Christmas Cheer

I hope that all of my readers had a wonderful Christmas day, remembering the reason for the season - the glorious gift of salvation given to us by our blessed Savior.

We had a great day, quiet and peaceful. We made phone calls to loved ones and had a wonderful dinner with my parents.

Our menu was:

Peach Glazed Spiral Sliced Ham - this ham is from Burger's Smokehouse in California, MO, a City Ham. They do great hams and bacon.

For the peach glaze, I combined a can of Delmonte Harvest Spice peaches, drained, approximately 1/4 cup country Dijon mustard, about 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar. Pop that in the blender and then spoon over the ham while baking. (sorry for the pic, I forgot to take pictures until AFTER we ate - duh me!)


Winter Salad Supreme - just a nice green salad - I used mixed spring greens. Then top with Ranch salad dressing, some dried cranberries, tiny dice of swiss cheese and some caramelized almonds.

To make the caramelized almonds in a saucepan melt 2 Tablespoons butter. Then add 3/4 cup of sliced almonds. Stir and toast for about 4 minutes. Then add 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stir and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Dump onto foil to cool and break apart into little clumps.

No picture here as I used all the lettuce! Mandarin oranges are nice with this, instead of the cranberries - or use a vinagrette dressing.

Delmonico potatoes - I was looking for an Au Gratin recipe and stumbled across this. Very nice, we all loved these. From the Taste of Home Recipe book.

Makes an 8 x 8 pan.

5 medium potatoes

Scrub potatoes well. Place in pan, cover with water and cook 30-40 minutes or until fairly tender. Do not peel, do not cut. Drain potatoes and cool overnight in refrigerator. Take potatoes out, peel and shred coarsely. Grease an 8 x 8 pan. Place potatoes in pan.

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Place milk, cream, salt and spices in sauce pan and heat gently. When bubbles appear around the edge of the pan, stir in cheese. Stir in until good and melty. Pour sauce over potatoes and stir a bit.

Bake at 325F for approximately 50 minutes. I topped it with french fried onions for the last 10 minutes or so. Very moreish!


I believe next time I will stir in just a bit of lemon zest, spark it up a bit.

Brioche rolls - this is the recipe I posted earlier, please see the side bar under breads. Light and fluffy, smeared with real butter, a gourmet's delight! Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of these.

English Trifle - this is just my regular trifle, if you will scroll down in my side bar, I did a couple of posts on trifle earlier in the year. Homemade almond pound cake, sandwiched with seedless strawberry jam, sprinkled with Amaretto syrup. Then sliced strawberries (frozen) with sugar poured over top. Homemade trifle custard, flavored with a bit of rum extract on top of that. Then topped with homemade chantilly cream, some of my caramelized almonds and chocolate flakes. Can we say to die for?



All in all, a simple, yet quite tasty meal. As most of the prep work can be done the day before, very easy to execute also! I made the rolls, cake and trifle custard the day before. Also cooked my potatoes. The ham is as easy as taking out of the packaging, putting in a pan and baking, then glazing. The trifle just needed to be assembled. The salad was washed and put in a bowl, then toppings passed, as they were optional. That gave me plenty of time to enjoy the day with my family.

I hope each and every one of you had as good of a day!

Family Traditions

We may not have a lot of real family-oriented traditions (we like to try lots of new things) but one of my traditions has been to make kolaches at Christmas time and share them.

Kolaches are a Czech or Slovak pastry - a kind of sweet roll - similar I guess to a Danish. They are so good, kind of flaky and buttery, with fruit filling. Sometimes I put on popsika - another name for struesel. Sometimes powdered sugar icing. Any which way I fix them, they are good. The reason I only make them once a year is they are rather labor intensive!

Where my Mom and Dad were born, there are a lot of people who are of Czech ancestry. My Dad's mother made THE best kolaches. Mine still are not as good as I remember hers tasting. After we had moved to Missouri, she would make some and freeze them for when we came to visit.

