Christmas Family Food and Gifts

Christmas has gone and we're nearly into the new year. I hope all of you had the wonderful Christmas that we had with our daughter and family.  It amazes me that we receive gifts that are so 'us'.  It's hard for me to pick just the right gift without an explicit description.  Ex:  Item on granddaughter's Christmas list...jewelry, silver, not gold.  Question: Big jewelry, dainty jewelry, statement jewelry?  So I gave up on jewelry and bought her a gift certificate.  I wrote on my Christmas list that I like jewelry...any type of metal.  Also would like to have a leather bracelet.  So I received a gorgeous unique gold tone bracelet with leather cords laced through the chain.  I love it!!  The leather and beads on it are green and I received two other green bracelets.  They can even all be worn together, and I had no green bracelets in my jewelry drawer. How perfect it that?!! 

Because the trip to Seattle is getting to be too hard on DH (dear hubby) we had dinner here with joint effort on preparing the meal.  Our granddaughter brought an apple caramel pie, DH baked a sour cream pecan pie and made a smoked salmon pate with his 'secret recipe' smoked salmon.   I made a cranberry relish from a recipe I got recently from a friend.  Our daughter brought a ham, scalloped potatoes, and after she arrived she cooked a wonderful vegetable dish from The Chew.  (Recipe below).  What a great day!  We're so fortunate to have loving family within driving distance. 

I HOPE ALL OF YOU HAD THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!
  
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Squash and Sausage Sauté

Ingredients:

¼ lb. sausage

½ tsp. chili flakes

4 c. butternut squash (peeled and diced)

4 c. Brussels sprouts

½ c. chicken stock

4 oz. goat cheese

Honey

3 T. olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Place a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.

When the pan is hot add a drizzle of olive oil,

followed by the sausage and chili flakes.  Cook,

breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon

until the sausage is nicely browned and mostly

cooked through (about 5 minutes). Add the squash.

Season with salt and pepper and cook until they start

to get some color (5 – 8 minutes).  Add Brussels sprouts. 

Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 more minutes. 

Add the chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan

to deglaze. Dollop the top of the casserole with goat cheese

and drizzle with honey to serve. 

Tips:

Cover the skillet to help the goat cheese melt and to keep the

dish warm.  Don’t stir the vegetables until they are crisp and

caramelized.  Peel the outer leaves of the Brussels sprouts so

they don’t come apart