Happy New Year

Well, winter has finally come.  On average, Ohio experiences "winter" from December to March. This is not bad, mind you, but you grow a little too comfortable during the other months.  I am convinced this is how the rumor of the Harsh Ohio Winter began.  As you know Wisconsin can experience snow from October to May. You expect it to be cold, you are tough.  Ohio has an extremely long Fall season.  It doesn't snow until December, and the lake wont freeze until the middle of January.  People here get a little too comfortable for their own good, and then complain and complain for the next three months until it is over.  This is a picture of the windshield of my car. Brrrrrr!

Oxtail Soup

Oxtail soup is made with beef tails. The use of the word "ox" in this context is a legacy of nomenclature; no specialized stock of beef animals are used. Different versions of oxtail soup exist.  One of the defining characteristics of oxtail soup is that it contains a large mass of solid ingredients, rather than ingredients that have been diced or shredded.  Chunks of oxtail, potato, carrots, cabbage, tomato, and mushrooms are mixed in water, and salted to taste. The mixture should be heated at a slow boil, to allow time for the ingredients to release their flavors. In particular, the tomatoes and potatoes should largely disintegrate into the water, giving the broth a reddish-orange coloration and thickening it. As to be expected, oils from the oxtail lend most of the flavor.

Eggnog

Food Network Eggnog Recipe

Good Haul

Got a number of great things for Christmas this year; Iphone 4s, Badger slippers, Polar fleece, shirts, 4 big chunks of meat, and assorted cheese. GO WISCONSIN.

Bacon Yule

Eggplant stuffed with goat cheese and bacon, bacon wrapped cocktail wienies, BBQ bacon hamburger beans, bacon risoto, and a DELIGHTFUL ranch sauce made with bacon fat mayonnaise.

Cornish Hen

Grass fed, organic Cornish hen with wild rice, crimini mushrooms, and sweet potato.

Swedish Meatballs

I made Swedish meatballs with mushrooms and served it on spätzle with sauteed cabbage. I also tried a product called "German Potato Salad" in a can... it was vinegar and potatoes. Should have made it myself. Without bacon, eggs, and green onions, how can you call it "salad"?

Kosher Fudge

1 C. milk chocolate chips
2 C. semi sweet chips (1 regular size bag)
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

Melt everything together very slowly in a sauce pan over the stove.  One it comes to a boil, turn it off and spread into a prepared pan. Freeze for 20 minutes to help it cool off.  This fudge is soft enough to cut with cookie cutters, and firm enough to pick up once it sits at room temperature for 2 hours and develops a crust.

I searched the internet to see if there was such thing as kosher marshmallows. The responses varied greatly. So, I found a fudge recipe that doesn't use marshmallow fluff.  Just 3 ingredients, no butter, no fluff, no sugar, just chocolate, milk, and love. And its kosher~

Cake Pops

Oreo Cupcakes

1 package chocolate cake mix
Muffin liners
1 package mini Oreos
8 oz cream cheese room temperature
1/2 Stick butter, room temperature
3-4 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Bake cupcakes according to package directions.  Reserve 30 mini Oreos for decoration, and then chop up remaining in food processor. After making frosting, add chopped Oreos to the mixture, and blend by hand. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcake. Top with mini Oreo.

Christmas Cookies

Just finished making this year's cookie selection.  We are having peppermint kiss cookies, peppermint twist cookies, sugar cookies, shortbread, gingerbread, and yogurt pretzels. Mom gets linzer cookies, but nobody else does.  I just have to make the peanut brittle and I think it's a wrap.  Everyone will get a slice of fudge too. It contains pecans.

Broccoli Beer Cheddar Soup

1 pack Bear Creek cheddar soup (dehydrated soup mix)
1 bottle beer, 4 C. water (mix to correct volume listed on package)
1 head broccoli (add as much as you like)
Bread Bowls

Bring water and beer to a boil, add soup mix, stir until thick. Add broccoli and simmer until they are soft.

Caturday

Found this little guy in 'Lost and Found' this weekend. He was re-claimed within 2 days.

Sugar Cookies

This is the best dough. It is no-fail, and I use it every year.

2 1/2 cups (390g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks/185g) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup (250g) sugar
Food coloring gel (optional)
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Over a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on high speed for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, slowly add the sugar and a few drops of food coloring gel and beat for 2 minutes, stopping the mixture occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute, stopping the mixer once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and add half of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until most of the flour has been absorbed. Add the remaining flour and continue beating until all of the flour has been absorbed and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 2 to 3 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 equal balls, Shape each into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 2 days. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 3/16 to 1/4 inch (4.5 to 6mm).

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
Dip cookie cutters into flour just before using and cut out shapes. Place on the baking sheet. Gather up the scraps, reroll them and cut out additional cookies. Refrigerate the cookies until firm 20 to 30 minutes.  Bake the cookies until golden brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes.

Peppermint Kiss Cookies

48 HERSHEY'S KISSES	1 stick butter	1 C. sugar
1 egg	1 1/2 tsp. vanilla	2 C. flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda	1/4 tsp. salt	2 Tbs. milk
red and green sugar crystals

Heat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies. Beat butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. If you use your #100 cookie portioner, this will yield about 4 dozen cookies.

Mandarin Oranges

Heinens is selling fresh mandarin oranges this week. They are so fantastic.

Leftover Ham

Thank goodness this was the last of our holiday ham. It was served with cauliflower and cheese sauce, leftover black bean smash, and leftover salsa. We did a fantastic job eating all our leftovers this week.

Chicken Tacos

Chicken tacos, with two types of salsa, guacamole, saffron rice, and poblano pepper with black beans.

Door Swag

We got a lovely 4 ft Frasier Fir today. We needed to remove the bottom branches so it would fit in the tree holder. I used the discarded bows to make two door swags. Overlap several pine bows so they meet in the center. Use a zip tie to gather them together. Place a bow over the zip tie. Use a second tie to create a loop to hang your work of art.

Holiday Favorites

My two favorite holiday activities with Pusheen the Cat.

Golden Beets

Butternut squash filled ravioli with diced tomatoes on top served with roasted golden beets. To roast beets, peel them like a potato, then cut into 1 inch cubes. Place cubes in a pan lined with tinfoil, spray with cooking oil, then season. Bake 400* /Broil *500 for 20-25 minutes until tender.

Ginger dressing

1 small onion, 2 Tb ketchup, 1 tsp mirin, 1 Tbs veg oil (recipe called for peanut oil along with a ton of other stuff I didn't have), 2 Tb. fresh ginger, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp. soy sauce

Puree in mini food processor until it resembles dressing.

Nougat

Cranberry Pistachio Nougat Recipe

1 1/3 C. sugar
1/2 C. honey
1 egg white and just a pinch of kosher salt
1 C. roasted salted pistachios
3/4 C. craisins or cherries

In 2qt. saucepan boil sugar, honey and 2 Tb. water until it reaches 252*. (3 minutes)
In blender (fitted with whisk), beat egg white until it forms soft peaks. Gradually add hot syrup, and whip (at speed 7) until volume triples. (10 minutes).  It gets whiter and fluffier as it whips. Use a spatula to add nuts and fruit.  spread into 8x8 pan sprayed with nonstick spray and parchment paper.  Let set. (Takes about 2 hours). Store in airtight container at room temperature.