Holiday Cooking notes

 Christmas Pie Recipe

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp molasses (pour and guess; not fussy)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. vanilla (pour and guess)

3 eggs

splash of heavy cream (only if Lu won't be eating it)

Melt butter.  Stir in cocoa, sugar, molasses, salt and vanilla.  Whisk in eggs, one at a time.  Pour into crust.  Bake at 350 for 32 minutes.  Center does not need to be set; it will set as it cools.

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Gluten free pie crust

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 and 1/2 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp butter

1 egg

Pulse oats in food processor until quite fine (this is actually much better than oat flour, in this recipe).  Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it forms a ball.  Remove to pie plate and shape into crust using fingers and/or a roller (I sometimes use a small cylindrical glass).

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Christmas Soup

Use whatever ingredients you have on hand--

For example: leftover frozen broth, onions, celery, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, kale, spinach, carrots, chicken or beef, pinto and/or black beans, frozen mixed vegetables, frozen corn, frozen peas, etc.

Cook the onions hard in some butter or olive oil, until they are caramelized.  (If you are using raw meat, add diced chunks at this point, and brown up with the onion--add in a bunch of seasoning and let the flavors sear into the meat. Remove the meat to a separate pot and slow-simmer in broth while you work on cooking down and pureeing the stock vegetables.)

Add whatever other vegetables you want in a puree--usually the ones that aren't very nicely textured when cooked, like celery and peppers, plus some sweet potato for thickness and depth--plus a bunch of broth. Cook until very soft and then thoroughly puree. Add the stuff you want to be in chunks and simmer until tender.

Add broth or cooking wine if needed for consistency.  Boxed is fine.

Taste and correct seasoning.  Use about 1 Tbsp salt (less with salted cooking wine) for a large pot of soup, and work from there.  Spices can vary from curry seasonings to Italian seasoning to sage and thyme, depending on your ingredients and your mood.  Garlic is good with everything.

Fixing flavor:  add molasses for depth, lemon (zest and/or juice) and/or cayenne for kick, garlic is always nice.  Black pepper sometimes does wonders.  Celery seed can also add depth.  If you think it needs salt but are afraid to add more, offer grated Parmesan to sprinkle on the soup when you serve it.  Between Parmesan and molasses, you can basically fix anything.

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Christmas Eve Menu

• soup
• crackers
• charcuterie
• crudite
• cookies or chocolates