I'm cooking inside

As soon as we finished putting up the tree, Thatboy turned to me and said, "So when are we having people over to see it?" Have I mentioned that Christmas revolves around a tree for my husband?

So I told him we'd start inviting people over. After all, it's not the holidays without friends is it? Which reminded me that other people are probably planning their holiday parties and potlucks right now. So I thought I'd post some great appetizer ideas. Tis the season. And while Christmas revolves around a tree for Thatboy, for me it's all about the company!

Breakfast in Blankets
These are perfect for holiday brunches, breakfasts or when you're heading over somewhere Christmas morning.

• 2 sheets puff pastry
• 8 chicken breakfast sausages
  

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cook sausages in a pan until done.
2. Roll out sheets of puff pastry and cut along diagonal so that each sheet yields 4 triangles.
3. Roll each sausage in the triangles.
4. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes.
   

Dill Dip

• 1 cup Nonfat yogurt
• 8 oz sour cream
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 1/2 tsps dill weed
• 1 1/2 tsps seasoned salt

1. Blend all ingredients together in bowl and chill.

Sausage Bites

• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup tomato soup
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp mustard
• 2 polish sausages, cut into slices

1. Cook onions in butter in pan over medium heat until onions are transparent.
2. Add all ingredients but sausages. Stir well.
3. Add sausages and heat on low heat 2 minutes or until sausages are heated through.

Fruit Dip

• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 8 oz sour cream
• Sliced pears, apples, strawberries, raspberries

1. Blend together sugar and sour cream.

Spiced Peanuts

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups peanuts
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic salt

1. Melt butter on skillet over high heat. Add rest of the ingredients and stir to mix.
2. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until nuts brown.
3. Drain on paper towel.

Deviled Eggs
These are one of Thatboy's favorite appetizer treats. He ate three whole eggs before he realized how many he'd eaten.

• 10 hardboiled eggs
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp mustard
• dash of celery salt
• dash of garlic salt
• dash of pepper

1. Cut eggs in half lengthwise.
2. Scoop out yolks and put in small bowl.
3. Add mayo, mustard, celery salt, garlic salt, and pepper to yolks and mash together.
4. Spoon mixture into egg-white halves. Sprinkle tops with paprika and serve.

Fruit Sundaes
No real recipes here, but provide fruit halves (pears, peaches, oranges, persimmons, pomegranates....) your favorite ice cream and toppings and create a sundae bar. Or you can have each guest bring their own favorite ice cream and topping!


Cocoa with a Kick

• 2 cups milk
• 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 cups brewed coffee

1. Heat milk on stovetop until scalding.
2. Add cocoa powder and sugar. Stir well.
3. Add coffee.

Holiday Punch

• 2 cans frozen oj, thawed
• 1 can frozen lemonade, thawed
• 1 1/2 quarts ice water
• 2 quarts champagne

1. Combine oj, lemonade, and ice water in punch bowl.
2. When guests arrive, pour champagne into punch bowl.

Not quite Wassail

• 2 Liters Rose wine
• 1 Quart apple juice
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 Quart ginger ale

Mix together all ingredients and stir to dissolve sugar.
Add ice to your punch bowl or serve in glasses over ice!

Coffee with a Kick

• 1/2 cup coffee (ground)
• 10 whole cloves
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 4 spoonfuls of sugar

1. Combine coffee, cloves, cinnamon, and sugar in basket of coffee maker.
2. Fill coffee maker with water for 8 cups. Brew as usual.

When I find myself

with an excess of lemons, I do what any good person does. I make lemonade. Lemons are one of those things that I always have in the fridge. I'm not a fan of the bottled lemon juice, preferring the fresh stuff so we always have a bag on hand.

Another thing I always have on hand is a frozen bag of spinach. Which is especially handy when you decide it's time for a breakfast casserole. Breakfast casseroles are great because they feed a ton of people and are easy to put together. This one is not Thatboy's favorite because it has loads of spinach in it, which he doesn't love. But he admits that he should eat more dark green leafy vegetables.

I apologize for the long lag in posts. It's already Wednesday - this week has flown by. But I have so much to update you on! Because of that, I'll be postdating my posts so you'll have something to read while I'm out of town. But fear not, when I return I'll remain in town for a good couple of months! Some things to look forward to upon my return:

• My first stocking! One of the women on my cooking board asked for help with a stocking for her son's first Christmas, so I jumped right in and knit one for her. I don't want to spoil the surprise by posting it yet, so once I get word she's received it I'll share it with you. As Thatmom said "It's the most extensive thing [I've] ever made!" A big jump from my usual holiday scarves (like the one I'm still working on for Thatboy).
• My first Thanksgiving! I spent all night Monday prepping - making cranberry relish, sweet potatoes, and brining a turkey. I never get to make Thanksgiving since it's my mom's favorite holiday so making all this stuff is super exciting for me!!!!
• Loads of holiday sweets and treats!
  

