And Then There's Plan B

Most of the times the best of holiday plans get messed up. That's kind of what happened to me when I just didn't have the time to bake, frost and decorate my Winterscape Cake. What happens when the best of menu plans go awry? Quickly leap to Plan B.

Every home chef should have an alternative plan ready to be deployed. I did, with this

Aldi's dessert saving panettone trio which has three minis : Classic, Tiramisu and Cranberry.  These can easily be toasted and served with marscapone or butter. If I didn't have these I might have tried Nigella Lawson's no churn salted caramel ice cream. This is just mixing dulce de leche with whole cream and flavoring with bourbon and flaky sea salt (think Malden's).I could also whip up a quick chocolate mousse using Cool Whip and Instant chocolate pudding. It's an easy dinner - penne with crockpot sauce so the meal in itself is flavorful. Dessert would only be gilding the lily. Just remember that whatever sweet you have  around can be made into some kind of dessert. Trifle is the easiest. You probably have most of the ingredients. Just add a good slug of brandy and it's a boozy fun end to a Christmas meal.

The same philosophy goes for the main meal. There are ways to fix a holiday cooking mistake. Those hams or beef roasts sometimes get burned. Cut away the burned part , cut up the roast into pieces and continue cooking. If the entire thing is completely charred then first put the pot into a larger pan than it. Fill this with ice cold water  to cool it and after a while taste the meat. If it's still bad, then emphasize the sides as the main meal. Rummage through the freezer quick or ask a guests (Namely family and friends who will help out in a pinch) what they have. You may have to cobble together frozen burgers and nuggets but at least it's something. If you still want to serve the main dish, then cut away as much as the burnt  roast as possible then stir fry it with veggies such as tomatoes from the salad or the Brussels sprouts. Add a dash of some flavorful spice like turmeric or cumin to minimize the burn taste. If your holiday turkey  is too dry then boil up some chicken bouillon with butter and pour over the bird to moisten up the meat. If the gravy is horrible add chicken broth to give it more flavor. Sides nor up to par? Sprinkle with Parmesan to make  them more palatable. Another idea just serve more salad with the along with plenty of bread.

There always has to be a Plan B when it comes to holiday baking and cooking. Just be prepared for whatever your kitchen and fate throws you. You can get through it and still have a pretty tasty holiday dinner.

It's Cookie Time

There's a reason why some home chefs hate holiday  baking. It's just hopping back and forth out of the kitchen every ten minutes to get  batch after batch out of the oven. The end product is worth it though.

I did cheat and use my go to Betty Crocker's Cookie Mix.

As you know I'm more of a Duncan Hines baker than a Betty Crocker one but I find her cookie mixes to be easy to make and delicious too. Of course they're not scratch cookies but you can add your own spins on them. This year is it was a dash of cinnamon. I wanted the cookies to be more festive with red and green sprinkles but couldn't find any . At all. I decided on cinnamon to give them a snickerdoodle vibe without all that extra sugar.

The mix only requires one egg and a stick of butter or margarine. I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter for a semi vegan cookie. After about ten minutes of a good beating the dough was ready to be dropped onto the sheets.

I used parchment paper which makes the baking process that much more easier (however make it a point to reuse the sheets at least two or three times. Parchment paper is silicon based and does not break down in landfills. Reuse the sheets afterwards anyway you can.).As you can see I dusted plain cinnamon on the unbaked drops.This required pinching cinnamon on each one from a cupped palm full of cinnamon.

This is the first, rather pale batch.

This is what the entire batch looked like.

As you can seen some were more heavily dusted than others. The taste was lovely with the cinnamon on top and I know I'd make them this way again.It was just batch after batch after batch. The end result was thirty-six cinnamon dusted snaps - a pretty good yield.

If you're up to it make your Christmas cookies. If you're using a mix put your own spin on them to make them yours. it'll result in a lot of work with a very tasty end product.

