Chanukah Cookies



Sugar cookies, rugalah, and poppy seed cookies.



One of my favorite holiday traditions is to get together with my sister, Judy, for a bake-athon.  This year we combined cookie weekend with my parents 60th wedding anniversary, and baked Chanukah cookies.  The recipe for the poppy seed cookies came from my grandmother.

Sarah helped decorate the sugar cookies.   We pack up tins of cookies and give them away as gifts.  So glad we could have a cookie-weekend this year.

Spooky Halloween Brunch

Katie outdid herself once again with a delicious Halloween Spooky Brunch

My favorite desert - Dirt From The Graveyard

Sarah made fossil cookies inspired by the November issue of  Martha Stewart Living.  They came out great!

Pumpkin Puffs - Taste as good as they look

Seven Feet Under Dip - had to go back for more...

My Spooky Family

I wore my spider ears.

Stevie looks good wearing the spiders too!

Thanks Katie, Our Spooky Cook

Happy Halloween!

Vegetable Lasagna - Using the harvest

Here is a dish I made to use the vegetables I grew in the garden this summer.  It has plum tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, swiss chard, and zuchinni.

Happy 4th of July

My Patriotic Whisky Barrel.

A 4th of July treat - strawberry shortcakes with blueberries too. 

Its berry time!

Here's what I picked today. Raspberries and blueberries. Mmmm....

Lobster Dinner

I went to a party a few weeks ago, and this is what we had for dinner. Clam chowder, mussels, lobster, corn on the cob, onions and potatoes cooked on the grill, whoopie pies and blueberry buckle for desert. Maine - the way life should be.

Fresh coconut milk

I'm taking this really cool class on culinary gardening at PBCC taught by Lloyd Singleton, the manager of the gardens at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. He took us on a tour of the culinary gardens where they grow many of the vegetables and herbs used in L’Escalier, their French restaurant.

After the tour we got a real treat - a drink of coconut milk from a fresh coconut. The interior of a coconut is hollow, but partially filled with a watery liquid called "coconut milk". The milk is found in unripe fruits, and is gradually absorbed as the fruit ripens.

The fruits are green or yellow at first, turning brown as they mature. The coconuts were picked for us, and the hard outer layer carved to a point so we could open them easily.

You make a small opening in the top using a machete.

Then you drink the coconut juice with a straw.

Inside the shell is a thin, white, fleshy layer, known as the "meat" or copra. The meat is soft and jelly-like when immature, but it becomes firm at maturity. You can spoon the meat out and eat it.

Palm Beach got its name from the coconut palm tree which grows along tropical, sandy shorelines. It can also be grown inland. One tree can produce between 50 to 200 coconuts a year. At the Breakers, these are all removed before Hurricane season starts in June.

Winter Fruits & Vegetables

One of the best things about being in Florida in the winter is being able to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm always on the look out for farm stands, and green markets (known as farmer's markets up north). In Florida the produce at the farm stands is less expensive than in the grocery stores, whereas up north, the farm stands are usually more expensive. There's lots of growers just west of here.

Luscious tomatoes ...

Oranges - 10 for $1, Grapefruits 5 for $1


I bought a box of strawberries from a truck by the side of the road. These are grown in Palm City. Florida strawberries are available January - April.


I gave a lot of the strawberries away, and then froze some to use later in smoothies. To freeze strawberries, just place them on a tray in a single layer. Once they are frozen place them in a zip-loc freezer bag.


Unfortunately we had a frost last night, and a lot of the winter vegetable crop including beans and corn, was lost.

Enjoying the harvest in December

I’m still using some of what I grew last summer.

For xmas dinner we’re having roast leg of lamb cooked in tomato sauce, which I canned using last summer’s plum tomatoes. It is seasoned with the garlic I grew, and rosemary which I dried.

We’re also having winter squash (Jack-Be-Little Pumpkins) roasted with butter and maple syrup, made from a friend’s trees.

We had beets this week which kept quite nicely in the refrigerator hydrator drawer. Not too long ago, we finished the last carrots.

This is a butternut squash (Waltham) that I grew a few years ago. The woodchucks ate most of them, but I got a few. I think I'll try more winter squash next year since they last well into the winter.

And for desert, rugala with homemade blueberry jam made from the blueberries I picked at my friend Donna's house this summer.

Will cookie weekend be snowed out?

Every year the weekend before Christmas I go to my sister, Judy's house and we bake cookies for the entire weekend. My niece, Sarah, cooks delicious meals for us, so we don't have to take time away from our baking. The cookies get packed up in Christmas tins, and given away as presents. Here's a picture from a few years ago.

But here it is Saturday afternoon, and I'm snowed in, and can't get there.

Cranberry Beef Stew

I like to make this recipe this time of year when fresh cranberries are available. The cranberry is a native plant that is also grown commercially.

Beef Stew with Cranberries

2 Tbspn Oil
3 Lbs. Stew Beef
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Medium Onions, Chopped
¾ Cup Red Wine
¾ Cup Beef Stock or Broth
2 Tbspn. Red Wine Vinegar
1 Can Tomato Paste
1 ½ Cups Fresh Cranberries
1/3 Cup Sugar (or Splenda)
Salt and Pepper

Cut Stew Beef into 1 inch cubes. Heat oil. Brown beef on all sides. Discard any remaining fat. Season meat with salt and pepper. Add the onion and minced garlic.
Add wine, stock, red wine vinegar, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until meat is tender, about 2 hours.

