Reindeer Munch

This year for Christmas, Eoin made his Great Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles ornaments for Christmas. We also made a recipe that I had found in the December 2011 issue of Parents Magazine. Reindeer Munch is very similar to something that I had tried years ago called “White Trash.” It's fun and easy to make and is quite tasty too! I am going to post the original recipe. I did make some alterations, I used a mix of white, milk and dark chocolates. I already have my idea for next year's presents for Great Grandparents and Aunt and Uncles, but I'm pretty sure we'll wind up making this again as well, it was just that good! Parents Magazine suggests gifting this treat in a handmade container, I used a holiday decorative cellophane bag.

Makes about 12 cups (24 ½ cup servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups bite-size square-shaped rice cereal, such as Chex (you can also use Cheerios)
• 2 cups thin pretzel sticks
• 1 cup salted cocktail peanuts (or use soy nuts)
• 1 cup dried cranberries (you can use any dried fruit really)
• 1 cup candy-coated milk-chocolate pieces, such as M&M's
• 12 oz vanilla-flavored candy-coating, or white candy melts (I used white, milk and dark chocolate chips-not combined, I did a few batches separately)

Directions:

In a very large bowl, combine the cereal, pretzels, peanuts, dried fruit, and candy pieces; set aside.

Put bite-size candy pieces in a microwave safe bowl, melt according to package directions. Pour over cereal mixture; toss to coat.

Spread mixture on a large piece of foil. Let stand until set (about 30 minutes). Break into bite-size pieces.  

Spiced Sugar Cookies

It's been a Christmas tradition in my family for I don't even know how many years, that we make sugar cookies. My brother and sister have taken over this tradition and now make them every Christmas Eve. Since this past year I have been all about starting traditions for my family and I, I wanted a nice and easy cookie recipe to do. These are spiced sugar cookies from McCormick, a little different spin on the original sugar cookie, and this way, if I bring some to my parent's for Christmas Eve, it has a slightly different flavor to it. Eoin loved helping me make these cookies! He spent a lot of time helping me decorate them. You can use whatever you desire to decorate them. We used little cinnamon candies, red and green decorative sugars, multicolored sprinkles, and red and green frosting. The original recipe says that it yields 6 dozen cookies, but it depends on the size of the cookie cutters you use. We had enough cookies to bring to my side of the family for Christmas Eve, the other side of the family for Christmas, give to my landlord, and still have a tiny bit leftover for us.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• whatever you desire to decorate your cookies with

Directions:

1. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight until firm.
   
   
   
2. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookies cutters. If decorating with sprinkles or candies, decorate prior to baking. Place on greased baking sheets.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Bake in preheated 375ºF oven 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. If decorating with frosting/icing, decorate after cookies have completely cooled. Place back on wire rack to dry.
   
   
   

How to make your own table runner

On one of the first episodes of The Chew (and it actually may have been the VERY FIRST episode) Clinton Kelly made a very simple table runner (for Clinton Kelly's instructions, please go to The Chew and search under Clinton Kelly) . This was back in September. From the time I saw that segment, I knew I wanted to make them for Christmas presents. If you asked me 4 years ago who I would become, I never thought I'd turn out like this! I cook homemade meals more often than not, and now I make my own Christmas presents?!?! This truly is simple. I may be creative but I can't sew, crochet or anything of the like! These are NO SEW directions! Because of this, be VERY careful when cleaning the fabric!

• You want to preferably pick a cotton, or a cotton-poly blend for your fabric. Something that is going to be nice and thick and durable. I got my fabric from fabric.com but you can use your own reliable source for fabric, whether it be another website or a fabric store.
• Measure the width and the length of your table.
  • You want the table runner to be 1/3 of the width of your table. For instance, if the width of your table is 60-inches, then you want the table runner to be 20-inches. Then add 1 ½ inches to each side to allow for hemming. This would make your width measurement 23 inches.
  • You want the length of your table runner to be an additional 12-inches on either side than what you have measured. If your table is 90-inches long, then you would want the table runner to be 114-inches. Again, you must add 1 ½ inches to each side to allow for hemming. This would make your length measurement 117-inches.
    
    
    
    
    

• Cut your fabric to desired measurements.
• Measure ½-inch along all edges and fold into the backside of the fabric. Fold seam over again, this time 1-inch, to create your hem.
• Take some No-Sew Hemming Tape and press into the seam of your hem. Follow the directions on the back of the hem tape package to seal the hem into place.
  