A Slice Of Wine Country Wine Country Table

Amidst all the holiday stress it's nice to escape, especially to a region where wine rules. For those of us who can't take a quick trip there's Wine Country Table With Recipes That Celebrate  California's Sustainable Harvest that salutes all wines and produce Californian,. It is a gorgeous combination of a coffee table book and cookbook. The pictures are amazing . The recipes even more so.

Janet Fletcher wrote this interesting book (Rizzoli Publishing 2019) on the various sections of the California vineyard regions. It is a beautiful collection of pictures worthy of just looking at but also worthy trying out the recipes. Ms. Fletcher has written a variety of other cookbooks, from Yogurt : Sweet and Savory Recipes For Breakfast Lunch and Dinner to Fresh From The Farmer's Market.  She has won  a James Beard award for food journalism as well as teaching cooking and cheese appreciation classes across the country.(She also writes a  column on cheese for Specialty Food magazine and has created her own weekly blog Cheese Planet). Her descriptions of the various regions from the Napa Valley to SoCal are lush and inviting. The accompanying photos are too. I loved just looking at the pictures of the wineries and fields along with the beautifully photographed dishes. Another reason to like the book is that it's not just grapes. Ms. Fletcher also includes sections on pears,plums, asparagus , and even olive oil along with other California crops. These are incorporated in the many recipes too. Flowers are included too,  as mentioned in the Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers. The protea is a spiky pink flower that grows exclusively in the California desert.The book is also good for those planning Spring wine tasting trips because wineries are highlighted in great detail. I would love to visit the Francis Ford Coppola Winery which also has movie memorabilia to view along with good  on site restaurants and a relaxing pool.

The recipes reflect each area and the crops harvested there. The section on pears has an interesting mixed chicory salad with pears and blue cheese. I want to make a variation of this for my Christmas Eve dinner.Since California is home to the Gilroy Garlic Festival, Ms. Fletcher includes a  Gilroy garlic and potato soup, another must make , that has Spanish smoked paprika and saffron perfuming and flavoring it. Of course avocados figure in this as well. There are three recipes, each perfect. One is Dungeness Crab and Avocado Toastados, a nod to California's Mexican past along with Grass Fed Burger with Avocado and Chipotle Mayonnaise and Scallop Crudo with Avocado and Pink Peppercorns. The states multi-ethnic groups are also represented in these recipes. There is pho, the Vietnamese soup, brought by the many Vietnamese immigrants who settled in 1980's California and pizza, a nod to the many Italian vintners who brought the industry to the state. Desserts are here as well. A refreshing dish would be the strawberry sherbet with sparkling wine recipe. It's a frozen slush of strawberries and kirsch splashed with sparkling wine. I would love to try the apple galette with honey ice cream and the Zinfandel poached pears with marscapone cheese. A plus to all the recipes is the suggestion of what wine would go best with them.

Wine Country Table: With Recipes That Celebrate California's Sustainable Harvest is the perfect escape when winter and the holidays become too much. Relish the lush pictures of fields of California's best crops, read about the different recipes and wineries. Enjoy this book - this literary vacation from 
all that stress.

Chiles Under Fire

New Mexico is famed and known for its' chiles. They define the state, and provide it with most of its' income. Unfortunately the crop is now under pressure thanks to climate change. Like so many other crops , it's under the threat of climate change.

Amelia Nierenberg, a regular contributor to The New York Times  Food section wrote about this dilemma in yesterday's Food issue. Chile peppers have long been a New Mexican product, like what blueberries are to Maine and peaches to Georgia. Now climate change is threatening the crops grown in the Hatch Valley area. Excessive heat , a symptom of it, can blister the fruits' delicate skin and interrupt the growth cycle.  The temps have gone from 95 to 100  - too scorching for the plants. They must have hot - but not excessively hot  - day and cool nights, usually 55. Other crops have moved to cooler climates but trying to transplant the chiles will prove hard. The only terrain that can give them a dichotomy of temperatures is a mountainous one which is what the state is. The only other state that comes close is Colorado , which  is directly north and has the highest mean elevation of all the states. Many chili farms have moved there already. However there are problems. Colorado's water and soil are different than New Mexico's. Purists can taste the difference in flavor and texture.  The Hatch Valley grown ones are crisper and more balanced in taste.


