The HQ is off for the holiday season! I’ll be back in a few days to check in and see how you all celebrated.
I’ve still got some cooking, maybe baking, but most definitely wrapping and mailing to get done.
Our tree isn’t even decorated yet!
We totally slacked this year.
So today I’m going to be doing all of that stuff and prepping as much as I can before the holiday.
I hope you and yours have a great holiday!
Since eggnog is a staple in our house around the holidays I’m constantly trying to come up with new ways to use it.
Besides sipping some by the Christmas tree.
Rum is a pretty standard addition to eggnog and I wondered if I could some how incorporate that into some cookies.
Rum raisin popped into my head and I was off experimenting in the kitchen.
Chewy with a little warm holiday spice, these oatmeal cookies turned out just as I had hoped.
Andrea’s Eggnog Oatmeal Cookies with Rum Raisins
For the raisins:
- 1C Raisins
- 1/2C Rum
- 1/4C Water
Place the raisins in a medium sized glass bowl. Put the rum and water into a small sauce pan and gently heat until the mixture is warm. Do not bring to a boil or a simmer, just heated through. Pour over raisins and let steep for one hour.
Drain the raisins and set aside.
Keep the rum mixture! You can use that in waffles or even add it back into some eggnog later. It’s now infused with the sweetness from the raisins so don’t toss it, use it up!
For The Cookies:
- 1 1/2C White Whole Wheat Flour
- 2C Old Fashioned Oats
- 1/2C Cane Sugar
- 1tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4tsp Ground Clove
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1/4C Molasses
- 3/4C Eggnog
- 5 TBSP Butter, room temperature
- 2tsp Vanilla
- 1C Rum Soaked Raisins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees**. Line a baking sheet with parchment or grease with some butter.
In a large glass mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and clove. Whisk until everything is combined.
In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, add in the eggs, butter, and sugar. Mix until the butter and eggs are combined. Add in the molasses, vanilla, eggnog, and combine.
With the stand mixer on low, slowly add in the flour and oat mixture. Increase speed slowly until everything is mixed together. Next add in the raisins and mix until the are just incorporated into the cookie batter.
Drop by the tablespoonful on the lined or greased baking sheet. Create space between the cookies as they will spread while baking.
The size of the cookies will determine their bake time. I made very large cookies and they took 20 minutes to bake through. If you make smaller cookies, the bake time will decrease. You will need to keep an eye on them as they bake. Insert a toothpick in the center, if it comes out clean, the cookies are done.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Serve and enjoy!
**Above sea level, use 400 degrees as the baking temp. At sea level, drop down to 375 for baking.
The cookies are darker in color because I used molasses in the batter. This gives a nice richness to the cookie and a little bit of a gingerbread feel. The raisins add a little pop of sweetness and only a slight hint of rum. You won’t be overpowered by alcohol flavor and it’s totally safe for kids to eat as well.
These also go great with coffee in the mornings. If you decide to roll that way. And of course they are perfect with some eggnog!
Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!
Every year for the holidays my mom would make a cheese ball and a salmon ball that we were able to enjoy throughout the day.
I loved that cheese ball and it was only later after I asked for the recipe that I realized it was full of things I hated like Velveeta (ew!) and blue cheese (double ew!). But it tasted amazing on crackers.
I always associate cheese balls and cheese spreads with the holidays. I don’t know why they kind of went out of fashion. Maybe people wanted to put out cubes of fancier sounding cheeses. Maybe people got lazy and it was easier to cut up cheese and set out chunks without worrying about making it look pretty.
I think now that many associate the cheese ball or cheese spread as something cheesy (pun intended) from the 60s. But I think a cheese ball can be fancy, creative, and a fun thing to have out for entertaining.
I want to help bring the cheese ball back and I can’t do it alone! You are going to have to help me with this effort!
I am taking submissions with your best or your favorite cheese ball recipe. Include a picture of the finished product if you can! If you have a favorite or funny memory about the holidays and a cheese ball, I will be sharing those as well!
If you have your own blog and write a post with a recipe or funny memory, please send me the link and I will include it in a post.
I am taking submissions from now until December 15th by 5pm Mountain Time. I will begin posting and sharing on Monday, December 16th.
Let’s work to help bring the cheese ball back as a holiday must have!
Our Thanksgiving was very low key this year. I didn’t have a lot of time to do prep work because of other commitments during the week. Wednesday I did as much as I could and then on Thanksgiving Day I had to finish up the rest.
