smells like christmas

This holiday I cheated and used a boxed gingerbread cookie mix. I have a few of these shortcuts I use during the holidays because it makes life easier. Next year I may use gravy in a package as I had a lot of difficulty this year getting the right consistency. These little shortcuts are vital to my holiday sanity.

When the dust begins to settle I return to making things from scratch. One of which was Nigella’s Sticky Gingerbread. It was therapeutic to shred fresh ginger and boil molasses with corn syrup. It smelt like Christmas and made enough for an entire cake sheet! It also filled the house with the smell of yummy gingerbread goodness as it baked who needs scented candles? I brought it to J’s family’s Christmas dinner. It was a huge hit. It was sweet, moist and had a strong spicey flavour. The recipe was even requested J’s aunt who is an amazing cook and has her own amazing cooking repertoire. I still have some left over and steal away little pieces through out the day in order to savour that taste of Christmas. A+

finally got to use our hammer

Every Christmas I try to make an edible gifts for my friends. This year I had so many choices and couldn't make up my mind.  I decided to go ahead with a combination of items and create a tasting box. I made Smitten Kitchen’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (the best choco chip cookies ever), her buckeyes (I had a graham cracker fail, which resulted in me ditching half the tray), Nigella’s lava cakes and gingerbread owls. After I ditched the buckeyes I looked for a proper peanut replacement and found Nigella’s Peanut Brittle.

I forgot how much I love corn syrup. As I watched the golden syrup pour out I couldn’t help but dip my finger in for a quick lick. I didn't grow up on maple syrup I had syrup and corn syrup both delicious but crazy high in sugar. I used maple now but every once in awhile the craving for the super sweet sneaks in. It was an easy recipe to do and quick, but really sticky. I think I need to work on the caramel/candy part a bit more as it only stayed solid when I froze it, once it came to room temperature it became a gooey mess.

When I finally took out the brittle from the freezer I gleefully took our lovely hammer covered the brittle with parchment paper and went to town. If you've ever had any cooking frustrations make a brittle and smash it to small pieces. Trust me you'll feel better.

Despite the fact that I couldn’t get the brittle to be harden at room temp it still tasted good. So B+.

the holiday dessert breakdown

Okay, last day of the year. Here are 3 posts about the desserts Nigella helped me make for the holidays. Enjoy. Just watched Julie and Julia last night so "Bon Appetite!"

fully loaded goodness

I know I mentioned this before but Nigella really does rock the delicious-but-not-so-good-for you category of food. Years ago J used to make a loaded potato skins recipe and they were delicious, but that recipe has nothing on Nigella's fully loaded potato skins. It even elicited a compliment from my Dad.

These skins are a bit fussy but well worth the effort. After roasting them for an hour you scoop out the delicious potato centre and mix it with sour cream, cheese, spring onions, salt and pepper and they key ingredient Worcestershire sauce. The final element is crumbly bacon. I had to keep getting new spoons as I kept eating the filling each time I filled a potato skin. Delicious...I think I may have used that word at least 4 times in this post.

What I have been enjoying about Nigella Christmas and Simple Chinese Cooking is that these books are not only beautiful and big but they also offer helpful tips to make your cooking experience easier. This is especially important during the holiday season when I depend on food items that are make aheads. A++ I wish I had saved some filling so I could eat it now as I write.

cheesy macaroni and cheese

I can always count on Nigella for something yummy and indulgent. I was instantly drawn to her Macaroni Cheese De Luxe. I was raised on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and have found that there was something comforting about the florescent orange tone of the powder cheese and noodles. Nigella offered a make ahead option which I gladly took so that I wouldn't be rushed on the day of the party.

As I strolled through the supermarket there were 3 cheeses the recipe requested. I spent a good portion in the cheese section deciding on what cheeses to use (sharp cheddar, emmental and parmesan). I bought shredded parmesan (I can't handle the smell of parmesan, childhood trauma). Be warned this recipe makes two huge trays. I split it in 2 for 2 separate parties and froze them. What came out was exactly what I expect from Nigella: yummy, warm, indulgent cheesy goodness. It looked as good as it tasted.

Later that night after the kitchen was clean and I was tucked in bed I imagined sneaking down into the kitchen late at night to grab a bite of this decadent treat just like Nigella. Lucky for my waistline I was too exhausted to get out of bed. A+

christmas meal making

Last year we began hosting Christmas at our house for both friends and family. We had just moved into our lovely/big new home and wanted to show it off and now it's become more of a tradition. On the advice of J's aunt I bought a Butterball turkey and it came out flawless and delicious. Cooking the turkey was the easy part, defrosting it was another thing. Did you know some turkeys take days to defrost? Last year I had to get up every half an hour through out the night to refresh the cold bath for the turkey in order for it to speed defrost in time and I was still pulling out ice chunks from it's cavity right before cooking. This year I learned my lesson but still had to speed defrost part way through, but luckily not through the night.

I know fresh is better but I was too late last year and this year I bought it ahead of time in order to not repeat last year's mistake. A fresh bird also takes up too much space in my already cramped fridge. Next year I'm going to try it and brining now that I've got about 5 turkeys under my belt.

On the surface of our Christmas dinners everything seems lovely and calm. The kitchen, however, looks like a bomb went off and my nerves are always slightly frayed. When everyone is finally sitting down eating I start to feel better.

I was also always behind schedule. This year I managed to overcome the timing hump and had the turkey out and ready when my family arrived. I think it had a lot to do with the sides I chose, I needed something delicious and easy, lucky for me Nigella came to the rescue. Now I just need to work out timing so that all the food is warm when it's time to eat.

For a the friend party I did a mix of the indulgent and healthy. First off was the red salad. A delicious combo of red wine vinegar, kidney beans (protein), red onion, parsley and sweet cherry tomatoes.This simple assembly idea was easy to do but could have used a bit more pizazz. In the end I added more salt and pepper but I think a splash of balsamic could have given it the lift it needed. It had a fresh taste and was a good change from the turkey-potato combo. Plus it took no time and looked Christmas-y with it's green and red colours. I paired it with Gluten Free Girl's potato puree which was super rich with full fat cream and butter and very delicious. B+ for the red salad and A+ for the potato puree.

double bill

I've been negligent with my writing. With the holidays and work everything gets so busy and it's so much easier to do take out instead of actually cooking. To make it up I will do a double bill and we're half way through the month. In conjunction with Kylie's Simple Chinese Cookimg I will also do Nigella Christmas. Nigella and I go way back to when I picked up her cookbook How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I was intent on making her fairy cakes, but ended up making her lava cakes which I still make to this day. I have a few of her books Feast and Nigella Express. I love that she loves food and doesn't care if it's bad for you plus her food always tastes delicious. With all the new cookbooks out there I have kind of forgotten about her but this holiday I am bringing her back in all her glory. There truly is no better time to indulge than the holidays and there is no one else I'd rather do it with than her.