WEEKDAY BREAKFAST IN A SNAP

Are you making a stop at your favorite fast food place every morning for a breakfast sandwich? It's a filling and comforting meal at the beginning of the day, but if you think about what you are eating, and what you are paying for it, you may decide to change what you're doing about your morning meal.

An Egg McMuffin from McDonald's for example, has more than 300 calories, 12 grams of fat, tons of sodium and 235 mg of cholesterol, 78% of the daily allowance in this tiny sandwich! I don't know how many calories, fat and cholesterol are in a sandwich you would make yourself, but I can guarantee you it's no where near that high. I once ordered a McMuffin and watched the guy put it together. I saw him squirt something out of a squeeze bottle onto the muffin -- looked like about a tablespoon of something. I asked the gal what it was. She said it was butter.

Ok, that's it! I make my own from now on, or if I have to have one because I'm in a hurry, I ask for it with no butter. Here's how you can make your own breakfast sandwiches in a snap for the entire week. (By the way, check my post called This and That back in March to see a little gizmo I found to make eggs just like those in an egg mc muffin.)

Today I chose to make a batch of western omelet eggs (without cheese) but you can use your favorite combination of ingredients. Use a little bacon, or leave out the meat all together and use your favorite combination of vegetables with some cheese, or just plain eggs. I'll make some more combination suggestions at the end of this post. I stopped in at a Dutch Country Market over the weekend and found some beautifully lean, fresh ham for $3.25 per pound (just a few pennies more than the cost of one mc muffin.) It was still hot when they sliced it from the whole ham.

3 slices of deli ham, diced (about a cupful)
1/2 of a green pepper, diced same size as the ham
3 - 4 T. of chopped onion, diced about the same size as the ham
1 T butter (the same amount that's on one McMuffin!)
6 eggs
2 T water
Choice of bread - English Muffins, Kaiser roll, whole wheat toast, etc. (I cut out the center of thick rolls to cut down on the amount of bread I'm eating. I use two centers for another grilled sandwich at another time. 2 rolls equals 3 sandwiches.)

Fry up the ham, peppers and onions in the same skillet all at one time on medium heat until the ham browns a little. While it's browning up, crack the 6 eggs into a bowl and whisk with the water. (To make this even more healthy, use 3 whole eggs and 4 egg whites. Discard or freeze the yolks.) Pour the eggs over the ham mixture and stir gently until the eggs are done to your liking. Remove from the heat just before they are done.

You now have a pan full of eggs that's enough to make about 5 - 6 sandwiches. Just store the eggs in a plastic container. Each morning, warm up a portion and you have a fresh sandwich that you can make and run with. Eggs warm up really well in the microwave in about 15 seconds. You could even make up all the sandwiches at one time and wrap them individually in foil or in a sandwich bag. Then take one out of its wrapper and wrap in a paper towel in the microwave for about 20 seconds to freshen it up when you want one.

So not only are you saving a ton of calories, fat and reducing your sodium intake, you are saving a lot of money. Five Egg McMuffins cost about $15.00. The whole pound of ham $3.25 (I used about $.81 worth), rolls (about $.35 each), 6 eggs (about $.17 each) and I already had a pepper and onion in the house. That's about $4.00 for five or six sandwiches. And it all took only about 15 minutes to chop everything and cook it. Since I didn't use all the rolls or all the ham I bought I'll freeze the rest for another time. Although I'm not a cheapskate, I am a penny pincher.

Give it a try making your own to improve the nutritional value of what you are eating and save some money.

Here are some other combinations you could try, and they would all be just as good without the bread. By the way, you don't need any salt with most of these because some of the ingredients are already salty, like the ham and any cheese you might use. So don't salt unless you have to.

Asparagus tips and Swiss cheese
Scallions and mushrooms
Spinach and mushrooms
Mushrooms and Swiss cheese or cheddar cheese
Shrimp with muenster and a hint of tarragon
Herbs - try and handful of parsley with a tiny bit of fresh oregano
Cheddar cheese and onions
Sausage and mushrooms (use turkey sausage)
Green peppers and onions
Or try the works! Sausage, onions, cheese and green peppers!

If your using cheeses use just enough to flavor the eggs to avoid adding too much fat.

