What’s Going on Today: Post holiday unwind, nearing time to take down the tree.
Naptime Goals: Baked risotto and have it ready to reheat for dinner, put older toys in storage to make room for the new ones!
Tonight’s Menu: Baked Meyer lemon and thyme risotto, green salad, sparkling water with lemon.
KITCHENAID MIXER GIVEAWAY! Don’t forget to enter below to enter the Duda Farm Fresh Giveaway for a Meyer Lemons, a $25 Williams-Sonoma giftcard and a KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer in Majestic Yellow. Entry rules below, click here for contest introduction.
We are in holiday wind-down mode. All of our family has gone home, the presents are put away and we are more or less decompressing from all of the excitement. My daughter has actually been napping pretty regularly for the past few days. She really needs that hour or so in the afternoon to make up for all of the energy she is expending. Yesterday I used her naptime to make a quick, comforting baked risotto with the last of the Meyer lemons in my fridge.
Menu: Beef Wellington Short Rib Pot Pie, Twice-Baked Potatoes, Carrot Souffle, Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots, Parmesan Dinner Rolls, Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust
Attendees: Party of 7, plus three dogs!
Naptime Goals: Too many to count, but they include making the cheesecake.
KITCHEN AID MIXER GIVEAWAY! Don’t forget to enter below to enter the Duda Farm Fresh Giveaway for a Meyer Lemons, a $25 Williams-Sonoma giftcard and a KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer in Majestic Yellow. Entry rules below, click here for contest introduction.
Meyer lemons have dominated my kitchen this month. They are finally in season (I wait all year!) and my friends at Duda Farm Fresh foods kindly sent me a big boxful to work with. For Christmas dinner this year I decided to make a Meyer lemon cheesecake instead of my usual eggnog version. My family, especially my father, adores cheesecake and anything lemony so I knew he would be especially enthusiastic about this addition to the menu.
Naptime Goals: Start the dough and leave it to rise!
I have our Christmas menu pretty much set. Instead of a ham, this year we are going to try this pot pie recipe from Williams-Sonoma. Our side dishes will include carrot souffle, green beans and twice-baked potatoes and they’ll be some delicious eggnog cheesecake for dessert. I am also going to serve up these rolls with dinner. These are not rolls I reserve especially for Christmas, they are more of everyday rolls that go with just about every occasion.
Christmas is literally around the corner and there is one little girl in my household who is beyond excited. (Does the phrase “pinging off the walls” mean anything to you?! ) We’ve been cooking and baking up a storm and I thought I would share some of the favorite things we’ve been making. These are all things that you still have plenty of time to make and will impress all of your household guests. Let the holiday naptime cooking crunch-time begin!
1. Cocoa Almonds: These simply sweet chocolate candied almonds are perfect for last minute gifts. They take less than ten minutes to make and look wonderful packaged simply in clear plastic bags.
2. Christmas Pinata Cookies: My daughter is a huge fan of these and has been “hiding” all sorts of things in hers. She gets such a kick out of the fact that her Dad will find a gummy bear in one cookie and a Hershey’s kiss in the next.
3. Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies: Leave it to Martha to give us a recipe that is simultaneously sweet and spicy with just the right amount of chew. Tie them up with a sweet ribbon for the perfect homemade gift.
4. Sweet & Spicy Walnuts Nuts: These are the perfect salty nuts for the salt tooth in your life. They also make great last-minute hostess gifts.
5. Peppermint Hot Fudge Sauce: I’ve already made five – yes, 5 – batches for gifts. Whipping up one batch is very simple and is great for drizzling over ice cream or giving as gifts.
6. Eggnog Cheesecake: Your entire family will be so impressed if you serve amazing cheesecake at Christmas dinner. It can easily be made in advance and feeds a holiday crowd.
7. Sparkling Eggnog Muffins: For breakfast or, honestly, anytime of day, these gorgeous muffins are the perfect holiday breakfast/afternoon snack.
8. ‘Twas the Night Before…French Toast: We will be eating this classic recipe on Christmas morning. My whole family loves it and it makes my life sooo much easier since I can prepare it the night before.
