Favorite holiday recipes or homey traditions?

[Hillary Black]

Hi,

I'm getting ready to make my fresh cranberry sauce so it can sit overnight. It is the best! Fresh berries--organically grown is even better--combined with orange zest, orange juice, light on the sugar, cinnamon sticks, ground cloves and heated just until the little jewels pop. Yum!

It's easy to freeze for future use. And it's not just for Thanksgiving! Try it on: vanilla ice cream, beside roasted chicken or pork, and yes -- on brie cheese as featured in our current issue.

Also, if you've never had pumpkin pie with hard sauce then 1) you've never been to my house and 2) you are in for a treat!

I'd love to know other favorite recipes and homey-traditions anyone wants to share. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[Breezy]

My grandmother was a very good cook - I do not have that talent - and I can remember when I was little and my family would have Sunday dinner or holiday dinners with the grandparents I would go to grandma's kitchen and open the refrigerator door and stand there inhaling the wonderful aroma of her custard sauce. Grandma served it over jello but I wanted it straight from the bowl - no jello. It could also be served over angel food cake or even ice cream. She also made divinity and fudge for holidays.

I have been known to bake ginger cookies for the holidays and surprise -everyone who ate them actually survived! :)

[RoseMary]

Hillary, this is the first year that I did not make my own cranberry sauce. And I was sorry I didn't. There is just no comparison between homemade and the canned stuff!

Breezy, I've never had custard sauce, but it sounds delicious!

[Hillary Black]

Hi everyone and thanks for being here!

RoseMary: I did that once, too, which is why I will never do it again! I ended up getting home too late Wednesday night and had to make it on Thanksgiving morning. Next time I need to remember this: it can be made up to four days ahead and refrigerated to really taste spectacular the day it is served.

At last night's dinner, my host served the most delicious carrots. They had a glaze of real maple syrup. I will get the details from her. What I loved about it was that they were a lighter addition than sweet potatoes to my over-loaded plate and added the gorgeous orange color, too. Hey, this is making me hungry again--even though I shouldn't be!:)

[RoseMary]

I'd love for you to post the recipe for the carrots when you get it! I make glazed carrots, but I've never used maple syrup--it sounds like a nice flavor for them.

I'm glad you mentioned that you can make up the cranberry sauce several days ahead. I like anything that saves me some time on Thanksgiving day!

[Lisa S]

I don't have many Thanksgiving traditions, but Christmas... that's another story! I'll make traditional Serbian food ~ Moon Cookies and Sarma. My family and I love getting out the boxes (and boxes) of Christmas decorations. I spent today cleaning the living room from top to bottom and moving furniture for the Christmas tree. Let the fun begin!

[Evelyn]

Lisa, We need more details on the moon cookies and sarma.....do they go together?

Evelyn

[Lisa S]

I'll post the recipes in the morning!

[Breezy]

Looking forward to those recipes Lisa - something new to try is always good!:)

[RoseMary]

This is one of my very favorite winter cakes. We have it for breakfast every Christmas morning. It's also a favorite at our church's Sunday morning coffee hour. I believe that this recipe was in Southern Living about 10 years ago.

Cranberry Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp almond extract
1 16 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven 350. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, alternately with sour cream. Stir in almond extract.

Spoon 1/2 of batter into floured and greased 10 inch tube pan. Spoon half of cranberry sauce over batter. Top with rest of batter and then rest of cranberry sauce. Sprinkle pecans on top and bake at 350 for one hour or until tests done. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and glaze while warm.

Glaze: Combine 2 tbsp. of butter, softened, with 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp of almond extract, and 1 tbsp of warm water. Combine well and drizzle over warm cake.

[Evelyn]

Rosemary, I love cranberries and I will try your recipe.....it looks delicous. Festive too!!

Thanks for posting.

Evelyn

[Breezy]

R~Mary your recipe has me drooling - it sounds delicious and would be perfect with a nice cup of tea or coffee.
I'm gonna attempt to make fudge (no boil kind) and peppermint bark and I'd really like to make pumpkin bars but I know I'd end up eating the whole thing - I LOVE that stuff!

[Lisa S]

That cranberry cake sounds wonderful ~ I'll have to try it.

Moons
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup ground walnuts
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
powdered sugar

Mix thoroughly. Use about a tsp of dough and roll by hand into a crescent shape. Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

[RoseMary]

Those cookies have got to be delicious with all those walnuts in them! I'm adding them to my Christmas cookie list.

[Lisa S]

This recipe was told to me by my grandma.

Sarma
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb uncooked bacon (chopped)
1 large onion (finely chopped)
2/3 cup raw rice
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp paprika
1 very large head of cabbage
2 - 4 cans of sauerkraut (do not drain)
Zafrig ~ 2 tsp flour, 2 tsb bacon fat, 1 tsp paprika

The night before: Core the cabbage. Place in a deep pan and pour boiling water into the cavity and to cover the cabbage completely. Add salt, cover with a tight fitting lid and let stand over night.

The next morning: Mix the first eight ingredients together.
Drain the cabbage and take the leaves off. They should be pliable ad easy to work with.

