Christmas 2012
I wanted to do a big Christmas dinner, but I didn't want to be in the kitchen all Christmas Day. I also wanted to try something different than the usual rib roast and Yorkshire pudding. So I decided to do dinner on Christmas Eve and to do some easy, low-prep dishes for Brunch on Christmas Day.
I ordered a half fresh ham through Whole Foods to try cooking a Christmas ham for the first time, but I made a few mistakes. I wanted to cook it in the slow cooker with brown sugar and cider to make a glaze, but I didn't realize that "fresh ham" is not really what we consider ham - without the curing or smoke, it is more like a pork roast - so I didn't really get the flavor that I wanted. I also couldn't get the whole thing to fit in my (very large) slow cooker insert, so I had to chop a chunk off - which actually ended up being a good thing because I roasted that piece and it came out better.
Recipe Showdown: Chicken Crescent Rolls and Hashbrown Casserole
Cruising around on Pinterest I found two very similar recipes for crescent rolls stuffed with chicken, and another two for a casserole made with hashbrowns. In each case, I couldn't decide which recipe I preferred over the other; so I decided to settle it with a recipe showdown. I would make one pair of recipes one week, and the other the next, in order to decide the winners. (Note that none of these recipes are particularly healthy...)