It wasn't all perfect!

Here's the Mince pie.  Most of it is still in the fridge.  I think it's just too sweet!  Another quart is still in the jar in the fridge.  Maybe I can turn it into plum pudding or some kind of cake?
We had a hitch in the Holiday plans.  My Daughter, who would come and help cook and eat the best dinner on Christmas Eve, got a migraine and had to stay in bed.  I was a little rushed to get the dinner cooked, then we ate hastily and took dinner to my Daughter's house.  Not how it was planned.  And I was so sorry she felt so bad.
My Husband and I went on to Spring Mill Inn as planned and that went very well indeed.  We opened our presents and there were very satisfying surprises on both sides.  I'll do a post on my gifts soon as they have sparked some activity here at home!  We walked in the village early in the cold morning, ate of their lovely breakfast buffet (which is ridiculously cheap), sat in front of the fire and then went home.  Christmas dinner was easy as everything was cooked already.  Our company came, we talked, we ate and finally we opened presents.  I think everyone got things they needed or  even loved.  The last bit of Christmas cheer was watching Downton Abby before bedtime.

We missed having a white Christmas by two days!  Tuesday morning it looked like this!  Just beautiful.  But short-lived.  By afternoon it had mostly melted.

I am afraid Mary Lincoln didn't make it home in time for Christmas.  When I undressed her I found she had no skin!  She needed more underwear too.

Now here she is with new skin, new petticoats and a tiny corset!  The dress is under construction and full of problems.  More on that later.


The menus for the week were all about left-overs.  
Monday we ate cold sliced ham and cheese, salad, potato casserole heated in the oven and Christmas cookies.
Tuesday, Chicken and dressing, also left-over
Wed Quiche and home-canned green beans
Thursday Canned beef stew and chicken sandwiches with Swiss cheese, broiled
Today:  Left-over Quiche, last of the asparagus, dark chocolate for dessert.
Saturday, Hamburgers and roasted garlic potatoes and the last of the cookies.
Sunday:  Large Shrimp cocktails, baked potatoes with sour cream, tossed Chef's salad, white wine.


Quiche recipe:
Crust:  
3 cups plain flour
scant 1/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter or 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup oil
!/2 cup ice water
Mix sugar and flour and cut in solid shortening until mealy.
Mix oil and water and pour into flour mixture all at once.  Stir gently until mixture makes a ball.  Divide into 2 or 3 portions.  1/2 makes a bottom crust and some lattice strips for the top.  Or make 3 thin bottom crusts.  Keeps well for several days in the fridge.
Filling:  
2 eggs
1 clove garlic
several slices of onion  
4 ounces or more sharp Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Put these ingredients in the blender and pour in milk to the 2 cup line.  Blend until cheese is just little chunks.
Arrange in the raw crust bottom 1 1/2 cups just barely cooked crispy  broccoli and chunks of ham, about 1 cup.
Pour liquid filling over.  Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until center is mostly set or a knife comes out clean.  I left out the onion this time and sliced some green onions over the top when I took it out of the oven.
I am thinking about New Year's resolutions and how I might improve on last year's performance.  More on that later.

Holiday baking

I have been reading a new blog - Semiswede, she e-mails me whenever she posts. Last week she had lovely pictures of her Saffron buns and a description that had me setting the saffron to soak in milk that very night.  Next day I made them and they were very popular and now I have requests for the recipe.  
Here is the address of that post (with permission) http://semiswede.com/2011/12/13/lucia-and-lussekatter/
She gives her recipe.
I am sorry that I did not take pictures of mine before they were all eaten up but she has lovely pictures.  I did take pictures of the cookie making here this week.

These are just sugar cookies flavored with oil of peppermint, spread with Hershey's dark chocolate and dipped in crushed candy cane.  They are a bit labor intensive but the tiny stars are flavorful enough to satisfy your sweet tooth!

This is the caramel popcorn baking in the oven.  This amounted to about 10 quarts of not-too-sweet confection.  The honey-roasted peanuts were added at the end.  This is a favorite recipe given to me by a dear Friend.

While the popcorn was cooking I made French Bread Pizza.  Here the loaf of whole grain bread is cut into three layers.

