Let me guess..The friends, family, co-worker, neighborhood holiday parties are filling your calendar and you’re trying to decide what food to bring. We all want to bring a great dish to the party, but we don’t want to slave over the stove while our friends are laughing and drinking bottles of bubbly in the other room without us! The solution is a dish that you can prep ahead of time, just pop into the oven and serve.
I’m feeling this feeling I’m sure a lot of you are feeling. I like to call it HoliDazed. Symptoms are said to consist of bloated innertube-like belly regions in addition to a sick addiction to and at the same time disgust for homemade cookies and fudge. You could probably sleep for a few days straight if given the chance and your likely wondering whether your liver could even handle another glass of red wine. Perhaps your considering at this very moment to drink a few gallons of water because your body seems to be soaking it up like a sponge. One things for sure, I am without a doubt, 100% HoliDazed. Whats the cure you ask? Feed your eyes with these delicious meals and sweets I shared in fabulous company over the past few weeks, eat a fresh and tasty salad with a refreshing glass of water and get back into a routine of movement. Whether it be stepping outside for a brisk walk, signing up for a weekly yoga class, or using the gym membership you’ve neglected for the past two weeks. Its a new year, the Holidays have come and gone and your own HoliDaze should wear off shortly.
Christmas Dinner with Friends- Butternut Squash Lasagna, Balsamic Roasted Beets with Pistachios & Pomegranate Seeds, Chocolate & Coconut Cake
Mushrooms & Homemade Meatballs in a Sweet and Sour Sauce
A Sweet Treat from Friends, Rich Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Coconut Frosting
Christmas Eve Dinner with Family- Braised Turkey, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Mashed Potatoes, and Cranberry Sauce
Stuffed Mushrooms with Peppers and Chorizo
Beet Greens, Pomegranate Seeds and Pistachios awaiting the Balsamic Roasted Beets
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups with Bite-sized Pretzels
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
New Years Appetizers with Friends- Sweet Chili Shrimp
get movin’ and get cookin’
love,
tricia
With the holidays just around the corner I’ve put together a list of incredible holiday gifts made in the kitchen, all from some of my favorite inspiring food bloggers. If there is a friend you still need a gift for, or a father you can’t quite decide what to give, then these ideas are for you. Spend just one day in the kitchen this weekend and all your gift dilemmas will be solved.
1. Bake Cookies. These Dark Chocolate Pistachio & Sea Salt Cookies are incredible. Whether you fill up a thrifted cookie jar and gift these to grandma, or wrap them up in plastic bags and ribbon, these cookies will delight you. Joy from Joy the Baker, is hilarious, straight-forward and real, not-to-mention she bakes dreams.
2. Simple Jarred Granola. Granola is easy and customize-able for any and all. Add dried fruit, chocolate chips, coconut, anything your loved one would delight in for a healthy breakfast or snack. Sarah from My New Roots is truly a master of healthy living and eating. She can make your mouth water all the while convincing you to make healthy eating choices, its a win win.
3. Apple Cider Caramels (and/or the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook!). Deb from Smitten Kitchen just released a cookbook at the end of October that is absolutely incredible. With over 100 original recipes including these to die for Apple Cider Caramels. Whether you pair the caramels with the cookbook, which placed #2 on the New York Times bestseller list by the way, or simply share the caramels themselves, those receiving this gift will melt with joy.
4. Gingerbread Pancake Mix. Another fabulous edible gift idea is to take a recipe like these Holiday themed Gingerbread Pancakes from Ali at Gimme Some Oven, and create an easy to use “mix” out of the dry ingredients. You don’t want to include things like milk, butter, or eggs that are perishable, but gifting a loved one the bulk of the ingredients and the recipe to try on their own is like giving two gifts at once! The gift of cooking AND the gift of pancakes!
5. Homemade Vinaigrette. Salads are healthy and a great staple for mealtime, but after awhile may seem boring and bland. With this delicious homemade vinaigrette you can help your loved one enjoy eating healthy. If you include the recipe you’ll also save them the money spent on expensive dressings from the supermarket! This tried and true vinaigrette is simple to make and always adds the perfect burst of flavor to your greens.
I wish you all an incredible holiday ahead, and a homemade holiday at that. With a peak at these fabulous food bloggers and their holiday treats I hope to leave you inspired and itching for some time in the kitchen.
Blessings to you and yours.
love,
tricia
Edible Gifts for the holidays are both thoughtful & light on the pocket book. Its a gift designed from the heart that finds its way straight to the belly of a loved one. When you put thought, time & creativity into your holiday gifts, rather than spending more than you can afford, the gift giving is that much more enjoyable for both the one giving & the one receiving.
