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Category: holidays

  1. Tuesday, November 15

    Thanksgiving Prep: The Menu!

    Thanksgiving is just over a week away, so I think it’s time we all share our menu plans for the big day! Of course, if you don’t have it pulled together yet, just come back later when you do!

    I seriously have been in such a baby fog I didn’t even realize Thanksgiving was so close, so we haven’t thought much about what we’re going to do that day. But I do know we’re going to eat! I’m going for a simple menu this year with our all-time favorites.


    Please share your menu plan for Thanksgiving! And if you have links to recipes and/or can type recipes into your comment, please do! I’m certain we can all be great inspiration for one another for the best eating day of the year!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 8:09 am   35 Comments
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  2. Thursday, November 10

    Squash Rolls

    Two nights ago I started thinking about the date because, well, I haven’t thought much about the date lately. And then it hit me that Thanksgiving was just over two weeks away. It’s like I’ve been living under a rock or something. Oh wait, I have! Anyway, I haven’t the foggiest idea what we’re going to do for Thanksgiving this year and I probably won’t know until a few days before. But even with that lack of planning, I do have a few recipes I can share leading up to the big day that will be mighty scrumptious for your probably-much-more-organized Thanksgiving!

    I’ve had this recipe for squash rolls on the the site forever, but I never actually wrote a post about them. Because whenever I made them I didn’t have a chance to photograph them. Because we ate them too fast. And it’s a crying shame because if any recipe deserves a post, it’s this one.

    This recipe comes from Nate’s mom. Of course I asked her to make them while she was here. And of course she obliged because she is {seriously} the best mother-in-law around. These rolls are moist, sweet, delicious, homemade goodness. I guarantee you cannot eat just one…especially hot out of the oven and smothered in butter.

    If you do happen to end up with leftovers, be sure to zap your roll in the microwave for 20 seconds or so to get it piping hot again. And don’t forget that butter!

    Squash Rolls
    A holiday favorite from my mother-in-law, Pat Maynard
    - 1 C cooked squash
    - 2 T butter
    - 1 C scalded milk
    - 1 yeast cake (1 envelope active dry) dissolved in 1/2 C water
    - 1 t salt
    - 1 C sugar
    - 4-5 C flour

    Mix squash, butter, salt and sugar. Add milk and mix. When cool, add yeast mixture. Add flour till bread dough consistency, just til it holds together. Turn dough over in a greased bowl to coat both sides. Cover with a dishcloth and let rise in a warm place till doubled. Punch it down and let rest for 5-10 mins. Shape into rolls in a greasy pan and let rise again till doubled. Bake at 400 for about 12-15 mins.

    A good way to find a warm place to rise is to turn the oven on (any temp) for 2 minutes and then shut it off and that way it’s away from drafts, etc.

    My mom and I have both had times where we make the rolls and the middle seems a bit underdone…Pat doesn’t ever seem to have this problem. I think next time I make them, I’m going to try making the rolls in two 8×8 pans instead of one 9×13. Just thought I would mention that!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:00 am   26 Comments
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  3. Sunday, May 8

    Week 224 Menu…and Happy Mother’s Day!

    Happy Mother’s Day! Cate told me yesterday that Mother’s Day was my day to relax, so I’m taking up her on it. It’s funny, when I planned my menu last week, I forgot that Sunday was Mother’s Day. We will not be having breakfast for dinner tonight. In fact, Nate is cooking filet mignon. I can’t wait for dinner!

    We received some Japanese sweet potatoes in our CSA bag last week. I kept neglecting them, so Nate roasted them up yesterday. They were so good. They taste like sweet potatoes, but they have a more buttery, almost squash-like flavor. Just another wonderful item we’ve discovered through our CSA. So glad I finally got my act together and signed up!

    MONDAY:
    - Leftovers

    TUESDAY:
    - Caprese Paninis (didn’t get to these last week)

    WEDNESAY:
    - Whole Wheat Pancakes

    THURSDAY:
    - Eat out (Kindergarten open house that evening)

    FRIDAY:
    - Barbecue Chicken Pizza

    SATURDAY:
    - Chicken Teriyaki
    - Veggies and rice

    SUNDAY:
    - Kitchen Sink Quesadillas

    Time for you to share your menu for the week! If you’re a meal-planning mom, you don’t have to post your menu today. I’ll cut you some slack. Consider it my Mother’s Day gift to you! (That said, you still better share it sometime this week!)

