Christmas Menu 2011

Do you ever look at your family tree and wonder what Christmas used to be like before your great, great, great grandparents came to America?

My family came from Sweden and Norway, they settled in Northern Minnesota in the early 1900s. There is very little about the Christmas of my childhood that resembles what they would have had in the old country. Only lefse. I love lefse!

I decided that this year I would try to bring some of my background into our Christmas and I was very pleased with how everything turned out!  Recipes will be posted tomorrow.

Scandinavian Christmas Eve

• Gravlax on Rye Crisp Crackers with cream cheese, red onions and capers
• Gravlax on roasted potato rounds with capers
• Cucumber Salad
• Lefse
• Rise Pudding
• Mulled Wine

rise pudding

Brie with Cherry Preserves and Walnuts

Christmas Day

• Brie with Cherry Preserves and Walnuts
• Spiral Sliced Ham
• Scalloped Potatoes
• Waldorf Salad
• Bavarian Cream Torte from Rheinlanders Bakery

Rheinlander, Steve's and Marczyk's OH MY!

We were so excited to be back in Denver for Christmas this year!  Not just because this place is home to us but because of all the great food choices.  We had a lot of help making our Christmas great and I can't wait to tell you about them.

But first....our Christmas Menu (recipes will be attached later)

2010 Christmas Menu

Cream Cheese Roll Ups

Blue Cheese Dip with Veggies

Pickled Herring (from Marczyks Fine Food)

Smoked Prime Rib (from Marczyk's)

Yorkshire Pudding

Dirty Rice with Elk Italian Sausage

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Bacon

Snowman Cake (from Rheinlander's German Bakery)

Yule Log (from Rheinlander's German Bakery)

We were really excited to visit a bakery that we'd found right before moving to Utah in 2006. It's located in Old Town Arvada and has the most delicious cookies and treats. They have something for everyone...sugar free, gluten free and coffee and cookies. Their service is amazing! We were walking around looking at everything and one of the employees asked if she could get me a cup of coffee while we looked. LOVED THAT! iKeith really wanted a Yule Log but the kids fell in love with a Frosty cake. So we got both!

 While we were in Old Town Arvada we discovered a little gem called Steve's Meat Market.  It's right next to the bakery and it has some really special items. This is not your average meat store....they specialize in processing wild game but they also have some items available to purchase that are made from Elk and Buffalo meat.  We selected Elk Italian Sausage and Summer Sausage (this went great with the cheese we picked up at Marczyk's).  We were incredibly impressed with both and can't wait to get our hands on more! They also sell Exotic Jerky, Steaks, hamburger and Buffalo meat.

Marczyk's Fine Food

Our last stop was Marczyk's Fine Foods in Denver.  My brother in law Robert insisted that we had to get our Prime Rib from there and he finally wore me down and I did as he asked.  I called them up to order it and there were many choices.  I told the nice man what I was going to do to it (smoke) and how many people were coming to my house and he helped me make a decision.  Awesome customer service!

When we went in to pick up our meat...we were blown away by the beautiful store!  Not only is it pretty...but they pack a lot of great stuff inside and many items for the home cook that wants the best ingredients. There was a really nice man giving cheese samples that were to die for!  I loved them all....but we really wanted something to go with the Elk Summer Sausage we'd bought and he helped us pick out 4 great choices. Manchego, L'Edel de Cleron, Stilton Colston and Prima Donna.  GREAT customer service! We also found Pickled Herring which made my husband's Christmas complete!  And it was really good.

Can you believe that I didn't get a picture of our beautiful Prime Rib?  We were so excited to eat it that we didn't snap a pic.  Next time....