What to do about a holiday dinner for 2.

Is your family too far away for the holidays? 
Did you cook for all the holidays last year and just wanted to be low key this year?
Are you having a "holiday" later with the family but still want a special dinner the day of?

Do you just like intimate holidays?
 

 Well, here you go...

 

I love prime rib and it was on sale at the grocery store this week so I bought one. Well, I actually bought 2. The butcher was so nice and started talking to me as I was looking at the roasts. He jokingly said "buy 2!"  I laughed but then thought he wasn't crazy after all, so I did just that.
The roasts were each a whisker under 5 lbs and would easily feed 4-5 people.
He cut one up into 3 giant boneless rib eye steaks for me. I saved the bones, bought more rib bones, sealed them all up for the freezer and I will get 6 meals out of those 2 roasts!

 

 

I also happened to order the "Pioneer Woman Cooks Holidays" on Monday and it showed up yesterday.

Thank you Amazon Prime!

My sister-in-law turned me onto Ree Drummond (aka Pioneer Woman). A lot of her recipes on the show seem ordinary, but this book has recipes that I have not seen before and look interesting. Also, for the novice or timid cook, she has step by step photos to guide you.
She has recipes for all the major holidays and of course you can use them anytime. I do like this book and I think it would be useful for any home cook. It would also make a great hostess or house warming gift.
The list price is $29.99 but Amazon sells it for a little over $18 tax included. There is also a kindle version for around $14.

I perused the cookbook this morning and decided to make the mushrooms, Yorkshire pudding and Brussels sprouts.

I had most of the ingredients, sort of, so I improvised.
It's just the 2 of you, so relax and go for it. Even for larger crowds, don't sweat  it and go with what you have.

I only had a little wine for the mushrooms and used stock instead of water and bouillon. I only had frozen Brussels sprouts in sauce so I used those and added some dried cranberries (from last Thanksgiving, yes they were still good)! And since it was just the 2 of us, I cut the Yorkshire pudding recipe in half.

I used a recipe for the prime rib from a different cookbook called "The New Best Recipe". It recommends the low and slow roast method that restaurants use and I like that way best.
You could also fry up 2 of the steaks instead of doing the roast.

 

I seared the roast on all sides, then put it in a pan to roast in a 200 degree oven for 1/2 hour per pound. I stuck a meat thermometer in to keep an eye on things until it came up to 130 degrees. It seemed to take a little longer than the 1/2 hr per pound, so leave yourself a little wiggle room. I used the fat that was rendered during the searing for the pudding as you will not get much fat rendering in the low temp roasting process.

 My sister turned me onto the Polder meat thermometer and it is great. As you watch the temp rise, it also gives you an idea of how things are going and how long it will actually take. You set it to the temp you want and it beeps when it reaches that temperature.

 

I added some mashed potatoes to the menu and there you have it. A nice holiday dinner for 2 that I cooked AND ate while in my PJs, doesn't get any better than that!

 

 

My first time ever making Yorkshire pudding, it was easy!

P.S. The beef was perfectly cooked and tender as can be! YUM!!

 

P.P.S. The next morning I popped the leftover puddings in the microwave for 15 seconds, slathered them with apple butter and had them with my coffee. Oh yeah.