New Year, New Mission

Having been inspired by both Julie & Julia and a friend from college, and in spite of the fact that I will probably have no readers, I am going to diligently blog about all the meals I cook this year. In addition, with the exception of this first post, I am going to try to include a picture of the meal.

Note: I am a terrible photographer; consider yourself forewarned.

For my first meal of the year, I decided to make the entire meal from the Tyler's Ultimate Holiday Table episode. I decided to do this for the following reasons:

1. When I first saw the episode, my mouth was watering the entire time.
2. It was New Years Day, a holiday!
3. I hadn't cooked in a very long time (save a few Christmas appetizers).
4. I am insane.

The episode contained 5 recipes:

1. Horseradish and Garlic Prime Rib
2. Creamed Pearl Onions
3. Creamed Spinach
4. Crispy and Creamy New Potato Pie
5. Candied Carrots

Throughout the cooking process, I believe I uttered the phrase "But it looked so easy on TV" more than a few times. After ~2.5 hours of cooking, though, my husband and I had a New Year's feast worthy of the Obamas! Instead of writing out the recipes, I will just list any substitutions and pointers which you can use to supplement the recipes linked to above!

Horseradish and Garlic Prime Rib
Start this first before anything else. For the rub on the roast, don't feel the need to use it all, just slather on a thin layer. Also, you may not want to use the entire amount salt called for. 20 minutes per pound was just about right in my oven to bring the roast to 125 degrees F. Make sure that you take it out at 125 (check using a meat thermometer). As it rests it will continue to cook to a beautiful medium-rare; you can always put it in the microwave if that disgusts you!

Creamed Pearl Onions
Make these while you are making the mushroom sauce for the prime rib, they seem to take around the same time. This is the easiest recipe ever and the onions were delicious!!

Creamed Spinach
This came out tasting kinda funky to us. I used frozen spinach, which I thawed and squeezed excess liquid from, at 10 oz. per pound of fresh spinach called for in the recipe (a conversion I found somewhere online...). I don't know if the spinach was too watery, or if it was just too much spinach, but the recipe was not very flavorful, and we did not save it for leftovers the next day. If you do decide to try this recipe, I recommend using fresh spinach!

Crispy and Creamy New Potato Pie
So... I'm an idiot. Haha the recipe just said 2 lbs. of potatoes, and I found it strange that it didn't specify which kind, and I couldn't remember what Tyler used on the episode, so I bought russets. Then, after I got back from the store, I re-read the title of this recipe. Whatever! The russets worked fine, but I suspect it might be a little creamier with new potatoes. In any case the only thing about this recipe was how long to leave the potatoes in the oven in the pan until it browns. I think I left them in a Calphalon non-stick pan for 15 minutes, and it came out golden on top, probably could have used some more time. But these potatoes were super yummy!

Candied Carrots
I just used normal carrots. The carrots and glaze were fantastic, though, they didn't really seem to fit in with the rest of the meal. Note, the carrots can roast while the prime rib is cooking (same temperature).

Good Luck!