18 January 2011

People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, they should be worried about what they eat between New Year and Christma

So, here's the second installment of my trio of New Year 2011 blogs, and this one is all about food!

Within literally a few hours of submitting final grades in December, I was cooking up a storm in preparation for the Christmas party season! This year, I expanded my Christmas candy repertoire, making my usual Peanut Butter Divinity (I use an old family recipe, but this one is really similar),



and adding Peppermint Bark and Kentucky Bourbon Balls!



During my stay with family over the holiday, my mom gave me the greatest gift ever! A cookbook she found while cleaning out the attic! It's the 1939 edition of Household Magazine's "Household Searchlight" cookbooks. I'm in love!



In addition to many somewhat humorous finger food recipes, and pointers for the diligent hostess, this book is a compendium of clever and useful recipes! I decided to jump right in by planning my first New Year's Day Brunch!


So, after twisting the night away to the Soul Rebels at Les Bons Temps, I woke up early and got busy!

"Eggs on a Savory Bed": This is a baked egg casserole, and the recipe seemed a little bland, so I added some garlic, cajun spices, and (of course) cheese!


Sour Cream Tarts with Merengue: Really tasty treats! They are primarily flavored with nutmeg and cloves, so they taste very seasonal and happy!


Brown Sugar Bread: A quickbread that's TOO easy and very tasty. I froze half of it, and it held up fabulously!


I also made hashbrowns, black eyed peas with a lucky penny, cheese grits, Japanese soba noodles (a must for a lucky new year), and of course mimosas and bloody marys!

After I recovered from New Years celebratin', I took a bit of a break from fanciful cooking as I prepared for a new semester teaching at Loyola. But last weekend, a friend invited us to a fab dinner party and asked if I could contribute dessert! Could I?

First, I candied some orange peels. I used this recipe, and was very happy with the result though they did not turn out very pretty.


I also did a perfect chocolate mousse, which I, sadly, didn't get a picture of before it was completely devoured! But I was amused by this highly unnecessary bit of cheap marketing on the bag of chocolate chips I used:


Whew! I'm totally blogged out for now...and hungry! I'll be back soon with my Christmas adventures in sewing! What sort of things have you been cooking up lately?

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Laura! If only it was as much fun to cook healthy, nonfattening recipes!

    ReplyDelete