Green Bean Casserole II

My green bean casserole (GBC) for this year's Thanksgiving was the best I've ever made. That's saying a lot since this recipe has been a work in progress since 2007! 

I began with my own GBC recipe from a few years back. Fresh green beans and mushrooms (baby portobellos) are the key.

Christmas Eve Feast of the 7 Fishes

Just like that Christmas has come and gone again! Last December I was boasting that I'd never, ever missed a Chrismas back home in Pittsburgh and this year I spent my first away from my childhood home, celebrating the holiday at my other home in Honolulu with Bryce. Because it was a chance for beginning a tradition of our own, I got really ambitious and decided to host a Feast of the 7 Fishes, an Italian Christmas Eve right of passage.

Never before had I even been to a Feast of the 7 Fishes, although I'd heard a lot about the seafood oriented Christmas Eve meal. Among the many good things I'd heard, it's also rumored that the feast can be (literally) very stinky, involves lots of fried items like calamari and smelts plus salted baccala, and that most times the fishes are eaten as more of a tradition before everyone moves on to the other, tastier food! I was not interested in a stinky house, greasy fried foods, or cooking 7 fishes annnnd other meal items so I decided to do the feast in my own way with only desirable menu items!

Our Christmas Eve went perfectly! Nine people squeezed into our apartment and each dinner course was better than the next. We had enough food to feed our entire street and if any of our neighbors are allergic to fish they may have died from anaphylaxis by proximity. Now that the pounds and pounds of leftovers have been eaten or thrown away, I suppose it's time to share our meal with you!

Our Feast of the 7 Fishes Menu

1. Ahi poke  

2. Shrimp cocktail

3. Crab stuffed mushrooms

4. Clam chowder

5. Penne with tuna and tomato sauce

6. Spaghetti with clam sauce

7. Grilled flounder with oranges

For our Monday evening feast, the grocery shopping took place on Friday night at both Sam's Club and Safeway. Cooking began on Saturday with both of the pasta sauces: tuna and tomato sauce (5) and clam sauce (6). To accommodate the extra large can of tomatoes, first, and 9 guests, second, I doubled the recipe for the marinara.

Our Candy Christmas Tree

Only 4 days until Christmas! We survived the ending of the Mayan calendar [now what?!] and the last week of work before Christmas. I wish I'd kept track of all the candies, cookies, and other delicious sweets that have made their way into my office, through my mouth, and will be later reincarnated on my thighs in January. There's no turning back now with the holiday gluttony so it's the perfect time for me to share some calorie free sweets with you! Here is our candy Christmas tree in 2010, its very first year.  

The tree has come a long way since then! Last year I briefly gave you a sneak peek of it but never got around to sharing my Candy Land/sugar high vision with you. It all starts with one artificial tree (lights included!) and some gumdrop garland!

Last Christmas

I have spent every single Christmas morning of my life in this very living room! Since I moved to Hawaii in 2008, I've been insistent and have made it home for Christmas each year.

It has always been just Mom, Dad, and I, and this year we'll have our first ever addition since I joined in in 1986 - Bryce is coming! He came to Pittsburgh with me two years ago around Christmastime but went back to California for the big day. Last year he stayed in Hawaii and I went to Pgh. This year was one of lots of trips, finished off with Thanksgiving in California and now Christmas in Pittsburgh together! We're stopping in San Fran on the way home to visit friends & watch the Steelers play the 49ers, then stopping in Boston on the way back to visit our friends and brand new parents John & Brooke & baby Sam! 

That said, I'm so excited for this trip and all the visiting and eating we'll do! To get me in the mood I've unbuttoned the top button of my pants and pulled together some pictures from Christmas at home last year.

Mom & I made biscotti together! Biscotti is freaking-hard to make and I'll never do it alone, sorry Mom.

Some of the desserts on Christmas Eve at our house - 7 layer cookies (my favorite and Mom's specialty!) among many others.

Kiss cookies, pizelles, and more 7 layers - or were they 8 layers?

Mom was really into the 3-layered displays last year! Here's a little bit of healthy food for ya'. Oops, celery stuffed with cream cheese isn't healthy??

My cousin Eric & I took a trip to Pittsburgh's Strip District where we found this handsome guy!

Spencer and Cooper joined us and weren't phased by the gross-ness of pig's feet.

I'm always so happy to be welcomed home by all of the Italian food in Pittsburgh! Pap would have loved all these olives.

So much pasta! I could live on pasta, but it's Bryce's one and only complaint about my cooking - too much pasta! As I'm typing this now it dawned on me that we currently have pasta leftovers in the fridge and I just ate some for lunch :) Maybe he's got a point.

 

We fly out tonight and I can't wait! I've been promised a sourdough bread bowl tomorrow (in San Fran), tons of homemade food (in Pittsburgh), and a foodie tour (in Boston) and look forward to sharing all of my travelin' food with you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cinnamon Blondies and the Yelp Cookie Swap

Hawaii can be so funny, sometimes. Earlier this year I was selected for jury duty and I was the only white person or haole as we're called in Hawaii. Everyone else was "local" which tends to mean either Hawaiian or Asian.