Spinach Breakfast Casserole

• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup cooked ham, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup Bisquick
• 3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 375. Squeeze all liquid out of spinach and lay spinach in bottom of shallow baking dish.
2. Top with layer of ham, onion, then cheese.
3. Combine milk, bisquick, and eggs in blender on medium speed for 1 minute. Pour over casserole.
4. Bake 35 minutes.

Serves 8.
Each serving has:

Calories		175.7
Total Fat		8.3 g
	Saturated Fat	3.9 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.9 g
Cholesterol		103.4 mg
Sodium		561.9 mg
Potassium		288.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		13.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	1.1 g
	Sugars	0.9 g
Protein		12.6 g

Baby's good to me

I think it's pretty evident that my go-to quick meal is pasta. It's so simple that even Thatboy can help prepare it. Well, he can boil the water for me. Preparing the pasta is still a little beyond his skill set. And while I'm quite happy with a steaming bowl of pasta, some version of sauce, and fresh cheese (goat, parmesean, mozzarella), Thatboy usually questions where our protein is. Mostly because growing up, pasta was always spaghetti. And spaghetti was always accompanied with meat sauce. (And we're all familiar with my thoughts on that sauce)

My meat sauce takes its inspiration from my mother's best friend. They've been best friends since they were teenagers, having met at summer camp. And though we keep moving farther and farther away, their friendship continues. There was a period of time when my mother and I would take trips back to "the old country" to visit my mom's family. Sometimes we stayed with her friend. I remember sitting at the kitchen table and watching as the two of them polished off a bottle of wine, laughing, and stirring a pot of bubbling sauce on the stovetop. You see, in Brooklyn, you were either Jewish or Italian (or both). Mom's friend was as Italian as you could get. She passed on her sauce secrets to my mom, who in turn passed them on to me. The secret to perfect sauce is the addition of ground sausage. Unfortunately, while I have ground pork, veal, turkey, and beef in my freezer, there is no ground sausage. So this meat sauce isn't my best ever, but it's good enough to keep in the freezer beside the homemade marinara. And there's meat in it, so it makes Thatboy oh so happy.

Meat Sauce

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 can whole plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1. Brown garlic and onion in oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add beef and cook until browned.
3. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover.
4. Cook for 1 hour, stirring occassionally.

I often wonder

if the recipe exchange coordinators go through the blogs before matching up recipes, or if the world is just full of coincidences. I mean, just the other day I wrote about how this weather is making me all stewy and soupy, and what turns up in my inbox? My recipe exchange recipe, beef stew! And better than regular beef stew - crockpot beef stew! Meaning we can eat dinner at a far more normal hour.

Thatboy really loved this recipe. It's different than my usual beef stews in that it is very tomato based. I cut the recipe in half, because I FINALLY cleaned out our fridge and I'm all proud of the empty space and lack of leftovers. Even cutting it in half ensured I'd still have lunch for later this week!

SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds round steak, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pound carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces*
• 1 pound small red potatoes, quartered*
• 1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 red bell pepper, diced**
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes**
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 3/4 cup beef broth
• 1/3 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients in a 6-quart slow cooker, and cook, covered, on LOW 7 hours and 30 minutes.

*2 (1-pound) packages frozen stew vegetables may be substituted for carrots and potatoes.
**1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions may be substituted for red bell pepper and diced tomatoes.

Yield: Makes 8 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

Words of kindness linger on

Thatboy gets very depressed some times for no good reason. On Monday night he turned to me and declared "Christmas sucks this year." Now I should point out that every Christmas since we've been together I have done everything in my power to make it a special time for Thatboy. I've had to - I'm the only one who will. This year I've gone above and beyond, planning all sorts of activities to get everyone in the Christmas spirit, so this statement was a little shocking to me.


"Why does Christmas suck this year?"
"Well normally we get our tree the first weekend in December, and we have it up all month. This year, we're not getting our tree till next weekend, and then we'll only be here for a week!" (Yes, Christmas for him is determined by having a Christmas tree...and probably the presents underneath, but that's a different story.)

