Slice and Bake Cookies

Years ago, I stumbled upon this recipe in a list collected by a group of women I had met. It has been my "go to" sugar cookie recipe since then. What inspired me to try these the first time was a little note with the recipe explaining that it came from a woman who always kept these in her freezer so that she could make a few fresh out of the oven cookies if a guest stopped by. She must have been an amazing hostess! You could roll and decorate these, but if you're looking for something super simple, these are great to just slice off and bake.

Slice and Bake Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. This works best with your hands so you can really work it into a uniform dough. Once you have a dough that is not crumbly, slowly roll the dough to form a log shape and place in plastic wrap. I find it easier to get a rough roll first and then smooth it once it's wrapped in plastic. Place the roll in the freezer overnight if you plan on slicing them or in the fridge if you want to roll them out the next day.

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Slice cookies with a sharp knife into 1/4 to 1/2 inch rounds. Sprinkle with chunky sugar or other decorations if desired and bake for 8-10 minutes. If you slice thicker, you'll get a more chewy soft sugar cookie, and if you slice thinner, you'll get a more crisp "biscuit" type cookie. You can also opt to roll them out and use cookie cutters, but let the dough rest about 15 minutes after removing from the fridge first.

Dirty Rice

Sounds delicious, right? In the Southern U.S., in the state of Louisiana, there is a creole style of food know as Cajun food that blends flavors from different cultures. While this recipe may not be 100% out-of-the-bayou authentic, it's a tasty take on the original dirty rice that would have been made with livers. For this recipe, you can use just about any kind of smokey sausage, but recently we have really enjoyed the kielbasa made by a Polish couple living in our city. On our long family camping trip, the days we ate this were morale boosting days. If you're looking for a little change in your week, give this one a try. It's a great one pot meal for a week night.

Had to capture the pot quick before the food disappeared!

Dirty Rice
1 1/2 cups rice
3 cups water
1 1/2 chicken broth cubes
1 package sausage or 1 long link, sliced into rounds
2 medium onions, chopped
1 1/4 cups chopped celery (less if stalks are thin)
2 green peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme (2 teaspoons fresh)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Chili powder, to taste

Fry sausage in a pan over medium heat without oil until the sausage begins to brown. Remove the sausage and set aside. If there is not a lot of fat in the bottom of the pan, add about a teaspoon of oil and fry the onions, celery, and peppers until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the rice and stir until it is nicely coated with the oil and vegetables. This helps keep the grains separated after cooking. Pour in the water and drop in the broth cubes. Bring to a boil, stirring to make sure the cube is dissolved. Reduce the heat to low then add the salt, chili powder, thyme, and sausage. Cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed (10-15 minutes). Turn off the heat and leave covered about 10 minutes prior to serving. Top with sour cream if desired.

Eggnog

Eggnog is one of my husband's favorite Christmas drinks. I can remember seeing him drink it straight from the carton in front of the fridge on many an occasion when we lived in the U.S. With Christmas approaching, I was excited to hear last week of a local dairy making eggnog for Christmas, only to find out Friday that I had likely missed the last chance to order. After some research, I realized making my own pasteurized eggnog was not as hard as I'd imagined. Now you can try it, too! It also doubles as a delicious coffee creamer. Freeze the egg whites in ice cube trays for the next time you need just whites.

Eggnog
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar plus 1 Tablespoon
2 cups milk (pasteurized and cooled)
1 small box (or 1 cup) fresh cream (heavy cream)
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan off the heat, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until the yolks turn a lighter yellow color. Into the mixture, add 1 cup of cold milk and the nutmeg. Over low heat, begin heating the mixture without boiling it until the temperature throughout is 160F/71C. Keep at this temperature for about 30 seconds. This is the temperature just before small bubbles would begin to form. Switch off the heat and chill immediately over an ice bath or in the freezer. Once cooled, use a whisk to stir in the remaining 1 cup of milk and the box of cream until smooth. Keep in the fridge once the eggnog is finished and enjoy!

Note: Some recipes call for the addition of whipped egg whites to the final mixture, but since I can't guarantee the safety of raw eggs here, I would not advise it. Also, if you'd like a thinner eggnog, heat the cream with the milk and the mixture will not thicken as much.

