Too bad this isn't my living room.
So it's been three weeks since I've posted anything (remember my baby name-bashing?) and I finally got a little bit of free time to work on something new. I've been out of town seeing all kinds of neat places in Florida (Tampa, Clearwater, Sarasota, Naples, Ft. Myers, Lake Wales, Winter Haven, St. Petersburg, Lakeland, and probably some other places I've already forgotten about) and I've been working a lot. But the holiday work season is now over for me and it's almost time to head back to West Virginia to spend time with family and friends.
One of the best parts about the holidays is all the amazing food. It's no different with my family, but this year I'm going to put a few twists on classic recipes to make them vegan. To start off, I have a recipe for vegan baklava. I'm part Greek (on my Dad's side) and I have an affinity for Greek food. Baklava is a sweet, nutty, flaky pastry that's very rich but so delicious.
Ingredients
3 cups walnuts, divided
1 cup blanched almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
12 sheets phyllo dough (which can be found in your grocer's freezer section)
1/4 cup light safflower oil
1 1/4 cups date sugar (if you can't find this, you can use light brown sugar instead)
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract (and please stop using the imitation crap - it's just that: CRAP; buy the real shit)
1/2 tsp almond extract
Directions
Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and set aside. Coarsely chop the walnuts and set aside in a bowl. Finely chop the remaining half of the walnuts and the almonds. Add to the bowl, along with the cinnamon and cloves and stir well to combine; set aside. Place the stacked sheets of phyllo dough on a cutting board, cut them in half lengthwise, stack the cut sheets on top of each other, remove 6 sheets from the stack, and cover the remaining with a towel to keep them from drying out. Place 1 sheet of phyllo dough in the bottom of the greased pan and brush lightly with the oil. Repeat for the remaining 5 sheets of phyllo dough. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture evenly on top of the phyllo dough. Repeat the oiling and layering of 6 phyllo dough sheets and topping with the nut mixture, ending with phyllo dough on the top of the stack.
Using a very sharp knife, carefully make 4 evenly-spaced vertical cuts through the entire stack of phyllo, then make 5 evenly-spaced lengthwise cuts, and then cut each piece in half diagonally. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, lower the heat to 300 degrees and bake an additional 25-30 minutes or until evenly golden brown on top. Meanwhile, in a saucepan combine the date sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and maple syrup and cook over medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and almond extract. Pour the mixture over the baklava as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let baklava cool before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to a week or extras can even be frozen.
YUM! I freaking love baklava.
In the last few months, I've really fallen in love with asparagus, but it always seems like it's so much better when I order it at a restaurant than it is when make it at home. But I stumbled across a professional chef's recipe on how to make asparagus the way they do in nice restaurants, so I thought I'd share it with you and perhaps you can make it as a side dish at your Christmas dinner.
Ingredients
asparagus shoots (the thinner and younger the better - the produce clerk will know how to help you find the right kind)
olive or canola oil, depending on your preference
large pot
salt
shallow ceramic baking dish or cookie sheet with rim
kitchen timer
strainer
non-stick cooking spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Choose a pot that is big enough to cook the asparagus shoots standing straight up without bending them. Fill the pot with water and a pinch of salt and put over high heat. When the water comes to a boil, drop the asparagus in. The water will cease boiling momentarily, and when it starts back up, turn the heat to medium and set the timer to cook the asparagus for 1 minute exactly. When the timer goes off, pour asparagus into the strainer in the sink. While the asparagus is drying, spray the baking dish or cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. If you prefer your asparagus to be very slightly crunchy on the outside, use a dark cookie sheet. For more tender asparagus, use the ceramic baking dish. Spread the dried asparagus in your dish and drizzle with your preferred oil and a few sprinkles of salt. Use a spatula to make sure the shoots are coated and that they are laying flat, not on top of each other. Place the pan on the top rack of the oven to roast the asparagus. Cook for 7 minutes, remove from the oven and turn over, and cook for another 7 minutes. Remove, transfer to a serving dish, and serve hot.
As far as holiday decor goes, I'm not a big fan of Santa Claus. I'm more into decorations that aren't holiday-specific that can be kept up throughout the season, and snowflakes are a particular favorite of mine.
This set of snowflake dishes from Target is simple and can be used throughout the whole season.
These pretty little placecard holders are from Beau-Coup which has amazing party favors and other little trinkets for showers, weddings, and other events.
Snowflake sugar cookies are another favorite of mine, and the best part about them is that they're like real snowflakes: each one can be completely different. I found some amazing cookie cutters from King Arthur Flour. They even have gorgeous edible glitter you can use on your snowflake cookies, as well as sugar pearls, silver and gold sugar, and various types of frosting you can use. If you live back in WV, you can probably find all of these things (plus the pretty little silver nonpareils) at Vicki's Party Supply store in Milton.
Here are some ideas for how to decorate your own snowflake sugar cookies.
I hope everyone has a happy, safe, and lovely holiday season. This is my last post of 2010 because if I'm going to be home with family and friends, I'm not going to spend my time writing a blog, damnit. But no worries, I'll start back up after the first of the year when I head back to Florida. I'm leaving you with a few festive pictures I came across. Next year, I plan on being able to post pictures of my Christmas decorations in my own house, so keep your fingers crossed that I get to do that in the New Year. Merry Whateveryoucelebratemasukkah!
I love pretty ornaments in a pretty bowl!
I know black ornaments aren't very Christmas-y but they're chic, damnit!
More pretty ornaments in a bowl.
