I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
Christmas is for the kids; kids of all ages. We were at a Lacrosse game that was collecting teddy bears to donate to kids’ charities. This was a teddy bear toss game. All the fans brought teddy bears to the game, and during one of the intermissions we threw them all out into the arena. The players gathered them all up and the teddy bears were all donated to local children’s hospitals.
It was a cold wintery day. We were having company over for dinner, and it was a perfect day to cook a ham. It was a also a good time to make another video. This video is about making a Christmas ham with an apple-ginger cider glaze. If you do not have ginger cider, no worries. Apple juice or cider and apple sauce will work just fine. I served my ham with some twice baked potatoes, roasted vegetables and another salad with my spiced pecans, pomegranate seeds and lemon vinaigrette. Add a Little Lemon We had some smoked cheeses and crackers for appetizers and the leftover of my caramel apple cake for dessert. Caramel Apple Cake It was a simple meal, shared with our friends Julia and Bruce (yes our very own Julia). And for all, it was a good night.
Apple-Ginger Cider Glaze for Ham
1/2 cup apple butter or apple sauce
1/2 cup ginger cider, apple cider or apple juice
1/4-1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
Mix all the ingredients together in a sauce pan and cook over a medium flame until all the sugar dissolves and the sauce starts to thicken. When ready, either pour it over the ham or brush it over the ham, making sure to completely coat the ham with the sauce. Put the ham back in the oven to continue to cook for about an hour or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches about 160-165*F or about 90*C. Reserve some of the glaze to pour over the ham once it has been sliced and is ready to serve.
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Stay safe and stay well. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays. ‘Til next time.
Gift-giving has its roots in pagan rituals held during the winter. When Christianity folded these rituals into Christmas, the justification for bearing gifts was redirected to the Three Wise Men, the Magi, who gave gifts to the infant Jesus. But in early modern Europe, it also had its roots in Christmas begging.
Although such efforts did contribute to the magnitude of the ritual, the practice of buying Christmas presents for children predates the spread of corporate capitalism in the United States: It began during the first half of the 1800s, particularly in New York City, and was part of a broader transformation of Christmas and has been part of the tradition and part of the magic of the season ever since. Kids of all ages enjoy getting gifts left under the Christmas tree. I don’t think we ever get too old to appreciate those. Even the old Scrooges and curmudgeons like having presents under the tree, although they would never admit to it. The older we get, the less presents there are too, which makes the one we do get that much more special. For me though, the joy is always in the giving of those gifts and leaving them under the tree, much more so than the receiving. Although don’t get me wrong, I LOVE presents too.
One of the best parts of this blogging world is the people we meet. I am very fortunate to have have met and become good friends with another blogger, Julia from https://retirementrvdream.com/. It turns out Julia and I only live about 30 minutes or less away from each other. We became fast friends immediately and have enjoyed each others company many times since we first met.
Saturday night, Julia and her husband Bruce, invited us over for dinner. Julia prepared this fantastically delicious Ethiopian meal for us. I have eaten many different foods from all over the world, and have enjoyed many different African meals as well, but up until Saturday, I don’t recall ever having eaten foods specifically from Ethiopia. Everything was prepared to perfection and was just unbelievably delicious. And Julia had everything beautifully decorated for the evening as well. Unbeknownst to Julia, she actually became a guest chef. 🙂
Julia had the table beautifully decorated in an African theme to go with the African/Ethiopian feast she prepared.
As Julia was putting together the last finishing touches of dinner, she started us off with these amazing sambosas, stuffed with spicy shredded beef. She also had some toasted pepitas and special African style almonds for us to nibble on as well.
Julia is hard at work, putting together the salad.
While everything was cooking, I helped Julia roll up the teff cakes made with teff flour. I had never heard of teff flour before. I love how I am always learning something new, and then I get to share itwih all of you. 🙂
The teff seeds too.
Bruce was busy pouring the wine as we sat down to this delicious and exotic feast.
Once everything was prepared, it was time to eat. The eating style is quite elaborate as well. Everything is put onto one of the teff cakes, that lines the bottom of the plate. The teff cakes absorbs all the juices and flavors from all the foods placed on top. Then the food is picked up with the rolled teff strips and eaten with your hands.
I waited for Julia to show us how we were supposed to eat everything. She graciously showed us the correct form. We also had forks and knives just in case we couldn’t get the hang of it. Luckily too.
Julia’s exotic and delicious spread included: 1) Ye’a besha Gomen (collard greens); 2) A takilt Wat (cabbage, carrots and potatoes); 3) Ye’misser Wat (red lentils in a spicy sauce); 4) Ye’difin Misser Alicha (lentils in garlic ginger sauce); and 5) Key Wat (spicy beef stew). Everything was absolutely scrumptious. What a feast and what a treat.
The meal did not end here though. Oh no! Julia had one last divine trick up her sleeve; a whipped banana and yogurt dessert topped with toasted pecans.
