the week before Christmas

The week leading up to Christmas, I spent time with people I love.  My family, my friends.  That week I spent the better part of two days with the Young family of Evan, Holly, Kyle and Aiden.  I made them some dinner and we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History.  As many of my friends know, I LOVE dinosaurs! I also love museums, so spending time at this museum with my good friends was a super special experience.
As we slowly made our way through the museum and the little Young boys explored and were distracted, I thought of how blessed I am.  I have friends that whenever I see them, it's like no time has passed, although it really has, it reminds me of my parents and how they are with their really close friends Alain and Donna Balmanno, more on them later :)
The museum proved a wonderful distraction and escape from the cold winter outside and we had a great time discovering the exhibits and dismantling and reassembling the interactive displays especially for curious and inquiring minds.  Kyle asked various questions that we would struggle to answer appropriately, we asked each other questions about the origins and age of the universe.
Anyways, I'm a sucker for museums and this was a great one.  I purchased the required magnets and mug at the end - and found a STEAL of a book - a signed first edition of Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman for half price at the gift shop.   I bought it for my Dad for Christmas.

I made dinner later that night for Holly and Evan and their boys.
Kyle and Aiden(Holly and Evan's boys) have diet restrictions; Kyle, no dairy and Aiden, no dairy or gluten.  This limited me significantly in terms of what to make, but no fear. I figured something simple out.




Wild Rice pilaf with Caramelized Onions and Red Wine Sausage
1 pound or 500g Lundberg Mixed American Rice Pilaf (soak in water for a few hours ahead of time to speed up cooking)
Olive Oil
one large white onion
high quality sausage fresh sausage(not fully cooked already) 1lb or 500g (I used this one)
dry red wine - enough for poaching the sausage and deglazing the pan - 2 cups or so

set the rice to cook in the rice cooker or on the stove(2 parts water to 1 part rice), salt the water.
poach the sausages in water with a healthy splash of red wine and a pinch of salt.
don't boil, just simmer until cooked through and the casings are solid, remove and let cool, after they are cool slice the sausage and set aside
halve the onion and slice, saute in a skillet with olive oil
cook on medium temperature until the onions start to caramelize , then add the sausage to brown and crisp a bit on the edges - add a splash of red wine to deglaze the pan and add some flavor to the onions
when the rice is done, it can be tossed in the frying pan and stir fried a bit to gather some of the flavor from the sausage and onions or it can served with the sausage and onions on the side
it is also good served with soy sour cream