One of the things I hope to accomplish by writing this blog is not only as a release of my passion for cooking, but to give other people ideas on how to be creative in every day cooking and how to save time and money as well as eating healthier. The more you cook with different ingredients, the more you learn about how different flavors go together, how the same technique of cooking can be used for so many recipes.

Until next time!

Springtime in the Garden

Before you read the rest of this post, you should know that I want to apologize for taking so long between posts. Busy-ness, time, and laziness have all taken a part in my neglect to post more often. But here is the latest post I wrote, more than two week ago and failed to post until now.

Also, I have taken a new attitude and realize that I don't have to post all of my most intimate thoughts about food and food preparation to publish a post. I can just post recipes that I've run across or created myself. This particular post was actually written three weeks ago, and I haven't publish it. Why? I have no idea. The Laziness excuse is somehow ringing true. Or maybe I'm busy. don't know. Anyway, be prepared for narrative, with my deepest thoughts about food and its preparation, or just a recipe only.

The herbs have begun making their way to my cook pots and baking pans. Today, I picked some chive blossoms and parsley. Aren't they pretty? I have a ton more coming so I'll be sure to go out every day and pick the open blossoms. The ones that don't get used fresh will be dried and stored in airtight jars. I'll make Chive Blossom Biscuits with the blossoms, and mince the parsley for the freezer unless I have a chance to use it fresh first. I'll use a good buttermilk biscuit recipe and lace with chive blossom petals and some chopped parsley. The blossoms have a light oniony flavor, but somehow deeper than that. The scent of something more savory comes across when you pick them. I know it sounds weird, but when I pick them it makes me wish I had a char grilled steak drizzled with some melted butter that's been infused with chives and a fluffy baked potato with sour cream (low fat) and chives.

The greenhouse this year hasn't given me the germination rate I wanted so I need to get some seeds in the ground. I've planted 4 beds of peas, 60 plants in each bed. I also got the garlic and the shallots in the ground. I hope to get some beans planted today. And if I can manage, I'll get some lettuce and radishes in the ground over the weekend too.

This morning I made some Bran Flax Muffins. Had a craving for some carbs but didn't want to eat bread or pasta. The were yummy. Kind of carrot cake, but not as sweet, and crunchy with nuts and flax seeds. These muffins are a pretty health alternative, and have 1/2 the regular, flour of regular muffins. It called for ground flax seed and oat bran instead of so much flour, and are chock full of grated apples and carrots, walnuts, almonds, raisins, and dates. The apples and carrots replaced most of the fat you'd normally use. This recipe called for only 2 T. of vegetable oil.I know most people don't keep oat bran or ground flax on hand. But this recipe is worth going to an organic shop to pick up a bag, and make these muffins for breakfast. Once you have the oat bran and ground flax seed on hand, you can make 2 or three batches of the muffins. They are so good for your, you should try them. Just don't eat them all in one day!

Here's the recipe. I got it on line.

BRAN FLAX MUFFINS

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. ground flax seed ( I added about 1/4 c. whole seeds too)
3/4 c. oat bran
1 c brown sugar
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
3/4 c skim milk ( I used non fat evaporated milk because that's all I had)
2 eggs, beaten
1 t. vanilla extract
2 T. vegetable oil
2 c. shredded carrots (about 3 large carrots)
2 apples, peeled and shredded (I didn't peel them)
1/2 c raisins
1 cup chopped nuts (your choice, I used walnuts and almonds cuz it's what I had)
1/2 c. chopped dates (optional - I added them cuz I had them)

Preheat the oven to 350
Grease muffin pans or use papers

In a large bow add all the dry ingredients down to the cinnamon. Stir together
Add all the wet ingredients, blend together.
Stir in the apples, carrots, nuts and raisins (and dates if you use them)

Fill Muffin tins 2/3 full.

Bake 15 - 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out dry. I used smaller muffin tins so 15 minutes did it. A jumbo muffin tin may require 20 minutes or more.

The rest of my day was spent in the garden getting everything planted. did get more peas done and a nursery bed of string beans. My husband likes to take them out of this bed and move them to a permanent place. That way we can try to germinate a lot of seeds and have enough to move into permanent places.

I once read in a gardening magazine that you could use old cds to scare pests away. So I tied old cds to our garden cage covers to help keep the baby bunnies and birds out of the freshly planted beds and digging up the seeds. We'll see if it works. (Since that time my husband told mne he didn't like those. They "disturb" the peace of the garden with all their movement and glimmer. So now I write on them and use them as plant markers and stick them in the ground to mark the beds with what I've planted. I actually like these as plant markers. Use a Sharpie and your cd markers will NOT fade.

