Category Archives: Uncategorized

Unknown's avatar

Final Day Challenge – Hamantashen

by

Okay, so Hamantashen aren’t a true Christmas cookie.  They’re a traditional Purim cookie.  But, hey.  They’re yummy!

This recipe comes via my husband’s family.

Ready?

2 bars of butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

4 cups flour

Solo brand fillings of choice  ( we like apricot, prune, strawberry & poppy seed)

Start by creaming together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, orange juice and vanilla.  In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt & baking powder.  Add this mix slowly to the wet ingredients.  Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour  – or overnight.

Once chilled, roll out the dough to about 1/8″ thickness.  Using a round cookie cutter (or glass) cut round shapes into the dough.

Place a dollop (about 1/2 tsp) of filling in the center of each circle.  Next, you’ll need to fold in the edges to form a triangle.

Start with one side.

Fold it over at a jaunty angle. The, fold the oppostire side at a jaunty angle, so they slightly overlap.

Now fold up the bottom.

Now you’re ready to bake them.  375 for 15 minutes.

Voila! Delicious Hamantashen!!!

And with that, I have completed my self – imposed 6 days of baking challenge.

I am exhausted.

But Santa is coming tonight!

Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah – and I hope all of your crafty and foodie dreams come true this holiday season!

 

 

Unknown's avatar

Day 5 – Florentine Cookies!

by

Let me just say: I just love Susan Branch.  I use so many of her recipes at Christmas.

Today I made Florentine Cookies.  You can find the recipe online HERE.

To start, I made candied orange peel.  This is the step that took the longest.  You can certainly buy candied orange peel to save time, but it won’t be quite the same.  To candy orange peel you cut it into little strips or squares and boil it in water, drain it, and repeat 2 or 3 times to remove the bitterness.  Then you boil the peel again with a small amount of water and some sugar.

Once your orange peel is done, the cookies are a snap to make.

Boil together your milk and sugar, add your orange peel (I didn’t use citron – I doubled up the orange peel), almonds, extract, flour and butter.

Once all of this is boiled together it looks like this:

It’s pretty gooey.  You have to use a teaspoon now to drop small little rounds of dough onto your cookie sheet.

While baking they will SPREAD, so you have to be sure to use no more than a teaspoon.

See? You end up needing to reshape them somewhat since they don’t always spread out evenly.

Once cooled, you can spread melted chocolate on the back of your cookies, and, using a fork, make little zig-zag designs in it.  This is really just for fun, though.

I like to stick them in the fridge or freezer at this point to speed up the cooling process so the chocolate hardens back up.

These are unbelievably delicious and mouth watering.  I like to hide a few of them from the rest of the family for me to enjoy when no one’s around.

Don’t tell.

 

Unknown's avatar

Cookie Challenge, Day 4

by

Tonight’s a short post to let you know I haven’t fallen off my cookie challenge wagon, but I’ve had a long and exciting day picking up 3 cows for Susan and driving them back to the farm.

Three cows in the back in my suburban, yes.  There are pictures to come, I promise!

But for now, Linzer Cookies!

First, you’ll need to start out with the same butter cookie dough I used for the frosted cut – outs: Susan Branch’s ‘Annie Hall’s Butter Cookes’.

The dough gets rolled out once more and you’ll need your cookie cutters – or better, linzer cookie cutters.  I have a linzer set I use which consists of a star – shaped cookie cutter and several very small cutters of various sizes for the center.

You cut out as many stars as you like, and half of them get the centers cut out (2 stars become 1 cookie).

Then you bake them and let them cool.  Once cooled, spoon a small dollop of jam (or whatever sweet filling you prefer) onto a whole star.  On a separate plate, dust confectioner’s sugar over the stars with the centers cut out.  Then place the sugar stars on top of the jam stars and voila!

Linzer cookies!

These don’t last very long around here, let me tell you!

Unknown's avatar

Cookie a Day Challenge

by

December has been the kind of month that gives a person whiplash.  I’ve had school work to do with the kids, photo shooting to help out with at the farm, 3 days of awful sickness, a cookie party to clean and plan for, and decorating to do.

THIS week, however, all of that is behind me.  All of the shopping is done, picture – taking and posing are done, partying with my book club and friends accomplished.

Therefore, starting today – Monday – I am giving myself a completely unnecessary challenge; bake one kind of cookie every day until Christmas.  This is the kind of challenge that should result in a wide variety of cookies for us to enjoy all week with a less hectic kitchen.  It’s also the kind of plan that, once Paul gets wind of it, will create in him an almost manic glee resulting most likely in an impatient expectancy for each new batch.

Today’s batch is complete: Rugelach!

 

These are maybe our favorite holiday cookie.  Last year I posted the recipe and you can find it here.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s cookie: Gingerbread cut-outs!

 

Unknown's avatar

More Super Secret Baby Knitting

by

I have finished a second set of Super Secret Baby Socks.

Don’t tell anyone, okay?

