PHOENIX — Watch Today in AZ from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. this week to learn about the dishes that bring families together.
From desserts to main courses, our 12 News team is sharing a variety of family favorites.
Rachel McNeill shares her oyster stuffing recipe Tuesday:
Our holiday menu is a blend of cultures much like my family. Rich, fragrant and spicy dishes reflect our heritage: Jamaican, Indian, British with a dash of Texan! Right next to turkey with all the traditional American trimmings, we’ll enjoy Yorkshire pudding and mango chutney on the side. Since I’m definitely not a cook and have been banned from preparing most dishes, most of the cooking is done by my mom, Monica, and family friends who we’ve grown up with since moving to America from Jamaica in 1978.
I absolutely adore my mom’s spicy oyster stuffing. It’s a twist on traditional stuffing with the smoked oysters and then a kick that comes from scotch bonnet pepper, which is from the Caribbean and is widely considered to be one of the hottest peppers in the world. Bit of advice: if you cook with scotch bonnet pepper, remove the seeds unless you have a death wish. Sometimes just touching your food directly on it is enough to make your eyes water.
This year, since we are celebrating the holidays in our new home in Phoenix, we are bringing our traditions with us. Since cooking is not my forte, I do love hosting the holiday dinners along with my husband, Wayne and our two sons, Lionel (11) and Hudson (8). We’re really looking forward to celebrating our first holiday season in the Valley and starting some new traditions here. Christmas is a very big deal for my family. We all get together for Christmas Eve mass, then we all change into our matching holiday pajamas. From the grandparents on down to my baby nephew, everyone gets a new pair of matching holiday PJs every year. It’s a tradition we’ve had in our family for as long as I remember. You can only imagine the collection of garish holiday PJs we’ve amassed over the years!
Our big family dinner is on Christmas Day, long after everyone’s had a chance to recover from the morning frenzy of opening gifts from Santa. This year, I’m preparing my mom’s spicy oyster stuffing and found it to be much easier than anticipated! Hopefully, my family agrees! We always cap things off with a Boxing Day Brunch at home with traditional Jamaica breakfast foods and plenty of mimosas! Happy Holidays!
Tap here for the Oyster recipe.
This holiday season, Emma Jade spent some time cooking with "Mama Great," her children's great-grandmother who raised 12 children of her own and is an expert baker. One of her favorite recipes to share with loved ones are her butter flake rolls! She invited Emma and the kids over for a fun afternoon of baking and learning from the master herself!
Tap here for the recipe for Butter Flake Rolls or see it below.
We stepped inside Trisha‘s kitchen to see how she makes this sweet holiday treat with her mom and twin daughters Friday.
Rocky Road Squares are one of Trisha’s family favorites. For as long as she can remember, the chocolatey, marshmallow, peanut treats have always been on the dessert table during the holidays.
The recipe came from Trisha’s Grandma Frankie’s cookbook. She hopes to pass this delicious recipe on to her daughters. In fact, they helped Trisha and her mom whip up this batch. A big bonus? This is a ‘no-bake’ recipe, so you don’t have to heat up the oven. Just a couple hours of chilling these Rocky Road Squares in the fridge and they transform into bites of perfection.
See the recipe below or tap here.
Colleen Sikora shared her Oatmeal Crispy Cookies recipe Thursday. See the recipe below or tap here.
The holidays in the Sikora house are filled with a fond memories of family, laughter, and sharing good food.
One of the staples for us includes Oatmeal Crispy Cookies. They’re a recipe passed down from my maternal grandmother, Dorothy. The description is right in the name. It’s not your typical soft, chewy oatmeal cookie. We always recommend pairing these with coffee, cocoa, or some milk.
No matter what, at least one batch is always made to share (and at least one batch to keep at home.) We hope you enjoy it as much as we have for decades!
Krystle Henderson's City Chicken was showcased Wednesday. Don't let the name fool you. See the recipe below or tap here.
Paul Gerke's gingerbread cookies were featured Tuesday. Tap to see the recipe here or see it below.
Here is the recipe that Mitch Carr showcased Monday. You can also click here to see it.
ON YOUTUBE: 12 News Holiday Recipe Favorites
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