Pepparkakor (swedish gingerbread cookies)

Today is the first of Advent, a milestone on the Swedish calendar. Although a secular society, this tradition remains strong in Sweden. Every Sunday until Christmas we light one candle in a four candle holder. We bake and eat pepparkakor, and other yummy baked goods.

My homemade Advent candle holder

We also light an electric version of the advent candles, if you ever visit Sweden in the winter, you will find these in nearly every window, cozy and cute!
In Sweden it seems any tradition that involves light and candles have remained strong through the years- my guess is that it helps alleviate some of that darkness in the winter:) Either way, these are lovely traditions that I try to continue in my home!
Here is my recipe for pepparkakor (Swedish gingerbread)

6 oz butter
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons molasses
1 egg
1/4 cup orange juice
3-4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 tablespoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons orange zest

Turn oven on to 400 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar, and stir in all the other moist ingredients.
In a separate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients.
Slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients, while mixing. Add enough flour to make a stiff and workable dough.
Flour a large surface, a rolling pin, a metal spatula, and the edges of your favorite cookie cutters.
Roll out the dough to about a 1/8" thickness, cut your cookie shapes, and transfer to cookie sheet. Put in oven, and watch carefully! Usually it takes about 5 minutes to see edges turning brown. Take them out right away, they burn easily.
Let them cool on a wire rack.
When I make the batches closer to Christmas, I usually make a simple decorator frosting of powdered sugar and water, and pipe some patterns, faces, and other fun things on the cookies!

My Chairs are Saved!

A thanks for saving Thanksgiving to my beloved Basic-H! My cream colored fabric dining chairs were not so cream colored anymore. Two toddlers eating 3 meals per day on them had, to put it mildly, stained them a tad. I took to my trusted Basic-H, about a tablespoon (I pulled out the heavy guns!) into a gallon of warm water, a scrub brush and a rag.

I really wish I had thought to take pictures, before and after, now you just have to take my word for it. The chairs turned out spotless and look like new!!! Next time I will be sure to take before and after pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving! (a little late)

Even though I love Thanksgiving, I feel that it is very important to remember what you are grateful for EVERY day. Thanksgiving is a great American holiday that I have come to love.
I had never been a fan of turkey meat, until I met my mother-in-law's Thanksgiving turkey. Juicy, delicious and with sides to make anyone surrender to gluttony.
Our new tradition, while away from extended family, is to invite others who may not have a family to share this meal with.
Although in the hustle and bustle of cooking all these dishes, I did not find time to photograph everything, I did snap a few pictures of the mayhem cooking that is so worth the effort.

Menu:
Starters (brought by guest):
Deviled eggs
Rolls
Main:
Roasted turkey (12lbs)
Stuffing- Rustic bread and herb
Gravy
Mashed potatoes
Green beans- Panchetta and sage
Sweet potatoes and apples topped with roasted marshmallows
Cranberry relish
Dessert (brought by guest):
Pumpkin pie with whipped cream

All of these dishes were really good, but my absolute favorite, that I will share below, was the stuffing.
I do not, due to health concerns, cook stuffing in the bird. Even though I buy organic, free range birds, I do not feel comfortable with poultry.

Rustic Herb Stuffing (adapted from an Epicurious recipe)

You know this will be good!

• 1 16-ounce loaf country-style French bread with crust, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 11 cups)
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter
• 2 bunches green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 cups finely chopped celery
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch Swiss chard, stems cut from leaves and discarded, leaves coarsely chopped (about 12 cups)
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth
• 3 ounces coarsely grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Prep done!

Aroma Fabuloso!

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread bread on large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until bread is dry, about 15 minutes. Cool.

Melt 10 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and next 8 ingredients; sauté until celery is tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add Swiss chard and toss until wilted, about 3 minutes.  Generously butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Place bread cubes in very large bowl. Add warm vegetable mixture; toss to combine. Whisk eggs and 3/4 cup broth in medium bowl. Add egg mixture to stuffing and toss to coat. Mix in Parmesan, if using.

Add more broth (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup) to stuffing if dry. Transfer to dish. Cover with buttered foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake until golden, about 30 minutes.

Sides ready, waiting for turkey. Stuffing in middle.

Creaky Old House

As I spend my evening (after kids are in bed) replacing a door knob to our bathroom, I can not help but think of the whole family's current favorite book! If you have young kids, you should really consider getting this for them!

I am guessing this is a particularly relevant, and funny, book if you actually live in an older house (which we do).
It is called "Creaky Old House" and is written by Linda Ashman. I got it through our book club, and we all instantly fell in love! It is funny, smart, real and cute.
I'm already adding some of her other books to Santa's list!

My Favorite Tea!

I know, I'm not sounding like any kind of gourmand or anything now, but Celestial Seasonings make an awesome tea. I love several of their flavors, and drink them daily. But, my ABSOLUTE favorite is their seasonal holiday tea called Candy Cane Lane- it is incredibly flavorful and warming.
Celestial Seasonings is a Boulder company, so they are semi-local to us here in Denver!

Thank you for bringing back my favorite tea!! 

Warm Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad

This was so yummy, I have to share! After picking up my mom at the airport last week we needed a quick and tasty dinner when we got home.
Earlier in the day I pre-cooked quinoa- follow the instructions on the package for the specific kind you get- or cook as rice! (one part grain to two parts water, bring to boil, cover lower heat and simmer 20 minutes).

Cut a small butternut squash into about 1 inch dice and place in a bowl.
Cut a red onion into quarters, slice, and add to the squash.
Sprinkle on a tsp of salt, 2 tsp rubbed sage (or chopped fresh), and a dash of cayenne pepper.
Mix veggies and seasoning with 2 tablespoons olive oil and place in roasting pan. Roast at 350 degrees about 45 minutes, or until golden and caramelized.


When you are ready to eat, mix veggies and quinoa (both warm) with 2 cups fresh baby spinach and 1/2 cup dried cranberries.
So good- and the kids really liked it too!

Happy Halloween and Yummy Pumpkin Seeds

 Yet another one of those fabulous American holidays- Halloween! After all the farm visits and pumpkin patches you can rest assured we had enough pumpkins for carving, cooking etc, etc. This year we decided to try one of them new fancy patterned pumpkin carvings. The result, in my opinion, cute but a little boring. Next year we will make a traditional jack-o-lantern.

The best part about carving pumpkins is the seeds! It's alot of work, but well worth the effort to remove, clean, dry and roast these little gems.

I put the kids on sorting seeds from "anything orange", they managed to extract about 4-5 seeds each, then got tired of it. So, it was all on me.
So, extract seeds and separate from all things orange. I find that it is easier in a bowl of cold water. Then pour into a colander, and rinse really well. They will continue to feel slippery, that's ok, and will first disappear when you dry them.
Let them sit in the colander to dry, then take a hair dryer to them, stirring with your hand constantly, until mostly dry. The next step depends much on personal preference, but I am sharing our family favorite.
Melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter, mix in about 2 tsp salt. Mix the seeds in the butter until coated, then pull them out with a slotted spoon, onto an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. Roast in the oven at 275 degrees for about 30 minutes. Do keep a close eye on them, and stir every 5-10 minutes. Pull out of the oven when they are a deep golden brown and fill your home with a wonderful aroma!
Serve warm for greatest joy :)