Top Ten Tuesday–FOOD.

Can I just say that finding pictures for this post had me drooling all over my desk at work today while my students were taking their final exam?

Can I also just say that this post alone makes me gain weight without even eating these foods?  Because I think I had to unbutton my pants to type this.

This week’s Top Ten is all about food. Yum. Holiday foods, to be exact. (Click that button up there to go read about more yummy food!)

Here we go.

I grew up eating a very traditional Southern Christmas dinner.  Dan grew up eating a very traditional Northern Christmas dinner (or maybe just a more traditional dinner? I’m not sure…) Our Southern Christmas dinner always includes a

HAM. Omg. I want to eat it right now. Delicious salty goodness.  Mom always buys a ham and slow cooks it all night long in the oven and then makes up a bunch of sides and then we feast. And when we’re done feasting, we make sandwiches.  Or pinto beans and cornbread.  I love ham.

And no ham would be complete without Brown ‘n Serve Rolls, which I can no longer find. Anywhere. I can’t even find where I can order this particular style online in bulk. Because if I could, I probably would. So it’s probably good that I can’t.

Have you ever had these? They are the one item I would step foot into a Wal-Mart store to purchase, that is, if Wal-Mart hadn’t stopped carrying them.  If you see them in your Wal-Mart, pick some up.  Put some butter on the top of them BEFORE you brown and serve them. Then brown and serve them. And then send me some.

Want to know what else is cool about these? They unite my family and Dan’s family.  Dan’s dad calls them “Debbie’s rolls” because he associates them with my mama.  And I do, too, I guess, since we’ve always had them at any important family meals.  They’re just delicious. 

So that’s pretty much the two most awesome things about my mom’s Christmas dinner (and her mac-n-cheese and potato salad, too).

Dan’s parents? They have always had a standing rib roast. Like this:

::drool::

Dan and his dad have spent years on the quest for the perfect roast and the perfect cooking method.  They take their roast seriously. 

See?

What they take more seriously than the roast, however, are the Yorkies. Oh, the yorkies. Delicious, delightful, yorkies.  (No, not cute little purse pooches. We don’t eat dogs.)

::aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh:: 

Do you hear that? That is the sound of the Angels of Heaven singing amazingly wonderful notes of praise in honor of the Yorkshire Pudding. Which is not actually a pudding at all.  Yorkies are…they are…they are tiny little vessels meant to deliver gravy to the world.

Yorkies + Gravy = Love

Yorkies are not quite breads. But they aren’t quite not breads. But when you add gravy to them, they become something different.  They become something that will change your life.  I know they changed mine. 

I used to be very anti-gravy (unless it was white gravy with sausage bits smothering a cat head biscuit…which has nothing to do with actual cats. I do not eat domesticated animals, people.)  Now? Now gravy is an important part of my life, if only on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Because gravy is the perfect accompaniment to the yorkies.  So really, life is all about the yorkies.

So in addition to thinking about all the wonderful deliciousness that I consume at Christmas dinners, it also got me thinking about what traditions I want to start with my own little family of three. 

Last year, I made it a point to make a Christmas breakfast.  I’d made it before and Dan said he LOVED it.  Last year on Christmas morning, he said he did NOT love it.  So I’m confused.

This dish that I think is delicious that Dan does not think is delicious?

French Toast Casserole.

I can definitely see how the recipe needs a little tweaking, so I’ll tweak.  Because this stuff is delicious and deserves to be eaten by me. 

But, as a back-up, I plan to consider Monkey Bread as a viable alternative for my Christmas morning meal.

I know this isn’t ten food stuffs that we eat at the holidays.  But if I talk about food anymore, I’m going to start drooling on the computer.  I haven’t had dinner yet and thinking about food is making me starve.

What foods are traditional in your house?  I want to know.  Seriously.  I’m serious about food, y’all.  My waistline (or lack thereof) definitely proves it.