You can fill kolaches with many different fruit fillings. I usually do blueberry, cherry and apple. The traditional ones are prune, apricot and poppyseed (an acquired taste). Poppyseed is probably my favorite.

I usually make them right before Christmas and then take some to people at church. This year I sent a dozen with Honey to work.

Kolaches
Makes 3 dozen

This dough is definitely not traditional, but it is oh, so good. I really think Grandma would have approved!

1 package (4 oz, the big box) vanilla cook-n-serve pudding mix
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 packages yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
5-5 1/2 cups flour

Make pudding as directed on box, but use only 1-1/2 cups milk. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and stir into pudding mixture. Beat in the eggs and salt and add enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto floured board and knead 10 minutes. The place in greased bowl and set in warm place until dough doubles in size. Pinch off balls of dough about the size of an egg and place on flat baking sheet, 1 dozen to a sheet. Take your fingers and gently pull the dough from the middle outwards to make a depression in the middle. Put in filling - not too much, about a scant tablespoon, maybe 2 teaspoons per roll. Let rise again until double. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool on rack.

For popsika:
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup flour
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons of melted butter

Combine all ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Sprinkle popsika over before putting in oven, if using.

If icing, let rolls cool, then drizzle with a simple powdered sugar icing. Solo sells the poppy seed filling - but it is an acquired taste apparently! Any good canned pie filling will do - but I make my own - these are a labor of love after all! I like to do a cheesecake one - about 2 oz. cream cheese, an egg yolk, little sugar and then some orange rind or mini chocolate chips.



Yes, I got my cherry filling a bit thin. But they are edible! For the brownish looking ones, I used Solo Almond filling, not almond paste, but a similar taste, just goopier! Very nice!

I love you Grandma!

Settling In

There are a lot of things to do in a new house. Not to mention all of the cleaning, but there are just things that have to be done. Furniture has to be arranged. Curtains have to be hung. Drawers have to be organized, as do cabinets. Windows may have to be fixed - we had 4 (storm windows)!

Then, when all the flurry is over, you can pause - Ahhhh! that is more like it! Got a nice, comfy home. Very quiet (except for the muffled "Poom, Poom" of the hunter's guns in the wetland). The cat has finally settled and decided he LIKES being the only cat in the house (he can have his pick of the laps now). The kitchen is finally organized so you feel like cooking something other than frozen pizza and fish sticks. It has been nippy, so the furnace is on, making the house nice and warm.

A routine has been established - I get up first and put coffee on, make Honey's lunch and fix him breakfast. He gets up a little later, but he makes the bed. Then I do my Bible reading while he eats and we discuss it afterwards and pray for our day. Our weekends have been busy, so we have yet to have a good Saturday breakfast, but that is coming, too.

We have things I would like - a dishwasher for one - but that can wait. For now, we are settled in!

I did manage to make these muffins one Saturday. Ummy, ummy good.

Cranberry Sour Cream Muffins

Makes 12

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, Slightly Beaten
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk (I had to add at least another 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups raw cranberries, Chopped
1/2 cup sugar

Sift together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking soda and salt into bowl. Combine egg, sour cream, milk and oil in small bowl; blend well. Add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring just enough to moisten. Combine cranberries and 1/2 cup sugar; stir into batter. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups, filling equally. Bake in 375°F oven 20 minutes or until golden brown.




These reheat well in the microwave. These were perfect with scrambled eggs and bacon, served with coffee and orange juice!

Sweet, oh, Sweet

We are having a pretty good week here. The weather has been just gorgeous - cool at night and warm during the day, but not hot. The leaves are starting to turn!



We went for a walk the other night on the Katy Trail and saw 2 snakes. Scared me silly! I hate snakes anyway and one I was sure was a baby copperhead. I looked on the internet tho and I think it was a corn snake. The other one was just a king snake I think.



We had a nice walk anyhow, crunching through the fallen leaves. I love autumn, when things seem to go into suspended animation some days, like they could stretch on forever and ever, like cosmic taffy.



