A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

St. Lucia Day: St. Lucia Saffron & Raisin Wreath

 

St. Lucia Day is celebrated throughout Scandinavia and in Italy where St. Lucia was born and died a martyr under the Roman Emporer Diocletian, circa 300 A.D.  The story goes that while she was carrying food supplies into the catacombs to hiding Christians, she needed her hands free so she fashioned a wreath of candles in her hair to light her way.

That story, combined with Medieval superstions about the winter solstice being a night of evil lurking in the dark giving way to the light and goodness of morning, transcended into a celebration of St. Lucia, the girl with the lighted wreath in her hair leading the people out into the literal and philosophical light, freedom, and goodness, by having the oldest daughter of the family dress in a long white dress with a red sash and a wreath of candles in her hair serve saffron buns and coffee to her family on the morning of the holiday.

The story has always appealed to me.  As the oldest daughter, I like the idea of serving my family and if part of that is cooking, then I'll be there with bells on.  Or candles on. Or a mag flashlight or anything that won't burn me alive in the process of the fun.

To mark the day two years ago I made individual swirled saffron buns. They were lovely tasting but I wasn't crazy about the way the raisins looked. No big.  This year, though, I went for a different presentation method and loved the results!

Support Your Local Merchants: The Amish Country Store

I came in tonight from a girls' weekend in St. Louis and found a package waiting for me that said "Merry Christmas!" written in green Sharpie on the outside.  Hmmmm....I thought "Well, I have ordered a couple of Christmas gifts but someone from Amazon is certainly overrun with the holiday spirit!" Wrong, the sender was definitely packing holiday spirit but the box wasn't from Amazon, it was from another of my favorite stores:  The Amish Country Store in Branson.  The punchline is I hadn't ordered anything from them lately.  As Alice would say "curiouser and curiouser."  Opening the box, I found a lovely note from Matt Hayes thanking me for supporting them as local merchants and a sleigh full of goodies! 

OMG, I am so touched! Thanks Matt, your thoughtfulness really means the world to me. Completely unnecessary but beyond appreciated!  I am so happy that your family and mine have crossed each others paths in life.

On top of the goodies, that I am trying to decide whether to share with family at the family Christmas dinner or just be selfish and save for Gene and I (oh, I'll probably share! They're all much to good to hoard for just us), there was a lovely cookbook ATaste of Ozark Mountain Christmas by Jan McCracken filled with recipes from her Branson Bed & Breakfast. Matt also mentioned in his note that he'd shared my blog addy with Jan and that she enjoys reading me.  After flipping through the book and her web site www.janmccracken.com listing all of her books and tales of her B&B, I can say it's a mutual admiration society--way to go, Jan!  I have to tell you that the first recipe I turned to was for eggnog fudge. My family members are not big chocolate fans so we're huge fans of non-chocolate fudges like peanut butter, maple, and opera but we ALL love eggnog so guess which recipe will be the first I try?  THANK  YOU!  I have a feeling that one is going to become an instant family tradition.

You know, the world is full of wonderful people. I am so blessed to have been befriended by so many of them in life.

A New Generation of Thanksgiving Pie Makers: Pumpkin and Straight Up Pecan Pie

 Jordan's pie baking debut! She volunteered to be in charge of desserts for the family Thanksgiving party this Saturday and did a wonderful job. Her only request was that she wanted to make some of the pecan pies in smaller mini servings (chicken pot pie pans) just for fun. No prob.  I sat in a bar stool at the counter while she did everything. 

The only thing I "did" was explain why certain things are done a certain way, like running melted butter down the side of the bowl when it's time to add it in while mixing so as not to cook the eggs or why I check the pumpkin and pecan pies with a meat thermometer to test for done-ness.  Eggs set at 140 degrees so at 135-140, you can safely remove the pies from the oven and the little jiggle left in the middle will firm up as it cools.  To bake until the entire pie is set solid is overbaking it and the fillings won't be as tender and moist as they could be if it had been pulled right at the "just done" point. The same is true for quiche.

Great job, Jordan!  We all thank you so much and can't wait to dig in!

 Jordan's pie baking debut! She volunteered to be in charge of desserts for the family Thanksgiving party this Saturday and did a wonderful job. Her only request was that she wanted to make some of the pecan pies in smaller mini servings (chicken pot pie pans) just for fun. No prob.  I sat in a bar stool at the counter while she did everything. 

The only thing I "did" was explain why certain things are done a certain way, like running melted butter down the side of the bowl when it's time to add it in while mixing so as not to cook the eggs or why I check the pumpkin and pecan pies with a meat thermometer to test for done-ness.  Eggs set at 140 degrees so at 135-140, you can safely remove the pies from the oven and the little jiggle left in the middle will firm up as it cools.  To bake until the entire pie is set solid is overbaking it and the fillings won't be as tender and moist as they could be if it had been pulled right at the "just done" point. The same is true for quiche.

Great job, Jordan!  We all thank you so much and can't wait to dig in!

My Nannie's Devilled Eggs

Do have recipes in your recipe box, like me, that have been handed down or that you've been making for so many years that you completely take them for granted and assume that not only does everyone else in the world make the dish but makes it exactly the way you do?  This is one of those for me.  This simple Devilled Egg recipe is exactly the way my mother taught me, and exactly how Nannie taught my mother (and Auntie Miranda).   It's a given at any family gathering at my house.  Our potato salad, Devilled Egg Potato Salad, is very similar to this as well.

The thing that bemuses me, though, is how often I get compliments on the recipe when I make these for friends. Like I said, I take the recipe completely for granted and assume everyone makes them the same way. But apparently not because this is one of those dishes that, without fail, I am asked for the recipe every time I serve it outside of the family. Here it is for all of you who have asked lately that I've said "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to blog that!"

Welcome Fall: Apple Pie in Finnish Cream Pastry

  

Welcome Fall!  I love fall with it's cooler days, smells of leaves and fireplaces and a bazillion scents of different apples in the produce section.  Yesterday, I decided to celebrate that apple smell in a big way. I also decided to take a new cookbook out for a walk around the block.

I've lately been thinking about my heritage, Swedish on both sides with lots of Norwegian, and a little Irish and Scottish mixed in.  I guess I can't regret something I didn't have a hand in, so instead let's say that I miss that my family has no Scandi recipes handed down from the Great-greats.  I wish I had some little "My great-great grandmother's sweet buns" or some such recipe in my repetoire but since there isn't I decided to explore on my own and find some new traditions based on other people's old ones.  One of the books I chose was The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas.  Finnish by birth, her parents immigrated to the northern states where she lived in a primarily Scandi community.  She's since traveled and lived in several Scandi countries, collecting favorite recipes along the way.

While I departed from her apple pie recipe when it came to filling, I absolutely loved, highly reccommend, and will use again the cream pie crust.  Rich but very flaky, the pastry was the perfect counterpoint to the crisp clean taste of the apples.

Good & Good For You: Cucumber Salad with Boiled Dressing

 

Had a lovely dinner with cousin Ann and Aunti Miranda the other night.  We originally were supposed to meet at a restaurant but without remembering that fact, I started a pot of Anasazi beans in the crockpot AND THEN Gene said "Weren't you going out to dinner tonight?" Crap!  You know how it is. Memory's the second thing to go with age and who knows what the first thing is.  So that prompted a quick couple of emails... "Uh...wanna free meal?"

I really enjoy spending time with them and it was fun to have a little girls' dinner and hang out in the sunroom without a noisy restaurant of folks all around us. And yes, btw, we did let Gene eat but he had business in Marshfield and didn't get back until after we'd finished.

The Jordan, Jordan, and Sydney Birthday Show

  

Last weekend we had a summer family birthday extravaganza of sorts. Since (boy) Jordan, Sydney, and (girl) Jordan's birthdays are all at the beginning, middle, and end of summer, and they all wanted to go to Incredible Pizza even though they're teenagers...we made it a mini blow out. 

The funniest thing to me was that when I said to the gal attending our party room "You don't seem fazed by the fact that they're all teenagers" she replied "Oh we get teens all the time. Adults too. Right before you in this room was a 40 year old's birthday party."  Now I feel ripped off. I told Gene last January I wanted to go to Incredible Pizza for my 44th birthday and he thought I was nuts.  Pizza, cake, ice crea, video games, putt-putt....come on! Who wouldn't have fun with that as their party?  So for my 45th, Gene....

An Award--One Lovely Blog: Sherry Cermack

  While we were in Maui with Kendall and Chris, Kimberly of A Growing Violet presented me a blog award called "One Lovely Blog".  I was flattered by her kind words:

Glenna is at A Fridge Full of Food ... And Nothing To Eat!
~ Oh how I love Glenna. This woman can COOK folks! And, as if that weren't enough for you to go check out her blog, she also crochets hats for premature babies! I love that. Please check out Glenna's recipes and those adorable little hats she makes.

Kimberly herself had a premature baby who stayed for months in the NICU, the same baby who has grown into a lovely precocious young girl who seems to pretty much hold the heartstrings of everyone she meets.  So Kimberly loyally reading about food and diet adventures and applauding my endeavors with Preemie Hats is very special to me.  Thank you, Kimberly.

The one "rule" of acceptance is that you must pay it forward by nominating your own list of Lovely Blogs.  There are so many friends I have made over these last three (!) years and so many folks that I admire their cooking, their talent, their creativity....but I'm hoping you'll all understand if I narrow it down to one blog that was more special to me than the rest, if all my dear foodie friends will forgive me for saying so.

A year ago this week we lost our wonderful friend Sherry Cermack of What Did You Eat? to a massive heart attack.  I still think about her every day, miss her like the dickens, and cook her food with pleasure all the while sending my love heaven forward.  Sher's husband, Bob, has left her blog up and running so for those who never "knew" Sher, feel free to click on the link and explore the online diary of my, and many of our, good friend Sher.  She was a lovely person and I will never forget her.

 

FYI--New Search Widget for My Blog

Hi y'all,

Several people have dropped me emails looking for certain recipes of mine that they couldn't readily find. I hear that.  Even when you find the right category you might have wade through pages and pages of posts looking for that one recipe you remember in the back of your mind.  I've installed a search widget called "Ligit". I'm now "legit on ligit".  :-)  It doesn't specifically say it but the navy blue search box is for my blog content only so if you get stuck for a dinner recipe and want to check out how I make it...please help yourself to the search bar. 

Thanks to those of you who mentioned your frustration--I'm flattered and happy for the attention!

Happy 4th of July!

 

We're off tomorrow to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for an Independence Day cookout bash that also just happens to be our dear friends, David and Becky's 40th Wedding Anniversary! Happy Anniversary to the Siscos!

I'm taking little flag cupcakes made by striping a bag with blue and red gel before adding the white chocolate/marshmallow buttercream (recipe following).