Thankfully that wasn’t too much!
I made the mistake of going to the grocery store on Tuesday for some last minute items. Yikes! I won’t be doing that again.
We had a huge turkey this year. It was a half turkey that weighted in at 15lbs. It looked enormous in the fridge and the roaster!
When all was said and done though, we didn’t have nearly as much leftover meat as I had feared.
I tried a new little twist with sweet potato pie that I think turned out pretty well. I added in some eggnog and bourbon to the mix.
Bourbon always goes over well in this house.
We had the basics for sides: stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and then some green beans. No green bean casserole, just plain beans.
We ate dinner in our jammies and had the kitchen cleaned up by 4pm. A very relaxing day which I’m calling a success!
Even though we didn’t go all out this year, dinner tasted perfect and the company as always, was the best.
How was your Thanksgiving?
Craft Beer is definitely becoming more and more popular as people explore beer beyond the boundaries of the Big Breweries.
Many sites are trying to ride this wave by providing beer pairing lists to go with your holiday meal, and this is where I get grumbly. Looking at some of these lists, it is very clear the author isn’t familiar with craft beer or how to approach the topic.
My two biggest complaints about these types of lists is that I feel the author does not take into account;
First up (and the most ridiculous one I found) is from The Daily Meal.
Reading the article you can gather that this author might not be a beer drinker. She states:
“In Boston, the long-awaited release of Shipyard’s Pumpkinhead is accompanied by wringing hands, and excited squeals from grown men.”
Do men in Boston do this for Shipyard? Perhaps they do, but Shipyard is based out of Portland, Maine so I’m not sure why she’d be discussing the Boston male population.
Regardless, let’s look at her list of pumpkin beers for Thanksgiving:
The first one listed, right out of the gate, is Avery’s Rumpkin.
Ok, this is where my head might have exploded.
Rumpkin is a very limited release beer and it is not widely distributed. So good luck getting one. Not to mention this beer comes in at 18% ABV so if you drank this after a huge day of heavy food, it will knock you on your ass. Well, at 18% it’s going to knock you on your ass regardless unless you share a 12oz bottle with someone else.
Beer #2 is Blue Moon’s Harvest Moon.
Just no. You can’t list a highly coveted and sought after craft beer in one breath and then follow that up with a beer from Coors. (Didn’t know Blue Moon is actually Coors brewing? Lots of big brewers are starting to do this sleight of hand now.)
While I won’t dissect the whole list here, I will say that her other picks are at least a little better.
The Rumpkin aside, the big issue with this list is distribution and availability. Smaller breweries don’t have a wide distribution area so most people aren’t going to be able to find those beers.
The Beeroness does a better job with beer pairings for Thanksgiving. Though I do feel that again, availability is playing a factor here.
And some of the beers, while not clocking in at 18%, do have a higher ABV that needs to be taken into consideration.
For Thanksgiving in particular, ABV plays a huge factor because this is a whole day of eating and sipping in most households. Sipping 9% and up beers all day long is going to catch up with you after that slice of pie. Especially if that slice of pie is accompanied by a 12% or higher barrel aged stout.
My recommendations for creating beer pairing lists for Thanksgiving is to seriously consider the ABV and try to stick with sessionable beers in the 5-7% (no higher than 8%) for during the day and then maybe a something slightly higher for dessert provided that it gets split up amongst guests.
For beer pairings in general, I think lists should provide styles of beers as recommendations verses listing a specific beer. This way everyone can take that list and go to their local store to see what is available to them. A style list will apply to everyone where a specific beer list can potentially frustrate folks trying to buy beer for a dinner.
Especially if those folks are just getting into beer and aren’t sure what to get. They would be able to present a style list to someone at the store and ask for suggestions for those styles.
I realize that articles can’t get away with this fully and that they do have to list some specific beers because people are going to ask. However, if the emphasis is on the style of beer, then readers will still have something to reference when they are out purchasing beer.
Seek A Brew will let you know which beers are distributed to which states. It’s very helpful when trying to locate beers. By checking, the author would be able to provide a couple of suggestions that should cover most areas.
Keeping availability and ABV of the beers in mind will lead to a solid beer pairing list.
With all of that said, what are you serving with your holiday meal this year?
It’s July! Hooray! We’re pretty excited for July over here at the HQ. It’s a holiday week plus we will be celebrating our anniversary. Along with some other fantastic goodies sprinkled throughout the month.
If you’re looking for some additional deliciousness to add to your holiday week, then I’ve got just the stuff!
