Holidays Archives | Page 8 of 11

Last Minute Food-Inspired Gifts

December 21, 2010

Have you looked at the calendar yet? If not, maybe you should just avoid it all together. I’m so excited it is Christmas week (even more excited that I’m off work until the New Year), but I can’t believe it is already the 21st!

I had planned to do 10 leisurely posts throughout December highlighting some of my favorite things to serve as gift ideas. Well I’ve done 2 and there are 4 shopping days until Christmas. Yeah, the math doesn’t work out so well.

So let’s scratch that plan with the countdown and I’ll just give a few more of my favorites. If you are anything like me you still have shopping to do. Today I’m a baking machine, tomorrow, I’m headed out to brave the crowds and finish up the gift buying.

If you need a stocking stuffer, I love these little kitchen scrubber shaped like fruit from Loofah-Art. I picked one up for a friend and I think this watermelon is the cutest. The scrubbers are described as eco-friendly and bio-degradable. The company works to support impoverished farmers certified to grow loofah in developing cultures. I picked mine up at Harry and David’s.

I can’t get over how cute ornaments are these days. Hallmark has so many series out now and a couple are kitchen and food-inspired. I picked up this one for $10, an adorable tray of cupcakes, frosted and ready to serve.

I read The Spice Necklace: My Adventures in Caribbean Cooking, Eating, and Island Life by Ann Vanderhoof this summer for a book review I did for The Lost Girls World. This is such a great book about Ann’s adventures with her husband to sail the Caribbean islands with a mission to learn all she could about cooking the local foods. It is adventure novel, documentary and cookbook all in one! Check out my review if you’d like to learn more about it.

We returned from Jamaica last week. Considering how my interest in cookbooks has spiked over the past year, I had my eye out for a souvenir that would teach me more about Caribbean cooking. I found it in Eat Caribbean by Virginia Burke. There are recipes for traditional foods from around the Caribbean islands such as Jerked Chicken with Avocado and Papaya salad and Pepperpot Soup. It is also filled with recipes for spice mixes, rubs and dressings, not to mention gorgeous food and travel photography.

I also reviewed several cookbooks this year that top my list.

Canning for a New Generation – A must if you want to preserve foods that are a little more adventurous and creative than the traditional things grandmother used to make.

Good to the Grain – If you like to bake with whole and alternative grains, you need this book!

Good Meat – A guide for the home cook about small scale meat production and sustainable methods; how to find it and how to cook it. It’s an excellent resource.

Jonathan’s Bluegrass Table – The best of Kentucky cooking with a gourmet twist. The recipes are some of the best southern fare you will find.

Do you still have holiday shopping to finish up?

Holiday Cookies – A Recap of the International Blogger Recipe Exchange!

December 17, 2010

Cookies, cookies from around the world!

When Adrienne of Gastroanthropology and I set out to do an international holiday cookie recipe exchange via the food blogging world, I had no idea what to expect. It started when Adrienne asked if I would like to do a cookie exchange with her. Um, partner with a fab food blogger and pastry chef, I think yes. I have enjoyed Adrienne’s blog since I discovered it when I was still an expat myself.

We brainstormed a bit, first thinking we could ship cookies. Then we decided we wanted to keep it international and customs might pose a problem. But what’s the next best thing to getting actual cookies? Cookie recipes! Well, at least if you are a food blogger.

What followed was an exchange of delicious recipes and memorable stories. Once the cookies were baked and recipes posted it got even better. Beautiful photographs, blogger introductions and baking creativity were just a few of the things inspired by the recipe exchange.

We ended up with 19 participants from across the world. That is 19 cookie recipes just in time for your final holiday baking! When you browse the blogs below this is a sampling of what you will find.

Chocolate Peppermint Patties photo by Kathy of A Good Appetite

Mango-Coconut Biscotti photo by Jen of Domestic Divas

Russian Tea Cakes right here on Fake Food Free

Thanks to all those who participated! I hope we can make this exchange an annual event!

