A Jeanne in the Kitchen

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.

1. Hanukkah itself is NOT actually the Jewish holiday. In fact, it’s not even mentioned in the Torah. But because of its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah became a widely celebrated holiday beginning in the late 1800s.
2. The Menorah itself is actually what is known as Hanukiah. An actual menorah has seven placeholders all at the same height. A Hanukkiah has nine, with one at a different height.
3. During Hanukkah, Israelis feast on “sufganiyot”—oily jelly donuts—as the traditional holiday dessert. During this time of year, 17.5 million doughnuts are eaten.
4. Studying the Torah was outlawed in ancient Greece, so the Jewish people played with the dreidel in order to fool the Greeks if they were caught.
5. Gift-giving isn’t a traditional part of Hanukkah, but kids were given gelt money as an incentive to study the Torah, but because Hanukkah is close to Christmas, and gift giving is a big part of the Christmas tradition, gifts have also become a part of the Hanukkah traditions as well. This also most probably started around the late 1800’s, when celebrating Hanukkah became so widespread.
6. There are actually 16 different ways to spell Hanukkah. Since Hanukkah is transliterated from Hebrew letters, there are many different ways to spell the name of the holiday. The most common in English are “Hanukkah” or “Chanukah.”
7. Hanukkah candles are added right to left, but lit left to right so the newest is lit first.
8. Jimmy Carter was the first president to take official notice of the holiday in 1979, and each president since has recognized Hanukkah with a special menorah-lighting ceremony.

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.

Today is Larry’s birthday, so he had to have a cake. I made him a caramel apple cake. He loves anything with apples and cinnamon, but then again, he is German, and apples and cinnamon are as much a German tradition as potatoes and sausages. German Sausage and Potato Bake. The idea of this cake came from one of my blogger buddies, over at https://thebrookcook.wordpress.com. Thank you so much for the idea. Larry is not a coffee fan, so I eliminated the coffee. It is a simple cake that is loaded with apples.

Caramel Apple Cake

The Cake

preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 vegetable or canola oil

2 eggs

4 cups or 2 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped

3/4 cup lukewarm coffee, optional

Mix the flour, salt, spices and baking soda together and set aside.

Mix the butter and sugar together until it is creamy. Then add the eggs, one at a time, the oil and the vanilla. Mix everything together until well blended. If you are using coffee, add it in at this point.

Add the flour mixture 1/2 batch at a time, mixing in between. I had some leftover apples and cinnamon from my Thanksgiving rustic apple tart that I used as well, so this cake was full of apples and cinnamon. Rustic Apple and Almond Tart

Fold in the apples by hand.

Once all the apples are well incorporated into the dough, spread it evenly into the greased baking pan.

Bake for about 40-50 minutes or until the cake is springy and done, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle. When the cake is done, poke holes all throughout the cake so the caramel filling can go into the cake too.

While the cake is still hot, make the caramel topping and evely pour over the top of the cake.

The Caramel Topping

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together, except the vanilla, in a saucepan and cook until the sugar and butter are completely melted and you have a smooth sauce. Stir constantly.

Add the vanilla to the sauce and mix in well.

Pour the sauce over the cake evenly and let the cake and the sauce cool completely before cutting.

When the cake is ready, warm it up a bit and serve it with either ice cream or whipped cream if you like. Larry loves his ice cream and has some almost every night. This time he got to have his cake and ice cream and eat it too. Happy Birthday Larry. Love you always and forever.

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

Sometimes the best things are the simple things. Mother Nature has decorated her Christmas tree too.

Sausage and potatoes are staples in the German diet. The Germans are known for their love of sausages, and they make many different kinds of them too. Potatoes are found at every German table, for almost every meal. In English, this dish is known as a sausage and potato bake. In German, it is a little more of a mouthful – Gebackene Kartoffel und Wurst. This dish is as authentically German as it gets. Larry is 100% German, so every now and then, German meals are on the menu. For this particular dish, any kind of sausage will work. I used bratwursts this time, since that is what we had down at the time.

German Sausage and Potato Bake

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and sliced into rounds about 1/8 of a inch thick

1 1/2 lbs of sausage of your choice

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup cheese of your choice

1 cup sliced mushrooms, optional

1 cup onions, sliced very thin, optional

1/4 cup butter

1 TBSP paprika

salt & pepper to taste

parsley

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

Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook the sausages until they are browned and thoroughly cooked. Place the cooked sausages on a paper towel to drain. Once my sausages were cooled, I cut them into 3rds, at an angle, but you can also slice into pieces or just slice them 1/2 horizontally if you prefer.

