Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas card...

Christmas Eve...

And, of course, I didn't take pictures of the final product, but here is a pic of the roast pre-oven...

This recipe is to die for! I didn't have the cuisinart this year so the butter spread took a little longer to chop and didn't get that same consistency, but it was still amazing! Want the recipe? You bet you do!

RECIPE: Horseradish-and-Herb-Crusted Beef Rib Roast
Note: The original recipe calls for a 16lb rib roast of beef. I only used a just over 7lb or 4 rib roast (for 8 people). However, I did not half the butter recipe... so, if you plan on making a 16-lb roast, double the butter recipe. It leaves for a much thicker crust that is SO! AMAZING!!
INGREDIENTS:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 head of garlic, cloves coarsely chopped
1 c prepared horseradish
1/4 c chopped thyme (a big handful)
3 tbs chopped rosemary (a slightly smaller handful)
3 tbs chopped sage (same slightly smaller handful)
one close to 8lb rib roast of beef (1 rib per 2 people)
salt and pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1. preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, combine the butter, garlic, horseradish, thyme, rosemary, and sage till it becomes a paste.
2. Stand the roast on its end and generously season with salt and pepper. Set it fatty side up and spread the horseradish-herb goodness all over the top. Make a nice thick layer that you have to pack down in order to keep it all there. Bake for about 2.5 hours. A thermometer needs to register about 125 degrees for a wonderful medium rare!! It takes about 20 mins per pound... I used this page to help me with cooking times.
3. Transfer the roast to a carving board to rest for at least 20 mins or up to 1 hour before serving. Cutting the bones off allows you to slice the meat more easily. Although the meat is oh, so, tender, use a sharp knife. It will help keep the crust in tact when you serve it.

This is the mini gingerbread-cake-house village in my frig before dinner...
These were surprisingly good, although, I thought the molasses was too strong. I'd try it with less molasses next time. Oh, and I definitely did not make 50! And I definitely needed a bread knife. It was a much more difficult task with a butter knife! You could easily cut this recipe in half and use a 9x9 pan to make one house per guest. I only used half of the 9x13, made 6, and had a ton of scraps for probably 3 more houses.

RECIPE: Chocolate-Gingerbread-House Petits Fours
thanks to MarthaStewart.com

I wish I had taken a picture of the corn... the corn is amazing. This is a recipe we had a two years ago as well. It's just been magically doctored from a Chowder to Cream-Corn-Magic!

RECIPE: Cream-Corn
INGREDIENTS:
4 slices bacon, diced
2 small leeks (white and part of the green parts) thinly chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 c whole milk
3 small yellow potatoes (I don't remember what they're called), cut into a small (morning hash brown like) dice
2 to 3 bags of corn (I used 3, but they were small bags)
DIRECTIONS:
Fry up the bacon. It works great to make bacon in the morning for breakfast, just remember to reserve the four pieces along with about 2 tbs of drippings. Then when you return to cook later in the day, dice the cooked bacon and reheat with the drippings.
Add the leek, thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes till potatoes turn golden.
Add 1 cup milk. Simmer 10 minutes till potatoes are tender.
Add 1 cup of milk along with the corn. Cook until the hot. It's ready to serve!

Stacia made some awesome garlic mashed potatoes as well as really yummy fried bread to accompany dinner. Thank you! And thank you to Danny and Stacia as well as Dwight and Christina for joining us on Christmas when our families couldn't!