And so, being Superwife, I suggested we pick up a tree after work last night. So last night I made a super quick dinner so we would have more tree trimming time. I made hot cocoa, put on a Christmas movie and we were off. I have to admit, that unwrapping the ornaments got us both in a great mood. I forgot how much I love all our ornaments! Christmas was saved!!!!!

And our super quick dinner? I don't know if it's just a California thing, but our farmer's markets have the best tamales ever. Heated up with some corn, cheese, and topped with fresh salsa - dinner comes together in a matter of minutes.

My dad is the first person to introduce me to homemade salsa. We were living in Pennsylvania and the only Mexican restaurant in town was Taco Bell. I'm not kidding. But we had a thriving garden and one summer night, dad went out and came back with an assortment of onions, peppers, and tomatoes which he proceeded to chop into small pieces and throw in a bowl. We couldn't dive right in, the flavors had to marinate for what seemed like years. But one bite and I realized there must be more to life than Taco Bell. My recipe is not my father's salsa. I no longer have the advantage of a 1/4 acre garden, or even a potted tomato plan. Instead I have a pantry which is always stocked and an imagination that won't quit.

Not My Father's Salsa

• 1 can whole tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 fresh tomato, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalepeno, chopped
  

1. Combine all ingredients in a nonreactive bowl and stir.
2. Cover and refrigerate 3-4 hours.

People tell me I'm lucky

No matter how great a time I have when I'm away, there's always something so nice about coming back home! Even though the weather here is getting colder, it's still not nearly as cold as where we were, and being away makes me crave homey comforts. I love that the weather is cold enough to use our fireplace every night, and I love making food that sticks to the stomach and ribs. While we are a chicken family, I find we eat a lot more red meat in the winter - it just feels heavier and warmer for some reason.

It gets dark so early now that by the time Thatboy and I eat dinner, it is often lit only by firelight and the warm glow of the television. And it's just so cuddly to have a warm stewy dinner by the fire!

Sherried Beef

• 1 lb lean beef stewing meat
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 1/2 pkg onion soup mix

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in ovenproof pot and cover.
2. Cook for 2.5 hours.

Serves 2.
Each serving has:

Calories		451.1
Total Fat		16.2 g
Cholesterol		129.3 mg
Sodium		930.4 mg
Potassium		973.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate		11.8 g
Protein		53.8 g

And for dessert - Monster cupcakes! Inspired by Avenue Q!

I'll take my chances

Whew! I have to say, I am beyond exhausted, but I have finally caught up! Well, almost caught up. Our place still looks like a tornado hit it, and the dirty laundry is starting to overflow the hamper, but all in good time, right? I mean I obviously had to catch up on my google reader, blogging, and cupcake baking, before cleaning.

Because of the timing of our return flight, I hit the ground running. 4 hours of sleep, 6 hours on a plane, and you want dinner???????? Sounds like the perfect time to use up pretty much anything that's left in the house.

SKA (Sausage, Kraut, and Applesauce)
Two polish sausage
8 oz sauerkraut
1/4 cup apple sauce
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
Cover and cook 10-15 minutes or until warmed through.

Serves 2.
Each serving has:

Calories		387.3
Total Fat		32.7 g
	Saturated Fat	11.7 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	3.5 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	15.4 g
Cholesterol		79.5 mg
Sodium		1,368.0 mg
Potassium		376.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate		6.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	1.6 g
	Sugars	2.5 g
Protein		16.5 g

Run around

I apologize for the radio silence this past week...and I'm actually just jumping on to say it's not going to get any better.

November/December are busy busy busy months for me. Between the holidays and Thatboy's birthday I barely have a moment to sit down - and I think I'm out of town more than I'm in town. That means my cooking is usually me trying to use leftovers and keep the fridge empty. There's nothing worse than rotting food! This means there's not a lot to blog about when there is time to blog.

And in about 20 minutes I'm heading to pick Thatboy up from his office and head to the airport so we can take our FABULOUS vacation. I'm oh so excited. Which means you can expect a lot more of nothing over the next week. I think there'll be a return to normalcy sometime next week....for a little bit, until we're off on our Christmas trip!

Until then I'll leave you with a pictorial of what I've been up to:

Corned beef hash with roasted zucchini and red potatoes

Chicken baked in wine (this is a good one because it lasts us a full week!)

And then of course there are the cupcakes:
Candy Corn! (chocolate with vanilla frosting)

The Octopi (Chocolate with vanilla frosting)

Pink Lemonade


Turkeys! (Vanilla with chocolate buttercream frosting)

Not pictured: Margarita cupcakes and Chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate glaze!