Thanksgiving Dinner - Plan B

We usually have my in-laws drive up from Tennessee for Thanksgiving. This year they are coming for Christmas instead. And looking ahead we decided to make a Mexican lamb dish called Barbacoa for Christmas dinner. Since we've never made barbacoa before, we decided to make a trial run of it for Thanksgiving. This way we would know how to tweak the recipe or decided to make something else all together.

Barbacoa is a Mexican version of barbeque. This one calls for a pan of veggies and water set underneath the roasting lamb. As the lamb cooks, the drippings go into the pan beneath it creating a soup that is served on the side. We first tried this dish at Andale, one of our favorite restaurants. It's what inspired us to try to make it at home.

My better judgement told me to put the lamb in the oven early, like before noon. But after consulting two of the three recipes I found, I decided to wait until about 2 this afternoon to begin cooking. Big mistake, BIG. It's now almost 8:30 and the lamb is STILL not done. Not even close. This is what it looked like as we put it in the oven.

So we rummaged through the freezer and are making stuffed grape leaves, a leftover hamburger and some Chinese noodles. Not what I had planned but at least it will be ready to eat before the lamb.

I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how it actually tastes. Then decide if we're going to still make it for Christmas or not. And if we do, you better believe that baby's going in the oven much earlier......say about day break.

Maybe tomorrow I'll let you know what we decided.