Splitting town with Split Pea Soup

Mmmm Mmm Good! I love soup. It's so comforting and filling, not to mention the fact that there are about a million and one kinds of different soups out there...a flavor for every tast. I am a big fan of the progressive soups that have ZERO WW points, but I also love their low fat lentil soup.

I mentioned that we had ham for Christmas dinner and of course inside every ham is a ham bone. I remember growing up how much my dad hated peas!! But somehow he loves pea soup (his own of course). So we both agreed that a batch of homemade pea soup was a must make.

We started out with two bags of yellow peas (he prefers the yellow over the green), and set that to boil in about 12 cups of water. Later my dad mentioned that his intention was to use homemade turkey stock in lieu of water but i jumped the gun and started the peas while he was a church! opps. No worries. He also mentioned that he would have put the ham bone and rest of the add ins right into the water with the peas (I waited no knowing the plan). So, as soon as they got home from church we quickly added in diced onions, celery, garlic, two bay leaves and the star: Ham bone. The peas had probably already been in the pot for about two hours. (again you can start with everything in the pot at once!). I probably would have added carrots as well but not everyone at home is a fan of them. You can really add just about anything you wish. it's your soup!!

Since we were headed to another Christmas get together that night we put the soup outside (natures fridge) and planned on warming it the next day. This really let all the flavors stew in one another. The next day it was reheated and yummy. We each had a bowl along with some of my grandma's leftover rolls.

I forgot to take a picture before eating so this is the leftovers that erin and I are taking as we hit the road tomorrow morning.

There is nothing like soup after a long week of feasting!!

Christmas Hangovers....

Are you ever surprised at how much you can eat and drink over the holiday's? Each morning i would wake up thinking this would be a "lighter" day eating wise...and by the end of of the day...not so much. There are just so many traditions to hold and food to eat. I really tried to let myself indulge a bit and hit up the gym everyday to keep myself feeling healthy!

We used to get together with family for Christmas dinner but the older everyone gets the more obligations they have on that day so this year my Aunt Gina and Uncle Pat hosted a dinner on the 26th. My Aunt Gina is Italian and a great cook which equals Lasagna and Meatballs. We all brought something to pass. I made my black bean dip and threw it on a plate with veggies (I tried to go with something healthy).
My mom was asked to make her homemade Egg-Nog. Now I must say this is one of those Christmas traditions that I speak about, BUT it is really really rich. I'm taking whole eggs, half and half, evaporated milk, ice cream...it's all in there. She serves it in little punch cups and everyone raves about it. Everything in moderation!

I have blogged about my HG egg nog before so I thought I would try HG Pumpkin Nog as another egg nog option at the party. It turned out great. I made a batch of original and a batch of the pumpkin. The pumpkin won over the crowd. Although my mom's was definitely the best I was glad that people tried mine!!





I think I am on holiday food overload...and i'm only half-way through vacation :)

Christmas Traditions

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I love Christmas. I love the whole day and I also love eating the whole day! We have very specific things that we make on Christmas and frankly it just wouldn't be Christmas morning with the breakfast casserole baking in the oven!

This year was erin's first year experiencing Christmas at my house and we didn't want to disappoint :). We start off opening presents under our "santa" tree (that's right folks we have two trees: one for santa and one for the family) and drinking morning coffee. My mom always picks up all the holiday creamers: eggnog, gingerbread, bailey's (opps how did that get in there at 9am in the morning dad?!). This year we took a mini break from presents to throw the breakfast casserole together along with orange cinn. rolls. YUM. This year my mom also picked up fruit to make a great fruit salad, so I was in charge of that.
Look how amazing this breakfast looks!

As mentioned in my prepping post we also have mimosas and bloody mary's as well. We start the morning quite "spirited!!!".

After the craziness of the santa tree we all enjoy looking at our new gifts and usually watching a new movie...or two...or four!

We weren't planning dinner until around 6:30 because we were waiting for my Sister and Brother in law to come! Plenty of time to make all our dishes. I started with the Asiago, Potato and Bacon Gratin.

