Blog Surfing - Holiday Style

It is hard to believe how fast the Christmas Season comes and goes, once December comes. Here are a few more Christmas/holiday recipes to close out the season.


From Tablspoon: Vanilla Peppermint Fudge Recipe, Reindeer Feed

From How Sweet It Is:  Chocolate Gingerbread Granola

From Tasty Kitchen: Sparkling Gingersnaps for Two, Cinnamon Eggnog Scones, Classic Soft Caramels, Red Velvet Fudge, Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies, Fruit and Nut Brittle, Mini Almond Joy Tarts,


From Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness: Chocolate Almond and Coconut Biscotti, 


From Your Home Based Mom: Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies


From Luna Cafe: Peanut Butter Ginger Shortbread, Coconut Vanilla Lime Shortbread


From Meet Me in the Kitchen: Fig, Ginger and Pear Quick Bread


From Wives with Knives: Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies


From Monster Mama: Pretend Thin Mints


From For the Love of Cooking: Double Chocolate Almond Cookies


From Taste of Home: Ribbon Icebox Cookies


From Love and Homemade: Tasty Holiday Appetizers


From Epicurious: Christmas Baking Crafts, Healthy Holiday Eating Tips.

From Recipegirl: Red Velvet Cake Trifle 

From Cookies and Cups: Santa Party Mix


From The Crepes of Wrath: White Chocolate Peppermint Marshmallow Fudge


From Cooking, Dunkin Style: Cashew Brittle

White Chocolate Pistachio Cherry Bark with Bittersweet Chocolate Drizzle

This was a very easy treat to put together. I thought the dried red cherries and the greenish pistachios would be great together for a Christmas tray. It really doesn't get any easier than this, especially because I had them on hand. With in an hour it had been broken into serving sized pieces, placed on a green charger, covered with plastic wrap, ready to head out the door in the morning.

Enjoy!

Fresh Ginger Cake with Lemon Butter Sauce

When I was growing up, I don't remember mom baking many cakes. When she did bake, it was usually cookies! She didn't make or buy sweet treats for us very often, so when she baked us a cake for our birthday, it was very special. There were nine of us in the family, and if you cut nine pieces of cake out of a regular sized, two tiered cake, there isn't much left over! One cake that my mom did bake, especially around the holidays, was gingerbread cake and she always made lemon sauce to drizzle on top. We always looked forward to that. The house smelled so good when there was gingerbread in the oven.

I really wanted to fill the house with the smell of gingerbread last week, so I decided to make it as the dessert for the Christmas party. I wanted smaller individual cakes for everyone. I adapted a recipe I found online that wasn't afraid to use ginger, but I guess I said "Bam" and took it to the next level with fresh minced ginger, too. If you like ginger, you will love this recipe. In my opinion, if you are making gingerbread, make it the best gingerbread possible. This is that recipe! It turned out super moist and full of ginger flavor, because in addition to the 4 ounces of fresh ginger, I also added a half a cup of minced candied ginger. That made my ginger taste buds very happy! I decided that it definitely needed some lemon sauce to balance out the flavor rush. The night before the party, we cut one in half and each had a bite dipped in lemon sauce and I was very happy!! I love ginger and I don't have a sensor that says "Too much ginger," so I needed to rely on the taste buds of those near me. That bite was a party in your mouth! I was happy with the verdict that it was fit for human consumption. I was especially happy that I didn't have to start over with a whole new dessert! 



My plan was to make lemon curd to serve alongside the gingerbread, but when I started calculating how many eggs I would need to make enough for 50 people, I decided to go with a much lighter lemon sauce. The original recipe was for ten servings, but I made the recipe for 40 servings. I used juice and rind from 7 lemons.

Enjoy!

A Tornado Hits Marion County

We live about 30 miles from Aumsville, Oregon, where the tornado touched down. As I was leaving the house, I saw that the sky was very, very dark and it looked like a bad storm was headed to the east. I never would have guessed that a tornado was brewing somewhere within those black clouds.

Aumsville, Oregon

This report is from the wunderground.com on Tuesday, December 14, 2010.
 

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by NWS storm survey.


            *** 2 inj *** Enhanced Fujita scale rating of EF2 with
            estimated wind speeds 110 to 120 mph. Two injuries, fifty
            structures damaged, thirty or more large trees blown down
            or snapped off, five sheds damaged, two semi trailers
            tipped. Preliminarly estimated length of 5 miles and
            width of 150 yards. It appears the tornado was not on the
            ground continuously but lifted up and touched back down.



