My senses have become so much more pronounced to the point where I find commercial meats repulsive. Am I becoming vegetarian? Do you really wanna know? Journey with me and together we shall discover what the future holds. I love meat and I do wanna eat meat, but I’m beginning to smell other things whenever I’m prepping commercial meats. It’s kinda like when I was pregnant and couldn’t stand the smell of perfumes and sodas were so harsh, they didn’t have a chance of passing my throat. That was 25 years ago and I wasn’t even health conscious back then. Now that I’m CEO of my health, I totally get it. As much as I try, I’m still not able to tolerate sweet smelling perfumes, so I gave up on that.

I didn’t give up on my chicken though. I sure graced my Christmas dinner table with a lovely fresh, hormone free chicken which was sourced from local farmers. Thank God for farmers!  Before I began prepping the chicken, I actually held the chicken up to my nose to smell it. I’m so weird, right? Usually when I remove a commercial chicken from the bag, the smell always, automatically waft its way up my nose and cause me to gag. I’m more than happy to say, that with my hormone free chicken, there was absolutely no smell. In the back of my head, I was thinking, “there has to be a smell.”  So, I held it up to my nose just to be sure. No buyer’s remorse here.

Look at my plate! Food excites me! If I’m considering going vegetarian, I might as well make my food pleasing to the eyes and palate.

I remember exactly when my taste buds went into overdrive. I was pregnant with my first born son, Robert and boy let me tell you; OMG food was d’luscious! I was 20 years old and prior to my pregnancy, I had never been a big eater. I would be the first one to give away my food at the dinner table. My greedy cousins use to sit there and wait for my left overs, because they knew I wouldn’t finish the plate. Once my taste buds revved up, I ate everything under the sun AND I thought about all the food that I had given away when I was younger. I sure did! There I go with my weird self again. But seriously though, I really wanted all my food back.

How did I go from barely eating to devouring and nourishing my body with nature? This has gotta be the most vegetarian Christmas I’ve ever had. All this green love all over the table. I’ve always loved my veggies. In my opinion, lettuce and tomatoes are super boring and I personally can’t and refuse to eat that every day as a salad; unless of course, its not the usual everyday lettuce. It’s  been about 100 years since I’ve purchased an ice berg lettuce. However, let me stumble upon an unfamiliar leaf and see how quickly it makes it’s way into one of my recipes. I’ve been using dandelion in my juices for a few years now. It’s on the bitter side and might I add, excellent for my kidneys. When I need that really authentic kidney flush, dandelion does it for me, but today, it’s being reserved for a dandelion green salad with mint and parsley (which is also excellent for the kidneys) and more green with the addition of lima beans and sweet peas. Whenever my creative juices flow, I create salads that are simply fantabuluscious!

I added persimmons to my plate because they are oh so sweet and in season, along with some feta cheese. I forgot to add a photo of my homemade salad dressing. So Sorry.

I adapted this chicken recipe from my cookbook and my good smelling, super expensive, hormone free chicken was lit! It better be! Shoot, I paid a little over $16 for my hormone free chicken and it was well worth it. I could have gotten roughly 3 chickens for that price, but I didn’t need to be turned off. I seriously contemplated not cooking for Christmas because all I had in my freezer was beef, pork, lamb and fish. I had cooked fish two days ago and wasn’t in the mood for any right now. If I had cooked the beef or pork, I would not have eaten it because I was afraid of the smell. On top of that beef and pork doesn’t taste that great to me anymore. If I had disposed of them, I would have gotten cursed out, cause I’m the only one in the house that is having an issue with commercial meats. Their senses have a little ways to catch up with mine. I still have to cook and feed everyone what they want. I encourage, but I don’t force anyone to eat the way I do.  Whew, I can’t wait to restock.

My cucumber dill salad is so sophisticated and sexy. Just like me! Yes I’m conceited.

I told you it was a Vegetarian Christmas dinner. Did I ever mention how much my body loves and appreciate warm food? I roast damn near everything! Roasting vegetables enhances the flavor and takes it to an unprecedented level.

Can you see my root vegetable gratin?

Now closer.

Look at all that cheese oozing!!!!!!! I used a mix of root vegetables. That orange on the top right there isn’t a block of cheese. It’s butternut squash. Move over potatoes!

More roasted root vegetables! Roasted carrots are the business!
And that cake; it’s a Carrot Beet Spiced Fruit cake and it’s freaking awesome!!!

My Carrot Beet Spiced Fruit cake is not the kind of fruit cake that humans avoid. You know the ones with the big ugly fruits protruding from every angle, that can also be used as a weapon? It’s not that one. This is the Jamaican version of a Christmas fruit cake;, the traditional cakes Jamaica bakes during the Christmas holidays. Only mine isn’t so traditional, cause I like variety. In my version, you can’t see the fruits because they are pureed, which adds much moisture while enhancing the flavor AND it’s laced with rum and wine.

I call this my fruit cake pudding and yes that was my slice. Don’t hate. It’s a cross between a cake and a pudding.  I used specific baking methods to achieve the texture I desired. It is indeed a winner AND it’s laced with rum and wine too. I can’t drink to save my life, so I might as well put all my liquor in a couple of cakes.

How was your Christmas dinner?