Caution - Dairy Ahead!

While everyone else is featuring holly and puppies on their blogs, I should probably jump into the spirit of things.

           This year’s Christmas Eve meal has evolved somehow into an homage to dairy. I hadn’t realized it until I really got going, but anyone remotely lactose intolerant had better remember their meds.

          Comings and goings this Christmas Eve could be tricky, so it seemed like a good idea to offer some entrees that could handle the whims of different schedules, except I probably should have looked for a greater range of ingredients.

 Thus, Eggplant Parmigiana for the vegetarians in the family from the Moosewood cookbook : ricotta and mozzarella.

Lobster Mac and Cheese : cheddar, fontina, and Parmesan – multiple cups of each, plus milk and half and half for the sauce. At least I left out the goat cheese the recipe called for.

We’ll begin with snacks of healthy things like broccoli, cauliflower, but cancel all that goodness out with the dip, accompanied by cheese and crackers.

Yes, a big salad, but dessert is where things get ridiculous.

For ever and ever my mother-in-law made what the family called an ice box cake, and now I’m required to make it every year even though personally I’d rather have something else.  It’s so easy to make that you could assemble it right after having just had a frontal lobotomy.

It has two ingredients : Nabisco chocolate wafers and real whipped cream beaten with sugar and vanilla.

As I explained it to the nice check-out girl at the grocery store,

in the morning you take a cookie, slap on some whipped cream, add another cookie, slap on more whipped cream, and keep going until you use up all the cookies. Ice with – you guessed it – more whipped cream, creating a snake-like log of cholesterol. 

Pop it in the fridge and it will soften all day into an absurdly rich mousse-like heart-stopping confection.

Save yourselves and have a nice fruit bowl. It’s too late for us.

 

And Merry Christmas!