holiday decorating

I am having a difficult time making the transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas this year. The leaves on the trees here are such vibrant colors of brown, gold, red, and green that I am finding that I am just not ready for the colors of December. The last few days I have driven by homes that are already decked out with lights and have brightly lit Christmas trees glowing through the windows. They must have elves living at their homes. I have been poring over the holiday issues of my magazines that are arriving daily and they are giving me lots of inspiration. I love the soft blues of this fabric wreath that Sweet Paul made for the December issue of Better Homes and Gardens. This would also be so pretty in soft shades of blue felt.

And just how cute are these little votives wrapped in blue velvet ribbon with a tiny pine cone spray painted white and then glued onto the ribbon? Just makes the table look so festive, doesn't it?

When I saw this spread in Better Homes and Gardens, it made me remember that Sweet Paul's Holiday Magazine is out. I took a quick look at it the day it came out, but there was so much going on at work and home that I haven't had a chance to really look at it again until now.

This is another gorgeous issue by Paul Lowe. Filled with holiday crafts, recipes and beautiful photographs, you can't help but get inspired by it. I just want to pluck one of those pudding cupcakes right off that cake stand! Isn't that faux bois background fabulous?!

I really liked this wreath composed of family photos. What a wonderful way to display both old and new cherished photographs of family members during the holidays.

Isn't this chocolate espresso flan to-die-for?! I really must make this!

You can find the December issue of Better Homes and Gardens on news stands now and you can view Sweet Paul's free digital holiday issue here. Happy Decorating!

French Friday with Dorie: Rice Pudding and Caramel Apples

For this week's French Fridays with Dorie we were given cook's choice where we could select any recipe from Dorie's book, Around My French Table. Since there have been no dessert recipes for FFwDorie for the past couple of months, I decided that I wanted to make a dessert. And, since it is Thanksgiving week and after making a very involved cake recipe last week, I decided that I wanted a simple dessert and so I selected Dorie's rice pudding with caramel apples.

I still had some leftover rice from the FFwD stuffed peppers I made a few months ago, so I was happy to see this recipe called for Arborio rice. It is an easy recipe to make, but it does require some time to cook and you need to watch the milk as it is coming to a boil. Don't walk away for a few minutes like I did because then your milk will pick that exact instant to boil over like mine did. It turned out to be okay - I just had a mess to clean up later and had a little less milk for the pudding. Once the milk boils, you turn the heat down and add the rice that you have pre-cooked for 10 minutes and 50 minutes later you have this creamy pudding.

While the pudding cools to room temperature you make the apples and caramel sauce. This is so simple to do. You put the sugar in the middle of a non-stick skillet and add a splash of lemon juice. I added some lemon juice from a meyer lemon from my little tree. Once this begins to caramelize, you add some butter, lower the heat and add some apple cider. When it boils you add the sliced apples and cook until they are tender. Then you add the heavy cream and continue to cook until the sauce turns the caramel color you want. Dorie says to cook another minute after adding the heavy cream, but it took mine about 4-5 minutes to get to the color I wanted.

Once the caramel apples cool to room temperature, you layer some of the caramel sauce along with some of the apples in the bottom of the dish and spoon some of the rice pudding over it and then top with more caramel apples. The result is a creamy caramel apple pudding that is so delicious. I am not a big fan of rice pudding, but I really enjoyed this and liked the plump Arborio rice. My husband loved it with and without the caramel apples. It is a simple, yet elegant dessert and as my son said, "A perfect finish to a meal." You can find the recipe at Epicurious.

Visit this week's French Fridays with Dorie link to see the recipes other members selected.

BAKED Sunday Morning: Boston Cream Pie Cake

The first cake I can remember making was Boston Creme Pie from a cake mix. Do any of you remember that cake mix? Boston Creme Pie was one of my dad's favorites and I enjoyed making it for him. This week's BAKED Sunday Morning recipe pays homage to this great American dessert.

I would call this a grown-up version as I followed Matt's suggestion and soaked two of the layers in some light rum. You couldn't taste the rum at all and it actually compressed the sponge layers a little bit, so I think I would omit this step the next time I make this recipe. The milk sponge layers are light and the pastry cream is so smooth and delicious. I love the twist in this recipe with making two layers of chocolate pastry cream with one layer of vanilla. 

The chocolate ganache is a perfect finish for this cake. Cutting through layers of chocolate ganache, milk sponge cake, chocolate and vanilla pastry cream is every chocolate lover's dream. This was a huge hit here and we couldn't get enough of it. While it takes some time to make, this cake is definitely worth the effort.

You can see the other group members' creations over at BAKED Sunday Mornings and you can also find this recipe there. If you haven't made this cake, I hope you will give it a try. You won't be disappointed. 

French Friday with Dorie: Braised Cardamom-Curry Lamb

Last Sunday was one of those days that I spent the entire day in the kitchen, but I didn't mind a bit because at the end of the day I had a hearty lamb stew to put on the table and a beautiful cake. The cake you hear more about when I post it for  Baked Sunday Mornings. The stew is what I will be talking about today.

I haven't bought lamb in quite awhile, so I was a little surprised at how expensive it was, but it wasn't as expensive as the duck that we made a few weeks ago. Since it was only going to be the two of us for dinner, I bought just under 2 lbs. and it ended up being more than enough meat.

