I know I’m going to get a LOT of flak about the dinner I served our family to celebrate Hanukah.  

Honestly, I’m sorry ahead of time and also I’m going to add-

GET OVER IT NOW.

Yes, we eat pork in this house.  Refrigeration has improved immensely since biblical times.  So forgive my menu, don’t read this column if it offends-but I served a crown roast of pork loin for dinner.

My reasons?  It only needed my husband to heft it out of the freezer and defrost in the roasting pan for a couple of days.  Then I just encrusted it with garlic, kosher salt and pepper before I stuck in the meat thermometer and set it to a safe 160 degrees.  My darling better half hoisted the darned thing into the waiting and pre-heated convection oven and shut the door.

Easy, delicious and I could focus on the sides.  I did make a potato kugel with the help of my daughters.  They brought down the food processor while I scrubbed the spuds and peeled the onion.  The processor shredded it all and the girls used the food ricer to squeeze out the water.  I stirred in some egg beaters, garlic, kosher salt and pepper and I used the second oven to bake it off.

I know latkes are the traditional, but I’m in no condition to stand on my bruised and battered legs and fry anything and then clean up the mess.

I made a no-sugar and homemade cran/apple/carrot relish to be the last side.  It was great on the kugel and the boys thought it was the best “vegetable” they had eaten since Auntie Sam’s roasted butternut squash the week before.

The meal was finished with hot chocolate and marshmallows for those that preferred it to coffee or tea.  I whipped up some low-fat brownies dusted with traditional blue and white nonpariels.

So you see, except for the main protein, I did serve a pretty traditional and healthy (hey, wait a minute, the pork was lean, mean and healthy!)Hanukah dinner.

Happy Holidays to you all.