Those who know me well know this: I love food…a lot. I think about food a lot. I cook food a lot. I read about food a lot.

One night, after my exuberant reaction over an article about root vegetables, my husband made up a new term for me.

I’ll take that as a compliment!

The past few years, since we’ve been staying home on Christmas with our little ones, I’ve been working on our Christmas dinner tradition. For our family, Christmas is about celebrating and welcoming our Savior. It’s a rich time of thankfulness and worship with our loved ones. So, I want our food to reflect that and point toward the great banquet believers will experience in heaven one day with Christ. I don’t cut many low-calorie corners here, and I don’t feel bad about that!

Here is where we’ve landed so far with our dinner tradition, although this may be expanded upon and/or tweaked in years to come.

Roasted Beef Tenderloin - The mother of all beef. This cut is the most tender, succulent, melt-in-your-mouth piece of meat you’ll ever eat. It’s also easy to fix yet expensive! That’s why we only buy it and eat it at Christmas. I make this Horseradish Cream Sauce for dipping or topping that is to die for.

Hashbrown Casserole – How can you go wrong with this old standby? To make it a bit healthier, I use organic frozen hashbrowns, organic lowfat milk, and use an organic cream of chicken soup.

Green Beans – We keep it simple–steamed and tossed with a little butter, salt, and pepper.

Roasted Winter Vegetables – The handy thing about this recipe is that these veggies are great at room temperature, as well as warm from the oven.

Bread – I cut corners here and pick up a favorite loaf from a local bakery, warm it up, and serve with butter.

Homemade Chocolate Cake – We call this our Jesus cake, because we use this to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. The kids get SO excited to sing “Happy Birthday” to him, blow out the candles, and partake of this once-a-year cake. The recipe comes from Ina Garten and is just about a perfect chocolate cake to us. The coffee used in the cake mix and icing enhances the chocolate and provides a richness of flavor you’ll never find in a Pillsbury box. Warning: This is usually takes me about two hours to make from start to finish…but is worth it!

What is your Christmas dinner this year?

Originally posted on heathlyrefuge.com