Ta Ta for Now (TTFN).

THIS AND THAT

Nothing special to blog about today. I've made several meals during the week which I neglected to photograph or write down the recipes.

One night I sauteed some very thickly sliced mushrooms until they were still somewhat firm and let them cool down. Sauteed some cut up asparagus spears with a little garlic and ginger and let them cool down a little too. Fried up some turkey bacon nice and crispy. All this topped a bowl of crisp romaine lettuce with a little honey mustard dressing. YUM!

I just bought a little gizmo at Walmart. It's a microwave egg poacher. I've always wanted one to make my own Egg McMuffins. The ones you get at McDonald's aren't too bad for you, but they aren't as healthy as the ones you can make at home. I notice one day when the guy was putting my sandwich together that he squeezed something from a bottle onto the muffin. I asked what it was. It was butter! So now if I do indulge in an Egg McMuffin while I'm out, I ask for it with no butter. Anyway, all you do is crack an egg into each side, add a 1/2 t. water to each side, microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds and let it stand for a minute. I use whole wheat english muffins, nice lean canadian bacon, and low fat cheese slices. Easy to make and quick too!

I was thinking about my Soups Nights from last season, already planning next season. I tried to think of all the different kinds of soup I've made. I don't know if I've remembered all of them, but here are the ones I could remember:
Chicken Paprikash Soup, Mexican Caldillo, Chicken Noodle, Vegetable, Beef Vegetable, Shrimp and Corn Chowder, Chili Soup, Tuscano with Sausage and Kale, Swedish Meatball Soup, Italian Wedding Soup, Stuffed Pepper Soup,Patty Pan Squash Bisque with Crab and Curry, Cream of Potato, Seafood Paella Soup, Green Bean Soup. 15 kinds that I can remember and all of them were made from scratch.

Some recipes I want to try for next season: Mushroom with Barley or Cream of Wild Mushroom, Cauliflower Soup (one of Mom's recipes), Morrocan Soup with Lamb, Stuffed Cabbage Soup, Catfish Soup, Smoky Chicken with Cider Soup, and Chicken Cacciatori Soup, Savory Bean and Spinach, and maybe a Plantain Soup that looks really good. I also have a recipe for a Spicy Green Tomato Soup with Crunchy Pancetta. Another way to use of some of those green tomatoes at the end of next season! The more unusual ones will likely be the small pot, not the "main event".

I spent a good part of my Saturday in the greenhouse starting seeds. Two weeks ago I cleaned up the greenhouse and got all the seed pots ready. Nearly 200 seed pots later, I've got tomatoes, eggplant, two kinds of peas, green beans, 2 kinds of green peppers, jalapenos, poblano peppers, cucumbers, zuchinni, fennel and lima beans started. I still need to get some pole beans and a couple of melon plants started. I don't particularly like growing the melons. They are usually pretty small or end up wilting on the vine. But my husband does use up whatever turns into a nice little melon in smoothies for breakfast.

This afternoon, I hope to get outside and put some carrots, radishes and lettuce directly in the ground. I haven't told my husband yet but I don't want to plant any corn this year. We use a lot of space to grow the plants and get very little yield, and the ears are usually pretty inferior. They taste good, but they are often tiny and not formed well. I'd rather grow more peas and carrots and other veggies that I like to freeze for winter use. I've even thought maybe this year I would grow lots of extra herbs to dry, package and maybe give away and/or sell.

That's all for today. We're off to a Coastal Bays/Surfrider Foundation Event early this afternoon at Seacrets. For our $15 a piece, we'll get a meal and a good time. Then home to start more seeds!

STUFFED PEPPER SOUP

We just had our last Soup Night of the season. In October, we'll start up again. I'd been toying with the idea that maybe I'd lay off Soup Night for one season thinking maybe it was getting old and I was getting tired. But we had such a nice crowd last night, and it was so much fun, that I just tossed aside the thought of laying off Soup Night for the coming Fall season.

Not only did we have a fun crowd last night, the soup I made was a pretty big hit ... bigger than I thought it would be. Stuffed Pepper Soup. I've made other soups that start out as a "stew" and end up as a soup. I just made my favorite recipe for Stuffed Peppers as usual, and thinned it down, and spiced it up to make it into a soup. My stuffed pepper recipe is deadly easy. I wish I could remember exactly how I made it, but here is my best recollection.