I had prepped the potatoes and had to saute up the shallots and cook the bacon. I also needed bacon for the Brussels Sprouts so I put my dad on bacon cooking duty. I combined all the dry ingredients and threw the casserole together...1, 2, 3. Simple! I didn't take alot of pictures this day :(, but did get the casserole before it was completely gone! It was a hit.

I didn't take any pictures of my Butternut Squash Casserole because It went the same as Thanksgiving...simple and delicious. I will say that I would recommend steaming the squash on the stove if possible. The microwave took awhile with that much squash! I just prefer my steamer basket.
I helped my mom with my Grandma's rolls as well. These are so great. They look almost like biscuits but have a sweet flavor to them. I grew up having these only at Christmas time and they are something that I will always make around the holiday. These are pretty messy to make, just use ALOT of flour:). Here they are awaiting their 20 min bake time.




Finally on to the Brussels Sprouts with Bacon-Horseradish Cream! Now doesn't that even sound amazing...I had already cut up the sprouts the night before and my dad took care of cookin up the bacon so all that was left was the "sauce". These came together really quickly right after the turkey came out. Honestly I don't think I could have a Brussels Sprout dish without loving it.



After dinner we moved on to our Family tree. I just love giving gifts to all my family members :). I just love Christmas. We had my mom's famous pies for dessert and my sister and brother brought over a raspberry cheesecake (i stuck with the pies).

My stomach was full.
and my heart was fuller!

Prep Work

So remember my crazy thanksgiving post? Yeah well, we tend to eat similarly for Christmas. What can I say i come from a family of eaters! We have so many traditions at Christmas, but since this is a food blog I will try to stick to our "foodie traditions".

Going in chronological order we normally spend Christmas Eve at my grandparents house having Venison Cacciatore and eating all my grandma's baked goods. While growing up my grandpa and dad both used to go hunting so we always had venison in the freezer. I was never a huge fan...a bit gamey for my taste. There are many cuts of venison (deer meat) and some are more gamey than others, and when you put the meat in cacciatore it really gets rid of the gaminess. This dish has been passed down from my grandpa to my dad and now my cousin Josh makes it. This year we didn't have the dish until the day after Christmas (we also enjoyed a great Italian feast at my Uncle pats and Aunt Gina's)...but I couldn't talk about Christmas food traditions without mentioning that one

Of course the first thing i discussed with my mom when I woke up on Christmas Eve was Christmas dinner! As mentioned before we tend to have the same food for Christmas that we have for Thanksgiving. Alot of our dishes make a reappearance. Even though my Mom was hosting I of course wanted to contribute some dishes as well. My mom had planned both Turkey and Ham for meats so i choose to make a Scallop Potato dish from Cooking Light (per erin's request), a Brussels Sprout recipe from Weight Watchers and my HG Squashtastic dish from Thanksgiving! I also told my mom I would handle making my grandma's rolls.

I really wanted to enjoy Christmas day so I prepped some of my ingredients for the dishes the night before. As much as I love to cook sometimes the prep work is not so much fun! I ended up doing alot of the "cutting" the night before:

-Brussels sprouts

-peel and cut the butternut squash (with the help of my dad...thanks dad!)

Christmas morning I used my NEW KNIVES (thanks Santa) to prep the rest of the ingredients for the dishes so that when dinner came all I needed to do was throw them in the oven.

My mom and I also worked on my grandma's rolls because they have to sit for about three hours before popping them in the oven for twenty mins.

We sipped Pomegranate Mimosas and finished the prep work....all ready for dinner :)!

Beer Sample #2...

I told you I would have plenty of time to catch up on my winter beer tasting. Our next pick was Wachusett Winter.
The Wachusett Brewery is probably only about 1/2 an hour from where we live so not only did we want to support a local business but the bottle was festive and fun!

I liked this one. It reminded me alot of Winter Warmer (by Harpoon and currently my favorite winter brew). It was an amber colored beer and although it had the flavors of the season (hints of cinnamon and nutmeg I think) it didn't overpower the beer. Definitely better than the last but I still think 2nd to the Winter Warmer.

