Christmastime is Here

When Warren told me he had never seen the Nutcracker live, I couldn't believe it...it's such a fun thing to do around the holidays. I have wonderful memories of my mom taking my sister and I each year. (Usually at the Hartford ballet). There is something so magical about it. We bought tickets to see it at NYC ballet and had a lovely time there. It was nice to see a lot of adults there just for fun as well as, of course, people bringing their small children. I think I could probably go see this ballet every December for the rest of my life without getting tired of it. :)

More Thanksgiving Treats

We had a nice holiday with Warren's family last week. We had a great time playing games together...Trivial Pursuit, Settlers, Pictionary...and enjoyed hanging out and decorating the house and the church for Christmas. One of the yummiest things that Priscilla made for Thanksgiving dinner was these rolls. I am not ashamed to say that I ate 5 of them. Well, maybe a little bit.

Dinner Rolls

In large bowl, mix the following:
1 cup hot water
¼ cup dry milk
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
¼ cup butter (half stick)

When mixture is cool, add:
1 package dry yeast
1 egg, slightly beaten

Mix well. Beat or stir in 3 ½ to 4 cups flour to form a stiff dough.

Knead 5-10 min. Place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise til double. Punch down. Divide into 24 pieces.

Shape each piece into small ball and place in greased 9x13 pan. Cover and let rise (may be slow, give plenty of time). Dough will rise ¾ of the way up the pan and rolls will join together.

Bake 20-25 min at 375.

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of our favorite Thanksgiving side dish recipes in recent years has been this cranberry sauce. I made it this afternoon to take to Sugar Grove with us tomorrow. I love cranberries- so tart and refreshing.

Wayne's Cranberry Sauce

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
16 oz bag fresh cranberries
1 cup finely chopped apple
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup currants (optional)
1/4 cup Grand Marnier liqueur
1/2 orange, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Combine the sugar and water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the cranberries and return to a boil, then lower the heat so that the liquid simmers. When the cranberries begin to "pop", add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove pot from the heat and allow the cranberry sauce to cool.

New Fave Recipe

We recently saw Ina making this on the Food Network and were drooling on ourselves while we watched the show. We have made it twice in the past two weeks and still want more! I adjusted a couple of things in her recipe to my liking. Here is the recipe we used:

White Pizza With Arugula

raw pizza dough
olive oil
1 large garlic clove, sliced
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
arugula
fontina, mozzarella and goat cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

In small saucepan combine 1/4 cup olive oil, thyme sprigs and garlic and heat on low for 10 min. Discard thyme and add red pepper flakes. Transfer hot oil to a bowl and let cool.

Roll out dough, place on oiled baking sheet and brush with the garlic oil. Sprinkle with grated fontina and mozzarella and small crumbles of goat cheese. Bake for 20 min.

Just before serving, toss arugula with salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil and spread over pizza.

Home Sweet Home

Last weekend I enjoyed a short getaway to Connecticut with Jessica, Shana and Mitch. We savored yummy home cooking, beautiful scenery and fun times with friends. Can't wait to go back next month!

Mmm, Food

We had an excellent dinner and dessert tonight comprised of one new recipe (Curried Pear Chicken) and one tried and true (a pumpkin roll). The chicken dish came from our Eating Well cookbook and involved a sauce of shallots, white wine, chicken broth, cilantro, mint and coconut milk along with a sliced Bartlett pear. The fruity sweetness combined with the cilantro is an incredible taste reminiscent of the Chicken Tagine that we love. (That recipe uses prunes and cilantro). The sauce was so delicious I might double the sauce ingredients next time. It would be nice to have had more to mix with the brown rice that we served with it. The pumpkin roll is a neat looking dessert that is easier to make than it seems, and the taste is thoroughly fall-ish. I wonder if what we think of as "pumpkin" flavor actually comes from the pumpkin itself, or just from all the delicious spices we add, like cloves and cinnamon. In any case, it tastes delicious!

Hacklebarney

Well we did indeed embark upon an adventure to Hacklebarney Orchard today. It was so much fun! Chester is a beautiful wooded area and it was a charming cider mill with shady spots to sit, a little store, and lots of cute dogs running around. We watched a couple guys pressing the apples and got to see the various stages of how the cider is made. The mushy ground apples that go into the press look rather icky, but the end result is delicious! It was interesting to see the apple pulp that gets leftover at the end. It looks like apple cardboard. :) We had a fantastic lunch under the trees of cider hot dogs with sauerkraut cooked with apples on top and cider baked beans. We of COURSE had to go into the store and get cider donuts as well! We also bought some of their homemade cider and fig jam and apples from their orchard. Cider is the quintessential taste of fall for me. I forgot how delicious it is. We enjoyed petting the doggies and then journeyed a half mile further down the road to check out Hacklebarney State Park. It was a nice area with walking trails, small waterfalls and picnic/grilling areas by the creek. We decided it would be great to go back sometime and have lunch or dinner there. Just to walk through the woods and smell that amazing forest smell reminded me so much of home and felt very therapeutic. A wonderful Labor Day weekend day trip!