Exotic Christmas Dinner Dishes

We're planning an exotic Christmas dinner while the snow is flying, the wind is whipping, and the temperature is sub-zero. Good for us! The traditional roasted bird or baked ham would be just fine, but when it's so danged cold out, why not opt for an
exotic Christmas dinner? Why not take a trip to the Caribbean?

Beyond that, our exotic Christmas dinner can be even easier to prepare than the traditional fare, and spare us time in the process.

Let's take that ham, and create an exotic ham dish recipe. It doesn't have to be fancy. We simply slice up the ham, scoring the fat into the garbage disposer. We can make the ham slices as thick or thin as we choose. Then we combine a can of pineapple chunks and juice, and some maple syrup, and pour our glaze over the ham slices. We can choose our own seasonings, such as pepper and/or allspice. If we simmer the pot or pan for just a half-hour, the ham should be nice and tender and there we have it, Christmas dinner.

Oh, wait, we need a side dish. Okay. Toss some chopped sweet potatoes into the pot or pan for the final 10 to 15 minutes of cooking, and we can cook our side dish right alongside our main dish.

Will our family members and friends exclaim, "Wow, this really is an exotic Christmas dinner?" Naw, they'll probably take us for granted, but we're used to that.

We might have a better chance of attracting their notice if we add an exotic Christmas dinner soup to the menu, namely Caribbean black bean soup.

First, we heat out trusty pot on medium high and coat the bottom with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. If we don't have extra virgin olive oil, then simple cooking oil will do. We saute our minced onions, bell peppers, red peppers, cilantro, and jalapenos to taste. Then we add two teaspoons of ground cumin, one teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and a few pinches of black pepper and salt. Into this cauldron, we pour in a cup of hot water, a 15-ounce can of reduced fat coconut milk ("hey mon!") and a couple pounds of black beans. Once we reach a boil, we let our soup simmer. Some folks like to mash the black beans with a blender, but we opt to simply let them cook for a good long time.