Left-over meaty spaghetti sauce was slathered on, then pizza cheese, then mushrooms and green peppers (yes, the ones I had frozen).  It was ready to put in the oven when the caramel corn came out.  It was more than we could eat at one sitting but left-over pizza never goes begging at our house.

Two and a half gallons of caramel corn, ready for munching by the fire.

Here is a new Christmas decoration this year.  It cost $1.50 at an Antique Mall here in Bloomington.  I actually love it!  
All the Christmas presents are wrapped.  One last present is eagerly hoped for in the mail this afternoon.  Tonight is the first family get-together.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!  The getting ready is all a part of the celebration.  Tomorrow I'll bake the Mince pie, make the Aoli, and put the ham in the oven.  When my daughter comes, she will whip mounds of potatoes, make cream biscuits and chop for the salad.  At the last minute we'll simmer the asparagus a little.  Not too strenuous at all.  I am so looking forward to it.  Happy Christmas to you all!

Dolls at Christmas

     Katrina is sitting on Bill's new child's chair.  Notice the lovely tiny vines and leaves hand-painted on the back.  The colors are mustard and dark green.  It is all original and signed on the bottom of the seat.  The cost was nominal.  Since we have displayed it on the doll's chest, the other dolls have changed their positions too, and a couple have been added.

     I have my feather tree up and all the tiny decorations, the teddy bear for Bill, the black cat in memory of Katie, various instruments and objects connected with my kids, and just things that caught my eye.

      Beatrice has decided to demonstrate the making of Mince pies during the Holiday season.  Yes, in her Wedding gown.  She feels it enhances her role of new wife.  (Don't mention this to her but there has never been a groom)

     Abe is kicking up his heels while Mary is having her new dress made.  He did put up the tree.  Bill has been requesting gingerbread for Abe but I think he really just wants some for himself!

      I love this "wall hanging"  which is really a nicely hand-made skirt.  I like the kind of "art-deco" design of his beard.

     We are having very simple meals this week, followed in the evenings by Christmas goodies in front of the tv, fruitcake, cookies, stuffed dates, stollen and etc.  But our menu for Christmas Eve dinner is:
Relish tray with cream cheese stuffed ripe olives
Baked Ham
Whipped potatoes
Asparagus with Aoli
Tossed salad with home-made Oriental dressing
Hot cream biscuits
Mince pie, cookies

And for Christmas Day dinner in late afternoon:
Cold sliced ham, sliced home-made bread, mustard and aoli
hot whipped potato and cream cheese casserole
Chef's salad
Cordial Cherries and other goodies.

Cozy during the Christmas preparations

A well laid fire is no trouble to light and doesn't need to be fussed with to keep it lit.

Just shut the door but be sure the drafts are open.

Mine even has a thermometer to let us know if it is getting too hot!  Very handy it is too.

I do love to start up the stove.  It's not just that the house is 70 degrees again, the very heat of the stove calls to us when we are getting tired in the afternoon or watching tv in the evening or just reading.  Then we snuggle up at the stone hearth and take comfort in the palpable warmth.  No furnace provides that.  But we've not had many really cold days.  And a wood fire warms the house too much if it's not cold outside.  The cold is coming though!
This year I wanted to have some real mincemeat for the holidays.  So I got out some of the stew beef we bought from the Butcher's Block and cooked it in my small crock pot.  Then I added apples, raisins, brown sugar and spices.

It cooked in the crock pot some more and finally filled 2 quart jars to make 2 pies for Christmas parties and for Christmas day feast.  Beside it are 5 jars of rose hip jam made from dried rose hips from Blooming Foods.

I made fruit cake the same day.  Owing to having so many projects going at the same time, I forgot to put the oranges in the mincemeat.  It tastes great anyway, though.
Today I got out the feather tree and the ornaments.  And there was a little note in the box to myself.  It said:

                                                   For Christmas 2011
Walnuts
Orange slices, 2 bags please.
Cordial Cherries, 2 boxes
Plain or iced gingerbread
Salted peanuts or cashews
Sugar Cookie "trees"  (stacked)
Fruit cake, double fruit Please,
Peppermints


I wished I had read it before I went to the store, but I can stop in again.  It's too late for the double fruit in the fruitcake but I do agree it would have been better.  I did get the peanuts but only one box of Cordial Cherries and one bag of Orange slices.  And I got pecans instead of walnuts.  Apparently I felt very strongly about the Christmas refreshments last year.  But you know what, I loved getting a note from myself!


