A Boxing Day Feast

Boxing Day

In the Jones household, Boxing Day is always celebrated with a traditional English feast. The feast is a collection of cold foods and typically wrapped in pastry or stuffed with sausage.

The staples include:

A cheese plate – cheese ball, goat cheese, stilton, brie, and old cheddar

Sausage rolls

Devilled  eggs

Walkers Crisps – flavours: cheese and onion, smokey bacon, roast chicken and prawn

Pork Pie: Cold pastry filled with seasoned, minced pork

Homemade Scotch Eggs: Hard-boiled eggs, encased in sausage, breaded and deep-fried.

Essential condiments and garnishes:

• Colman’s Hot English Mustard
• Homemade pickled onions
• Sweet gherkins
• Pickled beets
• Green and black olives

And for those of us who do not like pastry wrapped sausage, there is always an abundance of buns and left-over turkey for sandwiches.

I hope you are all feeling full and satisfied from your holiday meals. Let the salad eating and juice cleanses begin…at least until New years!

My Christmas

My Christmas looked like…

Sisters and cousins all cozy on the couch.

Unexpected gifts. The Fossil Charm bracelet of my dreams!

The perfect gift for a chef. Kitchen Aid Professional Series in Empire Red!!

A sleepy puppy. Naps, Anywhere and anytime.

Wishing you joy and love,

(and all kinds of cookies and sweets!)

Merry Christmas!

Gobble Gobble

A Christmas Celebration

I recently had the opportunity to cater and serve a turkey dinner to 150 people. The dinner was hosted and served at my home church, Creekside Church. The event was a Christmas celebration for the Celebrate recovery group.

For more information about this program based on fellowship and God’s healing, click on this link:  http://www.creeksidechurch.ca/pages.php?p=84

I worked in the church kitchen for 3 days leading up to the event. Roasted countless turkeys, sautéd onions for stuffing and made gravy. It was a wonderful environment to work in. Visits from pastors and mission leaders put a smile on my face as I worked away. Before long the whole church smelled of turkey.

The event was a great success. Tables were dressed with white linens, red candles and Lindor chocolates. The auditorium filled with couples, families, the youth full and the elderly. The sense of love and warmth filled the church as everyone ate there dinner and joined in fellowship.

Thank you Creekside for giving me this opportunity to serve with you and for you. It was such a blessing to me and a memorable evening.

Christmas Cookies

Christmas cookies & happy hearts, This is how the holiday starts!

Christmas is really the most wonderful time of the year. Family, Friends, laughter, love and a lot of cookies!

I love baking. I love cookies. I love Christmas.

Since I was a little girl I can remember making the cookie list with my mom and sisters. We’d plan out which cookies we wanted to back, make a grocery list, pile into the van and get our supplies (almost all from Kitchen Kuttings in Elmira) and the start our Christmas baking. While Christmas music played in the background Mom would station her 4 girls around the kitchen each assigned to our own task. Mixing, Measuring, shaping and taste testing. Now that we are all grown up nothing has changed. 🙂

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Dinner

This past weekend I had the pleasure of catering a Christmas dinner for over 30 people. The house was beautifully decorated with tinsel and candles. As the evening went on, more and more family members arrived. The atmosphere grew cozy and warm. There was a great sense of joy as the family mingled and nibble on appetizers as the kids played mini golf and watched movies in the basement.