Place half the sauerkraut (and liquid) at the bottom of a large pan. Place a small amount of meat (about two fingers thick) at the bottom of the cabbage and roll (like an egg roll). Be sure to tuck the sides in as you roll. Place on top of the sauerkraut. Do this until you run out of the meat mixture of the cabbage. Cover the sarmas with the remaining sauerkraut and cabbage leaves.

Cover and simmer slowly for two hours. Make the Zafrig and pour over the sarmas. Be sure there is enough liquid in the pan. Add water if needed. Cover and simmer for another 6 hours or until the cabbage translucent.

Be sure to smack your lips and moan: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[Breezy]

Lisa - thank you for posting the recipes they both sound so good.

[RoseMary]

Lisa, the Sarma sounds wonderful!! And it's so special that you have the recipe from your grandmother~something that will keep on being passed down from generation to generation!

We have a fruitcake recipe of my great grandmother's, in her own handwriting, but unfortunately it's a handful of 'this' and a pinch of 'that' type recipe. No one has been brave enough to make it yet!

[CohenCottage]

We realized that we had started a tradition without even realizing it...Every Christmas Eve I make a big pot of chicken and dumplings that we can enjoy for the entire long weekend. I actually make them a lot when it's cold, and although they are 99% homemade, I use frozen dumplings...Mary Hill's - Made with Love (Say 'Yes' to Dumplings and 'No' to Drugs).

[RoseMary]

I love chicken and dumplings. We have them a lot around here--especially in the winter!

[Gigi]

Hey~ I'm getting hungry reading all these recipes! Yum! I have to post one for over nite french toast when I can pull the recipe out...;)

[Evelyn]

Lisa, Thanks for the recipes. I will try them both. I have had the moon cookies.......but have never made them and did not know they were serbian. I learn something new everyday on this forum!!!

Evelyn

[Lisa S]

How about traditions?

We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and have everyone who is with us on Christmas Eve sign the book. I can see how the kid's handwriting matured over the years and it's wonderful to remember all the friends and family who have been with us.

[RoseMary]

On Christmas Eve night, we stay up late and watch a Christmas movie together, eat chocolate pie (my daughters call it Christmas Eve pie), and then open one gift each. Christmas morning, my husband gets up first, turns on the tree lights, puts Christmas music on and gets us together in the living room to read Luke 2:1-20 before we open our presents.

[Lisa S]

We participating in what is obviously a exclusive Pacific Northwest Christmas tradition ~ an umbrella parade. The kids decorate their umbrellas (actually, no one really uses them around here! :)) and walk through town. We end up in front of city hall where we have a bonfire, hot chocolate and switch the lights on the Christmas tree.

[RoseMary]

The umbrella parade sounds like a lot of fun! What a neat tradition!

[WannaBHomemaker]

My family has always had a hectic Christmas eve and Christmas Day schedule, sometimes we were home Christmas night and sometimes we weren't. So whenever we all end up having Christmas together, we cook up a big breakfast for dinner before opening presents. Us girls (mom, sister and me) watch The Christmas List (an ABC Family movie from about 6+ years ago) at some point during the weekend. There's always plenty of Hershey's Kisses and various cookies to snack on!

When my sister and I were growing up my mom gave us a Christmas book every year that we were in school. I think my sisters' last year of college was her last time. So we now have a nice Christmas book collection that we can share with our future children too.

[RoseMary]

Wannabe~it's wonderful that your mother gave you and your sis those Christmas books every year. You'll always cherish them.

I don't think we've ever seen The Christmas List, but we love Christmas movies! On our 'have to see list' are All I Want For Christmas (usually on Christmas Eve), The Bishop's Wife, Christmas in Connecticut, A Christmas Carol (Muppets version), Holiday Affair, It's A Wonderful Life, Season For Miracles, and then there are others that we try to fit in, along with a few new ones each year.

[Breezy]

You all have some really nice traditions - we usually watch Christmas movies - any version of A Christmas Carol - A Christmas Story - Christmas Vacation - those are the favs. It's nice to also turn out all the lights but the tree & mantel and listen to Christmas music.

[RoseMary]

This is our favorite sugar cookie recipe. I found it when my girls were small. The dough is easy to work with and can be rolled and re-rolled several times without affecting the texture of the cookie--which is important when children are making them. And, they are fairly low in sugar and fat for a cookie!

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl, gradually add sugar., beating well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Add milk and vanilla, beat well.

Mix flour, baking pwdr, and salt in a bowl. Gradually add to creamed mixture, stirring well. Divide dough in half and wrap each half well and refrigerate at least 5 hours if you want to roll out and cut into shapes. You can make just plain cookies without refrigerating.

Roll out to 1/4 thickness on well floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters, Place 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake at 350 for approximately 8 minutes. Cool on wire racks before frosting.

They should be just a light brown on the bottom.

I make our 'icing' with about a tsp. of butter, a cup and a half of powdered sugar, and enough milk to make a good spreading glaze. Food coloring and sprinkles are optional, but kids love them to look pretty!


By the way, I'm having a giveaway on my blog and all of you are welcome to come over and register!

[Lisa S]

Good recipe and very timely ~ thank you! I especially appreciate the part about the dough being versatile. My kids roll and re-roll about a million times!