PJ's & Coffee

I use apples and oranges as candle holders on our mantle

My centerpice is apples, with a pineapple top filled in with boxwood greens.

My grandfather made the mold from wood.

I add cloves to oranges for a great look and smell

Sugared Fruits are MY FAVORITE and a great activity with the kids!

Sugared fruits are used with greens and pine cones throughout the house

Sugared Fruits

Egg whites

Sugar

Assorted fruits such as red and green apples

pears

grapes

ornages and clementines

Roll the fruits first in egg white using a basting brush to cover

Then add to a bowl of sugar

Use a spoon to coat and lightly roll in sugar.

Let the fruits dry on wax paper.

Sugared fruits look beautiful in a crystal bowl or scattered amongst greens.

Thank you to Hillary Chybinski for motivating me to finally get this post done by posting her 12 days of Christmas blog.

Merry Christmas!

Peppermint Bark

I made this last night and someone asked for the recipe. It made me realize that I had never shared the recipe! It is so eacy and fun for the whole family!

Peppermint Bark

3 bars of Ghirardelli Semi Sweet Chocolate

3 bars of Ghirardelli White Chocolate

1 pack of peppermint candies or candy canes

Melt chocolate over a double boiler

Take a cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper. Spread chocolate flat across paper until smooth. Stick cookie sheet into fridge to cool and harden.

I have my children open the candies and place them in a ziplock bag. Seal the bag and on floor (our floor is stone, no harm no foul, if your floor is tile, you may want to do this outside), lay down a towel, followed by bag of candies, followed by another towel on top. With a kitchen mallet, have the children slowly smash the candies. The candies shouls be in small pieces and sandy. They love this!

This picture is for effect. Make sure you have a towel under and over candy!

Melt the white chocolate in the same manner and spread over the white chocolate.

Spread melted white chocolate over cooled chocolate VERY quickly as to not melt 1st batch of chocolate. Press scattered candies on top and refrigerate until hardened.

Tear into pieces and serve!

BE PREPARED!!!

THIS POST IS LIFE CHANGING!

Do you make the Thanksgiving Turkey? How is your gravy? Do you struggle with making it smooth, not lumpy? Is your gravy shiny and takes a while to thicken? This trick will change your life and make your gravy better than ever before! Wait for it…wait for it…… SCHMALTZ BALLS!

Schmaltz Balls

I bet schmaltz balls is not something you hear every day. You will do yourself a big favor if these become a staple in your home! So, here’s the story, if you have ever made a turkey or chicken and tried to make gravy, you know it can be difficult to create a perfect consistency. Schmaltz balls change that forever.

First thing you need to do: Before we get any closer to your Thanksgiving turkey, BAKE A CHICKEN!

Schmaltz balls are a combination of flour and chicken fat. So, bake a chicken now so you can make schmaltz balls for Thanksgiving day. Sounds crazy, I know, but seriously, it will change the way you make gravy forever. I am fortunate that I roast a whole chicken every week as a general practice, but for those of you who do not, it is a great practice a few weeks before Thanksgiving. You can do a dry run on a much smaller bird, while also producing the chicken fat you will need for your schmaltz balls. Schmaltz balls are an equal combination of chicken fat and flour.

After you remove your chicken from the pan, set aside the drippings. Once cool, the fat will solidify. Measure the solid chicken fat and add the same amount of flour. Mix together well. Roll the combination into 1 1/2 inch balls. They can be frozen for later use. As a matter of fact, I keep schmaltz balls in my freezer year round.

The theory? When you make gravy by adding in flour directly to the pan, it gets lumpy. If you use cornstarch, gravy appears shiny and unappetizing.  Instead, the schmaltz balls, when added to your turkey’s drippings, will gradually “melt” into the drippings and gradually thicken into a perfectly even and smooth gravy.

Molasses Turkey Gravy

I baste my turkey with molasses, giving the bird a dark beautiful skin and adding tons of flavor to drippings

Strain pan drippings, eliminating as much fat as possible (I use a fat separator)

Return drippings to pan over low heat

Add a little milk

Stir well

Add 1st schmaltz ball and stir until completely dissolved

Continue to add milk and schmaltz balls until desired consistency is achieved

Season as needed (Molasses usually creates a saltiness as it caramelizes in pan)

Other Great Thanksgiving posts:

My Turkey and Chestnut Stuffing Recipes

Turkey Brine

Fun Thanksgiving Ideas

Pumpkin Margaritas

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Thanksgiving Caviar Display

My most prized culinary possession is my caviar staircase! I was searching through my photos from previous Thanksgivings to post some additional recipes from my Thanksgiving repertoire, but when I found this picture, I just had to share!

Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday, and it is the only day each year, unless we have a spectacular cocktail party, which we have not done in years, when the staircase appears. This glass staircase is from TRU in Chicago, my favorite restaurant, second only to Picasso in Las Vegas. I fell in love with the staircase the 1st time I dined there, but after multiple experiences, I had to have it. They shipped me one from Chicago and now it is the premier appetizer at my Thanksgiving Day feast.

Most would claim Beluga Caviar is the best, but my preference is Osetra. It is priced between Beluga and Sevruga. I find it to be  little more briny than the Beluga and slightly sweeter. Sevruga is my least favorite of the premium caviars. It seems to have a smokey taste, in my opinion. Unfortunately, with the restrictions on Russian Caviar imports over the last few years, the costs have risen dramatically. American sturgeon is a joke and anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves. I have tried to serve it, and I’d rather eat the flying fish roe from the grocery store than American Osetra. But, I digress…..

The staircase has 8 “steps” and the way it is used at TRU is to serve all three caviars, along with creme fraiche, capers, egg yolk, egg whites, diced red onion and sour cream. *mouth waters* Since I only serve one type of caviar, I double up on the caviar and sour cream. I made my own blinis once, but given how extensive my menu is (as you will see in upcoming posts), I now purchase them instead at Di Bruno Brothers when I buy my caviar.

Every year when I pull the staircase from the cabinet, it puts a smile on my face!

Do you like caviar?

 Annual Cookie Party

We love Halloween in our house, I mean who doesn’t? I have 3 children and have always considered having a traditional costume party for Halloween, but never got it done. As many of you may already know, we are big bakers in our house and I always made Halloween cookies with my children at Halloween. That really means the children lasted 10 minutes, gave up, and I baked alone for hours. So, eventually I stopped making cookies at Halloween.

We are very social and spend a lot of time with friends throughout our community.  A problem arose when my youngest was around 4 or 5. Every family we “hang” with has a son and daughter the same age as my oldest two children, which left my youngest out of the loop. So, I decided to have a Halloween cookie party and invite only families with children my youngest daughter’s age. Unlike my normal affairs, I kept it simple: Appetizers, Chili w/ fixings, hotdogs w/ fixings and salad. (recipes for dinner under separate posts.)

The concept for the party is simple. We bake the cookies in advance, make icing and the kids go to town. This has become my second favorite night of the year, next to Thanksgiving, and I had to share this concept with all of the other moms out there. The little ones look forward to it all year long!

Rolling dough is a family affair, until the kids vanish

We make 5 or 6 shapes of cookies

Cutout cookies

Simple icing for cookie decorating

Icing

Confectioners Sugar

Milk

Flavoring (option) I use orange or lemon

Food coloring

Pour confectioners sugar into large bowl. Slowly add small amounts of milk. Be careful not too add to much or it will be liquid. The consistency should be thick, yet spreadable.  If it becomes too this, add more sugar. Divide desired portions into new bowls and add food color and flavoring.

I buy lots of plastic cups for icing

I spread the cookies out across table, along with orange, white, black, green, yellow, and purple icing, paper plates and lots and lots of paint brushes.

Center stage; cookies, icing and Halloween White Trash

Awaiting guests

The cookie decorating lasts about 30 minutes, and then they are off! My son hosts a haunted house while I clean up and prepare for dinner. Needless to say, with each year the party gets a little larger, and a little larger. The children are getting older, and yet a good time is had by all! I believe at last count, I have 35 children attending next Saturday night! YIKES!

Happy Halloween!

This cole slaw is so easy with a Caesar spin. It is perfect with grilled chicken or any other BBQ grub. Pictures are not the best, but I wanted to get you this great recipe in time for the holiday!

