Christmas Eats

I actually don't care for a lot of "holiday" food.  

I don't like stuffing--let's be honest folks, it's soggy bread.  

I don't like yams that are full of sugar and covered in marshmallows--if you're gonna eat a yam or a sweet potato, just treat it like a potato!  Don't try to mask its taste with all that extra stuff.

I only like cranberries if they are from fresh berries.  Cannot stand that canned stuff.

I don't like green bean casserole or any other casserole that has a cream-of-X soup in it or is covered with those crispy fried onion bits stuff.

I don't like ham a lot of time--unless it's a really expensive kind.  If it's the kind from the regular market it's just got a strange texture and squeaks on my teeth.  

But, I LOVE the holidays.  So I have to do my own thing.  One thing I adore is Christmas breakfast.  I love breakfast in general, which is not cereal.  Cereal is a great snack.  Breakfast is warm and buttery and requires a fork.  Christmas breakfast especially.  The oven must be turned on.  And it should take a good long time to eat it, while we sip coffee or tea and watch the sun move across the window.

Christmas Breakfast

Fruit Parfait (fruit, angel food cake, fruit dip)
Cinnamon Toast (from Trader Joe's)
Baked Egg in Ham Cup with Fontina and Dill

Baked Eggs

Christmas Dinner

Beef Wellington with Red Wine Sauce
(Gana and I had a good cut of meat,
but the kids' I made with ground beef.)
Mashed Potatoes
Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Served up with a Cabernet Sauvignon

Eggnog Shortbread Trifle, AKA a little bit o' heaven

Tea Floats

This was our dessert last Sunday, while celebrating the fourth Sunday of Advent:

Tea Floats!

Zhenas Gypsy Organic Chocolate Chai Tea

with a scoop of Trader Joe's Vanilla ice cream

and a sprinkling of chocolate chips to punch it up a bit

I can't get this picture to flip.  My computer is in the hospital (read: the basement),
so for the time being I'm using Gana's laptop
and he doesn't have the same programs I'm used to using.

Any time is tea time when it comes with ice cream and chocolate chips!

Chia Pudding

I'm a little late to the chia party.  All the health conscious people I know have been recommending chia seeds for a while.  I finally tried them recently.  Guess what?  I'm in love.  They go in our morning oatmeal daily.  they get sprinkled in and on top of bread.  They get tossed into smoothies.

Today I debuted them for dessert!  

Actually, Meg made this by herself.

Chia Pudding

(enough for our crowd!)

1 1/2 cups organic black chia seeds

about six cups unsweetened almond milk

sugar to taste

about 2 teaspoons vanilla

pinch of salt

Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.  Let it set for about 45 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so.  This will thicken by itself.  It will be sort of like tapioca pudding.

Top with fresh whipped cream.

Can dessert be healthy?  I say "Yes!"

Family Time

For four Sundays leading up to Christmas we observe Advent as a family.  We eat something delicious, including dessert!  We light our candles, sing a hymn or two, and Daddy reads some Scriptures.

Sometimes we follow that with a craft or Mommy reading a Christmas book--Max Lucado, Tommie dePaola, or classic Dickens.  Tonight we watched Christmas movies after dinner.

We had Brats and Roasted Cabbage Wedges for dinner.  And for dessert, Pumpkin Ricotta Fritters.  Nutella hot chocolate for the kids and Turtle Doves for Gana and me.

Pumpkin Ricotta Fritters


(I have no idea where I originally got this recipe!  I've been making these for years.  I've changed it only slightly.  I'd love to give proper credit to it's source, but I don't know where that is.)

1 cup whole milk ricotta
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1/4 powdered sugar, plus a bit more for sprinkling on the top
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
a pinch of salt
oil for deep frying
honey for garnish

In a large bowl combine the ricotta, pumpkin, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, spices and salt.  Mix until smooth.

Heat oil until the handle of a wooden spoon causes bubbles to form around the tip when immersed.

Drop batter by heaping teaspoon full into the hot oil.  Fry until done, turning once.

Drain well on towel.  Transfer to another serving dish (or as I did in small paper sacks) and sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with honey.

Nutella Hot Chocolate

For one serving:

Heat 1/4 cup of whole milk with a few spoonfuls of Nutella.  Whisk until blended.  Add about 3/4 more milk and a pinch of cinnamon.  Heat slowly while whisking it to make it frothy.  Serve in a mug, topped with freshly whipped cream and marshmallows.

Oh, yeah..............

Comfort Food

My Grandfather recently passed away.  Not living in the same town anymore I wasn't able to help much with funeral preparations.  So, I volunteered to cook.  It was an act of love for my Grandpa whom I love and miss dearly (he loved to eat), for my Grandma, and for my Mom.  And, to be honest, it was something I did for myself.  I needed some good comfort food and cooking is therapeutic for me.

I had some lovely help the day before with prep, namely my cousin Liz and my Aunt Becky.  Several ladies of my parents church pitched in and made dozens and dozens of delicious cookies and served the day of the funeral.  I cannot thank them enough.

