Category — Holiday

The other night, our last guest chef of the year at Les Gourmettes, Gwen Ashley Walters, made an outstanding Pepper Crusted Flank Steak with Chianti Honey Demi. I was about to dump the leftover meat marinade down the drain when I stopped short and realized what a great appetizer I could make, using it. We have our neighborhood Holiday Progressive Dinner tonight, and appetizers begin at my house. Here is the recipe I created, using Gwen’s smokey marinade.

And tomorrow, another fantastic and super easy recipe that I am crazy for – a pumpkin appetizer spread – from Gwen!

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You know that saying, right? It means you measure any wood you are working with twice to make absolutely sure that your measurement is correct because you only get one chance to cut it right. That is how I feel about greasing a pan when baking. I am not a huge fan of baking or making desserts. Too many things can go wrong, at least for me they seem to.

So the one thing I try to get right is to get the dessert out of the pan in one piece.  Easier than it sounds unless you use parchment paper. Whenever I make a cake or quick bread, I always (even when I forget to put it down on a recipe) grease the pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment, and then grease the parchment. Works every time, as you’ll see in the pictures below.

I’ll be on Channel 12 NBC Valley Dish live today at 3:30, making a wonderful winter salad, in case you want to watch. I’ll post a link to the taped show along with the salad recipe tomorrow. AND… a very happy birthday to my sweet Jennifer! I adore you! xoxo

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For 22 years we have adhered to a strict rule in our house at this time of year. No holiday decorations are allowed on December 1st. That means Thanksgiving stuff needs to be taken down and put away and the Christmas stuff must be left unbothered until at least December 2nd. Hey, that’s today! The reason for the rule is simple – December 1st is Marissa’s birthday and that day needs to be all about her – not about the two major holidays that surround her special day.  Over the years, the rule has been slightly modified, and Christmas lights on the outside of the house became permitted. And this year, the rule wasn’t so much modified as actually broken – just a little! I have a TV shoot here this morning and it is going to feature me and my kitchen Christmas tree. Hence, the rule was broken when I put up that little tree yesterday – sorry baby girl, we’ll go back to being rule sticklers next year!

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Here is the second recipe promised from the Black Friday Cocktail Party. It would make a great addition to any Christmas buffet too, just play up the red and green a little more, and it’ll fit right in. Enjoy!

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There were about 25 lovely ladies at my BFCP last night, none of whom actually went shopping earlier in the day. A few did admit to cyber-shopping, but no one went near the malls… smart friends, have I!  

Below is the light menu I served and while typing it up I realized that it is basically a vegetarian menu, even though none of the attendees are vegetarians. You can get away with this when it’s an all-girls group, but don’t try it when men are involved!

I say “basically vegetarian” because my shooters used chicken stock, but one can easily substitute vegetable broth. And luckily, everyone loves cheese, because just about every recipe has it!

The first three dishes have already been posted here and you can access them by just clicking on the desired recipe name. The final two are from a wonderful cookbook called The Big Book of Appetizers by  Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder. Meredith taught classes last week at Les Gourmettes Cooking School and these were two of the delicious recipes she demonstrated. Not only was the food great, but Meredith was a wonderful and entertaining teacher. I highly recommend the book, check it out on Amazon by clicking on the title above. With Meredith’s permission, I am posting the recipe for the tart today and the dip will be up tomorrow. Bonus: There is a special “Black” playlist to go along with the menu at the bottom of this post.

Black Friday Cocktail Party Menu

FOOD
Hot Feta and Tomato Spread with Pita Chips
Edamame Hummus with Crudités
Potato, Parsnip, Pear, and Parmesan Shooters
Blue Cheese Marinated Mushrooms
Rustic Goat Cheese Tart with Caramelized Balsamic Onions
Feta Cheese, Roasted Red Pepper, and Pine Nut Dip

BEVERAGES
Splits of Freixenet
Red and White Wine
Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider

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“He who can give thanks for little will always find he has enough”~ Unknown

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Thanksgiving is tomorrow!!! Don’t know that I can help you now if you haven’t gotten busy yet, but just in case, I give you – Complete Thanksgiving Planning Guide and Timeline.