    Oh, and if you’re looking for Mother’s Day reading material, be sure to check out the Top 9 on DailyBuzz Moms right now. I forgot to tell you, but DailyBuzz Moms is a new, beautiful website that I have the honor of editing. So excited about my new gig! ANYWAY…like I said, there are some good Mother’s Day posts on there right now. “So we dance” made me cry while I was editing the other night. My non-pregnant coworker said that post got her too, so I don’t even think it was my hormones. ;)

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:00 am   42 Comments
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  4. Thursday, April 28

    Easy Homemade Rolls

    Growing up my mom would always make the best butterhorn rolls for the holidays. The recipe came from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, I believe. Once I was off on my own I followed what I thought was the same recipe in my version of the same cookbook…but they never quite tasted the same. Then, one year, my mom was looking at the recipe and she noticed they had actually changed it in the newer version of the cookbook. No wonder! But, since we’ve made that discovery, her cookbooks have been packed away in a storage unit and I haven’t been able to get my hands on the recipe.

    Last Thanksgiving, our friends Peter and Nikki invited us over for Thanksgiving and took on the task of making homemade rolls. Their crescent rolls (which I guess are the same as butterhorn…I have no idea!) were DELICIOUS…better than mine, definitely rivaled my mom’s. Who knows, it might even be the same recipe that my mom used to use!

    Until that old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook sees the light of day once again, I’m sticking with this recipe from Nikki.

    P.S. This recipe is easy enough that I always end up making at least one more batch a day or two after whichever holiday we’ve made them for. We just can’t get enough and I don’t mind making them one bit!

    Crescent Rolls
    From Nikki and Peter Conti-Brown (I’m not entirely sure where they got the recipe…it was very sparse on directions, so I have filled in the details)
    - 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup very warm water (let yeast sit in water until it’s all foamy and dissolved)
    - 1/4 cup butter, softened
    - 3/4 cup milk
    - 1/4 cup sugar
    - 3 eggs
    - 3/4 teaspoon salt
    - 4-4 1/2 cup flour

    Mix all the ingredients except the flour in your KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment or with your beaters. Slowly mix in the flour. Knead dough or mix on speed 1 or 2 with the dough hook on your KitchenAid (when I knead with the KitchenAid I let it go about 5 minutes). Let rise to double in size in a bowl, about an hour or so (cover the bowl with a light, clean towel and let rise in a warm/non-drafty place).

    Punch dough down. Divide into two. Roll each piece of dough into a large circle, that is quite thin (1/8″ – 1/4″). If you like a buttery flavor, brush melted butter onto the dough at this time, although they are great either way. Cut the dough like pizza into 16 pieces (you will end up with 32 rolls total). Roll each piece from the large end of the triangle and place on an ungreased cookie sheet or a silpat-lined cookie sheet with the tip tucked down and under the roll. Let rise again until about double in size, or about an hour or so (cover the rolls with a light, clean towel and let rise in a warm/non-drafty place).

    Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until browned on top and bottom.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:08 am   24 Comments
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  5. Sunday, April 24

    Week 222 Menu

    Happy Belated Passover and Happy Easter! Nate’s parents just drove off to the airport after a completely perfect visit this week. We celebrated Easter in all its glory yesterday and it was a wonderful day full of delicious food and even better memories.

    Nate’s mom always has a million fun tricks up her sleeve. One of the many this week was decorating Easter cupcakes. We made mini cupcakes, so for these cute carrots, she sat down with Cate and actually cut up mini carrots into even minier, perfectly shaped carrots to decorate the cupcakes with. The green carrot tops are curly parsley pieces. They were complete adorable (although we noticed this morning they don’t really last over time…mental note!). For the nest cupcakes, she mixed green food coloring with coconut and then had Cate dip the frosted cupcakes into the coconut, finishing the nests off with a few eggs (i.e. jelly beans). This is just one of the many reasons grandmothers are magical.

    Time for a menu already? Wowzah. This week is not going to be fancy. I have a lot of work coming up, we’ll be getting back into the school groove after spring break, and, well, we have oodles of ham to get creative with.

    MONDAY:
    - Lentil Soup

    TUESDAY:
    - Western omelettes (ham, cheese, bell peppers, onions)
    - Smoothies

    WEDNESDAY:
    - Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches
    - Salad

    THURSDAY:
    - Leftovers

    FRIDAY:
    - Anything but ham!!!! (Eat out)

    SATURDAY:
    - Spaghetti
    - Salad and garlic bread

    SUNDAY:
    - Breakfast for dinner

    Thank you all each week for sharing your menus – it’s wonderful! Can’t wait to see what you have planned for this week! And, if you’re making and/or eating an Easter feast today, happy cooking and enjoy!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 8:00 am   36 Comments
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  6. Sunday, April 17

    Week 221 Menu

    First off, I’m addicted to Yorkshire Pudding. Addicted, I tell ya. Plus, they re-heat so well. 1 minute in the microwave, then a minute or two in the toaster oven to crisp them up. Heaven.

