Journey Undefined: christmas

Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Saturday
Merry Christmas Eve day and happy first night of Hanukah!! This is a week filled with holiday and celebration, and today was just the beginning. How did you spend your first night of Hanukkah/Christmas eve? I spent my day cooking all the things and prepping for a first night of Hanukah gathering with my mom, Rachel, Adam and kiddo, and Brenden. I made eggs in biscuits; I tried my hand at scotch eggs; I whipped up another batch of latkes, and I made one giant cookie for santa, of course. When everyone got to the apartment I was super proud of getting everything looking nice and prepped and super excited to have everyone together. We lit the menorah and ate all the fried food, plus some yummy chicken and salad that Rachel and my mom brought. Then we taught Mariel how to gamble (I mean play dreidel) before she even enters kindergarten, and ate all the chocolate gelt our tummies could handle. We of course exchanged a few presents: Brenden got a record player and Pentatonix vinyl; I got a puzzle, Spanish rosetta stone, a sticker, and some chocolate; my mom got a panda calendar, and Mariel got awesome ninja turtle hand-knitted gloves. It was a lovely start to the festivities to come.

Happy Merry Christmas Eve. And a very "charmed" one we are having. And evening of cozying up with homemade rigatoni pie, holiday cookies and chocolate bark, our lit up Christmas tree and an episode of Charmed.

Super excited and surprised and appreciative to receive a gift from the awesome family I nanny for! The sent me a cookbook that I happily added to my collection. I can't wait to start testing out these recipes; I already know what my first one is going to be…maybe...so many choices, and they all look so good.

And speaking of cooking, I can't wait to taste the peanut butter and salty pretzel chocolate bark I whipped up tonight. It looks delicious and the chocolaty, peanut buttery aroma has now filled my apartment. I'll let you know how it is as soon as it is cooled enough to break in to!

Oh and of course finishing the evening watching the Santa Clause (1, 2 & 3), with the glow of Brenden and my Christmas tree lights in the background. Still pretty obsessed.

Hanukkah transitions and it's a wonderful time of year. There is no way you can't smile at least once a day with all the holiday cheer and decorations floating around. Tonights holiday celebration and spirit began with the discovery of Google Santa Village.

Next was a Hanukkah dinner as a gift to our Executive Director. We went to Joey Chui's where all the food was fabulous, especially the sushi, and I ate way too much.

Happy Hanukkah: Night 3. I spent another fabulous day celebrating the holiday. My day began with a nice, hard workout, which was good because there was a lot of eating and indulging to be had. At work we began celebrating with the first annual Latke Brawl, I organized. I was so excited to find out we had 8 contestants. And everyones latkes were so tasty and creative. It was hard to choose a winner, luckily everyone had a vote, and Celina won with a whooping 7 out of 18 votes.

Our date night dinner this week ended up turning into a crazed baking session. But what can you expect with the Holiday season closing in this past week - good thing we were invited to a few holiday parties, planned for left overs, and chose to save for a meal out "just in case." Typically, I would feel like we fell down on the job and let you down with this date night dinner post, but I really don't think you will be disappointed. Although you technically are not getting a dinner, you could totally make a three course meal out of these delectable treats (note: they do not correspond to a well balanced diet).

We began the night by venturing out of our comfort zone. We wanted to try something new and not doused in chocolate for once, so this year we began by making a Christmas inspired shortbread as well as tackling a bourbon caramel sauce. These were two foods we had never tried making before. But we figured they looked simple enough, and the receivers of these treats would be very happy if they turned out as planned. And if the recipes didn't turn out, at least Brenden's family would get some crafty, decorated mason jars for storing their creations and concoctions (like pickles or mac salad *wink,wink*) for us to enjoy when we visited next - a win/win if I say so.

While both recipes could use a round two for minor adjustments and perfecting, they turned out pretty darn good. We were worried the shortbread was going to be too bland and not hold together, but when we tested the finished product, it had just the right amount of sweetness. Each bite was soft with a touch of crunch and no crumbly after affect. As for the caramel, it did not brown as much as we had hoped, but after cooling, it was the perfect consistency for drizzling over ice cream or other treats of your desire, and the flavor was spot on. The bourbon was not too strong but it was also not overwhelmed by sweetness.