  
  
• It is up to your own personal taste if you would like to keep the corners of the table runner square of if you want to angle it off. My best advice to you would be to make sure you MEASURE EVERYTHING OUT!

I used Christmas fabrics, so I opted to not use any extra embellishments on the runners. But if you don't find a pattern you like, you can always make a solid color table runner and then use fabric paint and a rubber stamp to decorate it. You can also make tassles for the edges if you'd like. Or even get some extra fabric and make some little place mats to go along with the table runner. With this project, the world is your oyster! Have fun!

Lentil Rice Pilaf

Like I said in my Irish Soda Bread Cookies post, I decided to try and start a New Year's tradition with my family. In the Italian tradition, it is good luck to make a lentil dish for the New Year. We aren't Italian, although my son and his father have a tiny bit in their blood. I liked the idea of a “good luck food” as superstitious as it sounds. I also like to try to incorporate new family traditions into our lives. I actually brought some over to my parents as well. This dish really seems perfect. Whether or not these lentils will bring us good luck this year, well it's still too early to know...

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs Olive Oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 3 Tbs minced garlic
• 2 cups broth, you can use either vegetable or chicken (I used homemade chicken broth)
• ½ cup uncooked brown rice
• ½ cup dried lentils; sorted, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (28.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 Tbs dried parsley

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion, celery, carrots and garlic and cook on medium until tender.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add broth, rice and lentils to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for a half hour. Add the can of tomatoes and the parsley. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed.
   
   
   
   
   

You can also make this recipe sans rice. I only discovered lentils as a lenten side dish in the past year or so, and usually it is just made with the lentils, carrots, celery and onion. I figured instead of having to make a starch as well, it's easier to just incorporate everything into one dish.

Split Pea Soup

Apparently everyone that knows me, has my number.  This past Christmas, we spent Christmas Day with Bill's family, and they offered me the ham bone to take home and make split pea soup with.  They had also gotten me a soup maker for Christmas.  Sadly, I haven't been able to test it out yet because I am waiting for a chicken or turkey carcass to make more stock with!  Hopefully I'll be able to try it out soon!

A little less than a year ago, I made a split pea soup in my slow cooker:  Savory Pea Soup with Sausage.  Let's just say, hands down, this recipe blows that one out of the water!  Yes, it is more time consuming and you need to be a bit more hands on, but the flavors are magnificent!  Of course I LOVE making things from scratch, and if I have the time, it's the more complex, the better!  Even though I soaked the split peas overnight; in the slow cooker, they just didn't come out soft enough.  Overall, everything just tasted better this time around, although if I didn't have the time, I would certainly make the other recipe again.

If you can't use the left over ham bone right away, cut as much of the remaining meat off as you can, then cube it and put into zip lock bags and freeze.  They can be frozen for up to a month.  Then put the ham bone into a large freezer bag, or bundle into plastic shopping bags, removing as much air as humanely possible.  Freeze until needed.

Ingredients:

• 2  1/2 cups of dried split peas
• 2 quarts of cold water
• 1+ lb ham bone, if the ham bone is relatively clean, reserve some of the ham and dice up.
• 2 onions, either thinly sliced or minced
• 1 tsp dried crushed marjoram
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 potato, peeled and diced
• about 1 1/2-2 cups of chopped carrots
• 3 stalks of celery chopped

Directions:

• In a large stock pot, soak dried split peas in 2 quarts of water overnight.

• After the split peas are soaked, add the ham bone, onion, marjoram, pepper and salt.  Cover, heat to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 2 hours.

• Remove ham bone (I used tongs, be VERY careful as the bone will be VERY hot!)  Cut off any remaining meat and dice; return meat back to soup.  If the bone wasn't meaty enough and you reserved any extra meat, you can add that to the soup now.  Also add your potatoes, carrots and celery.  Cook on medium-low heat, uncovered, for another 45 minutes.

Irish Soda Bread Cookies

My friend Erin had recommended this recipe to me right before Christmas.  Around the time she had posted this recipe to my facebook wall (Irish Soda Bread Cookies), I was eagerly searching for a New Year's tradition to start with my family.  I had decided that I was going to make a lentil dish (which I still have yet to post), possibly a pork dish (although there aren't specific New Year's main courses that pertain to good luck, pork seems to be a common New Year's dish) and of course we would get the rest of our baking itch out with some sort of cookies.  This seemed perfect.  I already make an Irish Soda Bread for St. Patty's Day, and I really wasn't looking to replace it with the cookie version.  As a particularly enthusiastic Irish family, what better way to bring in New Year's than with a dish that reflects our heritage!  

