Merry Christmas.

It's Christmas Eve, the stockings and cookies and reindeer food and milk and carrots have alllll been laid out for the big man's arrival tomorrow morning, the girls are really excited and I have to admit, it's fun to get caught up in their excitement. I am grateful for so many things on this Christmas eve, a healthy family, a roof over our heads, lovely friends. It's so easy to get caught up in the gift buying, I've enjoyed remembering the gratitude I feel for all of the gifts we already have.

We prepped most of our meal for tomorrow. I am baking a fresh ham, I made orange cranberry sauce, a sweet potato and Yukon gold gratin dauphinoise. It is decadent and delicious. We are also having roasted brussel sprouts, fennel and carrots with dried cranberries and roasted chestnuts.

I wanted to share my recipe for this decadent potato dish:

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and VERY thinly sliced, use a mandolin if possible
3 yukon gold potatoes, also peeled and thinly sliced.
4 C. heavy cream
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 pinch of grated nutmeg
2 C. grated Gruyere cheese
1 tbs. butter
Chives for garnish

This dish can be prepped a day in advance and baked the next day for your meal.

Warm heavy cream in a large wide pot. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add thinly sliced potatoes and cook in warm cream for 3-4 minutes. Grease a deep casserole pan with butter and pour 1/2 the potatoes and milk into pan. Sprinkle 1 C. of the grated Gruyere cheese, and layer the remaining potatoes and cream to the top. Sprinkle remaining cheese to the top of the casserole and bake uncovered at 375 for 35-40 minutes or until top becomes golden. Garnish with finely chopped chives and serve. It is rich and delicious.

May your day be filled with love and warmth. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

A movie streak

We had a fun day decorating Christmas cookies with a couple of our neighbors. They share Hanukkah with us, and we reciprocate with cookie decorating. I got really organized this year and bought a disposable tablecloth, a bunch of fun cookie sprinkles, etc... and made the cookies and frosting ahead of time so all we had to do was decorate.

I made some hot cider and cranked up the Christmas tunes on our IPod and we were all on our merry way. I have to admit that the cookies held the kids interest for about 18 minutes, but the adults decorated cookies for quite a while longer. I always forget how much fun it is to decorate cookies and we all really enjoyed ourselves. The best part was the clean up, I simply wrapped up the disposable tablecloth and threw the sticky sugary mess in the trash.

My husband took me to the movies (again) tonight and we saw I Am Legend. It was very scary and my hands were sore from squeezing his leg! We got take home tonight from Taipan. We shared the coconut curry soup and a ground chicken in lettuce leaves that is delicious.

We are going to NY tomorrow to take the kids to see the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center and in the morning, I am having new press shots taken. They will be up on the website eventually, I am even contemplating writing another cookbook. If anyone has any requests for something they'd like to see in my new book, please let me know.

Am looking forward to tomorrow, it should be fun, fun, fun!

Joy of cookies!

Happy Holiday everyone!!!

I had my last day of work for the 2007 year, and what a year it was! Business was the best it's been, thanks to my fantastic clients, and catering brought my workload up to a frenzied pitch...

I treated myself to a good loooong massage this afternoon and a movie with a friend. We was Sweeney Todd which was excellent, but rather gruesome.

Anyhow, I came home and got to work preparing sugar cookies for our cookie decorating day tomorrow in preparation for the big man in red. We used the Joy of Cooking Sugar cookie recipe, it's super easy to make, but don't forget to let your butter come to room temp. for at least 1 day before you make these- do NOT skimp and try to microwave the butter, it throws the consistency of the cookie way off. Here's the recipe we used tonight. Roll the cookies out as thin as you can on a well floured work space and bake them until they are just cooked through, they shouldn't have any color to them.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Add and beat in the egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla until evenly incorporated. Stir in flour until well blended and smooth.

Roll the dough out on floured parchment paper if using immediately, if not, roll into a ball and cover with saran wrap until ready to use.

WHEN READY TO BAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets.

