The Monday Menu: December 21, 2009

San Francisco with John Bolten (pictured above with Ole) is behind me, and Operation Christmas Cookie 2009 is underway. Right. Now. My sister is stuck here until it commences…on the 23rd. All right, so I’ll let her go home soon. Accomplished: 6 batches of dough, rolled into balls and in the fridge; pecan teacakes; more gingered orange shortbread and lemon frosted cookies. I still have 2 more batches of dough to make and then, of course, baking all of those batches of dough and dipping about 200 peanut butter balls that are currently freezing. I have also promised to produce a kugelhopf for my grandpa’s 90th birthday on Saturday. I’ll just squeeze that in near the work and the cleaning and the packing and the wrapping. Oh, and I officially finished every last thing I needed to to be ready in the shopping department. The kids program outfits were the only thing haunting me, and I found a fabulous deal today that took care of every last one.

I am including my contributions to the potluck-style meals for Christmas in the menu plan. I hope you all have a very, very Merry Christmas and holiday season!

Monday – Lasagna and garlic bread, Caesar salads with our fingers!

Tuesday – Bacon-wrapped tenderloin, twice-baked potatoes, green beans

Wednesday – Smoked salmon, bagels, cream cheese and fresh fruit

Thursday – Cookies and hors d’œuvres. I’m thinking oyster wings and a smoked salmon dip.

Friday – Potatoes au gratin, cookies and more smoked salmon dip.

Recipes to look for here at Food for My Family this week: I still owe you a steak au poivre recipe. I’m working on it right now. I’m also planning on getting this kugelhopf recipe out and up, and I’ll be sharing the food and restaurants from our trip to Napa and Sonoma Vallies and San Francisco from last week, including our “cheese factory” experience.