December 2013Simple Living and Eating: December 2013

30.12.13

Chocolate Raspberry Tartine Appetizer #Weekly Menu Plan

Chocolate Raspberry Appetizer: Simple Living and Eating

Need a quick appetizer or an after school snack.. grab
some miniature toast or toast up some bread. Cover it with butter, jam, and squeeze some chocolate syrup or nutella on it and you have a delicious treat that everyone will eat… adults and kids enjoy these tartines.

Happy New Year!

Chocolate Raspberry Tartine:

by Diane Balch

simplelivingeating.com

Inspired by Dorie Greenspan's Nutella Tartine in "Around My French Table"

preparation time: 30 minutes Makes: 18 appetizers

Ingredients:

2 boxes of Trader Joe's 5.26 ounce Brioche Toast or Melba Toast

1 12 ounce jar of raspberry jam

2 tablespoons of melted butter

Chocolate Ganache or chocolate syrup, nutella

Fleur de Sel or other quality coarse sea salt

Directions:

1) Melt butter and brush it on the toast.

2) Spread jam on toast.

3) Fill a squirt bottle with the chocolate of your choice and heat it in the microwave, 10 second intervals until it gets soft enough to squirt.

4) Drizzle chocolate over toast.

5) Sprinkle a little salt on each appetizer.

Weekly Menu Plan:

Sunday: Dressy Pasta Risotto with Peas and Green Salad

Meatless Monday: Cajun Pumpkin Stew (veggie Sausage version)

Tuesday: Salmon stuffed with Spinach & Feta with Roasted Potatoes

Wednesday: New Year's Day Brunch:

Homemade Bagels with White Fish Salad, Red Onion, Capers, Tomato,

Homemade Buttermilk Scones with Jam & Butter

Sausage, Cheese and Egg Casserole

Assorted Cookies & Chocolates

with lots of Champagne

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Corn Tortilla Enchiladas with Green Salad & Guacamole

Saturday: Broccoli in a Garlic Sauce over Spaghetti

This post is shared on the following food and craft parties:

Organizing/Healthy Recipes/Inspiration:

Motivation Monday @ A Life in Balance

Monday Food:
Random Recipe Round-up @ My Mixing Spoon (Sunday)
Meal Plan Monday Organizing Junkie
Mix it Up Monday @ Flour Me With Love's

Melt in Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

Marvelous Mondays @ Call Me PMC

Clever Chicks Blog Hop @ The Chicken Chick
Mop it up Monday @ I should be Mopping the Floor

Meatless Monday:

Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory

Tuesday Food:
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop @ 21st Century Housewife
Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box
Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home
In & Out of the Kitchen @ Feeding Big & More
Tuesday's Table @ Love in the Kitchen
Tasty Tuesday #Anyonita Nibbles
Share your Stuff Tuesday @ Table for Seven

Wednesday Food:
From Dream to Reality @ DYI Dreamer
Wednesday Whatsit @White Lights on Wednesday
Fresh Foods Wednesdays @ Gastronomical Sovereignty
Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ All She Cooks
Look What I Made @ Creations by Kara

Thursday Food:
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity

Pin it Thursday @ Sweet Bella Roos
Linky Party @ Bloom Design

Friday Food:
Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple
Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home
Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm
Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss
Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club
Friday Linky Party @ The Pin Junkie
Get Him Feed @ Anyonita Nibbles
Freedom Fridays @ Love Bakes Good Cakes

26.12.13

Dilled Gravlax with Mustard Sauce #French Fridays with Dorie #Foodie Friday

Yum

Dilled Gravlax with Mustard Sauce: simple living and eating

I don't usually combine my French Fridays with Dorie post with my Foodie Friday one, but tis the season to be busy, so Doristas meet Foodistas… and Merry Christmas to both camps.

It was a hectic week with the Sabrage fundraiser, Christmas Eve's "Feast of the Seven Fish" and Christmas Day family get together… I'm a little cooked out.

This salmon Gravlax was originally intended for the Sabrage fundraiser for my kid's fencing school, but I just didn't feel that it had cured, so I served it as one of the fish for our Christmas Eve dinner.

The Sabrage fundraiser was wonderfully fun and yes, I did it. I opened a bottle of champagne with a sword, and I have the video to prove it.

Now that you are thoroughly impressed with my sword skills, back to the Gravlax. I never heard of Gravlax before… but everyone with any Scandinavian heritage, including my husband, has eaten this on many holiday occasions.

I have lived in the New York area for over 20 years now, and I have had my share of good salmon, smoked and otherwise… but Gravlax is really different. It is cured, but it is not smoked, so the salmon gets the flavors of what it is cured in, it is a little salty without being tough. It still has the soft texture of sushi… really amazing, especially with a mustard dill sauce.

