We ate (very) well

I hope everyone (who celebrates it) had a nice Christmas. We did.  We certainly ate too much, but don't a lot of people do so around the holidays?

Christmas Eve my husband played at our church's 2 Christmas Eve services, one at 3 p.m. and the second at 4:30 p.m.  We wanted something quick to put together for dinner that night so we threw this Wild Mushroom Stew in the crock pot that morning.  Easy to put together and so delicious!  We had bread with it (and of course wine).  Doesn't look real appetizing, but truly the taste was very good.  We had enough for leftovers on Sunday night and to freeze some for hubby's lunch meals.  

Christmas morning we made a Make Ahead Breakfast Casserole (though we didn't make it ahead like you could according to the recipe).  We also used ground turkey instead of pork sausage to reduce the sodium content in the recipe.  

(Just a note, any recipe that says to use salt, we omit it since we are eating no/low sodium and we try to find substitutes for other ingredients, like no salt tomato sauce, no salt beans if the recipe calls for them, etc.).

It wasn't too labor intense, but did take some time to assemble and bake.  It had to sit for 15 minutes when the casserole came out of the oven.  

Here is how it looks when it is cut.  It was really good.  We had it with small bagels and strawberry cream cheese.  

(By the way, that bag of M and M's you see on the table came from my hubby for a little sweets on Christmas Day.  They are almond M and M's.  Let's just say if you like M and M's and almonds and chocolate, don't buy a bag of them.....)

(The Penguin's name is Wally; just in case you are interested).

The breakfast casserole serves 10.  We gave some to son/wife (the kids won't eat it) and had enough for 2 more morning breakfasts.  

We made a rum cake for dessert for Christmas Night.  It is really good and moist but after eating a lot of M and M's, I didn't have any of the cake except a little nibble to see how it turned out.  (I'm usually not a big dessert eater....unless it is chocolate.....)  We gave half of the cake to son/wife (the kids won't eat it).

Christmas dinner was salmon, twice baked potatoes, and crab/shrimp stuffed portabella mushrooms.  No formal recipe used; just how hubby wanted to prepare the dishes.  And wine, of course.  (Usually my dessert is wine, unless there is chocolate in the house).  

(I don't keep chocolate in the house except around Christmas and maybe a few other times during the year, but not often....)

We were in the kitchen a lot cooking/baking on Christmas.  Poor Winslow.  He had to keep an eye on us so he didn't get his usual naps.  He was one tired pup! 

All in all, it was a fun holiday season.  Now we are off to 2022! 

May you all have a Very Happy New Year!