We also did a ham for Christmas but we ate at brunch time because my son's girl friend had to work second shift (also as a CNA at the local Veteran's home). I whipped up a Frittata with some of the ham in it, and added French toast and a fruit salad.

For New Year's eve I made a Standing Rib Roast that turned out great...a little too great in fact as I didn't have any left over to bring for lunch today. We used my home made horseradish as a condiment, twice baked potatoes, and a roasted veggie medley that included all of the garden produce that I froze in 2017.

Great inspiration to read when it's time to think about planning the 2018 garden. Our daughter-in-law has chickens so we get our eggs from her. The King Arthur Flour recipe for baked apple French toast is wonderful and a simple make-ahead. We had breakfast for dinner for our weekly family dinner. I paid $1 for the grocery store baguette from their day old rack, her eggs, etc., maple syrup our friends produce, and Caville Blanc apples from storage. Near the end of the season I buy a large bag of orchard seconds at the local orchard and I like this variety for cooking, dehydrating and applesauce.

Yesterday's soup began with a ham bone and some dried beans. I finally tried some zucchini I had dehydrated and thought it cooked up nicely during the long simmer so I will dehydrate more next summer. I'm afraid the carrots and onion I added were store bought but I added some flavor in addition to the bay leaf and dried thyme, with some homemade hot sauce.

A long time ago, I got and lost a recipe for salted herb. Herbes salee is a popular Canadian seasoning mix you can make. It is a wonderful way to preserve herbs and have your own flavoring mix to season soups, stews and gravies. There are a lot of different recipes on the internet so I think it's easy just to choose one to make use of the ingredients you have on hand. Right now, my potted prostrate rosemary is still alive and available!

Yesterday I made a big pot of soup from the bones off the Prime Rib we had for Christmas. I added some mushrooms and barley at the end. I will have it for my dinner today. There is so much that I will probably even have a enough to freeze a jar or two for future reference.

Jack, your meals sound delicious and I think beef just needs horseradish sauce, it's my favorite condiment.

Kate, there is nothing quite as convenient as having soup in the freezer, and if it's made with prime rib, well, double bonus. I like beef barley soup, now I think I should make some.

Jacob, your Christmas dinner sounds just fine to me, except that you need dessert. (grin) We had the traditional "beans and greens" on New Year's, from the Horticultural Beans in the freezer, canned collards and the leftover Christmas ham. I know lots of people who have black eyed peas but no one here seems to have sauerkraut, that's a custom that is new to me.

Defrost, it's been below zero here for the past several days, so my herbs are all gone, but I'm going to remember that herb salt next year, and try that as well as my usual dehydration method. I also dehydrated zucchini, you reminded me I need to put that into soup, and now I'm off to find that french toast recipe from King Arthur Flour. Their recipes tend to work well for me, so I use them a lot.

Happy Holidays and Happy Canning, everyone!

Annie

Annie, I have had good luck dehydrating basil but not parsley. I have also made the simple herb salt recipe where you run a fresh herb and coarse sea salt thru a blender or food processor. I think the proportion is 1:2. I like dillweed salt a lot. It's good on eggs. I add basil salt to my tomato and pasta dishes. Basically, I use an herb salt instead of plain salt in a recipe. I like to dehydrate slices of paste tomatoes to a raisin like firmness. These have to go in the freezer but are so useful. It's easy to take some out of a bag and chop for omelets. Had sausage, green pepper and onion sandwiches for lunch. Green pepper slices from the freezer. Maybe I should learn to make my own sausage.