Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas Eve dinner for as long as I can remember has always been the same meal for my family. No matter where we are, it doesn’t really feel like Christmas unless we are noshing on prime rib for dinner and my sister’s special sugar cookies. Even though when we get together the question is often posed, “what do we have for Christmas Eve dinner?”, it is not really a question. This year my sister, mom and I were going to be all together unlike last year and even more special, we were going to be celebrating in my sister and my new apartment. Furthermore, I was very excited to not only share Christmas with all the most important people in my life, but also to share our Christmas traditions which also include eating homemade loaves of Stollen on Christmas morning with sausages, eggs, fresh squeezed oj and plenty of coffee and eating “stew-p” which is an everything but the kitchen sink type of soup/stew (hence stew-p).

I ordered a really nice roast from Drew’s Brothers and while I was picking it up nabbed some breakfast sausages, hot italian sausages and chicken (for Christmas day). There were a total of 7 of us for Christmas Eve dinner and I wanted everything to be awesome. I fretted a bit over how to cook the prime rib and didn’t settle on a method until I read this post from Serious Eats. It went through the popular methods and figured out how to have the perfect sear plus perfect pink (medium rare). I was sold and with some trepidation proceeded forward.

Secret recipe Mac and Cheese

The menu included Prime rib, Horseradish Sauce (creme fraiche, dijon and horseradish), Green Beans with Garlic and Butter, Salad with AMAZING homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, olive oil, blue agave, fresh herbs and garlic), my secret recipe Mac and Cheese and fresh bread from The Baker.

I prepared everything in stages, timing out the whole meal and executing it dang near perfectly. Especially impressive since dinner time got pushed back by slightly tardy guests. I was nervous about the meal. I really wanted to provide an amazing dining experience for my guests. Before we dug into the food, we enjoyed a nice spread of crackers, hummus, salsa and plenty of Prosecco.

Empty plates and empty wine glasses? For shame! Dig in people!

With everything ready we sat down at the table, paused for me to take a picture of the table and then dug right in. Once everyone’s plates were full the room fell into a deep, deep silence as everyone savored their food. I hadn’t started digging in to my plate, instead I just watched their reactions and the delight at the tasting of each thing. It was actually pretty funny since they all seemed to look up at once at me and say, “this is really good!”. We drank delicious red wine with dinner and then once we had digested and socialized for a while devoured some of my sister’s Special Sugar Cookies, Peanut Butter Peanut Butter Chip cookies by The Baker and Gluten Free Ginger Molasses cookies by me. It was so much fun enjoying our tradition as a family and sharing it with the people I care about.

Goodbye Year, Hello New Chef in the Family?

Sister sampling her soup.

The other night, my beautiful sister offered to cook for us and boldly go where she doesn’t often go. My sister can cook, she just doesn’t know it yet. She has her staple items that she makes for herself, but a bad experience in the past of being made fun of for something she cooked for someone else has led her to be trepidatious when it comes to cooking for others. I was utterly shocked when she offered to cook for The Baker and I.

And cook she did. A delicious Baked Potato soup with bacon, scallions and cheddar. It had the flavor profile of a good hearty loaded baked potato but was a much lighter meal. She paired it with a salad and we were in business. She did great and I look forward to her next attempt. Who knows maybe one day she’ll be guest posting for me!

While she made soup, I worked on making some gluten free dark chocolate peanut butter and jelly cupcakes for NYE dinner. They are pretty dang tasty. I am stoked to share them. It has been a good year of eating, blogging, writing and living. I look forward to a continuation and growth of that in the new year. Happy New Year everyone!

After spending nearly a month in the mountains, followed by another couple of busy weeks, not being able to cook anything super fancy or really exercise my culinary skills, I decided that I wanted to try and make something fun, delicious and slow cooked. I was craving a meaty red sauce, so I found a recipe for Ragu alla Napoletana from Italian Slow and Savory, A cookbook by Joyce Goldstein. It turned out freaking fantastic. It was hearty, delicious but also complex and not weighed down. It was also fun to have a aromatic pot of food cooking away on the stove all day, filling the house with a tasty aroma. Once the sauce had cooked way down, I boiled up some gluten free pasta, shredded some parm reg and quick sauteed some veggies with garlic to balance out the meal. While I ate this dinner pre-long run, it will do for any night you need a little warm up or coziness. It was delicious!