The figs are finally starting to ripen. Although, we only have 2 on the tree. Last year we had loads! Oh, well.

After our walk, we came back and had a little sweet treat. I found this fab recipe for scones in my new Cooking for 2 magazine by TOH. Of course, I could not leave it alone, so it has my twist on it! I had baked them before we left and frosted them when we got back.

Caramel Apple Scones

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons cold butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons half-and-half
1 egg yolk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup shredded peeled apple

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix first 5 ingredients in bowl. Cut in butter. Mix egg yolk with half-and-half and vanilla in measuring cup. Toss apple with flour mixture. Stir in egg mixture. Turn on floured surface, knead 10 times (my dough was really sticky). Pat out and cut as you like - wedges, bars, etc. Bake 15-20 minutes. Cool. Frost with caramel frosting.



Original recipe called for drizzling with caramel ice-cream topping, but I like this frosting better.

Caramel frosting

1 tablespoon butter
1-1/2 Tablespoons half-and-half
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter, half-and-half and brown sugar in pan. Boil vigorously 1 minute. Remove from heat and beat in 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar. Cool slightly and beat in remaining sugar and vanilla. (I had to add just a bit more sugar) Frost scones.

Don't forget . . . only 2 more days until the giveaway!

Feeling like fall

Yep. Its feeling like fall to me. Despite the fact that it was 100 degrees here yesterday, it still feels like fall. Kind of like there is an essence of fall that filters through the air and my being drinks it in in great gulps, exhilarating me. So I am looking to some more "fallish" feeling recipes.

To me, scones are a right proper fall food. They are best eaten warm. You can drench them in butter and scarf them with a hot cuppa on a chilly afternoon. You can grab one and take it with you on an afternoon walk under the changing canopy of leaves. You just can't beat a good scone, hot and crusty and meltingly soft in the middle.

These are one of my favorite scones. They combine 2 favorites - apples and cheese. My neighbor gave me some Granny Smith apples the other day - very nice - and I made these. TOH recipe.

Apple-Cheese Scones

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup cold butter or margarine (5-1/3 tablespoons)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1 cup diced peeled apple

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk just until moistened. Gently fold in the cheese and apples. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times. Pat into a 9-inch circle.
7Cut into eight wedges. Separate wedges and place on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.



These make a good breakfast grab, they are not too sweet. Even my picky DS loves them!

Cornbread

Old-fashioned. Homey. Buttery. Crumbly. No matter how you want to describe it, cornbread is good stuff. My mother's family were country folks, old-fashioned. They ate a lot of corn bread.

There is a lot of controversy, still to this day, about how cornbread should be made. White versus yellow cornmeal. Buttermilk versus sweet milk. Sugar versus no sugar. Fried versus baked. I have eaten it several different ways, I like mine cooked in a cast iron skillet in the oven, yellow cornmeal, buttermilk and, depending on what I am eating it with, sweet or not. With beans, I prefer not sweet. With anything else, I like it a little sweet. Of course, you should always have it slathered (while still hot) with real butter and drizzled with honey.

The one way I DO NOT like cornbread is crumbled in a glass of milk. Might as well eat wet sand. Ick!

A lot of folks will put their cornbread in their bowl and then spoon their beans on top. Not me! I want them separate, thank you!

We had cornbread last night, crusty and hot, dripping with melted butter and drizzled with honey. I am sure that there will be cornbread served just this way at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Cornbread
Makes about 12 servings (yeah, right!)

2 cups cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix together dry ingredients. Add milk, eggs, and oil. Mix well. Turn into well-greased 10-inch cast iron skillet (or 13 x 9 pan). Bake at 425 degrees F for 35 minutes. We usually add a little sugar, 2 Tablespoons or so.

We buy our cornmeal from the Amish and Mennonite folks, they sell coarse-ground and fine. We buy a bag of each and mix it.



And photobucket is being unmanageable this morning, sorry!

The Staff of Life

Bread. That high-carb, best if fresh from the oven slathered with butter treat that most everyone loves. I have found that most men love homemade bread. They don't really care what kind, they like it. Don't matter if it is rolls or a loaf, either.

