






Share with someone you love!
Happy New Year, friends………….as you sing any new or “auld” song,
Alyce–Could there be anything better leftover? Add a little butter.
Share with someone you love!
Happy New Year, friends………….as you sing any new or “auld” song,
Alyce–Could there be anything better leftover? Add a little butter.
Before we begin with ginger cookies, a huge and wonderful Christmas cookie hug to all who participated in DROP IN AND DECORATE. I think we had 14 dozen incredible sugar, gingerbread and chocolate cut-out cookies, decorated to the nines, for our local Bridge, An Assisted Living Center. We tasted, we decorated, we had dinner, we played, we sang, we laughed and we got to be better friends. Perfect thanks to Lydia Walshin of The Perfect Pantry for the super idea (now in the eighth year) of holiday fun and “doin’ good.”
Lydia tells me she’ll include a pic and a few sentences on the website after the first of the year. Eyes peeled. And: Let’s do it next year!
DROP IN AND DECORATE–STILL TIME TO RSVP FOR MON, 12/14, 4-7PM
Here’s a sampling of COOKIES and food::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
We will decorate three types of cookies:
Plain old Sugar Cookies from Fannie Farmer’s Baking Book
Gingerbread People (from same) and Chocolate Cutouts (Martha Stewart)
We have several colors of icing and 15 different “sprinkles.” We’ll even have “pearls.”
Cookies are to be donated to The Bridge (Assisted Living Center).
Please take a few to someone you know who no longer bakes. I have cellophane bags available.
Dinner: Your choice of Chili or Vegetarian Lentil Soup
French Bread from MARIGOLD’S CAFE
Wine: A-Z Riesling (Oregon)
Zinfandel (California)
Cocoa and
Coffee with, what else for dessert, your own decorated cookie!
Is there anything like a decorated cookie? Or any cookie cut into shapes? They’re just plain old fun. Enjoy the following poem………… It makes me think of Christmas Cookies.
Animal Crackers became such a part of American life that Christopher Morley (1890-1957), American humorist, playwright, poet, essayist, and editor, wrote the following poem:
Animal Crackers
by Christopher Morley
Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,
That is the finest of suppers I think;
When I’m grown up and can have what I please
I think I shall always insist upon these.
What do YOU choose when you’re offered a treat?
When Mother says, “What would you like best to eat?”
Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?
It’s cocoa and animals that I love most!
The kitchen’s the coziest place that I know;
The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,
And there in the twilight, how jolly to see
The cocoa and animals waiting for me.
Daddy and Mother dine later in state,
With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;
But they don’t have nearly as much fun as I
Who eat in the kitchen with Nurse standing by;
And Daddy once said, he would like to be me —
Having cocoa and animals once more for tea!
I’m on the way to Florida on Tuesday to bake with my sister for a few days. I’ll be back in time to make my wine group brunch, to do a clam sauce dinner for close friends, cassoulet on the 24th and so on. I’ll attempt to blog it all, but probably won’t accomplish it! Enjoy your holiday baking and cooking; it’s no chore. Share it all, my friends.
Until then, enjoy your Advent journey………
Walk, don’t run, to the stable. You’ll have more time to pray.
Sing a new carol………….Listen to all of the old ones……Plan on church for Christmas Eve……
Alyce
Tracks are from two lost dogs……
Meantime, Advent cookie baking continues for DROP IN AND DECORATE, coming up on Monday, December 14, 4-7pm. Looking forward to decorating some great cookies with all of you (rsvp if you haven’t already) … The Bridge, a local assisted-living facility, is the lucky recipient of your good work. SEE YOU SOON!!
While it’s so cold, I thought you might like a good pot roast and next-day beef-vegetable soup recipe. We’ve enjoyed it for a few days and have shared with neighbors who haven’t gotten out in the weather either. You could freeze the soup for a quick holiday-time meal when your family’s in town and you’d rather play cards than stay in the kitchen. Stop by your favorite bakery and pick up best-quality bread, double-wrap in aluminum foil and freeze with the soup. To reheat soup, place up-side down container in sink under hot water until soup “pops.” Place in large crockpot and let unthaw on low all day. For bread, place frozen, wrapped loaf in 350F preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Unwrap and slice. Splurge on a little butter.
Butternut Squash Pot Roast
4-5# chuck roast (or any pot roast)
4T gluten-free flour mixture, divided (fine to use regular flour)
2 large onions, sliced
2T canola oil
2-3 c red wine
2 c gluten-free beef broth (or regular broth)
1# butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3-4″ pieces
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2″ pieces
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-2″ pieces
5-6 sprigs fresh thyme or tsp dried thyme; 2 lrg sprigs rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried
Kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper
1/4-1/3 c water
Heat oil over medium-high heat in dutch oven or stockpot. Cover roast with 2T gluten-free flour mix and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Don’t be stingy with seasoning this big piece of meat. Brown meat well on one side for several minutes. Turn meat and add sliced onions. When second side in nicely browned, add wine and broth. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for about 2 hours (or place on low in crockpot for 6 hours after adding vegetables below).
When meat is just beginning to be a little tender, add vegetables, thyme and rosemary to the pot for the last hour of cooking. When everything is fork tender, remove meat and vegetables to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
Advent Reading: Henri Nouwen: ADVENT MEDITATIONS, LIVING IN HOPE
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Advent Listening: We try to change out our cds daily to listen to different music every dinner. Three on the stereo right now are
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THE HOLLY AND THE IVY Clare College Choir/John Rutter
AND GLORY SHOWN AROUND The Rose Ensemble
ALL ON A WINTER’S NIGHT Sting
Gabby wants to know if I’ll post a picture of her and her new friend, Anna ( who recently adopted some good human friends of ours):
Gab and Anna, seeing who has the best Christmas outfit………………. Or —-
Anna says,“Not the Mama!”
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Sing a new carol; Dave and I have written one. New problem: how to share it on the blog..
Alyce
. —Bake whatever you like to bake.. But they MUST be cookies!!! —
Lydia Walshin of The Perfect Pantry is a woman with lots of good ideas and so many of them do lots of good, like her brainchild, Drop In & Decorate, which is now in its eighth year.
The program is brilliant and fun: Bake a bunch of cookies, invite your friends to come decorate them with you and then donate the cookies to a nonprofit group in your community. As Lydia says, “It’s a simple idea in a complicated world and something anyone can do.”
This year, Pillsbury is donating 50 VIP coupons, worth $3.00 each off any Pillsbury product to be distributed (first come, first served while supply lasts) to anyone who plans to host a Drop In & Decorate event. And Lydia says she’ll include a Comfort Grip cookie cutter, donated by Wilton, to people who plan to host cookies-for-donation events.
Contact Lydia ( lydia@ninecooks.com ) for information on free coupons and cookie cutters.
Visit The Perfect Pantry to find out more about Lydia and all that she does.
Go to the Drop In & Decorate site to download a free guide to hosting your own party.
And, most important: Have fun!