cooking

Fondue 2014

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**This is an updated version of a planning post I wrote two years ago. We have streamlined the party (less stress) and this post and shopping list reflect the changes. This is mostly for my own use (to refer to in the future).

We like having our friends and family over to celebrate Jesus’ birth. We like Fondue! A lot! And what’s more fun than a bunch of little kids running around with a bunch of open flames on the table? =) This is where I give you all the details to help you put together a fondue party of your very own. Also, it helps me get ready and not make the same mistakes two years in a row! See how it all turned out here.

We own FIVE fondue pots, but that’s not enough so we always ask Kent’s parents to let us borrow one more for our party. I bought a few from Goodwill and Kent and I each had a couple from before we got married.

An easy way to prepare for this party is to order a fruit tray and a veggie tray premade and just use those as the dippers for dessert and cheese fondues. I think it is a lot cheaper to do it myself, but it’s also more work. It’s your party, so it’s your call – I won’t judge (I’ve done it both ways).

First, my shopping list:

  • raw ACV
  • PB
  • kombucha
  • strawberries
  • cherries
  • bananas
  • apples
  • pineapple
  • mandarin oranges
  • pound cake/angel food cake
  • sparkling mineral water LOTS!!!
  • bread
  • horseradish
  • 4 boxes TJ’s fondue
  • coffee ice cream
  • Sherbet
  • sternos

The night before the party:

  • get out the fondue bin from the basement
  • Set up all the pots with sternos
  • Get the punch bowls and cups out
  • Stack up the party plates.
  • Set up napkins and fondue forks

After lunch on the day of the party:

  • chop/slice all veggies/fruit/bread/pound cake and prepare on trays/bowls with several baggies of back-ups to bring out as the party goes on
  • prepare dipping sauces and put in ramekins (with extra in jars to keep in the fridge)
  • slice all the meat VERY THINLY

At the Main Food Table

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We serve two cheese fondues in ceramic pots like this heated by tealights and two meat-cooking fondues (broth and oil) in metal fondue pots like this heated by small sternos. We put raw meat on platters; then we put hot broth in one metal pot and hot beef tallow in the other. Then we put out dipping sauces for the meats.

Fondue Cheese from Trader Joe’s

We started using the boxes of Trader Joe’s fondue cheese and it’s delicious. We usually go through three during the party and have one for back-up. It’s great with any leftover broccoli on Christmas Day!

Cheddar Beer Fondue

1 lb sharp cheddar, shredded (or 1/2 Monterrey Jack and 1/2 cheddar)
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
dash cayenne
3/4 cup beer
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

In bowl, combine cheese, flour, mustard and cayenne; mix well. In a regular pan (not the fondue pot), combine beer and Worcestershire sauce. Heat (on the stove) until bubbling; gradually add cheese mixture and stir constantly until the cheese melts and mixture is smooth (about five minutes). Transfer to ceramic fondue pot with tea light.

Sassy Barbeque Sauce

1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Braggs raw apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sucanat
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco® sauce
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a small heavy-bottom saucepan, whisk the sauce ingredients with 1/8 cup water. Bring to boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mustard Sauce

3/4 cup strained yogurt or sour cream
2 Tbsp Braggs raw Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbsp dry mustard
3 Tbsp hot mustard (or dijon)

Horseradish Cream Sauce

1 cup sour cream or strained yogurt
3 Tbsp horseradish
1 tsp Braggs raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sucanat
1/2 pepper
salt to taste

Mix well and chill before serving. We always have extra from the fondue party, so we eat it with filet mignon at our Christmas Dinner.

Served with:

  • crusty bread
  • broccoli
  • caulifower
  • carrots
  • cherry tomatoes
  • snap peas
  • apple slices

At the Dessert Table

We put this one near an outlet because we put the dessert fondues in two electric fondue pot like this. We use a crock-pot style pot because the sterno flame fondue pot heat is too hot for the dessert fondues – burned chocolate doesn’t taste good.

Chocolate PB Fondue

4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
8 oz (1 cup) raw heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream if you don’t have access to fresh raw milk and cream)

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine chocolate and cream in medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Add sugar and peanut butter; continue cooking until slightly thickened. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Pour into electric fondue pot.

Served with:

  • strawberries
  • cherries (if available)
  • sliced banana (sprayed with orange juice to prevent browning)
  • apple slices (with lemon juice to prevent browning)
  • pineapple chunks
  • mandarin orange segments
  • cubed pound cake
  • cubed angel food cake

Try to make the fruit as dry as possible so that the fondue won’t slide off. Also, the fruit should be chilled, which helps the chocolate to coat the fruit more easily.

Chocolate Fondue

16 oz sweetened chocolate
4 Tbsp Rum
1/2 to 1 cup cream or milk

Melt choc and cream in double boiler until smooth. Remove from heat and add rum. Transfer to fondue pot.

