Heathly Christmas Cookies!

If there is such a thing, this is as close as I have come but honestly at the last two Christmas parties I have had people have said they are the BEST Christmas cookies they have ever had! WOW!
I must give credit to Frey Girl Aunt Ruth who along with my sister (FreyGirl4Life) who was nine at the time gave me this recipe at my bridal shower. Like any recipe I receive I tweaked it a bit to make it my own. Maybe not the best but at least Crisco FREE!

(Doubling the recipe makes the amount photographed, you don't need to double the frosting).

To make the cookies "healthy" use organic evaporated cane juice instead of white sugar and use soy butter instead of butter and crisco! Use unbleached flour and free range eggs of course. Don't forget to use the soy butter in the frosting too!

Voila! Sante!

Lentils with Bacon for Nicholas

Nick - hope you can drag and drop this photo. Turns out bread is not even suggested! P.S. When I made it for you I did not use tomatoes.
Bon Appetit.

Roasted Chicken

Oh my goodness. Half way through this process I wondered if I was insane - then I called on every fiber in my body that comes from my Great Gramma Bauer to help me. If she could cut the head off a chicken to serve it for dinner then I can stick my hand up it's butt to pull out the bag of inerds.

I am getting ahead of myself.

I had a bur up my own butt to make a roast chicken. I am not a huge chicken fan. It has no great taste to me. It seems it must be thoroughly doctored up before it takes on any great flavor. I don't cook a lot of chicken and when I do I make sure it is at least corn fed.
This week I "splurged" on a free-range whole chicken from Trader Joe's. It was a little under twelve dollers. I took it out of the freezer around noon and of course by 5pm prep time it was still quite the little poultry iceburg. So I hit it with some hot water, lots of hot water.
Finally it reached a smooshiness that I thought would be acceptable to work with, I was not ready for the "foul" smell as I unwrapped it.
I knew I had to get liver and goodies out of the cavity and I was praying they would be in a tidy little bag but first I had to figure out the bumm from the shoulders. I visualized the poor thing alive and figured it out quite quickly. I lifted up a flap of fat and tried to fit my hand in the cavity. There was a bag in there but it was still frozen to the inside and it would not budge. I was so scared I was going to rip it and have to contend with the guts face to face. I filled that dang bird up with hot water and gave a few more tugs on the bag of goodies and finally wrestled it free. Then I went out to the garden and wrestled carrots from the cold dirt...let's just say the rest was a breeze. I simply stuffed a stale baguette where the bag was, rubbed it with herbs de Provence...well here is the recipe. Joel said it was THE best chicken he had ever had and Aidan had FOUR helpings!

Ingredients:
Salt and Pepper to taste (each preferably freshly ground.)
Paprika to taste
One fresh free range chicken
4 cloves of garlic (I prefer alot more than that)
Herbs de provence (thyme, bay, rosemary, oregano)
I slice stale bread
Olive oil, butter or duck fat
1 bunch of carrots, about 8 with greens attached to ensure freshness
2 medium yellow onions
2 Roma tomatoes, fresh and whole ( I skipped this cause sadly, I hate tomotes)
1 Glass of white wine (8-10 ounces) (I skipped this cause I only had red)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place salt, pepper and paprika inside the chicken cavity. Add one or two gloves of garlic and herbs de Provence. (Replace liver, heart and gizzards if you eat them (no merci!) Rub the stale bread with one clove of garlic and stuff it in the cavity.
Don't bother to truss the chicken.
Rub the skin of the bird with the fat of your choice. I chose olive oil today. Season the outside with the same herbs your stuffed the chicken with.
In a low sided pan that has been lightly rubbed with oil, place the following: the seasoned chicken, the carrots (greens removed, peeled but whole); the onions (cut in half then into 4 wedges each); one clove of garlic. ( I added two cloves and while enjoying the meal wished I had added a few more, the were so good.)
Cook for at least one hour until the juice from a pricked thigh runs clear. A little longer is o.k. and little under is not.
When done, remove the chicken to a serving platter. Remove the vegetables and place them around the chicken.
Bring the remaining juice in the pan to a boil. Add salt and pepper and deglaze with a glass of water or white wine. When the liquid boils and reduces a bit pour it into a sauceboat and serve with the chicken and vegetables.

Bon Appetit!

Adapted from a lovely book you MUST buy: Joie de Vivre by Robert Arbor

Soup a l'Oignon Gratinee

Let me confess, this recipe is word for word from The Paris Cafe Cookbook by Daniel Young page 13.


Scanned from the 1st Paris scrapbook, We sit waiting for our Soup a l'Oignon.