And, it didn't stop there. Once the shortbread and caramel were complete and cooling we decided to make some oldies but goodies. We whipped up a small batch of peanut butter balls. We discovered the secret to making them is to freeze (for a long time!) the peanut butter mixture before and after rolling the it into balls. This helps everything form more easily and stay together when being dunked into the warm chocolate.

Then we finished with my staple, Chocolate Covered Matzoh. Brenden's family loves it (well everyone does). This is the one food item I will claim I make better then anyone else, ANYONE. And this is where the disappointment might set in because I will not be sharing this recipe. I have been making it since I was a kid and I hold it true and dear, close to my heart. Only a few of my closest friends have gotten the secret out of me. And not to toot my own horn, but even though they may follow my recipe and directions it still lacks the amazing joy you get when taking that first bite of a piece of "Tracy's Famous Chocolate Matzoh." Yum - now why didn't I make extra, I am getting hungry. Batch two here I come!

Shortbread
Recipe adapted from delish.com, Shortbread Bites

Ingredients

1.25 cups all purpose flour
4 TBSP sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
Red and green sprinkles as desired (feel free to change the colors based on the holiday or occasion)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, with the knife blade attached, pulse the flour and sugar until will combined.
Add butter and pulse until dough begins to form.
Place dough in a medium bowl.
Gently knead in the sprinkles with your hands until evenly blend and a dough ball forms.
On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, pat dought into a rectangle, about half an inch thick throughout.
Freeze for 15 minutes.
Remove dough from freezer and cut into 1/2 inch squares.
Place squares on a cookie sheet, about 1/2 inch apart (they do not spread or rise much).
Bake cookies for 19-21 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.
Flip shortbread bites and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool.
Taste, package, and enjoy.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Recipe adapted from buzzfeed.com, Salty Caramel Bourbon Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons bourbon, divided
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into six cubes
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

In a small sauce pot, on medium-low, heat the sugar and 4 TBSP of the bourborn, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes smooth.
Increase heat to medium and stop stirring.
Wait for the mixture to come to a boil.
When it begins to boil, continue the boil for 6-8 minutes, swirling the pot every 30 seconds and scraping the sides of the pot to prevent the sugar from sticking to the sides and crystalizing.
When the mixture is thick, remove from heat.
Add the heavy cream slowly,whisking constantly (mixture should bubble).
Next add the butter and salt.
When everything is well combined stop whisking.
Let the mixture cool for at least 5 minutes.
Stir in vanilla extract and the final TBSP of bourbon.
Let the caramel cool longer and transfer into a container of your choice.
Refrigerate for a few ours to allow sauce to thicken.
Use when desired by drizzling with a spoon on to ice cream, cakes, brownies, cookies and more (anything you can imagine really).

December 25, 2013
I know, I know. I didn't post yesterday, but it was Christmas eve and Brenden and I spent it celebrating with his family, so I hope you can forgive me. Today was Christmas of course. We spent the day enjoying time, food, and presents with Brenden's family and relaxing during the evening.

Goofing around. Brenden is thrilled, right?! :)

December 22, 2013
Christmas parties + friends = A fun and festive christmas dinner party, friend reunion. Tonight I had a delicious and entertaining dinner catching up with my friends from high school. We all gathered at Anna's house where she had prepared some lasagnas and veggies. I brought my garlic caprese toast which has quickly become a favorite and easy potluck dish. Anna's roommate prepared some tasty (turkey) pepperoni rolls, and everyone else brought desserts galore. My tummy is very happy. And Lauren surprised us all with great gifts catered perfectly to each of our interests. I got "Guac Off!" An amazing book I can't wait to put into action, with a bunch of different guacamole recipes, tips, and facts. I think I know what might be coming in my next few posts (after the holiday soirees of course).

Yummo!

December 21, 2013
I had a fun-filled day with Brenden. We we had some time to relax before running errands, enjoying a lunch out, shopping for shoes/christmas presents, crafting and baking, celebrating at a christmas party, and coming home to end the day as it began, relaxing with a movie and a delicious and warm homemade pumpkin spice hot cocoa.

Our crafty sock snow people. Can you guess whose is who's?
Thanks trusper.com for the inspiration :)

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