Fresh Baked Ornaments

Two of the most fun Christmas activities are baking and tree trimming. Combine them and you have a great time creating and  decorating fresh from the oven works of arts. Even novice bakers can join in on the fun with simple recipes.

If you want cookies without the calories, then think salt dough ornaments. Why a dough heavily laced with NaCl? Salt , as we all know, is an excellent preservative. It will contribute to the ornaments lasting a longtime without crumbling or breaking.it also deters mold from forming which would shorten the decoration's shelf life. Start with preheating the oven to 300 degrees F. What you'll need is four cups of all purpose flour, one cup table salt  and one and one half cups of  warm water. Pour the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and slowly stream in the water as you stir . Keep stirring until all the water has been added in. It will take on the consistency of bread dough so it will be hard to work with. It's now time to use your hands. The dough should be smooth and pliable like pizza dough.It's then rolling it between two large sheets of parchment paper.The bottom sheet should be placed on a cookie sheet. The dough should be 1/8th of an inch thick. If it's too thick the ornament will crack and break due to the air bubbles trapped in the middle. Then cut out the shapes while the dough is still on the parchment. Peel away the excess dough from the cutters. You can then make designs, using a fork, straw or paring knife. Use a drinking straw to poke a hole in the top for the ribbon.

Now it's time for baking! They should go into the oven for about an hour. You'll know they're done when they feel hard.(Tap with a fork or spoon to gauge hardness). Don't worry if they turn brown. You can always paint over those. The real fun part comes after. It's time to get the paints,  glue and glitter!! You can mist the newly baked ornaments with a thin coat of white spray pain to even out any brown baking spots. They can be left white to look snow dusted which would be very dramatic on any tree. Some use puffy paints, others use paint pens for more precision. A fun idea is using them as place tags at a holiday party and personalizing them with guests names. Use gold and silver paint pens to write the names. Another idea is outline the ornaments in glitter, rhinestones or garlands . As for the type of ribbon to use, you could use classic red and green velvet or go a little more fancier with metallic.If you want really festive ones then look into Paper Mart. This  site has a wide variety of printed ribbons that would complement any ornament.

Baking fun and decorating Christmas trees  is combining two holiday loves. Whip up a batch today and have some fum. Create memories and ornaments!

A Very Vegan Hannukah

Hannukah is a time to remember miracles and for many vegans, the lives of all creatures are miracles. They want to celebrate but can't because of animal products being used to create treats. However there are meatless recipes along with ones that eschew eggs and dairy. Vegans and vegetarians can have their latkes and sufganiyot without any worries about harming their fellow animals.

A cold December night calls for a hot soup and what better than a vegan matzoh ball one. It starts with vegetable broth, whether homemade or bought, If you make it from scratch remember you can add whatever veggies you want. Start with carrots and celery and toss in tomato and bell peppers if you want. Onion is very flavorful and then also add such herbs as marjoram, rosemary and thyme. Here comes the hard part - making eggless matzoh balls. Can it be done? Eggs are the binding force that keeps the dough balls from coming apart once they hit the hot soup.Instead use aquafaba that  all purpose and on trend  bean water left from chickpeas. They have a composition similar to egg whites and can be used in the recipe.You will have to par bake them . For a simpler take use silken tofu instead of the aquafaba.This is taking about half a cup of firm silken tofu, pureeing it and then adding  one half cup matzoh meal and two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Boil them separately from the soup and drop them into the cooked broth.

Of course it's not Hannukah without  latkes. These crunchy potato pancakes traditionally have used eggs to bind and shape them.  You can omit them and continue on with the recipe.It's taking two large russet potatoes and combining them with a diced yellow onion ,flour and baking powder. Fry in vegetable or light olive oil. Latkes are always good with sour cream and vegans can still enjoy this -  by using vegan sour cream. You can buy it or make it by using silken tofu and mixing it with lemon juice and apple cider vinegar.Then add minced garlic and sea salt and blend. Jelly doughnut or sufganiyot are treats that Israelis love at Hannukah, It taking yeast  and mixing it with almond milk and then adding it to the blend of salt, flour and sugar.Coconut oil and ground flax seed is also incorporated into the dough. Fry them first in vegetable oil, then roll the hot doughnuts in a bowl of granulated sugar. It 's now time to fill them. Fill a pastry bag with raspberry or apricot jam, Put the insertion nozzle tip on the bag and stick in the doughnuts. One squeeze should fill them.


A vegan Hannukah is a fun one. It is still full of tasty treats but without harming animals. Celebrate the miracle of all life on earth.

Aquafaba Meringues Finally

What do you do with left over chickpea water? Turn it into meringue and fake marshmallow fluff!  I had some left over from my chickpea stew the other night and that created the itch to literally whip up meringues. This time , they turned out picture perfect.

I used the recipe from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken blog and I think it was one of the best. Before you do anything line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You can attach it with a dab of meringue. I didn/t I laid a jar of salt on it to flatten the paper.

It starts with a cup of aquafaba. Mine came from Stop and Shop chickpeas.

Then add in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ,.I used my favorite Nelsen-Massey.

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Then 3/4 cup of granulated sugar.