Maple Roasted Pumpkin

About this time of year, pumpkins begin flooding our vegetable stalls in various stages of ripeness. The classic thing to do is turn them into puree that you can use to make cakes, pies, and nutty breads, but if you’d like to showcase pumpkin another way, give this a try. The recipe includes the combination of thyme and allspice, but if you don’t have access to allspice, try substituting nutmeg or swapping for a sage/nutmeg combination. If you don’t have those, just sprinkle on some cinnamon and leave out the herbs. Anyway you do it, these will give you another way to enjoy pumpkin. I think this would look gorgeous if you roasted some beets with the pumpkin for an orange and red combo. 

Maple Roasted Pumpkin 
3 cups pumpkin (or other winter squash), cubed

2 Tablespoons oil
2 Tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon salt (more to taste afterwards)
Pepper

Place the pumpkin cubes in a baking dish. Sprinkle over all the ingredients and rub with your hands to coat evenly. Bake in a 200C/400F oven for about 20-30 minutes until they have golden edges and are fork tender. 

Note: If you use brown sugar rather than maple syrup, I would suggest placing a sheet of foil in the bottom of the pan for easier cleanup after roasting.  

Faux Sweet Potato Casserole

Ah, the week of Thanksgiving—quite possibly one of my favorite weeks of the year! I dream of all the delicious food I get to consume. Last year, I was just a little too busy to do much posting around the end of November, but I did a quick roundup linking you to some of my favorite recipes for this time of year. This time, I’m going to attempt to share a few in advance to hopefully give the American readers some inspiration for turkey day and others some ideas for Christmas dinner.

Sweet potatoes (the orange-fleshed ones) are a classic this time of year, especially in the Southern U.S. where I come from. I went a number of years going without them and other years trying to make the white sweet ones work for this dish. Finally, I came up with a pretend sweet potato solution that involves blending other vegetables that look and taste similar to sweet ‘taters. This is the result of that experimentation!
 

“Sweet Potato” Casserole 
3 pounds (or about 1.5 kg) pumpkin and carrots, cooked and pureed

½ cup milk
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup/64g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, cashews, or both)
½ cup marshmallows (optional)
½ cup shredded coconut (optional)

For the puree, you can either steam, pressure cook, or roast the vegetables. Use about half of each kind to make the total amount. Once pureed and cooled, add the milk, brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and beaten eggs to a bowl with the puree and stir to combine. Pour into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle chopped nuts over the top. Bake uncovered in a 170C/350F degree oven for about 25 minutes. If you’d like, you can stop there. For that extra gooey, marshmallow goodness, cut marshmallows into smaller pieces to make mini-marshmallows. Sprinkle marshmallows (and coconut if desired) on top of the nuts, and bake another 5-10 minutes until the marshmallows melt and begin to brown.

This is the PERFECT holiday side because it gives you the excuse to eat dessert twice. After all, this is made of vegetables, right?! Thanks for your inspiration Neely's!

Fireside Coffee Mix

My sister-in-law Natalie makes this coffee mix around the holiday season for gifts, and it's perfect for a cozy afternoon drink that feels slightly more grown up than hot chocolate. It uses hot chocolate as its base with a kick of coffee and a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. Dress it up in a pretty glass jar with a ribbon, and you've got a great hostess gift if you're into that sort of thing. Enjoy!

Fireside Coffee Mix
1 cup hot cocoa mix
1 cup powdered creamer or whitener (like Everyday)
1/2 cup instant coffee
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or more!)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix all the powdered ingredients in an airtight container or jar. Start with 2 teaspoons per cup of hot water and adjust to taste.

Ranch Party Dip

Ahh, the classic crudite platter with ranch dip. That is a party food staple that could mean reliance on imported ingredients from home, but have you ever taken a look at how little there is in ranch dressing? It's incredibly easy to make, and not terribly expensive either. One thing you do have to have is good mayonnaise to make this taste right--none of that stuff that smells like sour sugar or straight oil--so don't skimp in that department.

Ranch Party Dip
2 small boxes fresh cream (made into sour cream)
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried dill (2 Tablespoons fresh)
1 teaspoon dried parsley (2 Tablespoons fresh)
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined. Chill and let meld a few hours before serving.

Note: You could also do this with plain yogurt if you'd like more of a buttermilk ranch type flavor. Just drain the yogurt over a cheesecloth overnight in the fridge. The key here, whether using yogurt or sour cream, is to keep the main dip base thick and not watery.