Working with 1 portion of dough (leave the other refrigerated), gently peel away and replace 1 sheet of the wax paper. (This will make it easier to lift the cookies from the paper later.) Peel off and discard the second layer. Using 2- or 3-inch cutters, cut out cookies. With a wide spatula, carefully transfer them from the wax paper to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.


Bake for 6 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly colored. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies firm up, 1 to 2 minutes, Then transfer the cookies to wire racks and let stand until thoroughly cool.

Separate but equal??

I wanted to share a great recipe that I made at work today with some left over cooked chicken. This is NOT a kid friendly meal, at least I know my kids are not quite ready for cilantro, but your may, so give it a try, you never know...

Anyhow, here it is. You can use any left over cooked chicken

2 C. cooked chicken
1/2 bunch cilantro- chopped
juice from 1 lime
1/2 diced red pepper
2 stalks diced celery
2 stalks diced scallion
1 C. dried cranberries
1 C. toasted slivered almonds
2 tsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. fish sauce (available at any Asian grocery store)
1 tsp. sesame oil
pinch of toasted sesame seeds

Process the chicken in a Cuisinart for 30 seconds or until chicken is finely chopped, but NOT pureed. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until everything has been combined. Can be eaten immediately or kept in the fridge until ready to eat. I am eating over a salad and with some crackers.

The kids are getting pasta and peas!

A 5:40 Feast!

I had dinner with a good friend tonight, and between the 2 of us, we had about 7 million kids! How to feed everyone? Make a little feast. I bought a few things from Trader Joe's today and rummaged around my fridge, here's what we came up with for dinner:
-a plate of raw sliced veggies

-salad with romaine, assorted veggies, orange infused dried cranberries, and a handful of roasted chestnuts

-steamed edamame and crab meat shumai (dumplings)- from Fuji Market in Greenwich- I think it's exit 4 or 5 off the 95. A fantastic little Japanese market where absolutely everything is written in Japanese and you have to look at the pictures and guess!

-skewered chipotle chicken- frozen from TJ's

-frozen jasmine rice from TJ's

-a bag of frozen veggies- peas, green beans and julienned carrots- from TJ's that I steamed and added a little butter and a pinch of salt

-steamed fresh asparagus

-a yummy little frozen pizza from TJ's with Gruyere, caramelized onion and proscuitto

-a little leftover chili from last night's dinner -see yesterday's post for recipe

-a bit of homemade guacamole-yummy

-cheese and spinach tortellini

Everyone found something that filled their tummies and it always makes me happy to share a meal with people I love.

Chili love

It was freeeezing here today! I had recently made chili and the girls loved it! They asked for it again so I wanted to share my easy and healthy recipe with you. Emma came home from school this afternoon and asked for a bowl for her snack, then proceeded to eat it 2 hours later for dinner with a matzoh cracker!!

Here's the recipe:
1 tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. diced onion, fresh or frozen
1 lb. 90% lean ground beef
1 can cannellini (white) beans rinsed
1 can kidney beans rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes -I found fire roasted ones today and they were yummy.
3 tbs. chili powder
1 tbs. cumin
a good pinch of 2 of kosher salt
optional- red hot sauce

Heat olive oil on medium high in a deep pot. When it begins to sizzle, add onions and saute for 3 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden brown. Add beef and break up in pot with a wooden spoon so you don't have big chunks. Saute for 5-6 minutes until beef is almost cooked through. Add 2 cans of beans and tomatoes, stir to combine. Add chili powder, cumin and salt. Stir to combine, lower heat to medium, cover and cook for at least 25 minutes to let flavors combine.

You can add a handful of frozen roasted corn, you can serve the chili over rice or pasta, or just eat it in a bowl with a little shredded cheese and a handful of chopped scallions on top. It's perfect for cold winter afternoons.

Happy Birthday Helena.

We catered Helena Chistensen's birthday party last night. She is beautiful and it was a gorgeous party. Michael Stipe from R.E.M was there as was Josh Hartman. The food was beautiful and everything went smoothly. I got home in the weeeeee hours of the morning and am feeling rather dull today, but there is one more party tonight before the end of my season.

Festivities in Norwalk, (the caterer who I work for) continues to create beautiful events, keep it up!

www.festivitiesevents.com