At the Beverage Table

I like to serve drinks at parties with my little cut glass punch cups. I have over 50, so that’s enough for most parties. People sometimes lose their cup and take another, so I usually have to wash a few in the middle of the party. If you use regular-sized cups, people will take too much punch, which they will put down and forget about, and you will run out before most of the guests arrive. Small cups make it last for the whole party, even if people get lots of refills. I bought my punch cups at Goodwill for pennies! I also like to put the beverage table near an outlet because I sometimes serve a hot punch in my crockpot.

Healthy and Tasty Eggnog (Triple Recipe)

5 local pastured (don’t eat grocery store eggs raw!) egg yolks (save whites for ginger bread house glue/icing)
1/3 cup maple syrup
pinch of Celtic sea salt
freshly ground nutmeg to taste
1 or 2 Tablespoons whey
1 Tablespoon organic lemon juice
3 cups raw milk (or pasteurized milk if you must, but NEVER ultra-pasteurized milk!)
1 cup raw cream (or pasteurized cream if you must, but NEVER ultra-pasteurized cream!)

You can use more cream and less milk if you like it creamy. Beat or blend egg yolks until thick. Add syrup, nutmeg, whey and lemon juice. Add milk and cream. Beat until frothy. Store in the fridge until right before the party. I usually double or triple this recipe for the party and serve in a crystal punch bowl. We like to float scoops of coffee ice cream on the top.

Cold Christmas Punch

kombucha with sherbet floating at the top =)

Earth Oven – DONE!

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Our first loaf of sourdough in the new oven. Next up, pizza!

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Here is the finished oven! Kent wanted the firebricks to stick out a bit so he could stick a metal dustpan underneath the lip to catch ash, which meant I couldn’t build the plaster out in the front. But I’m glad that I rubbed a super-thin coat of plaster onto the front of the “bricks” that the oven is built on, because it gives the stove a much more unified look now that it is all one color. Obviously, sawhorses aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing way to build an earth oven, but we are still REALLY happy with it! I put a picture of the stove before the plaster layer (and before the insulation layer) below this picture so that you could compare without having to go to the previous post. I think it makes a BIG difference!

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You can follow our pizza oven adventures right HERE.

Spinning Babies printables & my new PAPER planner

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Hi there! Is anybody still there? I know posting has been sporadic and kinda light lately. My life is quite busy! I am feeling a LOT of internal pressure to get things done before this baby comes! So, you can expect a cute update of Adele’s room soon! And Everett’s room too!

Today, I want to talk about baby positions. Did you know that both Adele and Everett were born in the posterior position? You can read more about it elsewhere on the internet, but basically it’s not the easiest and best position for the baberino – and it causes more pain (generally back pain) for the mama. And it’s pretty much all about the positions the mom is in during pregnancy (i.e. it’s 100% preventable unless it’s a bone/structural issue and maybe that can be changed too). So, I’m trying to do as much as I can to have an anterior presentation for baby #3.

If you find yourself trying to avoid a posterior baby too, get thyself to spinningbabies.com right away! And then, if you want to print it out to put in your planner or tape to your mirror or something, you will likely get frustrated because the website isn’t exactly printer-friendly. So, you can use the printable version that I made! Just to be clear, this is all straight from spinningbabies.com. This is not my work!

“Daily Do’s”:

Pregnancy Daily Activities

How to rest:

Rest Smart pregnancy

I printed these two per page (1/2 sheet each) and then used my Levenger punch to put them in my discbound planner (I got the Martha Stewart from Staples). No, this isn’t a sponsored post – Ha! But I did get a paper planner – and I love it! That pretty rubber band is just for looks (you could use it to turn right to a certain page, but I like to flip to the front – so it’s just for funsies).

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Derm Dad said the 80’s called and they want their daytimer back. But I don’t care! It really helps me to have all my lists in one place on paper!

My main to-do is in the front.

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Then I have various tabs. Here’s the spinningbabies sheets I discussed above.

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I put my menu plans (and recipes) in the back because I use the plastic page protectors which stick out farther than the rest of the papers.

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Do you like my menu planning printable? It’s free from elephantshoe.com

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I’ve tried menu planning before, but never been able to keep it up for more than a week or two. But I think I can really stick with this system because everything is all together in one place. I love it! And I love knowing what’s for dinner and what needs to be done in advance.

Want to see the Chicken Enchiladas we had the other night? They are a family fav! Remind me to do a What’s For Dinner Post with the recipe if you want to make your own. They are sooooo good!

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And, because baby positions and planners aren’t the most exciting things in the world, here is my little girlie on her way to ballet class. She says the other girls wear regular clothes over their ballet clothes and then take them off before class. I guess I am out of the loop on proper ballet class stuff. How did she get so big??? She is so cute I could just eat her up!

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What’s for Breakfast? Quesadillas with Mango Chutney!!

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OK folks, the truth is that I don’t really “do” breakfast. After six years of marriage we’ve established a routine where Derm Dad either makes breakfast (and it’s always awesome when he does) or we don’t have anything (other than self-serve scrounging around for something super fast as we run out the door). So today, when Derm Dad asked me to handle breakfast (he’s furiously studying for his boards in about two weeks!!!), I tried something new AND it was super easy AND it was delicious!!! So now I am sharing this awesomeness with you, people of the internet!