Cayenne Chocolate Dipped Pfeffernusee made by A Day in the Life

Penny’s PB&J Cookies made by Mindy’s Mouthful

Lemon Whippersnappers made by A Nutritionist Eats

Brazilian Jubilee Cookie made by French Fries to Flaxseed

Chocolate Peppermint Patties made by A Good Appetite

Coconut Mango Lime Biscotti made by Domestic Divas

Triple Ginger Cookies made by My McDonald Meal

Snowball Cookies made by Eats Well with Others

Maple Brown Sugar Cookies made by Ancient Fire and Wine Blog

Russian Tea Cakes made by Fake Food Free (yours truly)

That’s not all! Head over to Gastroanthropology to check out the other half of the holiday recipe exchange participants. It just keeps getting better from here!

Back Home in Jamaica

December 15, 2010

Welcome home!

That is always the first response we hear when we arrive in Jamaica. Well, after they ask us how many times we’ve been there. This time was number five and after traveling to Antigua for our yearly Caribbean trip last December, I was glad to be back on one of my favorite islands.

If you’ve read my blog for a while you know that the trip we just returned from last night (delayed and minus one bag) is one my husband and I have taken since our honeymoon in 2003. We moved the date to December which happens to be an awesome time because there is nothing like Christmas ornaments and palm trees in lights in the middle of the tropics.

We switch resorts each year and often islands as well. While we consider most all of our other trips travel (which to me means exploration), this trip is vacation. We sometimes do go off the resort like our private tour of Antigua last year, but this year, we just sat, and read, and ate and drank.

Did I mention we ate?

The weather was unlike anything we have experienced in previous trips. We only had a few days of sun, lots of clouds and some pretty fierce wind. Despite that, it is hard to be disappointed when you can watch the ocean, touch the sand, talk to people of one of my favorite cultures, and eat amazing food.

We aren’t buffet people, but depending on the resort are sometimes forced into that at breakfast. Breakfast is where we have to exercise the most restraint and pace ourselves. If you are too tempted by breakfast, then you won’t be hungry for a jerk patty at lunch. If you eat too much at lunch then say good-bye to enjoying your 4 course dinner.

Jerk Chicken Caesar Wrap

Jamaican Beef Patty and a Red Stripe

I guess one could say we’ve learned over the years and try to avoid rookie mistakes. Passing on pancakes is well worth Jerk Pork Roti or Beef Wellington stuffed with spinach and mushrooms and paired with grilled shrimp.

Caesar Salad with a Jerk Chicken Toast

Beef Wellington, Grilled Shrimp and Vegetables

My photos are a mix those taken with good light, bad light, a point and shoot and my DSLR. For what it’s worth, enjoy!

I’ll be back in the North American Christmas spirit and baking away as soon as I get the suitcase unpacked!

Singapore Sling
They make a great one in Jamaica.

Pina Colada with dark rum

Chicken Curry with Poppadom and Mango Chutney

Fish and Chips

My favorite dessert – Coconut Bread Pudding with Ice Cream. Followed closely by…

Coffee Cheesecake with finely ground coffee baked into the top.

Bloody Mary in the morning. My favorite drink because it is made with the amazing
Catch A Fire Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce.

My husband’s favorite – 15 year El Dorado Rum on the rocks. Goes nicely with the Christmas decorations.

Chips with Curry. Yes, we had a lot of curry.

My favorite lunch. Salad with a little jerk pork and chicken on the side.

Every day needs a little Rum Punch.

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Now, those of you who entered last for a chance to win the Oh Nuts gift certificate and have been waiting patiently.

The winner via Random.org is #2, Cynthia! I’ll contact you via email. Congrats! Thanks to all those who entered.

Gifts for the Food Lover 9: DonateFruit.com

December 10, 2010

I was reading through some magazines over the Thanksgiving Holiday and came across this great gift idea. I love it when I see programs or organizations that work to donate fresh foods to food banks. Amidst the boxed and canned processed items, it is nice to know that those in need can have the opportunity to benefit from fresh fruit.

Donatefruit.com is a way for shoppers to purchase fruit and give to a food bank at the same time. For every pound of fruit shoppers purchase, Naumes Fruit Gifts will donate a pound of fruit to a food bank through their Give a Gift, Feed the Need Program™.

Now, I have not purchased from this company myself, but when I came across the project in the magazine I felt that it was such a great cause that I should share the word.

If you have any fruit-lovers on your list, what a great way to give a gift and help get fresh produce to the hungry.

Russian Tea Cakes: International Blogger Holiday Cookie Recipe Exchange!

