Salad: Christmas Salad 2008

Some friends of mine have this one special Christmas dinner every year. This year, I volunteered to bring the salad. As I stood in my favorite produce market last week, I had a sudden fit of pride. I was going to bring a darn good salad, and I was not, I repeat not, going to look at any recipe. I decided to let the season inspire me. What kind of salad is really a Christmas salad? Is there such a thing? Well, if there isn't I just made one. And I like it. And everyone else at the dinner liked it as well. Make it and tell me what you think. If it needs improvements (and I think the dressing really does), please improve.

Christmas 2008 Green Salad (for lack of a better name)

boston lettuce
candied pecans
homemade croutons
stilton cheese with apricot
dried cherries
white wine vinegar and cider dressing

1. Make the candied pecans. Toss 1/2 pound of halved pecans in wash (1 egg white, 1 tablespoon of water), then coat with spiced sugar (1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, dash of nutmeg, dash of ground cloves, dash of ginger). Spread coated nuts on greased cookie sheet and cook in 250 degree oven for 1 hour, turning every fifteen minutes. You won't use all of the pecans for the salad. But, I used what I wanted and put the rest in a pretty bowl on my table...that is until P crawled onto the table and poured the bowl of pecans on the floor. I swore when he did that.

2. Make the croutons. Tear a day old baguette into bite sized pieces (I usually make about four croutons per person. You don't need to tear the entire baguette apart). Toss the pieces in olive oil until each piece is good and soaked. Roast pieces of bread in 400 degree oven until they are browned and crouton-like, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Make the dressing. In the interest of full disclosure, I was unimpressed with this dressing. It needs something, but I don't know what. Let me know if you figure it out.

1/4 cup apple cider
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
scraped sugar bits from pan I used to make candied pecans
1/2 Tablespoon minced shallots
bit of salt
more sugar if you want a sweeter taste

4. Tear butter lettuce into bite sized pieces. Wash and dry.

5. Assemble salad with everything but dressing. Crumble the stilton/apricot cheese onto and within the lettuce. Toss dried cherries, cooled pecans and croutons in.

6. Two minutes before serving, add dressing and toss.

Breakfast: Fake Cinnamon Rolls (Or Orange as the case may be)

I believe in a lot of things. I believe in being nice. I believe in forgiveness. I believe in Hot Breakfasts. As my daughter G used to say, "for real life, I do." However, mornings are tight at our house. The bathroom is in heavy demand, people are practicing instruments, almost all major appliances are up and running. Speaking of running, I am usually back from my run and instead of running on the street, by 7:30am I am running around my house barking orders to play the right note, start the dishwasher, or get out of the bathroom. So, given the morning craziness, my strong belief in Hot Breakfasts suffers dearly. Enter Fake Cinnamon Rolls. My dear friend H introduced these to me a few years ago. She brought this towering gooey mess of Orange Rolls to Easter Dinner. I couldn't stop eating them. I took four just for myself. When my daughter asked me if there were any more of H's orange rolls, I lied and said, "I don't think so", when in fact there were about seven left. I wanted them all for myself. Whenever somebody reached for one, I gave their hand a dirty look. I resented H for not making these sooner, and I told her so. She said, "well, I didn't think you made things out of a can." "What?" I replied. "These are just canned biscuits dipped in butter, sugar and orange peel, then baked in a bundt pan." "Oh.", I humbly replied. Fast forward a few years later. I make these fake cinnamon/orange rolls all the time. When I have an extra fifteen minutes in the morning, I pop these puppies in the oven and wha-la, the girls treat themselves to a yummy breakfast dessert (post scrambled eggs, mind you). And if any of you are grossing out that I in fact use biscuits from a can, too bad. I guess that means you can't come over and try one. Just kidding. I said I believe in forgiveness, and for real life, I do.

Marilyn's Orange Rolls (including a cinnamon roll variation)
3 cans prepared biscuits --Pillsbury Biscuits (buttermilk)
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
grated rind of one orange

Mix butter, sugar, and rind. Dip biscuits in mix, then stand on end around greased bundt pan. Pour extra mix on top (I add a bit of the orange's juice as well). Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

For Fake Cinnamon Rolls, I use 1 teaspoon of cinnamon instead of orange rind. I also use 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar, but be sure to watch closely because the brown sugar causes potential gooey-ness to drip over the pan.

Finally, I don't use all 3 cans of biscuits for my girls in the morning, I reduce the whole recipe and use one can, and bake it in any sort of small baking dish. Yummy.

