Family :: Creating Magical Holiday Meals Together

Kate helping me make our four generation gravy recipe at Thanksgiving!

The holidays provide the perfect opportunity to spend quality time together making yummy holidays meals. It is such a wonderful time to pass down family recipes and have your kids help out in the kitchen. Just this past Thanksgiving, I had my daughter help me make the infamous green-bean casserole that my mother use to make every year. It is funny, because as a kid I didn’t really like this dish but now I absolutely love it! We ended up using Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom with garlic (highly recommend) and steamed the fresh green beans before we baked the casserole (also recommend doing this for a minute or two). I was told by my family at the meal it was the best green-bean casserole they have ever had! My daughter was so proud! It is creating those moments around cooking together that I hope my daughter looks back on with a smile on her face.

I was fortunate to receive a wonderful basket filled with holiday essentials from Vons who are known for their great prices and fresh ingredients. I grew up with a Safeway (Vons parent company) just around the corner from our house. I use to grab my skateboard and grocery list from mom and do some shopping. With the right mix of their essentials, you can create amazing appetizers, unforgettable meals and delicious desserts. We did a little baking with some of the ingredients they sent over and my daughter was all too happy to be my cookie-dough taste-tester. Kids just grow up too fast and nothing said that more to me than realizing that she didn’t need one of our dining chairs to help me at the kitchen counter. Of course she wanted to sit on the counter instead (such a kid thing) but it made me pause and think about how time goes by too quickly.

This holiday season, invite the kids to help out with the holiday meals and let them experiment on their own as well. My daughter loves to create interesting concoctions that we even have put in the oven to bake. Makes for a rather interesting creations- but she has fun. I just recommend putting out the ingredients that might work well together! Here are some yummy recipes to try out courtesy of VONS! Enjoy!

And good news – Vons has provided a $50 Gift Card that can be used at any Vons, Safeway, Pavillions, Tom Thumb, Carrs, and Randalls for a lucky dandelion mom! Vons provides online information and inspiration for every holiday need on its website, mobile app, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages.

Good luck!

Ham with Marmalade Bourbon Glaze

A spiral cut ham gets a brushed-on marmalade-bourbon glaze just before it’s finished roasting for a picture perfect holiday main dish. Recipe found here.

Holiday Vegetable Casserole

Broccoli and cauliflower florets and Brussels sprouts are baked in a creamy sauce with shredded Manchego cheese and garlic croutons. Recipe found here.

Upside-Down Cake a la Mode

Upside-down cakes are baked in canning jars with fruit on the bottom for a versatile and pretty party dessert. Recipe found here.

Note: We were provided with compensation and a gift basket from Vons but all opinions are my own.

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12 Comments

Tiffany

December 17, 2014 at 9:09 pm Reply

I have so many, it would be hard to choose! For our pre-holiday get together, I love to make my artichoke-jalapeño dip. And Christmas morning almost always includes my Eggnog bread pudding. Yum!

Nancy Barth

December 17, 2014 at 9:47 pm Reply

Baking sugar cookies is the biggest holiday tradition around here. We use a recipe my mom used…I found a copy of the one she cut out from the newspaper and laminated it. I also made a photo book a few years ago of a baking session at my daughter’s (she’s carrying on the tradition quite well) and included the recipe in that. My dad always used cream of celery soup in the green bean casserole.

Dana

December 17, 2014 at 11:37 pm Reply

My favorite dish during the holidays (or any family get-together, really), is my Gram’s jello. It’s a layer of strawberry jello with strawberries and bananas, a layer of sour cream, and then another layer of the strawberry jello with strawberries and bananas. She made it as long as I can remember and I even requested she make it for out wedding 16 years ago. Now that she’s passed on, other family members continue her tradition and continue to make it.