With very full and satisfied tummies, it was time to sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. Even Nox had to be a part of the festivities and was happy to be in her momma’s arms, getting lots of love.
Julia and Bruce, thank you so much for such a fabulous meal and a great evening. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Celebrating the holidays with friends and family is one of the best things in life.
Stay health and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
The ‘modern’ Christmas tree tradition is thought to have originated in 16th century Germany, where small evergreen trees were decorated with the likes of candles, apples, nuts, and berries as “Paradise trees” in church plays. Over time, devout Christians integrated these decorated trees into their homes during the holiday season. The tradition, which became a Christian ritual, began to spread across Europe. German immigrants brought this practice to America in the 18th and 19th centuries, where it was promptly rejected by Puritanical religious groups for its historically pagan connotations. While it took a while to catch on, small communities of German-born settlers documented the continuation of this practice as early as the mid-1700s. In the late 1840s, a published depiction of the favorable Queen Victoria celebrating Christmas with her German-born husband, Prince Albert, and their family around a decorated evergreen tree transformed the practice into a fashionable one that wealthy Americans soon rushed to adopt. In short order, local businesses caught on to the ornament’s commercial potential.
By the 1890s, Woolworth’s Department Store in the United States was selling $25 million in German-imported ornaments made of lead and hand-blown glass. As time went on, tree decorations became increasingly artful, incorporating new materials such as tinsel, silk, and wool.
Once the premiere manufacturer of handmade ornaments, Germany was suddenly competing with Japanese and Eastern European mass-production as the Christmas bauble became a globalized commercial venture. By the mid-1930s, over 250,000 ornaments were imported to the United States.
In 1973, Hallmark introduced their “Keepsake” ornaments, which afforded these decorations collectible value. The first collection consisted of glass baubles and little yarn figures, and each successive line of limited-edition ornaments has been unique to the year.
Today, the Christmas tree has shed most of its religious significance. Having become a fully-integrated cross-cultural winter tradition, families of all faiths around the world await that beloved time of year when they can dust off their decorations once more.
I LOVE Christmas ornaments. My collection is forever growing too. Some people like to have themed trees and ornaments. Some people like to change them from year to year. There is nothing wrong with either of these ideas, but I love the eclectic eccentricity of all of my ornaments. My collection is a personal, unique collection of all kinds of different ornaments, and I wouldn’t have it any other way either. I love them all. All of our ornaments are unique and they all tell their own story. Some of our ornaments are from my parents. Some represent certain big events. Some are from our many travels from around the world. Some represent our sports and hobbies. Others are for our beloved fur babies. They are all different and they are all beautiful in their own ways.
This beautiful ornament was a gift from our friends Scott and Traci in honor of the loss of our beautiful big girl, Lucie. The other one is to honor all of our other beloved fur babies who have crossed over the rainbow bridge as well.
This one is for our wedding day.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays.
What’s Christmas without Christmas trees? Everywhere Christmas is celebrated around the world, there are always brightly decorated Christmas trees all around to mark the season. The trees are of all sizes and are decorated in many different ways, with many different traditions. But how did the tradition of the Christmas tree begin?
The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome and continues with the German tradition of candlelit Christmas trees first brought to America in the 1800s. Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles. The first Christmas trees in America were from the Germans who settled in Pennsylvania in the mid 1800’s. By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling. The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.
Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.
I love seeing all the beautifully decorated Christmas trees. I wish we could keep them up all year round. We have 3 trees; our big tree in white in our family room, a smaller, brightly colored one in the living room; and an even smaller tree in our art niche above the stairs, with a bunch of smaller trees around the house as well. If you count our big pine tree on our side yard, we actually have 4 Christmas trees. To me, Christmas trees are just magical.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays to All.
I don’t normally think of salads when I think of cold, wintery weather and Christmas. But that is part of the magic of the season. You just never know what’s going to work and what’s not. The other day, Larry’s birthday, when we had a our festive lunch, Fun, Festive Christmas Lunch, I made a quick and easy salad to go with my torta rustica. It was a great combination. The salad had a delicious, light and lemony dressing that went very well with the meat and cheese filled torta rustica. This salad, like the torta rustica, would be good at any time of year as well, but you might have to forego the pomegranates, since they are a fruit we find mostly in winter.
Mixed Greens with Lemon Champagne Vinaigrette
3 cups fresh baby spinach, stems removed
3 cups mixed greens
3/4 cup spiced pecans, or toasted nuts, chopped, separated
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds, separated
1 shallot, minced fine
1/2 cup olive oil
2 TBSP champagne vinegar
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 tsp honey
Mix the greens, spinach, most of the pecans (or nuts) and most of the pomegranate seeds together.
Mix the oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, honey and shallots together.
Right before eating the salad, add the dressing and toss everything together well. Plate the salads up and top with the remaining pomegranate seeds and chopped pecans. This festive, lemony salad will definitely light up your taste buds for the holidays or any other time you choose to enjoy it.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
Day 12 of this Christmas challenge is also day 3 of Hanukkah this year, and since Christmas and Hanukkah are both very important holidays that always come around the same time of year, I think it is only fitting to give a big shout out to Hanukkah and our Jewish friends as well.
Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday which celebrates the victory of the Maccabees over the larger Syrian army. It also celebrates a miracle that happened during this time, where just a day’s supply of oil allowed the menorah in the rededicated Temple in Jerusalem to remain lit for eight days. According to I Maccabees, the celebration of Hanukkah was instituted by Judas Maccabeus in 165 bce to celebrate his victory over Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid king who had invaded Judaea, tried to Hellenize the Jews, and desecrated the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Most of us know that Hanukkah lasts for eight nights, and during the holiday, you light the menorah, eat delicious fried latkes and spin the dreidel to win some chocolate. But there is much more to the Jewish holiday than just good food and candles—and it’s not just about getting presents all week long.
If you want to learn more about the Festival of Lights, here are eight interesting things you may not know about Hanukkah.
So Happy Hanukkah to all our Jewish friends, as well as a Merry Christmas to all our non-Jewish friends. Either way, Happy Holidays. May they be filled with love and good tidings to all.
Yesterday was Larry’s birthday. Thank you all for wishing him good birthday wishes and good cheer. My friend Kathy came over for a fun festive Christmas lunch and helped us celebrate as best as we could, given the circumstances and these crazy times.
I made a delicious torta rustica or an Italian layered picnic pie and a Christmas salad for lunch. I pulled out the Christmas plates, since after all, ’tis the season and made everything fun and festive. Even though it was just a lunch for the three of us, we still needed to celebrate the season, and it is much more fun when everything is decorated for the season. We finished lunch with some of Larry’s caramel apple cake for dessert. Caramel Apple Cake
A torta rustica is an Italian layered picnic pie, that is usually popular around Easter, but obviously, you can make it any time of year. This Italian Easter pizza comes from Naples and can trace it’s history back to the 17th century. In and around Naples, the dish is known as pizza rustica, pizza ripiena, or pizza chiena. The different spellings and names come from the different dialects in Italian but they all mean the same thing: “stuffed pizza“. Just like it’s close cousin, pizza, you can make it with anything you like. A torta rustica is part pastry, part quiche, part pie, and part pizza all at the same time. It is completely encased in pizza dough and what you fill the insides up with is completely up to you. I usually load it up with all kinds of salami and ham, roasted peppers, spinach and cheese. You can serve it either at room temperature or hot. I have eaten it and enjoyed it both ways, although I prefer it hot because I do not care for, nor can I really eat, cold cheeses.
Torta Rustica
The dough is my thick pizza dough.
5 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
3 tsp sugar, divided
1/2 cup warm water, divided
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 TBSP olive oil, plus more to rub the bowl and the dough
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
Mix the yeast, 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 tsp of sugar together and let set for about 10 minutes, or until it becomes frothy.
Mix the egg, milk and olive oil together.
Mix the flour, salt and remaining sugar together.
Combine the yeast mixture with the egg mixture then add to the flour and add the remaining water and combine well. You can mix it in a mixer or by hand. For some reason, I actually prefer to do it the old fashioned way and mix it all by hand. I LOVE working the dough with my hands. Knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes or until the dough forms into a smooth and elastic ball. Coat a large bowl with olive oil and coat the dough with olive oil as well. Cover and let rest and rise for about 1-1 1/2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. You can also freeze the dough and keep it for up to 6 months.
When you are ready to use the dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to your desired shape and thickness. This is a yeast dough, and it will naturally be a pretty thick dough.
Preheat the oven to 400* F or 200* C.
Spray an 8″ springform cake pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Roll the dough out so it covers the bottom and the sides of the pan. Then roll out some more dough to make the top.
As I mentioned above, you can fill your torta rustica with anything you like. For this particular rustica, I used a variety of thinly sliced deli meats and mozzarella cheese, along with some roasted peppers and spinach with garlic and onions. I used 3 kinds of salami, ham and turkey.
I started with a layer of cheese then added the spinach mixture.
Next came the layers of meats and peppers.
In between my last layer of meat and my last layer of cheese, I added more of my spinach mixture.
Once the pan is full and all the layers have been added, top it with the dough topping. Score the top of the dough and brush with an egg wash.
Place the torta in the oven and bake uncovered for about 30 or so minutes or until the dough is golden brown. Then cover with aluminum foil and continue to bake for about another 30-40 minutes, or until the center reaches an internal temperature of about 120* F. If you are serving it hot, allow it to cool for about 5 minutes or so before cutting. If you want to eat it at room temperature, let it cool for about 1 hour, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Remove it from the refrigerator about an hour before serving.
Buon Natalie e Mangia!
Happy Holidays. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
Christmas and celebrating the holidays (whatever holidays you celebrate) mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but the number one reason that makes the holidays so special is celebrating with family, friends and loved ones.
This was a few years ago when some of my Aussie rellies crossed the pond for an American style Christmas. We had SO much fun. It was such a special Christmas.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 