As I’ve written before, those stuck at home with a five-year-old don’t generally party on New Year’s Eve, but that doesn’t stop this household from enjoying a delicious celebratory meal to ring in the New Year. In fact, last night we decided to invite the kid to join us rather than sneaking our meal after his bedtime.
It was the best decision we’ve made: not only did we all have a wonderful, unhurried meal (that was not at 9:00 at night!) but Owen set the dining room table and arranged a festive centerpiece. Since he was so invested in our celebration, he was the best company we could have asked for (other than turning rack of lamb into a finger food, but that’s just a little thing….).
We kept it simple so we wouldn’t be slaving away in the kitchen all evening. White bean dip with sun-dried tomatoes and roasted garlic was the perfect appetizer for munching-while-cooking, and rack of lamb (bought pre-seasoned from Trader Joe’s) is as simple as plopping it on a pan and baking for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. We put a tray of halved Brussels sprouts in with the lamb and turned the oven up to 400 degrees convection bake at the end for a few minutes to roast them all yummy and brown.
Three more things and our meal was complete:
We hope you enjoyed your New Year’s eve food as much as we did ours … and that you’ll share what you ate in the comments! Happy New Year!
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 01, 2010 @ 11:45 EST5EDT
That sounds delicious … I had pasta from Pizza Hut while shopping at Target.
We had BBQed steak seasoned with Johnny’s seasoning salt and garlic, Baked potatoes, and corn for dinner. After dinner we played cards, had a few drinks, ate Popcorn and Date bread. It was a good evening. Today while watching the College bowl games we will have nachos with home made salsa, chips, more date bread, home made caramel popcorn balls, and probably some Polish Sausage.
I’m craving your nachos and sausage now … I’m definitely making nachos tomorrow!
I hosted a party with many apps. We had sticky sesame wings, pork satay, a cheese platter, asian noodle salad, whole wheat stromboli, hummus, fruit salad and crudite with some other dips.
It was a lot of food.
We didn’t really plan dinner, so we got very lucky. We went to see Sherlock Holmes at the 4:00 matinee. Afterwards, we walked across the street to our local brew pub. They were having a NYE dinner special of steak (cut of your choice for two), appetizer, two sides, and a bottle of wine (white or red.)
We started with Calamari, and both enjoyed the gumbo soup (instead of salad). We both opted for the filet (of course!)– rare for me, medium rare for him. We also had parmesan risotta and fresh green beans, and the wine was a Merlot.
We are heating up leftovers to have with eggs and Mimosas right now for brunch.
Happy New Year!
THAT’S a “simple” meal Deb? When are we invited over?!
We had pulled chicken BBQ on top of Pillsbury biscuits while we watched the Twilight Zone marathon. That is our idea of fancy.
Today we are having pulled chicken BBQ on top of Pillsbury biscuits. We made too much.
You’re welcome for dinner anytime!
We weren’t as fancy at the Keller house, mostly due to an ear infection in one of our many children. Most of us had some homemade chili with corn bread. Quite filling.