Friday Finds on Mackinaw Road: A Christmas Table, Homemade Butter, and A Christmas Dinner Menu

Good morning! Hope you all had a great week!! I was hustling to get all of the presents wrapped before I have too much “help” during the school break. I set our Christmas Table, even though we won’t be hosting this year (despite my best attempts at mentioning that we don’t mind hosting either… I’m breezy). And, while I’m dreaming of hosting Christmas, let me just share my pretend menu and some real recipes, too 🙂

As for the table, I kept the antique shutter and birch candles from Thanksgiving as the centerpiece and added some faux greens and berries. I also switched up the plates for a more modern square. Because our puppy wasn’t treating the reindeer with much care, Rudolf was also incorporated into the mix- haha! #savethereindeer I also bought some basic red napkins, added my mom’s red goblets, and purchased a round plaid tablecloth.

At the last minute, I grabbed some ornaments from our tree for each place setting. Maybe next year if I host, I’ll buy different ornaments as place cards of sorts and then people can sit at the setting with their favorite ornament (and keep it as a small pre-gift gift).

But, let’s get to the most important thing… The menu…

For the appetizer, I would of course serve the Fig and Blue Cheese Savouries that I shared last week. If you missed it, just click here.

I would also again force ask our family to make our traditional homemade butter (the benefit of buttermilk pancakes the next morning alone is worth the time)- recipe below. And have them slather it all on the homemade bread from this post. It’s funny how we all would groan a bit when younger as we walked through the door and saw the butter churn sitting out, but, in the end, now that a lot of us are older and wiser, traditions always win out.

Homemade Butter

 

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There truly isn't anything quite like homemade! And when your grandfather used to work at the creamery, you naturally make your own butter for the holidays.

Author: Mackinaw Road

Ingredients

• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Salt

Instructions

1. Fill the butter churn ⅓ of the way full with whipping/heavy cream.
2. Let the cream sit and come to room temperature (the time this step takes will vary depending on how large the churn is).
3. Start churning. Keep churning. Churn, churn, churn.
4. The butter will look like creamy whipped cream, keep churning. Once the butter is solid and you can’t churn anymore, drain the buttermilk (keep for pancakes the next morning), add a cup of cold water to the churn to rinse the butter, drain, and transfer to a wooden bowl.
5. Make a slurry of salt and water (it should look like a salt paste- the amount will depend on love of salt as well as the amount of butter you have made), add to the butter, and stir in using a wooden spoon. Sprinkle in more salt to your desired salt levels. Drain any excess liquid.
6. Eat (bread/potatoes optional).
7. Please note that the Prep Time and Yield will depend on the size of your churn 🙂

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(For some reason, I could not change the photo on the recipe card… but the apps do have butter in them so it sorta kinda works?)

The bread and butter would qualify as the first course, served alongside this easy salad:

RECIPE: Just combine lettuce (I like arugula for this occasion but have also used boston/butter/bibb too), shaved parmesan (I use a vegetable peeler), and pomegranate seeds (ready to go at Trader Joe’s- no peeling required). Set aside. In a mason jar, squeeze the juice of 1 lemon, add equal parts (to the lemon juice) olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and two turns of fresh ground pepper. Shake for 30 seconds. Toss in salad and serve.

For the main course, we would have ham (I think I’d try this recipe– you can really never go wrong with Ina, in my opinion), my Nana’s green bean casserole (you can find it in this post), and Half-baked Harvest’s mashed potatoes (I tried these at Thanksgiving and loved them but also think that this recipe sounds amazing).

When I was growing up, my aunt always sent us home with a to-go container filled with the most delectable baklava. As such, I always associate this as a Christmas dessert (but definitely wouldn’t pass it up any other time of the year either). A couple of years ago, a friend was gracious enough to share her family’s baklava recipe (click here), so naturally, this would be on the dessert menu. Oh, and I’d definitely want to try to make Vietnamese coffee, too. 

Whew- I think that’s it! I hope you all have a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Very Happy New Year!!

Here are some links (they’re affiliate):

White Serving Bowl– similar

Wooden Bowl and Spoon– Note: I don’t own these but was embarrassed when I didn’t have a Wooden Bowl when we were making butter– apparently, it’s essential 😉

Glass Butter Churn– I inherited mine from my grandmother (and my entire family knows that is is mine from my signature nail polish flower on the side circa 1988). I was unable to find a new butter churn in the size I have but here is a smaller one that apparently makes butter in 10 minutes! Even better!!

Plaid Tablecloth– I purchased mine at Home Goods, but it looks like it’s also available on Amazon.

Paper Placemats– I borrowed mine from my mom, but you can also find some here.