Wine & Dine: A Very Wheeler Christmas Eve

Why hello there.  Yes, I've been checked out this week, cleaning, re-cleaning, cooking, baking, you know... everything you dream about doing when you have a week off from work.  That was sarcastic but kinda not really... I love my shiny wood floors!  What I do NOT love is the fact that I'm cooking Christmas Eve dinner here and I don't want the house to stink like sauteed onions when everyone walks in.  They smell good and all but they're not very festive.  Instead, I will be making some stove top, homemade air freshener~

• Heat water in a saucepan on the stove. Allow to come to a simmer then turn it to low.

• Add the following to the now-heated water: cinnamon, cloves, allspice, vanilla, cinnamon sticks & oranges (from our over-flowing tree!)
  
  
• Warm, toasty and non-onion-y!

For Christmas Eve Dinner, my family tradition is to serve mexican food.  It's usually enchiladas and tamales and my dad and I typically get really bad heartburn and everyone over-eats.  This year I'm trying to tone it down but keep it Mexican.  I'm making Chicken Posole Soup with Lime & Avocado from the January issue of Sunset~

I'll also be making homemade black beans and brown rice and Chicken Chili Verde tacos.  Basically I bought rotisserie chickens from Costco and will be shredding the chicken and tossing it into a pot of this blend: tomatillos, cilantro and onions (after a quick meeting with the food processor!)  Easy peasy and heartburn free... I hope!


I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas (or had a very Happy Hannukah!) and I'll leave you with one last family tradition...

CHRISTMAS GIFT!

(for non-Thorntons, we all scream this at each other on Christmas morning and the person who says it first wins.  The craftiest person who gets the most people that morning wins the entire "competition."  Don't ask.)