Ladies, Christmas morning can be chaotic and exciting, and one must remain aware at all times what is in the oven. One must not spend time looking for a misplaced glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream while worrying if there is enough Bailey’s Irish Cream in the world to satisfy your refined taste of alcohol and cream in the morning.

In amongst the din of Vince Guaraldi, the crackling of the Channel 5 TV Fireplace,  the crinkling of wrapping paper and the click click of one’s husband doing web updates, one must be aware when the timer goes off announcing the completion of a turnip puff. This Christmas, disaster was averted as my mind, about 10 minutes after the beeping of the timer, realized it was meant to remind me that there was indeed a turnip puff in the oven waiting patiently to be taken out and cooled to be transported to Mom’s for Christmas dinner. It is a little more brown than we’re used to, but hopefully we’ll all had enough wine by then we won’t even notice.

Further, it is time the Big Fat Lie of Christmas be revealed. It is not really a turnip puff that I make, but a rutabaga puff.  You see, the recipe calls for turnips, and about 10 years ago, when I took over the responsibility of making this Christmas dish for Mom, I had no idea what a turnip looked like. So I did what I do, and quizzed the Produce Man at Safeway to point me in the direction of turnips. He took me to a bin full of tiny little turnip shaped things and I said, “I’ve never seen these before, and I need six cups worth”. The Safeway Produce Man then indicated that the cost would be dear, and that perhaps my Mom had used rutabaga. We wandered over to the rutabaga bin, and behold, there was a vegetable I was familiar with as I had spotted it in Mom’s fridge Christmases past. The cost was minimal, and a Christmas tradition continued.

Full credit must be given to the Best of Bridge ladies for this recipe shown in the picture above. You will see my scribbles on the recipe, made over a decade ago. Ignor the incorrect spelling in said scribbles as it was only this morning I discovered rutabega is spelled rutabaga.

To learn about rutabaga, click on the title of this post to be transported to Wikipedia. Read it, and then impress your friends and family as you recite your new found knowledge over dinner today.

Merry Christmas everyone!
xoxoxoxo