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Holiday Food

Dec27

Happy Holidays to one and all and thank you for making it a great year. I have enjoyed sharing my passion for genetic genealogy and gardening with all of you. I am endlessly surprised by how much I love writing these posts and look forward to a new year of blogging after this short vacation.

FlavorsFjordSo today I am going off topic to talk about holiday food.

Every Christmas morning when I was a child my Dad would make us Norweegies aka Norwegian pancakes.  Sadly, I was unable to find the recipe he gave me when I went looking for it the other day. However my 2nd cousin Dick Larkin had given me a wonderful Norwegian cookbook, Flavors of the Fjords, years ago; so I found the recipe in that book and made those pancakes for myself and my husband on Christmas morning. They were outstanding! The secret ingredient is cardamon and, of course, lots of sugar. When I posted this on the Norwegian genealogy facebook group, I discovered that pancakes are not the traditional Christmas morning fare in Norway! Apparently they are just a tradition among us Norwegian Americans.

From my mother’s German side came the holiday marzipan fruits from the Elk Candy Store in the Yorktown area of New York City on 86th St. It has long since closed, but happily it still exists online; so I send some every year to various family members and myself. It is so much fresher than any other marzipan I have found.

Then there was the stollen baked every year by, first my grandparents cook Anna, and then for many years by my wonderful Aunt Trudi. This was the first year that she did not make it. Her failing vision makes cooking quite difficult. However while looking for the Norweegie recipe, I found the stollen recipe, so maybe next year I will try it?

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Fresh lemonade with blue agave syrup

May28

Lemon TreeSo we have way too many lemons and when life deals you lemons … time to make lemonade. In the photo on the left I circled where many lemons have fallen off the tree due to our hot weather spell. I have given away 3 bags of lemons in the last week and still have too many.

So I googled recipes for making lemonade and I was appalled by the fact that they all called for as much sugar as lemon juice. The basic recipe is 1 cup lemon juice (from 4-6 lemons), 1 cup sugar (best to make into syrup via hot water), and 4-6 cups cold water (depending how watered down you like it).

So I decided to try using that blue agave syrup that has been sitting in the cabinet. It was in packets and it took 14 little packets to get enough sweetness! And of course the flavor is a touch different than sugar but I think I like it.

After making the lemonade, you put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Let’s see if I still like it later!

My Guacomole aka Avocado Butter

Apr22

GuacmoleWknifeMy guacamole is really an avocado butter which I spread on my bread or toast when I make myself a sandwich.

The key ingredients are avocado, garlic, lemon juice, green onions, and a dash of tabasco sauce. I make guacamole without any tomato or peppers because I try not to eat nightshade plants (arthritis issue, another story…).

This time of year my Fuerte avocados have the perfect oil count for this and a silky smooth butter-like texture.


Ingredients:

  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 1 medium lemon
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 scallion or green onion
  • dash of tabasco sauce (to taste)
  • dash of salt (to taste)

 

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It’s Pomegranate Season!

Oct4

Having enjoyed eating pomegranate seeds in my salad at a friend’s birthday dinner, I thought I would try eating the ones growing in my backyard.

pomegraniteSmll My first try colored my cutting board red and much of the floor as well. So I got on my computer and googled “seed a pomegranate without mess” to learn a better approach. Click the read more to see the two techniques I found. I confess that I have converted to the water technique which is amazingly easy.

The seeds are a crunchy, sweet, filling, and very healthful snack. A good source of vitamins K and C as well as potassium and all sorts of anti-oxidants. See this section of the wikipedia article for more in all that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomegranate#Nutrients_and_phytochemicals

 

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