This Christmas I learnt........

I make my own a la Delia. It is an acquired taste, I think, but I like it with cheese and cold ham

To be thankful for my life - we’re all (relatively) healthy and hopefully happy ?

That you can get bags of frozen ready prepared root vegetables that are suitable for oven roasting - my son cooked them yesterday to go with the Christmas dinner; they were lovely and every bit as good as freshly prepared ones - a revelation to me (and massive time-saver!).

I always forget to serve it, even though I have a tin in the cupboard. It's not something we were brought up with.

My boys (adults now) like a turkey sandwich with cranberry and some stuffing. Sounds odd to me, but they say it's Christmas in a sandwich.

I was told off, by my mother, for buying a jar, rather than making it. Christmas dinner for 15 - with four small children and a sick husband to look after - she was lucky not to be wearing it!

That I've gone off mince pies.

That peanuts do not agree with me and I shouldn't eat them ever again.

This will be forgotten shortly

I REALLY like them

That although Covid has ruined our family get together - again!! We had a lovely Christmas day , just the two of us , missed the family but I learnt it is not worth feeling badly done to. On the grand scheme of things we are lucky people.

That I don't like cranberry sauce from a jar. Our local shops had run out of fresh cranberries by the time I shopped for them.

I also learnt that mashed potato made with oat milk is just as nice as mash made with ordinary milk and butter.

Shelflife that's truly lovely

Violet maybe you are Blood Group B who doesn't do well on peanuts. It hampers metabolic efficiency, causes hypoglycaemia and inhibits liver function of Group B. For Group O it just says 'avoid'. I am AB and along with A we are very well suited to them, in fact 'highly beneficial' although they suggest peanut butter is better. Suits me! I devour peanut butter a lot and have done since a child.

This Christmas I learnt that I can no longer manage a whole chocolate orange for my Christmas evening meal, but only half of one. The other half will have to wait until Boxing Day.

Chestnut that's really interesting!

I am O. I guess I'm an avoid?

I did eat quite a lot of them today and yesterday with the same result.

I'm on my 4th Die Hard movie over two nights awake with indigestion.

Hetty58

I was told off, by my mother, for buying a jar, rather than making it. Christmas dinner for 15 - with four small children and a sick husband to look after - she was lucky not to be wearing it!

????

This Xmas I learnt an easy way to make mince pies. I looked at my jar of mincemeat and felt depressed as I just couldn't summon the enthusiasm to make shortcrust pastry but I had made a promise to take them to my daughter.
I remembered I had a chilled packet of all butter puff pastry in the fridge (for sausage rolls).
I enrolled it, spread it with most of the mincemeat and drizzled a few teaspoons of Amaretto over it. Egged the edges, rolled it up like a Swiss roll and cut it into 12 sections. Put them on a lined baking tray, egg wash over the tops and baked them for 20 minutes. They were lovely and a great success, I shall always make them in that way in future.

Ooh that sounds lovely Smudgie

That I don't like cranberry sauce from a jar. Our local shops had run out of fresh cranberries by the time I shopped for them.

Maggiemaybe frozen cranberries work just as well as fresh to make a sauce.

Smudgie I usually make my own mincemeat, although not this year, and add brandy. I had never thought of amaretto but I reckon I might try that next Christmas.

That reindeer really do have red noses.

Sadly I learnt that my lovely nephew has an eating disorder and I am terribly worried about him.

Violet, find a d`adamo book for your blood group on amazon, as chestnut says AB, like me, does very well on peanuts. Almost my whole way of eating is via the d`adamo food list. I know my beneficial, neutral and harmful foods pretty well off by heart, after using d`adamo fo very many years

I learnt that I don`t like marons glace, I have eyed them up for years, took a nibble of one yesterday and binned the lot. They are so high in sugar

I also learnt, again, that I must not succumb to temptation and buy too many treats for myself before christmas. I am weak willed when christmas arrives

I love cranberry sauce and always make my own too. It's so easy and tastes much better.

Back to the original question:
I learned not to leave DH in charge of parboiling potatoes. We had roasted potatoes slush. . But as its only us two I let it go.

Co-op port and cranberry sauce is very nice. I stuffed it into slits in chicken pieces which we then roasted alongside a load of root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, potatoes, Brussels sprouts). Dead easy for three people and no leftovers. Didn't use the whole jar but winter vegetable season isn't over yet! I think this will become one of our favourite winter meals.

Oh yeah, answer to original question: our woodshed, which I scrabbled in yesterday for some logs, harbours insects that bite even in winter! Wondered why my left shin was so itchy yesterday: red evidence of a bite this morning. ?