CHRISTMAS SIMMER POT

Last year a friend gifted me a simmer pot and I absolutely loved it!  I was able to get three full days of some of the most joyful scents of the season spreading throughout my house.  So naturally since I enjoyed this gift so much, I wanted to pass it along to my own family members this year (oh, and of course I made another for myself).  

If you're totally unfamiliar with this concept.  I'm going to take you through the steps for those that I created.  The concept is to create either a gift bag or mason jar full of items that blend together when simmered on a stovetop (or crockpot) to bring to mind the scents of the holiday season.  

I chose to use fresh cranberries, and rosemary.  I dried in the oven orange, apple and lemon slices.  Then for my spice mixture, I chose cinnamon sticks, star anise and whole cloves.   The concept with the spices is to choose the natural form versus the ground versions that we all have on our spice shelf.  Wy? Because they're so pretty in their natural state, they're more robust, and you won't leave behind the powdery remnants in the container.  

I also opted to make card labels for the outside to familiarize my gift recipient of what they were receiving and how they could enjoy it.  

Since I have a Silhouette machine, I put together a festive card using it.  You could certainly handwrite the instructions or simply print out a "word" document as well.  Let your creativity be your guide. 

  

To the left is my finished product.  I chose a seasonal gift bag for one of my recipients, and for the other whose gift was being mailed, I chose a mason jar to ensure a little extra protection during shipping (forgot to get a picture before I sent it off).  

Just to get you creative juices simmering (pun intended).....this doesn't just have to be a holiday gift.  Depending on the ingredients you choose to use, you could easily enjoy a simmer pot for other occasions as well.  For instance, dried citrus fruits with a vanilla bean and thyme.    And of course, you don't necessarily have to dry your fruit.  I did that because of the gift I was shipping to my Mother- in-Law (I didn't want to send perishable items) and then used the remainder for my Daughter's and mine.

I had as much fun putting these together for others as I do enjoying my own.  I hope you do as well!

LINZER COOKIES

 I have a solid annual repertoire of Christmas cookies that I bake, but I've always loved the look of the Linzer cookie for the holidays.  They just look so festive to me, so I thought I'd try my hand at them.  

The Linzer is a classic Austrian sandwich cookie, with a raspberry jam filling.  The tops are dusted with powdered sugar.  Naturally, when I spotted a snowflake cookie cutter, I thought that would be so cute as a Linzer cookie.....Well......

Below is a picture of the classic Linzer cookie that is most common.  Either a plain or crimped circle with an interior circle/heart/star cutout so that you can see the raspberry jam inside.  

I learned there's a reason for the simple shape. First, the snowflakes aren't going to all be the same with the process of cutting, transferring to the cookie sheet and baking....so, when you go to stack them, they won't perfectly align.  Not the end of the world....but the second complication is the step after baking, when you're spreading the jam.  Trying to get just enough, but not too much jam all the way down the legs of the stars.  It took some of the fun out of the process.  

The flavor however, is lovely.  You'll find all different recipes out there.  I'll share the one that I used.  

Icebox Cookie Dough

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and at room temp

1 cup powder sugar, sifted

1 large egg, at room temp

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

seedless raspberry jam 

DIRECTIONS:

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the egg, and extracts to blend.  Slowly incorporate the flour and salt until the dough comes together. 

Shape the dough into 2 discs and chill for at least 2 hours before rolling.

Knead the first disc of dough and soften it a little and then roll it out on a lightly floured surface to just about ¼ inch thick.  Use a 2 inch cookie cutter to cut out as many circles as you can.  Use a small circle, or even a pastry tip to cut a hole in the center of half of the cookies.  Arrange the cookies with a hole on one tray and the cookies without on a second tray, leaving one inch between them.  Repeat with the second disc and any remaining scraps of dough.  

Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes (keep an eye on the cookies with the hole-they may take a minute less to bake) until they just start to show signs of coloring on the edges.  Cool the cookies before assembling.  

Dust the cookies with the holes generously with powder sugar before assembling.  Spread a little jam on the bottom of the cookie without a hold and sandwich it with a dusted one....press lightly.

Will I make these again?  Absolutely.  But before I do, I'm going to get myself a crimped circle cookie cutter.  

Enjoy!

WAINSCOTING

This is the first house we've owned that had wainscoting included in the original build.  It was used around the lower half of the dining room walls, which I found to be a really nice design element. 