My friend Theresa got a pair just like this in green, along with a striped hat.  This pair will go to my friend Laura, along with another striped hat.

Now that the pre – Christmas  super secret baby knitting is more or less done (more to do in January) I can work on some holiday knitting.

On the needles now?  A shawl out of luscious Malabrigo for my grandmother. I have visions of warm mittens, socks and Sluggy Bonnets in my head, too, but I doubt I’ll even get close to all that.

If only the weather would cooperate so I didn’t feel like a lump sitting on the couch buried in wool drinking coffee.  Alas, the 60 degree – plus sunny weather is killing me in that regard.  It’s hard to feel all Christmas-y, and I’m sweating under the wool.

But it’s okay.  Maddie put a reindeer bell on the dog.

Unknown's avatar

Christmas Crime Scene

by

7:30 am

Paul was enjoying coffee on the couch and getting his computer up and running to check his work calendar for the day.  Conference calls and expense reports loomed large, but for at least a few moments there was quiet and he could relax a bit.

Suddenly a black and white blur flew by his feet toward the tree and disappeared underneath it.  He could hear the tinkling of ornaments as the cat passed under the lowest branches and settled int he corner behind the tree.  He leaned over to get the cat in his field of vision and admonish him for being in what is certainly a forbidden zone when, to his astonishment, the cat wiggled his back end (as cats do) and launched himself up and into the middle of the tree.

The weight of the cat more than halfway toward the top tipped the balance of the tree and in slow motion Paul watched the tree come down, as he helplessly tried to reach it in time.

CRASH!!!

I awoke upstairs to a crashing sound, a yell from Paul, and a moment later, the sound of the cat tearing through the cat door into the bedroom.

I came down the stairs and helped as Paul righted the tree.  There was candy cane and colored – ball carnage all over the living room.  The pearls hung all cockeyed and forlorn off the branches, the snowflakes in catastrophic disarray.

Water was everywhere; the tree skirt was sopping wet.

It took quite awhile to get the tree somewhat straight again (it’s not ever going to be quite right) so that we could clean up around it.

Luckily we didn’t lose as many of the precious ornaments as I had feared; mostly it was the colored glass balls and candy canes which are easily replaced.

But we weren’t taking any chances this time.  Before re-decorating the tree we had to be sure this wouldn’t happen again.

We found a stud in the ceiling, moved the tree under it, and anchored that SOB with wire.  Oh yeah, we don’t fool around.

Fortunately the lights are still working; had they not I may have killed the best and cuddliest cat I have ever had.   The lights were a total P.I.T.A.  (we had to exchange brand new boxes back to the store because they didn’t work – it took forever).

The tree is all fine now and we are back in business.

The cat owes me big time though.

 

Unknown's avatar

The Trouble With Sunday Sewing

by

I’ve been desperately trying to follow the example of my friend Marie Grace and make Sundays all about sewing.  There always seems however, to be something going on that needs my attention and so yesterday was the first Sunday that I was able to throw down roots in the craft room and say “Sewing Only!”

It went more slowly than I would have liked.  This was mostly because I had to clean a path to the sewing machine and neaten up my space a bit.  This is problem numero uno with having your craft room in a corner of the playroom.

I managed to finish a dress I had started a month or so ago for Oona (pics later) and I started on a simple throw quilt for the couch in a christmas-y pattern that matches my tablecloth (who doesn’t love a nice red and white toile for christmas?).  All that it is composed of is two lengths of coordinating fabric with some wool batting sandwiched between and some top – stitching.  No piecing to do, no applique.  I am using an old “Favorite Things” pattern called “French Bedroom“.

Which brings me to my second problem with Sewing Sunday.  I always seem to have “help”.  Especially when working on a cozy wool – filled blanket.

See there in the background?  Occasionally a paw will reach forth and grab at my work, making for slow going.  Then, this happens:

He makes himself comfortable right where I need him NOT to be.

As “helpful” as all this is, it is still an improvement over his “help” earlier in the day.  You see, I started off Sewing Sunday with him knocking a full glass of water into my lap as I sat at my desk getting my sewing supplies in order.

Anyway I got a fair amount of work done on the quilt before retiring to bed, where the cat promptly deposited himself on my face for the night.

The end.

Unknown's avatar

Weekend Run – Down

by

Now that I have a moment to breathe and check in, I can tell you how packed my last few days have been!

It all started last Thursday when I met part of my book club at a sushi restaurant to talk about an “extracurricular” book some of us had read this year: The Hunger Games.

It’s a trilogy that’s been out for a few years now aimed at young adults, but almost all of my adult friends have read it.  They’re making it into a movie coming out in 2012, so if you haven’t read it yet, I HIGHLY suggest you do!  I don’t know anyone who’s read it that did not like it.  Both Emily and I read all three books in about the same number of days.

And now that I have mentioned it, I am craving wasabi again.  Go figure.

