Vegan Coconut Nog Recipe

We just had our first big snowstorm in Boston and I've spent the day in my kitchen trying out new recipes.

As the egg nog begins to disappear from the grocery stores, I'm still keen to hold on to this rich, winter treat.

Because real egg nog can be a bit overwhelming for the senses (as well as the stomach) with its cream and raw eggs, I've been fond of the dairy free So Delicious coconut nog I found at my supermarket. And today, I had a revelation: I can totally make that myself!

With a little taste testing, this is what I came up with for a dairy free, vegan and delicious homemade coconut nog.

Homemade Vegan Coconut Nog

1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
2 Tbsp raw sugar
1 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground turmeric, optional (this gives the nog a mellow yellow color, without the egg yolks)

In a small saucepan, heat the coconut milk until it is steamy, but not quite boiling. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Remove from heat.

Stir in almond milk, vanilla, nutmeg and turmeric.

Serve warm or chilled. Add rum if desired (try coconut flavored rum!), and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Happy New Year, Allison. It was so good to visit with you over the holidays! And eat food from your kitchen. xoxo Cara

What a Ham

I did it!  Christmas Eve dinner went very well.  Here's what I learned.

1.  I like ham, when prepared with care.
2.  It may appear fancy and difficult but this was one of the easiest dishes I have ever prepared.  The most difficult thing was dropping whatever else I was working on to reapply glaze every twenty minutes and finding counter space to do so in a busy kitchen. Totally worth it.
3.  Keeping the sides simple yet tasty, made the whole dinner come together without stress.
4.  Having some family on hand to pull everything together made the whole meal even better.
5.  A ten pound ham feeds six people (and a lucky dog who got to the ham bone) several times over. We will be eating leftovers all week.

Have a great week. 

Using my trusty food processor grating blade to make the carrot relish. IT WAS AWESOME. 

After 90 minutes in the oven, it was time to begin glazing every 20 minutes for the next 90 minutes or so.

Shaking the brussel sprouts... a proven technique.

I'm smiling, but I'm thinking  THIS IS HEAVY!

green bean casserole! I did not do the homemade fried onions.  Those are French's. How Ironic!

Ryan intently making a mountain of mashed potatoes.

My sister and her awesome sweet potato pie!

Christmas Fail: Made-from-scratch Almond Bark Pretzels

Last year we made almond bark pretzels. We used a big brick of Almond Bark which we purchased at the grocery store, melted it down, dunked the pretzels and covered them in Christmas sprinkles. And they were just like I remembered them all those Christmases growing up in Iowa. So good!

In Boston there are no packages of ready-to-go almond bark in the holiday section of the grocery store, so this year I thought I would see if I could make them from scratch!  I googled for almond bark made from scratch, but every recipe started with "melt down one package of white chocolate..." Didn't seem very made-from-scratchy... what I want to know is how to make the white chocolate in the first place. The other day on the phone you read the ingredients label on your package of almond bark: "sugar, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, whey powder, soy lecithin, artificial flavor." Needless to say, I don't have those ingredients on hand so that was out.

Eventually I found a candy recipe in an online forum for a "bark" used in covering almonds. It seems rational that almond bark pretzels could be covered in something originally intended for almonds, so I wrote it down with a few alterations.

So here is the recipe I used:

Homemade Almond Bark
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon almond flavoring

In 2 quart heavy saucepan, combine sugar, milk, corn syrup, and salt. Cook, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil. Cook without stirring to soft ball stage.* Remove from heat and add butter, do not stir. Let cool until lukewarm, then add almond flavoring. Beat until mixture thickens and is creamy. Keep mixture warm over a double boiler as you dunk half of the pretzels, letting them cool on waxed or parchment paper.

*I had no idea what soft ball stage was and had to look it up online. I found it means cooking the sugar mixture to 235 degrees, but I didn't have a candy thermometer and my meat thermometer only went up to 190 degrees, so I just guessed. Oops!

So, this whole process was a little tricky, I think I may have heated it over the recommended temp, and it was difficult to manage the double boiler and keep the bark from getting to hard before I had dipped all the pretzels. I also didn't completely cover them because the bark was **so** sweet it only needed a very little bit.

The end result was still pretty sweet, the bark dried a bit chalky, and the taste just wasn't quite right. I guess I'm not a candy maker! It looked okay though.

I consider this a fail because it was definitely not better than the stuff you buy in the package. But, there must be a superior almond bark made-from-scratch recipe out there somewhere! They had to come from somewhere. I am asking anyone with a pre-1970 midwest church cookbook to check for a homemade almond bark recipe. Maybe together we can find something better!

On a different note, look at this adorable cookbook my friend made for Christmas! She printed it with blurb. Its paperback and so cute. It could be our first go at a printed book?

