Monday, January 4, 2010

Holiday Round-up ...


Good morning and belated Happy New Year wishes to all!

The husband and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home, which is just what the doctor ordered after an eventful holiday week. A couple of delicious steaks, some champagne at midnight and a few episodes of "The Honeymooners" marathon, was all this Diva needed to usher in the new year. I hope it will be a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous one for all of us!


This year we broke with tradition and dined on an amazing stuffed crown roast of pork for Christmas dinner. We ordered it from our favorite Italian market, Liuzzi's, and it was spectacular. All I had to do was pop it in the oven for a few hours ... then take all the credit! I made some mashed potatoes and steamed green beans to go with ... wow, it was heavenly! So good that we may well have a new holiday tradition in the making here. Yum!

Later there was mulled wine (pictured above) and all sorts of cookies, pies and desserts. Suffice it to say, our holiday was delicious in every way. And now its time to get back to business and back on the diet!

Stay tuned for some new and healthy recipes this week. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly feeling the need to detox a bit and return to a more simple - and sugar-free - way of eating!

Long-time readers will recall that this Diva is not prone to making resolutions. This year is no different - though I am planning to learn Spanish and have promised myself I'll finally get around to that blog redesign I've been planning for a year now. Only time will tell!

So, have you made an resolutions for the year? Or are you firmly in the non-resolution camp? Curious Diva wants to know.

Bon appetit!

21 comments:

Donna-FFW said...

Happy New Year to you!!

What a gorgeous crown roast! You deserve all the credit, it was your choice of meal:)

Unknown said...

Wow, that is one impressive dinner daaaaahling! Happy 2010!
*kisses* HH

Fresh Local and Best said...

Happy new year! No resolutions for me. The holidays are a stressful time of year for me, and for better or worse I break away from tradition as much as possible. It looks like you guys had a wonderful NYE dinner!

Anonymous said...

The pork crown roast is absolutely gorgeous! Sounds like such a terrific dinner! Happy New Year!

words...words...words... said...

That roast looks tremendous! Is that ground pork or stuffing in the top of it? And those cookies look amazing. I posted a picture of the cookies I made about a week back. Happy New Year!

The Diva on a Diet said...

LOL, Donna, I like the way you think! Happy New Year to you too!

HH - and a very Happy New Year to you as well!! Here's to a delicious 2010!

FLB - The holidays seem like a fine time to both break traditions and start some new ones of your own. I hope you enjoyed the celebrations in whatever way was best for you and that 2010 will be a wonderful year for you too!

5 Star - it was every bit as good as it looks - and good when reheated later in the week as well. Happy New Year to you too!

words words words - this one was stuffed with a bread stuffing, though I believe a pork stuffing was also an option ... perhaps for next year! I'm off to catch up on your blog right now and take a look at those cookies! Happy New Year!

The Diva on a Diet said...

p.s. - the cookies pictured in this post were courtesy of my sister in law ... and they were spectacular! Perhaps next year I'll get her to share some recipes. :)

stephchows said...

i resolve to not stress about wedding planning and just have a grand old time!

pixelgal said...

Welcome back to cyberspace, my Diva! The pictures serve to remind me of the happy time we had eating that roast and celebrating everything. Couldn't have had it without my favorite chef who did indeed choose this delicious dinner. And some of the cookies were made by you, no???
Happy 2010 again.
XXXXOOOO

Delicious Dishings said...

Ooh that crown roast looks amazing. That was one of the things I thought about making for New Year's.

I made a list of resolutions (more like foodie to-dos) over on my blog. Just some things that I want to try to accomplish.

Christo Gonzales said...

that roast looks so great - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lyndsay Wells said...

Om SWEET Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That looked so good!

I've wanted to break tradition and do something like that for years but the PB is dead set against anything other than turkey.

Happy New year!

JAMJARSUPERSTAR said...

Happy New Year to you too!
Looking at the green beans on one of your photos makes me crave them - I'm not a regular eater of green beans because here they're really stringy and not very appetising, not juicy and obviously pea-filled like those beauties!
Ciao

Scarlet xoxo
P.S. Your dinner looked very impressive - I just put a lazy spread on and told peeps to eat what they fancied!

Wilma said...

Hello Diva-in-law,
Thanks for the props on the cookies. There were a couple of keepers in there that I'd love to share next sugarfest..I mean Christmas. For now I am on board with the detox. Not going cold turkey, January is a long month in the world of monthly salaries and we will be stretching a few meals with rice, potatoes and the sort. But the party is most certainly over. I will be looking to your diva delicious recipes to incorporate into our meal plans.
For the record, I'm in the crown roast camp. Nice and simple and most scrumptious. We may have to bribe your bro with some kind of crustacean substitute though.
Best with the healthier eating, I'm right there with you sista!
K
(You see Wilma in the post because I am using her new blog account to post here)

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Happy New Year! Sounds like the perfect way to wrap up a wonderful week of celebration!

The Diva on a Diet said...

steph - that might just be the smartest resolution I've heard so far! You're right, enjoy it all and have a wonderful 2010!!

pixelgal - yes, my cookies were there, of course, but not in this particular picture. So glad the roast (and everything else!) worked out as it did. I might not want to wait another year to have that crown roast again! :)

Megan - the roast is great for a crowd ... it serves so many we had plenty of leftovers! I should probably make some blog resolutions too ... will pop over and check yours out. Happy 2010!

doggybloggy - Happy New Year, my friend! Hope to see you soon!

Maven - we're usually a turkey-on-Christmas family too ... but Mama Diva has grown weary of the turkey clean up and so have I! This was a nice change and the clean up wasn't bad at all. Happy 2010 to you and yours too!

Scarlet!!! I've missed you so! Will pop round to wish you and your blog a Happy New Year! So good to see you. :) I love the sound of your do it yourself buffet - that's my favorite way to entertain! xoxoxo

Wilma and K! Hey there SIL and favored pug! How excited am I about your new blog?! Yay! I will add you to my blogroll immediately. Nice! Will def. hit you up for some cookie recipes next December ... your tray was amazing and I'm wishing I had more of those pb balls. Yum! That said, I'm trying to get back on the straight and narrow myself ... going to be a tough-go this time, but we'll do it!!! Love you!

Katherine - a very Happy New Year to you and yours as well! Hope you had a wonderful holiday season. :)

Deb said...

Just returning to the beachy way of eating and trying not to drop the "f"bomb so often in my daily speech - so far so good on both accounts. I'm on day 5 of South Beach phse one to detox all that holiday sugar and so far no "f" bombs uttered aloud.

Happy New Year dear Diva!

aoife mc said...

Your dinner looks amaaaazing. Hope you had a really happy holiday!

The Diva on a Diet said...

Deb - you're a better gal than I ... trying not to drop the "f" bomb would surely do me in! Can I even go a minute without using it?! (Those who know me ... don't answer that!) ;)

Good for you for getting back on Phase 1 after the holidays. I can't say the same here, but I'm easing back into the SB little by little. :)

Aoife - belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too! I hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday season!! :)

s said...

im new here...but now im a fan!!!!

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