Food Lush

Top 5 Food Gifts I'd Like From My Valentine

Editor's note: For our last week at Food Lush, I've asked the writers to share both a favorite post by another writer, from over the last three years, and a favorite post of their own. You'll see these posts linked to at the top of their new post for the week. Enjoy a stroll down Lush memory lane!

by Jen L.

This is my final post for Food Lush and it has been a fantastic couple of years! I have loved sharing my foodie love with all of you, participating in this wonderful group of writers (we call ourselves the Lush Family) and reading all your comments. My favorite post from another writer is this Candy Corner post by Erik because 1. it involves Bit O' Honey, and 2.  it is HYSTERICAL.  Choosing my favorite post of my own was like being asked to choose a favorite child, but I narrowed it down, and read and read, then picked this one, a post I got to write in response to a reader's question about hosting a birthday party. The best part of Food Lush has always been the interaction with our readers, so thank you! 

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I love food gifts. Some people scoff at them. Some people automatically throw them out, as though they are tainted.  Other people, like me and people I'm related to, fight over them.  My husband and I get summer sausages in our Christmas stockings every year and my mom always gets me a big bottle of cranberry mustard to go with mine.  My grandpa used to give me my own wheel of Edam cheese every year.

I've never been one for flowers on Valentine's Day--I'd rather have a box of really nice chocolate or even have a nice dinner prepared for me. (My husband sometimes surprises me with cornish game hens!)  Here are five food gifts I'd be tickled to get on Valentine's Day.

1.  Harry and David's Pears.  Have you ever had a Harry and David pear? They are hands-down the greatest pears I have ever had IN MY LIFE. I don't know what it is, but they are always perfectly ripe, tender, sweet and delicious.  And look! They even have a Valentine Gift Box all ready to ship to the one you love, complete with heart-shaped stickers and pink foil wrapping.  Score.

2.  Wisconsin Cheese Mart Cheddar Deck Gift Box.  This trio of cheddar cheeses would be mine, all mine. I would use the mild for a cheddar cheese sauce (Served over pasta with bacon, of course!), the medium for grating over tacos and chili, and the sharp for eating with really good crackers.

3.  A Cookie Bouquet from Cookies by Design.  I had a cookie bouquet for one of my teenage birthdays and I remember it being delicious. I love iced sugar cookies, so that was right up my alley. (This was before I gave in to my all-consuming love for cake.)  This cute Conversation Hearts cookie bouquet would be a very sweet treat.

4.  A Crate O' Gummi Bears.  Haribo are the best gummies in the world--we all agree on this, yes?  How'd you like to get this crate of 72 packs of MINI gummi bears from Candy Warehouse? I thought so. 

5.  A beautiful box of Godiva chocolates.  Specifically, this dark chocolate collection.  Enough said.

What food gifts would you like to receive from your Valentine?  You can paste a link this post to in an email, you know...

 

Image credit  HarryandDavid.com

Clearance Coffee

by Tara

Here's something I'd like to recommend: go to Target right now and buy some Christmas Blend coffee by Archer Farms. I love coffee (no secret there), and this is one of the best blends I've ever tried.

It's so good! It's spicy but not too dark, and really smooth, and not Christmasy, but somehow worked to get me in the Christmas spirit. It's on clearance right now, so you can get it cheap! I got some for $5.85 yesterday. Go get some before it's all gone!

You won't be disappointed.

Do you have a favorite seasonal treat?

(Personal photos)

Cookie Making Quirks

By Julie

In planning (as Nora mentioned, only 4! baking days left until Christmas) the bacchanalia that is Christmas cookie baking, I start by making sure I have the basic ingredients on hand - flour, sugar, eggs, butter. Wait, butter?  Or margarine? But what if the old family recipe calls for oleo, a fairly bizarre name for Crisco (but so much better than lard, which it easily could have been in an old family recipe)? There are decisions to be made here.

