Celery Casserole

Icy frost still lingers in the shadows, this afternoon, while sunny skies warm the exposed.

I've been looking forward to doing alot of creative cooking over the holiday break. It is the prime season I think, and I think I have taken well advantage.
Today I'm creating a tasty new approach to celery. I know it is perfect raw and fresh, but is also great cooked, so.. I'm gonna try and make some kinda casserole?

Celery Casserole Recipe

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 head celery (about 12 healthy stalks)
1 small onion, finely minced (about 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
1 cup stock; or beer or old wine (deluded with water) or ... water
1/3 cup freshly grated Gruyere, or half Gruyere and half Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 to 4 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs made from day-old rustic white bread

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Using about half the butter, generously butter a large baking dish (9- to 10-by-13- to 14-inch).
2. Rinse the celery stalks. Trim off the top part of the stalk where it branches into leaves, and set the tops aside with the heart and leaves. Pull off the fibrous strings that run its length if you can. Chop the stalks and through them in a layer in the baking dish. Through in the oven for 10 min.
3. Then ... finely chop the rest of the celery heart, and the celery tops and leaves. Melt the remaining butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, thyme, and chopped celery heart and leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until almost dry, about 3 minutes. Add the 'stock' and simmer until reduced by half, another 6 minutes or so.
4. The braise: Pour the celery-shallot-stock mixture over the celery sticks. Cover with foil and slide into the middle of the oven to braise until the celery has collapsed and feels very tender when prodded with a knife tip, about I hour and 15 minutes.
5. The finish: Remove the celery from the oven, and increase the oven heat to 400 degrees. Sprinkle the cheese and bread crumbs over the celery, and return to the oven until the cheese is melted and the top is crusty and browned, about 10 more minutes. Serve hot or warm.
Serves 4 I Braising

Mexican Hominy Soup

The temperature was very cold; Below freezing, and, on a night like this, the air has a crips 'tundra' presence. Twas not a task to breathe it; very fresh. A friend of mine came over and a cousin drove down from seattle this night! and I made this soup.

Mexican Hominy Soup Recipe

4 cups canned hominy
1/2 a large onion, diced
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
3 chile peppers, stems removed and chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Red Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely diced white onion
2 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup ground red chile
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 of one lime

garnishes: tortilla strips, crumbled queso fresco or feta, or avacado!

Drain the Hominy and place it in a large thick-bottomed pot along with 2 quarts of water, the onion, garlic, chile peppers, and oregano. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the posole is tender, and many of the kernels have flowered into popcorn shapes. This can take anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours. Season with a couple teaspoons of salt roughly halfway through the cooking process. Season again once the posole is fully cooked.
In the meantime, make the red sauce by combining the olive oil, onion, garlic, and oregano in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously until the onion takes on a bit of color, a few minutes. Add the flour and cumin, and stir for a minute or two or until the flour browns a bit. Whisk the chile into 2 1/2 cups / 600ml water and pour it into the saucepan, whisking all the while. Stir until the sauce thickens a bit, dial down the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for fifteen minutes or so. Stir in a squeeze of fresh lime juice, and season with the salt, adding more to taste if necessary. Set aside until the posole has finished cooking.
Stir 1/2 cup / 120ml of the red sauce into the pot of posole. You can add more red sauce, a bit at a time, until it is to your liking. Spoon the posole into bowls and top with tortilla strips, cheese, and oregano.

Gingerbread Cake

I made this cake for Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house.

Served it with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a lemon sauce that my mom put together. It turned out great!

I'll try to get the recipe for the lemon sauce and post it later. It really is the perfect combination!!

Gingerbread Cake Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup molasses

3/4 cup honey

1 cup tightly packed brown sugar

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

3 large eggs

1/2 cu milk

1 packed tablespoon grated fresh ginger

Lightly sweetened whipped cream and lemon sauce, to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Lightly grease a 8 x 11.5 x 2-inch (or so) baking pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper that has been cut to hang over two opposite edges by a couple of inches. This overhang will make removing the cake from the pan clean and simple.
2. Combine the butter, water, molasses, honey and brown sugar in a medium saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Stir the mixture frequently until the butter is melted, and all of the ingredients are well blended. Remove from the heat, pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool.
3. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, all-spice and cloves, and set aside. When the molasses mixture cools down a bit, add the milk and stir to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter in four additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the grated ginger.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then, using the overhang of parchment, lift the cake out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Pull off the paper and put the cake pack in the pan if you want. Serve with mounds of soft whipped cream and lemon sauce.
Serves 10 to 12.

