The thought of eating or making Split Pea Soup was never something I wanted to do or try. Seeing a bowl of brown/green mushy peas will change my appetite quickly… Who would want to eat that? When I asked Bill many years ago to give me a list of food he would like to have for his birthday dinner, Split Pea Soup was right there at the top. Really? Wanting to make him happy, I was willing to try and make it. By chance, I came upon a recipe in Cuisine At Home magazine that looked appealing enough for me to try and make. The addition of frozen peas in the soup was different from the other recipes I’ve seen. It turned out delicious and as a result, I served it at Bill’s birthday party and everybody liked it. As for Bill, he ate it all up and asked for a second helping.
This is the one and only Split Pea and Ham Soup recipe I’ve made over the years and now our kids are enjoying it too.
Sausage and eggplant soup is a wonderful soup recipe to make because it’s full of flavor and a very hearty meal in a bowl {with a buttery crusty bread}. It’s freezes well if you have any leftovers.
Decorating gingerbread houses is a tradition the kids look forward to every year including Bill and me. It’s a day of unlimited sweets and encouraging the kids to eat as much candy as they like! But often times, they are too busy decorating to take the time to eat the sweets that are in front of them.
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All the gingerbread houses were prepared a few days before the party. Once the pieces have been glued together with icing and hardened, the houses will be strong and easy to move around without breaking apart. I think there were about 30 houses total.
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The gingerbread houses are ready to be decorated.
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Gingerbread House
Ingredients
print gingerbread house templates, Here
{makes 3 gingerbread houses}
6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground ginger, ground cloves, ground cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
2. In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until combined.
3. Divide dough into thirds and wrap them in plastic. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
4. Heat oven to 350° .
5. On a floured work surface, roll out dough {about 1/8″ thick}. Place the templates on the dough and cut around it with a knife. Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm {10-15 minutes}.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
7. Assemble the gingerbread house pieces starting with the four walls and end with the roof. Be very generous with the icing when glueing the pieces together. The icing will also help hide any rough edges and uneven pieces.
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Royal Icing
Ingredients
{makes 4 1/2 -5 cups}
2 pounds of confectioners’ sugar
4 tablespoons meringue powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ – 1 cup of water
Instructions
In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk attachment {or the paddle attachment}, combine confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, vanilla, and ½ cup of water. With the mixer on low speed, add the remaining water as needed a little at a time until the mixture reaches the desired thickness. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high, whisk for about 4-5 minutes until soft glossy peaks form. * I made the icing for assembling the gingerbread pieces a little thicker than for decorating.
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Disposable Pastry Bags make it quick and easy to decorate and eliminate messy cleanup. Fill a disposable pastry bag with icing and tie a knot at the top. With a pair of scissors, cut a hole {1/8″-1/4″ wide} at the bottom tip of the bag. It is ready to be used.
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Decorating the Gingerbread House
Use a cardboard cake circle as the base for the gingerbread house to stand on and to move it around easily.
Cranberry relish is not just for Thanksgiving dinner in our family. My two daughters will take a bowl like this one and eat all of it up {I will too}. This recipe is full of “Stuff”; the combination of sweet/tart and soft/chunky in every bite. It’s a great side dish with turkey or warm it up and spoon it over chicken or pork. This cranberry relish with pear and orange is a twist on the classic cranberry sauce.
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
3-4 oranges, segmented {without pith and membranes}
2 Bartlett pears {firm and slightly green}, peeled and cubed to bite size
1 pound fresh cranberries {one 12 oz bag of cranberries will work fine}
1/2 cup water
zest of one orange
{makes 4 cups}
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Tips & How to’s
Orange Zest
Use a microplane to grate the thin outer layer of an orange, careful not to scrape the white bitter part of the rind.
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Segmented Oranges
steps 1 & 2
Cut the top and bottom of the orange to expose the inner flesh. Set it down on one end and with a knife start from the top, cut the rind downwards just inside the pith. Repeat this procedure all the way around the orange until the flesh is completely exposed.
step 3
Hold orange over a bowl, slice the knife into the orange along the membranes to separate the segments. Continue around the orange and place each segment into the bowl below.
step 4
After all the segments are removed, squeeze the orange to extract the last bit of the juice.
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Cooking Instructions
1. Combine sugar, orange juice, water and cranberries in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the berries pop open {about 10-15 minutes}.
2. Add pears and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Turn heat off and add orange zest and segments and stir.
4. Start the canning process or let it cool to room temperature and refrigerate.
The canning process can be done with equipment you probably already have, but the one canning tool I recommend as a must have is a jar lifter. It makes the process much easier and safer when transfering a jar in and out of the hot water without it slipping.
