Every family has those certain recipes that are only made during the holidays or a special occasion. I think that they are great not only because they really are delicious, but because they are made with love.
My grandmother taught my mother and my sister to make certain dishes. They are very, very close to the original but not the same. Someone once said that the extra flavor is the love of the person making the dish. My grandmother always had that look on her face when she cooked. The only problem in sharing my grandmother's recipes is that they are so complicated. Latin cooking is a laundry list of great ingredients and several stages of cooking. Christmas dishes start the week before. It is the honest to God truth. Tamales, pernil, torrejas, y hojuelas. Fantastic food but very labor intensive.
At the same time that I was thinking about the memories of holidays past, my chef came home and said he was asked to submit a family recipe to the local county newspaper. He immediately called his mom to get his Nana's cookie recipe. Nana was a fun lady. She lived to be 100 years old. Her secret to longevity was being close to family, gambling in Vegas and drinking either 1/2 beer or a small Manhattan at night. I met Nana already in her ninety's, but even then she was a beautiful woman. There is a certain femininity that women over 70 have that we seem to have lost today. Nana never left the house without her makeup and her pearls. She went to have her hair done at the beauty salon on a regular basis. I am lucky if I shower and go. And I knew immediately I would like her because she loved the color pink. I love PINK.
I am going to share Nana's recipe here in her honor. Pick up the phone and get your family recipes. Print them, store them in a safe place and pass them down from generation to generation. Some of your grandchildren might not be able to meet your grandparents. But bring a batch of their cookies and tell them a family story over a glass of milk. I will save this one for her great-granddaughter Finley. I will have her come to the house and have a play-date with her favorite uncle to make the cookies during these holidays.
My Husband's Nana Katie Halfway Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
3 egg yolks + 1 tbsp water slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
For Topping
1 package chocolate chips
3 egg whites
1 cup brown sugar firmly packed
1 package chocolate chips
Mix shortening, vanilla, white and brown sugar well. Add egg yolks that have been blended with water. Mix until creamy. Sift the next 4 ingredients together and add to the shortening mix.
Take the 3 egg whites and whisk (or use an electric blender) until stiff peaks have formed. Add 1 cup of brown sugar a little at a time while whisking until peaks form again.
Grease a cookie sheet and spread the shortening mixture evenly over the whole cookie sheet. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over mixture and press into the dough. Then spread egg white-brown sugar mixture over the top of cookie dough.
Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool and cut into pieces. Enjoy. If you have any leftovers, store in an air tight container.
In these hard economic times, let us remember the important things. JESUS is the only reason for Christmas. We celebrate His birth. Then we celebrate the blessings of life. Our family, our health, food on the table and a roof over our heads.
And we celebrate the memory of those that have gone before us and the love they left behind.
Carl David
Mary Katherine (Katie)
Zoila Albertina
Tomas
Alice
Jizz
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Entertaining on a time and money budget
Hello again, I have to talk about budgeting time. My life is insane right now. I hardly have time to do anything. I don't want to complain because I am so lucky to have a job, but it seems that work is all I am doing lately. I feel that I have to prove to my bosses that they made the right decision in keeping me on board. I am working 14 to 15 hour days. The only day I have a break is Tuesday nights when I teach zumba at my church. http://www.zumba.com/ http://www.teamchurch.com/
And the weekends is all about catching up with housework, laundry and finish work I brought home to work on. See a pattern? But I am still looking forward to the holidays. So I have to come up or have compiled great ideas to save time yet not skimp on great food.
Holiday season starts with Halloween for me. I have a ball giving out candy to the kids. I decorate the front of my house with spider webs. I have a cape in spiderweb motif. I don't like the scary part of Halloween, I like the fun dress up part of it. And we play music. Techno, electronic, dance kind of stuff that my son comes up with. We have played music for several years now, and each year when my neighbors see me setting up they ask if I am going to play the music. I think the parents enjoy it more.
Thanksgiving Day is my all time favorite. It is the only true blue American holiday. No one else in the world celebrates Thanksgiving the way we do. It is the one time of the year that our focus shifts to being with each other and being grateful. People go to extreme lengths to get home. I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner. One year my sister wanted to cook the turkey and have dinner at her house instead of mine. I remember waking up that morning and feeling lost. I usually have an affair with the turkey. By noon the smells should be permeating my house. And it wasn't happening. But the worse was the next day and not a leftover in sight. Terrible. So this year I AM COOKING A TURKEY. My other favorite part of Thanksgiving Day is breakfast. We have a hardy breakfast and then dinner. No lunch. And by dinner I mean an evening meal. Sometimes they say dinner in the south, but they really mean lunch. Dinner for this northern girl is in the evening.
