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!

Grandma Carlene's Cranberry Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons melted shortening (I use extra light olive oil)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup walnuts
2/3 cup cranberries (halved)

Mix all ingredients together (I whisk together the first 5 ingredients, then add the next 4, mix until just combined, then fold in the last two).  Grease and flour loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes at 300 degrees.  Loaf should be golden and spring back.  Remove from pan while hot.  Butter all sides immediately.  Wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 3 hours.  Can be frozen after seasoned in the fridge.


Double to make 3 smaller loaves (8 1/4 x 4 1/2).
(One batch will make 2 7" x 3" loaves.)

Day After Thanksgiving Casserole

Here are the ingredients.  In the instructions below, I give quantities to fill a 9x13 pan.  But if you've only got a little bit of leftovers, just make a little casserole!  :) 

gravy

sour cream

turkey

green beans

prepared stuffing

I never have enough gravy left over, so let's make some!  In a large skillet on low heat, melt a stick of butter (1/2 cup).  To that add 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion.  Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Whisk in 1/4 cup flour.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Whisking occasionally, cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Heat 2 cups of chicken stock.  Add the chicken stock, whisk, cook (uncovered) an additional 3-4 minutes until thickened.  Taste to check seasonings and adjust if necessary. 

Remove from heat and stir in one cup of sour cream.

In a 9x13 pan, start with a generous layer of chopped turkey.  Drain a can of green beans (we don't make the green bean casserole at our house) and sprinkle over the turkey.  Pour gravy over turkey and beans and mix well (you may have too much gravy--it all depends on how much turkey you put in--so start with a little more than half, then stir it all up and see if you want more).  Cover everything with a layer of dressing.

Bake at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly (25-35 minutes).  Enjoy!

Trifle with Lemon Curd and French Vanilla Cake

In a clear glass or bowl (to see the beauty of it all), layer the following:

Cake torn or cut into bite-size pieces

Lemon Curd

Berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries - anything you like)

Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Repeat.

Indulge.

Die happy. :)

Lemon Curd

This recipe is only slightly adapted from Michael Chiarello's Lemon Curd over Biscotti Crumbs with Fresh Berries.  Really, I only left out the rosemary.  So we will follow his fabulous directions (I tried a different and confusing recipe that ended up edible, but not like this incredible stuff), and I will add my comments.

Ingredients

1/3 cup sugar
9 large egg yolks, room temperature
2/3 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

2 teaspoons rosemary leaves (*See Cook's Note) (I left this out.)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, in small pieces and at room temperature

Directions

Cook's Note about rosemary: time of year matters. If you use rosemary in the winter, use half as much because it's stronger - it grows slower and the taste is concentrated.

In the top of a double boiler, whisk the sugar and the egg yolks until sugar has dissolved and mixture is pale yellow, then whisk in lemon juice and zest. Set the bowl over simmering water and whisk constantly until mixture reaches 145 degrees F; it will visibly thicken but don't let it get too hot or the eggs will curdle. (This can happen kind of quickly.  I used a candy thermometer to measure the temp as it warms.)  Remove the bowl from the heat and add the rosemary (or not) and butter a little at a time, whisking until each addition is incorporated and the curd becomes thick. Transfer to a bowl, cool and then refrigerate until well chilled.  (Serves 6.)

This is heaven!  But what do you do with it?  You can make tarts, spread it on toast or English muffins (with an additional smear of raspberry jam is insanely wonderful), use it between the layers of a cake, anything you want!  We used it to make a trifle--okay, a layered dessert, because it's technically not a real English trifle (see what I have to put up with having a husband who's lived for a while in England?)!  It's sooooooooooooooooo good!

You can see from the picture I made some lime curd as well.  It was fine.  But it doesn't, as they say, make my skirt fly up like the lemon curd does. :)