Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

It’s Christmas time once again. I love this time of year, for so many reasons. Of course, there is THE reason for the season, but there is so much more to love about this time of year as well. I love the lights and the decorations. I love how people make a point of getting together to spread love, happiness and good cheer. I love all the festivities.

The world celebrates the birth of Jesus at this time of year, but every country has a different way to celebrate. I thought it would be fun to show how people around the world celebrate the Christmas holidays. Here are just a few different ways the season is celebrated around the world.

1. In the Philippines, lights are a big part of the festivities on Nocha Buena or the Philippine version of Christmas Eve. The big feast for Nocha Buena is ham and/or lechon (roast suckling pig) on the Christmas table, plus roast turkey or chicken relleno (Stuffed chicken), fruit salad, ensaimada (a brioche-type pastry), leche flan (caramel custard) and apple pie.

2. An Icelandic tradition has children put their shoes out each night for a small gift from the Yule Lads or the mountain trolls (this is also a tradition in many of the Scandinavian countries as well). One of the most famous Christmas Eve traditions in Iceland is what’s known as Jólabókaflód, or “Christmas book flood”. Most people in Iceland give and receive books on Christmas Eve, which they then spend the rest of the evening reading. They celebrate Christmas for 13 days. Icelandic homes are visited by the 13 Yule Lads (“Jólasveinar”) – creatures from festive Nordic folklore. Starting on 12 December, they descend one by one from the mountains. According to legend, the Yule Lads are the sons of a troll named Grýla.

3. The Germans have their traditional Christmas pickle. We adopted this tradition as well, last year, when our friends Maureen and Milos told us the story of the German pickle and gave us our very own pickle. And Larry is German, so it only makes sense. Hiding the pickle in the tree is supposed to bring good luck to the person who finds it. Since we now have a German pickle ornament, we hid it in the tree and we gave the person who found it a bottle of wine. This will be one of our Christmas traditions from here on out too.

Germans also celebrate St. Nicolas day. In Germany, Saint Nicholas is entirely different from Santa Claus. Over there, Saint Nicholas is a separate gift-giver that nods to the religious version of Santa and leaves small presents, such as coins and fruit, in the shoes of good German children on the night of December 5th. But if they were naughty, children could wake up to find sticks, twigs, or switches in their shoes instead!

4. African countries that celebrate Christmas celebrate with parades, songs, lights and palm leaves. Food is a very important part of the festivities too. Though because Africa is a huge continent, there are many different holiday traditions all throughout the lands.

5. In Sweden, there is the big Christmas goat. The Yule Goat has been a Swedish Christmas symbol dating back to ancient pagan festivals. However, in 1966, the tradition got a whole new life after someone came up with the idea to make a giant straw goat, now referred to as the Gävle Goat. According to the official website, the goat is more than 42 feet high, 23 feet wide, and weighs 3.6 tons. Each year, the massive goat is constructed in the same spot. Fans can even watch a livestream from the first Sunday of Advent until after the New Year when it’s taken down.

6. Mexico and many other Latin American countries like the Christmas pinata. Traditional ones come in the form of a seven-point star, symbolizing the seven deadly sins that are then broken by a stick to represent faith in God. They’re usually filled with little treats like candy, fruits, and peanuts.

While many American Christmas dinners tend to revolve around turkey or ham, in Mexico, it’s all about the tamales for holiday feasting.  Tamales are traditional Christmas foods, and are enjoyed in almost every Mexican or Latin American household on Christmas Eve. I remember enjoying many Christmas tamales with my dear friend Andrea’s family over the years. Every year, there would be a big tamale production line, with Andrea’s dad David in charge. Oh how I miss those fabulous Christmas Eve celebrations and parties.

7. In Norway, the tradition is to hide mops and brooms at Christmas time. Norwegian folklore advises hiding brooms and mops on Christmas night to prevent evil spirits and witches, who return to earth on Christmas, from taking the cleaning tools and using them to fly through the sky. How’s that for a clean sweep?

