Showing posts with label Christmas flavors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas flavors. Show all posts

Friday, December 3, 2010

Your Eggnog's Too Strong!

Your Eggnog’s Too Strong

If you see a fat man …
Who’s jolly and cute,
wearing a beard
and a red flannel suit,
and if he is chuckling
and laughing away,
while flying around
in a miniature sleigh
with eight tiny reindeer
to pull him along,
then lets face it…

Your eggnog’s too strong!!!


Here are some great recipes that are not just the basic eggnog to spice up your holiday season! Drink and eat up!

Eggnog Cheesecake Bars from Martha Stewart

Eggnog Latte Cupcakes from Judy in her Natural Habitat

Anytime Eggnog from Martha Stewart

Eggnog Thumbprint Cookies from Delightful Dessert

Skinny Eggnog from Skinny Tastes


Maple Eggnog from Seasonal Ontario Food

Peppermint Eggnog from Martha Stewart

Eggnog Mousse from Martha Stewart

Eggnog French Toast from Feasting.In



Do you have a favorite eggnog recipe? Do you even make eggnog as a traditional holiday food? My family really hasn't so I'm curious to hear about other families' holiday food traditions!




Thursday, December 2, 2010

Cozy and Warm

Its just about the perfect time for hot chocolate- after Thanksgiving and the Christmas decorations are coming up and tea and coffee just aren't festive enough. Here are some of the recipes on my to-make list for sure this season!

Nutella Hot Chocolate- Nutella ANYTHING peaks my interest!

Toblerone Hot Chocolate

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate- sounds very "foodie" to me

Gingerbread Hot Chocolate

Do you have any family recipes that are crowd-pleasers? I just imagine having my friends come over, sitting around the fire and drinking hot chocolate. Yum!


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Not Just Canned: Cranberry Round-Up


Cranberry sauce that stays in the shape of the can is traditional and all, but lets get out of that rut!

According to Food Reference, cranberries should be stored in an airtight plastic bag and can last up to 2 months in the fridge. Be sure to separate the bad, mushy cranberries from the good ones because the rotting will cause the other berries.

I love fresh cranberries and can't wait to take advantage of their season from October to December, but I feel like cranberries belong between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Here are some of the recipes I have bookmarked to try this season!

Steel Cut Oats with Fresh Cranberries from Meet Me in the Kitchen

Cranberry Bars from Fork Spoon Knife

Cranberry Applesauce from Martha Stewart

Cranberry Liqueur from Savoring Time in the Kitchen

Ginger-Lime Cranberry Sauce from The Gluten-Free Hippie

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread from TBD (The Best Dishes)



Cranberry Pancakes from Martha Stewart


These use dried cranberries or cranberry juice instead of fresh cranberries, but sometimes they are just easier to find!

Cranberry Bliss Bars from Lovin' the Oven



Enjoy!




Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Minty Wonderfulness




Image: Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



Mint is definitely one of my favorite flavors, especially around Christmas because I associate Christmas with peppermint candy canes. Here are some of my favorite ways to incorporate peppermint into December besides the traditional candy canes!

Peppermint Patty Cookies from Ava Catau

Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate from Clumbsy Cookie

Chewy Molasses Peppermint Cookies from Tasty Kitchen


Monday, November 29, 2010

Delicious: Recipes I Tested After Thanksgiving

I know, I know- you're supposed to cook everything BEFORE Thanksgiving and then enjoy the leftovers all weekend. But my family always eats with our neighbor's family and they take over on the cooking. So I had to spend Friday and Saturday testing out some of the recipes I wanted to try. But it was delicious time spent in the kitchen!

Friday, I woke up and made pumpkin pancakes for my family to try another pumpkin recipe. It was super delicious and tasted vaguely like the pumpkin pie I had enjoyed the day before. Apparently, though, I left the picture on my mom's camera. But trust me, you should make them TOMORROW. They are so easy and super tasty!


After shopping a little in the late morning because crazy shopping in the morning is not my thing, I mixed up some apple cider vinaigrette for a salad with leftover turkey and radishes.  It was a light, refreshing salad to combat the overeating from Thursday!


I also whipped up some spice cookie dough to freeze until I get home in December from the December Martha Stewart magazine. We mixed some up for rolled and cut cookies and some for thumbprints. The pan wasn't big enough to freeze all of the thumbprints, so we just HAD to bake up the remaining three cookies and topped them with key lime marmalade. Yum!


On Saturday, I mixed up some pumpkin biscotti from Gimme Some Oven, but I used Heath bar pieces instead of nuts because my mom doesn't like nuts in baked goods. Go figure. So the biscotti taste more like Heath bars than pumpkin, but are great for a snack.

I also mixed up some of my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe to freeze for Christmas time. The recipe is actually from one of the little box kits at Barnes and Noble with the tiny gingerbread house, but here it is:


Gingerbread Recipe
Ingredients:

1 c vegetable shortening
1 c sugar
1 c dark molasses or corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
4 or 4 ½ cup flour

Melt the first 3 ingredients in the microwave.  Stir in the next 5 ingredients.  Then stir in the flour, one cup at a time. (You may want to use an electric mixer on the last cup as the dough gets quite thick and hard to stir).  Split the dough into manageable balls and wrap in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Preheat the oven to 375°

Roll the dough, working with half of a batch at a time on a lightly floured work surface with floured hands.  Knead the dough until smooth.  Place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and roll the dough to 1/8 inches thick.

Dust the cookie cutters in flour so they don’t stick.  Bake the cookies for 6-10 minutes or until they are not over-soft when lightly touched.  Transfer to a baking rack and let cool completely.



Oh, and I whipped up this super delicious cranberry pomegranate sauce from Gimme Some Oven. It is really tart, but simple to put together and cook.

And I whipped up some peppermint mint marshmallows and will post a picture when I start handing them out as early Christmas presents with hot chocolate! Beware, though, making marshmallows is quite a process- messy and time consuming but so worth it!

Have a wonderful week!