OK, so I have caved and I have made the dough for the potato rolls. How can I not, after The Audrey Files made them for her family and then raved about them on her blog? I’d feel like a heel if I stood my ground on that one. But I must rebel in some small way, so I am NOT going to make a homemade pumpkin pie this year! Instead I am making a pumpkin bundt cake, so take that, my whining family! But, I even felt a little guilty about that, so I purchased a little pumpkin pie at Trader Joe’s… oh well.

I do not trust a bundt cake to come out of the bundt pan cleanly. So I never, and I mean never, use Pam to grease it. I always melt plenty of butter and brush it on every visible interior surface and then dust the pan with flour. That usually does the trick, but not every time, sometimes it just sticks in one little spot, just to spite me.

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Turkey-Day is only 2 days away!!! Complete Thanksgiving Planning Guide and Timeline. Better get there now!

I’ve known this fact for about a year now, bloggers are very nice and supportive people! Look at this sweet post from a fellow blogger and often, nice comment sender, Audrey Larsen, of The Audrey Files. She is my new BFF – so sorry Jen and Peggy and Anne!

Wanna know something that makes my day (in addition to having a new BFF)? Finding a cool new item at Trader Joe’s, that’s what! While standing in the dried fruit/nut aisle I was scanning for dried cranberries. Not that I really need another bag, I’m guessing that I have at least a half dozen partial bags of dried cranberries tucked behind various other partial bags of nuts and fruits and chocolates in one of my two extra freezers, but I am too busy/lazy to dig for one. That is really a whole other story and could be a post on its own! Anyhow, as I stood there scanning, I saw, the new item – dried pomegranate seeds.

Awesome! I was so excited to try them, I had to control the urge to open the package right there and then. The very second I was in the car, I ripped into it. They are tasty, and according to the package they are a “good source of fiber” too. There you go, run out and snag a couple of bags so that it becomes such a popular item, there is no way TJ’s would even consider discontinuing them. Even though I am enjoying eating them straight from the bag, I decided to create a Thanksgiving recipe using them and share it with you… hey, it’s just how I roll.

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If you love shopping, then you probably love Black Friday. As for me, absolutely NO WAY! I never venture out on that day or any Saturday or Sunday between now and December 24th! But for those of you diehards, I give you some Foodie Deals I found while searching the web for the upcoming ads. The things I do for you… it’s only Monday, so keep your heart rate down and start planning ahead!

As expected, many of these are “limited quantity” doorbuster deals so please rely on the fine print and exact details in each specific ad in Thursday’s newspaper or online ads. None of the information is guaranteed – remember, I found all this on the internet! But maybe it will help give you a helpful heads-up before you head out to the malls. Have fun, I’ll be praying for you.

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Turkey-Day is only 4days away!!! Complete Thanksgiving Planning Guide and Timeline.

Honestly, our Thanksgivings are drama-free. But we’ve all heard those stories of families that just let it fly on that special day. When you have a small group, let’s say just four people for dinner, those problems probably won’t arise.  Another thing that is different about Thanksgiving without the crowd is the “turkey-situation”. Unless everyone is a huge fan of leftovers, a big turkey may seem like too much, so instead, how about opting for turkey breast?  It’s most everyone’s favorite part of the bird anyhow, and takes much less time to roast. Or, maybe you have just a few too many people for one turkey and don’t have the room to roast another. The addition of a breast or two is the answer!

I am going to skip my usual two birds and do just that, one bird and 1 extra breast half for our crew this year. My dilemma was how do I show you how to do the breast without having to do one ahead of time for this post? I worked it out by stuffing and roasting a boneless chicken breast instead.

To be clear, the recipe is for turkey breasts, the photos are of chicken breasts. Follow the recipe and you’ll be fine.

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