8. Who would have ever thought that KFC (formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken) would play such a prominent role in Christmas festivities? But in Japan, KFC is what EVERYONE eats. They order it in advance, by the buckets, for the Christmas holidays. This is a more recently-celebrated tradition that’s become super popular in Japan. While Christmas isn’t exactly a huge holiday there, some people do celebrate it, with Christmas Day feasts consisting of none other than buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Not only is Colonel Sanders now synonymous with Santa Claus, but the brand even purveys Christmas-themed “Party Barrels” to mark the tradition. They include salad, cake, and plenty of fried chicken.

9. The Polish Christmas tradition has food as a very important, integral part of their festivities. In Poland, on Christmas Eve, you may feel your tummy rumbling until your family receives a sign from the heavens that it’s time to eat—literally. Polish families don’t start eating dinner until someone spots the very first star shining in the sky. They also set an extra plate at the table for unexpected guests.

10. In Venezuela, Christmas is on wheels a lot of the time. That is the wheels of roller skates. In Caracas, Venezuela, residents don’t head to church services in cars—but on roller skates. There are actually so many people who participate in this tradition that several city streets are closed to traffic on Christmas morning.

In the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas is actually a summertime festivity, rather than a winter celebration, like it is in the Northern Hemisphere. My “rellies’ in Australia used to ask me all the time if we really get snow at Christmas time because Christmas there is HOT, HOT, HOT. So for them, Santa is busy surfing and soaking up the sun.

Wherever you are, and however you celebrate the season, make it merry and bright, and have a safe Merry Christmas.

It’s Christmas time once again, and even the geese all know it is time for everyone to gather together and celebrate. We literally have 1000’s of Canadian Geese on our ponds right now. They are all here for the holidays. Hopefully they will all stay awhile too.

They’re all flying in.

And they’re coming in for the landing.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. 🙂

Pesto is one of my favorite sauces. I tend to make quite a bit each time I make it, then use it for many different dishes. It just goes so well with just about any dish.

It was a chicken night, and I had some pesto left from my last batch, so I used it with the chicken and did a chicken pesto bake. I also added some tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and shallots to the batch and served it all over some fettuccine alfredo, that was also leftover. It was just enough for dinner for the two of us.

I marinated my chicken in a pesto vinegar mix first, for about 2 hours before cooking, so it was very flavorful and nice and tender.

Pesto Vinegar Marinade

1 TBSP olive oil or basil olive oil

1 TBSP white wine vinegar – I used Prosecco wine vinegar

2-3 TBSP pesto sauce

2 tsp garlic

2 tsp Italian seasoning – I used oregano, basil, thyme and marjoram

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1-2 lbs chicken breasts

Combine everything together and coat the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before cooking.

Make more or reserve some of the sauce for topping the chicken later.

Preheat the oven to 425* F or 219*C.

Spray a deep baking dish with cooking spray.

Chicken Pesto Bake

marinated chicken breasts

1 cup tomatoes, either cherry, grape or Campari, cut in half – this time I used Campari

1-2 shallots, diced fine

1-1 /2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 TBSP garlic

salt & pepper to taste

more of the pesto vinegar sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Cook the chicken for about 20 minutes or so or until it is cooked. Add the tomatoes and place around the chicken. Top with the mozzarella cheese and place back in the oven to continue to cook for another 20-30 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted and has a slight crust to it.

Saute the mushrooms, garlic and shallots with salt & pepper in olive oil and a little butter for about 5-7 minutes, or until they are cooked. Set aside and keep warm.

When the chicken is done, serve it over cooked pasta of your choice. I like to layer my foods. I think it makes a better presentation. It’s an old restaurant thing I guess. 🙂 So I started off with the pasta, added a dash of the pesto vinegar sauce, with the chicken next, then more sauce, finished with the mushrooms and tomatoes. I added some warmed ciabatta on the side and completed the meal with a cool, crisp white wine.