Breakfast: Pumpkin Waffles and Buttermilk Syrup

Nothing is better than a good friend. Well, I should rewrite that-- "Nothing is better than a good friend who fixes you good food." A few weeks ago, an especially dear friend of mine fixed an amazing breakfast. We were celebrating our most beloved day of the year--The First Day of School. So, we gathered around her table and feasted on pumpkin waffles and buttermilk syrup. While the pumpkin waffles are lovely and seasonal, this syrup will knock your socks off. D's parents visited last week and I fixed the waffles and noted syrup. When nobody was looking, I grabbed the nearest waffle scrap and dunked it in the syrup. As I ate the dunked scrap, a bit of syrup fell onto the counter. After looking around the corner to make sure nobody was coming into the kitchen, I wiped the drop up with my finger and licked it clean. Maybe I should have written "Nothing is better than a good friend who fixes you good food...food that is so good you lick it off of the counter."

Pumpkin Waffles with Buttermilk Syrup

2 cups flour

2 T. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

1 T. sugar

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. coriander

1/4 t. salt

4 egg yolks

1 1/2 c. milk

1 c. pumpkin

3/4 c. butter

1 T. vanilla

Mix the above ingredients together. Beat 4 egg whites until stiff and fold in to the batter. Cook in waffle iron.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cup butter

1 cups buttermilk

2 cups sugar

1 t. baking soda

4 T. Karo syrup

2 t. vanilla

Cook in a large pot (it bubbles up!) Keep stirring for 7-10 minutes at boiling temperature. Now, make sure you boil it long enough. The first time I made this, I didn't boil it long enough and it was too runny.

Dessert: Mexican Chocolate Cake

Long ago (I really mean a few posts back, but because I am an infrequent blogger, it was long ago) I promised I'd post my favorite Mexican chocolate cake recipe. Here it is. I love this stuff. Mexican chocolate should only be reserved for cool people. Try this and you'll see what I mean: make the cake and don't tell anyone you added cinnamon (and a dash of chile in my case). See who notices. If someone asks you what spices were added, you can immediately admit them to your Cool Club.

Breakfast: Survival Mode Breakfast

Nutella. Nutella is such a valuable part of my life that I can not find words adequate enough to describe its importance. I will say this--right now we are in the middle of a light kitchen renovation (I say light because we are not changing the footprint of the kitchen, but that's the only thing we aren't changing). Nutella is saving my life. Can't find the syrup to spread over the waffles? Nutella and a plastic knife do the trick. Kids are bored and need something to do? Paper plates and Nutella, and finger painting never sounded so fun. Snack time while I'm in the middle of painting? Stick a bunch of plastic spoons by a jar of Nutella and the next thing you know, three girls are giggly and full. If this kitchen turns out, and I'm really doubtful at times, I will owe it all to the ever yummy Nutella.

Snack: Pico de Gallo

What do I eat when I'm famished? I'll tell you. I eat Pico de Gallo. Chime in here if I am wrong, but I believe Pico de Gallo is like Salsa, only not. It is diced vegetables tossed together, rather than mushed together. My dear friend SES makes the world's best Pico de Gallo, but I don't think she calls it that. All I know is that one day, she brought me a large container of this concoction along with a bag of chips. I ate the entire contents of the container by myself (there were a few chips left in the bag). I told no one and I admitted to nothing.

It may seem like I'm on a Mexican food kick here. But Mexican food is an integral part of my life. In fact I'll prove it to you by publishing my favorite mexican chocolate cake....but not until I eat another few bowls of Pico de Gallo.

Pico de Gallo

3 tomatoes, diced
1/4 red onion, minced
1 avocado, diced
fresh lime juice (lots and lots)
cilantro, chopped (optional)
fresh corn (optional, but if you do it, use corn that you cut directly off the cob...it makes all the difference)
salt

Dice the tomatoes and avocados. Mince the red onion. Juice the limes into the vegetables. Add optional vegetables. Mix. Serve with tortillas chips.

Dinner: Chips and Salsa (and lots of other stuff)

D has been traveling a lot lately. When he travels, our night time rituals slack, and dinner is no exception. My second child loves bean dip. So, a few weeks ago, I thought, "why not make bean dip into a dinner?" Fast forward to tonight. If you had walked into our kitchen at 6:36pm, here is what you would have seen:

Chips and Dip Dinner

Bowl of Tortillas Chips
Bowl of Guacamole
Bowl of Bean Dip
Bowl of Sour Cream
Bowl of Salsa
Bowl of Fresh Strawberries


Sounds strange. But as I watched my beloved chitlens munch on small chips with loads of beans and avocados, I thought, "well, this is a well rounded meal, if ever I saw one." 45 minutes later their tummies were full. So, another easy dinner that works for me.