December 7, 2010

Our holiday cookie recipe exchange is in full swing! There are 19 participants and by December 15th each will have made and posted about a cookie recipe received from a fellow food blogger. Shortly after the 15th Adrienne and I will have a summary post with links to all the great cookie recipes so everyone can enjoy the results.

Today, I’m happy to be posting the recipe I received. It comes from Jason of Ancient Fire Wine Blog. Along with this recipe for Russian Tea Cakes, Jason sent along a story about how this recipe came to be a regular on his family’s holiday table. I enjoyed the story so I decided not to paraphrase it for you.

Jason writes:

These are my absolute favorite cookie my Mom always makes at Christmas. They never last long, mostly because of me. I called her to ask for the recipe this week and she told me the story of how she came by it, a story had never heard. When she was a little girl her Mom used to take her and her brothers across the street to a church that held lots of neighborhood activities including potlucks, etc. These cookies would be there from time to time. She recalls being there one day by herself (she can’t recall why or how) and that someone had made the Russian Tea Cakes again.
These were her favorites too so you can imagine how excited she would have been anytime she found them. She enjoyed a few, much like I would if they were just sitting around, but this time she asked around and found the person who made them. She proudly came home with the recipe which she has now been making for 50+ years around Christmas. I believe she was overwhelmed with joy that I called to ask for this recipe. I didn’t realize how meaningful the cookies were to her and I feel so good for having done so.

These cookies hold a bit of a special place in my heart as well. In my family we called them Mexican Wedding Cakes. My grandmother never had a Christmas Eve holiday cookie tray without these cookies on it. She passed away a couple years ago while we were living in Brazil so I fondly remember every way she made our holiday party special. It is foods and memories like these that never fail to bring a smile to my heart.

I didn’t alter the recipe that was sent to me. The specific ingredients I used included unsalted butter, unbleached all-purpose flour and pecans.

I hope you enjoy them as much as Jason and I do!

Russian Tea Cakes
Recipe from Jason of Ancient Fire Wine Blog

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
Additional confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter, vanilla and 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar. Add salt, nuts and flour to creamed mixture. Form dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place balls on an ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Watch the cookies closely so they don’t get too brown on the bottom.

Cool for 5 minutes and then roll in confectioners’ sugar. After they cool or before you serve, roll in confectioners’ sugar again. Makes about 4 dozen (I rolled mine big so I got a little over 2 dozen).

Holiday Baking – Oh Nuts Giveaway

December 5, 2010

Remember back in the summer when I received that great package of nuts and dried cherries from Oh Nuts?

I used them to make Cherry Lemon Pistachio Scones and Chocolate Cashew Shortbread. Both are great for the holiday season.

Well, Oh Nuts has given me the opportunity to share the love so I’m giving away a $25 gift certificate to a lucky winner.

There are 3 ways you can enter. Please leave a comment for each of the things you do so that your efforts will be counted when I select the random winner.

Entries (via comments) will be accepted through midnight EST on December 14, 2010. I’ll announce the winner by December 15, 2010. I’ll need to reach you if you win, so only entries with a valid email address so will be counted.

3 Ways to Enter

Go to the Oh Nuts Christmas Gift Baskets or Hanukkah Gifts page. Let me know in the comments which you like most by leaving the name of the item along with the url.

Check out the Oh Nuts Facebook Page. Post the url and name of your fave gift from the pages above. Please post “I am here via Fake Food Free” for the comment to qualify.

Follow @ohnuts on Twitter. Tweet about the contest using “Win a free Hanukkah Gift from http://bit.ly/6nIsCi Follow @ohnuts & Retweet to enter” or “Win a free Christmas Gift from http://bit.ly/dUpizt Follow @ohnuts & Retweet to enter “

Remember: Leave a comment for each of the 3 things that you do.

Disclosure: Oh Nuts is providing this gift certificate to one winner at random, free of charge. I was under no obligation to blog about this contest. By offering this to my readers, I also received a gift certificate from Oh Nuts.

Whole Wheat Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

December 2, 2010

I rarely bake with solely whole wheat flour. I think you probably know why. Who wants to sit down to a glass of milk and a hockey puck?

I love the complex flavor of whole wheat flour, but when it comes to cookies it leaves a lot to be desired regarding texture. That was until I came across the Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe in Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.

