Tuesday Twister – Christmas Bread – Lacto-Fermented Red Cabbage

This week I have been busy getting ready for Christmas and fighting off a cold. I made more meringues (coffee this time, also good) and mömmukökur (the healthy ones were a hit at my Christmas party and at home, so I made some slightly-unhealthier ones since I was getting low on honey), as well as cookies for the baby. It used to be that my sister and I would get together (sometimes with my mother, sometimes without) and make 5-10 different varieties of cookies (but always spritz, and chocolate cookies filled with a mint chocolate candy). Lately, between our busy schedules and my special diet, we end up making our own batches of cookies. I was thinking of making one more kind, but I’ll see if my family eats all of the ones I have. I want to have some left for a party the day after Christmas. I wanted to make Wardeh’s peppermint bark, but I am not sure if I have enough coconut oil left, and haven’t been able to rummage in the cabinets to find my peppermint extract.

Also on the Christmas theme, I made some Christmas bread: a loaf of spelt sourdough with cardamom, cinnamon, and raisins. I think the recipe needs work (at least more cinnamon), but it could just be my stuffy nose affecting my sense of taste. It looks nice though.

And since red cabbage is a traditional Christmas food, I decided to try making lacto-fermented red cabbage and apples. I am not sure how it will come out, but we’ll see how it is and if it came out well I will post the recipe.

Go visit GNOWFGLINS and see what is twisting in everyone else´s kitchens!

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Menu Plan Monday – Week of 12/21/2009

I can’t believe Christmas is almost here! The kids and I have been sick (I seem to have it worst, because I can’t get time to rest properly), hopefully we are all better before then.

Banana-Date-Oatmeal Baby Cookies

My 10 month old is starting to want what everyone else has. Since we are keeping him away from dairy, wheat, and refined sugar, it’s kind of hard to allow him to taste a cookie someone else is eating. So I decided to make him some healthy cookies so that he gets something special while people are eating Christmas cookies.

Book Review: Sugar-Free Gluten-Free Baking and Desserts

Normally I don’t get a cookbook sight unseen, but this one wasn’t available (even to order) at my local library and I thought it would be a really handy addition.

Mom’s Sausage Balls

My mother brought these as an appetizer for Thanksgiving and they were amazing.

Mama’s Cookies (Icelandic Sandwich Cookies)

I have no idea why these are called “Mama’s Cookies” but that is the traditional name for these gingerbread sandwich cookies. I think the healthy version turned out pretty well, although I think the powdered sugar frosting filling is nicer than the Rapadura one.

Tuesday Twister – Butter Cookies – Meringues – Sourdough Pumpernickel

This doesn’t seem like such a marathon cooking week as the last few, although I did make a roast leg of grass-fed Icelandic lamb that we had in the freezer. (When we see it at Whole Foods we splurge, because it really is the best lamb. In Iceland, the lambs roam around the countryside all summer long, and get gathered up in the autumn. One of these days I want to buy lamb from a semi-local farm that raises Icelandic sheep so we can see if it is as good.) We tried the ginger beer with it. The verdict was it was not gingery enough for us, although my husband and I thought it was still good. The kids thought it “tasted like beer” (tasted too fermented, although it didn’t really have any fermented taste to me) and wasn’t sweet enough.

I wanted to try out some cookie recipes for Wardeh’s Gallery of Christmas Cookies, but I lost steam after making a few other people’s recipes (I have a party to bring them to tomorrow):

• Lemon Meringue cookies (I liked these a lot, although my husband thought they were too lemony)
• Cocoa Spice Meringue Cookies (these were a big hit and need to be added to our annual cookie recipes)
• Sprouted Flour Butter Cookies

I may try out modifying a few of my recipes this week, but I don’t have a good outlet for cookies anymore (other than my family); I used to work in an office with a lot of people that would eat anything I brought in; now, there are only a handful of people and I only work in the office a few days a week. Then again, it’s getting close enough to Christmas that cookies should keep until then if I make them later in the week, right?

I also tried the sourdough pumpernickel bread from Wild Fermentation. I love storebought pumpernickel bread, and I have been searching for a recipe that tastes like it but doesn’t have wheat in it. This one isn’t quite the same, but it is pretty good. It was popular with the boys (the baby and the 13 year old), but my husband didn’t like it. So I guess I can make it again for me and the kids. I made a few mistakes when making it, like forgetting to add all of the flour before I let it sit, so I will try doing it the right way next time. Also, you can use carob or cocoa in place of one cup of flour to darken it; I’ll try maybe all carob or half and half next time, but I was low on carob so I had tried it with all cocoa powder (which I suppose I shouldn’t be giving to the baby but he really likes rye). I also think I will try it with caraway seeds (I left them out this time).

I also made Millie’s Sourdough Bread for the family, since I found some whole wheat flour in the freezer that needed to be used up.

Go to GNOWFGLINS to see what’s twisting in everyone else’s kitchens this week.

Menu Plan Monday – Week of 12/14/2009

Monday – French Onion Soup

Tuesday – Mexican Pizza

Wednesday – My knitting group has its Christmas party, so the guys will be on their own; they’ll probably have “cowboy food” (baked beans with cheese on toast)

Thursday – Crockpot Turkey Meatballs

Friday – Sweet Potato, Sausage, and Apple Casserole

Saturday – Pumpkin Soup

Turkey Vegetable Soup

This is based on a recipe in Eating Better for Less, an old cookbook from the 70’s. A lot of information in there is outdated (looking at example prices is crazy), but there are some good basic recipes as well as tips on preserving and other home economic tips.

The Irish Heritage Cookbook: And the Winner Is…

I said that I would announce the winner of The Irish Heritage Cookbook today, so I went to random.org this morning, and the winner that was selected was Patricia Wagner! Congratulations! Send me your mailing address and I will send the book out to you. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks to everyone for entering the giveaway!