Mix the milk, eggs, paprika and salt and pepper together.

Cook the potato slices in butter for about 8-10 minutes, or until they are tender, then add the mushrooms and onions, if using, and saute them as well, mixing them with the potatoes.

When the potatoes, onions and mushrooms are cooked, line them on the bottom of the baking pan in a single layer. I also added some of my leftover peas I’ll Have Some Peas Please.

Add a layer of cheese. I used a combination of cheddar and jack, but you can use any kind of cheese you like. Edam cheese is a very good choice, if you like that. Then add the sausages on top of the cheese. Pour about 1/2 of the milk and egg mixture over the sausages.

Add another layer of potatoes and pour the rest of the milk mixture on top. Add another layer of cheese. Sprinkle the paprika and parsley over the top of the potatoes and cheese.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the casserole is lightly browned and all the cheese is completely melted. Serve hot. Das ist gut. Wunderbar!

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

People have been sending Christmas greetings to each other for hundreds of years. The first recorded use of ‘Merry Christmas‘ was in a Christmas letter sent in 1534.

The first known item that looked a bit like a Christmas card was given to King James I of England (who was also King James VI of Scotland) in 1611. The custom of sending Christmas cards, as we know them today, was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He was a senior civil servant (Government worker) who had helped set-up the new ‘Public Record Office’ (now called the Post Office), where he was an Assistant Keeper, and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people. Sir Cole worked with his friend John Horsley, who was an artist, and made the first Christmas cards for the masses. At that time, these cards, and artists renditions were relatively cheap. Today, these originals are very rare and are very costly if you do find them. But Christmas cards were still mostly a tradition in England and Europe. Christmas cards did not become popular in the United States until 1915, when John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today.

I love sending and receiving Christmas cards. It is a big production in my house every year. I send the cards themselves, with a letter of the year’s events and happenings and a photo of us as well. After all, the purpose of Christmas cards to connect with your family and friends, and those you don’t see regularly.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

This post is kind of a 2-for-1. It is Day 8 of the 25 Days of Christmas Challenge, but it is also a recap of our day in Georgetown. It is a Christmas and Holiday special.

The little town of Georgetown is a mountain town nestled into the foothills of of Clear Creek County, about 1-1 1/2 hours west of Denver. It has been known as Colorado’s Christmas town for the past 51 years. In years past, it was the place to go to celebrate Christmas from the Old West with it’s traditional Christmas Market. There were Christmas carolers dressed in clothes of yore. You could roast chestnuts and ride horse drawn carriages through the town. The shops were filled with shoppers looking for those unique Christmas gifts for their loved ones. There was story time, and readings of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” with Old St. Nick himself strolling through the town. This all sounds like so much fun and a great way to ring in the holidays.

Sadly, with all that is going on in the world today, these traditions are no longer taking place. My friend Suzanne and I ventured up to Georgetown yesterday, hoping to see and experience all this wonderful Christmas magic, but there was none to be found. Instead of a bustling Christmas Market, we were strolling through what seemed to be the streets of a ghost town. So many of the shops were closed, and are closed for good, with many more following down that path. It was really very sad.

There were, however a few shops still open, and the town was still as festive as could be expected during these tough and tragic times. The shops that were open still believe in the magic of the season, and are happy to see everyone who stops in to see them. The shopkeepers are still full of smiles and warm hearts, and still offer unique, one-of-a-kind items that can only be found in Georgetown. Now, more than ever though, they really need you to pay them a visit. That would really brighten their day and will help them to keep their doors open for yet another Christmas season to come.

While strolling down the streets, we stopped in at Georgetown Coffee and Tea for a warm cappaccino and a chai tea.

The little coffee shop is not only a coffee shop, but has a tiny library upstairs as well. Normally, you could enjoy a “cuppa” and a good book at the same time. Right now, though, you can only do one or the other, but you cannot sit and stay to really enjoy either.

Fortunately, our barista Natalie had a warm smile and a great personality that she served up with our delicious warm “cuppas”. She even decorated our drinks with a Christmas tree and a heart.

Georgetown Coffee and Tea is located at 612 6th Street Atrium. You can contact them online at http://www.georgetowncoffee.com or at Insta@Georgetown_Coffee. You can also give them a call at (303) 569-5195. But you will get the best experience if you stop in and say “hi” in person. There is a a little shop on the side that offers unique items, plus a warm and inviting old stove fireplace to help keep you warm while you are waiting for your coffee to be brewed.