Feet throbbing, stomachs growling and spirits completely intimidated by the throngs of trendy young people (no younger than us, mind you) spilling out onto the sidewalks in front of every cafe and pub in the Latin Quarter. All we wanted was to sit down and savor the moment. It was our first trip to Paris and every moment was to be remembered. We spotted a quiet little bistro, no bumping bass coming from inside. Only empty tables and a chalk board menu. Six years ago my French skills were not what they are today. I scanned a scribbled menu in search of "Soup a l'Oignon" . The curly-Q font of French handwriting throwing me off every, now and again. Is that a "one" or a "seven"...how is it that they all seem to have identical handwriting? Thanks to Napoleon I am sure. The word "onion" was no where to be found on this little menu, propped up against the entry way but the place was quiet and "vide" and the patron seemed pleased to invite us in. I inquired about the soup, "S'il vous plait. Avez-vous soup a l'Oignon" With much regret our waiter (who seemed to be on very good terms with the owner) informed me that they did not have my much coveted onion soup. I understood, it was afterall not on the menu and around eleven in the evening. We requested two more minutes so I could decide what to order. Before those two minutes where up our waiter came back and with a gentle enthusiasm that I did not expect to encounter in our "garcon" (he is not to be called that of course!) he announced that they had found what they needed and could "whip me up a bowl." Ok, he didn't say it just like that but a short time later a piping hot bowl of "French Onion Soup" as we call it Stateside came out and to my delight, it was wonderful! Imagine my joy a few years later when I followed this recipe for the first time only to discover it tasted JUST LIKE the bowl I had on my first trip to Paris, late one evening somewhere in the Latin Quarter.

You will need:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds of onions, thinly sliced (and some waterproof mascara!)
2 tablespoons of flour 1 quart of water 1 cup of DRY white wine
1 bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, bay leaf tied up with twine)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 baguette sliced amd toasted
1/2 pound Gruyere or Imported Swiss cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 325 F. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the onions and cook, stirring untiil golden color sets in. 8 to 10 minutes. Add the flour and stir with onions for 3 minutes. Add the water, white wine and bouquet garni and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni, add salt and pepper to taste, and then pour the soup into 4 oven-proof bowls. Dunk the rounds of toast into each bowl of soup sprinkle liberally with the shredded Gruyere. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then set under a hot broiler to brown the top.

Bon Appetit!

Let me know how you enjoyed your Soup a l'oignon experience!

Quiche...That even a Man will Love!

This quiche is just the thing to impress the neighbors and comfort your man after a long day's work. This is no brunch faire. This quiche is full of flavor and lots of love.

I will confess that I have not, to this date made my own pie crust for this dinner. This is always something I throw together at the last minute. I am sure it would taste wonderful with Gramma's pie crust recepie and it would help me to abide by my own "no hydrogenated oils" policy but for now I will post it, as I have made it. Sadly, with store bought crust. Shhh...don't tell.




You will need-
A quiche dish
Pie weights
One pie crust
3 eggs
1.5 cups cream
1 pound of shaved ham
1/2 pound imported Swiss cheese (Imported Swiss has MUCH MORE bite than domestic!)
White wine mustard
Pinch of salt
Ground pepper, you choose amount

I learned a wonderful little trick this past winter, passed onto my Momma from a lady that she met down in Florida at my Gramma's winter retreat. Lay out a clean dish towel on the countertops, unroll the pie crust and put another towel down on top and then proceed to roll it out. You will never have crust stick to your counter or rolling pin again!!! Much cleaner than throwing flour everywhere.

My next trick is this, take a clean paper towel and fold it into fours. Lightly wipe your butter tub (we use Soy Garden "butter spread"), then wipe down your Quiche dish. This will give your crust a very light yummy buttery flavor and it will allow you to lift your pieces of quiche out much easier. This idea was modified from Great Gramma Bauers trick using Crisco.
Preheat you oven to 400 degrees F, line the dish with the pie pastry, prick the base of the pastry and line with foil (I prefer wax paper) and fill with pie weights. Cook for 15 minutes.

What are pie weights you ask? Pie weights can be found at your favorite cuisine store such as Williams Sonoma, they keep the pie crust from bubbling and rising as your pre-cook it.

In a frying pan fry up your ham. Again, I use Soy Garden or European style butter when I have it. Some don't fry their ham but I tell you, it creates a heavenly smell in your kitchen. Once your man smells it he won't wrinkle up his nose when you tell him you are having Quiche for dinner! Fry it just enough so the edges get crispy and for heavens sake, don't remove the juices!

Remove your pre-baked quiche crust and carefully remove the pie weights. THEY WILL BE HOT! Reduce your oven temp to 350 F.

With a pastry brush or even a new clean artist brush, brush the inside of the crust with a heaping spoonful of the White Wine Mustard. (This is the secret!)

Beat the eggs and mix them with the cream in a seperate bowl, add salt and pepper.

Slice the cheese and place it along with the ham in the bottom of the crust. Pour the cream and egg mixture over the top. Throw in those ham juices too! Cook for about 35 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Enjoy with mixed greens and a glass of Cotes du Rhone.

For Veggie friends replace ham and Swiss with Zucchini, Summer Squash and Chevre (goat cheese)!

Bon Appetit!

Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment!
Merci!