By the way, you can just your own version of stuffed peppers. To make it soup, just crush up the meat after it's cooked in the peppers, and slice up the cooked peppers to put back into the soup. Thin it down with a little water or chicken stock until it's the consistency you like.

My recipe was for a fairly large crowd, so you can cut everything in half or even quarter it. I used a mixture of ground turkey and ground beef, but you can use whatever you like. Some people like the combo of beef, pork and veal. Turkey makes it a little healthier, beef lends flavor.

2 cups of rice (cook per directions on package - makes about 4 c. of cooked rice)
6 large green peppers, cut in half.
2 pounds lean ground turkey
1 pound lean ground beef
1 T. dried garlic flakes
1 T. dried onions
1 T. salt
1 T. cracked black pepper
1 t. ground coriander
6 26 oz. cans of condensed tomato soup
(The store brand is just as good as the brand name and much cheaper and it's not name in China)

Wash the peppers, cut them in half (so you have a top and a bottom), and clean out the seeds and ribs as much as possible. Leave the stem in so there is no hole in the top half. Set aside the prepared peppers.

In a very large bowl, combine the cooled cooked rice with the ground meats and all the seasonings. mix well, buy try not to squish the meat too much. It changes the texture and makes it hard when cooked if you mush it up to much, so toss it more than mix it. You mixture should have a very nice aroma from ingredients you added. If you aren't sure, take a little tiny piece of the meat and cook it in a small skillet so you can taste it. Add more of any seasoning you like at this point.

In the bottom of your soup pot, pour one or two cans of the soup. Rinse each can with just about 1/2 c of water and pour into the pan. Don't use too much water - you can thin the soup down later if it's too thick.

Now, fill each pepper half with the meat mixture and place into the soup pot. No need to overfill. When the first layer is complete, add two more cans of soup rinsing each can with a little water.
Place a second layer of filled pepper halves, and now add all the rest of the soup.

There should be plenty of meat left. You can make tiny meatballs to add later (which I did), or you can make fist sized balls with the rest and put that into the soup pot as well.

Place the pot over medium low heat until it begins to bubble. Turn the heat down very low. NOW BE CAREFUL. Because you are using canned tomato soup, with has starches and sugars in it, you will have to scrape the bottom of the pan fairly frequently so it won't scorch. I used a long handled spatula. Be careful not to knock around the stuff peppers too much - you want the meat to cook inside the peppers to pick up flavor. As soon as it starts to bubble, turn the heat way down and simmer very gently, stirring frequently, until the peppers are soft, but not mushy and ready to fall away from the stuffed meat.

Remove the finished peppers and fist sized meat balls if you made them to a very large platter. Now I took the meat out of the peppers and smashed each ball with a potato masher and added it back to the soup pot. Do this will all the meat that was in the peppers. If you made fist sized meatballs, cut these up with a knife into smaller chunks, like small meatballs, or you can just smash all of them. Your choice. I personally made tiny meatballs which were added at this point to cook so there would be meat all through the soup, but then meatballs for something to bite into.

Take the cooked peppers on the platter and cut them into thin strips and put them back into the soup along with the tiny raw meatballs if you made them. Simmer the soup for another 20 minutes or so to make sure the little meatballs are cooked and again, making sure the bottom of the pan doesn't scorch. If you didn't add raw meatballs, here the soup is finished.

I also served Braunschwieger Dip, Celery Cream (fresh celery pureed with low fat cream cheese), Cheddar and Swiss Cheese with crackers, a Sharp Cheddar Cheese ball, black olives, and a home made cucumber salad with home made dressing. Bread and butter too.

The simple cucumber salad dressing was made with 3 T of sunflower oil, 1 T. rice wine vinegar, 1 t. dill, 1 t. dried onions, salt and pepper to taste and 1 t. sugar. Spin it up in a food processor, or just mix really well with a fork and pour over cucumbers that have been sliced very thin, salted lightly and let to drain for about an hour and drained very well. Adjust any of the ingredients to your taste - use another herb if you don't like dill, or leave the herb out all together. The one thing I know about salad dressings - a vinaigrette is usually a 3 to 1 ratio. 3 T of oil to 1 T of lemon juice or vinegar. 3 cups of oil to 1 c. of lemon juice or vinegar. Change up the kind of oil you use, the kind of vinegar you use, add any flavorings you like. Depending on the salad, I add things like Dijon mustard, anchovies, bacon bits, dried basil, tarragon, fresh garlic. Make any flavor you like, just remember the 3 to 1 ratio for the base.