These cookies call for only whole wheat flour. I was skeptical, but I decided to give them a try. I changed them up a bit adding two kinds of chocolate and dried cranberries for some festive color.

Wow, who knew a whole wheat cookie could be so great! Honestly, I’d prefer these over a traditional white flour cookie. They are that good!

It takes a bit of effort to get them to spread well. I scooped the dough out by the heaping tablespoon and then gently flattened them just a bit to help them out. If you do that, you’ll end up with big, beautiful, whole grain cookies.

Whole Wheat Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Adapted from Chocolate Chip Cookies, Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
½ cup dark chocolate chips
½ cup white chocolate chips
¾ cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.

Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet, adding a little at a time, just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and cranberries. Scoop by the tablespoon and place on a baking sheet pan.

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes until the cookies are evenly baked and slightly browned. Remove from the oven, cool cookies on a wire rack. Makes about 24 large cookies.

Gifts for the Food Lover 10: Teavana Chai and German Rock Sugar

December 1, 2010

I’ve been seeing a lot of gift lists on my favorite food blogs lately and I love reading through them. There are so many things I’ve never come across before and I end up with all kinds of new ideas.

Since I’ve come across lots of great things this year myself, I thought I’d put together my own list. So from now through Christmas I’ll be interspersing a few posts to highlight some of my favorite food-related items including books.

The first is something my husband and I found during a recent trip to Florida for a family wedding. We were killing time in the Florida Mall in Orlando while waiting to pick up family from the airport. As we walked by Teavana the white tea they were sampling caught our eye.

We tried it and were intrigued by the flavor. It was mildly fruity, slightly sweet with the warm spices of chai. We found out later that it was a mix of the Samurai Chai Mate and the White Ayurvedic Chai.

We rarely try something like this and simply have to buy some, but this was an exception. I think we surprised ourselves that we liked it since we are usually fans of Chinese green and black teas with no additional flavors or spices. This tea was just too unique to pass up. Not only in flavor, but also in the look. It was full of pieces of coconut and whole spices.

After settling on the tea, I started talking with the sales clerk about the sugar they used to sweeten the tea. She said that they used a very small amount of German Rock Sugar to release some of the aromatic flavors in the tea.

Of course with my interest in different types of sugars, I had to ask more about German Rock Sugar. This was the first I had ever heard of it. The sales clerk said that it was an unrefined sugar that just barely sweetened the tea. She was right about its sweetness. It has a wonderful flavor, which is why we bought some to compliment our newly purchased tea.

Since then I’ve been trying to seek out an exact definition and source of German Rock Sugar. A simple Google search repeatedly leads you back to the Teavana site. After digging a little deeper I did find a bit about its origin – East Frisia in the far Northwest Corner of Germany.

germanFoods.org states:

The traditional preparation of East Frisian tea is a well-defined ritual: First a piece of rock candy sugar called Kluntjes is placed in…cups… The freshly brewed hot tea is then poured on top of the sugar… The rock sugar will melt slowly which allows multiple cups to be sweetened with the same piece.

Learning the term Kluntjes led me to search for that specifically, which taught me that Kluntje – Kandis translates to rock candy (or something similar) in English. Another site I found did say that it was unprocessed and unrefined and I haven’t found any information on the actual process. A look at the Kölner website tells me that the type we bought from Teavana most closely resembles Kölner Krusten Kandis.

So I may not have learned all I wanted to about German Rock Sugar, but I definitely know a bit more than I did. And, of course, I’ve discovered a new type of sugar to experiment with!

If you have some tea lovers on your list, this blend would make a great gift. You can throw in some of the sugar with a history lesson to make the gift even more interesting and sweet.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

November 26, 2010

Psst.

Is it safe yet?

Is it safe to officially break the holiday posts?!

I always feel a bit sorry for Thanksgiving. It’s sad when you walk into a store in mid-November and the one table of ceramic turkeys and pumpkin spiced candles is tucked in a far corner. Meanwhile the rest of the store is plastered with snowflakes, stockings and Santa.

I like to give Thanksgiving the respect it deserves, but once it is over bring on the red and green holiday season! Bring on the cookies, snowflakes, penguins and polar bears!

My husband and I were in Panera recently and he pointed out some festively packaged chocolate crinkle cookies. I’ve seen recipes for them before, but I’ve never gotten around to making them. Instead of buying one, I decided this year I would do just that.

