so this is Christmas...

Once again, We must apologize for the lack of posts. Like everyone else, the days following Thanksgiving were full of leftovers, and feeling like staying away from the kitchen for a bit. Now that we are onto Christmas tree decorating and carol singing, my mind begins to shift towards holiday party appetizers and festive cocktail recipes.

Next weekend, I (Mandi) will be hosting a holiday party! I've been thinking about all the different goodies I could make... it's hard narrowing the list down! I think I've decided to limit myself to a honey-baked ham with a few of the fixin's, and leave the rest to my party guests.

I am much more comfortable with a ham than a turkey, My dad always requested it, so it's something I've made more than a few times, since I inherited the Thanksgving cooking. The recipe is super easy and so good! I'm thinking of pairing it with some biscuits and gourmet mustards for sandwiches (Real Simple's idea, not mine).

I'll probably do the baked brie again, since it was such a hit. So all that's left is the signature cocktail. Any ideas? What do you guys like to drink during the holidays? Oh, and if you're around next Saturday night, please feel free to stop by!

p.s. Sanne made a Bourbon Maple Pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. If you ask real nicely, I'm sure she'll share the recipe!

Thanks!

Last Thanksgiving, Alyssanne was working and I was home alone, cooking dinner on the phone with my sister Katie, who was home alone cooking as well. In some ways, it was a welcome change from hectic family holiday, bouncing around from house to house. I made myself some coffee, listened to records, spend all day in the kitchen, taking my time cooking and sipping wine. Then, Alyssanne and I enjoyed our dinner and pies, and rang in the Christmas season with The Muppet's Christmas Carol. It was much needed after a crazy year of big decisions and changes and moves.

This weekend, our house was a lot noisier and much more crowded. It was so nice to have six place settings around our table this year, and twice as many hands helping in the kitchen!

My sisters Kelly and Katie and Katie's boyfriend Blair got in late Wednesday night. Thursday morning, we got up bright and early and began a day of cooking: a 19.15lb turkey, a brie appetizer, and 6 side dishes(!), all the while, taking turns running slices of pumpkin pie out to (mostly) thankful bus drivers.

*Kelly took most of these pictures.

Katie is a champ

All I want for Christmas is this George Jenkins t-shirt, If you find me one, I'll dance at your wedding.

the dude

baked brie w/ toasted pecans, raspberries and honey. the pastry flowers were KT's idea.

delicious

Blair

new Thanksgiving apron

cutting onions

we are stisters

carving the roast beast turkey

sides!

pretty table

roommates

wishbone match

winner!

desserts

aftermath

Today I am thankful for leftovers, lazy Sundays, sisters, cold weather and cameras.

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you cook anything new? What are you thankful for?

Welcome to the Pie Factory!

This morning, Sanne was a busy little bee and made 3 pies!! She will blog about it soon, so be sure to look out for recipes on pumpkin pie (in case you don't have one), pecan pie and bourbon maple pumpkin pie! Until then, let me just say that when I got home from work, the whole apartment smelled incredibly delicious and Rajiv is about to find out that I wasn't exaggerating when I said that this will be the best meal of the entire year.

So I finished all of my errands and final preparations for tomorrow. Such as...

That's So Raven Martha!

Now I'm just waiting [not so] patiently for my sisters to get in, drinking some orange chai tea and enjoying the calm before the storm. This storm...

3 Walters in 1 house = 2 gallons of milk

that's a 20lb turkey, y'all!

  Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

A Head Start

Since my sisters will be in Boston for the holiday this weekend, we're spacing our cooking our a little bit. Tonight and tomorrow we will be knocking out our 4 desserts. Tonight I'm tackling the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake and the Chocolate pie.

I have always been a chocolate lover. I remember being at my best friend's house when I was younger, and her mom asked me if I wanted a slice of apple pie. I was about to say "No, thank you" because I didn't like apple pie. Before I could speak up, she said: "All sweet girls love apple pie." Well, I had to eat it. I didn't want her thinking I wasn't a sweet girl. I try every so often to like apple pie, or any fruit pie. But I just can't. Dessert just isn't dessert without chocolate. Now I'm starting to sound like a Cathy comic. tinyheartstinyheartstinyhearts

Baking makes me anxious, so I'm always pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy this one is.

In a mixing bowl, beat together 4 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup vegetable oil.

In a separate bowl, sift in 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 cups flour, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon.



Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture. Mix in 1 can pumpkin (It's organic. So zip it, Barbara Kingsolver) and chocolate chips. There is a certain amount of chocolate chips that the original recipe calls for. But I don't let anyone dictate how many chocolate chips I add to my cake. I throw in the whole bag. That's right. The whooole bag.




Then, bake in a bundt pan at 350 for about 55 minutes. Top with a dollop of cool whip and serve with some coffee. We'll show you the final product later...




The second dessert is very difficult. Pay close attention because you don't want to get lost between all these complicated steps. Ready?