Easy Breakfast Quesadillas with Mango Chutney

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(sorry for the mostly eaten pic. It was so delicious, I had scarfed most of it down before it occurred to me to take a picture)

Ingredients: tortillas, eggs, cheese, and lacto-fermented mango chutney

So, this is not something you can make on the spur of the moment unless you have mango chutney already made (it takes two days to ferment). So start a batch right away! It’s great on anything and it is soooo good for you!

I buy tortillas (sprouted are best if you have any trouble digesting unsoaked & unsprouted grain, and almost everybody does!) and throw the whole bag in the freezer. Then, when we want to use some I pull out the bag and in a few minutes the outer few are thawed enough to separate easily. That way you can always have tortillas on hand.

Eggs should be pastured, obviously. If all you can get is from the store, fine, they’re still very good for you, but pastured eggs are about 10 times more nutritious.

I used Parmesan cheese, because I had a few pieces already cut from the wedge (leftover from last night’s soup), but any cheese would be fine here.

And, lastly, you’ll need a batch of Mango Chutney, which is in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook and already described and in a video blog HERE. It’s my absolute favorite way to eat mango. In fact, I like to ferment almost all of my fruit. For this batch, I used cilantro from my very own garden! I left out the jalapeno pepper and we like it even better!

So, I just made some scrambled eggs (2 or 3 eggs with the whites and 3 or 4 yolks only), topped them with lots of cheese, fried the tortillas in a bit of Spring butter, then put a pile of eggs and cheese into the tortilla and folded it in half. I put a bunch of mango chutney on the top of the whole thing (regular salsa would be good here too).  And viola! DELISH!!

 

Be sure to check out more of my recipes HERE.

What’s for dinner? Herbed Tomato Soup

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This was a high-fives all-around dinner! In fact, this is Kent’s favorite soup of all time.

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Herbed Tomato Soup

(This is modified from a recipe in Real Simple magazine)

6-8 Tablespoons Spring Butter (from grass-fed cows) or more – this is a super-food

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

12 large garlic cloves

2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped celery leaves

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon coarse Celtic sea salt (I just eye-balled it in the palm of my hand and added more to taste)

6 pounds organic tomatoes, chopped

about 2 cups homemade chicken stock (reduced gives more flavor)

1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves (from the garden)

Parmasan cheese (the good stuff) I find this cheapest at Trader Joe’s. I stock up when I go since good Parm can be kept in the freezer, but DO NOT buy pre-shredded cheese because they use some chemicals to keep the cheese from clumping — just shred your own at home.

 

Saute first six ingredients for at least five minutes (Kent doesn’t like the onions to taste raw at all, so we make sure they are fully cooked). Then, stir in tomatoes, and stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until tomatoes are soft and mixture is slightly reduced, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in basil; cook until fragrant, about five minutes. Garnish with a lot of Parmesan cheese at the table – the good stuff.

We served the soup with a simple flatbread (same baggie of pizza dough that we make in bulk, store in freezer, and thaw the night before) infused with about 12 cloves of crushed garlic. After grilling, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with some coarse Celtic sea salt, and shower with a lot of Parmesan cheese).

Start to finish, this meal takes about 30 minutes (assuming you already have homemade chicken stock, which can be stored in the freezer) and it tastes so gourmet! YUM!!!

Everett is TWO!

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Our poor little boy burst into tears as soon as the cheering and clapping started after we sang Happy Birthday. He was pretty shaken up, but then we saw some smiles.

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We served hamburgers, hot dogs, kielbasa, tabbouleh, potato salad, deviled eggs, Mexican 7-layer dip, hummus, veggies, chips, pita, and fruit salad.  And it was a beautiful spread if I do say so myself!

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There was an unintentional rainbow theme, it seems. I just like pretty things!

 

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My no-paper-plates plan has mostly worked in the past, but then I seem to run out at the end of the party and there are no plates for dessert. So, I think I need to buy a few more plates and encourage people to keep their dinner plate for dessert. And the same for the forks! I hope I can still find them at the Christmas Tree Shoppe!!!

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How we make kombucha

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While there are lots of posts on the internet about kombucha, I never found one that described exactly the method I use. I figured I would have to write up a post with pictures, etc.. But, I never quite got around to it. And, then, I read a post that looks just exactly like I had written it for you, but I didn’t have to! So, if you want to know how to make fizzy kombucha that tastes just like GT Dave’s (but you made it at home for pennies) and you want a method that is so easy you can handle it even if your life is cray-cray busy, then this method is for you! The blog post I didn’t have to write is HERE! peace out!

 

So that I won’t forget:

for 2 gallons of kombucha
2 cups organic white sugar15 g black tea

 

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I hope to have a root cellar to house my 2-gallon fermenting crock o’ Kombucha someday . . .