So here’s the thing: I love fresh food, new cuisine, ethnic dishes, getting creative, organic and gourmet and simple and healthy and fresh, fresh, fresh.
Except at the holidays. Please do not bother me with your prosciutto-wrapped figs. Please do not wave your organic hummus under my nose. I will hurl on your hummus, and then I will hurl you and your hurled-upon hummus out the window.
The holidays are special. The holidays are all about going home, even if you can’t. Cooking up the food you loved and grew up with is a way of going home. That’s important to me, especially since I lost my Mom.
[Insert link here to post about Mom]
My veritable plethora of holiday recipes includes nothing trendy and probably nothing healthy. This is my version of going-home food, and, well, I’m from the South. But you know what I’ve noticed? Comfort food speaks in many accents. I’ve served up dishes of my personal favorites from the deep South genre, and I’ve watched as they were consumed eagerly by folks who wouldn’t know a purple hull from a butter bean.
Christmas is a great time for comfort food.
Appetizers
- Why-Not-A-Cheeseball (right here in River City…uh…SisterWisdom)
- Bisquick Sausage Balls (Southern Cuisine at Suite101)
- Bacon-Cream Cheese Roll Ups (Gourmet Appetizer Recipes)
- Spinach Dip (Sister Wisdom)
- Deviled Eggs (Hey That Tastes Good – beautiful photos. I didn’t know deviled eggs could look that good.)
- Cocktail Smokies (A whole thread at Southern Living Community forum. That’s how important they are.)
Main Course
- Cornbread Dressing (Paula Deen, who else could do Southern Cornbread Dressing?)
- Green Bean Casserole (
- Sweet Potato Casserole (Southern Food at About.com)
- Brined and Roasted Turkey (Instructables – cool site)
- Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze (Betty Crocker)
- Yeast Rolls (Dine and Dish)
Dessert
- Holiday Fruit Cookies (aka Candied Fruit Cookies at Taste of Home)
- Swedish Wedding Cookies (Apparently the Swedes stole them from the Mexicans, or vice versa; Cooking Mexican Recipes)
- Homemade Mounds Bars (Instructables again)
- Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies (SisterWisdom)
- Pecan Pie (Karo Syrup)
- Caramel Apple Pie (There’s no real recipe for what my sister makes; basically, an amazing apple pie plus caramel sauce under the apples. Or on top of the apples. Or both? Mmmm)
- Popcorn Cake (first make the perfect popcorn with Dine and Dish, then make the cake with Emeril. All the cousins used to fight over this…)
Image courtesy of museinthecity.