It always makes me feel better if I can find a way to lighten up a recipe, so if I can get away with substituting light margarine or even applesauce for butter or oil, I will. Sometimes this fails spectacularly, but most of the time, it works just fine. (Except for cupcakes. If you are making cupcakes in those little paper cups, applesauce will make the cake stick like you super-glued them.) But in a few cases, I have particular preferences. Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies really need to have butter (or light butter if you have that and it shaves a little of the guilt off). Snickerdoodles taste best with butter flavored Crisco. I cannot give you a reason why other than that I have experimented over the years and these have yielded the best results (they also disappeared the fastest).

I wish you all wonderful luck and perfect humidity for all your holiday treat-making endeavors. I also hope you don't make my mistake of mixing up baking soda and baking powder and coming out with flat hockey pucks that will break your teeth. Enjoy!

Do you have any rituals or funky tricks for holiday baking?

Healthy Holidays - Strategies for Holiday Eating

by Sarah Anne

I'm going to apologize in advance for this one, folks. Just call me Debbie Downer. I'm cool with it.

With all the AMAZING baking tips, tricks and recipes floating around this great place currently, I feel a little bit like a killjoy coming in and trying to 'healthy' up the holiday season. While I don't completely eschew holiday baking and big plates of carbs covered in gravy, I do have to give myself a bit of a pep talk before going into situations ripe with vice. I've been working very hard for several months on my fitness and just am not ready to see it go to waste. Or, to my waist!  

Now, don't think I am holier than thou or perfect at all. I love sweets. I'm a fan of champagne, gin and wine and as you know, I love food in general. I am about to spend two weeks with my in-laws where there are copious amounts of the most delicious butter tarts and melt-in-your-mouth shortbread, and the wine flows freely. I just thought I'd share some of the strategies I try to use.

1. Eat your veggies.  Eat them for breakfast, at lunch, and as much as you can during the day so that when the evening comes, your body will be full of awesome nutrition and you won't feel the guilt of a couple drinks and snacks you might not always eat. There really is no fun in avoiding great cheeses, different wines, and great baking. So, I do what I can to even the score and often have a pile of veggies for breakfast, and salads for lunch. Bonus is, the fiber keeps you full and you'll probably indulge less anyway!

2. Drink water. Stagger your tasty beverages with some lemon water, or a great bubbly crack. Maybe, even try a non-alcoholic drink recipe to share like this one. Perhaps just a little cranberry and soda with lime. The water will help keep you full, keep you hydrated and will help prevent those awful hangovers that only seem to get worse with age. Anyone here feel like they can't have more than a single bevvy before they'll feel it in the morning? Yeah hi. My name is Sarah and I'm getting old.  So try some water to help you feel better all around. Headache free and alert during the stressful times!  

This is my current favourite bubbly (besides the best kind). Perrier Pink Grapefruit!

(source)

3. Bring your own.  I think this is a great tip not just for holidays when you're trying to eat healthy, but if you have a different set of dietary needs than others. Gluten free. Vegan. Paleo, etc. Bring a dish or two to share with everyone.  That way, you'll be sure to have healthy options for yourself, and also, you'll be introducting your delicious ways of eating to friends and family in an atmosphere that is welcoming and open.  I love offering to help cook meals, or dishes to share, as I get to share my 'tweaks' on things and I always know I'll have options.

4. Soup or salad first! I try to do this when I'm eating out, sometimes at home, and often at gatherings like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. I'll fill up on a healthy option like salad, or a broth based soup before digging into the rest of the spread. It helps me feel great about what I'm eating, and gets me a good dose of veggies and fiber before overloading on mashed potatoes and stuffing. Not that I do that or anything.

These salads all look AMAZING and would be great to bring along or try during your gatherings!

Kale, Cabbage and Carrot Salad with Maple Sesame Vinaigrette (Source)

Roasted Kabocha Spinach Salad with Orange Honey Pistachio Vinaigrette (Source)

5. Remember that you have a choice.  Just because you ate a fistfull of sugar cookies for breakfast, doesn't mean your lunch has to go sideways too. Make each choice on its own and don't get down on yourself for going a little overboard. Just promise yourself you'll make a better choice the next opportunity and keep on truckin'. 

Do you have any tips or tricks you use to stay on the straight and narrow? Do you indulge at all, or do you do your best to stay away? Do you just not worry about it this time of year? 

