Something you’ll quickly learn about me, is that whether it’s just Col and I at home alone, or whether we have a house filled with friends, I love to grab-on to *any* excuse to make a nice meal for us – especially if the excuse can validate the use of multiple courses.

Birthdays and Valentines day, we tend to head out to eat but for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Boxing day and New Years, I’ll cook at home, usually a three-course dinner that we’ll either tuck in to, together, or we’ll bring people around to help us eat.

This year, we were scheduled to dine ‘alone’ on NYD, but whilst chatting to a friend on NYE, I discovered that I could feed two more mouths – and that was that!  I had already pre-made my starter and dessert, so, as folk at home would say, we threw on a few more spuds and invited them over.

First, let’s take a moment to admire Col’s table-setting skillz, not bad going consider we were originally due to leave the US on NYE/NYD, eh?

I cheated a little with the starter, my timing for NYD, coincided with making a ma-hoosive pot of a very commonly made soup here in Casa McMaster, so I just left some in the fridge (I froze the rest) and used that, served with some fresh crusty load from HEB.  Delish!

I’ve mentioned this soup before on this blog, it’s an easy-to-make, smooth vegetable soup that I found over on the lovely Siobhan at Slimming Eats blog.  I make it ALL the time, it’s delicious, it’s quick, easy, you can have it chunky, semi-chunky or smooth, it freezes well, it defrosts well, it’s Slimming World friendly (so, I guess by extension, it’s also Weight Watchers friendly too) and, did I mention it’s delicious?!

To make it yourself, the recipe can be found here.  Sometimes I make it as the recipe says, sometimes I add butternut squash and/or half a head of white cabbage to it, to up the veggies in it.  It’s a very versatile soup indeed.

For our main course, I used a recipe that my friend Liz sent me a few days prior, it’s a ‘one-pot Sunday lunch‘, though, I have no idea who has a big enough casserole dish or roasting tin big enough to hold all of the food they want you to cook in one-tin.  We ended up with two tins of food on the go.

I was too busy trying to feed people when it was cooked to take a picture, so y’all get a raw-picture for a change. Haha!

Instead of the cider vinegar, I used balsamic, I used boneless and skinless chicken thighs (to keep it a little more Slimming World friendly), I also didn’t use parsnips – I used butternut squash.  It was nice, it didn’t blow my mind and no one flavour was particularly strong – I expected it to be a little stronger in the flavour department – but it was tasty, everyone cleared their plates, it was quick (half an hour to cook), prep was also quick and easy and, since it was all cooked in one (two) tray(s), clean-up was pretty darn easy too.  I even made something similar (at least veggie-wise) the next day, it was seriously convenient to make.

Unfortunately, one tray cooked quicker than the other (which is weird cause they were on the same shelf side-by-side, so mine and Cols veggies were a little charred (even though I checked them at the 15 and 25 minute mark) – that said, my oven is as old as the hills and SUCKS, so just keep an eye on both trays if you happen to split the dish.  When I make it again (which, let’s face it, we all know I will!) I’ll perhaps put the meat in first for 5-10 minutes and add the veggies (tossed in the mixture beforehand) a little in to the cooking process, that, or cut my veggies a little bigger, so they don’t cook quicker than the meat – it’s a balancing act – and I’d throw in some garlic and perhaps a smidge of rosemary even.

Dessert was another cheat (bad Las!) I’d made Nigella’s sticky gingerbread cake back in November for the Gingerbread and pumpkin trifle I made for Thanksgiving day.  But the cake was so huge that I was able to freeze the extra two slabs of cake, so I just defrosted one of the slabs for dessert (served with Aunt Bessies powdered custard made-up, and some vanilla Bluebell ice-cream).

The cake freezes VERY well indeed, it tasted as fresh as the day I made it and maintained it’s sticky consistency.  It’s kind of like McVities Jamaica cake, just on the milder side, not as strong-flavoured and not quite as sticky, but it’s still pretty darn tasty – and has become an instant favourite here in the McMaster residence!

So there you have it folks, another New Year’s day, another three-course meal.  What did you feast upon this new years?  Any great recipes you’d like to share?