A Jeanne in the Kitchen

I went out for a “cuppa” with a friend and before meeting her, I saw this beautiful church that just needed to be photographed. This, after all, is the reason for the Season.

The Christmas wreath

The word “wreath” comes from the Old English “writhan,” meaning “to twist,” and over the centuries, wreaths have been associated with a variety of cultures. It’s believed that wreaths date back to the Persian Empire, ancient Egypt, and ancient Greece, but their purpose during those times differs from the way that they are popularly used today.

HOLIDAY WREATHS

Christmas wreaths are also connected with the pagan holiday of Yule, marking the winter solstice, which was celebrated by ancient Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. This 12-day festival, which was also called midwinter, was held to honor the returning of the sun and the seasonal cycle. The wreaths used during Yule were meant to symbolize nature and the promise of spring. They held candles that were lit in hopes of the return of the warmth and the sunlight. Rome, too, had an annual midwinter celebration, called Saturnalia, during which they worshiped Saturn, who was the god of agriculture or sowing, from Dec. 17 through Dec. 23. For Saturnalia, Romans used holly wreaths as a form of decoration and also gave them as gifts.

CHRISTMAS WREATHS

But perhaps the most widespread and well-known use of wreaths comes in connection with Christmas and with Christianity, as their circular shape is said to symbolize eternal life and the unending love of God. In the 16th century, the use of wreaths during Yule was adopted by Christians and became a custom in the form of Advent wreaths. These wreaths were traditionally made of evergreens, which also symbolize eternal life, holly oak, and red berries. The red berries and the thorny leaves of the holly oak represented the crown of thorns worn by Jesus and the drops of blood that they drew. The Advent wreath is meant to hold four candles, three purple and one pink. The first candle to be lit during Advent is meant to symbolize hope and is a purple one called the prophecy candle. On the second Sunday of Advent, another purple candle, called the Bethlehem candle, is lit. It symbolizes love to some and the manger of Jesus to others. The pink candle, called the shepherd candle, represents joy and is lit on the third Sunday of Advent. Peace is represented by the angel candle, which is the final purple candle and is lit on the fourth Sunday of Advent. Sometimes, a fifth, white candle is added to the center of the wreath. This is referred as the Christ candle, and it’s lit on Christmas Eve. These candles symbolize the coming of the light of Christ.

With getting everything ready for Thanksgiving and decorating the house for Christmas, I’ve been a little on the busy side and haven’t had time to do another video. Until now. This is a simple, easy-peasy and delicious recipe for green beans with caramelized shallots. It takes about 10 minutes to make and goes very well with anything you want to serve it with.

I do have a correction make though. I misspoke when I said olive oil has a “high” smoke point, which allows it to burn easily. It actually has a LOW smoke point which makes it burn easily. So, I apologize for my error. Sometimes I just get tongue tied.

As always, I hope you enjoy and please pass it along to your family and friends. If you like what you see, please subscribe to my YouTube page as well.

Have a great day Everyone. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I am still using up the leftovers from our Thanksgiving feast. Our Thanksgiving Feast You all know how much I LOVE to re-create with my leftovers, and I have a lot of good, tasty “materials” to work with too at the moment. This time, I made turkey enchiladas with a pumpkin cream sauce. The whole meal was re-created from leftovers, and believe it or not, I still have a lot more to go too. We had A LOT of food at our Thanksgiving table.

Enchiladas in general are a great way to use up leftovers, but why not make them festive as well. I had just enough pumpkin puree for this dish, and then I also used up some of the turkey and vegetables to make these very tasty enchiladas. And I served them over some leftover corn and rice I had made earlier. Leftovers re-created and re-purposed. I LOVE IT! 🙂

Turkey Enchiladas with a Pumpkin Cream Sauce

3 cups shredded cooked turkey

1/2 each red, green, yellow and orange bell pepper, diced fine

1 1/2 TBSP garlic

3-4 roasted Hatch peppers or diced green chilies

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp cumin2 TBSP fresh sage, chiffonade

cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste

1 cup jalapeno jack cheese, or cheese of choice

12 corn tortillas

olive oil for cooking

2 TBSP butter

Saute the onions, pepper, spices and garlic together in the olive oil for about 2-3 minutes, or until they are tender and the onions are translucent.

