Split Pea Soup

2 large onions, chopped

1 cup celery chopped

2 small carrots, chopped (optional)

2 T olive oil

2 T butter

1/4 t marjoram

1 lb. split peas (dump onto a cookie sheet to check for unwanted debris, pour into a fine mesh strainer, rinse)

2 quarts water

1-2 cup diced ham (optional)

1 1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

In a large stock pot, saute onions and celery (and if using, carrot) in olive oil and butter on low heat until translucent (about 10 minutes).  Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Cook at a low simmer with pan lid, stirring occasionally, about two hours, or until peas are soupy.

Homemade Gravy

Alas, I have no picture of the gravy, so here's a picture of the ingredients you need to make it.

This recipe is essentially Ina Garten's Homemade Gravy Recipe, minus the Cognac.  She has lots of great cookbooks, and let me tell you, every single recipe I've ever tried has turned out delicious!

Ingredients

1/4 pound unsalted butter (1 stick - and if all you've got is regular salted butter, use it, but maybe start with 1/2 teaspoon salt for seasoning)

1 1/2 cups chopped Vidalia onion (about 2 onions - and yellow onions would be fine)

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups chicken stock, hot (just measure it out and nuke it in the microwave - if you are tripling this recipe like I did for the Christmas party, I think it's easier to let it heat up on the stove top.)

1 tablespoon heavy cream (optional)

Directions

In a large skillet, cook the butter and onions on medium-low heat for 12-15 minutes. This low and slow cooking will make for a delicious gravy.

Whisk in the flour, then add the salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock and cook, uncovered, for 4-5 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in cream. 

Jeweled Christmas Kisses

Square Pretzels

Hershey's Kisses

Christmas Colored M&M's

Fill a cookie sheet with pretzels. Center a kiss on each one. Bake at 175 degrees for 10 minutes. This will soften the kisses. Press an M&M onto each kiss. 

Updated 12/10/2010 -- Scroll down for Nuked Jeweled Christmas Kisses!

Guess who's oven broke!  Yes, the lower baking element caught ablaze while baking bread.  Thankfully I was nearby.  So we have been managing all our meals on the stove top without too much difficulty--we went a few weeks without an oven during our sojourn in Albuquerque.  

But Kathryn needed to bring a treat to her band Christmas party!  We had all the ingredients for Jeweled Christmas Kisses, so we decided to try them in the microwave.  They turned out just fine, but I learned that you need to let them sit to soften properly.  So here's the method:

Place all your pretzels on a microwave safe dish--we just used a paper plate.  Place a kiss on each pretzel.  Nuke for 1 minute.  Nuke for 30 seconds more.  Let sit a few minutes.  You can see in the picture, I started on the outside circle and they looked like Santa bags or something.  But by the time I got to the center ones, they had warmed all the way through and looked perfect.  I put a second batch in the microwave and then didn't get back to them for about 15 minutes.  They still were perfectly soft.

Update (later today):  Kathryn tried to make only a few cookies on a paper plate in the microwave (I think it was four), and they burned!  That did not happen when I made four in a glass casserole dish.  Go figure!