Independent Christmas 2021

I am ordinarily a big fan of the holiday season. I start counting down the days until Christmas in June and keep my very real Christmas tree up until spring! Really, I just enjoy any excuse to cover absolutely everything in lights, bring oversized trees indoors, and make hoards of food. I'm also particularly fond of snow and that is about when the first snowflakes begin to fall in my neck of the woods. For entirely unforeseeable reasons this year, though? I'm simply not in the mood. And, while I'm not screaming "ba humbug" from the rooftops because that's no excuse to spoil anyone else's joy. I am slightly more quietly grumbling it to myself. Hence the "Independent Christmas" this year. Although I wasn't entirely alone and did spend Christmas Eve with company. I just didn't go all out in the cooking department until I returned home and was solo again.

Also, almost everyone I know either contracted Covid before, during, or immediately after the holidays. So, spending Christmas Eve sitting around watching TV and ordering Chinese food seemed the most adept thing to do, anyway!

I did manage to muster a little bit more energy on Christmas Day. "A little bit more" being the operative phrase, though. I'd started a quiche two days before and finally managed to finish that as well as to make macaroni and cheese. My work also had a cookie exchange just before the holiday break, so I had cookies galore!

I also wasn't entirely solo. Although I do live alone, I had a binge watching buddy for Christmas Eve and shared in the festivities at work. I also wore a red velvet scrunchie with bells on it and jingled everywhere that I went.

What to Make for a Independent Christmas?

I've been in a fondue mood as of late. I tend to eat things in waves. It will be curry for a little while. Followed by enchiladas. And then maybe throw in a lasagna or two. For the last couple of weeks I've been dabbling in fondue, though. It's one of those surprisingly simple dishes that's much easier to throw together than you'd imagine. Every time I make it and realize that it's a cheese dish that doesn't require making a roux?? I get excited. Also, who doesn't like cheese and wine?

Since I'd already been making fondue for a little while, though. I'd been thinking of branching out and maybe making a fondue-inspired dish. Possibly a lasagna with a cheese sauce. Although that would have required making pasta. And, while I do enjoy making noodles from scratch, I wasn't quite feeling up to that endeavor! And yes, the obvious thing to do here would be to go and buy lasagna noodles. But, when you get that far into the holidays, grocery shopping is absolutely the last thing that I wanted to do. Especially when it was just for a single item.

After brushing the thought of lasagna out of my mind, my thoughts turned to the ever-so-slightly easier alternative of macaroni and cheese. I also put ricotta in the quiche. So, it's all still kind of lasagna-themed.

The Christmas Menu

For this year's Independent Christmas I have come up with the following menu:

Gallery

Quiche w/ Spinach, Ricotta, Pecans & White Wine

How to Get All of the Dishes Out at the Same Time

By "all of the dishes," I am, of course, simply referring to the quiche and lasagna.

Dishes to Prepare Ahead of Time

Cookies are incredibly easy to make ahead of time. As nice as it is to have a freshly made cookie straight out of the oven? It's entirely unnecessary. Cookies by no means need to be are a great thing to make even days ahead of time. I also cooked the embossed shortbread, peanut butter blossoms, and Mexican wedding cookies at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and then turned it down to 300 for the Scottish lemon shortbread.

Cookie temperatures and times aren't that sensitive and can be slightly fudged to accomodate other things! I wouldn't swing more than 25 degrees because it can cause some issues. But, generally speaking, cookies are pretty resilient. Especially those that don't tend to rise much. You're going to have more trouble here with a sugar cookie than a Mexican wedding cookie that has no eggs or leavening agent.

Dishes to Cook on the Day Of

Quiche is served well either hot or cold. I opted to make mine at the same time that I made macaroni and cheese. But it's a dish that could easily be made the day before or even the morning of without any worry. I'd more ordinarily probably make it the day after with any leftover ingredients. It's a lot more fun that simply sandwiches! But I had already started to make the quiche and was damn well determined to finish it.

Macaroni and cheese is really the only time-sensitive dish here. If you're trying to get everything out at the same time, macaroni and cheese is the dish that you would need to time everything else around. It does not reheat well, takes a prominent amount of oven space, and needs 40 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cooking Times

Quiche: 1 hour, 15 minutes (1 hour in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit)
Macaroni and Cheese: 1 hour (40 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit)
Embossed Shortbread Cookies: 1 hour (10 minutes per tray at 400 degrees Fahrenheit)
Scottish Lemon Shortbread Cookies: 1 hour (40 minutes per tray at 300 degrees Fahrenheit)
Peanut Butter Blossoms: 1 hour (10 minutes per tray at 375 degrees Fahrenheit)
Mexican Wedding Cookies: 1 hour (10 minutes per tray at 400 degrees Fahrenheit)

Conclusion About the Meal

This year's Independent Christmas worked just fine for me. I wasn't feeling up for the hustle and bustle of someone else's big family Christmas. I've never had the kind of family who was around or did those kinds of meals and we don't all have to pretend that we live in a Christmas movie! Having a Independent Christmas and making dinner just for yourself can be a treat. There's also no time restraints or hungry people demanding dinner at a specific time. I skipped the do I or don't I try and eat breakfast and/or lunch without gambling on filling up before dinner! And just made the meal as soon as I got home, ate in the early afternoon, and curled up with a movie.

Catfish Out of Water

Making homemade food and answering life’s most important trivial questions.