In the end, it's a time for family and celebration so don't go too hog wild and restrict yourself like crazy. I'd rather remember the fun times letting loose with family than the amazing turtle cheesecake I didn't taste. Truly. Be gentle on yourself, try to maintain, and enjoy yourself!

Holiday Staple: Chex Mix

by Jess M

Every Christmas pretty much my entire life has included Chex Mix. We have always made it from a recipe my mom cut out of a magazine sometimes in the 80s. I'm pretty sure that piece of paper still exists, in the green metal recipe card tin my mom kept in the cabinet. For my bridal shower, my sister included a copy of that recipe for my own collection. Over the years the recipe on the boxes has changed but I stick very closely to my own version of the snack.

For reference: "The Original Chex Mix" recipe from Chex.com (picture those quotation marks as air quotes from me because it's not *actually* the original from the 1950s).

Also the Wikipedia article, with a link to the original ad for Chex Mix which appeared in Life Magazine in 1952.

Jess's version of Chex Mix (based on a circa 1980s magazine cutout, with my own modifications)

1/2 c melted butter

3 T Worchestershire sauce

2 t Season All seasoned salt

8 c any Chex cereal (I prefer corn and rice)

1 c pretzels

1 c peanuts

Measure out cereal, pretzels and nuts in a gallon ziploc bag. Melt butter, mix with the worchestershire and seasoned salt, and pour over the cereal mixture. Seal the bag and shake it until all the pieces are evenly coated.

Microwave: Pour contents into a large microwaveable bowl, cook on high 5-6 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. 

Oven: Heat oven to 250 degrees. Spread the mix onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Cook for 40-50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Cool on paper towels.