Fast forward almost nine years in the house and I decided to "encourage" my husband to continue the wainscoting on the main entryway wall.  

We used the measurements from the dining room as the road map for this wall.  The challenges were determining the actual interior paint color that was used (they left us some touch up paint, but the name of the color was nowhere to be found).  Do you have any idea how many colors of white there are?  Fortunately, the Sherwin Williams up the road was able to help, but only because there was an individual who worked there who knew the original name of the painters who the builder used back then.  

   

The other challenge was finding the actual chair rail moulding.  We never did find the one they used, but what we found was a close enough match.  Both the chair rail and the half inch round were really difficult to find.  The box stores didn't carry it.  We had to have it ordered through a lumber yard.  We never did get an understanding of why you couldn't find these items in stock.  We waited almost six weeks for it to arrive.

My husband was able to finish this in just a couple days, once we had all the supplies in hand.   The dining room has the smooth panels on the lower half with the half inch round on top of it.  We chose to bypass that step and just used the white paint over the existing texture.  Had we wanted to continue with additional wainscoting in the dining room, I definitely would have used the panels, but for the entryway hall, I was perfectly fine with the matching paint.  

I love it!  This has been a really dark area of the house, so the white accents have definitely brightened it up.  The total cost of the project was under $100.....it should have been way under that.  I was shocked what the Sherwin Williams store charged me for a quart of paint (but I felt kind of obligated to purchase the paint there given the help they provided me).  

I moved a painting from the living room and placed it on this wall....not sure, I'm sold on it.  But it works for the time being.  

Deep Dish Pizza

 I've been wanting to try my hand at a deep dish skillet pizza for a long time.  This past weekend I gave it a try and boy was it worth it!  America's Test Kitchen shared a cheese version of this recipe.  I made it with extra toppings, which included: Italian sausage, pepperoni, red/green pepper and onion. 

*The dough comes together very easily and uses a cold rise, so you want to make it a day ahead of the day you plan to eat your pizza.  Also the "day of " you need to add lead time in prior to baking (more details in the directions).  It's not a big deal, it's just important to know that so you're sitting down to eat when you plan on doing so.  

INGREDIENTS: 

DOUGH

2 cups bread flour

1 tsp table salt

1 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)

TOPPINGS

7 oz. whole milk mozzarella, shredded

4 oz. Monterey Jack, shredded

1/2 cup pizza sauce (I used a jar version)

DIRECTIONS:

*Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Add in the warm water.  Use your hands to bring it all together into a nice dough.  Place it in a pie plate sprayed with cooking spray (you don't even need to spread it out).  Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge for 12-24 hours.  It will spread during the cold rise to fill the pie plate. 

Remove the dough from the fridge 30 minutes prior to working with it....also keeping in mind you need 90 minutes of room temperature rising time before placing your pizza in the oven to bake. 

Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes.  Add a skim coat of olive oil to your skillet.  Oil your fingertips with olive oil and spread the dough to within 1/8" of the edge, deflating any large bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 90 minutes.  

Add 1/2 cup sauce to the center of the pizza.  Spread it to within 1/2" of the side of the pan.  Add the shredded jack cheese to the perimeter pressing it into the sides (this creates a nice crisp cheesy outside edge) of the skillet.   Add your mozzarella all over the top.  

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes placing it on the lowest rack of your oven.  Let sit for 3-4 minutes after removing from the oven.  Use a bread knife to loosen the edges.  Look underneath.  If you'd like the bottom crispier, place the skillet onto a burner (I did this...it took about 4-5 minutes to brown).  Cool 10 minutes prior to slicing. 

I think you'll agree that his pizza has a wonderful flavor.  I would suggest it also is a perfect recipe for a deep dish cheese pizza.  

Here's some thoughts I have for the next time.....

As I mentioned, I also topped mine with 2 meats and some veggies.....I found there really wasn't enough "real estate" on the surface to really make it the way I wanted to.  So, my next attempt will be to use a rimmed baking sheet.  I loved the flavor of the dough, so I will use that again.  I'll probably make 1.5x the dough recipe, since I enjoyed the height of the dough, but by having more room to work with as a rectangular pizza, I can really top it generously the way we like our pizzas.  I think the crust will still crisp with olive oil on the bottom of the baking sheet and baking it on the lower rack of the oven.   Can't wait to try it again!!!

BEEF BOURGUIGNON

 I finally got around to trying my hand at this classic dish.  And, boy is it a winner!  You need to be prepared for plenty of prep time cutting and slicing veggies mostly, but the reward is delicious.  Deep, rich and so full of flavor.  