Saturday was an early day.  Caroline and I took a class through the local Cooperative Extension dealing with processing meat birds.  I’ve been thinking for awhile I might like to raise my own meat chickens and turkeys for the cost and health benefits, but I’ve been squeamish about it and not sure I could actually do it.  When this class popped up it seemed like the perfect time to see if I was ready.

No, I didn’t take any pictures.

Yes, I did process a chicken all the way.

This is what it came down to: there was a chicken in a killing cone (the bird is put upside down in an inverted cone to hold it in place and keep it calm) in front of me.  If I didn’t kill it, there was a line of people behind me ready to do it.  So….I apologized and thanked the bird, and I sent it to its maker. After that the rest was easy.  Anyone who’s cooked a full chicken or turkey for dinner could easily have done it.

After the bird is killed (as humanely as possible, I should add), the head removed, and the blood drained, the carcass is scalded for one minute to loosen the feathers.  Then the legs are removed and it is put into a Whiz-Bang feather plucker.

With the feathers gone all that remains is to pull out the organs, wash out the cavity, and package it for the freezer.  This part took some practice, but Caroline and I cleaned out several birds and it gets easier every time.

All class participants got a fresh chicken to take home for their freezer.

As for the killing:  I am not sure I could do it if I had raised the birds from chicks.  Fortunately Paul is willing to do that part if I handle all of the cleaning.  Fresh, free – range, drug – free chicken is a beautiful thing, and with any luck we’ll have our own flock of them going in the early spring.  I can also tell you this: raising your own food (and killing it) makes you much more thankful and mindful of every bite you eat.  It’s very hard to mindlessly shovel it in when you’ve worked hard for it and an animal’s life is forfeit by your hand.

Emily won’t be thrilled.

Sunday was also an adventure.  Susan had arranged for Caroline and I (we make a pretty damn good team, she and I) to drive to Manassas, Va to pick up her “Rent – A – Ram”.  Every fall, she leases a male sheep from another farm to breed with her ewes so we have lambs in the spring.

Paul built a fantastic crate to go in the back of the suburban, and Caroline and I were on our way to pick up Solomon, a beautiful Cormo Ram. Since it felt like we were cramming a Ram into the truck I got into the habit of calling it “Ram Cram 2011”.

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive up through rolling farmland (it killed me, every bit of it.  I need my farm already!).  We got Solomon and loaded him up in no time and were on our way with nary a hiccup.  We got him back to the farm as the light was failing and introduced him to his new pasture – mates.

I couldn’t have had more fun if I tried.  I didn’t get any pictures, though, so I blatantly stole this one from Caroline:

That’s Solomon being sniffed – up by one of my boys.  I can no longer tell Frodo and Finnegan apart.

He’s going to make some beautiful lambs!!!!

 

Unknown's avatar

Can – Do Attitude

by

Now that the weather is acting more like fall I’ve been craving more warming and comforting foods.  I’ve been baking a lot more bread and enjoying my afternoon coffee hot rather than iced. The canning slowed down a bit for awhile during a busy spell but I have taken it back up with a vengeance.

Most recently I put up a batch of Apple Bourbon Butter, courtesy of a recipe from Local Kitchen’s mouthwatering blog.  If you aren’t already a regular reader over there, do yourself a favor and check out her recipes.  Last summer I made her Pirate Peaches and this spring I made her Drunken Cherries.  Right now I am salivating over the prospect of trying her Pear & Pumpkin Ale Preserves.  Doesn’t that sound heavenly?

Aside from the preserves and boozy fruits I have been on a mad chutney kick.  I made cranberry chutney (hello Thanksgiving!) :

(recipe here)

apple chutney (can’t remember where I found that recipe) and a Hearty Ale Chutney from River Cottage Preserves:

This is full of so much goodness I can’t wait for it to be ready – Guinness, onions, carrots, parsnips, turnips, tomato….and on and on! The author claims it’s perfect with a crusty bread and cheddar.  I have a feeling this will be my winter staple!

Since the girls and I picked more apples today (Staymans – an heirloom variety) there will be more apple bourbon butter soon, and I grabbed more cranberries so I can try my hand at some cranberry – persimmon preserves, now that I have a tree full of persimmons!

If only I could find some Concord grapes I’d be all set!

 

Unknown's avatar

What Is It???

by

I have a tree in my yard that has been bearing fruit lately.

Actually, it bears fruit every year but usually the squirrels have eaten all of it before we can identify what it is.  I have a hunch that it’s a persimmon tree, but this is the first year I’ve been able to see the fruit turning orange, so I am more confident than I was before.

However, since I am no expert in identifying trees and plants and whatnot in the wild, I am opening it to all of ou who may have more experience.

Most of the fruit is higher up in the tree (and I am not climbing it unless they really are persimmons, and therefor worth it) and as you can see from the leaves in the first photo, there is some sort of fungus or blight going on.

What say you?  Persimmons? Shall I harvest them?  Do I harvest them now and let them ripen indoors, or wait for them to turn orange?

I’ve never eaten a persimmon before, though I have lots of recipes for preserving them.

Fingers crossed.