Happy Festivus (for the rest of us) from the writers, chefs, management & staff of Reet Says Eat to you, our loyal and passionate readers.  

Have a prosperous and well-fed New Year!

Sally Walker's holiday beef tenderloin...

Ingredients:

• 6-8 lb whole tenderloin
• 2 lb mushrooms
• butter
• burgundy wine

Prepare:

• sprinkle with rosemary; rub garlic on top of roast
• tuck narrow end under (the roast's, not yours); remove connective tissue (fat)
• place tenderloin on wire rack in large roasting pan and stick a meat thermometer into the thickest part.
• roast at 450 degrees for about 45 minutes or to 140 degrees on the thermometer
• take out of oven and pour 1 cup (or more) burgundy wine over beef to make drippings
• slice into 1/2 inch thick portions
• saute' 2 lbs or more mushrooms in 1/2 cup butter; arrange around meat on festive platter and serve the starving masses. ENJOY!

important note: check meat sooner if you like it rare (we like it medium-rare) and don't forget that the roast will continue to cook for 10 minutes after you take it out; also, sometimes I have turned the oven down a bit towards the end.

Suggested music: Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding - (oh, she may be weary, young girls they do get weary, wearing that same old funky dress): 

Debbie D's Corn Bread Thing...

Ingredients:

a can of corn (I got it! I GOT IT!!!); do not drain
a can of cream corn; no, I said don't drain (you'll just have to hold it for now, I guess)
8 oz sour cream
1 stick of butter
1 pkg of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (holy shit, there's a lot of corn in this thing!)

Do it:

mix together in a 9"X7" pan
bake @ 350 degrees for one hour
seriously, that's it?

Comes out like cornbread, only mushier.  You kinda scoop it out.  It's good.

Start singing!

Jan DuBose's scandalously good chocolate chip cake

Ingredients:

• Duncan Hines Deluxe Yellow Cake Mix (Jan says that if you must make the cake mix from scratch, knock yourself out, but the cake won't be better than hers) 
• 1 package of instant vanilla pudding 
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil (I'm assuming cooking oil here, but let me know)
• 10 cups water NO, WAIT! Surely you cannot be serious. Yes, I AM serious, and DON'T call me Shirley!  Oh, Jan says make that ONE cup!  Sorry, my bad.

Prepare: 

• blend above ingredients and beat for 2 minutes (nice 'phones, Dre sez hey)
• add 1 package of MINI chocolate chips (Jan does not mention just how large this package should be; she has more faith in your decision-making than I do)
• add 4 oz of jimmies (pick your fav Jimmies:  Hendrix, Fallon, Durante, Rice for BoSox fans, etc.)
• pour into tube pan and bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour (we MUST caution once again that you DO NOT bake at 360 degrees, for you will be back where you started!)
• Slice and serve (not to be confused with a sliced serve, of which Jan has a beauty). 

Jan suggests a tasteful Victoria's Secret teddy just in case you've got some batter remaining and you're in a playful mood. Otherwise, stick it in the fridge.

Suggested music:
 

Broccoli Casserole Side Dish (from the Evelyn McGowan Collection)

Ingredients (yeah, you gotz ta go get this stuff first):
3 bags of chopped broccoli  (while chuckling, thinking of Dana Carver's "Choppin' Broccoli" skit)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
4 oz cheddar cheese
1 cup Helman's mayonaisse (like a Bat Out of Helman's)

Prepare (pre-game is over, it's crunch time!  YOU CAN DO THIS! ( always look on the bright side of life!):
butter up the baking dish (tell it it's the best looking baking dish ever!)
mix/melt the mushroom soup; then, mix in all other ingredients
top with toasted bread crumbs
bake (the casserole) in oven @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes

Done! Seriously, how easy was that!  Grab a Dos Equis, you were fantastic!

Serve as side dish (double/triple recipe if nothing else served).

Suggested music: Black Broccoli by Godzik Pink

A Great Sauce...

2 packages of onion soup mix
8 tablespoons of sugar
2 cups ketchup
1 cup of vinegar
1 cup of oil
4 teaspoons of dry mustard
2 cups of water
salt/pepper to taste

Bring to a boil, then cool before putting in meat.

Marinate overnight.