What I Love About Being a Homemaker . . .

. . . on a random day in December:
Scented candles
An extra trip to town for dinner ingredients, because I just felt like having shrimp and lemon and garlic pasta tonight
Lowering the kitchen lights, lighting the Advent candle, and soaking in thoughts of the Light of the world
Getting to have a half-hour telephone conversation with my son who's two states away


Enjoying homemaking pictures from inspiring magazines, even if they are of iced tea in pretty crystal glasses while I'm two feet from the fireplace and wearing layers
Being home to get fires going, giving physicality to the statement, "Keeping the home fires burning"
Homemaking books from my shelves that inspire me to love my family even more

Food, glorious food
These are simple SMOKED SALMON APPETIZERS. Spread smoked salmon strips with softened cream cheese. Put sliver of dill pickle in center and roll up. Voila.

What do you love about being a homemaker on a random day in December?

Not So Fond o' This Fondue

I was hoping to be able to share with you a wonderful, festive fondue recipe, dense with Gruyere cheese, diced shrimp, white wine, and tarragon.
Alas, what I am able to share with you instead is this glop. Rhymes with flop.
The cheesiness never quite came together with the white wine - apple juice - lemon juice liquidness, save for about 20 seconds mid-cooking, and even then I had to whisk furiously to keep the whole thing from looking like a chemistry experiment gone awry.
As Julia Child liked to chirp, Never Apologize.
So I shan't apologize, but simply direct you, if you have a hankering for a nice, festive dinner of cheese fondue, to try instead this recipe.
Cheers.

Thankfulness and Potatoes

"O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:8)
Happy Thanksgiving. What a wonderful holiday filled with feasting and family and gratefulness for the abundance of good gifts from our Father in Heaven. (See James 1:17 :))
Among many, many other blessings, I am thankful for my mom's awesome cranberries (two kinds!), my friend Pam's make-ahead gravy (love that gravy), and, of course, pecan fudge pie (recipe, pg. 255, Queen of the Castle).

If you have extra mashed potatoes lurking in your fridge (see this post for a shining example), you will be overjoyed to learn of this recipe: chocolate-coconut potato candy.

You might also want to look into these delicious, light as air potato rolls.

Now go. Eat. Be filled with thankfulness.

And if you get a chance to go see the movie The Blind Side? Go do it. Awesome.

Elizabeth David's Pumpkin and Tomato Gratin

"If we were to bushwack our way back to the true source of modern American food culture, we would find that it is not Julia Child, but Elizabeth David." - The New Yorker

This is the first recipe I've ever tried from famed British food writer, Elizabeth David. It's a very colorful, tasty vegetarian dish, one I was especially happy to come across as I still have a pile of pumpkins and a constantly full windowsill of ripening tomatoes, smiling at me whenever I pass through the kitchen.

And just look at these colors. Aren't they beautiful?


I'm not gonna lie, this dish takes a bit of time to prepare -- you have to peel and chop pumpkins, chop and sautee tomatoes, put it all together and bake for 35 or 40 minutes. But it is tasty and filling, with the dominant flavor being tomato. I think it would make a lovely Thanksgiving side dish, if you're looking for an extra one and have the time.

I made a few minor changes -- omitting parsley, for example, and cutting down the salt a bit -- so I'll write it here the way I made it. The recipe comes from the book Elizabeth David's Christmas, edited by Jill Norman, compiled from Elizabeth David's notes after her 1992 death.

PUMPKIN AND TOMATO GRATIN
1 small pumpkin (2-3 lbs.)
2 T. butter
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 1/2 t. coarse sea salt
2 cloves garlic
1 lb. tomatoes, chopped
1 piece of bread, torn into small pieces
1 T. butter

Peel pumpkin and chop into small chunks, discarding seeds and gummy stuff in the middle. In large, heavy frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add pumpkin, celery, and salt. Cook gently, uncovered, until pumpkin is soft. (This took maybe 20-30 minutes? I kept spearing the little pumpkin cubes and tasting until it seemed suitably soft. At this point the dish is pretty salty, but don't worry; it all works out in the end.) In Elizabeth's words, the pumpkin should be "just beginning to look slightly jammy."

Remove from heat and place pumpkin in shallow gratin dish.

In the same pan, cook the garlic and tomatoes at medium-high heat until most of the liquid cooks off. ("The tomatoes are almost in a puree," says Elizabeth -- this took maybe 20 minutes or so.) Remove from heat, mix in with the pumpkin, and smush down the veggies till they're flat.

