weezl and friends Phase 4 - recipe testing christmas treats!

shanks77

Well mockmass went very well far too much and we didnt have the soup to start with either. Yorkies stuck to tin but i dont think the tray was hot enough. Everything else was delicious. Ex wasnt keen on the stuffed onions but i thought they were good.[EMAIL=""][/EMAIL]

Piccies of dinner

In_Search_Of_Me

weezl74 wrote: »

we've popped some piccies on facebook

Isom and her mum have gone, replete and happy (I think!)

Ok lunch! Well thougt our weezl did exceptionally well, esp as our ferg does like to help! Acetate monkey, as always, was a wonderful sous chef - even though our weezl sometimes may forget in the moment of panic! All I will say on that weezl is that we coule swap helpers for a day lol!! (hope kessies head is ok!)

ok for the food;

Mushroom soup was lovely and mushroomy; mum felt it could do with a swirl of cream on serving but I think thats being picky - cream in the soup served was yummy but if your guests are a bit poncy then a swirl will satsify/convince that this is indeed classy!

main course! Well I defy anyone to say that this was not enough food! Now I am rather a fatty and can eat for at least England and wales but was truely stuffed! My own preference would be without the onion or swede - the meat pots, yorkshire were easily enough for me and the gravy was DEEELICIOUS!

As for the pudding your version with cream instead of butter filling (I had the cream so weezl couldnt make the roulade without it) was perfection itself - a 10/10 for that! It will be lovely and light pud after a heavy lunch and was lovely and choclatey but looked fab with the shavings on top and really was yummy. Ferg appreciated it too (unless choc face was left over!) and Weezl I hope the sugar rush wasnt too horrendous!

Im just up from a lovely sleep-it-off nap as was truely stuffed and couldnt have eaten another thing!

Overall I would give an 8.5/10 and it was lovely, is somewhat surreal, to have a christmas lunch (incl carols and a pumkin) in Oct!! Thank you all for a lovely meal! ISOM's mum says the same!! Well done!

aless02

I've got lots of piccies on the CFR Facebook page, but here's a quick plate shot for anyone not over there:



It was yummmmmy, and I'm glad we skipped the soup starter - SO much food!! Pudding with whipped cream later, will report back on that .

Allegra

Oh I am stuffed. I am so, so, so, so stuffed. Plus I have a scary amount of food in - in addition to all the CFR food, there is a random pineapple (donated by mother-in-common-law a few days back) that I have not felt up to tackling yet, Jack Skellington's innards, plus whatever is left over after the girls have devoured their way through the Halloween food (and that is bound to be a fair bit, bearing in mind that their mental greed is rather greater than their physical one.

Still, bearing in mind that two weeks ago DD was not eating at all, there was no way I was gonna say no to any foodie requests for tonight, and there is now a little room in the freezer (where the ginat whoopsied pork shoulder was), so all's well chez !!!!!! and Allegra's

Anyway. Where was I ? Ah, food. Well, as I had a much needed lie-in this morning, the eggy bread never happened, and mushroom soup we had for lunch, so for dinner we only really had one course of the Christmas dinner, and that was enough to leave us with that Christmassy "I can not move and I will burst if I have another thing" feeling

Pic of mushroom soup with the cheaty croutons:



Of course, if you have been following the saga, you will know that we could not have Christmas until we've had Halloween, so from the Halloween table:



with a swift sleight of hand, to the Christmas table:




Oh, and a gratuitous shot of Jack Skellington:



And then on to dinner. I'm afraid that the yorkies would not play ball - flat as ruddy pancakes, the wretches.



Spuds, carrots, and the cheeky sausage:



Stuffing, which I've forgotten to photograph until after we've eaten it (well, more or less)



The luvverly fruity gravy (Shankletons, you don't know what you missed)



And the obligatory out-of-focus close-up of the plate:



The verdict on the food ? Apart from the yorkies, for which I shall be sticking to my usual recipes in the future, an all-round success. Pork slo-cooked in apple juice was delicious, the crackling (which I blasted in the oven after sc-ing it) lush and crackly, the couchons "do the job" in !!!!!!'s words, and the gravy was utterly lush - the fruity stuffing though, was, well, fruity, and we'd be happy to have the meal again without it.

Now just for me to figure out how to get in the bed without disturbing the cat (her usual bedroom has been colonised by screaming teenage girls) and I'll be one very, very happy bunny

VenusFlytrap_2

Well, better late than never... B and I have not long since finished our dinner and the Yule log is chilling in the fridge - gonna be a midnight snack at this rate, rather than dessert, but it looks lush!

Anyway, the verdict on the Mockmas dinner is... scrumptious! Was my first time doing HM yorkies and roast potatoes, but all went well and they were delicious, has given me a lot of confidence and will be doing them from scratch everytime now, rather than using shop bought. Even the notoriously fussy and hard-to-please B had no complaints - apart from there not being more spuds! - so I consider that to be praise indeed!

Due to the late hour I started cooking at, caused by an unexpected trip to the pub, have to admit to cheating with the gravy and using granules also burnt the cashews for the nut roast - so used packet stuffing instead and will be buying more cashews to do the nut roast as a meal in its own right.

Loved doing all the cooking and the eating was even better, plus it has inspired me to get brave and do a gammon joint in apple juice in the slow-cooker so can try out the gravy and HM stuffing properly. So Mockmas gets a big :T Chez Venus, and still want to try out the waffles, fruity pancakes and Xmas pud at some point this week. Been great reading how everyone's got on today, hope you all enjoyed your dinner as much as I did!

artybear

WOW guys all the food looks amazing, I cant wait to do ours now.

Allegra I love your random halloweeny/christmassy shots, did your DD's friends wonder if you were crazy doing christmas too lol?

Venus, that is dedication cooking that late (and after a visit to the pub) glad you and B enjoyed it.

I was going to make the french onion soup last night but had forgotten the apple juice, so hopefully will get some this morning and have it for lunch :-)

Good works guysxxxxx

Allegra

artybear wrote: »

did your DD's friends wonder if you were crazy doing christmas too lol?

Probably ! Or they would have done if they noticed - luckily, at that age they are pretty self-absorbed, I could have dressed up as Santa, doubt they'd have noticed :rotfl:

Enjoy your onion soup - very nice, if rather sweet !

Apricot

Hi all, sorry I didn't manage to get back on yesterday afternoon to report on dinner but I must say it was absolutely fantastic! I have never cooked a joint of pork before (I always imagined it to be dry) but it was really beautiful! 3 of us ate lunch and there was plenty left over - the onions stuffed with sausages were a massive hit and I have been told that im defnitely making them for xmas dinner this year!

Waffles in the toastie maker were to put it bluntly a bit of a disaster - I think because the plates are not flat the filling in the middle, deeper part didn't cook properly and I ended up throwing them away - I think Sami's idea of the george foreman grill might work better?

Im going to miss out tonights meal as it is my oh's birthday and we are going out for a meal not the cheapest place but the food is absolutely gorgeous so I am very excited!

artybear

Hello All

Well I made French Onion soup without any sugar today. It was lovely and I really nejoyed it, I have made another batch to have for lunch tomorrow. We are having the salmon for dinner, we have had this loads of times now and is a favourite meal of ours :-)

shanks77

Dinner was fine tonight but not one of our favourites. The onion rings however were delicious and so easy to make. Was a very filling meal and a good way of using leftover veg