Christmas: on the eighth day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me a very relaxed day after attending morning Mass (where LegoManiac served).

We did something we only rarely do: lay out all kinds of good snacky food and indulge our senses while feasting on the college football bowl games. Dh who is very "into" eating healthy ... turned a blind eye and joined right in as we had Totino's Pizza Rolls, chips and dip, spinach/artichoke dip (which I made and didn't realize what a fat pill that is -- but what a way to go), buffalo wings, fancy cheeses etc. Dh, who used to work in the poultry industry, always stayed away from buffalo wings (seems that he worked in the industry when wings were thrown away and he thought paying premium for them was silly) -- well, turns out he liked these!

The day was going well -- until Clemson lost to Nebraska (and BamBam collapsed in tears!). But tears were dried when USC (BamBam's team) beat Penn State (Lego Maniac's team). Whew!

We finished up the feasting with a recipe we picked up at Ikea: Lingonberry Parfait (lingonberry is like cranberry or red currant ... slightly tart but oh so good).

Also, it's the Feast of Mary, Mother of God and dear, clever friend Charlotte had a coloring picture all ready for us to make our plaque for our Marian collection:

We ended our day watching Martin Chuzzlewit -- a Dickens story I've never read, but this has me interested in checking it out. The BBC version is so well done! What a great story about greed, goodness and love triumphing over all.

Here are the recipes I made today:

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

• 10-12 oz. package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 10 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella or monterey jack
• 2 tbls minced garlic
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp red pepper (more or less to taste)

Melt butter in medium pot. Saute garlic till browning and fragrant. Add ingredients, mixing and blending well as each is added, in this order: spinach, cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan cheese, artichoke, Italian seasoning, red pepper (everything BUT the white cheese). Remove from heat and put in microwave-proof bowl (or oven-proof bowl) and sprinkly white cheese over the top. Place in microwave and heat till cheese melted (or place under broiler until cheese is bubbly and lightly brown). Serve with thin, toasted slices of french or italian bread or chips (also tastes great as a dip for celery sticks). WOW!

Lingonberry Parfait (any tart jam would work with this recipe ... marmalade, red currant, anything not too sweet).
Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 6 tbls powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup lingonberry jam
• 1-1/4 cup whipping cream

Beat the eggs and sugar till fluffy. Carefully fold in the jam. Whip the cream till stiff peaks and fold into the egg/jam mixture. Freeze the parfait in a dish for at least 4 hours. Remove from freezer 5-10 minutes before serving. Garnish with dollop of whipped cream and dash of lingonberry jam (altho we just ate it up and are happy there's a bit left for tomorrow!).