The chilis aren't the only peppers in trouble in the state where there are 150 other varieties grown. There have been problems for the Pueblos and Rio Grandes kinds to name a few. There have been droughts. In 2018 the Elephant Butte reservoir  was only at three per cent capacity. Even the Rio Grande which divides the state in two, had its' riverbed cracked in some places. The lack of water has caused crops to wither. Luckily there was a snowy winter and a cooler spring which led to the reservoir to have a twenty-five per cent capacity. It is, however , just a band aid, New Mexico is at the top of what's known as water insecure states.There will be a time when water won't be accessible to the state's population, whether for residential or commercial use. Already eighty to one hundred per cent of the state's water supply is used. Some farms have switched to pumping water from underneath, relying on aquifers. Yet that's too expensive and too salty which could ruin the peppers taste. What will the future hold? Ninety-five year old June Rutherford, doyenne of Franzoy Farms and recently crowned queen of The Great New Mexico Chile Taste Off feels the era of New Mexico chiles is over with. The crops are not as flourishing as they were in her father's time.

Could a crop gain endangered status? That may help the New Mexico chiles. If not they will be  rare   - and expensive - and will chili lovers be able to afford them?

Holiday Desserts Go Big Go Sweet

Forget the cookie board at any holiday party. These are sweet little ornaments but they're 're not as substantial as a cake or trifle. A hearty holiday dinner requires a hearty slice or scoop of dessert. There are some great endings that can top off any turkey or ham dinner.

Alison Roman, a regular Food section contributor wrote about these amazing and toothsome desserts in today's New York Times issue. She gives us four holiday desserts - strangely without the yummy Buche de Noel, the chocolate sponge roll made to look like a decorated forest log. Still , her choices work  - not just finishing a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meal, but also at New Year's Eve party and New Year's Eve buffets. What is great about them is that they're fuss free. No special icings. No fancy decorations or split time baking where you have lower or raise  oven temps. They're kind of old fashioned recipes with an updated twist. Ms. Roman creates a salted chocolate pudding with a whipped sour cream. This is a homemade one with bittersweet chocolate  and cocoa powder, six whole eggs and heavy cream to give it richness and flavor. As with countless other homemade puddings  cornstarch is the thickener. The pudding would be good on it's own , but it's layered with sour cream blended with heavy whipping cream and any kind of snap cookie. You could use plain Christmas sugar cookies, but there are also ginger snaps and those famed chocolate wafers. These are layered to create a memorable trifle. Eat it the day you make it so you get the crunch of the cookies.

The other desserts include a sunny cheesecake with an easy graham cracker or vanilla wafer crust. The cake is enriched with your choice of either full fat  Greek yogurt or sour cream. Juice is added and it can be either grapefruit, lemon, lime or orange. Grapefruit would be a nice original touch.The zest is also used for more zing. There may be some leftover filling so you may want to create mini cheesecakes with it. Citrus slices and flaky sea salt  are scattered on the finished product for a festive look.For a fun  treat, try the Boozy Cherry Walnut Tart. This is a treat topped with bourbon soaked cherries and chopped walnuts. The crust is the classic butter one, that tastes like a spritz cookie. The filling is toasted walnuts, butter and one large egg. Flour binds us so it will have a cookie like quality to it. Top with more walnuts and cherries. It would be great served with vanilla ice cream. Some traditionalists will want gingerbread. Liven up the dessert table with Ms. Roman's Golden Ginger Cake. This is a mix of freshly grated ginger and cinnamon. The cake is made a sunny yellow with the addition of turmeric, It's also very buttery and sweet  thanks to the addition of 3/4 of a cup of butter (!) and molasses.Buttermilk mixed with either coconut or vegetable oil is added for a silkier batter. A cake like this only requires a blob of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream to highlight the spices.