I also made a smaller pot of Cream of Potato Soup which also turned out pretty good for a vegetarian version. Actually, it was pretty tasty! I normally use some chicken stock to make potato soup, but this time I didn't. I added some coriander, a little dried tarragon, some dried leeks, shallots and scallions (a combination mix I bought) and just a pinch of red pepper flakes which brought the soup to life.

So Soup Night will go on. As long as we have wonderful friends who enjoy coming, we'll keep on make soup!

RAIDING THE PANTRY AND THE FRIDGE

It's not the first time I didn't know what to make for dinner. And it won't be the last. But that's when I turn to going into the fridge, freezer and pantry and try to get creative. I promised myself I wouldn't buy anything at the grocery until I started using up what I already have on hand. So here are three dishes I made with whatever I had on hand.

I used my usual recipe for salmon patties, but I added about 3/4 c. shredded mozzarella. What a difference it made! They were so much better than I'd ever made them before. The low fat mozzarella added a depth of flavor that can't be beat. Just bread crumbs, an egg, salt and pepper, with a dash of dill.

I love using canned salmon for patties and for things like casseroles that have salmon in them. A nice salmon steak deserves to be prepared and served on its own, not smooshed up into a casserole. Some people say you can eat the bones, skin and all in the canned salmon. I don't like to do that so I remove most of the skin and all the bones I can find. They ARE soft enough to eat. The canning process really breaks them down and they are said to have tons of calcium. I tried to eat them once by smooshing up the bones into the salmon, and although the taste was fine, I couldn't get past the "gritty" texture the bones left in the dish. So I always remove them now. Here's how I make them.

Salmon Patties (makes 4 patties)

1 14 oz. can of pink salmon
1 c unseasoned bread crumbs
2 eggs - beaten
1 c. shredded mozzarella
1 T chopped parsley
1 t. dried dill
1 t salt
1 t pepper
more breadcrumbs for coating
1 T olive oil for sauteing.

Clean the salmon of all the skin (or not) and of the bones (or not). That is up to you.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients gently until mixed well, but not turned into mush. I used a large ice cream scooper to make the patties. This is a good size and makes them all the same size. You can make them smaller if you like and get 8 patties out of the batch. Form each scoop into a fairly tight pattie, and coat with bread crumbs.

Heat a large skillet to medium with just a little olive oil. Put all the patties into the skillet and brown each side slowly. Cooking on heat too high will only burn the cheese in the patties, so be sure to keep the heat evenly medium. These are really good on a sandwich bun with a little tartar sauce. You could also make a white sauce seasoned with salt and pepper and add a big handful of peas to the sauce, and serve over the patties.

My next raid had to do with my serious craving for pasta earlier this week. Since I try to avoid eating a lot of pasta, I used wheat pasta which actually has some nutritional value and I've read is good for you in moderation. I found some frozen spinach, some stems I saved in the freezer from some swiss chard I cooked this past summer. (I think I've mentioned in a previous blog that I am quite thrifty. I don't throw anything away if I know I can use it and now I had a use for the swiss chard stems I trimmed. They were a little too "woody" to eat as is, but they were great in the pesto.) I made a fairly typical pesto with garlic, pecorino, parmesan, salt, pepper and toasted walnuts. Basil pesto has a much stronger flavor than this pesto does so it's one kind of coating I don't mind using with wheat pasta. I happen dislike wheat pasta with red sauce - I just don't like the way they taste together. A smidge of tobasco sauce and enough salt and pepper and maybe a little extra pecorino to adjust the seasoning. Some sauteed shrimp with only salt and lemon on top.

Chard and Spinach Pesto on Whole Wheat Linguine
Makes 4 - 6 servings

First, I'll go ahead and admit I forgot to take a picture of my finished pasta. I lifted this picture from the internet, but it looks just like my pasta did!! Really, it does! I was so hungry I just dove right in and ate all the evidence! I served it with some sauteed shrimp on top, seasoned with just a little salt and pepper. Here's how I made it.