Good luck with your Christmas Eve cooking!

Planning A Christmas Meu

There's a first time for everything. And it has been decided, not a moment too soon, that Ryan and I are cooking Christmas Eve lunch for  5-6 people.  Now I'm in full planning mode, going back through those December food magazines. 

Meat.  I am going to cook a meat main course.  I don't cook very much meat, as you have seen by my weekly menus.  But since I am cooking for others in the family, I am going to go for it.  I began researching and found that Christmas is the time of year when most people make ham (I guess I didn't know this because either my family made turkey or if we had ham, I didn't eat it much).  Even though I don't think I like ham I am going to give it a try. I have found in recipes here and there hat the fun and flavor with the ham dinner is all about the glaze.  So, I am going to give ham a try and make a kick-ass flavorful glaze.

Shopping for the ham was difficult though educational (and if you know me personally, use your imagination: it was totally comical).
So many options:  spiral spiced? Would I want something pre-sliced? Spiral what?  Isn't slicing it part of the fun of the presentation? Wouldn't that make the ham dry?
Cured/Uncured? Uhhhh.. I guessed cured because curing meat is beyond the skill set I wish to acquire in less than a week.
Bone-in or boneless? I chose bone-in because I think it will lead to a juicier ham.
Shank or butt? Shank. Or. Butt.  That question led me to have a funny conversation with a meat department employee. I needed to what the heck each one meant.  He told me that the shank included some of the leg whereas the butt had less bone and was the most popular.  If you were wondering, later research informed me that the butt was not literally the hog's butt, but the butt end of the leg.
Some hams had been pre-glazed (what fun is that?). Some contained packets of glaze (no.) So, the winner is... 
                                                                                          

A ten pound, "traditional" bone-in hickory smoked ham. 











 For the glaze: I've got it narrowed down to four.  Help me choose!
glazed ham with roasted apples and carrot relish
whole grain mustard and apricot glaze
cranberry glaze/maple syrup, orange. pecans (found at same link)

More research will be necessary for the ham cooking and carving, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Here is an outtake from the ham's photo shoot.

Now, on to where I am comfortable... delicious vegetable sides.
I might take it a little on the simple side as the ham is going to be a big adventure, plus I still have to save my cooking stamina since I am bringing a veggie dish to another Christmas meal on Sunday (some kind of vegetable casserole/tart/gratin... though ask me again later this week I may end up bringing something less ambitious).  But who says simple means boring?  Not I!

Saturday's sides will most likely include:
mashed potatoes made by my husband. He is a mashed potato rock star. milk, butter, salt and pepper and he does it perfectly every time.
real green bean casserole from  my darling kelsy at a l'americaine
roasted brussel sprouts with garlic OR roasted squash

And we'll revisit those delicious Thanksgiving rolls and garlic butter (maybe I'll venture into honey butter too...).  And I should probably throw in a salad. My sister is bringing desert!  Whew!!!

I'm overwhelmed and excited and so happy to be done with the fall semester of grad school so I can study my cookbooks! Hooray!

Happy Holidays!
Allison

My Nordic Chicken Soup w/ Indian Spice Tradition

I like to make this soup every December, before Christmas. Its spicy and warming, and reminds me of my visit to Norway in December 2007. While there I met a young Scandinavian woman named Inger-Anne. I have two memories of her: we sang karaoke together at an old sailor bar in Porsgrunn, and she made me this delicious soup. Its one of my favorite recipes.

This afternoon Chris roasted and de-boned a chicken, and made up a delicious stock with the remnants. (He told me how he did it, but I think that's enough material for a whole other post!) We used the stock as the base for this soup. We were out of curry powder so we used green curry paste instead. The result was delicious, and the taste transported me back to those cold, wintry days with the warm and welcoming Norwegians.

Inger-Anne's Indian Corn Soup with Chicken

1 large white onion
1 large leek
1 red bell pepper
5 cups chicken stock
16 oz frozen corn
2-3 cups cooked chicken (2 breasts or half of a whole chicken)
2 tsp curry
2 tsp Garam Masala
1 cup cream

Kittaroo was curious.

salt & pepper to taste

Rinse, cut and fry the vegetables (except corn). Add curry and Garam Masala. Add chicken stock and cream and bring to a boil. Add the chicken (cooked). Simmer for 5 minutes. Add corn and bring back to a boil for a few minutes. Add salt, pepper, additional curry and Garam Masala to taste.

Vegetarians sub roasted seitan for the chicken and use veggie stock. Try coconut milk instead of cream!

Allison, I shared this recipe with you in the girls' cookbook. I know you've made it before. Now you know where it came from! I hope you enjoy some warm and cozy meals in your kitchen this week. Wish I could be there.

xoxo

Cara