These days I find that I know quite a few people who truly enjoy tea, including myself which honestly I thought I’d never say. My grandmother always drinks tea and and as a young girl I never understood why. To me it was nothing but watered down flavor, making it that much more perplexing as to why people, including my own grandmother enjoyed it. However, as I’ve grown older I’ve learned to savor a warm cup of tea before bed. I enjoy it when I’m feeling sick or stressed, and simply just because. Over the years it would seem that the flavors I felt were once missing from tea have actually blossomed, but I’m willing to bet its merely that my tastes have evolved.
For the holidays, and all my tea loving friends, I decided to try baking these adorable tea bag cookies I came across recently. For those who don’t know me well, I’m not much of a successful baker. Its not because I don’t LOVE sweets, cookies, or pies, its simply due to the science of baking and my lack of “coloring between the lines.”
As I’ve begun to explore the culinary world I’ve really enjoyed experimenting with flavors, textures and combinations; adding a “splash” here or a “pinch” there and often using a recipe as a guidebook rather than rules that need to be followed. With baking, a recipe is specific because it has to be. Its a creative form of chemistry in that the measurement of substances in a mixture are precise and exact; if you guess, quite often it will result in a different or more extreme reaction than you were expecting. In the same way, a cookie will turn out flat & thin if your ratios are off, and a cake will be dry & crumbly for the very same reason. When you stick to the recipe though and your mixture is precise, boy oh boy! those treats are simply divine.
With my holiday spirit beaming this December, I decided to give baking my undivided attention and truly focus on the recipe this time. Of course as is my nature i’ll always leave room for a little innovation & creativity, but I’ve now realized my baking mistakes and learned that measuring precision is key. What once had frustrated me now became a personal challenge. This Holiday I’m accepting the baking challenge and as a result making delicious treats and edible gifts for the loved ones on my list!
Preheat Oven: 350 Degrees
Cook Time: 8-10 Minutes
ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons herbs de provence with lavender
optional chocolate coating:
6 ounces of dark chocolate chips
These shortbread cookies were based off of a recipe from joyofbaking.com but I gave them a little twist by adding the rosemary lavender combination of the herbs de provence. The first step is to combine the flour and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Next, powdered sugar, room temperature butter, pure vanilla, and herbs de provence are folded together in a bowl. If you have a stand-up mixer, hand mixer or spoon you can do this, but the key here is the temperature of the butter.
Now we add the flour & salt to the mixture, then cover and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. When we roll out the dough its important than its neither too cold nor too warm, and this cooling process will help make it easier for you in the long run. With little patience to wait an hour, I simply let my dough cool over night, and then took it out the next day, softening in room temperature for about 10 minutes.
With flour lightly tossed on my countertop, I placed the dough on top and rolled it out with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness. A tea bag helped create the perfect shape and I simply cut around it, making a hole near the top with a chopstick large enough to easily get a string thru. You could also use a straw, which would create the perfect shape, but I didn’t have one so I improvised. As a side note: Its important not to place the hole too close to the top, because the weight of the cookie could easily break when your “dunking” the finished product.
By placing parchment paper on the pan, you’ll ensure the cookies wont stick. So on top of the parchment lined baking pan, place your tea bag cookies and pop them into the oven. Once they are a very light brown its time to take them out, usually about 8-10 minutes. I let my cookies cool a bit on the pan, because my first attempt to remove one resulted in a cookie snapped in half..of course I ate that one though, so it really wasn’t that heartbreaking.
For finishing touches, you can string a thin but durable string thru, add a clever design to the paper on the end of the string, or even add a little dark chocolate. I kept a few cookies plain to add a little variety to my edible gift, but I couldn’t pass on dark chocolate so I did a few of those as well. To add the dark chocolate is really quite simple. You need a heatproof bowl to place over a pot of simmering water and you place about half of your chocolate into the bowl to let it melt. Once it has you remove the bowl from the heat, add your remaining chocolate chips and stir until it all has completely melted.
With the string already tied to my tea bag cookies, I diped the ends in the chocolate and placed them on parchment paper lining a baking pan. Once they were all dipped I placed them in the refrigerator to cool.
I’m sitting here imagining the look on my loved ones faces when they receive this edible gift, and I simply cannot wait. Of course I’ll be including the recipe with my tin of cookies as well, so my friends can always make more (the gift that keeps on giving!). Next week I’ll be sharing another gift with you all, but until then get on with your crafting & baking! A Homemade Holiday is something to celebrate!
love,
tricia