1 cup thawed and drained spinach
about 1/2 c. cooked chard (use all spinach if you don't have any chard)
3/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 c. pecorino cheese (use all of one kind if you don't have both)
1 Big handful of toasted walnuts (use pine nuts if you like)
1/2 c. olive oil
3 - 4 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
2 - 3 drops of tobasco (optional)

chicken broth (low fat, low sodium)
1 lb. whole wheat pasta (linguine, fettuccine, spaghetti, any kind you like)

In a large pot, put up water to boil to cook the pasta. Add a good tablespoon of salt to the water and cook pasta to your liking. I like mine with just a little bite left in it. In the meantime:

Put all the ingredients except the chick broth and the pasta into a food processor. Whiz until smooth. I've kept the olive oil to a minimum so it may turn out pretty thick. If it is too thick, add a little chicken
stock , or you can add a little of the pasta cooking water. It should be the consistency of a thick spaghetti sauce. Taste the pesto and re-season with more salt and/or pepper if necessary.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and put back into the cooking pot. Now add the pesto and toss to coat well. If the pesto is still too thick to mix in, add a little more chicken stock. You can serve this just like it is, or add some sauteed shrimp, grilled chicken breast or a nice piece of grilled tilapia or other white fish.

This morning I raided the refrigerator yet again since we're leaving for vacation. We needed to use up the leftovers so they wouldn't turn into science projects while we are gone. And besides, I didn't want to leave all my odds and ends in the refrigerator for the house sitters.

I had a bowl of rice, and a bag full of veggies which contained a lot of green and red peppers. I was going to make a veggie and rice frittata. Then a recipe I saw on line the other day came to mind for rice balls. I really like those but I decided to make rice cakes instead. (The rest of the veggies in that bag will turn into a vegetable stew later this afternoon - carrots, celery, cucumbers. I'll add some potatoes and mushrooms to it along with a can of diced tomatoes and a whole bunch of herbs and spices..)

Rice Cakes with Sweet Peppers and Cumin

3 cups of cooked rice
1 1/2 c. chopped green and red sweet peppers
1/4 of a large sweet onion, chopped or 1 small onion, chopped
3/4 c. grated swiss cheese
3/4 c. grated cheddar
1 c. bread unseasoned crumbs
3 t. chopped parsley
2 t. cumin
2 eggs
1 T Olive Oil

In a large skillet saute on low heat, the chopped peppers and onions until they are soft, about 5 minutes. While they cook, put all the other ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Add the cooked peppers and mix well again. Form the rice cakes in your hands using about 1/2 c. to 3/4 c. of the mixture for each cake. Now, in the same skillet that you used to cook the peppers, place the rice cakes in the skillet on med low heat. No extra oil is needed to cook them. Cook them slowly like this until they are very brown on both sides. Don't try to turn them until the first side is really brown or they will just fall apart when you try to turn them. Flip and cook for another 5 - 10 minutes, as brown as you like. I like mine nice and brown. The rice gets crispy and has a wonderful nutty flavor while the inside is creamy and cheesy. We just ate them plain for breakfast. They would make a great side dish. If you make them smaller, about the size of a golf ball, they would be great appetizers too.

When we're back from vacation, we'll probably want to eat light so I'll raid the freezer. It's full of vegetables from the summer harvest. It's only two months until we start seeds out in the greenhouse again, so we need to eat up whatever we've got out there! I have a lot of squash in the freezer - I think I'll make a bisque out of it with some curry and flaked fish or crab meat.
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CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve at Moms
Christmas Day in D.C.
Baking Christmas Cookies

I still have not posted my blog about Thanksgiving, but I'm going to skip that for now and move straight on to Christmas in Cleveland. I'm from there so we drive up at Thanksgiving and Christmas each year to be with my family. We traditionally do Christmas Eve with my family and then on the way home, we stop in the D.C. area to spend the morning and part of the afternoon with my husband's family.

My Mom just celebrated her 80 something birthday (not sure she'd want me to post her real age here so I won't). But she still makes a beautiful Christmas for us and gets most of it done before any of us arrives. My sister took her grocery shopping the day before and usually helps her get the house cleaned up, vacuuming, etc. Downstairs Mom had already set a beautiful festive table. Upstairs, she had already decorated her tree and wrapped and arranged all the goodies she had for everyone. Most of the dinner was well on its way too. We spent the day cooking and preparing everything together. There was ham, turkey, salmon, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, red cabbage, cornbread bake, pickled beets with onions and horseradish, and broccoli with cheese sauce. She also made home made cheddar cheese stuffed bread shaped like a Christmas tree! Of course there were also appetizers. Pickled white asparagus spears with olives, Crab Tartlets, shrimp cocktail, and cheese and crackers.