    Secondly, thank you all for your absolutely wonderful Kitchen Disaster stories this week. And, please, pretty please go read through my list of favorites. It’s a perfect weekend read…or anytime read, really. My mom told me yesterday she actually read every single comment and was dying laughing the whole time. I put that handy dandy list together for you assuming you might not be as crazy as my mom and me to sit down and read a bazillion comments.

    Thirdly, my in-laws are coming to visit this week. WOO-HOOOOO!!! People don’t believe me when I say I love my in-laws. I really do. I could live with them. Seriously. When we planned their trip, we didn’t realize that they fly home Easter morning (whoops!), so we’re having our Easter celebrations on Saturday. We’ll be writing a little note to the Easter Bunny to see if he/she/it can come a day early. I hope he/she/it will oblige!

    MONDAY:
    - Pulled chicken sandwiches (in the freezer)
    - Coleslaw

    TUESDAY:
    - Driving to Yosemite, so restaurant eating

    WEDNESDAY:
    - Driving home from Yosemite, more restaurant eating

    THURSDAY:
    - Aaron and Lindsay’s Chicken Tortilla Soup Extravaganza

    FRIDAY:
    - Asian Spinach Salad
    - Roasted cauliflower with green garlic

    SATURDAY:
    - Ham, probably, but will decide with Pat (mi madre-in-law) when they get here
    - Sliced roasted golden beets with spinach and goat cheese salad
    - Sugar Snap Peas
    - Homemade rolls
    - Funeral Potatoes (if we go with ham, that is), or maybe twice-baked potatoes if we have some sort of other meat
    - Dessert – I think we’ll be making Easter cookies or mini cupcakes or something fun to decorate with “Mimi”

    SUNDAY:
    - Leftovers! Which makes for a nice, relaxing Easter for me!

    Your turn to share your menus! It’s a special week – Passover and Easter. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be eating! If you have any recipes to share with us for either holiday, please do!!!

    Handy reminder: If you’re dying eggs this coming weekend, remember to buy them early this week! Older eggs that are boiled peel much better than super fresh eggs. Harold McGee says so. Plus, if the store runs out, you’ll be all set. ;)

    Pregnancy update: Sickness is abating. I only had to take my medicine 3 times this week. We’re almost back to normal! AND…we find out in two days if the baby is a boy or girl! Now’s the time to place your bets!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 7:54 am   57 Comments
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  7. Friday, April 8

    Easter Candy

    I think Easter candy is the best kind of candy. Those terrible, ooey-gooey Cadbury cream eggs? For some truly strange reason I love them. Or how about the big egg-shaped Reese’s peanut butter cups? Yum!

    The crown jewel of Easter candy is, of course, the Cadbury Mini Egg. I remember digging through my Easter basket as a kid, looking for those dull-textured, speckled eggs with little tiny cracks in the shell. They were the Easter jackpot!

    This little photo shoot was pretty much torture for Anna. She just couldn’t keep her little hand out of the candy jar…and who can blame her, really?

    What’s your favorite Easter candy? Or do you think there is another time of year with better confectionary options? I don’t know if I can be convinced of that, but you can try.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:09 am   47 Comments
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  8. Thursday, March 10

    Swedish Semla

    Our neighbors are Swedish and they invited us over this past Tuesday night to enjoy some semlor (plural for semla), a cream-filled bun with almond paste. The pastry is a Fat Tuesday tradition in Sweden. Rebecca and David told us that people love the buns so much they start appearing as early as Christmastime and are enjoyed for months rather than just one day. Click here for a fun article about semla.

    The semlor were scrumptious. Essentially it’s a cardamom bun with almond paste and cream. You slice off the top, scoop out the insides, mix it with almond paste and milk, then add it back to the bun. Top with whipped cream and some powdered sugar and you are ready to party it up Fat Tuesday style. Cate, like a true Kindergartener, barely touched hers. Which means I ate two. And only an unusual amount of will power kept me from finishing off Anna’s as well!

    Rebecca and David did a great job making the buns and Rebecca kindly translated her recipe for me to share on the blog. My brain almost exploded converting the measurements, so I hope you appreciate all the hard work that went into this recipe. Translating, converting…Rebecca and I are ready for a nap! (Also, big thanks to Nate the scientist for making sure I kept my decimals in the right spots!)

    I’m including Rebecca’s original measurements so that you can’t blame me if I got the conversions wrong. Which I’m pretty sure I got right. Remember, I didn’t even take one math class in college. But Nate helped, so we should be good.

