I’ve been promoting a pre-festive healthy eating spell but I myself admit to be clinging rather precariously to the wagon. Eating salads is hard when it’s cold outside, when mince pies start attacking us from every corner, when mulled and otherwise wine flows freely. So I hope you’ll forgive me if I get to the serious business already.
Get your tree! Order your turkey! Start making lists, first of all of the presents you are going to buy. I am boycotting Amazon on ethical, moral and common sense grounds: pretty much anything they flog can be found elsewhere for the same price or cheaper. And if your near and dear are the type of people who have everything and you’re really stumped for ideas, adopt a bear as a gift for them.
Or else you could make edible gifts. Who will say no to a tin of homemade lebkuchen? A jar of fig confit or pomegranate jelly? You could gift flavoured homemade butter, just make sure it’s produced close to the gift presenting time. And there is always panettone, if you’re up to the task.
Preparations-wise, there is so much you can do in advance: Stollen for instance gets better with time so you could bake it this week, wrap tightly in foil and keep in a cool place. There is nothing wrong in making up stuffing, be it chestnut and mushroom or fig and apricot, and freezing it so you can simply slip it in the oven on Christmas morning. And goodies like home cured salmon or cranberry ketchup take time to mature so next week would be a good time to start.
In between we have to eat so butter beans with chorizo come together easily for a weeknight, as does pasta alfredo. Sesame noodles takeaway-style, instead of a takeaway? Or tom yum soup, which is seriously easy to cook. More easy recipes in the content pages filtered through – you guessed it – fiendishly easy. Happy cooking!