The Chew: Christmas Recipes and Trees for Your Holiday Home
On Friday, the crew on The Chew featured a few recipes that you might really fall in love with for your Holiday entertaining and family meals that make memories and mouths water…
One of the segments provided people with four different types of Christmas Trees to consider when selecting one for their Holiday Home. We always trekked out into the mountains and chopped down a Douglas Fir, but many of the vendors in cities will carry a couple of types of trees.
The Chew: Christmas Trees and Recipes for Your Holiday Home
Christmahanakwanzaa was coined along with chocolate Gelt that Clinton makes using molds for fun. Clinton made a big deal out of Daphne’s Freudian Slip a few days ago when Mario and Daphne were making a recipe and she said ‘nipples’ instead of nibbles… She persisted in defending the nibbles pronunciation while Clinton doctored the audio tape to make it sound like ‘nipples’… Mario thought she said nipples and so did I when watching it as it happened!
One of the best recipes for your Holiday Home regardless of which one you celebrate is Carla’s Groundnut Stew. It began in Africa, but evolved into a more delicious meal made with peanut butter, vegetables, and spices in this country. I used to make Ginger Garlic Peanut Soup as we called it in my Natural Foods Restaurant in the 1980s all the time and it was one of the favorite soups on our menu.
Michael Symon’s Potato Pancakes or Latkes are great for the holidays or for any feast. The trick was to wring out the excess water in the potatoes before proceeding to prepare the mixture for the perfect consistency and texture when you saute the pancakes. I liked the idea of using sweet potatoes, zucchini, and other vegetables in place of the potato that enticed me to keep this recipe. It’s simple enough to remember after you make it once or twice.
Family recipes that become hallmarks of the holidays that are eagerly anticipated are truly the stuff of legends for our ethnic roots and descendants who want to keep traditions and special food alive for generations…
My relatives came from Italy, the British Isles, and I have some of my favorites from my mother and her family that are more like keepsakes than mere recipes. Mario knows a lot about the way Italians feel about family recipes as does Michael. Carla, Daphne, and Clinton are still new to me, but they also seem to appreciate passing on great recipes and traditions through the years for the holiday home.
What are your family favorites and specialties? Keep them close in writing and prepare them every year…
If you can, get a living tree which you can replant after the holidays are over. It’s the ‘sustainable’ thing to do every year! Then you can show your great grandchildren the trees that you replanted on your property every year to remind them of the importance of ‘continuity’ in our remembrance of our traditions which include the past, the present, and the future.