It freezes well, so if you can make a whole bunch at a time, you can put it away for later, but it doesn't really last all that long in my house.

~~~

 Last year, Caitlin's dad shared their family's recipe for Cereal Mix.

Pigs in a blanket and other upcoming appetizers

by Caitlin

Notice how I cleverly avoided titling this "Holiday appetizers," "Christmas appetizers," or "New Year's appetizers"? But consider this the ole bait & switch. I do love a good hors d'oeuvre, and I think this can be considered the season of the appetizer. And the season of the cocktail, cookie, baked good, giant meal, and anything else you want to justify indulging in.

I've got a few menus and meals to plan for, and I can't stop thinking about pigs in blankets. A few years ago on a whim I decided to make some (for the first time ever) for a party my husband and I were throwing. He'd just made his own duck breast prosciutto, was plotting a fancy cheese plate, and didn't see a place for pigs in a blanket on our snack table. Guess what was the first to go? Apparently people just can't resist processed meat products wrapped in processed pastry, especially when you offer them something to dip them in. They've become a favorite once-or-twice-a-year indulgence for me ever since, and this is the perfect time of year for them. 

Photo: me

Last year I felt much more virtuous buying cans of crescent rolls and Morally Superior Hot Dogs* at Whole Foods. They didn't have Humane L'il Smokies* at the overpriced hippie grocery store, so I bought regular sized Virtuous Hot Dogs* and cut them into L'il Smoky size. It worked great. Press some poppy or sesame seeds on the top to show you mean business. 

*Not the actual names.

Photo from browneyedbaker.com

In the past I've also had great success with buffalo chicken dip (again using Virtuous Chicken because chicken in a can = ew), and I am currently contemplating Things That are Wrapped in Bacon. Contenders: water chestnuts, scallops, dates stuff with goat cheese. 

Photo from sheknows.com

Yep, I think we've got a winner.

Do you have any fun appetizers planned? What are your feelings on pastry wrapped meat products?

Christmas Eve dinner

by Elsha

We don't have a set meal we make on Christmas Day. Often we have ham, but not always. In fact, this year we're having prime rib. However, we do have a set meal for Christmas Eve: soup in bread bowls. We usually make two kinds of soup, and we like to change it up, but we've been having soup in bread bowls on Christmas Eve for years now. 

I love this tradition. There's something about such a simple meal before all the celebrating on Christmas. We don't make any side dishes, or any dessert (although there are often cookies around), just soup and bread. It's an easy meal to prepare, (especially if you buy the bread bowls), which is definitely a good thing on Christmas Eve! It's a tradition I'm sure we'll continue for years to come.

What do you have for Christmas Eve dinner?

Foods to Welcome the New Year

By Tara C.

In the melee leading up to Christmas, I feel like New Year's festivities are sometimes overlooked. And it's too bad--New Year's Eve seems like a great opportunity to bring out our fanciest food and drinks. It's a time to reflect upon and celebrate the past year and welcome a new one, full of new beginnings and possibilities.

Lately our New Year's Eves have pretty been lame to tell you the truth. The last time I partied like it was 1999 on New Year's Eve probably was 1999. But back then I was a young, childless newlywed. Times have changed and today we're lucky if we can even stay awake until midnight.

Other than champagne toasts on New Year's Eve, which I assume are pretty ubiquitous, I'm curious about what other New Year's food traditions Food Lush readers follow. I assume there are a lot of regional differences in terms of the New Year's food traditions, even within the U.S.

When I was growing up, my mother always served black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck in the new year. In high school, I had a friend who insisted that we each eat twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight. At the time, I had never heard of this tradition, but I have since learned that it's a Spanish tradition.

I would also love to find something that would elevate our quiet New Year's celebration a notch or two. I'll be back here on Food Lush in the New Year with a review of the Unofficial Downtown Abbey Cookbook and a giveaway, so maybe I'll kick off my Downtown Abbey cooking spree with some "upstairs" delicacies for New Year's Eve. The Countess of Grantham's Moules en Sauce? Lady Mary's Crab Canapés? Who knows--maybe one of these dishes will become our new New Year's Eve tradition.

So, tell me--what are your New Year's Eve and Day food traditions?

(photos from: myrecipes.com, npr.org)

Hot Chocolate in the Crock Pot

By Ariel

I told you my work does a lot of snack days. In honor of our team Christmas party today, one of the girls came up with doing a hot chocolate bar with all the fun trimmings. While we were skeptical, she totally rocked us all with an amazing hot chocolate brewed (do you brew hot chocolate? mix? create?) in a crock pot.

(Picture courtesy of Target.com, as well as my damask-loving wish list!)

Ginny's Crock Pot Hot Chocolate:

1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
1 14oz can condensed milk
2 cups milk chocolate chips
6 cups milk
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

That's it! Mix it all together over low in a Crock Pot, stirring every few minutes to melt the chocolate chips and to keep them from sticking. This was a HUGE hit at work and I'm pretty sure some other coworkers who were not on our team snuck a cup or two. I plan on making this for a New Year's Eve gathering with Bailey's and Whipped Vodka on hand, but this would also make a charming Christmas morning treat. If you're feeling extra ambitious, why not throw together a few Chocolate Peppermint Marshmallows?

This is the last you'll here from me in 2012. I hope everyone has an AMAZING holiday season filled with delicious food, spiked hot chocolate, and of course, PLENTY of champagne!

Quail for Christmas

by Tara

I was going to make duck for Christmas, but my butcher shop only offers whole ducks, and I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with a whole duck. Plus, it’s just my little family (three of us, including a two-year old) for dinner, so I didn’t want to have the leftovers from a whole duck.

So I decided to get quail instead. I bought four whole quail, and… now I’m completely lost. I mean, I’ve eaten quail; we used to have it for every Christmas dinner when my grandmother was alive if my grandfather had a good hunting day before the holidays. But she didn’t keep recipes for things like that, and I have no idea what I’m doing. Thank the heavens for the Internet, right?

This recipe from Simply Recipes looks good. And easy!

This recipe at Epicurious uses wine, so that’s more leftover for me to drink.

This one at Jules Food looks good. I don’t like oranges, though, so that might be a problem?

I love blackberries, and I’m thinking the balsamic and blackberry combo in this recipe from Jenn’s Cuisine would be delicious.

My husband doesn’t like stuffing (WEIRDO), or I’d be all over this recipe from Food Network:

I wonder if I could talk my husband into a stuffing made with Andouille sausage from a recipe created by Emeril? Possibly.

This recipe from Food Network might be the winner. Anything wrapped in bacon tends to top my list.

(Photo from: Food Network.com)

Have you ever made quail? Have a recipe that will help me out?