Christmas 2025

[Shelby]

46 minutes ago, patti said:

 

 

Shelby, your food speaks to me. (“Eat me!”) Your chocolate crinkle cookies have so much more crinkle than my lemon crinkles, and your broccoli salad looks better than mine, too. It all looks stellar, and damn, that was some work!

 

And @chromedome, the people in your life who receive those beautiful treats are very lucky, indeed. I was going to proudly display my cookie tray, but hahahahahahaha, joke’s on me. 😜 Not that we’re in competition. 😍 So I will humbly display my cookie tray. 

 

 

From left: salted vanilla toffee cookies, dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal with walnuts, dark chocolate dipped peanut butter, chocolate chip with flaky salt, lemon crinkle cookies. 

Are you kidding me?  Your cookies look amazing, too!  SO much work.  I love the dipped peanut butters.  

[blue_dolphin]

I have no cookie displays to share nor did I perform any epic multi day cooking extravaganzas but I’m posting what little I did.  

The main spread was with my cousins on Christmas Eve.  Turkey, ham and beef tenderloin were the mains. There are always Swedish meatballs and lefse, which I commented on over in the lefse topic. My contributions were roast delicata squash tossed with a sesame-ginger dressing.  Quick and easy since I had the dressing already mixed up. 

 

And the autumn chicory salad with persimmons, Gorgonzola and pecans with house dressing from Samin Nosrat’s Good Things.  I’m posting this photo mostly because it was a quick iPhone snap taken on the kitchen counter, well after dark and I’m ever so jealous of my cousin’s kitchen lighting as it looks nicely lit without me needing to adjust it!

 

I also contributed a huge pan of Anna Banana’s ‘Nanner Pudding that I picked up from ZEF BBQ. No photo as it just looks like a catering pan of whipped cream but it is very good and has become a tradition so I’m now stuck bringing it. 
To make the ZEF pick-up worthwhile, I treated myself to a pit smoked, Peking-style duck and some nice pastrami to play with here at home. 
 

In between dinner and dessert, there was a visit from Santa, who brought a gift for each of the little ones.  There was much yelling and squealing going on, even before the sugary stuff was put out.  At one point, a high-decibel warning popped up on my Apple Watch advising me that 15 more minutes of this would result in temporary hearing loss!  
 

I enjoyed a very quiet Christmas morning here with the cats! 

[Shelby]

21 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

result in temporary hearing loss!  

🤣

 

As an only child that gets overwhelmed when more than three people are in the room,  I would need a lot of wine lol or something stronger

[TdeV]

@Shelby, I hate broccoli.

 

However, after looking at your broccoli salad all these years, I'm gonna try it.

 

Please tell me what goes in there (with approximate amounts) please.

 

[Shelby]

28 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@Shelby, I hate broccoli.

 

However, after looking at your broccoli salad all these years, I'm gonna try it.

 

Please tell me what goes in there (with approximate amounts) please.

 

🤣  You won't like it.  It's mostly broccoli 🤣

 

Dressing:

Mix:

1 cup mayo (I like Hellman's)

4 TB red wine vinegar

3 TB sugar

Salt

Pepper

---I honestly don't measure.  Some days I like more dressing, some days I don't .

 

Broccoli--stems cut off and cut small enough to eat--Probably 5-6 cups?

Shredded sharp cheddar

Crispy bacon broken into bite size pieces

Chopped onion--I like red the best but white or yellow are fine too.

 

Mix all together.  If not eating right away I add the bacon just before serving or else it gets less crispy 

 

Optional:

Salted sunflower seeds

Craisins or raisins 

[Darienne]

8 minutes ago, Shelby said:

🤣  You won't like it.  It's mostly broccoli 🤣

 

Sounds like heaven to me.  We are inveterate broccoli lovers.  At least twice a month, if not more, a plate of steamed broccoli is our supper.  A cheese sauce for Ed and for me an olive oil and lemon juice dressing.

[Shelby]

13 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Sounds like heaven to me.  We are inveterate broccoli lovers.  At least twice a month, if not more, a plate of steamed broccoli is our supper.  A cheese sauce for Ed and for me an olive oil and lemon juice dressing.

We are broccoli lovers, too.  I love it raw on salads.  And, like you said both of those sauces are delicious --especially the cheese  

[ElsieD]

I also like broccoli salad.  Mine must have dried cranberries.

[TdeV]

@Shelby, you are so funny. Thank you for that recipe. 

 

I'll let you know if I keep up the courage . . .

[Darienne]

49 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I also like broccoli salad.  Mine must have dried cranberries.

And I would like your recipe also, Elsie.

 

[ElsieD]

You searched for Broccoli salad - Mel's Kitchen Cafe https://share.google/4GFhc9pdoupM6KTlm

 

Link to the recipe I make.  I use dried cranberries instead of raisins.

[MaryIsobel]

I had quite a bit of leftover mashed potatoes and gravy after our big family dinner and we are tired of leftovers. I decided to use these "ice cube" trays. They hold a scant 1/4 cup. I am usually happy with protein and veg for dinner but my husband often "needs" something more so I can defrost a couple of these and heat them up for a side for him. I have frozsen mashed potatoes before and since I use sour cream and butter, rather than milk, they freeze just fine.

[patti]

13 hours ago, Shelby said:

🤣  You won't like it.  It's mostly broccoli 🤣

 

Dressing:

Mix:

1 cup mayo (I like Hellman's)

4 TB red wine vinegar

3 TB sugar

Salt

Pepper

---I honestly don't measure.  Some days I like more dressing, some days I don't .

 

Broccoli--stems cut off and cut small enough to eat--Probably 5-6 cups?

Shredded sharp cheddar

Crispy bacon broken into bite size pieces

Chopped onion--I like red the best but white or yellow are fine too.

 

Mix all together.  If not eating right away I add the bacon just before serving or else it gets less crispy 

 

Optional:

Salted sunflower seeds

Craisins or raisins 

 

The bacon looks so good in your broccoli salad! Because I was making a large batch last week, I used bacon crumbles that I microwaved to crisp up. It doesn’t show as well, but it worked out surprisingly as far as taste and texture.

 

Confession: I had a leftover head of broccoli and so made a low carb version for myself, subbing Splenda for sugar in the dressing and omitting the Craisins. I’ve done this before and loved it, but day before yesterday I was weak and added a generous amount of Craisins and I have been grazing and overeating this salad ever since.

[YvetteMT]

On 12/28/2025 at 3:46 PM, Shelby said:

🤣

 

As an only child that gets overwhelmed when more than three people are in the room,  I would need a lot of wine lol or something stronger

Same same same!!  An only and the youngest grandkid on both sides. Hard alcohol and ear plugs please!

 

Wonder if partner would like your broccoli salad, he's not a raw veg fan but bacon and cheese can cover a lot of sins in his eyes!