Top off the dish with the torn bread pieces and the remaining T. of butter, cut into little blobs. Bake in top third of the oven, at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until golden.

Cranberry Scones

If you're a scone lover, you have to give these babies a try. They're made with heavy cream and lemon extract and dried cranberries. And they are good. Oh so good.
The recipe comes from a fun book I'm about a third of the way through: Confections of a Closet Master Baker, a memoir (with recipes) by Gesine Bullock-Prado. You can see her blog here. The author happens to be the sister of actress Sandra Bullock. But more importantly, she's a wonderful baker. She left Hollywood and a job at her sister's production company to start up her own bakery in Vermont. And I, for one, am glad she did. Because if she hadn't, I wouldn't have this scone recipe.

And I'm reeeeeally glad I have this scone recipe.

CREAM SCONES (with dried cranberries)

1/2 c. heavy cream, plus an extra T. or two for brushing the scones
1 egg
1 t. lemon extract
3 T. sugar, plus another couple t. for sprinkling over the scones
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1T. baking powder
6 T. (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits (I used salted)
1/2 c. dried cranberries

In small bowl, combine cream, egg, lemon extract, and 3 T. sugar. Set aside.
In large bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Drop the butter into the flour mixture and use your fingers (I used a pastry blender) to work in the butter, until your mixtures is the texture of coarse meal. Stir in the cream mixture and the cranberries with a fork, stirring only until a sticky dough will hold together. Knead gently for about 30 seconds on a floured surface. Pat into a 1/2-inch thick circle.

At this point, the author uses a 1 1/2-inch fluted cutter to make scones. I decided to cut mine into wedges instead.

Place scones on ungreased baking sheet. Brush with cream, then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake on the center rack at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, until golden. (I baked mine for 15.)

Now the question of the day: Do you have a favorite kind of scone? And what do you think: glaze or no glaze?

Amish Overnight Blueberry French Toast

You've probably never seen an overnight French toast recipe quite like this one. In addition to the expected eggs and milk and bread cubes, it contains the added surprise of luscious blueberries, maple syrup, and cream cheese chunks.

Sound like a special holiday breakfast you might want to try?

I thought so.

The recipe comes from Suzanne Woods Fisher, author of a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, many of which have an Amish theme.
If you're in Barnes & Noble these days, for example, you might see
Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World. Suzanne's first book in her Amish fiction series, The Choice, will be released in January.

This recipe, says Suzanne, comes from an Old Order Amish family. "We stayed at their farm in July and had this for breakfast . . . and my husband couldn't stop talking about it. I wrote and asked the Amish mom if I could have the recipe and she gave it to me. My husband has made it a number of times . . . and he's a guy who doesn't know how to cook. Not at all. It's that good a recipe!"

Here, then, is Anna's Overnight Blueberry French Toast. Brought to you via Suzanne; via me; via blogger. Aaaah, the wonders of the internet.

ANNA'S OVERNIGHT BLUEBERRY FRENCH TOAST

12 slices bread, cut in one-inch cubes
8 oz. cream cheese, cut in one-inch cubes
1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
1/3 c. maple syrup
2 c. milk

The night before, place half of bread cubes in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Top with cream cheese,

blueberries,

and remaining bread.

Beat eggs, syrup, and milk together

and pour evenly over bread. Put in the refrigerator.

The next morning, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until well done. Serves six.

Homemade Food Gifts, Part Three

If you're thinking about making some Christmas food gifts this year, give these Sugar and Spice Nuts a try. They take only 15 minutes or so to make, and an hour or two to dry.

And voila! A lovely gift you can put in your cute little crazy quilt jars, or bag up to include in a care package for those you won't be seeing this Christmas.

Thank you to author and editor Susan R. Blaske Williams for this oh-so-addicting recipe.

SUGAR AND SPICE NUTS
3 c. pecans (or walnuts or mixed nuts)
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. water
1 T. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. vanilla

Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet (or grease cookie sheet) and bake nuts at 275 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sugar, water, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in saucepan and heat to boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in nuts to coat. With slotted spoon, remove nuts to wax paper, separating them as much as possible. Allow to dry for an hour or two, then package them up.

NOTE: If you're looking to make some homemade gifts this year, check out the Homemade Gift Carnival at Rachel's Cooking blog. And go visit Life as Mom, too, for more great food gift ideas.