A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Salads are not something that we normally think of as a Christmas food, however, a salad is really any combination of foods combined together and served as one. I made this colorful Christmas vegetable salad before we left to go to Hays, KS for the Billinger Christmas, and added the bacon and creamy garlic dressing right before we served it. It traveled very well and it was very colorful and full of vegetables. There were no leftovers, so I will take that as a good sign that it was enjoyed by all.

I steamed all the vegetables and tossed them all together before we left. I was going to add radishes as well, but decided to leave them on the side instead. A key ingredient to a good salad is the freshness of the ingredients used. Salads are most often served as a cold side dish, but they can be hot as well. This was a cold salad, but I suppose if you wanted to, you could also serve it warm. It is just cooked vegetables after all.

Hearty Christmas Vegetable Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

The Dressing

I made the dressing before we left as well and brought it with us to add to the salad right before we served it.

1 cup maytonnaise

2 tsp either white wine vinegar or lemon balsamic vinegar. I used the lemon balsamic vinegar.

1 TBSP garlic

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning or about 1/4 tsp of each oregano, basil, thyme and marjoram

1/4 tsp dry mustard

a dash of salt

2 TBSP milk

Whisky everything together until smooth and creamy and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

The Salad

1/2 head of cauliflower cut into bite-sized florets

1/2 head of broccoli cut into bite-sized florets

1- 1 1/2 cups green beans, cut into pieces about 1 inch in size

1- 1 1/2 cups carrots, sliced

1- 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half

4-5 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled

Steam all the vegetables together for about 7 minutes or until they are mostly tender, then immediately chill in an ice bath to prevent them from cooking any more.

Toss them all together and add the bacon crumbles and tomatoes as well.

Add the dressing right before you are ready to serve the salad and enjoy. It was a big hit and disappeared very quickly.

Merry Christmas Everyone and to all a safe and Happy Holiday season. ‘Til next time.

Presents!!!! What would Christmas be without presents? Why do we give presents at Christmas?

Giving gifts to those we love has been a tradition in human culture since the beginning of time, dating as far back as even the caveman times. In primitive cavemen culture, the giving of gifts was fairly common as it was used to show love and affection towards one another.  Later during the Egyptian era, gifts were most notably given to their pharaohs who built massive pyramids to store their wealth for the afterlife. In Roman times people would present each other with good luck gifts, which lasted for centuries and later influenced all of the Western civilization onwards. By the Medieval age, gifts were used to secure the personal favor of the king or show allegiance in times of war. Today gift giving is still part of our everyday culture and defines who we are and the message we want to send with our gift.

Although it is a tradition, did you know that gift giving can also have a psychological effect on the giver and receiver? In the standardized assessment of individuals who both gave and received gifts, greater happiness appeared to rest in those who gave. The act of giving, no matter how big or small, makes us feel good.

Giving gets under our skin in the best possible way. While it feels good to be on the receiving end, there’s a feeling of self-gratification when you’re the one who is doing the giving. This can’t be measured by monetary value. The happiness you get from opening a gift is only temporary, but giving provides a more self-fulfilling experience that lasts for a long period. Furthermore, when we give without expecting anything in return, we are improving our psychological health.

Giving gifts at Christmas is a long-standing Christian tradition that dates back to the very beginning of Christmas. Gift giving at Christmas is a Christian tradition that is widely practiced around the world. To Christians, the gifts given at Christmas are symbolic of the tributes made to the baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men after his birth during the story of the Nativity. Though giving holiday gifts is by no means exclusive to Christianity. It is practiced in many religions, with it’s roots going back to the days of the Ancient Romans, and the Saturnalia festivities.

I love presents. Of course I love to receive them, but as much as I love to get presents, I enjoy giving them much more.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a safe and Happy Holiday season. ‘Til next time.

As you know, I love to get very creative with my leftovers. I love to disguise them and make them completely different than they were as “firstovers”. I like to make them so you’d never know they were leftovers at all. It has become an art form and a fun game for me. I think I have definitely mastered my craft too.

Right before we travel, whether near or far, we try our best to use up whatever leftovers we have on hand. I think we have successfully cleaned out our refrigerator and can start anew once we get home again, even though we will only be gone for a couple of days.

This first meal is a combination of my leftover corn and crab dip Corn and Crab Dip that I made for our latest round of nibblies when we went to InVINtions with Julia and Bruce. I marinated some pork chops in my tangy BBQ sauce Southern Comfort and roasted them. Once the pork chops were cooked, I topped them with the corn and crab dip and served it all with some asparagus topped with garlic and mushrooms and some roasted potatoes, with a rich, butter chardonnay on the side YUM!

