The roads are deep in snow, and the only people I see out there are in really big trucks (and one Subaru).  So we’ve postponed Christmas dinner at my parents’ house until tomorrow night.  With only light continued snow flurries expected we can presume that, by then, the city will have cleared roads sufficiently for us to creep around a little.  Hope so.  I can only stay housebound for so long before the family starts paying for it.

Plus, I will absolutely need to get to the gym by tomorrow to resume my workout routine.  I’ve had two days off for the holiday, and have exercised absolutely NO RESTRAINT around any food.

So what are we doing today?  Everyone has his or her own little project going on.

Quent is furiously studying post-holiday sales online.  In true college-student fashion, she requested cold, hard cash for Christmas.  Now she’s figuring out how to get the most fashion bang for her new bucks.  She and her friends will be heading for the mall as soon as the roads are drivable.

Anthony is working out his new Wii.

Snacks is working out his new ITouch.

The hubby is holding down his favorite living room chair, eating and watching some fairly boring NBA games.

Me?  Other than renewing my blogging career, I’m spending time in the kitchen.  Cause I do love to cook.  I’ve baked the pies for tomorrow’s family holiday dinner at mom and dad’s.  So I got a head start on that part of the game, anyway.  Plus I’m baking an extra pumpkin pie for tonight (can’t make my babies wait until tomorrow for pumpkin pie, can I?)  FYI, because I know you are absolutely dying to know, I use the recipe on the back of the Libby’s Pumpkin can for my pumpkin pies, because I haven’t found anything better yet and it’s SO easy.  Today, I used the leftover (homemade, of course) dough — from the best pie crust recipe ever — to make little miniature cinnamon sugar roll-ups for one of the boys’ many afternoon snacks.

Cinnamon Sugar Roll-Ups

1)  Roll leftover pie dough flat.

2)  Sprinkle dough with sugar and cinnamon, to your taste.

3)  Cut dough into strips and roll into spirals.

4)  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until flaky.

Given the fact that I’m newly responsible for my family’s Christmas dinner tonight, I’ve been working on that, too.  I found a package of beef stew meat in the freezer, and I did the quick defrost.  Then I built a nice tomato sauce around the meat and I’ve left it to simmer until the meat is nice and tender.  To be served with spaghetti, of course.  And a green salad, with a simple homemade vinaigrette.

Today’s Meat Sauce

Spray the bottom of a cookpot with Pam, or coat lightly with olive oil.  Saute 1 pound beef stew meat, 1 finely chopped onion and 6 finely chopped garlic cloves until the meat is browned and the veggies are tender.  Just stir from time to time and pay attention — it doesn’t take that long.

Once the meat is browned and the veggies are tender add dried oregano (to your taste, but I used about two teaspoonsful); a generous pinch of red pepper flakes; and salt and pepper (again, to your taste, and I tend to be pretty liberal with the salt and pepper).

Next add one 14.5 ounce can of tomato sauce and 2 14.5 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes.

Let the mixture simmer on low heat until the cows come home — or until the stew meat is really nice and tender.   About 2-3 hours, depending on the size of your meat chunks.  Just keep testing the meat for tenderness after it’s been cooking for a while.  Remember to keep the heat low so the sauce doesn’t scald.

Homemade Vinaigrette

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

pinch sugar

Plus add chopped scallions or garlic, if you like — I added the scallions today.

Throw all ingredients in a small jar and shake well.  Use any amount desired on your salad.

So as I’ve spent my afternoon updating my blogs and baking and cooking, the day has faded and evening is here.  But the natives are restless (especially me), and I still haven’t seen the street crews out front.  A light snow continues to fall, but it’s nothing like last night’s deluge of white stuff.  So we’ll hunker down tonight, and hope we can get out and slog around tomorrow.