Breakfast on Thanksgiving morning is a wonderful time. The comfort of having your family safe at home, the soothing feeling of a warm cup of coffee and breakfast. I had seen this time saving idea on TV done by Paula Deen. But the other day I received an e-mail by a great lady named Carol and I was reminded about it and I am so excited to share this with you. I have integrated both methods into one.
There are so many challenges when feeding a crowd.
1) Picky eaters
2) Timing, so that you can sit together and eat.
3) Budget.
Omelets In A Baggie, that's right in a baggie.
And you can make it interactive. What a fun way to start the day. Even the ones that are not morning folks might brighten up with this.
Have a variety of ingredients in small bowls all chopped up for choosing. Here are a few suggestions. Diced ham, chopped cooked bacon, chopped onions or green peppers. Sliced mushrooms, chopped tomato, cooked hash browns and salsa. Salt and pepper. You take one plastic baggie per person. Make sure they are zip lock baggies. Open it up and spray cooking spray in each one. Set them aside. Get a big pot and fill it 3/4 of the way with water. Heat up the water to a low rolling boil. Have 2 eggs per person. Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them. Hand it to each person. Have them add the ingredients that they like, a little seasoning. Mix up the ingredients gently in the baggie. Make sure to get the air out of the baggie and zip it up and gently put the baggie in the hot water. You can have at least 6 omelets cooking at the same time. Cook for 13 to 15 minutes. While they are cooking toast some bread. Once the omelets are cooked, use a tong to remove from the hot water and transfer to a kitchen towel. Cut the baggie open and slide it on to each individual serving plate. Place a couple of pieces of toast on each plate, sit and eat. Easy and fun. And you are all together.
And the weekends is all about catching up with housework, laundry and finish work I brought home to work on. See a pattern? But I am still looking forward to the holidays. So I have to come up or have compiled great ideas to save time yet not skimp on great food.
Holiday season starts with Halloween for me. I have a ball giving out candy to the kids. I decorate the front of my house with spider webs. I have a cape in spiderweb motif. I don't like the scary part of Halloween, I like the fun dress up part of it. And we play music. Techno, electronic, dance kind of stuff that my son comes up with. We have played music for several years now, and each year when my neighbors see me setting up they ask if I am going to play the music. I think the parents enjoy it more.
Thanksgiving Day is my all time favorite. It is the only true blue American holiday. No one else in the world celebrates Thanksgiving the way we do. It is the one time of the year that our focus shifts to being with each other and being grateful. People go to extreme lengths to get home. I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner. One year my sister wanted to cook the turkey and have dinner at her house instead of mine. I remember waking up that morning and feeling lost. I usually have an affair with the turkey. By noon the smells should be permeating my house. And it wasn't happening. But the worse was the next day and not a leftover in sight. Terrible. So this year I AM COOKING A TURKEY. My other favorite part of Thanksgiving Day is breakfast. We have a hardy breakfast and then dinner. No lunch. And by dinner I mean an evening meal. Sometimes they say dinner in the south, but they really mean lunch. Dinner for this northern girl is in the evening.
Breakfast on Thanksgiving morning is a wonderful time. The comfort of having your family safe at home, the soothing feeling of a warm cup of coffee and breakfast. I had seen this time saving idea on TV done by Paula Deen. But the other day I received an e-mail by a great lady named Carol and I was reminded about it and I am so excited to share this with you. I have integrated both methods into one.
There are so many challenges when feeding a crowd.
1) Picky eaters
2) Timing, so that you can sit together and eat.
3) Budget.
Omelets In A Baggie, that's right in a baggie.
And you can make it interactive. What a fun way to start the day. Even the ones that are not morning folks might brighten up with this.
Have a variety of ingredients in small bowls all chopped up for choosing. Here are a few suggestions. Diced ham, chopped cooked bacon, chopped onions or green peppers. Sliced mushrooms, chopped tomato, cooked hash browns and salsa. Salt and pepper. You take one plastic baggie per person. Make sure they are zip lock baggies. Open it up and spray cooking spray in each one. Set them aside. Get a big pot and fill it 3/4 of the way with water. Heat up the water to a low rolling boil. Have 2 eggs per person. Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them. Hand it to each person. Have them add the ingredients that they like, a little seasoning. Mix up the ingredients gently in the baggie. Make sure to get the air out of the baggie and zip it up and gently put the baggie in the hot water. You can have at least 6 omelets cooking at the same time. Cook for 13 to 15 minutes. While they are cooking toast some bread. Once the omelets are cooked, use a tong to remove from the hot water and transfer to a kitchen towel. Cut the baggie open and slide it on to each individual serving plate. Place a couple of pieces of toast on each plate, sit and eat. Easy and fun. And you are all together.
DON'T FORGET TO SAY GRACE!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)