12/14/2010 1144 am

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by NWS storm survey.


            *** 2 inj *** Enhanced Fujita scale rating of EF2 with
            estimated wind speeds 110 to 120 mph. Two injuries,
            twenty five structures damaged, thirty or more large
            trees blown down or snapped off, five sheds damaged, two
            semi trailers tipped. Preliminarly estimated length of 1
            mile and width of 150 yards.



12/14/2010 1144 am

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by Fire Dept/Rescue.


            East and west bound lanes covered with debris near town
            of Shaw. Many auto accidents between mile posts 42 and 45
            due to hail on roads.



12/14/2010 1144 am

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by broadcast media.


            Damage to many homes and businesses in Aumsville.
            Overturned semi trailer. Uprooted trees. Also... many
            reports of flying debris hitting autos and other
            structures... such as two by four lumber stud blown into a
            truck.



12/14/2010 1144 am

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by Fire Dept/Rescue.


            Emergency personnel observed tornado. Numerous trees
            down. Reports of people trapped in autos due to numbeous
            downed power lines.



12/14/2010 1145 am

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by Fire Dept/Rescue.


            East and west bound lanes covered with debris near town
            of Shaw. Many auto accidents between mile posts 42 and 45
            due to hail on roads.




12/14/2010 1159 am

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by Fire Dept/Rescue.


            Emergency personnel observed tornado. Numerous trees
            down. Reports of people trapped in autos due to numberous
            downed power lines.



12/14/2010 1159 am

Aumsville, Marion County.

Tornado, reported by Fire Dept/Rescue.


            Emergency personnel observed tornado. Numerous trees
            down. Reports of people trapped.


What a Tuesday! Some of these early reports were found to be not as bad as expected. We are all very thankful that no one was seriously hurt. We had two family members that both happened to be headed in that direction for work, but were called with the news about the dangerous weather system, certainly not expecting there would be a tornado, and they changed their routes. 

Here are some pictures of what the tornado left behind. 

Now we need to find a way to help those that suffered losses yesterday, so that they can still have a Merry Christmas. The true spirit of Christmas is about giving, especially to the many families that have great needs right now.

Old English Sheep Dog Club Christmas Dinner

Big Ben

It was all about the dogs! 

Several times, through the past few years, I have heard about the great parties that have been hosted here at the farm and I wished that I could be there to help out with the cooking and enjoy the fun time working with family and friends. It finally happened this past weekend. The party we hosted on Saturday night was for the Greater Portland Old English Sheep Dog Club. There were close to 50 people in attendance. 

All who attended, braved the record setting rain storm that went on throughout the day, causing major traffic problems and flooding in the Portland metro area, including the Willamette Valley, where the farm is located. At one point during the day, we wondered how we were going to get the people through the flooded areas to the house. Only one vehicle had to be towed out of the mud at the end of the night. 

I enjoyed making the food during the three days of preparation. The menu I chose would have been impossible to accomplish without the three full-sized ovens and the two refrigerators here in the house. Even with them, it was a challenging menu and it took a lot of juggling and planning. The day of the party, I had extra hands, including one of my sisters, helping out with getting the food on the table, plus last minute things. We even had a dishwasher extraordinaire, that kept the counters cleared the whole evening, which helped very much! Over all, I was happy with the way everything turned out. There are a couple of things I would do differently if I had a do-over, but I will save that for another time. I have at least two recipes that I will share later in the week.

I hear that my camera was the only one in the house, being used anyway, so today I am sharing a few pictures I have of the evening. The food pictures were taken at random times, some before and some after the dinner started. We missed taking pictures of the soup course altogether as we were getting the food set in place during that time. We served split pea soup and corn chowder to everyone sitting at the tables. After the soup course, they took their plates with them to the buffet.

The buffet line with notes attached for placement, pre-dinner

Apple Stuffed Pork Loin with Spiced Cider Glaze

Chicken Cordon Bleu - before the skewers were taken out

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Streusel Topped Sweet Potatoes

Green Beans with Fresh Mushroom Sauce

Honey Glazed Carrots with Fresh Nutmeg

An oven full of Macaroni and Cheese

 And for dessert...

Ginger Cakes with Lemon Butter and Cream

We did our best to get every one fed as quickly as possible. As we were working in the background, it sounded like everyone was having a great time. They were a very appreciative group of people, which makes the time and effort given even more rewarding. In place of their traditional gift exchange, the members of the club brought many bags and containers of dog food to donate to local animal shelters this holiday season.