During our lunch break one day, some of the ladies started talking about haole brownies. I thought to myself "What the hell is a haole brownie?! It must be either a white brownie or a brownie made by a white person." I sat and listened quietly. These haole brownies seemed to be hugely popular, well known in the Kamehameha Schools community (the school system here in Hawaii just for native Hawaiians), and extremely delicious! Ok, so maybe they like these haole brownies and aren't making fun of white people, I thought. If they were, they wouldn't say it in front of me, right? I've done a little asking around and googling since then, and it seems that these mysterious haole brownies are actually blondies!    

One long story later, I'll get to the point - this haole girl was invited to a Yelp Holiday Cookie Swap! I decided to make a delicious recipe I'd tried out a few months ago for cinnamon blondies. They were easy to make and incredibly addicting so they'd be great for sharing. I also found it quite funny that the haole girl would bring haole brownies!

I made them exactly as the original instructed, only I doubled the recipe and used regular-old-cinnamon. I don't have 2 square pans of the same style - one is an 8" x 8" metal and the other a 9" x 9" Pampered Chef stone baker.

Cinnamon Blondies
(makes 2 batches)

2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3 cups of light brown sugar
3 teaspoons of vanilla
2 sticks of butter
   (there are 3 sticks in the photo, although you only need 2)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
   (again, 6 eggs in the photo but you only need 4)

Brussel Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes

Every year I leave beautiful warm Hawaii where the palm trees are decorated with twinkle lights and Santa wears an Aloha shirt to venture home to freezing cold Pittsburgh for Christmas.  As the song says, there's no place like home for the holidays!  I couldn't agree more.  

After the 13+ hour trip back to the Burgh, it's like I've never left!  Christmas Eve includes us running late for mass where we sit in the exact same pew as always, our small house filled with family members from both sides - the temperature quickly rising to an uncomfortable 99 degrees so we prop open the kitchen door to let the frigid outside air in, the kids are dying to know why they can't open their gifts NOW, Dad wants me to grab him a beer from the fridge downstairs, Mom's making a million things in the kitchen including punch with pink sherbet, our stockings are hanging on the railing of the stairs, the (artificial, since Dad is allergic to the real deal) tree is smothered in beautiful red & white ornaments and the cat is hiding underneath, I fill up on veggies and dip, cookies, shrimp cocktail, and wine before dinner has even begun - it's madness and it's fabulous!   

Christmas day is much different.  We spend it with my Mom's side of the family, but the numbers dwindle down.  Half of the kids spend the day with the other half of their relatives, people hang out with significant others and their families, ditch us for the movies, etc.  This creates a relaxed, nice family day and dinner.  We actually all get to sit around the table together and eat from real plates!  My Aunt Linda was making lamb this year so I looked up a veggie to compliment appropriately and stumbled across this Forever Roasted Lamb with Roasted Vegetables recipe.  I, of  course, was only making the veggies.  

Here's the gist of it:

Peel and cut 2 pounds sweet potatoes & chop 1.5 tablespoons fresh sage.

Boil sweet potatoes in salted water, reduce and simmer until tender.

Strain and cool the hot potatoes :)

Aren't my sweet potatoes and sage pretty?

Clean, trim, and halve 1.5 pounds of Brussels sprouts - might I suggest buying extra sprouts?  By the time you clean and trim them you lose a lot of weight!

Boil the sprouts in salted water for 3 minutes.

Strain and cool.

The sweet potatoes and sprouts FINALLY get to meet - in a saute pan over high heat with 1/4 cup olive oil.

Toss them to coat with OO and do not disturb until the bottoms are browned.

Flip & repeat on the other side.

Next - salt and pepper the veggies and and bake in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes.

After they've had 15 minutes of alone time, add the 1.5 tablespoons of fresh, chopped sage and 3 tablespoons of sliced garlic.

Let that party last for 15 - 20 minutes or until the garlic is golden brown.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of orange zest on them and enjoy the delicious orangey/garlicey aroma for a few minutes before you dig in!

This is what mine looked like in Mom's adorable basket weave dish.

This recipe is clearly beautiful and it's just as delicious as it is attractive.  I took it to Aunt Linda's and got many compliments on it.  Similar to the Strawberry Short Cake that was served over the same trip, the kids didn't want to eat the healthful items - oh well!  I'd never made Brussels sprouts before and was pleasantly surprised with the turnout.  To be honest, I can't remember the last time I've even eaten a Brussels sprout.  

My complaint with this recipe is the amount of dishes this recipe dirties!  1 pot for boiling the sweet potatoes, 1 pot for the BS's, 1 saute pan, and 1 dish for baking!  (Plus the cutting board, knives, potato peeler, etc.)  It just seems like a lot of dishes for a side dish, don't you think?  I suppose that's a lot of steps for a recipe, too, although I was in "vacation mode" and had no concept of time :)

Will I make this recipe again?  If someone's making lamb and I have a few hours to cook and clean, then yes!  I'll let you know when that situation pops up again... Can you hear me laughing?!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's the most wonderful time of the year, there's no denying that on any level.  The Christmas season is magical and fabulous.  Part of what makes it so wonderful is the food!  Just take a look at this spread of candy, cookies, cupcakes, brownies, pie, fruit & dip from a friend's holiday party over the weekend.  I didn't make or bring dessert since the ever famous Broccoli, Chicken, Cheddar Braid was requested, but I sure did eat many of those sweet treats!

This is also why most people resolve to eat healthy each new year!