Holidays « KSauss Cooks

Archive for Holidays

Apple and Pecan Bread

December 28, 2008 at 4:29 pm · Filed under Baked Goods, Holidays ·Tagged Gifts

For holiday gifts for Steve’s co-workers this year I baked Apple and Pecan Bread loafs. I got the recipe from Good Things Catered which I recently came across on One Pretty Thing.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 smidgen fresh ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups apples (about 2 medium), diced
1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a loaf pan with non stick spray. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and whisk to combine thoroughly, set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, combine oil and sugar and beat to combine thoroughly. Add egg and yolk and beat to combine thoroughly. Beat in vanilla. Turn mixer to low and add flour mixture a little at a time, beating until just combined. Stir in apples and pecans.

Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan (batter will be quite thick) and spread evenly. Place loaf pan into oven and bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 80-90 minutes.

I let the loaf cool before wrapping it in plastic wrap, adding a bow and a tag.

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Vegetarian Dressing

December 17, 2008 at 7:00 pm · Filed under Crock Pot Prepared, Holidays, Side item, Vegetarian

We had our work Christmas party this week, and everyone had to sign up to bring an item. Since the party was at lunch time and we only have one microwave (that’s probably older than me) to heat things in, I decided to make something in my slow cooker.

I decided to make vegetarian dressing. I adapted my dressing from this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped onions

1 1/2 cups diced celery

1 cup diced apple

Olive oil for sauteeing

1 tablespoon dried sage

1 tablespoon marjoram

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

12 cups of toasted whole wheat bread, cubed (this is roughly 12 slices of bread)

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

2 cups of vegetable stock

Directions:

Sautee the onions, apple and celery in olive oil over medium heat until the onion is translucent. While the vegetables are cooking start toasting the bread and cutting it into cubes with a bread knife.

When the veggies are done put them in a large mixing bowl. Add all of the seasonings and bread cubes and mix to combine. Add the vegetable stock and mix it again. When it is mixed well transfer it to your slow cooker.

Cook on high for 1 hour then reduce to low for 2-3 hours. Make sure to stir it every hour.

Overall, I thought it was just okay. It didn’t have as much flavor as I was hoping for. Maybe next time I’ll try it with chicken broth instead of vegetable broth.

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Hot Cocoa Mix

December 16, 2008 at 9:41 pm · Filed under Crafts, Holidays ·Tagged Gifts

My wonderful mother-in-law is one of five sisters. Every Christmas, the sisters and their mother have a tradition of exchanging gifts with all the women in the family. Over the years this has grown to include daughters, daughters-in-law and step-daughters. Including me, there are now 12 women in the family!

This year I knew I wanted to make something for everyone. But what could I make that 11 women would all like?

Hot Cocoa Mix!!

I found this highly rated recipe on Recipe Zaar and decided to give it a try.

Ingredients:

11 cups of powdered milk

1 cup of confectioner’s sugar

11 ounces of powdered coffee creamer

2 pounds of Nestle’s Nesquick powdered chocolate milk mix

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 large box of instant chocolate pudding mix

Directions:

Mix together. Mix 1/3 cup of the mix with 3/4 cup of hot water.

You’ll need a massive bowl to hold all of the ingredients. I thought that I had some pretty big bowls (some so big I’ve never had a use for them before), but it quickly became apparent that I would need to find something bigger … So I found this file holder in a closet.

After a thorough wash in the tub (it was so big I couldn’t wash it in the sink), I finally had something large enough to hold the mix. As suggested by one of the people who commented on the original recipe on Recipe Zaar, I ran the mix through my food processor in batches. It wasn’t nearly as messy or time consuming as I had anticipated. And it really broke up all the chunks I couldn’t get with a mixing spoon.

We snuck a few cups from the batch. This is probably the best cocoa I’ve ever had! It’s rich and creamy and very chocolatey. I hope everyone likes it! And with 6 servings of cocoa per jar, there will be enough for the women to share with the men in their life too!

Materials for the jars:

Canning jars from the grocery store

1 yard of ribbon for each jar

Decorative paper (I used a roll of wrapping paper)

Sticker paper for the label (I bought mine from an office supply store)

Cut the paper so it’s long enough to wrap around the jar and as wide as you would like it (mine was 2 inches wide). Tape it in place and tie the ribbon in a bow around the paper. You may need to tape the ribbon in place – the label will cover it.

The sticker paper goes through most printers like regular paper. Here’s what my labels look like: