Sometimes Simple, Sometimes Grand, Always Declicious
Yesterday was a big day here, we had snow! I’ve been told it’s the first time since 1947 that Charlotte has had snow on Christmas day. Being from the north, I love it when we get a load of the white stuff and seeing as it doesn’t happen all that often in the South, we took full advantage with a little sledding, a snowman and a breakout snowball fight. Here are a few shots from the morning.
…
It feels like the calm before the storm here. I’m sitting still for one last evening, enjoying the quiet before the entire family arrives to take over my house for the next five days. It promises to be busy, crazy fun. I have tons of delicious recipes planned for while they’re here and the boys and I ventured out today to pick up all the corresponding groceries.
Our first stop was the butcher shop to pick up a leg of lamb for Christmas dinner and our next stop was to Trader Joe’s for everything else. You don’t want to know the final bill.
I told Alex, my four year old, that we spent the arm over at Trader Joe’s and the leg at the meat shop. It’ll be worth it though. Leg of lamb is one of my all time favorites and it’s the Christmas dish my grandmother used to make for us, so it comes with happy memories. We’ll be serving up potato pancakes, asparagus, and rolls on the side. I can almost taste it.
And then there’s dessert. One treat that my family absolutely loves is cheesecake. And this cheesecake has been “gingerbreaded” up to create a perfect finish to your Christmas time meal. I guarantee it will be gone in a flash. I made it for Thanksgiving and was lucky enough to bring a single piece home with me.
…
Yesterday I participated in my first ever food competition. No I didn’t win, but I definitely had a blast trying AND I got to sample some (ok alot) of the competition after the fact. Let me tell ya, there are some pretty darned tasty cupcakes out there.
When all was said and done, the cupcake I decided to enter into the competition was a Panettone inspired cupcake with an almond buttercream frosting. Absolute heaven in a wrapper I tell ya. The road to that cupcake was littered with a host of other cupcake attempts along the way. Let me lay out a sugar trail for you to follow.
…
So how is everyone coming along with their Christmas preparations? We finished up our Christmas cards AND finally bought the Christmas tree this weekend. Our whole house smells like Frasier fir and I’m loving every minute of it. Now the real craziness begins. Between the baking, the cleaning (guests arrive in just over a week, can you believe it?) and the cupcake competition, my calender is chocked full. That’s right, cupcake competition. I’ve been baking cupakes like a crazy woman trying to come up with THE perfect winning recipe for the upcoming competition at The Ballantyne Hotel on Sunday here in Charlotte. The winner gets an overnight stay in their extravagant Plaza suite. Bring it on.
My first thought for the cupcakes was to incorporate egg nog in some shape or form. I originally bought the boxed egg nog but quickly decided that I could nab two recipes in one go and whip up a batch of the homemade stuff. Let me tell you, I’m pretty sure I won’t be buying the store bought stuff again because homemade egg nog is Da Bomb. My kids can’t get enough of the stuff. They take theirs with a little chocolate syrup swirled into the cup for an extra special treat. And me? I enjoy swirling something a little more “adult” into the cup. Pure flavor heaven.
…
I just can’t believe how quickly the month of December is flying by! We’re only a couple of weeks away from Christmas and I still have so many recipes I want to post up to help celebrate the holiday. Either I need to get cooking a bit faster or the calendar needs to slow down a bit. Seeing as the latter probably isn’t happening anytime soon, I’ve kicked my holiday cooking into full gear. I even managed to plan the entire 5 day menu for when my family here staying with us. I’ve added everything from breakfast burritos and pannatonne french toast, to Rosemary Leg of Lamb and chicken curried wontons.
This week, I’ve started to put together all the delicious desserts for the holidays. The one I want to share today is a super yummy and not too complicated fruit and nut brittle. I saw something similar to this at Trader Joes and decided that I needed to attempt to make my own. And can I just say I love hunting around Trader Joe’s for inspiration? I never leave there without an idea for something new and delicious to whip up.
Before I jump into the recipe, I also want to mention that I’m being featured over at Wetawa, a new foodie question and answer blog through next Thursday! I’ll be on hand to answer your most heated family dinner questions so pop on over and check it out!
What’s on your Christmas menu this year?
…
When I think of kringle, I think about my childhood. I remember my grandmother’s house; how she’d always have her welcome mat that she’d put out at Christmas time which said God Jul (that translates to Merry Christmas in Swedish). I remember the little elf ornaments with the big red hats hanging from her tree. And I remember the still warm from the bakery kringles she would bring home for us to enjoy. Oh how I loved them. They came in all flavors of fruit and nut from cherry, to almond, to raspberry. But the classic, and the king of all kringles for me is pecan. I’m not sure if it’s the flaky crust, the sugary pecan filling, or the memories the dessert evokes, but I will choose it above all others every single time.
While kringle may be readily available in Wisconsin, it’s a bit more scarce down here in the South. I decided that if I was going to carry on the tradition of the Christmas kringle for my family, I’d simply have to make it myself. Because it was my first time, I borrowed a recipe from Food Network and made a few changes to keep it my own. I have to say, it wasn’t as complicated as I imagined it to be and the results were, well, I think you just need to read on and see for yourself.
One more thing to add. If you’re ever wandering through Wisconsin and you get a kringle urge, check out O&H Danish Bakery. My kringle craving hits just thinking about it.
…