Gift tags

These amazing gift tags from Eat Drink Chic, (eatdrinkchic.com), made things go alot quicker for me today! I love them! And you can have them too! Click Here to download and print your own!

Poppyseed Dressing

This is really good...

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup white vinegar
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground dry mustard
3 tablespoons grated onion
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoon poppy seeds

Directions

In a blender or food processor, combine sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard and onion and process for 20 seconds. With blender or food processor on high, gradually add oil in a slow, steady stream. Stir in poppy seeds.

Celebrating solstice with Lemon Angelfood Cupcakes and thumbprint cookies

Tonight is the longest night of the year! A few friends came over to celebrate. We had tea and lots and lots of sweets!!

Raspberry White Chocolate Scones my sister put together. I think the recipe is from Betty Crocker, though I'm not sure which book, or what page...

Some cute little sugar cookies Amanda put together. They have this 'glitter glue' looking decoration frosting on them. Edible though.. Ha!

I made tapioca, which I won't post cuz it wasn't great, and lemon angel food cupcakes...

..and a couple types of thumbprint cookies..

Lucia Buns

Happy Saint Lucia Day! Went up to my Grams this morning for breakfast.
It's a tradition we have carried out ever since I remember; to eat Lucia buns on this day!
St. Lucia day is Swedish holiday, celebrating "light", I believe... or lake there of!


St. Lucia Bun Recipe

2 tsp yeast
1/2 c. lukewarm water
1 1/2 c. lukewarm milk
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. softened butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. ground cardamom
zest of 1 orange
3/4 tsp. salt
7-7 1/2 c. flour
1 slightly beaten egg
1 tbsp. water
2 tbsp. sugar
raisins

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, butter, eggs, cardamom, salt, and 3 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth. Place in a bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.
Divide into 24 parts. Shape each piece into an S-shape rope; curve both ends into a coil. May place raisin in center of each coil. Place rolls on cookie sheet. . Mix egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush buns lightly.. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Fruitless Granola

The road was a sheet of ice this morning and I had to call out of work. In turn I got a day of down home cookin, cleaning.. and catching up! Give and take!!

Got the tree decorated, house cleaned, and a batch of granola made!

This recipe is very basic, no bells or whistles..

Fruitless Granola

Ingredients:

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup flax seed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 and 1/2 cup walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup oil (probably not olive oil, but whatever you have. The more mild, the better)
1/4 cup syrup (any kind, I prefer real maple syrup though)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
In a large bowl, or even on a large 'cookie' baking sheet, toss together the oats, wheat germ, flax seed meal, brown sugar, sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, and cinnamon. Top with the oil, honey, vanilla and water and mix well; until evenly blended. Spread out evenly in the pan, (if you mixed it in the pan) other wise pour the mixture into a large 'cookie' baking sheet and spread out evenly.
Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until toasted; stirring every 20 minutes. Let cool completely and store in an airtight container

Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I took my last final! It was for the wine, beer, and spirits class! It went well, I feel pleased and cheery to be able to relax for a bit and look forward to the holidays!!

Tomarrow I have Arley so I thought I would make up some cookies! Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies is what I came up with. There are kinda mix between plain old chocolate chip cookies and cozy winter ginger cookies. ..mom was sceptical but they turned out great i n my opinion

These Holiday cookies are made with two forms of ginger and lots of chocolate.

Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

2/3 C chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup molasses
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger,
1 large egg, well beaten

Preheat the oven to 350F, and position racks in the top and bottom third of the oven.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, and salt.
Heat the butter in a saucepan until it is just barely melted. Remove from heat and stir in the molasses, sugar, and fresh ginger. The mixture should be warm, but not hot at this point, if it is hot to the touch let it cool a bit, so the egg dosn't cook when you add it!! Now whisk in the egg. Pour this mixture over the flour and stir until just combined. Mix in the chocolate.
Place spoonfulls of the dough a few inches apart on baking sheets., and bake for 7-10 minutes or until cookies start to become golden.

Creative Peppermint Bark

I love peppermint bark this time of year, but I wanted to play with the usual white chocolate on dark chocolate, plus I needed to use up same random bits of chocolate in my chocolate box, so I decided to melt all the randoms down and substitute that for the usual white! I turned out great because the miscellaneous things in the chocolates (caramel, truffle-ness, etc.) gave the top layer a great texture, a lighter consistency, and taste.



This is what I did, the recipe can be easily multiplied but this is a good basic start.

