Have a Sweet New Year

Today is the New Year in my religion.

Last night we had dinner at my sister in law Emily's house (the foodie remember?).

She made the traditional foods, we all do.

But I offered to do tonight's meal. No one from hubby's family is coming as we all gathered last night, my other brother in law and his family are going to the other side of their family and my in laws live further away and we saw them last night.

So, this evening is for my family. My dad always cooks and I said I would do it. I want to give my children the tradition of their mom cooking as well.

On the menu for this evening is:

Brisket (only my 3rd time making it and I think it rocks - this time I went with a little different than all the recipes out there and I think it tastes great)

Noodle Kugel (my sister in law made one last night that absolutely rocked but my boy said it was too sweet - I should document that comment) I did a little different of a recipe and he can't stop from eating it.

Roasted Red Bliss potatoes

Roasted Asparagus

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

Fruit platter

Traditional Challah (I did not bake it)

I will share all my recipes with you. Last night I also made a chocolate chip cake that hubby forgot to take out of the pan after 10 minutes (I had to get to bed it was the night before the first day of school) and he forgot until 5 hours later and it got a little broken. A little creative plating and it looked fabulous AND tasted FAB.U.LOUS!

Brisket

3-4 lb brisket

1 jar of chili sauce

1 packet of onion soup mix

1 medium/large onion

Slice onion into rings and put on bottom of pan. Mix chili sauce and onion soup mix and cover brisket completely in pan. Let sit overnight (you don't have to you can cook right away but it worked for me). Add water to pan, covering onions. Cook brisket at 300 (basically cook 1 hour per pound) until tender (160 degrees). Cool, then slice and put back into sauce, cover and put in refrigerator. It is best if it sits sliced in juices/sauce overnight (more important than sitting in marinade). Warm up at 350 and serve.

Noodle Kugel

1 (16 oz) pkg. med egg noodles

8 eggs

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 pt. sour cream

1/2 lb cream cheese

1 lb. cottage cheese

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 lb. butter (melted)

pinch of salt

Cook noodles as directed on package. Beat eggs, combine eggs, sour cream, sugar, cottage cheese, cream cheese, vanilla and melted butter. Beat again. Combine noodles. Put noodles in a greased oblong baking dish. Bake for an hour at 350 degrees.

Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes

2 lbs. Red Bliss potatoes

6 cloves Garlic

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Olive Oil

Slice potatoes in half. Put in a roasting pan (can be an aluminum one - easy clean up) , cover with Olive oil, salt, pepper and Paprika. Chop up the garlic (we like bigger rough cuts as they are real tasty when eaten) and add to the pan. Toss all the ingredients together. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until tender. We like them crispier so I may do it at a higher temp for an extra 10-15 mins. Every 20 minutes or so I give the potatoes a good mix.

For my asparagus I just oil, salt and pepper them on a roasting pan until tender then serve with Fresh Grated Parm/Reggiano cheese. Yum-O!

My dad was so nice to bring over some Spanish Wine (he has a fabulous wine cellar in his house).

We had a fabulous dinner.