DELICICOUS!!!! It was quick, easy-peasy, and very festive with the green pesto sauce and the red tomatoes.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. May this holiday season keep you safe and well. ‘Til next time.

Today, out on my walk, at first I was a little disappointed because all of my “friends” were gone for the day. But as soon as I headed up towards the 3rd lake, on my way back home, I saw a beautiful American Kestrel just sitting on the sign, watching over the lake. He let me take quite a few shots of him too. And I was more than happy to do so. 🙂

Be ever on the lookout, just like the Kestrel. You just never know what you will see. Have a great day, and make everyday great.

We are all familiar with donuts. They are round, fried or baked cakes usually topped with a sweet topping or filled with a sweet treat, or both. They date back to ancient times. They are popular all over the world, with many different cultures. Most donuts have a hole in the center of the dough, which allow for them to cook more evenly, without overcooking, especially when frying in hot oil.

Donuts made their way to America in the 17th century when the Dutch came over, and have been popular ever since. By the mid-19th century, donuts had become an American food, and they were seen as a symbol of comfort, ingenuity, and delight.

But the donuts of today have definitely evolved from what they were in their humble beginnings. Today, donuts are seen as culinary works of art.

Yesterday, I was introduced to a completely new way of making donuts when I went to Yonutz! Donuts & Ice Cream.

Yonutz! Donuts & Ice Cream is a franchise specialty donut and ice cream shop that started in Miami, Florida. “Yonutz is a Gourmet Donut and Ice Cream Concept that combines the staples of Donuts and Ice Cream along with some amazing fantastical desserts“. They got their start in 2019, on the show Shark Tank, and have been popping up all over the United States ever since, with one of the newest locations popping up in Westminster, CO, literally just down the hill from where I live. It is proudly owned and operated by Brian Domann and his family.

I met with Brian yesterday and learned so much about Yonutz Donuts. Brian is a delightful person, and we had a great visit. One of the questions I asked him was how he got started in the donut business. I loved his answer. Brian told me “[he has] always loved both donuts and ice cream, but more than his love for donuts and ice cream, he loves to see happy people, and both donuts and ice cream spread happiness”. It doesn’t get much better than that! Just look at Brian’s smile. You can tell he loves what he does. 🙂

We’ve all seen ordinary donuts, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. We love them.

But why would we ever settle for ordinary when we can now have EXTRAODINARY?!!!!! Yonutz Donuts takes donut making to a whole new level.

They are not only famous for their donuts, but also for their smashed donuts and for their donut shakes too. Smashed donuts? Donut shakes? I had never heard of these before. But you can get them at Yonutz! and the come in a wide variety of flavors too. I met with Brian around 10:15 AM, and the donuts had already sold out. The donut makers were in the back, busy making more donuts and refilling the display case as fast as they could. Every few minutes, another tray of delectable treats made its way out to the donut case.

Donuts in general are snacks that are enjoyed at any time of day. But because Yonutz are considered more as desserts than breakfast, Brian said these sweet treats are more popular later in the day.

And these donuts are definitely meant to be shared. They are great for parties, and office parties, or any celebration where people gather together. More and more people are having donuts as part of their wedding celebrations too. In fact, at our nephew’s wedding, that was just celebrated last week, donuts were on the cake table too. The donut has definitely come a long way since it was first created many, many moons ago.

When it was time to say good-bye to Brian, I walked out with a dozen very creative and delicious donuts too. Larry is taking them to Kansas, to share with his family. Though we did have to sample one first, so only 11 are making their way to Hays this time. 🙂 We tried the Samoan donut, the 3rd one on the bottom with the toasted coconut and chocolate drizzles. OMG! YUM!!!!!!