We had another leftover meal on another night with a whole new set of leftovers. We pulled some gumbo A Pot of Gumbo out of the freezer and my friend Su gave me some of her shrimp cakes and shrimp that were leftover from out last weekly church meeting for the year. I combined them to make a tasty meal from the Bayou. I added some of my spinach pesto Some of the Best Parts of Thanksgiving Are The Leftovers to top the shrimp cakes, and that really livened them up.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy, safe holiday season. ‘Til next time.

We are leaving in a couple of hours, so I thought I would sneak a couple of posts in before we go. I will only be gone for the weekend. Not to long.

All the presents and lights and decorations are fun and I absolutely love them. But the main reason for the season is celebrating the birth of Jesus and celebrating it with family, friends and loved ones.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy, safe holiday season. ‘Til next time.

The coffee cart at church has become very popular. People love having the welcoming coffee cart with all the goodies. It says “welcome to the church”. It has become so popular that Pastor Matthew has asked me to do the coffee and cookie cart for our two services on Christmas Eve’s “Eve”. It will be filled with hot chocolate, apple cider, coffee, and lots and lots of cookies. I made the first batch cookies yesterday, and will continue to make some more everyday until we have our celebrations.

The first batch of Christmas cookies is a batch of colorful thumbprint cookies.

When we decorated all the cookies with Janet and Bob last week, Janet gave me all her leftover frosting. Silly me though, I didn’t think it was stiff enough to pipe on to the cookies, so I made more. Janet’s would have been perfect for piping; it was mine that was to soft. Don’t worry, I have plenty more cookies to make, and I have no doubt all the frosting will be used up. I never let these little hick-ups get me down though. Rather than piping the frosting onto the cookies, I just spooned it in instead. I think they still look fun and festive. What do you think?

These cookies are super easy to make and only require a few simple ingredients.

Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup or 2 sticks of softened butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp rum extract, optional – if not using, add another tsp of vanilla (that’s what I did since I am making them for kids)

2 cups flour

1 tsp nutmeg

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy then add the egg and vanilla and mix again. Add the flour and nutmeg 1/2 at a time, mixing in between each addition. Do not over mix or the dough will be tough. Once the dough has been formed, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it set in the refrigerator for at least one hour before using.

When you are ready to make the cookies, remove he dough from the fridge and let it rest for a few minutes before making the cookies.

Preheat the oven to 325* F or 165* C.

Form the dough into dough balls about 1 inch in size. Then punch down in the center of each dough ball to form a pocket. You can use the end of a wooden spoon, your thumb, or get creative like I did and use the end of a wine cork. (Wine corks come in handy when you least expect them to). Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the are slightly golden. If the centers fill up while baking, while they are still hot, punch them down again to form a well. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a cookie rack before filling the centers with frosting.

The Frosting

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

3 TBSP softened butter

1/2 tsp either vanilla or rum extract

2-3 TBSP milk

food coloring

Mix everything together and depending on the consistency, either spoon in or pipe into the cookies. Add colorful sprinkles too if you like. After all, these are supposed to be colorful and festive.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy, safe holiday season. ‘Til next time.

What would Christmas be without the beautiful lights? I love seeing all the Christmas lights. Here are a couple of new versions of Christmas lights here in Colorado.

This is the famous mountain town and ski resort Vail all lit up in its Christmas glory.

This is an aerial view of the Denver Botanical Gardens with the Denver skyline in the background.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy, safe holiday season.

I will be out of town for a couple of days, doing the Billinger Christmas with Larry’s family, but I will be back again real soon. It will only be a quick trip.

Larry loves his BBQ. We were out doing errands and he decied to go out to eat rather than cook at home. It is still his birthday week, so I let him decide where we should go. He chose Sugarfire Smoke House in Westminster. Sugarfire is mostly in the St. Louis area, but they are now branching out to other areas and other states as well. This is the first Sugarfire in Colorado.

Sugarfire is a new idea in BBQ restaurants. It is kind of a medium-fast food dine-in restaurant. It offers a menu that complements the staples influenced by the holy trinity of barbecue (St Louis/KC, Memphis, Texas) with daily specials crafted by our amazing team.   The emphasis is on the St. Louis style BBQ, created by Chef Mike Johnson. “From a sandwich piled high with pork, brisket, exotic veggies and/or fried treats, to a smoked Japanese noodle dish, prepare your taste buds to be hypnotized”. 

Larry chose the Brisket Muddy, which was a brisket Philly-style sandwich and I ordered the Brisket Dip. We split some BBQ beans and fries. Everything was very tasty and cooked to perfection.

Sugarfire also offers a variety of unique, homemade sauces to go with everything. I sampled the coffee BBQ sauce on my sandwich. That was really good.

The Westminster location is the first Sugarfire with a full bar that features drink specials, local craft beers, wine and liquor to suit every taste.  

