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The holiday season often evokes feelings of nostalgia. It’s hard not to reflect upon your childhood during the holidays. The holiday season is special for many people. It’s often the only time of the year that family’s can get together, especially families that are separated by distance.
My husband and I hold the holiday season near and dear to our hearts. Even though our parents are no long with us, and both families have been torn apart for ridiculous reasons, or separated by distance, we still cherish the holiday season.
My family is big on traditions. We have certain things that we do year after year that we all look forward to. For example, on Christmas Eve me, my husband and our kids drive around looking at the holiday decorations after dinner. Just the other day my son was telling me how he was looking forward to doing that. I told him we could go out this coming Saturday if he wanted to, but he said “no”. He said he looks forward to it on Christmas Eve and it wouldn’t feel right to do that on a different day. I’m glad he said that. I didn’t really want to do it now – I also wanted to wait until Christmas Eve. It makes me wonder if he’s going to go out on Christmas Eve and look at the decorations with his family when he’s older?
There are things we do (activities) that are a tradition in our family. For other families recipes are a tradition. There are some recipes that families pass down from generation to generation as well as recipes that are part of a family’s tradition year after year.
My mom always made roast beef, roasted potatoes and carrots & turnips for dinner on Christmas day. I looked forward to that year after year. My mom would only make carrots & turnips on Christmas day – never any other time of the year. When Christmas dinner was laid out on the table before us I would make sure the bowl of carrots & turnips was placed in front of me. I would make sure to take as many heaping spoonful’s as possible because I knew that was the only time I would enjoy my mom’s delicious dish for another 365 days.
My mom’s roasted potatoes were impressive too. She would make them occasionally, but only for a holiday dinner (Christmas, Easter and/or Thanksgiving). She would never make them for a regular dinner.
My mom got her recipes for carrots& turnips, and roasted potatoes, from her mom. I remember having Christmas dinner with my Nanny and Granddad and enjoying both dishes. My aunts also knew how to make the recipes the same exact way my mom and Nanny did.
You would think that such simple recipes as carrots & turnips and roasted potatoes would be easy to recreate. WRONG! I have yet to make either dish the same way my mom and other family members did. It just doesn’t take the same. There has to be some missing ingredients or steps that I am not aware of. Sadly the recipes died with my aunt. Even my sister doesn’t make them the way my mom used to. It’s as if the tradition died with them. 🙁
I have Googled the recipes and tried out many over the years but they don’t taste the same. Or maybe they do and not being surrounded by family and the anticipation of having the bowl placed in front of me at the table makes it some how taste different. Do you know what I mean? It’s not something my mom made, or my aunt, or my grandmother or great-grandmother. Maybe it was their loving touch that made the recipes special and enjoying them surrounded by the people who meant the most to me made them taste as wonderful as they did. Perhaps the missing ingredient in these otherwise simple recipes is family?
I would share both recipes if I knew what they were. I have found, and tried, several over the years but I have never been able to duplicate either recipe exactly.
I do have a recipe that I make which my family LOVES. I don’t make it only for the holidays. I make it year round and it’s so easy to make – STEW! This is how I make it.
Ingredients:
- 1 package of stew meat cut up into small pieces. You an also use pork or chicken.
- 2 cans of whole or cut up white potatoes (cut them up into bite size pieces)
- 1 jar of pasta sauce
- 1 bag of raw baby carrots
- Frozen vegetables of your choice (I use corn, peas, broccoli, onions and peppers)
- Salt, pepper and/or garlic to taste.
Directions:
- Put allof the ingredients into a crockpot. Use the jar of pasta sauce and fill it with water and add to the crockpot with the ingredients (you can adjust the amount based on the size of your crockpot). Season with salt, pepper and/or garlic to taste.
- Cook high for 6 hours then turn down to low for 2 more hours (you can adjust these amounts based on your crockpot). Stir often (frozen veggies often stick together if you don’t mix it up).
- Serve with slices of Italian bread (the bread is great to dip into the juice).
My stew recipe is nothing spectacular or gourmet, but it’s something that my entire family looks forward to. They will literally come running when I say that it’s ready and I barely ever have left overs. I plan on showing my daughter how easy it is to make so she can make it herself one day.
The holidays is a time for family’s to come together and ideally enjoy a special meal together, including everyone’s beloved recipes. Sometimes this coming together results in joy and laughter – other times secrets are reveal and a “can of worms” gets opened which leads to interesting discussion – or worse!
A new film about to be released in theaters on Christmas Day called August: Osage County, is about a family – the Westons – that comes together because of a family tragedy. The film is based on a story by Tracy Letts. It won the 2008 Pulitzer for Drama as well as a Tony Award.
It’s interesting that meals where families come together – both near and far – can sometimes result in arguments, food fights and even the occasional fist fight or two. Families are SUPPOSE to be enjoying the delicious dishes that adorn the table – not drudge up issues from the past. That is exactly what happens in this film.
I haven’t seen the film yet but I have seen the trailer. It looks interesting. In a sick way I’m curious about the fight between Julia Roberts an Meryl Streep (I wonder who wins?).
Maybe if the Weston family from the film had a piping hot bowl of my mom’s carrots & turnips and a plateful of roasted potatoes in front of them they would be more focused on the food than the fights. 🙂 It’s hard to think about anything other than the melt-in-your mouth goodness of my moms dishes.
August: Osage County comes to theaters across the country on December 25, 2013. For more information you can check out the film’s official website, AugustOsageCountyFilm.com. You can also check out the film on Facebook and Weinstein Co. onTwitter.
I have a very special giveaway for a lucky reader. One winner will receive;
- $200 Gift Card tocreate your family’s traditional favorite recipes.
- $25 Visa Gift Cardso you can go and see the film, August: Osage County.
- A cooking “kit” (contents not available at this time)
- A cookbook (title unavailable) so that you can discover new recipes that might end up becominga family tradition.
This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on December 18, 2013 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be notified via e-mail andwill have three days to reply or a new winner will be chosen in their place.
To enter please comment on this post and share with me a recipe that is a tradition with your family. If you can share the actualrecipe even better. I’m always on the look out for new recipes to try. Who knows, maybe your recipe will be a new tradition with my family.
For extra entries you can use the Rafflecopter widget(below) but you must complete the initial entry requirement or the additional entries won’t qualify (I do check). Extra entries are optional.
Kimberly
**I am working with the studio to promote this film. Although my participation is compensated the opinions expressed are entirely my own and not influenced in any way.
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