I was showing off my Christmas spirit and my Christmas socks while enjoying a butter pecan latte.

A couple of doors down from Georgetown Coffee and Tea was the Shoppe Internationale, owned and operated by Janice and Mike Moore.

Janice is full of smiles and has many, many beautiful items to share from around the world. She has all kinds of Christmas goodies, jewelry and unique kitchen items, just to name a few of her specialties. Both Suzanne and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Janice and we both came out with a couple of unique items as Christmas gifts for ourselves. After all, you have to spoil yourself sometimes too.

Shoppe Internationale is in the Masonic Building, also on the 6th Street Atrium, at 606-608 6th Street. You can call at (303) 569-2495 or you can contact them at mjmoore@sitestar.net. Janice will be more than happy to help you find that perfect gift and just what you are looking for.

After strolling through town and shopping, sight seeing, and visiting with everyone we met, it was time for brunch/lunch. One of the friendly faces we had to talk to was Gwynovere. If only I had Vinnie with me.

We stopped in at the Happy Cooker. “The Happy Cooker was first opened in 1974 serving breakfast and specialty waffles. Through the years not much has changed. We continue to provide homemade meals from original recipes we have kept in the family for years. We are considered a long-time icon in the town of Georgetown.” The Happy Cooker is a family owned restaurant, owned and operated by Derek Markley. It is at 412 6th Street. You can call them at (303) 263-0737 or visit them online at HistoricHappyCooker@aol.com

I LOVE how it states on the menu that “friendly people and well behaved dogs are welcome on the patio. All dogs, most husbands and some children must be on a leash ” too.

There was one beautiful husky named Penny, who was definitely very well behaved and was thoroughly enjoying her day.

The portions at the Happy Cooker are HUGE and the food is made in house and fresh everyday. It was very, very good too. Suzanne ordered biscuits and gravy and I ordered the huevos rancheros. As good as it was, I was lucky to get through only about 1/2 of my meal before I had to call it a day.

We had a full day and full tummies. We were most definitely happy shoppers and so glad we drove up into the mountains for a little holiday fun. So while you are out and about doing your holiday shopping, pay a visit to your local small businesses and spread the holiday cheer. They all need you more than ever right now and they are ready to help you with all of your holiday needs.

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

We had a long day of hiking around through the mountains yesterday, and when we came home, I just wanted to make something quick and easy-peasy for dinner. I had marinated some steak before we left, then cut them up and cubed them for kebabs when we got home. Dinner was a kebabed theme. I also made some mushroom and pearl onion kebabs to go with the meat. Everything went on the grill, and I served them with some couscous and pita bread and a smooth shiraz. Simple, easy-peasy and delicious. My favorite way to cook!

These only take a few basic ingredients and only a few minutes to make. But they will just melt in your mouth. Simple is my favorite way to cook, and if it is simple AND delicious, BONUS!

Grilled Mushroom Kebabs

16 pearl onions

20 mushrooms, stems cut and rinsed

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup butter

1 TBSP garlic

salt & pepper to taste

parsley

wooden skewers

Boil the pearl onions for 5 minutes to loosen the skins. Remove the onions from the water and peel the skins.

Mix the balsamic vinegar, butter, garlic and salt and pepper together and microwave for about 30 seconds to melt the butter. Combine everything together thoroughly.

Stack the skewers, alternating between mushrooms and onions.

Brush the onions and mushrooms with the balsamic butter mixture. Place on the grill to cook for about 12 minutes, turning at least a couple of times to make sure everything cooks properly and to get good grill marks.

When these are done, serve them alongside your favorite mains, and you have a quick, easy-peasy and very tasty dish. The grilled mushrooms are going to be very earthy and hearty, and with the balsamic butter mixture, they are like flame-kissed goodness. Enjoy.

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

We took Vinnie out for the day. He LOVES these days. We drove up to Evergreen and came back through Dinosaur Ridge (yes, many dinosaur fossils have actually been found there). While in Evergreen, we were actually walking on the lake, and there were plenty of people ice fishing. They caught quite a few fish too. We all had a great day, hiking through the snow. The scenery, as always was breathtaking. But this just captured the holidays and 2020 perfectly.

Even Santa says 2020 is a world turned upside down.