Wash the dishes
Wash the dishes
The christmas dinner dishes
Three generations in the kitchen
All at once
Go and get a camera
And go and wake up grandpa
Three generations in the kitchen
All at once
Play a Christmas album
The Elvis Christmas album
Three generations sing Blue Christmas
All at once
Light another candle
Come sit near the piano
Three generations sing together
All at once
Put away the turkey
To make sandwiches tomorrow
And put away the bones to make soup for the winter
But not the wish bone
We’ll just put it on the counter
To let it dry out this week
In time to make a wish for New Years Eve
Take turns with the washing
And take turns with the drying
Three generations in the kitchen
All at once
Soak the tough ones ’til tomorrow
And save the suet for the sparrows
Three generations Merry Christmas
All at once
Put away the turkey
To make sandwiches tomorrow
And put away the bones to make soup for the winter
But not the wish bone
We’ll just put it on the counter
To let it dry out this week
In time to make a wish for New Years Eve
Put away the fancy dishes
Just to take them out next Christmas
Three generations are only together for so long
Telling stories of the good times
The bad times and the war time
Three generations
Are only together for so long
In a bowl, combine the prepared pears with the cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, orange zest and the egg.
Roll out your pastry to line a pie plate with.
Fill the pastry with the pear-cranberry filling.
Roll out the remaining pastry, and either cut into 1 inch strips for a lattice top, or cut out some fun shapes with cookie cutters for a slightly funkier one.
Bake in a 350° oven for 1 hour, or until the pastry is golden and the filling is thickened.
Allow to cool before serving.
I really was impressed with this pie. It’s not too difficult to impress a pear addict with a pear pie, but what was really impressive is the way the filling held up. A too watery pie is a sad one, and I was worried that with the way pears can really go to mush when cooked that this pie would be runny, but the cornstarch as well as the egg kept the filling from spreading too much after being cut.
The flavor of the sweet pears and the tart cranberry came together well, and the orange zest really fragrantly permeated the pie. It was just the right thing to bring to Christmas dinner.
Mr was too full after dinner to have a piece, so I guess we’re going to have to wait until I make another pie to get his opinion.
Nuts and bolts are one of my favorite holiday snacks. In a season where sugary treats are fairly ubiquitous (think: fudge, cookies, candy canes) nuts and bolts are a nice savory refuge from the tables full of dainties. Not that I don’t have a case of dainty love to boot, but nuts and bolts are the thing to munch between butter tarts.
I like them so much that every holiday season I wonder why I don’t make nuts and bolts all year, but somehow it does not happen until you start thinking about Christmas trees again. Maybe this can be one of my New Year’s resolutions: make nuts and bolts more often!
Anyway, to make nuts and bolts you need a great big roaster. I borrowed one from Mr’s mum, because none of mine are voluminous enough to hold all of the nuts and bolts. If you don’t have a great big roaster, you could also use multiple smaller roasters, but then you’ll have to do more stirring.
Add the first 8 ingredients to your large roaster. You want enough room left in the roaster to be able to mix the nuts and bolts.
Melt the butter. Mix into it the Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt and paprika. This is your seasoning mix.
Drizzle the sauce over top of the dry ingredients, stirring so that an even coating is achieved.
Put the roaster into the oven for an hour and fifteen minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
Allow to cool, then enjoy!
Normally I would shy away from recipes involving a lot of pre-made, open the box and use it products. But it wouldn’t be Christmas for me without these tasty munchies. Merry Christmas!
Everyone seems to have their favorite part of nuts and bolts; my favorite part is the Shreddies, Mr’s are the Crispix. Neither of us are fans of the pretzels, but we’ve got family who really love them so I couldn’t skip out. Nuts and bolts are kind of like a family in a way; you may all be slightly different, but you come from the same bowl.
When you put your cookies out for Santa, don’t forget a couple of carrots for his reindeer!
I missed Christmas, I missed New Year’s too, but we’re finally living in our house! Hurray! What a four month haul! As of 2300 Christmas Eve, the Mister and I are living in our very own home. It was our little Christmas miracle. I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas, Hanukkah, winter solstice or other holiday of choice and had time to spend with your nearest and dearest.
My silence as of late is due to the move (of course), and to our current lack of Internet. I write, currently, perched on the corner of a seat in the only room we can ‘borrow’ our neighbor’s unsecured wireless connection. Thank goodness for neighbors. Soon The Funky Kitchen will return to it’s regular schedule.
I felt bad that I didn’t get this post up at Christmas as I had planned to, as I truly believe that this Christmas gift was an inspired idea. It’s too late for any of you readers to use this idea, but Valentines day soon approaches and this idea should work well for any of you who have a chocolate lover in your life.
For Christmas, a number of our closest family and friends received a trio of chocolate truffles. They are the ultimate home made gift. The recipe for all three types will be posted up here, but remember that a single recipe will make ~30 truffles. The three types of truffles we made (the Mister helped) were: orange, honey thyme and chipotle. I think I’ve converted to the use of honey in truffles, because it makes them so unctuously smooth and I ran into some minor crystallization issues with the sugar. The chipotle truffles were epically good, chocolate and chili are such a great combination. Chipotle was my chili of choice because it brings a great smokiness along with the heat; if you aren’t keen on spicy, diminish the amount of chili you use because these truffles are quite warm on the tongue.
If you go with the truffles as a home made gift idea, use this basic recipe as a jumping pad: steeping different teas in the cream gives great results, and there are limitless additional flavors you can introduce to your truffles. Let me know how yours turn out!
zest of one orange, or 1 1/2 tsp thyme, or 1 tsp chipotle powder
10 oz chocolate
1 Cup cocoa, for rolling
Directions
Combine cream, sugar/honey, and salt in a bain marie, stirring until dissolved.
Add orange zest/thyme/ chipotle powder and let steep for 5 minutes.
Stir in chocolate until melted and the mixture is smooth.
Transfer mixture into a clean resealable container and refrigerate until firm (~2 hours).
Using a melon baller or your hands, roll out the hardened truffles into small balls. Roll the balls in cocoa powder so that they will not stick together.
All you need to make these truffles into a pretty little gift is some tins, tissue paper, and labels so that the intended present receiver can differentiate between the types of truffle. Happy gift giving!
Unauthorized use of text and photography is not permitted and violates copyright. If you are looking to use my writing or photos, ask first (contact dana@thefunkykitchen.com). You will most likely be granted permission. I do my best to cite the sources of any work I do that is not original, and it would be nice if everyone reciprocated those actions.