The ones we saw were chocolate-peppermint, but I didn’t have any peppermint extract or fresh mint so I went with classic chocolate. I found a recipe for Chocolate-Ginger Crinkle Cookies posted on Leite Culinaria last year. I made changes in the sugars and flours and omitted the ginger to create my own crinkle cookie. I decided not to use white whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I did select an unbleached white flour.

These cookies are a cross between a cookie and brownie. I like the addition of the extra chocolate pieces because it gives you a little extra something in each bite.

The dough was more like a batter after I mixed it up and I got a little worried that it wouldn’t turn out like a cookie. After it sat in the fridge, however, it firmed up and I could easily roll the dough into balls.

I learned very quickly that the secret to making these cookies crinkle is to roll them heavily in powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar) to the point where it looks like way too much. The first sheet I baked off I used too little and the white dusting quickly melted away into the cookie as it cooled. I rolled the cookies more heavily the second time and they turned out beautifully.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Adapted from Chocolate-Ginger Crinkle Cookies as posted on Leite Culinaria

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur’s)
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
6 oz dark chocolate chips, chopped (I used Ghirardelli 60% baking chips)
¾ cup Demerara sugar
¼ cup muscovado sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Confectioners’ sugar

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Place the butter and 3 oz of the chopped chocolate in a microwave-proof bowl. Microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Allow the chocolate to cool for a few minutes.

Stir the Demerara and muscovado sugar into to the melted chocolate and butter. Add the eggs and mix well until they are combined. Stir in the vanilla and remaining chopped chocolate. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients until combined. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Place about a ½ cup of powdered sugar in a shallow bowl or on a plate. (You will likely need more as you work your way through the dough.)

Roll the dough into balls. You can make the balls about 1 ½ inch balls or larger for big cookies, about 2 ½ inches. I did a mix of both. Roll the cookies heavily in powdered sugar and place at least 2 inches apart on your baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies spread and crack and the center of the cookies is firm.

Allow to cool on the cookie sheet 1 to 2 minutes and transfer to a baking rack to cool completely. The cookies will keep for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container, but are prettiest when served within 1 day of baking. Makes 24 to 36 cookies, depending on the size.

On an unrelated note, anyone else out there use Google and feel like it kills the resolution of your pictures? Once I get them in the post, they aren’t sharp anymore. I’m trying not to reduce the resolution too much before uploading them, but it isn’t helping. Anyone have any tips?

Blackberry Cranberry Sauce with Cinnamon

November 23, 2010

I’m always looking for ways to use the berries I collect all summer and store in the freezer. This cranberry sauce combines frozen blackberries for a Thanksgiving side dish that has a little taste of summer and fall!

It wasn’t my original intention to bombard you with cranberries during this special Thanksgiving week, but I do love them. This past Saturday we were able to catch Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network. Not just any Throwdown, mind you, but the episode where he took on none other than the Pioneer Woman in a competition of Thanksgiving Feasts!

Did you happen to catch it? I thought it was so much fun!

In the episode, Bobby made a cranberry sauce that also included blackberries. Until I saw it, I had never really thought of adding another berry to my favorite Thanksgiving condiment. Orange or orange zest is always my go-to addition, but I thought the blackberry flavor was too brilliant to pass up.

Lucky me, I still had some blackberries from my Dad’s garden in the freezer.

This cranberry sauce could not be easier. I used demerara sugar to sweeten it and bumped up the amount a bit just because the variety of blackberries I used and the cranberries are tart. Once it thickened, I stirred in some vanilla to add a little something extra and then some cinnamon to spice it up. The pecans are optional of course, but they give the sauce a little something extra in appearance, taste and texture.

Blackberry Cranberry Sauce with Cinnamon

Makes: 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1 cup fresh or defrosted cranberries
1 cup fresh or defrosted blackberries
¾ cup demerara sugar
¼ cup water
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp pecans, chopped

Prep

Combine the berries in a saucepan and add the sugar and water. Cook on medium-high heat to a boil. Continue to boil hard for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently and then constantly as it thickens. (The sauce will thicken by boiling and also when it cools.)

Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and cinnamon.

Allow to cool to the temperature you desire. I like my cranberry sauce warm. Transfer to the serving dish and top with pecans.

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