Holidays

I am trying to be nice to myself over the holidays and Manatee is helping me to do that. Menus are based on what we know and the least fuss possible while still serving good food.

Christmas Eve will be appetizers. My mother is bringing meatballs and we are having shrimp cocktail with tarrago aoli (I couldn't be nice enough where I didn't have to do something more than just dump cocktail sauce in a bowl) and the mushroom cheesey bread. We'll also have a salad available.

Saturday we are bringing a big salad as well as fresh veggies with dips- hummus (easy! not homemade) and a carmelized onion dip.

Sunday we are making two cookie pans of homemade pizza following my grandmother's recipe. We will also have a big salad and leftover veggies from Saturday.

Sweet items for the weekend (as my family is notorious for their sweet tooth): Cookies from the Cookie Extravaganza (pics to come!) and gingerbread cupcakes (recipe a la Weight Watchers).

Snackey items: aformentioned dips and veggies, as well as sweet and spicey walnuts, and a cheese and sausage tray that Manatee received as a gift.

We are having overnight guests so we need something for breakfast but nothing too filling since we will be eating big lunches so I am going to make a banana bread with peanut butter sauce (recipe a la Cooking Light).

One thing Manatee and I struggle with over the holidays is that we maintain a fairly healthy lifestyle and most of the foods we enjoy eating are not necessarily enjoyable by the masses. For example, our love of salads, veggies, sugar free jello, etc. We are not too big into snacking but when we have guests, we often find ourselves struggling to provide snacks that they won't turn their noses up to or breakfasts they won't have to choke down (apparently not everyone loves Fiber One and Crunchy Corn Bran with Soy Milk- shocker, I know). We'll see how this weekend goes as we have tried to find that balance between healthy but feels like a treat and while also keeping it low fuss.