What Beverages Do You Serve At Your Holiday Meals?
6 years ago
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Did you use any of your home canned foods for holiday meals?
Comments (20)I was just here checking to see if anyone was still canning anything, since I canned beef broth today. I raised the heritage Blue Slate turkey that we had at Thanksgiving, along with the fingerling potatoes which store very well in the cellar. Pumpkin pie was made from home canned pumpkin and an appetizer of a savory cheesecake was topped with my Habanero Gold. Mulled cider from cider we pressed and I had in the freezer stayed warm in the crockpot. Christmas thumbprint cookies contained homecanned jam and the green beans were from my basement "store" and my stepson roasted another one of those turkeys. The guys all doused theirs with my home canned hot sauce. All the Christmas baking was done with eggs from the freezer too, and the pie was made with homecanned apple pie filling. Throughout the holidays we snacked on fresh tortilla chips and salsa that I had canned (Yes, I'm THAT Annie). Oh, I made the ricotta for the lemon ricotta pancakes too, as well as the yogurt. Enchiladas made with leftover turkey were topped with tomatillo sauce that I made and froze when the last of my tomatillos vines were threatened by frost. My kids are coming over tomorrow and we're having beef roulades, with the onions in the rolled beef coming from the root cellar and the beef from my barnyard, good organic grassfed beef, a Hereford/Highland cross. Sweet and sour kale from our bumper crop of greens this year, home canned green beans with bacon for the grandkids and the cheesecake will be topped with homecanned blueberry topping. Appetizers will be venison sausage and homemade liverwurst from that same grassfed beef, pickled beets and Linda Lou's 10 day sweet pickles So, yeah, I use a lot of my canned goods. Annie...See MoreWhat Are Your Holidays (Meals, Events, Etc) Influenced by?
Comments (11)Our traditions when I was a child were fairly simple and mostly revolved around gathering family (grandparents, aunts, uncles cousins and honorary family) at a table for the meal and not a lot of other fanfare. Foods were specific to the holiday and pretty consistent over the years although my mom did love to try new things. Unfortunately the response more often than not, was to stick with the tried and true - kids can be so mean!! We didn't make big productions out of many of the holidays that are big events now. Halloween involved carving a pumpkin for/with each child then shoo-ing us out the door to trick or treat in whatever homemade costumes we came up with from the dress-up closet. My parents would never decorate our house and it never felt like anything was missing in our lives. Fourth of July was our village parade (with our decorated bikes) and speeches, then that night the fireworks. Memorial Day was more somber but also a village event. Being Jewish, I loved being invited to decorate trees with friends, but we had 8 nights of Hanukkah and the last night was the big family event with games, the traditional meal and presents. But other than the menorah and candles, no decorations. Passover was a huge production (I understand now how much work it entails), the High Holidays meant new outfits for temple, eating, fasting, lots of family in and out for the various services. My DH is not Jewish and came from a whole different set of (religious) traditions. Oddly, he didn't like many of them, even as a child and stopped participating as an adult. Of course, I get the blame for that! We forged new traditions with our sons, celebrating Hanumas or Christmakah. We topped our tree with a Jewish star for many years, until I realized no one else cared about the tree but me and when I stopped buying one they all said 'what took you so long?!' Last year we went to Washington for Thanksgiving. Our older son lives there in a tiny apartment in a national park. Tiny as in you can sit on the foot of the bed and open the refrigerator! Our younger son came from his college in CO, and the 5 of us (including DS1's girlfriend) stood shoulder to shoulder preparing the big meal. Nothing traditional, no turkey no stuffing no mashed potatoes - we had oysters, Dungeness crab, roast brisket..... and Mexican flan for dessert. Close quarters, limited equipment, borrowed dishes, no fancy table settings or decor but we laughed and felt so TOGETHER - it was probably the best Thanksgiving we've ever had! I love traditions but have come to appreciate the wonder of shaking things up now and then. In the end, though, it's all about the people I share the events with and have found simplifying things allows me to enjoy them much more....See MoreYour Holiday Meal - What Time Of Day?
Comments (43)Jan, since I can't have the tipple anymore :-( I put a tiny little driblet of rum flavoring in my cuppa nog (if it's not my breakfast drink), and plenty of fresh nutmeg. We have this awesome hand-cranked nutmeg grinder so there's no grating your fingernails into your eggnog. LOL Promised Land must be a regional brand. I haven't been really jazzed by anything from Walkers the last few years - it's all seemed just the littlest bit stale-tasting. The mincemeat in jars is, for the most part, very good (Crosse & Blackwell's is too sweet IMO, but Nonesuch and Grandmother's are quite good) and I admit that I quit making my own piecrust several years ago in favor of the Pillsbury - basically when they started rolling the dough instead of folding it, so you couldn't tell it was premade! I don't want to "spend my spoons" on making piecrust! Usually if someone in the family's bagged a deer for winter food my grandmother will make venison mincemeat, which makes awfully good tarts/pies. I have these adorable little 4" tart pans (the sort with the loose bottoms); I cover the bottom with a circle of parchment so I can slide the tart off, pop the whole pan into the fridge to cool off for a few minutes, and make the next batch. But yes, usually I just use the jar stuff rather than a premade tart. Their shortbread is usually stale IMO but it is so absurdly easy to make - flour, salt, sugar, and the best butter you can get your hands on - I just can't imagine buying it. I never roll it out and cut shapes, I am far too lazy! I like to mash it into those tart pans for individual cookes, or for a gift I like to use my big removable-bottom 10" tart pan and mooch small pizza boxes from our favorite pizza joint, dividing the shortbread into wedges with fork perforations before baking.) Fruitcake Day is on the schedule for next weekend, but we haven't decided whether to go rum or brandy... I'm pondering Drambuie for a change but wondering if it'd be too sweet. I think I need to get a "nip" bottle to taste. ttodd - I wouldn't waste eggnog on the unappreciative. Put it in a pretty pitcher and have cups available for those who wish to partake, but if no one is going to drink it there's no point in putting a cup at every place setting. Natal - Yeah, the HFCS is a drag. I know there are a couple of brands that don't have it (and are probably local/regional anyway) but I admit that I pretend I don't see it on the labels of the ones we get (Hood and Oakhurst). There's always Silk Nog, which I hear is pretty good, but I haven't tried it....See MoreWhat is the most memorable holiday meal you have ever had?
Comments (51)A few years back my wife and I were traveling on business in Brazil over Thanksgiving. A professor my wife was working with took us and several of the students to a churrascaria for dinner on Thanksgiving. (A churrascaria is a restaurant where servers roam around the restaurant with skewers of various cooked meats, continually stopping at each table to carve off some to everyone at the table) While there I mentioned that it was the US holiday of Thanksgiving and described it to the professor and the Brazilian students in general terms: get together with family and/or friends and have a large meal together, and described the "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. I was merely trying to make conversation, and make the point that what we were doing was pretty similar to the Thanksgiving tradition. However the professor responded "I'll see what I can do" and flagged the head waiter over, and spoke to him in rapid Portuguese. The waiter responded to us "We don't have any turkey but I'll see what we can do." and disappeared into the kitchen. About 10 minutes later he emerged from the kitchen followed by a server carrying a large skewer of meat, he presented it to us with a big beaming smile saying "This is as close as we could get to turkey. It's Ostrich." It didn't taste even a little like turkey, but it was delicious....See More- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoMarilyn Sue thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoMarilyn Sue thanked Zalco/bring back Sophie!
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoMarilyn Sue thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
- 6 years ago
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