Tart and cool Blackberry Lemonade! Adds a nice touch of color to the party and is cool and refreshing on a warm day. Add some limoncello for an extra kick!
Wow your guests and make your own mayo for your coleslaw and potato salads this time around!
Don’t have a smoker? No problem! Whip up some quick Braised Ribs and put them on the grill for a few minutes before serving to add some smokey flavor.
If you need some sauce for those bad boys, Hatch Green Chili BBQ Sauce or some Bourbon BBQ Sauce will go perfectly!
Fresh salsa is always a hit! And Roasted Tomato Salsa will only take a few minutes and can be made a day ahead!
You can never go wrong with beer! And Beer Brined Pork Chops would be great grilled to perfection!
Need something sweet at the end?
Figgy Bourbon Refrigerator Jam would be perfect drizzled over some fresh scooped local ice cream!
Have a great holiday! Stay safe, drink beer, and eat great food!
Our holiday break was extremely low key this year. Well it’s always pretty low key as that’s how we like it, but this year was even more low key.
We stayed in and just did whatever we felt like doing. Mostly that involved playing video games. We also renewed our tradition of watching LOTR over the break.
We ran a little bit and indulged in flavored coffees roasted by a local vendor. Jackie’s Java holiday blends are excellent, if you’re local, make sure to get some! Some mornings may have even seen a dash or two of bourbon in the coffee, but you didn’t hear that from me.
We went out to dinner one night at a restaurant that we’ve been eyeing for quite sometime. We had a really horrible experience causing much discussion that extended into the next day.
We had some amazing eats here at home that included grass-fed prime rib roast and some pastured country pork ribs slow simmered in sauerkraut.
Beer was plentiful but the company was even better.
It’s been a long year. A very long year. It was nice to be able to kick back, do whatever, and not have any plans other than deciding which brew to open next and what to eat for dinner.
How was your holiday? Restful and relaxing I hope!
Have a great holiday! I’m off on a short break and will be back sometime next week with a holiday recap and to about your holiday as well.
Much joy to you this holiday season! I hope your holiday is full of love and merriment!
I’m having the hardest time with the holidays this year. I just can’t get into the spirit. Normally I’m singing holiday songs by October and jumping for joy because it’s my favorite time of year.
Not this year.
The holidays snuck up on me and I know people get annoyed when folks say, “Oh, how can it be XYZ already?!”, but well that’s how I feel.
Our rental house, while perfectly fine, isn’t really our style. It also has a bit of an awkward layout that doesn’t really invite a lot of decorating.
I’ve also been so focused on our move, learning about our new city, and trying to meet others that I haven’t given the holidays a second thought.
Now Christmas is like two weeks away and the thought of buying gifts and doing holiday baking just makes me feel MEH.
I have no desire to do any of it.
Plus if I’m going to be completely honest, Christmas isn’t the same without this mush face around.
So if there’s a lack of holiday posts this year, that’s why. I’m not really in the holiday spirit. Scott and I have decided to just play things really low key this year. Sure I’ll make us some treats and plan some kick-butt dinners.
But going all out?
Not happening. Maybe next year.
In my Thanksgiving recap post, I briefly hinted that there was a theme this year to our feast.
And no the theme wasn’t related to the decor or a color scheme or anything like that.
It was food related, as almost every dish we ate had it incorporated somehow.
This year the focus for our Thanksgiving feast was around lard.
Yes, you read that right. LARD.
Or Pig Gold as I refer to it.
I purchased half a hog this year and with the fat that came with it, I rendered that down into lard.
I knew I wanted to use lard in the pie crust but also wanted to use it in different ways with the other parts of the meal.
I made biscuits using lard instead of butter and they turned out a lot better than I expected! My expectations were low only because I’m still getting used to baking at elevation. These rose beautifully and were very flaky.
I was also surprised by how full they kept me! We ate these for breakfast Thanksgiving morning and they kept me full and satisfied all the way until about 3pm. Which was just in time for the big meal.
Lard was also used in the pie crust and I’m sorry I have no picture of that. We were too busy eating it for me to snap a picture.
Along with using lard instead of butter on the turkey, I also used it to make the roux for the gravy. Scott declared that as the best gravy we’ve had yet and I’ve been making gravy for a while folks!
The only items that did not have lard in them in some way were the collard greens and the stuffing.
Everything came out tasty and I definitely plan on using it again next year for Thanksgiving!
Have you used lard in cooking before?