I highly recommend you give it a try for New Years. You have enough time to cure it, and it goes really well with Champagne.

Dilled Gravlax with Mustard Sauce Recipe

Spices, salt, and sugar to cover the raw fresh salmon.

Cover and weight the salmon with bricks wrapped in foil.

After 3 days in the fridge with the weights on it, this is what the cured salmon looks like.

When you wash off the spices and salt this is what the salmon looks like.

Now that I save my sword skills for champagne bottles, my husband sliced the gravlax while our dog prayed for him to drop a piece.

Sliced Gravlax with homemade rye bread and dill mustard sauce.

Hosted by

Home Maid Simple

and

Simple Living and Eating

Remember to visit and follow my co-host Adelina at Home Maid Simple to find out what blogger she is featuring this week!!!

Foodie Friday Features:

From: Ma Niche

Herbed Manchego Cheese Souffle with Onion Pear Jam

Manchego cheese is so delicious and so unexpected in a soufflé. Topped with Onion Pear Jam this dish will be a hit in our house.

From: Egginon

Tofu & Mushroom Soup w/ Spaghetti Squash & Fried Egg

This was another surprise dish. I wouldn't have thought of putting spaghetti squash in an Asian soup… but this sounds amazing.

From: Simple Fresh Dinners

Nanaimo Bars

In a season of many sweet treats these bars really stood out to me. I had never heard of them before. Maybe because they come from British Columbia.
But hey: coconuts, walnuts, chocolate… what's not to like.

Instructions for Foodie Friday linky:

This is a food party please link up only 3 food related posts. Thank you.

Click on at least 3 other recipes.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARTY HOSTS: BY EMAIL OR RSS...

or FRIEND ME ON FACEBOOK

SPREAD THE WORD: PIN, FB, TWEET ETC... this party. It is good for you and me.

1) Copy the Foodie Friday Button's html from this website's sidebar.

2) Paste this html to the html page of the recipe you want to link to Foodie Friday. You can also make a word link or post our button on your sidebar.

Please link back.

3) Copy the link to the recipes you want to add to Foodie Friday, not your homepage.

4) Click on "your next" on this page.

5) Past your link and type in the name of the recipe, not your name.

6) Choose how you want to download the photo.

By posting in this party you are giving this blog permission to reprint (with a link to your post) in recipe roundups and featured posts any recipes/articles you share with us.

This post is shared on the following parties:

Organizing/Healthy Recipes/Inspiration:

Motivation Monday @ A Life in Balance

Monday Food:
Random Recipe Round-up @ My Mixing Spoon (Sunday)
Meal Plan Monday Organizing Junkie
Mix it Up Monday @ Flour Me With Love's

Melt in Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

Marvelous Mondays @ Call Me PMC

Clever Chicks Blog Hop @ The Chicken Chick
Mop it up Monday @ I should be Mopping the Floor

Pin it Thursday @ Sweet Bella Roos
Linky Party @ Bloom Design

An InLinkz Link-up

23.12.13

Holiday Appetizers: Cranberry Salmon Tartine, Chicken Consomme & Pumpkin Souffle #CartonSmart #TetraPak #Pacific Foods

Yum

This post brought to you by Carton Smart. All opinions are 100% mine.

Tis the season for quick get togethers with friends and family. If you keep in your pantry some Pacific Foods items in eco-friendly Tetra Pak you will always be able to throw an appetizer together.

photo 1898ca76-3272-4baf-a8df-07abf60e15e3_zps1bf425e9.jpg

Tetra Pak is easier on you and the environment:

These packages are made from renewable paper and are recyclable.

They are lighter to carry comparied to cans.

Tetra Pak container takes up less space in your pantry.

And they are safer too than cans. I like to have my kids help out in the kitchen but the sharp edges on cans make me nervous. You don't have to worry about sharp edges with Tetra Pak cartons, as a matter of fact my 12 year old should me how to open and close the containers!

photo 795e421d-1ec8-414e-b1b8-dde8f5f23ded_zps62983f0a.jpg

photo d1d52bb8-c150-4f19-9a7c-b8c9ab3c8df3_zpsac6b75dd.jpg

[

photo 62adf36b-e1dc-4d93-98c1-aa80d97a468d_zps600d562e.jpg

Here are some of the seasonal appetizers I have made with Pacific Food's products. I made these one chilly afternoon when I found out that some friends were stopping by… but now I plan on making these appetizers for Christmas Day.