Keep the cookies for tins and holiday teas. Create satisfying puddings, tarts cheesecakes and cakes. These are definitely  great endings to any Christmas ham and turkey, filling and delicious as the main courses themselves..

The Microwave Dilemma

Modern appliances do not last . I found that out with my Hauer microwave  which I bought in 2016 . This is it

And this is what happened to it.

It was a burn mark that caused the interior paint to peel off. Leaving it like this is dangerous. Not only will radiation will seep into the food but it can cause sparks which lead to fire . There are two solutions,either spray with microwave paint or a new one. I tried four stores for the paint but to no avail. It was time to go shopping. 

That was a headache. I went to where I originally bought the Hauer at Lowe's. Surprisingly they don't have the variety they once had. It was disappointing at the lack of variety. It was off to Teterboro's  Wal-Mart which only had the floor model. of the Frigidaire. if you know anything about North Jersey during the holidays,. you know that every, road  mall and parking lot is a traffic jam around the holidays. Luckily a sales rep called the Wal-Mart in Garfield. They had the Frigidaire model that I wanted. It was crazy crowded, but the trip was fruitful!!! Success at last!!

Tomorrow it's going to be put up and christened. Hopefully it'll last longer than its' predecessor. I don't want to go through this every three years.

Are You Christmas Ready????

Christmas is a week away. Are you all set for another holiday meal? Do you have enough for your baking extravaganza? Are you Christmas ready?

The most important question is do you have your main meal planned out?  By now you should have your ham if you're planning on serving it. With it should come a good supply of cloves and pineapple. You can always buy the ginger ale for it the day before or use the brown sugar left over from baking for a sweet rub. As for the turkey, you have a few days leeway time. It can be bought as late as the 22nd or 23rd.  Yams can also be bought on the weekend too along with potatoes and onions. Once you have the dinner sorted out , it's time to reevaluate the linens. Are they OK after Thanksgiving? Are there any stains that need to be washed out again. Then use baking soda on them and a good wash and rinse through the washing machine. This also applies to those linen napkins too, Be careful , though, when you're dealing with hand embroidered or heirloom dinner linens. These will have to be presoaked in the tub and then gently wash in either the tub or sink. Try to use something gentle such as  The Laundress' The Baby Detergent,It's meant for baby clothes but it also can be used on delicate vintage fabrics too. Another must is checking the silver and glassware. Make sure everything is polished along with being tarnish and crack free. If you're wine glasses or tumblers aren't up to par, then head to your local store like Target or Macy 's for a new replacement set.

The second big kitchen to-do is the whole holiday baking. Since we're now so close to the holiday, you can buy the ingredients right now when the stores have them on sale. Take advantage of this, especially if you have a lot of baking to do. Buy up the cookie mixes if you don't have the time or experience to create scratch ones. Betty Crocker has some good flavors, like peanut butter and oatmeal.Also  stores like Stop & Shop has sales on cake and brownie mixes, perfect if you want to make more substantial treats like cupcakes and brownies. If you are making scratch cookies and cakes, make sure you're stocked with a variety of flours such as plain flour and gluten free for those with allergies. Flavorings are used a lot during this time. Keep an eye on your vanilla, almond and peppermint extracts. If they're looking a little low , then it's time to bring in new bottles. The same goes for the sprinkles and nuts too. You should also be well stocked when it comes to all the sugars. Not only does granulated sugar go fast during this time, but also confectioner's , light and dark brown sugars. Buy your eggs and butter close to the day you start baking. The fresher they are, the better they'll perform. This is also a good time to assess your cookie sheets, cookie cutters, and cake pans. Make sure you also have parchment paper for some butter cookies and meringues. Do you have enough tins to hold them? If not , buy a few festive holiday ones and even platters to serve them on.

Christmas is a week away, Be ready. Be prepared.  That way it'll make holiday cooking and baking easier - and better.