Brian and the brand new Yonutz! Donuts & Ice Cream has been open now for about 4 months, but will be having their grand opening celebration on Saturday, January 4th. It will be an all day celebration, but the Chamber of Commerce will do the official ribbon cutting ceremony around 10:00 AM. Larry and I both are already planning on attending, and if you are in the area, you should too.

Yonutz! Donuts & Ice Cream is located at 1975 West 120th Avenue, #800, in Westminster, CO. Drop in and say hi, and take a Yonutz donut or two, or a dozen or so, home with you. If you want to order some to share, or to cater a party, feel free to give Brian a call at (303) 261-8381 or contact Brian online at westminsterco@yonutz.com. They are open 7 days a week, from 9:00 AM-9:00 PM. I guarantee, you’ve never had donuts like the ones you will get at Yonutz!

As Brian would say, “spread some happiness” today and everyday. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. ‘Til next time.

I just found out this morning, by accident really, that my recipe for Turkey Enchiladas with a Creamy Pumpkin Sauce https://ajeanneinthekitchen.com/2024/10/29/thanksgiving-leftover-recipes-make-the-most-of-your-feast&#8230 has been published once again. This time, it was published by homey cookbook. https://www.homeycookbook.com/delicious-family-lunch-ideas-everyone-will-love/. Thank you so much. What a very pleasant surprise. Merry Christmas to me! WHOOOO HOOOOOO! But actually, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to ALL!

Once again I am trying to use up the leftovers in the fridge and freezer. This time I was using up the rest of the chili. Chili Time But I couldn’t just serve chili with nothing else to go with it, now could I?! So I made some cheese & garlic biscuits to go with my chili.

These biscuits were light and fluffy and so full of flavor.

Cheese & Garlic Biscuits

Preheat the oven to 450* F or 232*C.

Spray cooking spray onto a baking sheetpan.

The Biscuits

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tsp dried, minced garlic

1 tsp ranch seasoning or White Magic Seasoning White Magic Scallops

1 cup buttermilk

2 TBSP green onions or chives, sliced very thin

Combine all the dry ingredients together, including the cheese and the green onions and mix together well. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk. I always use dried buttermilk that I mix with milk. This way it won’t go bad.

Mix from the inside out, and mix the dough just until everything is blended. DO NOT over mix or your biscuits will be tough. You can drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet with a TBSP or you can cut them with a cookie cutter like I did. If you are using a cookie cutter, form the dough into a rectangle and lightly it roll it out. You want a thick, soft dough.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the biscuits are light and fluffy and golden brown. Immediately after removing them from the oven, coat them with the butter garlic spread and serve hot.

Butter Garlic Spread

1/2 cup butter, melted

1-2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp ranch seasoning or White Magic Seasoning

1 tsp parsley

Mix everything together and brush over the hot biscuits.

After coating my biscuits, I put them back in the oven again to keep warm until just before serving them, so they browned a little more, which gave them a little bit of tasty crust on the outside too.

They went very well with the chili. They were a perfect accompaniment. But they will also make tasty little mini sandwiches too. Larry is going out to Kansas for the weekend to visit his family and he is going to make little ham or steak sandwiches (depending on what is leftover after I finish making my quiche and broccoli salad for him to take along with him) with these to snack on during his travels.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well, especially during this heavy travel time. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. ‘Til next time.

I love to do all kinds of crafts. My mother and I used to do crafts together all the time, so when I craft now, I am channeling my mother and our fun times together.

This year, I made a lot of snowmen for people’s Christmas gifts. My niece showed me how to make them back in June, and then she and I both made a whole bunch that we gave out to friends and family. Each one was different, with it’s own personality.

When I was making the snowmen, I bought a whole bunch of buttons in a variety of colors and styles. Well now that everyone has a snowman, and I can’t give them more snowmen, I had to come up with other fun and creative uses for all these buttons. I am already thinking ahead for Christmas gifts for next year.