Cranberry Salmon Tartine

by Diane Balch

simplelivingeating.com

preparation time: 20 minutes, makes about 40 appetizers

Ingredients:

1 5.25 ounce box of Melba Snack Whole Grain

1 Four ounce package of Smoked Salmon

1 eight ounce container of cream cheese

1 15.6 ounce Tekra Pak container of Pacific Organic Jellied Cranberry Sauce

1 piping bag

Directions:

1) Spread cream cheese on each piece of Melba toast.

2) Place a tiny piece of salmon on top of the cream cheesed toast.

3) Pipe a drop of cranberry jelly on each piece of salmon.

Consomme is a very flavorful French soup. Because it is just seasoned broth it doesn't fill you up… perfect as an appetizer on a cold day.

It can really be made with any wilting vegetables in your refrigerator. You know, like when you have one carrot and on piece of celery left… not quite enough to make a regular chicken soup… Don't throw those odds and end vegetables away…make consommé. Same advice for your fresh herbs that are getting old… substitute any herb for the chives in this soup.

Chicken Consomme Soup

by Diane Balch

simplelivingeating.com

preparation: 20 minutes cook time: 45 minutes serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients:

6 cups of Pacific Organic Simply Stock Chicken

1 carrot

1 onion

1 celery stalk

2 egg whites from large eggs

8 ounces of chicken

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of chives

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1) Bring stock to a boil in a large sauce pan.

2) While the stock is coming to a boil. Put all of the ingredients except the chicken and the egg whites into a food processor and grind them up fine.

3) Remove vegetables and seasoning from the food processor with a spatula. Set aside.

4) Grind the chicken.

5) When the chicken is ground add the egg whites to it and give it a quick pulse to incorporate the two ingredients together.

6) Add the vegetables to the chicken egg mixture and give the processor a few quick pulse to mix all the ingredients up.

7) Pour the mixture into the boiling stock. Put the burner down to low and let the soup simmer for at 45 minutes. Turn the heat off at this time. You can let the mixture sit for a few hours.

8) Skim the chicken/vegetable mixtures from the top of the soup. Pour the soup through a fine mess strainer. If you really want to get all the particles out place a piece of cheese cloth in the strainer.

Individual pumpkin souffles are a great seasonal treat and they are so easy to make. I just followed the pumpkin pie recipe on the back of the Pacific Organic Pumpkin Puree container. Just keep an eye on the soufflés because they do cook faster than a whole pumpkin pie. Mine were ready in about 40 minutes.

Click here for the recipe for Pumpkin Pie.

I hope that these pantry appetizer ideas will be helpful to have on hand over the holidays. We go create so much trash this time of year it nice to use items packaged in containers that are a little gentler to earth. It is just one small way to make a difference, but they all add up. Share your carton smart ideas on Twitter @CartonSmart and follow #CartonSmart on Pinterest.

Become Carton Smart

Tweet @CartonSmart

Follow #CartonSmart on Pinterest

Roast Beef Appetizer: St. Germain Tartine #French Fridays with Dorie

Yum

Roast Beef Appetizer: St. Germain Tartine: Simple Living and Eating

I have already made this appetizer twice. It is so simple to make and so delicious to eat. And leftover… I think it tastes best cold out of the refrigerator.

This appetizer is inspired from Dorie Greenspan's: Tartine Saint-Germain which is basically the same thing without spice and on big pieces of bread as a sandwich. So, think large if you would like this for lunch.

Enjoy this for Christmas Dinner or for your New Year's Party.

Happy Holidays,
Diane

Roast Beef Appetizer: St. Germain Tartine
by Diane Balch
simplelivingeating.com

Preparation: 20 minutes Serves: 40 appetizers

Inspired by Dorie Greenspan's: Tartine Saint-Germain from "Around my French Table."

Ingredients:

1 pound thinly sliced roast beef
1 package of cocktail size Pumpernickel bread (Rubsehlager)
1 12.5 ounce jar of cornichons 1/2 the larger pickles
1 bottle of Horseradish Sauce (Boar's Head)
salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Spread the bread squares out on a cookie sheet and toast them under your broiler about 2 minutes on each side.

2) Spread horseradish sauce on each square.

3) Put about a half a piece of roast beef on top of the sauce. You'll have to gage how much you can put on each piece by how thinly it is sliced.

4) Sprinkle each piece of roast beef with salt and pepper.

5) Top the roast beef with a cornichon.

Note: As a member of French Friday's with Dorie I am not allowed to print the recipe. I invite you to take a look at this wonderful cookbook "Around My French Table" if you are interested in this or any other recipe I review.

Click here to see how the other Dorista's did.

