Sunday, January 11, 2015

Christmas Eve Dinner

On Christmas Eve, as always Rich and I hosted a dinner for the Embassy Marines. A Tradition that we love and will carry on wherever we live. Well as some of you know, I joined a Food Delivery service here in New Zealand. It's a program that delivers a weeks worth of groceries along with recipes to make wonderful meals. Personally, I love it since they have foods here that I can't pronounce much less cook! Anyway, this time I ordered the Special Christmas Dinner which was different from what we usually cook but tasted wonderful! I raved about the special stuffing and any leftovers were quickly packed-up for the Marines to take home. 'Twas a huge hit. I've had several request for the Recipe so here it is...Enjoy!
                Cranberry, Sage and Cashew Stuffing
200g melted butter
1 red onion, finely diced
2 apples, peeled, finely diced
1/4 cup sliced sage leaves
1 cup dried cranberries
220g pinko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup roasted salted cashew nuts, chopped
2 eggs, whisked
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
                               Heat 2 tbl butter in a frying pan. Add onion and cook 2 min. Add Apple and sage..cook for 2-3 min until soft. Transfer to large bowl.
Add cranberries, breadcrumbs, milk, cashews, eggs, salt and pepper and remaining butter, mix well until combined.  Stuff your poultry If you have any remaining, make stuffing balls and place around the bird..add onion wedges and cook.
I also made a Ham and the Glaze was delishous.
  290g jar of mandarin-marmalade
  3 tbl whole grain mustard
  3/4 cup of orange juice, rum or brandy
Brush over ham and bake 20 min. Poor the rest of sauce over ham and cook through glazing every 20-25 min. Serve sauce with ham.

Welcome to 2015

I hope everyone had a Fun and Safe entry into the New Year! 
Rich and I got to spend a couple of weeks in the United States visiting with our Family and extended family toward the end of "last year", and we had a wonderful time.
The beginning of this year has begun a little "Rocky"...even though I had TWO flu shots, 1 in the US and 1 here in NZ; roughly six months apart, I got the flu three weeks ago and I'm still not at 100%! I'm sure glad I had the shots otherwise I'm not sure how I would have reacted to it. And Yes, I will be getting a new one this year!
Rich and I are loving our new place in the City. We are walking distance to everything and I'm looking forward to the Fall weather. Although Summers are not too bad over here with Temperatures in the upper 70's during the day and low 60's in the evenings. 
It's going to be an exciting year as we save up and gear up for our Fisher Family Vacation! So far our last head count was 20 people...it's going to be one for the record books and its going to be The Best Fisher "Amazing Race" by far!So everyone coming better start getting in shape now, do not wait until the last minute. You've been warned.