    Semla
    From Rebecca and David Montag, our great Swedish neighbors

    Buns (12-16 pcs):

    • 75 grams of butter = 5.3 tablespoons butter
    • 2.5 dl of milk = 1 cup milk
    • 25 grams by weight soft yeast = 1 pkg dry active yeast (Rebecca used one envelope dry yeast, which was 7 grams)
    • 1.5 ml salt = 1/3 teaspoon salt (so, a little more than 1/4 tsp)
    • 0.5 dl sugar = 1/4 cup sugar
    • 7.5 dl flour = 3 to 3 1/4 cup flour
    • 5 ml ground cardamom = 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
    • 1 beaten egg for “coating”

    Bun Filling:

    • 300 grams almond paste = 1 1/3 cup (Rebecca used half a tube of almond paste from Safeway, which was less than 300 grams)
    • ~1 dl milk = 1/3 – 1/2 cup milk

    For serving:

    • 3 dl of whipped cream = 1 1/4 cup whipped cream
    • Powdered sugar for sprinkling on the finished product

    Melt the butter, add milk and heat to 37C / 98.6 F (optimal yeast temperature). Put the yeast in a bowl and add a little bit of the butter/milk mix to dissolve the yeast. Then add the rest of the mix, along with salt, sugar, cardamom and most of the flour (save some for making the buns). Work up a good dough that’s not too sticky. Let it rise under a towel for 40 minutes.

    Make 12-16 round buns and place them on a baking tray, which preferably has been covered with parchment paper. Cover them with a towel and let them rise for another 30 minutes.

    Set the oven heat for 225C / 437 F. Brush the buns with the egg. Bake the buns in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes. Let them cool off under a towel.

    To prepare for serving:

    Cut a lid off each bun, quite high up on the bun. The lid should only be a flat hat. Take out some of the insides of the buns and put them in a bowl. Crumble the almond paste into the bowl and work it together with the bread. Add milk until the mix is very moist and gooey. Put the filling in the cavity in the buns. Whip the cream and put a large scoop on each bun. Put the lids back on and sprinkle some powdered sugar on top. (Rebecca found this link so you can see a traditionally-made semla bun.)

    We asked Rebecca and David how to eat the semlor. They said many people have strong opinions about this and laughed. They like to eat the top and then just pick the bun up and bite right in, which worked well for us!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:00 am   10 Comments
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  9. Thursday, December 23

    Homemade Marshmallows Are Pretty

    This week I’m not writing much. It’s kind of my Christmas present to myself. And since so many of us are off of work and school, I’m think you probably aren’t reading much anyway. It’s the holidays, time to slack off, right? :)

    I did take these pictures of the homemade marshmallows I made last week, so I figured I’d share them with you. The pictures are just too pretty to let them go to waste. Who knew homemade marshmallows would be so photogenic?

    If you find yourself bored and needing some accessories for your hot chocolate this week, marshmallows are really, truly easy to make. I wrote about them last year on Make and Takes, and now I’m sharing the recipe again with you. They’re that good.

    Homemade Marshmallows
    From Alton Brown, FoodNetwork.com
    - 3 packages unflavored gelatin
    - 1 cup ice cold water, divided
    - 12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
    - 1 cup light corn syrup
    - 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
    - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    - 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
    - 1/4 cup cornstarch
    - Nonstick spray

    Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer set up with the whisk attachment along with 1/2 cup of the water.

    In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes (Jane note: it was longer than 8 minutes when I did it). Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

    Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. (Jane note: as you can see in the picture, I used my ingredient-pourer-shield-bowl-attachment-thingy and it worked perfectly for pouring in the hot sugar.) Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

    Combine the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

    When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan (Jane note: I also used my not-so-lightly oiled fingers to press the the mixture evenly into the pan). Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

    Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners’ sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture (Jane note: this is my favorite part!), using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 1:35 pm   9 Comments
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  10. Wednesday, December 15

    Guest Post on Make and Takes: Hot Chocolate on a Stick

    I am giddy with excitement over my guest post at Make and Takes today. Hot Chocolate on a Stick is my new favorite thing. Beyond delicious and completely adorable, I can’t wait to pass them out to all of our friends! Why is it that when you put something on a stick, it automatically becomes cute? Well, besides corn dogs, but you know what I mean.

    I have platefuls of homemade marshmallows lying about, tempting my girls at every turn. Yesterday morning Anna called from the kitchen, “Can I have a marshmallow?” I decided to let her indulge, it is Christmastime after all. So I called out, “Yes!” A few minutes later I went into the kitchen and this is how I found her.

    I thought she just wanted a marshmallow. She meant the entire hot chocolate stick! And then, THEN she didn’t even eat it all! I couldn’t let that chocolate go to waste, so I had to eat the rest for her. Ah, the sacrifices of motherhood.

    Now, get on over to Make and Takes. Yes, I’m being bossy. But I told you, I’m excited! Chop, chop!

    Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:00 am   15 Comments
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