Chef Johnson studied with Myron Mixon, cooked under Emeril Lagasse and Charlie Trotter, and has overseen the creation of six other restaurants. “Sugarfire has won so many awards it’s hard to keep track. [They] were named Best Barbecue by the Travel Channel, St. Louis Magazine, Feast Magazine, and [they’ve] won awards at the Memphis in May World Barbecue Championships. [They’ve] been featured on Pitmasters, Beat Bobby Flay, and Burgers, Brew, and Que. Both The New York Times and Snoop Dogg have complimented [their] food. And they really like that combination”.

The Westminster Sugarfire is a blend of its St. Louis roots with Colorado influences. The recipes and food are St. Louis style and the artwork is the handiwork of local Colorado artists.

You can dine in, or you can have Sugarfire come to you. They can handle any size party and will cater anything from 10-10,000. Nothing is to big or to small.

Sugarfire is located 14375 Orchard Parkway, Suite 100, Westminster, CO. You can dine in person, or give them a CALL AT (720) 639-4903 or order online at http://www.SugarfireSmokehouse.com No matter how you find them, you and your taste buds will be glad you did. You’re going to love it. I GAR-UN-TEE it.

Christmas decorations have been around longer than Christmas itself. Decorations were hung in ancient descriptions of the Roman feast of Saturnalia, which is thought to have originated in the 5th century BC. Saturnalia, the most popular holiday on the ancient Roman calendar, derived from older farming-related rituals of midwinter and the winter solstice, especially the practice of offering gifts or sacrifices to the gods during the winter sowing season. Before the end of the fourth century, many of the traditions of Saturnalia—including giving gifts, singing, lighting candles, feasting and merrymaking—had become absorbed by the traditions of Christmas as many of us know them today. Christmas decorations as we know them today had their origins in 16th century Germany.

Christmas decorations are going up all over the place. Some are very simple while others are quite elaborate. They are fun and festive no matter how they are displayed though. I love seeing all the decorations all around. Here are some fun and festive decorations I have seen while out and about. Some people are very creative and really get into the spirit of the season.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a safe and Happy Holiday season. ‘Til Next time.

We have 9 different types of hawks that call Colorado home. Some are seasonal and some are here year-round. Our most popular hawk is the Red-Tailed hawk. We see them flying all around all the time. Today, there was one who was perched in a tree as as I was walking by. He was gracious enough to let me get some good shots of him before flying away. Isn’t he gorgeous? I love the hawks. They are amongst my favorites.

Larry just celebrated another birthday a few days ago. I kept asking him what he wanted and he kept telling me that he didn’t want or need anything. All he wanted was for me to cook a ham with scalloped potatoes on the side. OK. Easy enough. So that is what the birthday boy got for his birthday.

Juneau is trying to help Daddy carve the ham, hoping he will drop some for her to taste.

Daddy didn’t drop any so Juneau walked away pouting.

I made the ham with a spicy honey and curried glaze and topped it with sauteed apples and pears.

Spicy Glazed Ham with Apples and Pears

Preheat the oven to 325* F or 170* C.

1 5-6 lb bone-in ham

3 cups water

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup spicy honey or honey with 1 tsp cayenne pepper added

1 tsp red curry paste

3 TBSP butter

1 TBSP ginger

1/4 onion sliced very thin

1 TBSP cinnamon

2-3 TBSP honey-ginger balsamic vinegar, optional

1-2 TBSP cornstarch, optional

4 pears, sliced thin

4 apples, sliced thin

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme, optional

Place the ham on a baking rack meat side down and roast uncovered for about 1 1/2-2 1/4 hours.

While the ham is roasting, make the sauce by combining the water, sugar, honey, curry, butter, cinnamon and balsamic vinegar together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then reduce the heat to a medium high and continue to boil for about 25-30 minutes, or until it starts to thicken. Allow it to cool. I like my glaze a little thicker than this one turned out, so I added about 1-2 TBSP of cornstarch as well before bringing it back to the second boil.

When the sauce is done, carefully pour or brush it over the ham. Return the ham back to the oven and continue to roast for an additional 20-30 minutes.

Once the sauce has been poured over the ham, make the apples, pears and onions. Saute them in a large skillet with the butter, ginger and honey-ginger balsamic vinegar if using. Cook for about 5-7 minutes or until they soften. You might need to cook them in batches. Add some fresh thyme right at the end.

When everything is done, serve the apples and pears either on the side or on top of the ham along with your favorite side dishes. I served it with a crisp barrel aged Chenin Blanc. This is a perfect holiday ham, or in this case, birthday ham. This is the same ham I used for my nibbly tray when we went wining with Julia and Bruce. Corn and Crab Dip

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.