1. Sanitize canning jars and keep them warm. Prepare the lids according to the package directions.
2. Fill a large pot with water enough to cover the jars by 1 inch. Heat the water up to a broil {not roaring boil}
3. Ladle the relish into warm jars, leaving approximately 1/2 inch of space at the top.
4. Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean, damp paper towel.
5. Place the lid and ring on the jar. Hand-tighten the canning ring.
6. Place a rack for the jars to stand on in the pot {the jars should not be touching the bottom of the pot}
7. Place the jars into the hot water bath making sure they are not touching each other or the bottom of the pot. Add more water if needed to cover the jars by 1 inch.
8 Process the jars for 15 minutes, keeping the water at a gentle boil for the entire time.
9. Remove the jars from the water and allow them to sit undisturbed for 24 hours. As the jars cool down, a popping sound will occur from the lid as an indicator of a good seal.
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Packaging Supplies • brown paper / paper bags • rubber bands • white crinkled shredded paper/grass
• cello bags {5″x3″x11″} • ribbon • double-sided tape • cardboard pieces {2 1/2″ x 4″} • white café au lait bowls, 8 oz capacity {BIA Cordon Bleu or Apilco} • labels {print Here} • template for the jar cover {print Here}
Instructions
Use the template provided Here and trace out the jar lid cover on brown paper/paper bag. Stick a piece of double sided tape to the top of the jar lid at the center and attach a brown paper circle cutout. Stick another piece of double sided tape on top of the paper cover and attach a label {print Here}. Fold the edges of the paper and label down and over the sides of the lid. Stretch a rubber band around the sides of the lid to secure the paper cover and label in place.
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Gift Wrapping
The last few steps to wrap the gift. Place a piece of cardboard inside the cello bag for the bowl to stand on. Add crinkled paper grass inside the bowl then a jar of cranberry relish. Tie the cello bag with a ribbon and that is it.
Instead of a jar of cranberry relish, substituting it with jam, cookies or pastries will be just as wonderful to give this Christmas.
Chicken and Rice Soup is our family “Comfort Soup” when feeling sick and under the weather. It won’t cure the stuffy nose, the coughing or the achiness, but it will soothe the body with warmth, nourishment and makes everything ok for a little while. The cold season definitely is here and our family have felt it with just a month into the school year. When sickness hits home, Chicken and Rice Soup is on the menu. I’ve made it twice last week and froze some for later.
The recipe is simple to make using basic ingredients. It has been the same for the most part with a few changes made through the years since my first child was little. During those younger years it was hard to feed them anything when they were sick. Any food or liquid I could get into their little bodies was a huge accomplishment. A simple broth soup with soft creamy vegetables and protein came about. They loved it then and {maybe more} now.
10 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
2 cups cold water
2 cups leek {1 med leek}, white and tender green only, chopped 1/8 inch thick
1 1/2 cups carrots {2 med carrots}, shredded {use the coarse side of the cheese grater}
1 cup celery {2 celery stalks}, chopped
3/4 cup white rice, washed and rinsed {not cooked}
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1/2 cup scallions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
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Shred carrots on the cheese grater and chop leek and celery.
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Wash and rinse white rice with cold water a few times to get rid of most of the starch {the water will look milky during the washing}. Stop washing when the water is almost clear. Add the white rice along with carrots, leek and celery to the pot.
Pour chicken stock and water into the pot.
Turn the heat to High and stir occasionally until the soup comes to a boil. Turn the heat down to Low and cover the pot with a lid, leaving a little opening for steam to let out. Cook it for about 1 – 1 1/2 hours, stirring it occasionally.
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After 1 – 1 1/2 hours of cooking, all the ingredients will be soft and tender with a creamy broth.
Add cooked shredded chicken, green onions, sesame oil, salt and pepper to the pot.
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Stir all the ingredients together and let it cook for about 5 minutes longer then serve.
A few things I did differently to serve this soup to my kids when they were little:
1. The vegetables were chopped smaller.
2. Left the green onions out from the ingredients just because it has a stronger taste.
3. Added extra chicken broth to their soup bowls to make it easy for them to eat/drink.
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Soup in mugs is a great way to serve a crowd or just for one sitting on a comfy sofa with a warm blanket.
After all the kids were healthy and well again, it was my turn to get the runt of it … actually a Triple Dose of it! They were pretty much over and done with their colds in 3 days where I would be just getting started.
What is your “comfort food” during the cold and flu season?