Creative Peppermint Bark Recipe

1 cup dark chocolate
1 cup random leftover chocolates
1 small candy cane, crushed

Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler and spread immediately in a wax paper lined pan. Set aside and melt the random chocolates the same way. Spread over the dark chocolate once the dark chocolate is cool. Sprinkle the crushed candy over the top and set in the fridge to harden.

Amandas' Squash Bread

I had a great pumpkin/squash harvest this year, thanks to all the starts given to me Last spring! The pic above is just a fraction!


My good friend Amanda came up with this recipe for a squash bread, like a pumpkin bread; and you could use pumpkin or any kind of squash puree. It was great and a good way to store some of this squash cuz it freezes well!


Squash bread Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 cup vegie oil

2 cups and type squash puree

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon bk powder
2 teaspoons bk soda

pumpkin spice(or) cinnamon, nutmeg, ground allspice

1 to 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2/3 cups raisins (I used golden raisins)

Preparation:

Combine wet and dry Mixture together adding Nuts and Raisins last

Pour into two greased bread pans

Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 20 minets or until a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the bread.cover top with parchment paper when there is 30 min's or so left(so the top wont burn) Cool in pan for 10 min's before cutting.

Thanks Amanda! This was wonderful!

Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip Cookies for Arley

Peppermint Bark/Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is a large batch of cookies! You could bake off half of them, form the rest of the dough into cookie-sized balls, and put them in freezer bag for later use!

3 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups peppermint bark, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 375F. Put the racks in the middle of the oven.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar until it is the consistency of a thick frosting. beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing each in well before adding the next. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients in 3 increments, stirring between each addition. At this point you should have a moist uniform dough. Stir in the peppermint bark, mixing only until evenly distributed.

Drop a heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for about 10 - 14 minutes, until golden on bottom and top. Cool on wire racks.

Potatoes

Arley looks very down home in this pic. Banjo case, overalls, woolly booties. This recipe is very warm and 'woolly' too! The sauce is almost like hummus, but you can thin it out by adding more oil if you please. (I like less oil though.) Really comforting food. : )

Ingredients
5 chilies, stemmed and seeded
4 tablespoons beans (I used canned black beans, any kind will work)
1 1/2 lbs potatoes
1/4 cups olive oil
5 whole garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme, plus
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 slice bread (1-inch thick)
1/3 cup canned tomato
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1-2 tablespoon lemon juice, as needed

Directions

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.
Place potatoes in a roasting pan and toss with a bit of olive oil, 5 whole cloves garlic, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, and 1 heaping teaspoon salt. Cover tightly with foil and roast until potatoes are tender when pierced, about 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, place a large sauté pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Add a bit of olive oil and heat 1 minute. Add bread and fry until browned on both sides. Cut into 1-inch cubes, and set aside. Return pan to high heat, and add a bit more olive oil and the chilies. Sauté 1 minute and add tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring until juices have evaporated. Remove from heat.
In a food processor, combine the beans, chopped garlic, and bread cubes. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Add Chile-tomato mixture and pulse to combine. With machine running, slowly pour in 1/4 cup olive oil to make a smooth puree, you might add more, up to a cup.. Add 1 tablespoon of the parsley and season to taste with lemon juice. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
When the potatoes are tender, remove from heat and let potatoes and garlic cool. Place a large sauté pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Add more olive oil and heat for 1 minute. Add the potatoes and season with thyme leaves, salt, and pepper. Fry the potatoes until crispy on one side, 6-8 minutes, then turn to brown on all sides. Add the reserved sauce and garlic cloves. To serve toss with remaining 2 tablespoons parsley.

Best 'Ceaser' salad

Dressing:

1/4 c olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Vinegar
1 tsp chopped onion
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chopped garlics
zest of 1 1/2 limes
1 egg

blend all ingredients together.

Croutons:

a dash of olive oil
2 slices day old bread, preferably sour dough, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
4 garlic cloves chopped

Heat OVEN TO 350. Heat a bit of oil in a pan. Add the chopped garlic and heat over low. Put the bread cubes on a baking sheet w/ a little oil and bake , tossing every once in a while. After about 20 minutes, add the bread chunks into the garlic mixture and on top of the stove and cook for about 5 more min or until crisp and golden.

Salad and Assembly:

About 8 cups crisp greens, such as bok choy, Romaine hearts, butter crunch, etc.
3/4 c grated Parmesan
1/2 c roughly chopped cilantro

Toss everything together, or layer on individual plates!