There were no "special" recipes for the ham, or the turkey or the salmon. The turkey we simply salted and sprinkled with rosemary. The ham baked until it was hot, and the salmon .. only salt and lemon pepper. My mom likes to cut the salmon into big chunks so that the servings are small. That way there's less waste if someone takes a whole piece and doesn't eat it. Happens a lot with the little ones. The broccoli was simply steamed and we used a can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup thinned down with a little half and half to make the cheese sauce. No special recipes, but oh, so delicious!

But the Crab Tartlets we made from scratch with a little help from some store bought biscuits. You can also find the recipe at http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/king-crab-appetizers/Detail.aspx

My Mom used a muffin top baking pan to make these, so they were much larger than the recipe calls to make them. My niece referred to them as little crab pizzas! We rolled out the biscuit halves to be about 5 inches across and then pressed them into the muffin top pan. This allowed for 1 tart per person, where the smaller ones would allow for 3 - 4 per person for 10 - 12 people. You can use the kind you would use to make tiny quiche, which is the kind of pan the recipe calls for.

Crab Tartlets
2 - 12 oz. biscuits
1 -8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 -6 oz. can crab meat drained
2 T. mayo
2 T. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. shredded cheddar
2 T thinly sliced green onions
1 t. worcestershire sauce
2 T. Roasted red peppers, chopped (Optional)
pinch paprika for garnish

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Separate the biscuits and pull each one in half to make two rounds. Insert them into a tart pan and press to fit into cups. Set aside the prepared tart shells.

In a medium bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients except for the paprika. Mix thoroughly. Fill each tart with about 1 T of filling, or 2-3 T if you are using a larger crust and spread to cover the top of the tart leaving a small edge like you see in the picture above.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the crusts are golden brown. These were delicious! I recommend them for any gathering where you want some finger food! If anyone has allergy to shellfish, you can always substitute with imitation crab meat, but read the label to make sure there are no other shellfish products in it. Garnish the hot tartlets with a little paprika. (If you use the roasted red peppers in your recipe, you won't need to garnish with paprika, they will have a nice rosy color from the peppers.)

My niece brought eggnog cupcakes with rum eggnog frosting! Oh my! Mom also served pumpkin ice cream for anyone who wanted it!

We always have such fun when we get together and Christmas Eve 2010 was no exception! Thanks Mom!

The next morning we left at 5:30 a.m. to drive to the D.C. area to spend some time with my in-laws. The weather was pretty dicey so we didn't get there until around 11:30. We have such fun with them too! My sister in law had lots of lovely hearty appetizers -- a big spiral ham for small sandwiches, spanakopeta, mini quiche, ham and cheese crescent rolls that my other sister in law makes every year.

Ham and Cheese Crescent Rolls

Take a package of crescent rolls (you could use the reduce fat ones). Separate them into 4 rectangles (leave two wedges together.) Lay a piece of swiss cheese and a slice of ham on the rectangle. Roll it up as tightly as you can and slice the roll into about 4-5 pieces. Place them cut side down on a cookie sheet and bake until golden about 8 - 10 minutes. I recommend using parchment paper so the cheese doesn't stick.

She can't make enough of these and she can't make them fast enough. As soon as they come off the cookie sheet, they are GONE! and someone is standing in front of the oven waiting for the next batch. I think she makes 6 cookie sheets full of them! There were also lots of yummy cookies. My sister-in-law's mother-in-law made ..... I don't know what they were called so I tried to find it on the internet. I think they may be called Praline Graham Cracker Cookies.

So Good They Hurt!
About 15 Chocolate (or regular) Graham Crackers squares
Sliced Almonds (some recipes use pecans and/or choc chips)
2/3 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter (2 sticks)

Grease a cookie sheet lightly or line with foil.
Cover they cookie sheet with regular or chocolate Graham Crackers. (She used chocolate). Melt the brown sugar with the butter. Sprinkle the tops of the crackers with almond slices. Pour the melted butter and sugar over the crackers. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until bubbly in a 325 oven. Careful not to burn the sugar! Before they get too cool, use a pizza cutter to cut the graham squares apart. They will just break into pieces if you let them cool too much before cutting.

