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Fun Christmas Cooking for Everyone

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date December 12, 2007

snowbear via morguefile.com

It’s great to have friends and family over for Christmas, but if you’re the one stuck in the kitchen doing all the cooking every year, that’s not so much fun. One way to avoid this is by rotating locations for the festivities from one year to the next. Another way — a much simpler way — is to delegate items of contribution from all guests in attendance each year so that the cooking and meal preparation duties are shared among them all.

Of course this isn’t a perfect plan. Pot lucks can often lack the flavor compliments that a meal prepared by one individual may have. So, another great plan is to prepare pieces and parts of your Christmas dinner well ahead of time. With careful planning there are recipes that can be prepared as much as a few weeks ahead of the big day and stored either in air tight containers at room temperature or frozen for heating or baking on the big day for best results. Any of the prep work that can be taken care of before the big day is one less thing to be taken care of when the time comes and that takes a load off your mind.

Tags Christmas, food planning, holiday cooking

All Things Pumpkin

The Pumpkin that Lasted Forever

Post author By Guest Post
Post date December 11, 2007

Have you ever created your idea jack-o-lantern and wished that you could keep it forever — and not just as a photograph? Well, Dennis and Tyler Szabo have just the thing for you.

The Szabos are the father and son team behind Funkins, a company that makes artificial pumpkins. “Funkins” are made out of polyurethane foam and designed to look as much like real pumpkins as possible. In fact, real pumpkins are used to make the molds.

“We try to duplicate the authenticity of the product with the paint,” Dennis Szabo told CBS4 Weekend Morning News, in Denver.

You can buy Funkins online and at various craft stores for between $5 and $20 depending on the size.

Special Occasions

Cooking Christmas Cookies with the Kids

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date December 5, 2007

Making my first cookie

Christmas cookies are as much a part of the Christmas tradition for many as a visit from Old St. Nick himself. As I’ve probably mentioned before, Christmas is almost synonymous with cookies for me. My grandmother made all kinds — Spanish roscos, sugar cookies, Corn Flakes clusters, jam filled cookies, the list goes on and on.

Christmas cookies are often prepared in hopes of Santa’s pending arrival by children who are as excited as they can possibly be. Their little heads are filled with all sorts of visions of great things to come as they dance around house. Preparing cookies during the holidays can be a great time of bonding with your little ones, but can also be a trying time if you don’t follow a few of the tips and hints list below.

If you want to make baking Christmas cookies with your little ones the very best experience for you all, make sure you do it on a day when this is the only thing on your calendar. You do not want to rush through this time of bonding with your child locking in a few precious memories of great times spent together. This is one thing that you want your children to look back on at Christmas with fondness.

Tags Cookies, holiday cooking

Special Occasions

Traditional Christmas Cooking

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date November 28, 2007
1 Comment on Traditional Christmas Cooking

Kakisky via MorgueFile.com

Christmas is a time of year when families around the world gather together and observe traditions that are the same for them year after year and yet vastly different from those that other families share around the block. There are very few universal Christmas traditions any more and there is nothing wrong with that. In America however, there are some recipes that many people consider traditional holiday cooking and there is little that will be done to dissuade these opinions. The truth is that many of these traditional holiday foods are largely traditional in specific regions rather than the United States having one nation-wide traditional Christmas dinner.

For example, my family usually served turkey and ham. Appetizers always included black olives and a relish made with pepperoccini. Many families are like mine and serve both ham and turkey. While others answer quite quickly that it is neither. One of the best all-American Christmas cooking ideas I’ve ever seen was lasagna. There are no right or wrong traditions — only those traditions that work well for you and your family. If you feel the need to change a long-standing tradition for a large extended family, by all means discuss it with everyone involved. Otherwise it is your tradition and you should feel free to make it your own.

Tags Christmas, holiday cooking

Recipes

Pumpkin-Walnut Biscuits

Post author By Guest Post
Post date November 26, 2007

Here’s a fun recipe that makes a slightly sweet biscuit. It’s a nice alternative to the ordinary biscuit, and makes a very tasty snack. The original recipe called for pecans, but I’ve always used walnuts.

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/ cup butter or margarine, cut into pieces
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup pumpkin pureé
1/3 cup half-and-half

Preheat oven to 400°F. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and spices. Cut butter into mixture until it looks like small peas. Stir in nuts. In a glass measuring cup, combine pumpkin and half-and-half. Stir into flour mixture. Dough should be stiff. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times. If the dough is too wet to handle (which it often is), add more flour. But be careful not to add too much so that the biscuits end up coated with flour! Pat dough out until it is 1/2 inch thick. Cut out with 2-inch cutter or glass with 2-inch diameter opening. Place biscuits onto lightly greased baking sheet, about one inch apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 20 biscuits.

Food Fiction & Essays Special Occasions

Some Thoughts About Thanksgiving

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date November 21, 2007

Morano Vincent via Flickr

Each year America has a holiday in November that has taken on almost a religious reverence. It happens tomorrow and we call it Thanksgiving. We give this holiday so much honor that it ranks with us along with Christmas and Easter as an important holiday in the hearts of family and as a nation. But this holiday, so rich with tradition, has it origins in the earliest days of the founding of this nation.

For me, I’ve always associated Thanksgiving with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, pumpkin pie and large gatherings of family and friends. It is a time of abundance and being thankful for the richness of life. But, the early years of the explorers who came to the American continent were difficult ones indeed. Those explorers, the Pilgrims, faced harsh weather, unpredictable relations with the natives, disease and other challenges as they carved out homes from the wilderness they found here. Because their earliest homesteads were in the northeast, the winters were harsh. Their ability to build houses that could keep them warm, as well as their ability to find sufficient food, was a constant worry to the men and women trying to raise families in America.

Tags holiday cooking, Thanksgiving

All Things Pumpkin

Tips for Buying Fresh Pumpkin

Post author By Guest Post
Post date November 14, 2007

If you’ve decided to forgo the canned pumpkin this year and give fresh pumpkin a try, here are some tips for choosing one that won’t let you down.

First, you want to make sure that you’re not buying a Halloween pumpkin. You want the smaller, darker orange sugar pumpkin for cooking.

Then you want to check the rind and make sure it is firm. If the rind is soft, this is a sign of either immaturity or improper storage.

Also look at the color quality of the skin. If it is shiny, the pumpkin may be underripe or waxed (which could mask bad quality).

To avoid mold or bacteria growth, look for a pumpkin with the remnant of a dried-out stem still attached. Give it a little push — if it moves, move on. If it holds firm, you should be O.K.

Once you get your selected pumpkin home, store in a cool spot with good air circulation — not the refrigerator. It should stay good for up to a month.

Of course, if you’re looking for other types of winter squash, these tips work just as well.