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see you next year christmas

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Well, hello there.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Yes, I am alive and no, I did not plan to beat you over the head with the fact that I went to a knife skills like I ended up doing  since it has been my last post for two weeks. I have had a great and whirlwind of a holiday and nothing to show for it.  So I found a friend to give you a quick synopsis of where I've been.

First,  I cooked....

Rewind to two weeks ago when I probably cooked more in 6 days than I do some months.  I had 11 girls over for dinner, catered appetizers for a Christmas party, and made dinner for my brother and his wife who just had a baby.  Phew.

And then, I ate...

Last week, my parents took Mr.  Hungry and I to New York for an early Christmas present.  The food, oh the food.  From a "macaroni and cheese only" restaurant to Tavern on the Green for dinner , we ate, and ate and ate some more.  One day I will share my favorite places to eat in that little city, but for now I will sum it up with why I have nothing to show for all the cooking I did the week before.

As we were taking a ferry back from seeing the Statue of Liberty, I was playing around with my camera and somehow reformatted my memory card, erasing all of my cooking pics from the week before.  Luckily, my mom had captured all of the pictures from the trip, but I erased all my hard work from the week before.  It was lots of my favorite recipes so I'll be happy to make them again, but for now, I am going to continue to take a small break.   I'll be back mid January with more cooking adventures.  Until then, hope you enjoy the end of the year and the beginning of a new one.

chocolate cake + orange buttercream = my favorite

Recipe adapted from Hannah's blog.Chocolate CakeFrom Southern Living2 (4-oz.) bittersweet chocolate baking bars, chopped1/2 cup butter, softened1 2/3 cups granulated sugar1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar3 large eggs2 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon salt1 (8-oz.) container sour cream1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 cup boiling water.1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and

Here we go....

First real post on the blog! Let's try a recipe, shall we? Robby has had this for Christmas breakfast since he was just a wee little lad.....so we have continued on the tradition here in the little red house. It really is quite tastey, and very easy to make on any cold winter morning. (*pssst. it can also be made ahead of time!)Robby's Christmas Breakfast1 bag of Fresh or frozen hash brown

Mozartkulor!

Nu är det sista julinlägget för i år.. tyvärr säger jag då jag verkligen älskar julen. Mozartkulor gjorde jag häromdagen, något som jag verkligen tycker är gott. Jag älskar ju å andra sidan allt med nougat och choklad. Jag vill önska alla en god jul om jag inte hinner skriva imorgon!

In English:

This is my last christmas blog entry this year.. unfortunately for me since I love christmas! I made mozart balls the other day. I really love them, but I on the other hand love everything that contains nougat and chocolate. I want to wish everyone a merry christmas if I don't find the time to write tomorrow!

Kola!

Det har blivit julgodis för hela slanten de senaste dagarna! Det här kolareceptet kan jag rekommendera. Det går även bra att smaksätta ungefär som man vill! Jag valde att göra några med pepparkaksmak och några med choklad. Choklad tycker jag nog blev godast ändå.

In English:

I've made a whole lot of christmas candy lately! I can recommend this toffee recipe. You can use almost any flavor you like. I chose ginger bread spices and chocolate. I liked chocolate the best!

A Bush Birthday

After a week of meticulous planning and running around like a chook without a head, my fiftieth birthday party is over. Can I relax? Well considering it is four days before Christmas; ah; I don't think so. It is going to be an interesting four days.

I was fairly pleased with how the day went despite the fact that it chose to shower and then set in with rain. I would have loved for it to have been a nice, sunny day, however, sunny it was not. Most farmers would say that rain is the best present of all. And we do need rain. But why after almost four weeks without a drop, did the skies release it's tears on my long anticipated day. Fortunately there were no 'people' tears, but plenty of laughs and happy folk which really is all one could hope for.

It was our first big do on the farm and so we were very anxious as to how it would all turn out. I did just about all of the cooking, no joke, and it has been a very full on week for me. I cooked, I baked, I shopped, I searched, I sewed and I tried to create inviting, warm and welcoming country tables for our guests. I had four tables with similar decor; two tables on the ground and two tables on a raised wooden area that Hubby put together about four weeks ago.

It was a well organised team effort and my kids especially the Borb pitched in to lighten my load. Much appreciated guys. Hubby was amazing. He is the utimate problem solver, together with the nouse to be able to do things himself. As a family unit, we managed to create what we were hoping for and the day went off pretty much without a hitch.

I shall let the pictures do the talking - I am feeling really tired but very satisfied.































































Thank you Joan for making my lovely hand decorated, homemade fruit cake. The mud cake was going to be my birthday cake, but after your lovely surprise it was relegated to the dessert table.



Merry Christmas to you and I wish you and your nearest and dearest a safe, peaceful and stressfree festive season. See you next year.

Christmas cupcakes!

Äntligen blev det lite cupcakes! Jag tycker att apelsin och nejlika är en fantastisk smakkombination under jultider. Till dessa gjorde jag cream cheese frosting som jag tycker passar till det mesta, men istället för citron tog jag apelsinjuice och lite rivet apelsinskal.

Apelsin- och nejlikecupcakes
ca 12 st

-150 g smör
-2 dl socker
-2 ägg
-Rivet skal och saft från 1 apelsin
-3 dl vetemjöl
-1 tsk bakpulver
-1 tsk malen nejlika

Värm ugnen till 225°C. Vispa rumsvarmt smör och socker poröst. Tillsätt ett ägg i taget under omrörning. Smaksätt med rivet apelsinskal. Blanda mjöl, bakpulver och nejlika i en skål, och blanda sedan ner detta samt apelsinsaft i smeten. Fördela smeten i muffinsformar som står i muffinsplåt och grädda sedan mitt i ugnen ca 12-15 minuter.