Ragu alla Napoletana

Ingredients

⅓ cup olive oil
1 ½ lbs. beef brisket, in one piece
½ lb boneless veal shoulder, in one piece
½ lb. boneless pork shoulder, in one piece
salt
1 yellow onion, chopped
½ cup dry red wine
2 cans (28oz) plum tomatoes with juice, chopped or pulsed
pinch red pepper flakes
stock (chicken or vegetable)

Directions

In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over high heat. Add the meats and sprinkle with salt. When the meats have given up their juices, after about 15 minutes, add the onion and stir well. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meats are browned and the onion is golden, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the wine and cook until it is absorbed into the meats, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and chili pepper flakes and stir well. Cover partially and simmer, stirring often, for 2 1/2 hours. Check from time to time to see if more liquid is needed. At 2 1/2 hours you can remove the meat with a slotted spoon and reserve for another dish, or chop it and return to the sauce. Or continue cooking over low heat until the meat falls apart with a fork, incorporating into the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

Based on Italian Slow and Savory, A cookbook by Joyce Goldstein.

I am finally back in the land of kitchens and culinary, back from a transformative journey brimming with ideas, direction and passion. Passion which is directed not just towards my running, but my passion for cooking. I am more motivated than ever to share my recipes, nutritional know how and culinary skills. It makes me giddy to think about getting into the kitchen and into writing all the things that I have brewing in my head. All in good time though. As I settle back into life, I have the opportunity to get back into the kitchen and create, create, create. The recipes below just happened into my head when I was wondering around in the grocery store this morning. They turned out fantastic, simple and nutritional.

I am back on top of things and looking towards planning a future where my website is even more of a tool that runners and athletes can meet their nutritional needs, cook and eat amazing gourmet food and find out all sorts of culinary and nutritional information. Also, I am keen to continue to try and work on a cookbook and have that published in the next year or two. That is a task that comes with no small undertaking and I am so ready to take on the challenge. In the meantime if you want to grab all of my recipes from this year and last, head over to the Tastebook badge in the left hand column and buy a Fast Foodie Cookbook. I have one book for last and one for this. This years is currently being updated to be complete, but the cool thing about tastebook is that you can buy pages and add them to your book. Check it out.

As the summer comes to a close, drink and eat up all you can of all the bounty of summer, both literally and figuratively!

Beautiful summer meal for a beautiful summer day

Sage and Garlic Green Beans

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. fresh sage, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup water
1 cup green beans, trimmed
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions:
In a saute pan, bring water to a boil and put green beans in the water to poach/parboil them for 2-3 mins. Drain the water, add olive oil, garlic and sage and saute until the green beans crisp up. Salt and pepper to taste.

Summer Melon and Goat Cheese Salad

Summer Melon and Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

3 cups arugula
¼ cup red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup cantalope, cubed
2 tbsp. goat cheese
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt
pepper

Directions:

Soak sliced onions in ice cold water to remove sharpness. Meanwhile, arrange arugula, melon and goat cheese in a bowl. Add onions, drizzle with nice olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

Sun-dried Tomato, Mushroom and Fresh Herb Chicken

Ingredients:

3 sun-dried tomato, packed in oil
¼ cup mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp. mixed fresh herbs, minced
1 organic boneless skinless chicken breast, butterflied
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a oven proof skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Saute sliced mushrooms for 2-3 minutes. Remove mushrooms from skillet, leaving oil in pan.

Stuff the butterflied chicken with the sun dried tomatoes (3 slices approx), mushrooms and 1/2 of the fresh herbs. Close, sprinkle remaining herbs on top and salt and pepper. Add the remaining oil back to the skillet. Place chicken in the skillet and brown on both sides. Remove skillet from heat and bake in oven until chicken is cooked through about 35 minutes.