Yea Christmas Dinner & Baby's first Christmas!

First of all let me say that I feel like a terrible mother! I didn't have any "My first Christmas" PJ's for my baby! Oh well what can you do.  He got plenty of toys and clothes and if he knew what was going on, he would be extremely happy!

On to the food!

Last week, my dad asked me to HELP cook for Christmas. Some how I ended up doing the whole dinner, which is fine, but I like to be prepared.  I ended up cooking a large Cornish hen (that my parents already had), string beans, brown Basmati rice, sweet potatoes and corn bread (from Trader Joes...Yum!).

The Cornish Hen- I got this recipe off of FoodNetwork.com that I originally used on some Chicken Leg Quarters but I decided to try it on the hen.

2- Cornish Hen (although I used the big one my parents had)

1- Medium Onion sliced

1-Lemon zested and halved

2-3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

2 tablespoons of Basil (I prefer fresh basil but I didn't have any on hand)

2 Tablespoons of Thyme (Once again I prefer fresh thyme)

A handful of fresh parsley chopped

A handful of fresh Rosemary chopped

3 Cloves of minced Garlic (I just by the jar of pre-chopped garlic)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Place your hens in a roasting pan

Combine all herbs, garlic, lemon zest and oil in a mortar and pestle until you make a paste. I would add the 

oil a little at a time until you have the consistency that you are happy with

Take your paste and rub it all over your chicken, in the cavity, up under the skin, Everywhere!!!

Take your onion slices and put a few under the skin of the breast, a few on top, and some in the cavity

Squeeze the halved lemon over your hens

The sprinkle your salt in pepper on top

Now I have a roasting pan with a grate that the meat sits on top of so I put a little bit of OJ and chicken broth in the bottom of the pan. Just enough to cover the bottom an I also put a few springs of rosemary in the liquid.

Cover your bird and put it in the oven for about 40 mins (make sure you baste it every now and again), 

Uncover and bake for another 15-20 mins or until the internal temp reads at least 180 degrees

Sweet Potatoes

4-sweet potatoes sliced, diced, or however you prefer

1 stick of butter

1 cup of packed dark brown sugar

Dash or 2 of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Place half of the sweet potatoes in a glass pan, then layer half of the stick of butter (in pats) over the sweet

potatoes, sprinkle half of the brown sugar on top and repeat this with remaining ingredients.

I put a tiny pit of OJ in the bottom of the pan.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45-60 mins. It will depend on how tender you want your potatoes to

be. I would also baste about half way through the cooking process.

Green Beans & Rice

Nothing special. I just steamed the green beans with some butter and Adobe brand seasoning with cummin. 

As for the rice, I just followed the package instructions but used chicken broth instead of water.

And here is the finish product!  Nothing elaborate, but it was good!

Merry Christmas!