It was mixing the first three ingredients, using first a stand mixer than a hand held one with a balloon whisk. The recipe said beat for six minutes, adding a spoonful of sugar  until everything is completely  mixed. It took me fifteen minutes to get the meringue into stiff peaks. Then it's dropping them by teaspoon on the parchment. This recipe makes a lot of meringue. I had to use two cookie sheets I baked on on the oven's center rack and the extra on the top most for two hours in a 200 F.  degree oven.

Imagine my surprise when they came out perfect!.  I turned off the oven and then let them dry out in a cooling oven. 

Their shapes were perfect, so different from that gooey mess I made last summer (the weather could have something to do with it).

The baked ones had a slight chickpea flavor which I'm going to amend next time. I may add cocoa or coffee flavoring. The texture was perfect airy and crunchy.

I had a lot of batter left over.  You have to bake it  more or less in one shot. However I had a whole tub left over. Tasting it reminded me of marshmallow fluff . What does that pair with? Frozen dessert! I scooped a big glob on Reveri Chocolate Forest and YUM!

This is my new favorite topping. It's even better than whipped. cream.

This was a fun experiment with exciting and unexpected results. I will definitely vary the recipe to try different flavors.like coffee and cocoa. maybe even peppermint.

Try this recipe for vegan Christmas cookies, It's a truly an interesting  bake!

The Allergy Free Christmas Cookie

It's the start of the holiday baking season and with that comes a plethora of cookies. However it can also be a dodgy pick and choose game for those with various allergies. what to do? Create bites that are not only tasty and worry free. The end result is still a large buffet of sweet treats.

All baked goods start with flour and that's where the first problem is. Many have gluten which can be lethal to those with celiac disease. A simple spritz cookie can bring on everything from intestinal  distress to vomiting. Instead of forgoing a sweet nibble, incorporate gluten free flours into the holiday baking routine. Many companies like Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur do sell gluten free versions of their regular flours at supermarkets. There are other flours you can use such  almond flour which is perfect for making macarons or light , fluffy cakes.it's would also be good for low carb brownies and holiday breakfast waffles too. Its' coarser cousin, almond meal can be used for quick breads and such cookies as citrussy snowballs, fun thumb prints or almond chocolate chip cookies. Another route is making traditionally flourless treats.  Aquafaba meringues are simply chickpea water, sugar,cream of tartar and vanilla. Make them really festive by adding natural red and green dyes. Rice Krispy treats can be molded into cookie like rounds for fun decorating and eating. Rice Krispy treats can even be molded and cut into larger pieces to create a variation of a gingerbread house.

Holiday cookies are filled with all sorts of goodies, such as nuts and chocolates. Yet they can be sheer horror for those with severe allergies. Substitution is the key here. Don't deprive  family of those peanut butter cookies. Sub in sunflower butter instead. This is sunflower seeds crushed and mashed into a type of  spread that can be a great  fill in for anything that uses  peanut butter. The flavor is a bit milder, tasting like  - what else - sunflower seeds. Yet it's perfect for baking. Unfortunately those with peanut allergies are usually allergy to other nut such as almonds and walnuts. These figure heavily in holiday baking. If you still want crunch, then think seeds. Try the crunchy and delicate Southern treat benne cookies. These are buttery wafers made with sesame seeds, brown sugar, eggs, and a cup and a half of butter. Have these and they're sure to be a holiday classic. Chocolate is another cookie ingredient  that can cause problems for those allergic to it. Switch to carob which is the perfect stand in. Surprise the family with carob chip cookies. They won't know the difference  between them and the real thing. There's also a carob cookie recipe with powdered espresso in it for a mocha latte flavor.

Allergy sufferers and those who bake for them, don;t despair this holiday season. The key is subbing in ingredients that are still tasty but harmless. You can still make your cookies and eat them too,

The App That Fed India

Social media may have many negatives but it also has many pluses. It can reconnect
 disconnected families, It can bring groups together such as the #MeToo. It can promote businesses and offer  knowledge. This is what happened with the messaging platform What's App and India. The two meshed perfectly, connecting home chefs, cooks and farmers.

Regular contributor and food writer, Priya Krishna wrote about this happening in yesterday's New York Times Food section.The app , What's App was able to connect a wide network of different food related groups all over the subcontinent. The Indians have Prime Minister Narenda Modi who  started Digital India, an initiative to increase internet connectivity across the country. It would connect urban areas to rural ones. Whats App, owned by Facebook is the medium of choice, It is free and only requires an internet connection. Most new phones already have it installed.As a result over 200 million (!) or one in six Indians have it, more than any other country. Some have misused it, spreading false news, inciting mob violence and even manipulating votes during elections in India and other countries. Yet it also has done a lot of good too, especially those who farm, cook or care about food. India is a country whose culinary traditions are orally passed down, not written on cards or in notebooks. Whats App allows them to share and arrange knowledge and skills.Some have even made a profit from this.

