Merry Christmas!

I know this post is a little late. I never scheduled this post and I thought I did. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoyed time spent with family and friends and of course, had lots of good food! I will be back soon with more recipes, some from the five new cookbooks Santa brought me! More about that soon!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday this season! Happy holidays from my family to yours!

xoxo,

Christine

Peppermint Meringue Cake With Chocolate Buttercream

We had another fun holiday party to attend this past weekend, and I decided to make a cake I couldn't get out of my head since I first saw it gracing the December 2009 cover of Bon Appetit: peppermint meringue cake with chocolate buttercream.

Layers of light, crisp but chewy peppermint meringue alternate with moist peppermint syrup-soaked chocolate cake and dark chocolate buttercream.

It reminds me of stirring a candy cane into hot chocolate with marshmallows, one of my favorite things during winter and the holidays. And it might just be the best cake I've made all year.

Topped with After Eights, bright red raspberries, and sprigs of green mint, it's incredibly festive and the perfect dessert for any holiday gathering.

You can find the recipe on the Bon Appetit Web site.

Happy Holidays!

Pierogi Extravaganza 2009

This post is a bit late, as the event occurred a month ago, but I figure since we'll be eating what we made for Christmas, it's almost appropriate to post it now, too ;) The saturday after thanksgiving, aunts, cousins, grandma, and nephew came over to do some serious pierogi making. We're talking 3 batches of dough with 4 different fillings. My uncle is an amazing photographer (check out his site, gorgeous shots like this make a great gift!!) and documented the process. I'll point you to last years' post for the recipe. Enjoy the "show"!

Making the dough

Rolling out and cutting

little helper!

Potato & Onion (my favorite)

forming the pierogi

Crimping!
(much better with these than my hair ;))

Sauerkraut filling

(sauerkraut, drained and cooked with onions and butter, seasoned w/salt and pepper)

the sauerkraut ones get forked

lined up and ready for action!

Cooked, ready for cooling and freezing.

I should note, that they can be frozen without cooking, you just don't want to defrost them before cooking them (i.e. add them still frozen to boiling, salted water). With the amount of people we had in the kitchen, it wasn't too much work to cook them a few minutes, cooled, and then frozen. This makes it a little easier on the eating end :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!! I'm (hopefully) on a bus home right now, looking forward to spending some time with the family!

SAN FRANCISCO FERRY BUILDING SWEETS

Whenever I walk through the San Francisco Ferry Building, I can always gauge the types of food people have affinity towards. Typically the sweet tooth variety will immediately will be attracted to Miette, a patisserie shop which always has three or four large jars stacked high with macarons to entice innocent passerbyers.

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SAN FRANCISCO FERRY BUILDING, Pt. 1

I
magine a location that unites America's gourmet creme de la creme. The finest cheeses, wines, chocolates, coffee, pastries, breads, olive oil, cured meats and fresh produce and meats. I know it's a bold assertion to name any one place, so I'll make the leap to at least proclaim one place that comes pretty darn close: the San Francisco Ferry Building. If I had to choose one place to grocery shop and eat from for the rest of my life, I would choose the San Francisco Ferry Building. It  contains one of the strongest collections of suppliers of artisan/organic products I've encountered yet.

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Cookies, Cabbage, & Pears

It's been quite a busy time around here, between baking, lab work, and holiday events. I can't say I haven't indulged a bit too much, but at least I have been eating more than cookies ;) Speaking of cookies, I have a few more for you before we get to the main course.

A friend of mine recently had her gall bladder out, and to help her recovery amidst the holiday treats, I sent along some that she could enjoy. This meant no butter, chocolate or nuts to name the usual suspects. I found a few recipes to try including Gingersnaps, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and Carrot Cake Cookies (these were her favorite of the bunch). Olive oil took the place of butter, and I used the white whole wheat flour already in my fridge.

(l to r) Gingersnaps, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and Carrot Cake Cookies

In the midst of the sugar coma that's been the past few weeks, I've tried a few great recipes, and some others that won't be repeated. If you notice a common ingredient, it's because I got a little over-zealous when I saw cabbage for 50cents a head. I'd recommend not trying to buy the biggest head you can find, unless you're prepared to eat it every day for over a week ;)

I am a sucker for good salads with layers of flavor, and this Sugar-Crusted Fennel & Pear Salad was a certainly a winner. I have probably mentioned I don't like raw fennel before, but caramelize it and I just adore it! I used gorgonzola instead of fennel, and since I was eating it at work, dressed it with a Balsamic Vinaigrette already in the fridge. Delicious!

Sugar-Crusted Fennel & Pear Salad

It's snowy and blustery here, perfect for some soup! I've come to enjoy parsnips when their sweetness is brought out by roasting, or when paired with a fruit as in Ricki's Pear & Parsnip Soup. To accompany this soup, a ripe avocado came to the rescue in some Avocado Corn Muffins.



I tried out two cabbage salads-- a Cabbage, Pear & Pistachio Salad and Cabbage, Apple & Walnut Salad (not pictured, sorry!). In the former salad, I didn't have any salted pistachios, so I used pecans. In the latter recipe, I used greek yogurt instead of creme fraiche and gorgonzola instead of blue cheese. Both were tasty, and I was happy to mix it up :)

Cabbage, Pear & Pecan Salad

The last remarkable cabbage dish was this Kielbasa & Cabbage Skillet, made with a grainy dijon and turkey keilbasa. Although I grew up eating my kielbasa with ketchup, much to the chagrin of my grandfather, mustard is a more traditional pairing, and a combination I enjoy now :) I added more cabbage to the recipe, but I would easily double or triple the written out next time.

Kielbasa & Cabbage Skillet

I was also excited to (finally) try a couple of Molly's recipes on the heels of finishing A Homemade Life. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and was delighted by the recipe for Butternut Squash Soup with Pear, Cider & Vanilla Bean (not pictured, oops!). Another winner, which I've seen pop up various places is her Warm Butternut & Chickpea Salad w/Tahini Dressing. It combines two foods I can't get enough of- butternut squash and chickpeas, and made for a wonderful lunch! I'd recommend the book and these recipes :)

Butternut & Chickpea Salad w/Tahini Dressing