The Mouthful

Dumb title, yes. However, I didn't feel like putting much thought into what may or may not be a better one.

I am back in Nebraska for over a week and cooking pretty much everyday, which is great. I fall into that cliched group of cooking for those I love, and I have a lot of love for my family and friends that I don't see near often enough.

I spent last weekend cooking for some of my fam at our annual camping trip, but didn't want to chance my wrecking my iPhone just for some dumb blogging. I have three major "events" to cook for yet this season. 

First is for a group of high school friends, the HUGE family, or bestxmasever group. The verbiage would take a while to explain, and in the long run, you wouldn't be that interested. I'm knocking out two stones with one bird here, cooking something I don't have a chance to, indian, while making sure my Nebraska experience isn't a pure meatgasm, vegetarian indian food. I just finished my second batch of Naan, the first I forgot the dairy.

Xmas eve with my family is always at my maternal grandmothers house, and always features Chili and Oyster stew. I took over the cooking duties last year, and adding a third soup, since my chili is too spicy. I use this as my base chili recipe and throw in a few of my own adjustments. Apparently my chili is too spicy for some of my family members, and I am too much of a dick to make the common ground beef/tomato juice/chili powder variety. I will be making a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup as well, hoping to find some chicken feet somewhere for the base. 

The "big boy", xmas dinner, approaches and I am not sure what to make yet. I've pretty much decided to go to a butcher and look for something to roast, something to braise, and something to smoke. We'll have 11 adults and 4 kids, so I'm planning on half - three quarter meat plus a lot of sides. So far the only side's I've come up with are stuffing and mashed potatoes. 

Hoping a walk through whole foods and a butcher shop, as well as tastespotting and my evernote recipe collection,  provide a spark.