This makes 6 generous servings, so if you're a small family like us.....you'll be able to freeze some and enjoy at another time without all the work!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp. good olive oil

8 oz. dry center cut applewood smoke bacon, diced

2 ½ lbs. chuck beef cut in to 1 inch cubes

salt

pepper

1 lb. carrots, sliced diagonally into 1 inch chunks

2 yellow onions, sliced

2 tsp. chopped garlic

1 750 ml bottle dry red wine such as pinot noir

1 can (2 cups) beef broth

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (½ tsp. dry)

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temp (divided)

3 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1 lb. fresh mushrooms stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

½ cup chopped fresh parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven.  Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned.  Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.

2.  Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper.  In batches in single layers, sear the beef in hot oil for 3-5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides.  Remove the cubes to the plate of bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned.  Set aside. 

3.  Toss the carrots and onion, plus 1 Tbsp. of salt and 2 tsp. of pepper into the fat in the pan and cook for 10-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are lightly browned. 

4. Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees.   Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices.  Add the bottle of wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat.  Add the tomato paste and thyme.  Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 1.25 hours or until the meat and veggies are very tender when pierced with a fork.  

5.  Combine 2 Tbsp. butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew.  Saute' the mushroom in 2 Tbsp. of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew.  Bring the stew to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Season to taste.  

6.  You can serve the stew as is, over egg noodles or a slice of toasted bread.   Garnish with the fresh chopped parsley. 

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten 

PRAGUE AND VIENNA

 This year's Mother/Daughter vacation was a trip to the land of my Dad's ancestors.  Depending on the documentation I've collected during my ancestry searches, his family was from: Czechoslovakia, Moravia, Austria, Russia, Bohemia....you get the picture.  So I decided I would explore parts of what would have been the "Austro-Hungarian" empire in those days and landed on Prague and Vienna. 

I put together a twelve day trip; 2 days traveling, 10 days on the ground exploring.  We started in Prague.  We had 6 nights/5 days in Prague and the same in Vienna.  As always, I had several hours of activity for our first night...we like to push through to do our best to get adjusted to our new time zone. 

We stayed on the east side of the Vlatava river in the "castle district", which as you'd imagine is near the Prague Castle.  I prefer to stay in areas that aren't as popular with the tourists.  It did mean a lot of extra walking for us each day, but to me it was worth it.   We found a cute little cafe' near our hotel and had breakfast there three of the mornings we were there.  

 

We took two "day trips" out of Prague.  One was to the town of Kutna Hora to see the Sedlec ossuary (bone church) and St. Barbara's cathedral.  The other outing was a guided tour to the Terezin concentration camp.   The concentration camp was very educational and sobering and the weather was dismal which seemed fitting for the setting. We saw all the usual sites in old Town, including the famous Charles Bridge on our way there.  As usual, we packed a lot into a short amount of time, and before you know it we were on our way to the train station for our trip to Vienna. 

I had done some pre-planning for our first night in Vienna.  We started by seeing the Imperial Treasury and Crypt (from the Hapsburg dynasty), followed by Weiner Schnitzel dinner and then a classical concert at St. Anne's church.  What an introduction to Vienna!  The concert in the church was a "pinch me" moment, the quartet of three violins and one cello played Mozart, Haydn and Strauss on instruments from the 1700's.                                  

I had two "day trips" planned for Vienna, one to the Schonbrunn Palace and the other was to the Wachau valley to see the Melk abbey which overlooks the Danube.  That left us two full days to take in Vienna.  That was quite a challenge since Vienna is so much bigger than the very quaint Prague that we'd just left.     

       

We took a good four hours at the Schonnbrunn Palace, including seeing the strudel show.  We could have actually spent even more time.  We also took in a stage performance of the Sound of Music (with English subtitles)....that was a totally unique experience!  Nobody holds a candle to Julie Andrews though.

I have hundreds of pictures, but this gives you a sense of what this year's trip was all about.  I can't say there was anything I had researched and planned that I wouldn't/shouldn't have done.  There were some amazing gardens in Prague that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Libraries, monasteries, cemeteries,  the Lipizzaner training tour was fun (would love to have seen a performance, no tickets available)  I'd say each city was worth a couple more days each.    

I guess that's what travel is all about right?  End the trip wanting more.....keep that wanderlust alive!