I head upstate tonight for Christmas with my family. It will be the first time erin and i actually get to spend Christmas together...that beats ANY winter brew :).

Snowy Sunday before Christmas

I have been blogging up a snow storm recently! I don't know if it's in anticipation of being M.I.A. during Christmas or if my new year's resolution is coming early! Never the less have I got a doozy of a post for you!

When I woke up this morning the snow was still falling. Erin and i had plans to finish up Christmas shopping but due to the weather i suggested a day of baking and wrapping. She jumped on santa's sleigh and away we went.

Now i know that i spent all last Sunday baking, and that would be plenty for a sane person, but I really had a few recipes that I wanted to try AND it was a perfect day to make some chili. We also had to work on some homemade gifts for friends so why not make it a productive day.

My baking to do list consisted of: Cocoa Fudge Cookies, Rice Krispie Treats, Angel Delights, Low Fat Cranberry Macaroons, Holiday Coffee and of course Chili! I know it seems like alot but two of the cookie recipes don't even have to cook, one of them I have made previously and the other was really low fat...i couldn't pass them up! After a quick trip to the store for supplies (and spirits) I assembled my supplies and began baking.

I started with the Cocoa Fudge Cookies which I had made last year with great success! This is a recipe from Cooking light and these cookies are delicious. They turned out great again this year! They have a chewiness of brownies and definitely have a nice coco flavor. YUM!

While these were cooking I moved on to make Angel Delights the Grand Prize cookie this year in Eating Well's annual cookie contest! I remember when I got the magazine thinking how easy these looked to make. It started off great but when it came to rolling the balls it was extremely difficult to get them to stay together. I tried using spray butter on my hands but it was a struggle the entire time!! When i got ready to blog i looked up the recipe again on the website and saw that most others had the exact same problem! (that's always reassuring) The editors noted that you have to cook the dates and butter for 8-15 minutes (this was not noted in the magazine version)to really make a paste consistency. When i did it i probably only cooked my mix for 3 mins?! Needless to say I made it through the "balling" and put these in the fridge! These suckers only have 52 calories a pieces and are a great little sweet...but boy were they alot of work.

WARNING: Things went a bit down hill next...I had stumbled across a recipe for Low-Fat Cranberry Macaroons and they looked simple, low fat and yummy. MUST TRY. I began by beating the egg whites and I even made sure to call my expert baking mom to see what "Soft Peaks" meant so I didn't jump steps too quickly. Sadly I don't know what went wrong. I will let the picture speak for itself. After the first batch came out a bit runny I thought to add more rice krispies to soak up the extra liquid....not so much. I salvaged a few of the cookies but mainly by just forming them together in a ball.

Not to lose heart I quickly moved onto the Low Fat Rice Krispie treats! I never knew that these were so low in fat/calories either. These were a no brainer and came out perfectly. I let them set in the fridge for a few hours and then cut a couple of holiday shapes out and left the rest squares. I had every intention of giving them some holiday decor, but to be honest I was ready to have a bit of a baking break. Leave it to snap, crackle and pop to restore my faith in my baking :).

I realized about this time that erin and i hadn't really eaten all day long. time to start that chili! I originally made a Weight Watchers recipe but since then it has kinda morphed into my own creation:

• 1 onion diced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• handful of baby carrots diced
• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1 1/2 cups of stock (i used homemade turkey stock from Thanksgiving)
• 1 cup of tomato sauce
• butternut squash cubed (i bought a bag of frozen)
• 1/2 container of diced mushrooms
• 1/2 bag of frozen corn
• 1 Tbls. of Paprika
• 1 tsp of Cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp of red pepper
• 2 medium tomatoes
• can of beans (your choice, i like the canalli) and a pepper of your choice
• salt and pepper to tasteCombine the onions, garlic and carrots until soft. Then add in the meat and brown for about 5 mins. Then add everything else except the beans and pepper and bring to a boil. Put on simmer for about 30-45 mins and then add the beans and pepper and cook for about 15-20 more. The longer it sits the better the flavors develop.
  