Feta Olive Tarts with Rosemary

Antipasti

Breadsticks (from Trader Joes) with roasted garlic

Layered Salad

Baked Ziti

Homemade french bread with whipped butter and herbs

Cookies, lovingly made by the women of The Revival Center

Cheesecake and fruit

 "I sometimes think the chef end of cooking is not the real end of cooking.  Cooking is all about homes and gardens, it doesn't happen in restaurants."  --Delia Smith

Food has a way of bringing people together.  Diners let their guards down over the appetizer.  Over the main course cares ease and the mind starts to be refreshed.  Over dessert and coffee people bond and heal and share their lives.  Sometimes it feels as if one had the right menu we could reconcile the world.

Mother's Day Eats

I had a very FULL Mother's Day.  Full schedule and a full belly!

After breakfast (along with cards and gifts from the kids and Gana) we went to church.  Then it was home for snacks including:

Spicy Shrimp Inari

 Then Gana grilled and we enjoyed a huge lunch as a family (while the Lakers lost their dignity).

Fiddlehead ferns with salt and vinegar



Pork Tenderloin with Lavender Sea Salt



Artichokes with a Parmesan dipping sauce

So, I let the kids do the dishes while I took a brief nap.  Then I had a hot date:

Luc took me out for Cold Stone where we had a Love It sized All Lovin' No Oven.
(Cake Batter ice cream with cookie dough, whipped cream and fudge.)
The best part--He paid and treated me like a lady!

Came home, had a little rest and then it was my next big date, with Israel.  He took me to the movies (Gnomeo and Juliet) and bought me a big popcorn.

I came home and crashed.  My pregnant digestive system was screamin'!  And I was one happy Mama!

Leftover Passover

When life gives you charoset,

make pie!

Charoset is a mixture of apples, walnuts, cinnamon, and red wine.  There are many variations (some including figs, ginger, etc.) but that's the basic recipe.  You eat it with matzoh during the Passover Seder.  It represents the mortar used by the children of Israel while slaves in Egypt.

It's very tasty.  But still, we made too much.  What's a mom to do?  Surely, one cannot throw out red wine soaked apples and walnuts!  No way!  I threw together a chocolate crumb crust on the bottom and a basic crumb for the top.  Baked to golden perfection.

Christmas Eats

Now you will see where I get my intense foodiness.  This is the feast my mother prepared on Christmas!

Salad with pears, pomegranate seeds, and candied walnuts

Rustique Bread

Burgundy Mushrooms





New potatoes with parsley and tons of butter

Beef Wellington

Yule Log, a family favorite. 
It would not feel like Christmas dinner was complete
without a slice of this and a cup of tea!



We like my Mom's Yule Log so much, she has to make three!

I *heart* Summer

Red, White and Blue enough to make you green with envy

A post from my daughter Meg, age 9:

Meg's Holiday Pizza

Ingredients:

Philo dough

Sugar

1 stick butter

1 block cream cheese

Splash of vanilla

teaspoon of lemon juice

strawberries

blueberries

Directions:

Put the philo dough between two damp towels.  Get a round pan and put one layer of philo dough on pan.  Brush on melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.  Keep doing this until the last layer.  Then bake it at 350F until done.  Then cool completely.

Make the sauce:  Whip the cream cheese in a medium bowl, put a splash of vanilla, lemon juice, and sugar to taste.  Spread it on the cooled pastry.  And decorate it with strawberries and blueberries.  Or choose what you want to put on it.

Daja: For dessert, we also had Ciliege e Vino (cherries in wine) over ice cream.  OH. MY. WORD.  You should try this.  It was really fresh and sweet and a bit spicy.  Over some organic natural vanilla ice cream it was SMOOTH.

Our first Fourth in our new house.  Our house is beautifully situated for Independence Day celebrations!  Next year, we just might do it big!  From the upper balcony (yes we have more than one), you can see the most amazing view.  And on the horizon line you can see about 20 different firework displays!  We had a blast!

Happy National Donut Day!

Today being Donut Day, we made homemade cake donuts.  I ate five.  Not proud of that, I'm just saying.

Meringue with Strawberries and Chocolate

This was our dessert last night at our Seder, which I found on About.com searching for Kosher Foods.  You know how difficult it is to find a dessert that contains no flour, leaven, milk, or butter?

But this was worth the search!  Very tasty, very easy, quick to serve and it looks beautiful on the plate--which is half the point of eating in my book!

The kids have asked that we eat it every Passover.

Recipe can be found here.

Good Eats And Drinks On The Cruise

In January, I spent an epic four days with my girlfriends on a cruise to Mexico.  There's pictures on the other blog, but I wanted to post the food and drinks over here.  We ate well.  We ate a lot.  Some nights I ate two dinners and most mornings I ate two breakfasts!

Fish tacos, ceviche, and Coronas in Mexico.

Teppanyaki

Having my cake and eating it, too.

Eggplant Parmesan

Melting Chocolate Cake

(tastes like every other chocolate dessert you've ever had was supposed to taste)

Kiss On The Lips

Blue Moon