Holiday Almanac December 28: Festive Corn Ring with Creamed Turkey

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

You guys, I’m really embarrassed about this one.

It’s not cool to say you like to eat something with Festive in the title, and it’s definitely not cool to say you like anything ‘creamed,’ but here we are, and this meal is delicious. We didn’t have leftover turkey, and the supermarkets here stop selling turkey when the holiday gets too close and they run out, so we made this with chicken.

And it was so good that not only did we eat the leftovers, but I’m already considering making it again.

It’s comfort food, plain and simple, and if it doesn’t photograph well, it more than makes up for its ugliness with a whole array of flavours and textures and a simple heartiness that works so well this time of year.

The verdict:

4 spoons out of five. This is seriously delicious and I totally recommend making it—especially this time of year—but I’m knocking off a spoon since it’s not exactly beautiful enough to serve to company.

the recipe:

Festive Corn Ring with Creamed Turkey

the directions:

Make cornbread as directed, but add salt, sage, dry mustard, green pepper, and pimento after all other ingredients.
Pour cornbread batter into a bundt pan and bake per instructions.
Meanwhile, make creamed turkey according to directions.
Serve creamed turkey in a small bowl in the centre of cornbread ring, and don't be embarrassed by how delicious it is.

the ingredients:

1 recipe cornbread (I used this one)
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp sage
¼ tsp dry mustard
¼ c green pepper, chopped
¼ c pimento, chopped
1 recipe creamed turkey (I used this one)

Holiday Almanac December 26: Turkey Royal Pancakes

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

Happy Boxing Day! Although Boxing Day isn't really a thing in the US, it's definitely a big deal here in the UK. Retail shops are often closed, offices don't open, and restaurants run special events all across town. We're not observing it this year (except by heading to Vienna for a weeklong holiday!), but if you're looking for a fun recipe that will help you use up your leftover chicken or turkey, this is a good option!

'Make today's leftover turkey as glamorous and delicious as yesterday's,' begins this recipe.

I don't know about glamorous, but this recipe was definitely better than I thought it would be. As Judson realised, this is basically like a cross between pigs-in-a-blanket and turkey tacos... and it's somehow not bad. We even ate the leftovers! If the concept of pancakes weirds you out, you could just leave them out and eat this on sandwiches like chicken salad-- it is that good.

So today, box up those things you don't need anymore and take them to a charity shop. And when you get back home, flush from doing your good deed of the day, make this easy, super-retro lunch and enjoy! It checks off all of my favourite boxes for a new post-holiday recipe: it's easy, versatile, and it uses up all the leftovers you could possibly have getting ready to go bad in your fridge (I listed the variations below, feel free to make it with whatever ingredients you have on hand!). What could be better?

I can't find pimentos in Scotland, which makes making pimento cheese hard. judson just discovered these and they are so perfect!

The verdict:

2 spoons out of five. Alternatively, you can leave the pancakes out and sprinkle the turkey salad over a bowl of arugula for a lighter lunch to help make up for all those cinnamon rolls you ate yesterday (and, made this way, I'd bump the verdict up to a 4!).

the recipe:

Turkey Royal Pancakes

the directions:

Make pancakes as directed.
Keep pancakes warm by covering with a towel.
Heat oven to 200C/400F.
Mix turkey, onion, half of cheese, celery, pimento, and lemon juice.
Spoon 2 tbsp of mixture onto each pancake and roll up like a taco.
Put folded-side down into an 11x7 baking dish.
Heat in oven 10 minutes.
While pancakes heat, in a separate bowl mix together soup, flour, salt, pepper, and milk, then heat until thickened.
Pour soup mixture over pancakes and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Place under broiler until cheese is bubbly.

the ingredients:

10 pancakes from your favourite recipe or mix (I used this one without the blueberries)
1 c cooked turkey (or chicken), chopped
¼ c chopped onion (or shallot or leek)
½ c cheddar (or mozzarella or parmesan) cheese, grated and divided
½ c celery, chopped
¼ c pimento (or peppadews or banana peppers), chopped
2 tsp lemon juice (or white wine vinegar)
1 can cream of chicken or celery soup
2 tbsp flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 c milk

Holiday Almanac December 9: Decorating & Appetiser Puffs

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

In Eleanor's family, the Christmas tree was never decorated until Christmas Eve, after the kids went to bed, and it was a silver aluminum tree with a coloured wheel underneath that spun to turn the tree different colours.

But when I was a little kid, we lived a few hours away from both sets of my grandparents, and so we always spent Christmas in St. Pete with them. Because of this, my parents would celebrate Christmas early with us as a family before we traveled, so every year a few days before Christmas we would bake a 'Happy Birthday, Jesus!' cake, open all of our gifts to each other, and then drive late at night to Eleanor's house, where we would stay for the duration of the Christmas holidays. Consequently, we always put our tree up a lot earlier than Eleanor, but never before December 1, as my parents always thought that was tacky.

Judson and I have largely stuck with the 'after December 1' rule for our tree trimming (and I'm proud to say we've had a real live tree every year that we've been married except for our first year in Scotland, when we had no money and no ornaments to put on one), but this year we broke the rule and put the tree up two days after Thanksgiving... oops.

Anyway, decorating is one of my favourite Christmas traditions with Judson-- we light a bunch of wintry candles, put on old-timey Christmas music, and then hang ornaments (and make fun of the ugly ones we each treasure) and put out our wee Christmas village... and afterward we drink mulled wine and watch Christmas Vacation for the millionth time. It's always fun and it's rapidly becoming my favourite part of December.

2010.

2015.

So since today's directions have me 'replacing broken [ornaments] and checking tree lights,' here are some photos of this year's decorations... and since the Almanac asked me to make 'Appetiser Puffs' but did not include directions on how to do so, here are some photos of something we'll just call Appetiser Puffs (mushroom filling wrapped in puff pastry dough) which I made over the weekend for our party. My dad devised the original recipe for these, and this is the umpteen millionth time I've made these mushroom turnovers-- ahem, Appetiser Puffs-- and they always turn out delicious. In fact, I even have a photo of Judson brushing egg wash over a batch of these to take to a holiday party on Christmas in 2010, ages before we got engaged back when neither of us had any idea how to cook and we were just such babies.

However, I can't find my dad's recipe anywhere, so I used  this recipe with the following modifications: shallots instead of onions, olive oil instead of butter, a splash of vermouth, fresh thyme instead of dried, 4 sliced garlic cloves, and a lot less sour cream. They were great! 

The verdict:

5 spoons out of five. I love decorating for Christmas, and these mushroom turnovers are one of my favourite parts of Christmas. Make yourself some mushroom turnovers and get those Christmas ornaments out!