Weekly Menu Plan:

Sunday (The Art of Sabrage Fundraiser):

Salmon Gravlax with a Mustard Sauce and Rye Bread

Gourgeres (Cheese Puffs)

Roast Beef Appetizers: St. Germain Tartine

Speculoo & Coco Sable Cookies

Nutella Tartine

Meatless Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday (Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fish):

Wednesday (Christmas Day):

Meat Lasagna with Green Salad

Candy Cane Cookies

Thursday: Chicken Soup

Friday: Dinner in NYC

Saturday: Quiche and Tomato Salad

This post is shared on the following food/craft parties:

Organizing/Healthy Recipes/Inspiration:

Motivation Monday @ A Life in Balance

Monday Food:
Random Recipe Round-up @ My Mixing Spoon (Sunday)
Meal Plan Monday Organizing Junkie
Mix it Up Monday @ Flour Me With Love's

Melt in Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

Marvelous Mondays @ Call Me PMC

Clever Chicks Blog Hop @ The Chicken Chick
Mop it up Monday @ I should be Mopping the Floor

Pin it Thursday @ Sweet Bella Roos
Linky Party @ Bloom Design

19.12.13

Coco Sables & The Art of Sabrage #Foodie Friday

Yum

My daughter and I have been busy, busy, coming up with sweet and savory treats to serve at the Sabrage fundraiser for her fencing school this weekend.

My daughter is to the right in white.

Sabrage is the art of opening a champagne bottle with a sword or sabre that dates back to Napoleonic times in France. It is also a really cool trick to learn for New Year's Eve. I'm sure your friends will only think you are a crazy sabre wheeling person for a moment, before they are impressed by seeing you pop the cork off a bottle with Savoir faire!

http://www.buddhabarhotelprague.com/en/events/sabrage/

If you are interested in learning the art of Sabrage please visit my Monday post: Speckloos and the Art of Sabrage.

My daughter after 6 hours of fencing in her first tournament.

OK, sabres, champagne… ah yes, dessert…which brings me to Coco Sables. If you are a dark chocolate lover who enjoys a little saltiness, this is the cookie for you. I can't stop eating these… I'm trying to ration one per coffee break over the week.

Besides the intense chocolate taste of these cookies the simplicity of making them is wonderful. Just make and roll the dough into a log, refrigerate for a few hours, slice and bake. It is also really nice to roll them in granulated sugar as you will see in the

recipe for Coco Sables.

Note: The salt flavor is really light. I was thinking of adding more and maybe rolling the edges in a sugar salt mixture.

Enjoy and En garde!

Hosted by

Home Maid Simple

and

Simple Living and Eating

Remember to visit and follow my co-host Adelina at Home Maid Simple to find out what blogger she is featuring this week!!!

Foodie Friday Features:

From: My Sister's Pantry

Slow Cooker Vegetables Bean & Barley Stew

Yes, this is a super healthy stew but there are also really interesting flavors: Chinese cabbage and smoked paprika to name two.

From: Culinary Flavors

Chicken Casserole

Another simple and healthy meal with interesting flavors… just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg.

From: Tartan Tastes

Dundee Cake

Angela hopes to win Amercians over to fruit cake with this traditional Scottish recipe. She won me over!

Instructions for Foodie Friday linky:

This is a food party please link up only 3 food related posts. Thank you.

Click on at least 3 other recipes.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARTY HOSTS: BY EMAIL OR RSS...

or FRIEND ME ON FACEBOOK

SPREAD THE WORD: PIN, FB, TWEET ETC... this party. It is good for you and me.

1) Copy the Foodie Friday Button's html from this website's sidebar.

2) Paste this html to the html page of the recipe you want to link to Foodie Friday. You can also make a word link or post our button on your sidebar.

Please link back.

3) Copy the link to the recipes you want to add to Foodie Friday, not your homepage.

4) Click on "your next" on this page.

5) Past your link and type in the name of the recipe, not your name.

6) Choose how you want to download the photo.

By posting in this party you are giving this blog permission to reprint (with a link to your post) in recipe roundups and featured posts any recipes/articles you share with us.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pages

30.12.13

Chocolate Raspberry Tartine Appetizer #Weekly Menu Plan

Chocolate Raspberry Tartine:

Weekly Menu Plan:

26.12.13

Dilled Gravlax with Mustard Sauce #French Fridays with Dorie #Foodie Friday

Foodie Friday Features:

23.12.13

Holiday Appetizers: Cranberry Salmon Tartine, Chicken Consomme & Pumpkin Souffle #CartonSmart #TetraPak #Pacific Foods

Cranberry Salmon Tartine

Chicken Consomme Soup

Roast Beef Appetizer: St. Germain Tartine #French Fridays with Dorie

Weekly Menu Plan:

19.12.13

Coco Sables & The Art of Sabrage #Foodie Friday

Foodie Friday Features:

script 2

Banner