Family time in the kitchen…

We had a great visit with my sister Jen, Sofia, and Julian, her children. As soon as I know we will be having guests; I start planning my menus right away. Jen and I discussed dinner options a month before they came. I asked what types of things the kids liked to eat and what they didn’t like. I chose a menu, and she said they would love it all. Yay!

Jen and I love to cook together, so it was even better when Sofia helped us in the kitchen one night. Jen’s kids like to cook; Sofia is 14 years old and already has excellent knife skills.

We made Chicken Franchise for the first night’s dinner with homemade Fettuccini (gluten-free) Alfredo. I made the pasta the day before, so we only had to cook the chicken and make the alfredo sauce. The meal was delicious, and the kids loved it.

The fun part about cooking together is that we work side by side like we’ve been cooking together forever. We trade off tasks and pull off the meals with lots of laughs and chit-chat.

Wednesday night, we made my dad’s recipe for Portuguese Shrimp with Chorizo and Yellow Rice. I have to admit the shrimp came out good. We also made Brazilian Cheese Bread. This may have been Sofia’s favorite dinner of all. She kept saying how it was the best garlic shrimp she ever had. Of course, this made me very happy, and Jen said she would be making this dish at home. The cheese bread was a big hit as well.

The next night I made meatballs, but not with tomato sauce; they don’t like it; I made Swedish Meatballs. They requested spätzle, so this was the perfect meal to serve it with. This meal was another homerun.

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New Year’s Eve would be our first authentic “holiday” dinner together. I wanted to make a traditional turkey dinner; nothing says “holiday” like turkey.

I set a fancy table for our New Year’s Eve dinner. We used placemats instead of table cloths for the rest of the meals. I decorated the table with greens and candles; it looked beautiful.

I kept the turkey dinner simple and didn’t make as many side dishes; as usual, they weren’t necessary. I went with stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce. The basics, but the basics are the best. Marty loves sweet potatoes and stuffing best, while I like turkey with mashed potatoes & gravy.

We only had dessert two nights; we ate late every night and played cards right after dinner, so it wasn’t missed that much. We made hot fudge sundaes one night, then the kids and I made Chocolate & Peanut Butter Lava Cakes on New Year’s Eve day.

I have a lot of experience cooking with kids. I taught a six-week after-school cooking program one year, and I had students helping to prepare food in my kitchen when I worked at the school district as their food service director and lunch lady.

First, I made us read the recipe all the way through. I can’t beat this into adults’ heads, so I always make sure to teach it to kids.

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Next, we got out the ingredients and double-checked the recipe again. Then, we started baking. I divided the tasks; Sofia melted chocolate and butter in a double boiler while Julian buttered and dusted the ramekins with cocoa powder.

I had Sofia whisk eggs and sugar while I poured in the hot melted chocolate. Next, Sofia filled the ramekins halfway with the batter while Julian scooped peanut butter and carefully put the peanut butter right in the center of the ramekin. He was adorable doing this, and he did a great job. Sofia finished topping the ramekins with more batter, then we covered them and kept them cold until after dinner.

Later on, I popped the ramekins into the oven while they were watching a movie. I was praying the lava cakes would easily come out of the ramekins, and the peanut butter would ooze out when cut open. It did! Yahoo! I breathed a big sigh of relief. I never made lava cakes before and wasn’t sure if they would come out as expected.

Klaus and Otto were good boys during their visit. Julian and Marty took the dogs outside one night to play catch. Klaus didn’t forget that Julian was a new playmate and kept staring at him to play. I took them outside the next day and was pleased that Klaus and Otto played nice with him.

My family stayed at an Airbnb up in Manchester, but we decided that they would camp out in our living room on New Year’s Eve. There are way too many stupid people who still drink and drive; I didn’t want them traveling back to Manchester.

Kausie-boy thought it was the greatest thing in the world when we plopped a twin mattress in the center of the living room! He climbed on it right away and wasn’t planning on moving. LOL!

They left early New Year’s Day morning to head back to NJ. We had a great time even though there wasn’t any snow. We planned on snowshoeing and sledding, but of course, that didn’t happen. At least they got to go ice skating.

Jen and I wanted to start our own family traditions; this was an excellent place to start celebrating the New Year together.