Prep time..

Here's how I prepped for our Christmas Eve dinner for 16.. 

Made of pot of this  (euw it looks old and cold.. and icky, it wasn't).

And this.....

Gotta have the itunes playing.  

Now that the crucial ingredients are ready to go, let's do food!

On Friday I cleaned these  

so that on Saturday morning they would be dry and ready for oil and kosher salt.



Now for the vegetable tray.

I must credit my friend, Carol, who gave me this idea, turn a cabbage into bowls for dip.

Slice a head of cabbage in half, I went straight through the core and made a slice on the bottom so the bowl would sit flat on the plate.

Next remove the center to form a bowl.

So easy.

(I bagged up the cabbage and will make some slaw one a'these days)

Since I had two kinds of vegetable dip I used both halves.

I cleaned and cut most of the vegetables on

Friday as that part of the process is so time consuming.



A vegetable platter could be a centerpiece, 
 just look at these colors. 



Next up; mushrooms.

We served them two ways..

My secret to perfectly sauteed mushrooms?

This guy.

See!

Yum...mm.

We also made stuffed mushroom caps

Baked.. then topped with smoked Gouda..

Ok, let's get serious

And this, is serious

Beef loin strip.

14#'s of it.

HELP me... .

hello Google?

What would I do without you?

Texas Beef cooking school online..

 thank you!

All that is needed is an open baking pan, olive oil and
simple seasonings.
Also a meat thermometer.
By dividing the strip into two pieces 

I managed to hit the desired 

temperature for the family, from well done

to medium rare (or in my opinion.. raw).

That was the easy part..

The hard part, evidently, is taking a picture of the finished meat.

No Picture. It was pretty!

Imagine how great it smelled too...ummm..

Just one more stop for today; 

the children's table.

Grouped in the center of this table are four bird figurines.

 These little wooden birds are such a kick..

they just give me a tickle..

This one is quite a character with his, or her, snowball.

They're from the Russ line called "Merrily We Tweet Along".

Trust you and your friends and family members are having a sweet and wonderful time today.

Merry Christmas and
thanks for visiting with  

Sideline Grandma and Grandpa...