Anyway, I ate too much while I was there. :( But it was worth it. And just like at my Mom's house, we had a really nice time.


Baking Cookies!

About a week before Christmas I baked cookies too. A friend and I each baked a few kinds and then shared. It was a lot of fun to bake together. I used to do that years and years ago with a friend in Cleveland, and then for years, I baked by myself. Over 100 dozen (8 - 10 kinds) each year. I packed up big boxes for gifts. But of course it's much more fun to bake with someone else. We drank eggnog (ahem) and coffee and sampled cookies as they came out of the oven. I baked Brown Sugar Chocolate Chips, Jam Thumbprints, Coconut Macaroons with Cherries and Viennese Almond Crescents. My friend made Butterscotch Coconut, Sugar Cookies, Chocolate with White Chips, and No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter (these are more like fudge than cookies).

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. I'm looking forward to New Year's Eve when I can start working seriously on my New Year's Resolution -- A New Attitude! A better me inside and out - sleeker and sassier than ever! I've already lost a few pounds, but I'll work on losing a few more. I'll keep doing my yoga and line dancing classes. Now if I can just stay away from the Christmas Cookies!

SALMON WITH CREAMY SUCCOTASH

Home from work last night and digging through the fridge and freezer to figure out what to make. Half a bag of home grown, frozen lima beans. Half a bag of frozen corn. Frozen salmon steaks. Wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but at first it was just going to be sauteed salmon with steamed veggies. I wanted something a little more .... comforting. I looked in the frig again and found about two cups of leftover rice. It came to me.

Let's start right off by saying that if you don't like lima beans, substitute green beans or peas. If you don't like salmon, substitute a nice meaty white fish like cod, tilapia or even catfish. If you don't like any of these ingredients, well, just click away and go to your e-mail or Facebook Page and check in on what's going on. We happen to love vegetables of all kinds and we love salmon. This was surprisingly yummy, and easy peasy!

3 T. Butter
2 T. all purpose flour or rice flour
1 c. low fat milk
1 c. low sodium, low fat chicken broth (you can use water, just add more seasoning to the finished sauce.)
1 T. oyster sauce
about 2 c. frozen lima beans
about 2 c. of frozen corn
about 2 c. cooked rice

4 - 4 oz. pieces of salmon (you could substitute a nice meaty white fish like cod)
salt pepper
4 T. flour or rice flour
3 T. olive or canola oil for frying

For the sauce: In a microwave proof container, mix the milk and chicken broth. Warm until just steaming. Not too hot. You need this liquid to be warm or the sauce you will make has a good chance of being lumpy. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook for a minute or two. Now quickly whisk in the warm milk. Let the mixture come back to a boil, when it will reach its full thickness. Add more liquid if its too thick. If too thin, don't worry about it, it'll be fine. You have just made a Bechemel Sauce (basic white sauce).

Add the oyster sauce. If you don't have any oyster sauce, I suppose a little soy sauce might work. But oyster sauce has such a wonderful, complex flavor, you should invest in a bottle. I keep one in the fridge all the time. Great in soups, stews and stir fries. It keeps practically forever. You can use it in lots of dishes to add a depth of flavor that you won't believe!

OK, now that the sauce is made, it should be about the same thickness as creamed corn from a can. Add the frozen corn and lima beans and let them simmer over low heat in the sauce while you prepare the salmon.

Place a large skillet on medium high heat with the olive or canola oil. Make sure the salmon is thawed well if it was frozen, and dry. Pat them well with paper towels. Now sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dredge them in the flour. Lay each one on a paper plate or paper towel while you prepare all the pieces. When they have all been seasoned and dredged, test the oil in the skillet. Dust a little flour into the oil. It should foam right up. If it does, add the salmon and sautee for about 2 minutes on each side. A little longer if your pieces are thicker or bigger. They should get a little browned, and will cook quickly.

While they are cooking, add the rice to the sauce with the lima beans and corn. Continue cooking the sauce long enough to warm the rice. When the fish is done. Turn off the heat on everything and remove the fish to a plate.

Place a nice serving of the creamy succotash on a plate and place a piece of salmon on top.

Makes 4 servings (with leftover Creamy Succotash).