Whats App has affected all corners of India/Aysha Tanya, a founder of the food and culture publication, The Goya Journal uses it to get recipes from her mother . Saee Koranne-Khandekar uses her WhatsApp created a group with just her family. She even created a cookbook of their recipe  messages and pictures in 2014. Older Indian home chefs tend to be secretive with their family''s recipes, guarding them as if they were gold. Whats App has loosened them up and they're posting all sorts of dishes. .For mango farmer, Noshiran Mistry, Whats App is a godsend. He is able to get an internet connection five kilometers outside his town so he uses the application to send photos of the fruit  as they're growing to vendors all over the country. He also uses it to  pass along lore  about the fruit, preferring to writing a blog.He feels that more will read his messages than that.India's restaurant industry has also benefited. Chef Thomas Zacharias, the executive chef and and partner in the Mumbai restaurant, Bombay Canteen belongs to more than twenty Whats App groups . He uses groups to train employees on the menu and devise dishes, along with motivating the staff.

What's App is  connecting the food world of India. Recipes will not be lost. Farmers will prosper as will restaurants. Best of all people will come together and share their love of food.

A Vegan Stew ; When Comfort Meets Healthy

Anything vegan and dairy free is good, especially when you have to cook for a die hard vegan. A recipe in today's New York Times Food section caught my eye. Weekly contributor Allison Roman created a  chickpea stew with coconut milk and turmeric checked all my culinary boxes- meat free, no eggs or butter, full of flavor and  color. Perfect/

These are the star players

The highlighters are the coconut milk and chickpeas, along with the greens. Ms. Roman recommended Swiss chard or kale.I went with a mix of baby spinach and kale.

It's first cutting up the onion.Use a yellow one as Ms. Roman recommends.It does impart a sweeter flavor than the white ones,

Then an inch of finely chopped ginger (mine was a tad too chunky, which kind of is a jolt when you get  it in a spoonful.

Turmeric gives it an Indian vibe.One and a half teaspoons were needed but I felt it was just a little too bland so I amped it up to two teaspoons for a real impact.

Along with hot pepper flakes about one teaspoon, but I love heat, especially on a cold night so another teaspoon was added.

Two cans of chickpeas drained. Remember to save the aquafaba (for cocoa dusted meringues!)

Fry all of these in a large pot using a half cup of olive oil. (it originally was a 1/4 cup but I felt it wan't enough.)

Add the garlic, onion, spices and chickpeas and fry until chickpeas are crispy and brown.

Then add two cans of full fat coconut milk. I used Goya.

and two cups of vegetable broth I used Swanson's.

Onto the greens. My pick - Stop & Shop mix of kale and baby spinach.

This is the stew before.

And after.

It was delicious with naan, with a variety of different flavors melding together. It was a burst of sunny heat on a chilly night. I have a lot left over and it will be even better reheated over rice.

The Elegant Table

A holiday table is just that,  a dining room table festooned with pretty plates and interesting settings.  Think classy. Think magazine elegant. It's just putting something that's Instagrammable and awe inspiring together to impress family and guests.

An elegant table starts with elegant table linens.Years ago, almost every household had hand embroidered or hand crocheted tablecloths. You can still buy them , namely at craft sites as Herrschner's and Mary Maxim's . I like both these sites because they do offer a wide variety of tablecloths and matching napkins that you can either cross stitch, embroider or both. The two companies sell very beautiful Christmas patterns that would make any table shine. Keep in mind that it does take time to embroider tablecloths, but it's a great way to relax  after a busy day . As far as crochet patterns your best bet is Etsy. This everything craftsy website has many lovely vintage patterns from the classic pineapple designs to the lacy snowflake ones.  Crochet thread can be bought at Herrschner's and Mary Maxim however they only sell white or ecru colored thread, which does make for a simple but tasteful table. Etsy has more colors, and you can easily crochet in Christmas colors.If you're all thumbs with a needle and a hook, then again look to Etsy  for some beautifully handcrafted table linens They also sell matching table runners and place mats too.

Of course a holiday table is not complete without holiday plates. If you haven't bought them by now, then do so. Kohl's has the dainty and famed Pfaltzgraff plates that feature a holly sprigged design. It's a great buy right now at $39.00 for a set of four, Macy's has the beloved Spode Christmas ware and again theirs is a good price: $38.00 for a set that includes matching wine goblets and coffee cups. Bed Bath  & Beyond has the very sweet looking red and white holiday plates. For a set that takes you beyond the holiday, think Waterford. Their patterns are 19th Century sophisticated , with simple and stark lines. Of course with an elegant table must come elegant flatware, Think purity of line, with sleek designs. Crate and Barrel is known for this kind of forks and knives, however Kohl's has less expensive variations. such as several patterns like the sophisticated Joanne and Bordeaux patterns. They also have beautiful sets from Cambridge such as Rosemary and Everdine. What about  stemware? Possibly the chicest comes from the Irish company Waterford. Their patterns and craftsmanship suggest richness and style. Much cheaper are the ones sold at Kohl's, namely Mikasa (you can also go the Mikasa site too). Their balloon glasses are the perfect accompaniment to timeless  dinner and flat ware.

A holiday table should be an elegant one. Think classic and chic as you place timeless recipes on timeless designs. It  will be a table that will be the envy of any holiday host.