Hillier’s Mini Christmas Puddings

Hubs and I began a new (for him) holiday tradition on our 1st Christmas living together - Christmas stockings. That first year, I think I explained the process incorrectly, as while his stocking was full of candy, books, and other such items, mine was chock full of chocolates! This wasn't a bad things, and since then, we've stuck to candy filled stockings. This year, I ran all over town and did about four separate candy runs, looking for a few unique and special items. While Darrell Lea provided my 'xmas choc of the year' in 2008, this year my choc of choice came from Hillier's. Wandering through Harris Scarfe's Christmas section, I spotted this bag of Mini Christmas Puddings. Not sure about the brand, and wondering how it could possibly taste as good as the real thing, I thought why not try it out. The rest is history! Of course I had to have a taste before handing them all over, and ended up eating half the bag before the rest made it into hubs' stocking;) Rich dark chocolate covered, spicy, nutty, creamy, candy Christmas pudding was too much temptation to pass up. The intention was to go back and get more, but alas, I never made it:( Next year...

Getting Ready for Xmas

Living in Australia, I'm learning to take joy in the small traditions I can claim as my own during the Christmas season. You see, this Chicago native is having a very hard time adjusting to Christmas in the sun. Last year on Boxing Day, I closed the curtains, put on Christmas movies, and pretended it wasn't warm out. Christmas eve and day had just about killed my holiday spirit, so it was time to get back to basics. This year, on top of the Wassail and Rum cake I made last year, I'm going to make a few of the meals my family traditionally makes for Chrissie. Xmas eve we'll be having homemade pizzas.

"Red" pizza
Spread some pizza sauce on crust (jar or can from the store)
Add pepperoni slices and any other ingredients you desire
Top with a generous amount of shredded mozzarella and some romano cheese
Bake according to directions on pizza dough

"White" pizza
Spread crust with olive oil
Spread diced garlic on top
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, perhaps a little oregano
Top with mozzarella (not as thick as you do on the red pizza; more like a sprinkling)
Bake according to directions on pizza dough

On Boxing Day, pasta!

Baked Ziti
1 pound of ziti
1 cup grated Romano (or Parmesan if that's what you like, or half and half)
2 cups grated mozzarella
16 oz fresh ricotta (if you can't get this use a 15 oz container from supermarket)
1/4 cup fresh or 1 TBS dried parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
egg
salt and pepper

Put all the above in a bowl and mix it up - except for the pasta. Cook pasta very al dente - almost to the point of being hard as it will cook more when you bake it. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pan, add a bunch of sauce to it and mix it up. Then add cheese, spice, and egg mixture and mix it all up.

In the bottom of a lasagna pan, or other large pan (13x9) pour 2 ladels of sauce, or as much as it takes to liberally coat the bottom of the pan. Then add more sauce to the pasta mixture so it's really moist because after it's baked the sauce will soak into the pasta, making it dry, mix it up and put it inot the pan you coated with sauce. Pour more sauce over the top, sprinkle with cheese (mozzarella or romano or parmesan - whatever you have) cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 45 minutes at 350F. When you serve it you can always add more sauce and cheese.

Crockpot Gingerbread Latte

Well, since I have to be the designated driver tonight and I'll be up later than my usual time, I thought it would be a good time to try the Gingerbread Latte recipe I've kept bookmarked from A Year of Crockpotting. As the Wassail turned out so yummy on Christmas Eve, I think it's worth giving another of her drink recipes a go. Even more exciting as the local Starbucks shut down and I couldn't get any warm liquid holiday cheer the usual way.

4 c milk (2% or lower is best to not worry about curdling)
1/2 c white sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup strong black coffee, or a freshly-brewed shot of espresso (per drink)

Put milk into crockpot, and whisk in the dried spices. Don't add the coffee. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours, or high for 1-2. The milk should be quite hot, but don't let it boil. Pour over hot coffee or espresso.

Optional: top with whipped cream
Note: Can cause serious sugar/caffeine high!

A Review of Christmas at Our House

As the original post was long enough already, thought I'd begin a new one to let you know how things worked, out since I was trying a few different things. The first thing I made was Mary's rum cake and it was fantastic. My fears about the vanilla yogurt being a poor substitute for instant vanilla pudding (which I couldn't find here in Oz) were unfounded. Two tips: make sure not to over-bake or it will dry out and use all of the glaze. Primo! A Year of Crockpotting is going to be my new source for beverage recipes, especially as Starbucks in Adelaide has shut down. I think Gingerbread Latte will be next. The wassail was excellent, even though I used regular apple juice instead of cider (didn't pay enough attention and I think it may be difficult to find anyway). Steve and I drank the entire crock pot of it that night! The lamb rogan josh was good, and I may need to try some more Indian recipes, as it was much easier than I thought. I found paneer cheese at the grocery store here so something with that will be next:) Oysters have the consistency of post-nasal drip...yuck! Perhaps you simply need to cook them longer. The ribs were excellent with KC Masterpiece bbq sauce and the cole slaw was really nice, although next time I think I may shred the slaw in the food processor. Now on to New Year! Will be testing out some Thai style curries;)

Christmas at Our House

I'm stealing other people's recipes for Christmas eve and Boxing Day, and eating at the in-laws on the day, aside from brekkie.

Christmas Eve
Wassail in the Crockpot, from A Year of CrockPotting
Lamb Rogan Josh, from Boozy Susie

Mary's Rum Cake:
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts
glace cherries (my optional addition to the recipe)
1 18 1/2 oz. pkg yellow cake mix (or make your own!)
1 3 3/4 oz. pkg Jell-o vanilla instant pudding/pie filling
4 eggs
1/2 c cold water
1/2 c oil
1/2 c dark rum

Glaze:
1/4 lb. butter
1/4 c water
1 c sugar
1/2 c dark rum

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease & flour 10" tube or Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts & glace cherries over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Bake 1 hour. Invert on serving plate after cooling on wire rack. For glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Prick top of inverted cake with toothpicks and drizzle and smooth glaze over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze and repeat until glaze is used up.

Christmas Day
Shrimp & Blue Cheese Oysters for brekkie, the latter from Intercourses, an Aphrodisiac Cookbook

Blue Cheese Oysters:
1/2 c cumbled blue cheese
1/4 tsp chopped garlic
1/4 c seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tbsp butter, softened
8 shucked oysters, on the half shell

Mix blue cheese, garlic, breadcrumbs and butter. Arrange oysters on a baking tray and top with mix. Bake at 350F for about 10-12 minutes.

Boxing Day
A cheese, pate and olive platter
Paula's Ribs
Homemade Cole Slaw, from Closet Cooking