Add the turkey and the roasted peppers and combine thoroughly. Continue to cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, then remove from the pan and set aside.

To make the sauce, combine the cream, pumpkin, chicken broth and about 1 TBSP of the fresh sage together.

Once everything is thoroughly combined, whisk in the flour, making sure to get all the lumps out. Add salt and pepper to taste and the butter and continue to cook for about 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Preheat the oven to 375* F or about 190* C.

Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Then add a light layer of the pumpkin cream sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Heat the tortillas in either a little hot oil for about 10-15 seconds, or in the microwave. This is to make them pliable and easier to work with. Lay them one by one in the sauced pan, and add as much filling as the tortillas can hold. Then roll them up. Continue until the pan is full.

When the tortillas are rolled, top them with the cream sauce and sprinkle the cheese on top. Add the rest of the sage as well. If you like them really cheesy, you can add some cheese to the filling before rolling them up too.

Cover tightly with foil and place in the oven to cook for about 30-40 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and the enchiladas are hot in the center and heated thoroughly.

I served them over rice and corn, and a very leftover veggies as well, and topped them with some avocado slices, green onions and salsa. You can also add sour cream too if you like.

!Desfruitas! You will love these tasty holiday enchiladas, and they are made up entirely from the Thanksgiving leftovers. I LIIIIIIIKE IT!

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

I grew up in Pasadena, CA. Pasadena is known for many wonderful things. Some of my favorite Christmas memories were to drive all around through Hastings Ranch and up to the Balian House to see all the fabulous Christmas lights and decorations. The Balian House is in Altadena, CA, a Pasadena suburb up in the hills. The Balians are famous for Balian Ice Cream and every year, the house was decorated to the 9’s for Christmas. It was always a good way to start the festive holiday celebrations by going to visit the lights at the Balian House and/or driving through Hastings Ranch.

The custom of Christmas lights was borrowed from pagan yule rituals that celebrate the return of the light of the sun as the days grow longer after solstice: the evergreen trees symbolizing the renewal and continuance of life in dark times. The Christmas trees were brought by Christians into their homes in early modern Germany. To that effect, the Christmas lights also symbolize the stars, particularly the Star of David, that appeared in Bethlehem the night Christ was born. Even thought the use of lit Christmas trees and Christmas lights didn’t start with Christianity, displaying Christmas lights can remind us to follow Christ and His path.

I made two delicious desserts for our big Thanksgiving feast. The first, you have already seen. It was my pumpkin chiffon pie. Pumpkin Chiffon Pie The second dessert I made was a rustic apple and almond tart.

Apple and nuts are such a natural combination and they both have a long history of being used for holiday foods, all over the world. Apple pie is a yet another holiday favorite that is enjoyed by many, but like my pumpkin pie, this pie had a unique twist to it this year. I made it as an apple and almond galette, which is a free form pie or tart. This is a simple tart made from very basic ingredients. It may be simple, but it is simply delicious.

Rustic Apple and Almond Tart

The Dough

For my dough, I just made my basic pate sucre or sugar dough.

1 1/2 cups flour

6 TBSP cold butter, cubed

2-3 TBPS powdered sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

5-6 TBSP heavy whipping cream

In a food processor, mix the flour, butter, salt and sugar together until it resembles sand. Then add the egg and the cream and continue to blend until the dough forms into a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out and using.

The Filling

1/2 cup toasted almond slivers

6 apples, sliced into thin slices

3-4 TBSP melted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar, tightly packed

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

milk for brushing the crust

cinnamon sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 400* F or 200*C

Mix the apples, cinnamon, sugar, almonds and vanilla together, combining thoroughly.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough, then roll it over onto the baking sheet. Add the apple filling, leaving about 1-2 inches around the edges free.

Start folding over the edges of the tart and pinch together tightly.

Once the dough is folded over, brush the edges with milk, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Put the tart in the oven and bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Let cool completely then place on your serving platter. My juices from the tart leaked out on to my baking sheet, so in order to both clean my baking pan and to add a bit more texture, I drizzled it over my tart as soon as I took it out of the oven. This was not planned at all, but it worked. Drizzling the caramelized juices over the tart added more depth and texture to the tart.