Chop cranberries coarsely and combine with sugar. Add to pot, stir well, and cook for 10 minutes longer.

Rugalah - Rugalach - Rugelach

However you spell it - Rugelach means "little twists" in Yiddish, and has Jewish Ashkenazic (Polish) origins. They are rolled cookies typically made for Hanukah. Everyone loves these!



Pastry:

2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
1 8 oz. pkg. Cream Cheese
2 Cups Flour
½ tspn. Salt

Filling:

1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1 ½ Tbspn. Cinnamon
1 ½ Cups Sugar
6 Tbspn. Finely Chopped Walnuts

Make the Pastry:

Soften the butter and cream cheese to room temperature.
Beat the butter, cream cheese, and salt with an electric mixer. Mix in the flour.
Divide the dough into 4 portions. Shape each portion into a disk. Wrap and chill until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix cinnamon with sugar.
Roll 1 portion of dough into a circle.
Brush with Melted Butter.
Sprinkle with Cinnamon/Sugar Mix and Chopped Walnuts.
Cut the circle into 12 wedges.
Roll up from the wide edge to the point.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet, bending the dough into a crescent shape.
Bake 20 minutes until golden brown.
While still warm, brush with more melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mix.

Repeat with the remaining 3 circles.

Filling alternatives: Add a few chocolate chips or, use jam and walnuts for the filling.

Cookie Exchange

Today I went to a cookie exchange at the lovely Pressey House Bed and Breakfast in Oakland, ME. It was hosted by Lorie, for the craft group of the Waterville Area Newcomer's club. It was so cozy sitting by the fire, sipping coffee, crocheting, and tasting cookies.

The Pressey House is an octagonal shaped house that was built in the 1850's and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Out the windows is a beautiful view looking down Messalonskee Lake.

I had to bring 4 dozen cookies, so I spent all day baking yesterday, and made a huge mess in the kitchen. I made my favorite holiday cookie, rugalah. The recipe makes 4 dozen, so of course I had to make some extra so I could try them before bringing them.

Look at how beautifully these are decorated.

Here's what I brought home!

Mmmm....now I just need someone to help me eat them!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. Judy takes Wednesday off and cooks and cooks and cooks.

Max eagerly awaits the meal.

Emily dons her hunting attire, so she can go out and play with Katie.

We always play a few good games.

We eat all vegetarian food. No turkey but all the traditional (stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy), and some not so traditional dishes (hot lulu, Moroccan vegetables). Sarah posted some of the recipes. http://sarahbeing.blogspot.com/

This year I made a jello mold - with cranberries, apples, oranges, and pineapple. It tasted like a cranberry relish.
Even though we are stuffed - there's always room for the pies.

Judy makes apple, pumpkin, and custard pies. We each have a piece of all three, and can never decide which one we like best. For me, its between pumpkin and custard.

Great job Judy - now I need to climb a few mountains.

Fiesta Dinnerware

How I love my new Fiesta Dinnerware! I went to Linen's & Things closing sale and got it for 60-70% off. I'm sad to see one of my favorite stores closing, but excited to get these dishes.

My salad looks so much better on a Heather colored plate. I also got this 'Liz Claborn' placement.

I didn't find all the pieces - just dinner plates, luncheon plates, mugs, and 2 bowls.

I bought dinner plates in these beautiful colors: Cobalt blue, Heather, Evergreen, Shamrock, & Peacock. I found mugs in Tangerine & Sunflower also.

Since they were such a good price I have service for 20 or so... I'm ready for a party now!

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

This is a great dish to take to a Fall Dinner Party.

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

12-18 inch sugar pumpkin
4 apples peeled and cored
2 oranges, peeled, seeded, and chopped
½ cup maple syrup
¼ tspn. Cinnamon
1 Cup cranberries
¼ Cup Sugar
1 Cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 Cup Raisins
¼ tspn. Nutmeg

Chop cranberries and mix with sugar. Set aside. Scrub pumpkin. Cut out a 4-6 inch circle from the top to serve as a cover, using the stem as a handle. Scrape out and discard the seeds and stringy interior. Combine the remaining ingredients, and cranberry mixture. Spoon the mixture into the pumpkin shell. Top with the pumpkin cover. Place in a deep dish pie plate and bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour until a fork penetrates the pumpkin easily. Serve directly from the pumpkin.

Note: This makes a lot of filling. I bake the rest in a baking dish.

A fall weekend

Judy came to visit for the weekend.

We went leaf peeping.

Here's a view of our favorite river, The Kennebec.

We did some kayaking...

It started out sunny, but after awhile we wondered if we'd get caught in the rain.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Riverside Farm Market in Oakland, Maine.

Judy found a jar of old buttons at Kozy Korner in Oakland, Maine.

October is the month for cooking with pumpkins and apples.

Curry Pumpkin Soup

Baked Apple Pancake