, I love this little way of caring for her.

I’m spending most of the day cooking today.  It’s something I look forward to about Christmas.  Most of the food is really simple, but somehow, it’s all very time-consuming.  But as long as I have some Christmas tunes on, and as long as I have a plan, it’s kind of like a vacation.

“Mommy, I need help cutting this foam heart into teeny tiny pieces!”

“Go ask Daddy – I’m cooking.”

“Honey, where is the doo-dad that you never, ever use, but which I can never, ever find?”

“I don’t know but I can’t help you – I’m cooking.”

“Meow.”

“Adam, the cat is hungry and I’m cooking.”

“Woof.”

“Adam, the dog needs to go out and I’m cooking.”

Ahhhh, paradise.

Again, I’m making matzo ball soup as a kind of appetizer.  I’ll use real schmaltz again this year, but I’ll prepare it this way, which looks like fun!

The website with the schmaltz preparation also includes a couple of ideas for what to do with it.  I can’t resist trying the salt and pepper kugel.  My understanding is that kugel is basically egg noodles – yuk.  But this recipe calls for schmaltz and chicken livers.  I’ll do this instead of the potato latkes.  When Adam heard about this plan he said, “Not only do you disappoint me with no latkes but you add insult to injury and you’re going to serve me LIVER?  Ack!” I might have to ask Santa to bring him an extra present this year to make up for this offense!

The main dish will be brisket again, but this time I’ll try Mark Sisson’s recipe. How can I not, after reading Kelly’s description of it?

Finally, I’ll try this winter squash recipe. I hope it’s not as bland as the broccoli casserole I made last year.  I don’t know what it is about Jewish food, but it’s all beige, and it’s all bland.

And so I’m off to the kitchen!   Merry Christmas to all!

Amy’s Turkey Scallopini
(serves 4)

• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 lemon
• 8 slices bacon
• 1.25 lbs flattened turkey breast for scallopini (mine came in 6 slices)
• Feta cheese (I used about 6 oz.)
• Bag of baby spinach

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  (Actually, you should really use the broiler but, get this: The guy who sold us this house took all of the appliances for himself, replaced them with new ones, but bought the cheapest stuff you can get so that I have an oven with NO BROILER.  This is also why I had to replace the hot water heater, the microwave, and the washer and dryer in a period of 3 months earlier this year.  Anyway…)

Make up the honey glaze by mixing together first 7 ingredients in a small bowl.  (I didn’t measure so the amounts are a guess.  I kept adding more honey until it tasted good, and next time, I’d use Grey Poupon instead of the dry mustard, but I was out.)

Juice the lemon into a separate small bowl.

Fry up the bacon in a large pan until crispy.  Remove bacon from pan and set aside.  Spoon about half the bacon grease into a separate large pot for the spinach.  Do not discard grease in the bacon pan.

Coat the turkey in the glaze and fry it up in the bacon pan (yes, with all that bacon grease) on medium high heat.  Two minutes per side should do it.  You’ll probably need to do two batches.

As the batches are finished, put the turkey into a 9X12 glass or Pyrex baking pan (or preferably, a BROILER-SAFE PAN WHICH I DO NOT OWN AND HAVE NO NEED FOR–ARG!).  Break the bacon slices in half (or whatever works) and lay them on top of the turkey.  Crumble feta cheese on top.  Sprinkle the whole thing with lemon juice (I only used about half but next time I’d put the whole lemon on there) and pop it in the oven (BROILER!) for about 5 minutes (1-2 MINUTES!) – just enough to soften (MELT!) the cheese.  Seriously, the oven method threatens to overcook the turkey and all you really want to do is melt that cheese a bit.

While the turkey is in the oven, heat up the remaining bacon grease on medium-low and dump in the spinach.  Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes, until just wilted.  Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.

(If everyone in your house likes spinach, go ahead and pre-cook it and put it on the turkey before the bacon and cheese.  I keep it separate to accommodate others in my household, but it is excellent when you put it all together.)

Finally, call suey, like this guy:

I can’t tell you exactly how much meat I used because the packaging is gone, but it was a bone-in lamb shoulder roast that I got from the farmer’s market.  I’m pretty sure it would work with any kind of lamb roast, though.  We ended up with 3-4 servings so I figure it had about 2 pounds of meat on it.  We ate it with mashed potatoes.

Amy’s Lamb Stew

Put the following into a crock pot on low for about 8 hours.  About an hour before serving, break up the meat:

• 2-3 pounds of lamb roast
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed/minced
• carrots (I used about 5 very small ones and left them about 1-2 inches long)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• bay leaf
• rosemary
• salt and pepper

That’s it! 

This week I’m going to try Rational Jenn’s Greek Chicken.  It’s just my kind of recipe.