It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving in the U.S. and you have a houseful coming. All’s calm…for now. I’ve catered many events and gatherings, and learned along the way that anything that can be done beforehand needs to be done beforehand. Here are some tips, look through, save what resonates, forget the rest! I usually have the menu…
Category: Holidays
Happy Holidays to one and all!
There’s much to be done still, but it will all happen in plenty of time, and if it doesn’t, that’s OK too. Most of the gifts are wrapped, the menu is set for tonight’s dinner with family with just a bit of fussing over dessert to finish. The stockings are hung by the chimney with…
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Holiday Encore: Sylvia’s Filled Mincemeat Cookies
Mom’s recipe started in October when we stripped the garden of its green tomatoes and made our own micemeat. I still make this (now and then) when I want the house to smell like my childhood home.
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Let’s make this a stress-free Thanksgiving celebration!
It’s the Monday before Thanksgiving and you have a houseful coming. Let the games begin. The first time I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the family I was in my 20s. I’m not sure why I thought it was a good idea, but my mom graciously stepped down from her role as culinary matriarch and went along…
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Have a Wonderful Holiday, and a Happy New Year
May the light and love of the holiday season shine throughout your New Year! Thank you all for your support throughout the year, and all the amazing conversations, thoughtful posts, poems, stories, recipes, and fascinating links that have decorated my life all year. Here’s a little something that always makes me smile, and tear up…
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A Family Feast and Tradition: Tourtière, a French Canadian Meat Pie
This post is an encore holiday performance! The French Canadian Meat Pie, or “tourtière ” is a traditional dish passed down in my family, served on Christmas Eve and other special occasions, but never fear, we can even make it vegan! The story of my grandparents’ families is shared with…
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Bûche De Noël A Classic Holiday Yule Log, mostly
Our Family’s Traditional Bûche De Noël Christmas Eve was filled with food, family, and festivity when I was a child, but I also loved the magic of all the food preparations that filled the week before – fussing and primping and putting everything together for the grand finale. Lots of baking Mom would make her…
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A Spring Salad of Three Peas and Some Pods
Peas are the star of this delightful spring salad, but the Meyer Lemon and Ginger Vinaigrette is one you’ll surely use again! A large salad can really set the tone for a holiday meal, especially if it is one that is a little different and makes its own statement of the season. Spring salads can…
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So, where was this Toll House and why did they make chocolate chip cookies?
We’ve all made them, possibly your first cookie adventure. But how did they become such a part of our baking landscape? When I was a kid, I loved baking chocolate chip cookies; you know, the recipe we all made. My kids followed in this love, and my grandkids do now. During the baking frenzy of…
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Warmed Mixed Olives and Artichokes
Simple, but quite addictive! I often make an olive and artichoke tapenade at gatherings. It is always well received, and any leftovers keep for quite some time. You can also make it well ahead of time because it keeps well in the refrigerator. Let’s try something new However, this year, I decided to switch things…
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Dark Chocolate Covered Orange Peels
My granddaughter, Jaina, and I make these every year at Christmastime, and we give them for gifts. I think she likes the idea of using orange peels that would normally go in the compost pile! They take a little fuss, but it is not difficult and require little in the way of ingredients. When we…
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Cranberry Sauce with Pearl Onions and Ginger
Homemade cranberry sauce is like a sparkling jewel on the table. This jewel also packs flavor and a bit of warmth. I had some cranberries left over from Thanksgiving and a package of frozen pearl onions. They asked to be put together. If you are looking for a really quick side dish to make for…
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My Grandmother’s Fruit Bowl
When I was a child, Thanksgiving was one of my favorite days of the year. It still is. Watching the Macy’s Day Parade, in black and white, was the background for all the busy kitchen noises that sometimes won out over the high school bands and Broadway singers. My brothers and I would be glued…
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Pineapple Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
My mother always made a ham at Easter. She cut crisscross marks all over, slathered it in mustard and brown sugar, sometimes varying the topping. One of my first jobs was putting the little whole cloves in each intersection of the cuts. Toward the end of baking, she adorned the entire ham with pineapple rings…
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Let’s Have a Party! We’ll serve June Cleaver Toasts, of course!
Nothing could be easier; these delectable little canapés may become a routine in your home after the first bite. Promise! I was told by an old family friend, Hilda, who lived to her 100th year, that this was a recipe for a party canapé in a pinch, popular in the 1950s, quick and easy. They are…
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Pat’s Holiday Gravlax
I first received gravlax as a gift from my Mother-in-Law and was amazed that this could be accomplished in a home kitchen I remember getting this gift of home-cured gravlax, a salt-preserved salmon, every year at Christmastime from my mother-in-law Pat, my husband’s father’s second wife. The first time she gave it to us, I…
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Treats from a Busy Holiday Kitchen
These can be made in minutes! Relax. Time is tight just about now, but we still want to treat our family and friends with delights from our kitchen, especially morsels we create once a year. Cookies and breads top the list of holiday offerings. I know in our family, we have recipes everyone craves and…
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Spring Parsnip and Leeks Au Gratin
It is a happy day the first time we see local spring-dug parsnips for sale! Sometimes you find them at the co-ops, a neighbor might bring you a few, but more often you’ll see a pick-up truck at a parking area on the side of the road. Usually, the same person year after year, and he…
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Irish Cream Cheesecake, dairy free
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Although the March Winds are blowing and the temperatures below freezing, we had several glorious days last week where it felt like spring and we could enjoy being outside in our shirtsleeves. So fleeting these delights! Once I heard the forecast of possible 60 degrees, it took me about one minute…
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Christmas Clementine Cake
Eat this orange cake plain, or pretty it up, it’s up to you. Added bonus, this is also gluten- and dairy-free.
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Holiday Eggnog (dairy free)
Of course, she always made this eggnog with a more than ample addition of spirits, sometimes dark rum, but usually whiskey, or a combination of both
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Snow Day Ginger Spice Cookies
My cookie-baking ritual begins with brewing my little pot of stove-top espresso. I’ll use just a little for my ginger cookie recipe, and the rest is my own little treat. I need a treat too because my confession is that unless I am making them with a kid, I really don’t like baking cookies.
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Sylvia’s Sour Cream Coconut Coffee Cake
There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the cake is absolutely delicious! The crumb was tender and smooth, the cake moist and flavorful. The bad news, for me at least, is that it tastes nothing like mother’s!
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Cranberry Orange Nut Bread
When I start cooking with oranges, that signals the holidays to me. Cranberry orange nut bread combines sweet, savory, and tangy, and rounds out the bread basket! This is my favorite cranberry bread recipe. It is bursting with cranberries and the flavor combined with the orange is a celebration of the holidays. It is also…
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You won’t miss the dairy in this almost traditional Irish Soda Bread!
This classic quick bread is a must for St. Patrick’s Day, or any day when you need a little comfort baking that is also quick. With dairy-challenged folks in my family, a quick bread that has been adapted to use plant-based products is a welcome site, especially if it is pretty to look at! I’ve…