In English:
Finally some cupcakes! I think orange and clove is a wonderful taste combination during the christmas season. I used a simple cream cheese frosting which I think works with most flavors. Instead of the lemon juice in the recipe I used orange juice and a little orange zest.

Orange and clove cupcakes
Makes about 12

-150 grams butter
-2 deciliters sugar
-2 eggs
-Zest and juice from 1 orange
-3 deciliters all purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven to 225°C. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Add the orange zest. Mix flour, baking soda and ground cloves in a bowl and then add to the other mixture, also add the orange juice. Divide batter into a cupcake pan and bake for about 12-15 minutes.

only a test.

hello new blog.

Christmas bread!

Här är ett recept på vad som enligt mig är det perfekta julbrödet. Christian sa att det var det godaste brödet han någonsin ätit. Prova det, jag lovar att du inte blir besviken! Självklart går det bra att utesluta pepparkakskryddorna om man vill, samt även byta ut t.ex. hasselnötter mot valnötter eller plommon mot mer russin beroende på vad man gillar.

Julbröd

Ingredienser:
-1 liter filmjölk
-1 msk bikarbonat
-1 dl torkade aprikoser
-1 dl russin
-1 dl torkade plommon
-3 msk sirap
-1 msk salt
-1 dl grovhackade hasselnötter
-1 liten påse blandade pepparkakskryddor (eller lika delar mald kanel, ingefära och nejlika)
-4 dl havregryn
-4 dl rågsikt
-4 dl vetemjöl

Blanda alla ingredienser i en bunke.
Häll sedan i en limpform som du klätt med bakplåtspapper.
Grädda i 180 grader i ca 1 timme. Ta sedan ur limpan ur formen och eftergrädda ca 15 minuter ytterligare utan form. Låt svalna.


In English:
This is the perfect christmas bread according to me and my fiance. He even mentioned it was the most delicious bread he had ever eaten. Try it, I promise you won't be disappointed! The gingerbread spices can be excluded, and instead of hazelnuts you can use walnuts for example, depending on what you like.

Christmas bread

Ingredients:
-1 liter sour milk
-1 tbsp (tablespoons) baking soda
-1 deciliter dried apricots
-1 deciliter raisins
-1 deciliter dried plums
-3 tbsp syrup
-1 tbsp salt
-1 deciliter coarsely chopped hazelnuts
-About 2 tbsp of gingerbread spices (equal amounts of ground cinnamon, ginger and cloves)
-4 deciliters oatmeal
-4 deciliters sifted rye flour
-4 deciliters all purpose flour

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour batter into a bread pan and bake for about 1 hour at 180 degrees C. Take the bread out from the oven and remove the pan, then bake for another 15 minutes. Let cool.

Gingerbread house!

Det blev ett pepparkakshus till slut, men i år använde jag mallar från Arla och hemmagjord pepparkaksdeg. Resultatet blev mycket bättre än väntat! Receptet på pepparkaksdeg från Arla kan jag verkligen rekommendera! Det går utmärkt att använda både till pepparkakor och pepparkakshus.

Pepparkakor
40-60 st

1,5 dl ljus sirap
2 1/2 dl brun farin
1 tsk malen kryddnejlika
1 tsk malen ingefära
2 tsk malen kanel
2 tsk malet pomeransskal
175 g rumsvarmt smör
1,5 dl vispgrädde
10-11 dl vetemjöl
2 tsk bikarbonat

Gör så här:
-Blanda ihop sirap, farinsocker, kryddor och smör i en bunke. Rör ner grädden i kryddblandningen.
-Tillsätt mjölet blandat med bikarbonat och rör tills allt är blandat.
-Låt degen vila ett dygn i kylskåpet.
-Ta fram degen 1 tim innan utbakning.
-Sätt ugnen på 225˚C. Kavla ut degen tunt direkt på bänken och ta ut kakor med mått.
-Lägg figurerna på en plåt med bakplåtspapper.
-Baka pepparkakorna mitt i ugnen ca 5 minuter. Passa noga så att de inte bränns.
-Låt kakorna svalna på plåten och lägg sedan över dem på galler. Först när kakorna är helt kalla kan du lägga över dem i pepparkaksburken.




In English:

I'm finally done with this year's gingerbread house! This year I used a pattern to cut out the walls and roof myself and also a home made gingerbread dough. The result was much better than expected. This recipe is from Arla and works great with making both gingerbread cookies and gingerbread houses.


Gingerbread cookies
Makes 40-60 cookies

1,5 deciliters syrup
2 1/2 deciliters brown sugar
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground bitter orange peel
175 grams butter at room temperature
1,5 deciliters whipping cream
10-11 deciliters all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda (not baking powder!)


-Mix syrup, brown sugar, spices and butter in a bowl. Stir in the whipping cream.
-Mix the flour with baking soda and add it to the spice mixture. Knead until smooth and firm.
-Wrap the dough in plastic and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours.
-Take the dough out from the fridge 1 hour before baking.
-Preheat oven to 225 degrees Celsius. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
-Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters and put on a baking sheet. Bake for about 5 minutes.

Fifty Today

Thank goodness for frozen muffins. Yes, you could say things are a little busy round here.



Thank goodness for my mother-in-law. My one and only card.



Lunch at the cafe with two of my gremlins. Thanks guys.



Smelling good. Thanks M & N.



Thanks Gayle. My dear friend.



I hope you approve G. I am not feeling "dangly" like I was in my forties. I love these.



Thanks Borb. One can never have enough kitchen gadgets.



These should do the trick down on the farm next Sunday. Stylish yet practical.




My beautiful green emerald dress - hope I look nice at my party.




Fifty today and feelin' fine.