Delicious Dinner!!

Every time I sit down here to write, my first thought is "I wish I had time to do this more often." But life just seems to keep getting in the way of computer time!
Christmas was extremely busy, even though I kept on looking for ways to make it laid back. I will say, that this was the best Christmas our family has ever had. We enjoyed each other so much. Jonny got to take off work basically the entire week of Christmas, Nate and Steph came with their precious babies, the food was delicious, all five little ones were completely quiet while Papa read Luke 2, we got so many gifts that we kept losing children under all the wrapping paper, we watched all the Christmas movies, I made toffee three times due to the high demand, we were all healthy.
I felt God's blessings this year more than I ever have.

I don't usually have as hard of a time going into January as I have this year. I was really sad to see the Christmas decorations come down, to take down the lights, to stop baking, and to have to stop the general attitude in the house of vacation.
Starting school this year has been a little difficult for me and for the girls. This could be partially attributed to the fact that I discovered the day after Christmas that the sixth Jeppsen baby is on their way.
This particular pregnancy has exhausted me so far. No sickness as of yet, just that weary feeling that starts when my eyes open in the morning and lasts until they close again at night. Maybe it's because I'm getting older:-(

Well onto the purpose for this post. I mentioned tonight on Facebook that we were having a feast for dinner, and was asked to put the menu along with recipes on here. So here we go.
Tonight I made Roast Beef with pan gravy, mashed red potatoes, glazed baby carrots, broccoli with cheese sauce, rolls, and chocolate layer cake. I should technically be cutting way back on the fat intake after a rather rich December, but I just love cooking in January! Not to mention that I got a new double oven that I couldn't wait to use.

The recipe for the roast is on one of my first posts entitled "Regarding Roast" and the chocolate layer cake, I'm sad to say, was from a box, but the rest of the recipes I will put on here for you.

Glazed Baby Carrots
Put about 4 cups of baby carrots into a skillet full of boiling water and let boil just about five minutes. Drain the water and add a half a stick of butter to the carrots. Allow the butter to melt and then put in a cup of OJ and 1/4 cup of honey and let simmer about ten minutes stirring every couple of minutes.

Mashed Red Potatoes
My entire cooking life, I have used Russett potatoes for making mashed potatoes. That is until I went to my in-laws the week of Christmas and had my mother-in-laws mashed red potatoes. They were so delicious that I new I had to change my ways. I'm not exactly sure how she made hers, but I just scrubbed and boiled about six pounds of them until they were easy to cut. Then I drained them and put them in my mixer. I had to use the bread hook because they were to thick for my whisk attachment to handle. Then I slowly poured in enough whole milk to make them nice and creamy and added way to much butter and salt to tell you about. You put in as much as you like. They were amazing!! We poured the pan gravy over them that I made with the help of my sister-in-law, using the roast drippings, gravy mix, salt, pepper, and beef broth. Delicious!!!

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
I just steamed a bunch of broccoli in the microwave for about six minutes and then made the best cheese sauce I've ever tasted. I've always just melted Velveeta and added a little milk to it, but this was a million times better! You put about a cup and a half of extra sharp cheddar cheese, a block of cream cheese, and four slices of American cheese into the food processor. Add about 3 to 4 tablespoons of whole milk and about 5 drops of Tabasco sauce. Blend it until it's completely smooth and then put it in a double boiler and slowly melt it stirring with a whisk until it's nice and creamy. Then pour over the broccoli. Even Jonny liked this recipe and he really prefers his broccoli without cheese.

It really was a delicious dinner although it took me about three hours to make, not to mention the time it's taking the girls to clean up from it. I usually try to keep the kitchen clean while I'm cooking, but because the girls were at art class and I had all three babies by myself, not to mention about ten different foods cooking at the same time, the place looks like a hurricane ran through it. Thank goodness for big girls;-)

I am off now to sit on the couch and try relax despite the fact that the boys destroyed the living room while "watching a movie" this evening. The question is, can I actually sit and ignore it, or will I have to clean it up first. Hhhmmm.....
Off to clean up!