You can do so many things with bread - make a sandwich, bake your fillings in it, make a pizza, toast it, make stuffing. There are even some restaurants that have made their name by throwing it. Yes, Lamberts, home of the throwed rolls. No matter where you are, the chef will throw you a roll if you hold your hand up.

Bread is comforting. When my brothers and I were growing up, Mom would make homemade bread, 6 loaves and before the day was over, at least 2 of them would be gone. Fresh from the oven, slathered in butter and honey, move over Rover, because we will run you down!

Now that we are all grown, Mom does not make 6 loaves at one time. She does, however, have 2 bread makers. I love a bread maker, to make the dough for bread. I prefer to bake it in the oven, however. Just one of my quirks, I guess.

I like all different kinds of bread. Irish soda bread, french baguettes, naan, puris, lavosh, tortillas . . . . the list is very long. What I do not like is supermarket bread - that white doughy lumps that they call bread. Full of chemicals. Tasteless. That, dear readers, is why I am giving you the following recipe . . .

Brioche Rolls
1 dozen

This dough is made in a bread maker and I am listing the ingredients in the order that I put them in my breadmaker, which is a Wellbuilt. It makes a 1-1/2 pound loaf, if you want to bake it in the breadmaker.

3 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick or 1/4 lb.)
1/3 cup milk (70 to 80 degrees F)
3 Tablespoons water (70 to 80 degrees F)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 cups bread flour
1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Measure all ingredients into bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer. Process on dough cycle. When cycle is done, take dough out and divide it into 12 equal portions. This is a fairly soft, almost sticky dough. That is part of its charm! Place the dough balls in a 9 x 13 greased pan. Let rise for probably about 45 minutes. Snip the top of each roll lengthwise with kitchen shears. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and slather with melted butter. Serve forth with pride!



These rolls are super easy and will make people goggle. They are light, fluffy, buttery delicious. What are some of your favorite breads?

Vidalia Time

I like onions. Especially grilled or fried. We grew up eating onions, although I have one brother who will not touch them. Just recently, I discovered a pretty sure-fire way to not cry when you are chopping onions. Breathe through your mouth, not your nose. I have tried it several times with different types of onions and it has worked every time for me!

Onions are funny critters. There are many layers to an onion. It has kind of a hard shell on the outside, but the insides are soft. Humans are like that sometimes. We have many layers, many different aspects of our personality. And just like onions, humans come in many different colors, shapes, sizes. But they are all still onions. They have varying degrees of heat or sweetness.

The sweetest onions around here are Vidalia onions, grown in Georgia. That red clay down there must do something, because they are good. Only thing is, and it is a shame, they do not keep well. Vidalias come around in the spring and then fade away over the summer. Sometimes people are like that, they come into our life for a season and then fade away . . . .

Vidalias are big onions, nice and fat. (Like me!) They are sweet enough that some folks eat them like an apple. Now, I don't go that far, but I will eat Vidalias raw on a hamburger or in a salad. Today I am giving you another option.

Vidalia Onion Bread
Makes 1 loaf.



1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
3 Tablespoons butter
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1-3/4 cups sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sweet milk
2 cups buttermilk biscuit mix

Saute onions in 3 tablespoons butter.



When onions cool, add sour cream. Set aside. Combine eggs, salt and milk. Add to biscuit mix and stir until moistened. Lightly fold in sauteed onion and sour cream mixture.



Bake in greased loaf pan or 12 x 8 x 2 pan at 400 degrees F for 30-45 minutes. Time will depend on choice of pan.



Now, as you can see above, I love to mess about with a recipe. Instead of 1 loaf pan, I divided it into 2, which I don't really recommend because it does not rise much, and I put some pre-cooked bacon on top of one loaf. I really like it with the bacon, tho. This bread is really eggy and moist. I think would make fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches.

So what are some of your layers?? Don't be afraid to peel some away and show your heart!