Life is short. Make sure you enjoy all your desserts.

Stay safe and stay healthy Everyone. ‘Til next time.

I believe in the magic of the season.

Our dear friend Goldie, from https://dailyflabbergast.wordpress.com/ threw out a challenge for doing a blog post representing the 25 days of Christmas https://dailyflabbergast.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/25daysofchristmas/. Goldie also had a post about pictures with Santa https://dailyflabbergast.wordpress.com/2020/11/30/nrop-in-santas-lap/. I am going to do my best to meet the challenge. Here is my first picture, capturing both ideas.

Santa and the Kids

Back in the days when we used to volunteer for the Colorado Saint Bernard Rescue, we used to have annual pictures with Santa as a fundraiser for the group. This picture was a few years ago. It was Vinnie’s first Christmas with us. He was still just a young pup at this time.

Amidst all the Thanksgiving festivities were a couple of birthday celebrations for our nieces, Nahila and Tehvia. Nahila turned 10 and Tehvia recently turned 8. We don’t get to see that that much any more, so we couldn’t do a big to-do for them like we usually do. Instead, we just had a quiet little celebration for the two of them and the family, here at the house. Nahila said she wanted a blue #10 cake. And that is exactly what she got too.

For the most part, both Tehvia and Nahila are vegan, so I made sure I baked a vegan cake for them. Cooking vegan is not a challenge at all, but baking vegan is a totally different story. Usually I pride myself on making things from scratch, but when I am doing vegan baking, I don’t even attempt it any more. The last time I tried to make a vegan/gluten free bread from scratch, it turned out like a brick that tasted like cardboard. Needless to say, it was quickly thrown into the trash. Some people have mastered vegan baking. I am not one of them, nor do I really have much interest in perfecting that skill, because I am not and never will be vegan. So I admit, this cake was made from a box, using vegan egg substitutes and vegan butter and cream for the frosting.

I started off by making a sheet cake. Once it cooled, I stuck it into the freezer to make it easier to frost. “Easier” is a misnomer though, because it was still very crumbly and difficult to work with.

I cut the numbers from the sheet cake.

Then I made the vegan buttercream frosting. It is the same method as making a normal buttercream frosting, only using vegan ingredients instead. At first, the frosting came out fine, but after a few minutes, it started separating, which again made it challenging to work with.

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup vegan butter at room temperature

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP non-dairy milk or vegan milk

food coloring, optional

Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer or by using a hand held mixer and start spreading it over your cake using a cake spatula or cake spreader.

Have you ever wondered why I don’t do a lot of cake decorating? It’s NOT one of my specialties. Some people are gifted artists. I am not one of them. But, I always use the most important ingredient when decorating, and that is LOVE. So they may not be the prettiest cakes you’d ever see, but they are made with love, and that is all that really matters.

After we enjoyed our cake, we all had bright blue tongues too for awhile, which gave us all a case of the giggles . 🙂

Happy Birthday to both Nahila, our new 10-year old and Tehvia, our new 8-year old. We love you lots. Love always, Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Larry.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. And Stay forever young. ‘Til next time.

I have said many times I just never know what I am going to see on my walks. Today, it was yet another absolutely gorgeous day and it was a perfect day for a good walk. The lakes were very still, other than the geese and a few ducks. Today, everything was happening up in the trees. I saw a lot of birds and things you would expect to find in the trees, as well as a few things I wouldn’t expect to find in the trees. But that’s what makes it fun. You just never know. Sometimes, you just need to look up.

Let’s start with some unusual things. A turkey of a different feather.

Some fishing bobs.

a moose.

and some hats.

I think Santa has been partying a bit too hard and left this behind. He might need this.

I expect to find leaves in the trees, but usually I expect to see the leaves of those particular trees.

And now for things I expect to see in trees, like pine cones

bird houses,

and birds. These were pretty far away, and I really had to zoom in on them. I think they are Clay-Colored Sparrows.

I think this is a red winged black bird, but it is kind of hard to tell.

A Robin looking in to say hi.

This is an Eurasion Collared Dove.

And another beautiful Northern Flicker.

Hope you all enjoy your day. Make it great. Everyday is a beautiful day.