Here are the menus for this week:
Hoppin' John, Green salad, Cream biscuits, Fruit cocktail
Thin Steaks, mashed potatoes, tossed salad, Fruit cocktail
Chicken fingers with bar-be-que sauce, roasted garlic potatoes, Asian vegetables, fruitcake
Hoppin' John soup, Chef's salad, fresh hot bread from the oven
Hamburgers, baked sweet potatoes, left-over salad, Butterscotch pudding
Hearty meat canned soup, toasted cheese sandwiches, pudding
Frozen Pizza, salad, pudding


The cream biscuits were a big success.  My daughter Rose came over to experiment with it.  The recipe came from my 'new' 1924 cook book It's just 2 cups self-rising flour and 1 1/3 cup whipping cream.  Mix gently.   Roll out about 1" thick, cut with small cutter, bake at 425 about12 to 15 minutes.  Some recipes call for a tablespoon of sugar.  Yummy either way!

What the Holidays do to the budget!

We went to the grocery stores the day after Thanksgiving.  There were some specials.  And we had made special trips to buy specials even before Thanksgiving, soft drinks, 4 12 packs for $10 which used to be a common price but now not so much!  Now I had resolved to spend $167 per month, having bought three months' meat at the Butcher's Block already.  And despite temptation, we still have enough meat left for another two months, if I'm careful.  But this is Christmas too.  There were some things I knew I wanted to have.  Fruit cake.  Several kinds of cookies. Caramel corn.  Mincemeat pies.  And for Christmas dinner, shrimp cocktail!
We bought some steak too, very marked down.  So between specials and compulsive items, we spent, when it was all added together, $192.65.  So about $25 above budget.  So what, about 14% above estimate?  It's not that I am sorry, exactly but I want to figure out if and when I will need to increase the budget.  All sorts of questions have to be answered including whether we want to increase our standard of living.  Remember, we don't budget because we don't have the money, we do it to prove we can!
Inflation is difficult to measure.  Some commentators estimated that the Thanksgiving feast this year would cost between 13% and 17% more.  But it's not so simple.  A lot depends on how much of the food is prepared before you buy it.  I understand that one week, Meijer's had turkey for $.32 a pound.  Now we don't have a Meijers  here but we do have a Walmart, which will match all sale prices.  Kroger had sweet potatoes for $.19 a pound.  With some travel, We could have bought traditional fare for traditional prices.  If I were going traditional.  We had chicken though, which I had bought at the sale price of $1 a pound.  Potatoes, home canned green beans, home-made fried onion rings and the Halloween pumpkin were very cost effective.  Last month we provided for a Holiday feast without increasing the budget.  But apparently I don't feel the same about Christmas.  Or we shopped when we were hungry.  Or were in an ornery mood?  I assure you, the decision to budget is very fragile!

I have spent money on Christmas decor too.  I bought this tree for the Nuthead dolls at Elegant Options.  I plan to make tiny paper ornaments and mock popcorn strings to go with the apparent poverty that Nutheads nearly always depict.  I only have four, because though they are cheap, they are exceedingly rare.  Tomorrow I plan to refresh the paint on the wooden stars and snowflakes I usually hang from the light fixtures.  But it's not time for the tree yet!  Note the blooming geranium we had on the table for Thanksgiving.  The prospect of some snow this week really sparks my Christmas Spirit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few weeks ago we drove over to Gosport, Indiana, to visit Nate's Candy Jar, which specializes in home-made candy.  Bill is quite smitten with their caramels, softer and larger than the little squares we buy at the grocery.  When we walked in, it smelled like Heaven.  Alyssa was just wrapping these fancy candied apples for Halloween!  Fresh cupcakes are under the dome.  The bottle of hand lotion is one of the things I took home that day.  She sells Watkins too, whose products I have always liked.  I have their lovely vanilla from her too.