The curry powder, ground cardamom, and cardamom pods smelled wonderful as they cooked in the olive oil with the garlic and onion. The addition of mint, honey, figs, some golden raisins,  and a scattering of apples gives the lamb a wonderful sweetness that balances the curry and cardamom. Dorie's recipes adds potatoes with the stew, but I had some egg noodles that I wanted to use up, so I skipped the potatoes in the stew because I didn't want to have too much starch. I added some frozen petite peas at the last few minutes of cooking.

When I lifted the lid to put the peas in, I was surprised to see that the apples had melted away and when I tasted the stew, it was a wonderful blend of sweetness and spice. We both enjoyed this dish so much and it is one that I will look forward to cooking again. 

Please visit French Fridays with Dorie to see how others fixed this recipe. From some of the comments I read on Twitter, there were some meat substitutions and some creative flavors added that I can't wait to read about.

French Friday with Dorie: Spiced Squash, Fennel, and Pear Soup

The weather has turned much colder here this past week, so I was really happy that soup was on the menu for this French Friday.

For the squash in this soup, I selected a Kabocha, a delicata, and an acorn squash. I chose the kabocha and delicata mostly because we have never eaten them before and wanted to see what they tasted like. For this recipe, you roast the squash first with a little bit of olive oil and salt.

Onion, garlic, and fennel are then slowly cooked in a Dutch Oven until softened and then ginger, cumin, and nutmeg, along with some more salt are added for flavor before pouring in the vegetable stock. The roasted squash and coarsely chopped pears are added to the simmering soup. When you can mash the squash and pears with the back of the spoon the soup is ready to purée.

While I prefer most of my soups chunky, when I tasted it before puréeing, I wasn't sure I liked the separate chunks of squash and pear with the slices of fennel and onion. But after it was pureed I loved the taste of everything blended together. I followed Dorie's directions exactly with the amount of spices and only added salt when she said to and it resulted in a perfectly seasoned soup. Topped with a dollop of sour cream and some snips of fennel brought out the smokiness of the cumin which balanced the sweetness of the squash and pears, and the ginger and nutmeg.

John also really liked it, but thinned it down a bit with more stock. He said it tasted great and warmed him up after a day spent working outside. Our daughter was here and she said that it was good, but she wished it was left chunky. I liked it so much that I had another bowl for breakfast the next morning. See what the others thought over at French Fridays with Dorie. You can find the recipe here.

BAKED Sunday Morning: Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

These are perfect muffins to serve on a Sunday morning and served fresh out of the oven they need nothing to dress them because they are a wonderful blend of sweet and savory.

The surprise for me with this recipe is the blend of cayenne pepper and ground black pepper. When you bite into the muffins, you can feel the heat in the back of your throat. It is not overwhelming though and the peppers balance nicely with the pumpkin,  cheddar cheese, and the sweetness of the brown sugar. I used some of the leftover pumpkin that I had roasted for the Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good which, along with the sour cream and cheddar, made the muffins so moist.

The pumpkin seeds are optional, but I had roasted the pumpkin seeds from the little sugar pie pumpkins and used some to decorate each muffin top. The seeds not only gave them a pretty touch, but also gave the muffins a nice little crunch with each bite. Matt and Renato suggest using raw milk cheddar cheese in this recipe, but I used the Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese that I always have on hand and it gave the muffins so much flavor without overpowering the pumpkin. This recipe is a keeper and one that I will be making often during the fall and winter months. I had enough batter to make 12 standard-size muffins and four smaller ones.

These muffins are refreshingly different and so delicious and great to eat at any time of the day. If you have never had a savory/sweet muffin, you should try this recipe and taste them for yourself. Visit BAKED Sunday Mornings to see what the other members thought about these muffins. You can get the recipe there.

French Friday with Dorie: Twenty-Minute Honey-Glazed Duck Breasts

When I walked up to the poultry counter at Whole Foods, the butcher asked if he could help me. I saw that there were two duck breasts in the case, but no price, so I asked him how much they were. He told me he could look the price up in the register and while he was doing so I told him that I had never cooked duck before and that my husband was really excited that I was going to fix it. He looked up and cautioned me to not overcook the duck because he said it is easy to do and then it will be dry. He put one of the duck breasts on the scale and fiddled with the scale and it was exactly one pound and then he said that it was $13.99 per pound. "Oh, wow, " I said and I don't know if was my low gasp of shock mixed with what I am sure was disappointment on my face that moved him to say, "Well, since you are buying two perhaps I can give you a break in the price. "Shall I wrap them up for you?" he asked. "Okay." I replied, thinking to myself that I had better not overcook these because while they may be Dorie's duck-as-everyday food, they are duck-as-caviar only-for-special-occasions dinner for us.

I think the butcher would approve of Dorie's recipe because 20 minutes is all that is needed to have the most moist and succulent duck that you will possibly ever eat. No kidding. And the honey-glazed sauce is truly what put this recipe over the top for me. If you haven't made this yet, make sure that you do have some rustic bread on the table because you will want to sop up every last bit of the sauce. And what did John think about it? He said it was the best meal I have ever made. Can't wait to share that with my butcher the next time I see him. Yes, I finally understand how important it is to get to know your butcher, so I will be buying my French Fridays with Dorie poultry and meat from him from now on.

Visit French Fridays with Dorie to see what the other members thought of this week's recipe. You can find the recipe on p.229-30 of Around My French Table and you can find it online here.