This past Thursday, I met up with hubby again at the Christmas market for lunch. Unfortunately, it was the last day of the rainy system that had been making its way through the area, so it was a very soggy visit compared to our first. Miss Nugget stayed nice and dry in her stroller with the rain shield. Hubby and I both had the pork knuckle meal from the Haxn Hut. The meal is served with a bun and sauerkraut on the side. As I said in my previous post, I was very excited that they brought this particular dish back to the market, and it did not disappoint. The pork itself was just as flavorful and tender as the last time I had the knuckle. It was falling off the bone and the meat just melts in your mouth. The sauerkraut went quite well with the meat, and wasn't too overpowering (which is one of the reasons I tend to avoid sauerkraut in the first place). It gave a nice sweet/sour counter to the saltiness of the pork. Yum!
Hubby then picked up some dessert from Das Waffelhaus. In the past, I've always bought their waffle on a stick, but hubby got a proper waffle, topped with cherry preserves and powdered sugar. It was nice and crisp on the outside, and light and fluffy on the inside.The cherry preserves were DELISH, and went perfectly with the waffle. It's a good thing we shared, because there's no way I would've been able to finish one by myself. :)
I also spent much of the past week planning all the baking that I'd like to do for the holidays. My latest Food Network magazine arrived the week before, and I was itching to start choosing all my recipes. I didn't get to do much last Christmas, so I'm pretty stoked to do it this year. I also can't help having Food Network's Christmas jingle in my head as I think about it (the inspiration for my blog post title!). I pulled out all my previous Christmas issues and went through the various recipes found in each one. I ended up with three different bar recipes (I'm pretty excited about this black forest bar), two no-bake recipes (one is the cheesecake bites that we made last year for New Year's Eve), and four different cookie recipe (I had to choose a shortbread recipe, and I'm super excited about this new red velvet cookie recipe). I think it's safe to say that we'll be set for dessert on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day! I don't know if I'll be able to make them all, but my mom will be here in a week's time, so that will help make things easier (and free up my hands from Miss Nugget).
Here's the meal plan for the week. The big day is soon, and I'm so excited that we get to host both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner! Have a great one and happy cooking all!
December 14-19
Sunday: Beef barley stew
Monday: Best-ever Mac & Cheese
Tuesday: Egg salad sandwiches
Wednesday: Cornmeal-crumbed chicken, KD, veggies
Thursday: Ham & potato frittata
Friday: Burritos