Caesar Coleslaw

1 cup of mayonnaise

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Anchovy paste (to taste) I use about 1 1/2 TBLS

3 garlic cloves minced

A 2 pound head of Savoy Cabbage

16 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Black pepper

Whisk together the 1st 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Season the dressing with black pepper and maybe a pinch of salt. (If it needs salt, you probably do not have enough anchovy paste in it.)

Thinly slice cabbage

Mix sliced cabbage and sliced onions together in a large bowl and toss with Caesar dressing. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Voila!

It’s that simple, and yet so delicious!

On Memorial Day we went to a picnic. One of the other guests brought the components for a cocktail which she called simply “the lemon drink.” There was some left in the pitcher when we arrived and she offered me some. At a picnic I am more of a beer girl at first, then switch to wine for late night, but I was intrigued. I asked what it was exactly, but was told, “just taste it.” The rest is history…

I now say the exact same thing to everyone every time I serve it. The reason? You may not want to try it if you knew the ingredients, but trust me, this is the most refreshing drink I’ve ever had. It is a perfect summer cocktail!

The Lemon Drink

12 oz Minute Maid Concentrated Frozen Lemonade Mix

12 oz vodka

5 light beers

Pour the lemonade mixture into a large pitcher. Fill the empty lemonade can with vodka and add to the pitcher. Top with 5 light beers and mix. Serve over ice.

There are other versions of this drink known as Shandies, also, but I am confident you will enjoy this!

Pumpkin Margarita Test Run Photo!

I apologize for the photo, but  I wasn’t planning on doing a blog post! Every year I have a “signature cocktail” at my Thanksgiving Feast, this year it will be a pumpkin margarita. I posted the above photo from my cell phone on twitter and facebook and I had requests for the recipe, so this is the easiest way to circulate that!

It was delicious, but a little thicker than I had hoped so I would recommend adding a little club soda before shaking.

Pumpkin Margaritas

2 oz. Tequila (I use Patron or Cabo Wabo)
1 can Pumpkin puree
½ cup Brown sugar
¼ cup Sugar
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
1 pinch Nutmeg
2 cups Water
½ oz. Triple Sec
½ Lime juice

Club soda

Make pumpkin simple syrup by combining pumpkin puree with brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and water in a saucepan over low heat. Stir for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool, and strain. Combine the juice of half a lime, tequila, triple sec and 2 oz. pumpkin simple syrup. Add a little club soda to thin. Shake well and serve on the rocks.

Please add a comment later on how yours turned out and if you changed anything!

Enjoy!

Halloween White Trash

When I worked in retail years ago, my favorite stop In NYC at Christmas time was Henri Bendel because they would carry White Trash Candy in the seasonal department. Here I have recreated it and added Halloween sprinkles to make it holiday appropriate! It’s so easy and ADDICTING!

White Trash

18 oz white chocolate chips

3 1/2 cups of pretzel sticks broken up

2 cups dry roasted peanuts

Orange and black sprinkles

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Heat the white chocolate over a double boiler until completely melted.

Fold in pretzels and peanuts.

Spread the mixture out onto the cookie sheet as evenly as possible.

Sprinkle on decoration.

Place in fridge for an hour.

Break into small pieces and serve.

(Sorry, not sure why my pictures are so awful!)

Summer is over! The weather is shockingly cool after the hottest summer in the world (literally)! I was not planning a party or picnic, but on a day like today. I cannot resist.  Quick! I need recipes that reflect the season and can be made fast, fast, fast! This was the very first, so unbelievably delicious thing that came to mind.

Green Bean, Grape Tomato, and Grilled Corn Salad

1 1/2 lbs of green beans, trimmed

3 ears of corn husked

1 TBLS plus 1/2 cup EEOV

1 1/2 cups grape tomatos halved

1/3 cup packed thinly sliced fresh basil

1 large shallot, chopped

3 TBLP white wine vinegar

Cook beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until just crisp, about 4 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water and drain again. In other circumstances, these can be made one day ahead. Chill and wrap.

Prepare BBQ to med-high. Brush corn with 1 TBSP of oil. Sprinkle with salt (I use Kosher) and pepper. Grill until browned in spots, turning to cook evenly about 10 mins. Cool

Cut kernels off cobs into a large bowl. Add beans and tomatoes. Mix basil, shallot and vinegar in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add dressing to salad and toss.

This salad is so flavorful and refreshing. Enjoy!