Tomorrow, Alyssanne will be making much more difficult desserts, with grown-up ingredients that my 8-year-old self would probably have turned down, but my 28-year-old self can't wait to eat! Maybe this means I am a sweet girl after all!

Thanksgiving/Anniversary Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese

Here is a recipe we made last year for Thanksgiving. It was so good, that we've made different variations of it throughout the year, depending on what cheese and vegetables and pasta we had on hand. Once it was onions and bacon with Gruyere and Parmesan over rotini. Another time we had mozzarella with tomatoes and basil with penne. This is a great recipe to experiment with. We're making it again this year, but adding some baby bella mushrooms.

Anyway, here's the original, which was pulled from delish.com. This one's for you, Madaline! Happy Three Year Anniversary!

You will need:

• 1 pound(s) plum tomatoes
• 6 cup(s) broccoli florets
• 2 tablespoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoon(s) butter
• 3 tablespoon(s) all-purpose flour
• 4 cup(s) milk, warm
• 2 1/3 cup(s) grated aged Asiago
• 2 1/2 cup(s) grated sharp Cheddar
• 2 tablespoon(s) Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 2 teaspoon(s) fresh black pepper
• 2 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh thyme
• 1 pound(s) penne, cooked and drained

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the tomatoes 1/4 inch thick. Toss the tomatoes and broccoli with the oil and roast separately on parchment-lined baking pans for 30 minutes.
2. Whisk the butter and flour in a medium-size pot over medium-high heat until foamy. Add the milk. Whisk until thickened and bubbling, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
3. Whisk in the cheeses, mustard, salt, pepper, and thyme. Stir in the pasta and broccoli and transfer to a 9- by 13-inch baking dish. Top with the tomatoes and bake about 30 minutes.

Finished product!

How it looks on a full Thanksgiving plate by candlelight... 

Thanksgiving Menu

Hi everyone!

We're really sorry we haven't updated in a while. This has been a crazy work week for both of us. Alyssanne and I didn't even cross paths until Thursday! This Wednesday and Thursday we promise to keep you up to speed on the goings on in our kitchen. We'll have a full house, so I'm sure between the 6(!) of us, someone will be documenting our Thanksgiving meal.

Tomorrow, we'll finish (and start) all of the shopping, and figure out what will be made ahead of time, as well as try to narrow down our menu. I think it's much to long as of now, so I thought I'd tell you what it is and let you help us decide.

I was just wandering the isles at Shaw's, checking out the goods. I saw that they still have the Sam Adams fall harvest variety pack as well as the winter variety pack. There is no way of choosing between the two, so if anyone wants to stop by for some leftovers next week, we should (depending on how celebratory we're feeling this weekend) be able to offer you something to wash it down with!

Here is our unedited menu:

Apple Cider & Cinnamon Whiskey Cocktails

Baked Brie with Honey, raspberries and pecans

~

Turkey

Sausage and Sage Stuffing

Green Bean Casserole (it isn't Thanksgiving without it)

Bourbon Cranberry Compote

Brie and Chive Biscuits

Roasted Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese

Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

~

Pumpkin Pie

Pecan Pie

Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Coffee

This year, we decided to make an extra pie to give to the bus drivers that have to work. Since the bus stop is just at the end of our street, we'll take turns running slices up. So no, we are not eating all of those pies ourselves. Even if we were, it's Thanksgiving! We can eat 8 pies if we want!

So there you have it. thoughts? Do we need another side? 3 more desserts? What about you? Do you guys have any Thanksgiving traditions? Favorite dishes?

on cob

Since we haven't been doing a whole lot of cooking lately, I thought I'd blog about something else that gets our heart racing-- cob housing! Over the course of our time as Boston roommates, Sanne and I have found that we share many interests that all fall under the category of self-sustainability. I don't know if its living in the city has increased these desires for simple living, or if its just a home-sickness for the South. Whatever the reason, our combined library has grown to include many books on gardening, farming, bee-keeping, and building with natural materials. It was during this building research that I discovered cob.

Not to sound like a high school essay on the History of Cob, but I feel I must explain... Cob is a mixture of sand, mud and straw. It's very similar to the adobe homes you see in the southwest. It can be molded into basically any shape before drying in the sun and becoming virtually indestructible. It was mainly used in 15th and 16th century England because of the low cost, availability of materials and simplicity. You can still see a lot of these homes today. When the pilgrims came over to New England, they all but abandoned this building style because the nasty weather didn't allow time for cob to dry.

Isn't that interesting? Yeah, I think so too.

Anyway, what I love most about cob is the freedom it gives you to create anything you want. Your house could be shaped like a snail shell, or look like a Who-house. You can carve out a shelve, a window or a bench wherever you want. It can be as simple or as fancy as you like. It is what you make it. It's nice to know that you're using natural materials, native to the area where you are building. And that you can start where you are in life. The starting cost of constructing a cob house is only around $3,000! That is, of course, before installing electricity and plumbing.

Here are some examples:

a traditional cob house in Devon, England

modern cob

this one is a classroom!

reading nook

What do you think? Are we crazy? Wanna start a commune?