Look how many old fashioned candies they have!

They have all kinds of candy!  And every bit tempting and luscious!  Worth the 22 mile trip, I assure you.

Today I have finished the pies for tomorrow, pumpkin, of course, then sweet potato and cheesecake with pineapple sauce. There are cookies too, Alexander Tortes (from my Russian cookbook) with an apple filling. The cranberry chutney is done.  The chicken breasts are marinating in orange juice, soy and garlic. Tomorrow morning I will start by frying the onion rings for the green bean casserole, cutting up bread for the dressing and setting some white yeast dough for hot rolls.  While the chicken and dressing and rolls are baking, we'll make the whipped potatoes and gravey.  My daughter is bringing things too, fruit salad and olives and celery and I don't know what else!  We will have a feast.
And about time, I've been getting ready and we've been eating frozen pizza, soup, and leftover salmon patties all week!

So here are the menus:
Thanks giving:  Baked marinated chicken breasts, sage dressing, green bean casserole with extra mushrooms and home-made fried onion rings, whipped potatoes with  gravy, hot rolls, relish tray, cranberry chutney, fruit salad and for dessert, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and pineapple sauced cheesecake.
Friday:Leftovers of the very best sort.
Saturday: Home-made vegetable soup and toasted cheese sandwiches
Sunday Italian spaghetti, tossed salad
Monday, Hoppin John with sausage, rice and black-eyed peas, tossed salad
Tuesday:  Baked Pasta with cheese, tossed salad
Wednesday:  Hoppin' John, tossed salad


I have made the sweet potato pie by a Southern recipe calling for butter, vanilla, white sugar, eggs, milk and nutmeg.  I had not made a distinction between pumpkin and sweet potato before but this recipe is delicious!  How do I know?  Well, I licked the bowl, of course!  The pumpkin pie was made with frozen Halloween pumpkin, the very one Eliyah decorated with a black marker.  There is an easy way to do this.  I did a pumpkin and a pie squash at the same time.  Split each one and scrape out the seeds.  Save to toast in the oven if you like.  Put the halves in baking pans with sides (to catch the juice) and bake at 350 for about an hour, or until soft.  Remove from the oven and let cool.  Then just scoop out the soft flesh with a spoon and put it into plastic sandwich bags, 2 cups to each, lay flat on a cookie sheet and freeze.  2 cups will make a regular sized pie.  If you like it smoother, mix up the filling in your blender!  There is almost no waste in doing this.

Ready for freezing.  The squash is a darker color than the pumpkin.   Notice my thick stemmed geraniums, just starting to bloom again  now that they have come inside!

Just the empty skins left.

Here's hoping you have many things to be thankful for this year,  I know I do.  And many happy returns!

Seasons

Cold Weather

It was 42 degrees this morning when I got up.  Outdoors, I mean.  In the house it was about 60 but it didn't feel appreciably warmer.  Cold damp air seeped in around the door.  There's no heating to turn on but there's plenty of wood stacked up beside the stove.  I hate to build the first fire of the season though.  It usually warms up by the middle of the day and then the house is too hot!  I burrow under a throw on the couch, drinking hot coffee and watching the news.  "Frost on Friday"!  "Oh, I'll have to bring in the house plants this week"  I think

The summer has grown tiresomely long in it's heat and dryness.  The warm weather I waited for so anxiously last spring has become like a drug on the market.  Now, as the coffee fogs my glasses, I anticipate the cosiness of winter,  ther fire toasting my face and hot beverages warming the rest of me.  And then there's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, not to mention our Birthdays and Anniversary.  Ah, my favorite time of year! 

Of course I remember that in February last year I moaned about Spring, the blue skies, the knock-your-eye-out bright green grass, Easter, Mother's Day. . . .Ah, my favorite time of year!

And then Summer, the picnics, grilling out, flowers and more flowers - my favorite time of year!  So how is it then that by the end of each season I'm so worn out, so tired of it - so ready for the next season?  It almost seems planned . . . .

My last rose of Summer!