As the chili was finishing up I finished my last task. Holiday Coffee. This is a coffee that my mom throws together every year and the rule is that you can't drink any until you see the first snowfall of the year. What a great day to make this one huh? I wanted to give this to a few teachers that erin works with that are currently doing Weight Watchers. I was able to substitute enough ingredients that it made the drink fat free! Although I can't tell you the recipe (it's my mom's secret and I do want Christmas gifts from her this year :) I will tell you that it combines: hot coco, coffee, non dairy creamer, instant coffee, cinnamon and nutmeg!

I must say after a long day of baking I am ALL BAKED OUT. just in time to travel home for the holidays!

break from eating to laugh

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I know that my blog is a food blog, but while researching recipes this morning over Cinnamon Bun coffee, I guilted erin into filling out a Christmas Survey. No seriously I kinda gave her the silent treatment until she did it...boy did she deliver. thought I would share all of her Christmasness with you. Enjoy! (i sure did)

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you.......
Tis the Season to be NICE! HO HO HO
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
wrapping paper...expertly packaged with curled ribbon if katie wraps, and a sad, quilted patch-up job using multiple papers if i wrap.
2. Real tree or Artificial?
real tree (preferably of the charlie brown variety, but usually of the rockefeller center variety per katie)
3. When do you put up the tree? the day after thanksgiving. but, to be fair, katie usually puts it up and i usually "oversee" and "direct."
4. When do you take the tree down? as soon as the needles dry out and the branches drag on the floor. for our tree, that was last week, but katie would stab me with an icicle if i asked to take it down before christmas.
5. Do you like eggnog? only katie's healthy egg nog. the regular stuff is too thick. (that's what she said).
6. Favorite gift received as a child? probably my red ten-speed that i was riding around the living room at 3am on christmas morning. or my talking big bird that my parents packaged in a giant drill box. don't be fooled, even baby lesbians don't want drills, so after i got over crying for an hour, i was very happy to find it was actually a talking big bird. i will also loooove the nintendo wii that katie is getting me for christmas this year!! i mean, she better be getting it for me or else I don't think I will believe in Santa anymore.
7. Hardest person to buy for? my brother chucky is why gift cards were invented.
8. Easiest person to buy for? katie. because i love her and because her list is...um....lengthy and varied.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? no....but katie and i could dress up and stage a living installation starring us and the cats.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards mail!!!!!! email is for grinches.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? definitely a pack of blank vhs tapes that i waited to open until last because they were heavy and i thought they might be something really nice.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? charlie brown's christmas!! and fred claus!! use two hands for the milk, katie.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? december 26th of the previous year. hahahhhhhhahaa jk. like december 24th.
14/ Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? regifting rules!! especially when you're an impoverished teacher's assistant.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? i prefer to drink festive cocktails.
16. Lights on the tree? small colored lights. definitely NOT the giant ones that my dad uses. he also uses reflectors, which look like cupcake tins.
17. Favorite Christmas song? currently? the 12 days of christmas by that acapella group. "i had christmas down in africa!! do do do da do do do"
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? travel to the north pole. and by the north pole i mean watertown, ny. hey, santa lives there!!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen (and misfit RUDY). 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? a star. if i wanted an angel on top, i'd have katie climb up and sit there!!
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning, and let me just say that any time after midnight qualifies as "morning."
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? lines and last-minute shopping and those salvation army bell ringers. well, expect the guy outside christmas tree shop. i heart him.
23. Favorite decoration or color theme? snowflakes!!!!!! even the ones i make that look pathetic next to lisa's amazing orgami.
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? nothing. just the love of my friends and family. wii are all really nice and wii only want the best for each other and wii would never imagine asking for anything, now would WIIII?????
25. Who is most likely to respond to this? katie, my very own buddy the elf. daaaaaaaaaaad! daaaaaaaddd!!!

Feel free to join in the Christmas Fun and comment with your own post.