I just purchased a couple of creative button books from Amazon yesterday, and once they get here, I will have all kinds of fresh, new ideas. But in the interim, I made this button tree of life yesterday.

I started with a 10×10 canvas, a glue gun and a variety of both brown and green buttons. You can use whatever tickles your fancy and be as creative as you like. This was just my vision that I had yesterday. I’m sure tomorrow’s vision will be totally different. 🙂 When you are a creative person, you never really know what you are going to create. You just go with the muse and follow her inspiration where it leads you.

I drew a sketch of my tree on the canvas then made my tree trunk and branches first.

Then I filled in the leaves with the green buttons.

This is a fun and colorful way to use up all those extra buttons. It is also a nice way to think of my mom and all the fun crafts we used to do together. If you have kids or grandkids, this would be a great activity to do with them too.

Creativity comes in many different forms. Don’t be afraid to play around with it. Follow your muse wherever she leads you. Who knows what you will come up with. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. ‘Til next time.

Janet and Bob have this long family tradition of baking and decorating 100’s of cookies that they give to everyone they know at this time of year. We have been lucky enough to have been invited for about the last 7 or 8 years too. It is always a lot of fun, celebrated with pizza after all the cookies are done.

We decorated all the gingerbread cookies first. Janet bakes about 130-150 gingerbread cookies, of all different shapes. Then it is a family project to make all the different colored frostings. Once those are done, Janet gets out all her cookie decorations, and the decorating begins. We decorate all the cookies with the exception of the ugly sweaters, which are always saved for last. We all try to make them as ugly as possible, and the ugliest sweater wins. For some of us though, ugly just doesn’t come easy.

Emily, Janet and & Bob’s granddaughter, won the ugly sweater contest with this year’s ugliest sweater.

It’s a family affiar.

After the cookie decorating was done, it was time to box up all the cookies. These are all the different varieties of cookies that Bryan and his family made to give out.

There was a big production line filling up the cookie boxes, with Bryan in charge. We were all helping out in the production line. The boys were filling the boxes.

And the girls were making the boxes. Bob and I were on fudge patrol.

The finished boxes are loaded with all kinds of homemade goodness and love.

After the decorating and box filling tasks were completed, before the pizza arrived, we had time for pictures by the Christmas tree.

Even one of the cats wanted to be a part of the festivities.

This is always such a fun family tradition. We are so lucky to be included for all these years too.

Make your days merry and bright. Spend the days with those you love and do fun things together. Make lots and lots of happy memories. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Since I have been writing about wines these last couple of days, Make It A Wine Cocktail, Vegan Wines I thought it would be fun to end this little mini series with a wine game. Our friends Angie and Bryan gave us some more fun Christmas gifts, that of course we opened early. One was another delicious signed copy of a Mexican cookbook, called Elote Cafe Cookbook, by Jeff Smedstad. I can’t wait to try the recipes from this delicious book, but more on that at another time. They also gave us a new game called Wine Wars. Am I that predictable? Everyone who knows me knows how much I love to cook and how much I love my wines! 🙂 🙂 🙂

We played a round of Wine Wars the other day. It’s like trivia pursuit, only with wine questions.

We played with Mike and Lauren and teamed up, boys against the girls. At first Lauren and I had a commanding lead, then out of nowhere, the boys surged from behind and ended up kicking out butts and winning by a landslide.

First you roll the die to determine the color/category for questions. If you answer correctly, you get a wine bottle of that color to fill in the game board and you get to keep going. Whoever fills out the board first wins. It was a lot tougher than we thought. I might need to continue my wine learning education and journey. 🙂

As tough as it was, we all enjoyed the game very much though and are looking forward to the upcoming rematch in the very near future. We thought we knew a lot about wines, but we realized we still have so much more to learn.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Have fun no matter what you do. It’s not the “what” that matters, but the “who” that you do it with. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Stay safe and stay well, and drink responsibly. ‘Til next time.