9. Peppermint Patty Brownies: All things mint and chocolate are welcome this season and these brownies most definitely hit the spot. They are so much fun with kids and look great when frosted with vanilla buttercream and topped with crushed candy canes!
It is holiday crunch time and last weekend I test drove a few last minute recipes to make sure I’m all set for Christmas morning. I know we’ll be totally nuts that day and I’ll have about five seconds in the kitchen before my daughter descends on the tree. In the less-than-one-minute I’ll be allotted that morning I plan to shove my Overnight French Toast in the oven and prepare the batter for these awesome muffins.
I am wrapping up holiday dinner week with a new favorite “adults-only” ice cream. I have to admit, I saw the title Boozy Eggnog Ice Cream on the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams site, but couldn’t find the recipe anywhere. Thankfully I have her awesome book and was able to use it to riff on her base flavor formula and dream up my own recipe. Maybe sometime I’ll actually get to taste her version to make a comparison. Mine is creamy and boozy with just a hint of spice. My husband and I loved it, as will you.
The closer I get to Christmas the more I am thinking about large desserts to feed a crowd. Enter the bundt cake. I am a longtime fan of the large, circular bundt cake. It is relatively simple to pull together and serves a lot of people. The other day I had a half quart of eggnog in the fridge and decided test drive a new naptime holiday recipe for next week’s festivities. I knew it wouldn’t fulfill my daughter’s request for more decorations that “sparkle and flash,” but at least it would fulfill my need for a crowd-pleasing dessert.
I thought it would be a fun idea to take a break from recipes today and do a little “check-in.” That is the term I use at home when I want to step back and assess a situation that seems to the focus of my days at that particular moment. Here is my check-in for today: how is your holiday cooking going? Is all your shopping done? What are your travel plans this season? Here are the answers to those questions on my end and a few last minute gifts and tips for holiday travel with kids.
Last week I was sent a sample pack of delicious 2011 Reserve Organic Muir Glen tomatoes. I LOVE these tomatoes and use them for all sorts of things when they are in season. In this case I decided to test drive a few soup recipes to find a great option for our holiday meal. With all the great tomatoes at my fingertips I knew it would be hard to go wrong!
This week I am talking about some holiday favorites. These are the favorite dishes we like to serve year after year at our holiday table and I think you might like them too. To add to the fun this week my friends at Big Kitchen.com are generously donating a gorgeous purple 6.25 quart Staub Cocotte. I swear, these cast iron dutch ovens are the best for roasts, soups and even no-knead bread. I especially love the little tips on the lid that are designed specifically for braising! Entry rules are below so be sure to leave your comment. In the mean time, let’s talk about one of the holiday favorites recipes I use this gorgeous Staub for: pork roast!
Homemade Gift Week: Don’t forget to enter below to enter the Duda Farm Fresh Giveaway for a Meyer Lemons, a $25 Williams-Sonoma giftcard and a KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer in Majestic Yellow. Entry rules below, click here for contest introduction.
To wrap home homemade gift week I am talking about the two ultimate Powernap (quick and easy!) recipes for the holiday season: homemade vanilla extract and vanilla sugar. Both of these require nothing more than filling containers with one ingredients and sticking in vanilla beans. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not! Once I discovered just how easy it was to make my own vanilla extract I never went back to buying the jarred stuff again. I use it all the time in baking and I can guarantee your friends and fellow bakers will love receiving it as a gift.
Homemade Gift Week: Don’t forget to enter below to enter the Duda Farm Fresh Giveaway for a Meyer Lemons, a $25 Williams-Sonoma giftcard and a KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer in Majestic Yellow. Entry rules below, click here for contest introduction.
For this webisode I am demonstrating how to make delicious cocoa almonds. They make fantastic holiday gift and are incredibly simple to make during naptime or whenever you have a free moment. Today I am making them while my daughter is at school! To give them as gifts I like to package them up in clear plastic bags or to-go containers lined with parchment paper. Everyone loves them this way and they make a great holiday party nibble.