Unfortunately, there were personal circumstances that prohibited us from making these cookies for New Year's Day.  My household was in complete pandemonium the week between Christmas and New Year's.  Next year will be different, and I will finally start this part of our New Year's tradition.  Since I already had everything for the recipe, and I was lucky enough to have Martin Luther King Day off, I made the cookies this afternoon.  They taste part cookie, part Irish Soda Bread, and part biscuit.  They have just enough sweetness without being a complete sugary cookie.  You can make it with currants, raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries or dried blueberries.  I made some with dried cherries and some with dried cranberries.  Eoin eats raisins on a daily basis and Bill hates raisins, so I decided to switch it up a little.  I think the next time I make these, I may try the dried blueberries, I'm very intrigued!  

I have placed the link to the original recipe above, below I will show you what I used and how I made my cookies...

The original recipe says it yields 3 dozen cookies but that all depends on how small or large you make your cookies.  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup of butter (1 stick butter, softened)
• 1/2 cup dried currants, raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries or dried blueberries
• 1/4 cup buttermilk, start with this amount; you will definitely need more as you go to get it to the right consistency
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350º F.
• Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  With a pastry blender (if you do NOT have a pastry blender, don't worry!  You can also use a fork to mix everything, OR, you can use 2 butter knives and cut the mixture into opposite directions so mix it), cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Stir in your choice of dried fruit.

• Mix in beaten egg.  Pour in milk and mix with a fork to make a soft dough (may need a little more milk, see above).
• The recipe then calls for this step, which I skipped:  On a floured surface, shape dough into a ball and knead lightly 5 or 6 times.  Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut into squares or triangles with a knife (approximately 2 inches in diameter).
  I instead:  Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, which you can soak in cold water, I scooped dough and dropped into balls onto a parchment paper lined and sprayed baking sheet.

• Bake 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned.

Easy-Peasy Shepard's Pie

Happy New Year to all!  I still have so much updating to do, specifically some Christmas goodies.  Life has been pretty hectic recently.  I've been working 45 hours a week since the beginning of November, so I've been doing the majority of my cooking on the weekends.  We have also had a devastating loss in our family.  Even when something is expected, it doesn't hurt any less.  Dealing with every day life, and all the stress that has been accompanying it recently, has left little to no time to update my blog.  As I strive to be a little more consistent, I just ask my readers to bear with me.

Tomorrow is food shopping day.  Because of this fact, I have an up-to-date inventory of my cupboards, refrigerator and freezer.  I realized that within my inventory, I had the basics I needed to make Shepard's Pie.  It's def not my Mom's Shepard's Pie, but it was simple and easy to prepare.  This is easy enough to even be done on a weeknight after work!  I eventually want to try and make my Mom's Shepard's Pie, and when I do, I will post the recipe here.  I am sure this recipe can be turned vegan or vegetarian, using some sort of soy fake ground beef, turkey or what have you.  If there are other ways my readers have prepared this dish, please share!  I am also eager to hear feedback from my readers!  I would love to include a vegan or vegetarian version, and I'm sure you could also substitute ground turkey, chicken, pork, or lamb.  Please feel free to include pictures of the dishes within your feedback as well!

Yields about 8 Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of Instant Mashed Potatoes (I used Betty Crocker's Butter and Herb twin pack)
• about 1 1/2 cups of chopped carrots
• 1 can of peas, drained
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 3 teaspoons of all-purpose flour
• 1 package of brown gravy mix
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2-1 cup of shredded cheese, traditionally cheddar, but whatever your preference works fine as well

Directions:
Prepare the instant mashed potatoes as per the directions on the box.  Set aside.

Bring a small saucepan of water to a rolling boil.  Add the carrots, and boil until just tender.  Drain.  Mix carrots with the can of drained peas.

Heat oil in a large skillet.  Add onion and cook until translucent.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Add the ground beef to the skillet and season with Worcestershire sauce.   Cook beef until thoroughly browned.  Drain excess fat and then stir in flour and cook for about another minute.  Add the gravy mix and the water and cook until the sauce thickens.   

Spread meat mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish or baking dish.  Next, spread a layer of the pea and carrot mix.  

This is followed by a layer of the mashed potatoes, finally being topped with the shredded cheese.  

Bake until the cheese melts and starts to brown, around 20 minutes.