Let's Go Dragons!

January 23 is the Chinese New Year! It’s been a month of shimmering evenings and full moons. A bright 2012 night sky seems auspicious a time as any to promise our readers a year full of zany, off-holiday posts on entertaining, like the 12th Day of Christmas, Groundhog Day, International Pancake Day, the Summer Solstice, and today, the Lunar New Year.

Our Nana Network grew excited about The Year of the Dragon because dragons symbolize luck. One of our members wrote in this January, about a chance encounter with another Nana at a park, a stylish Ex-Pat visiting the relatives she left behind when she moved to Singapore. Their conversation eventually turned to the Chinese New Year; of which this Nana remarked: “The streets are completely deserted on this holiday. Where you expect to see festivals and parades, it’s eerily quiet because everyone is home with their families, having dinner and spending time together. It’s really nice, but it made us homesick. So we came home to the U.S.”

Her words, in a nutshell, are what From Nana’s Kitchen is about and will always about: making the most of family time by celebrating with them, at home together, whenever we can. There are so many days on the calendar made for spinning the globe, in search of customs that turn your own just a little bit on its head. The Lunar New Year is one of those days—a perfect time to crack open our good fortunes, try new things, stuff a few red envelopes with some mad money, and offer new and innovative table settings befitting of this lucky Year of the Dragon.

A Toast is in Order

And that’s why I created this signature cocktail, worthy of toasting your loftiest ideas. It’s a drink that comes with a back story. Pantone, a company that sets the standard for color in America, has declared that the official color of 2012 is “Tangerine Tango”. It’s a very deep, dark orangey red, and the exact same shade as a fire-breathing dragon… or Tangerine Tango Margaritas.

Thanks fans—I’m looking forward to spending another year with you all!

TOP NANA

Let's Go Dragons!

January 23 is the Chinese New Year! It’s been a month of shimmering evenings and full moons. A bright 2012 night sky seems auspicious a time as any to promise our readers a year full of zany, off-holiday posts on entertaining, like the 12th Day of Christmas, Groundhog Day, International Pancake Day, the Summer Solstice, and today, the Lunar New Year.

Our Nana Network grew excited about The Year of the Dragon because dragons symbolize luck. One of our members wrote in this January, about a chance encounter with another Nana at a park, a stylish Ex-Pat visiting the relatives she left behind when she moved to Singapore. Their conversation eventually turned to the Chinese New Year; of which this Nana remarked: “The streets are completely deserted on this holiday. Where you expect to see festivals and parades, it’s eerily quiet because everyone is home with their families, having dinner and spending time together. It’s really nice, but it made us homesick. So we came home to the U.S.”

Her words, in a nutshell, are what From Nana’s Kitchen is about and will always about: making the most of family time by celebrating with them, at home together, whenever we can. There are so many days on the calendar made for spinning the globe, in search of customs that turn your own just a little bit on its head. The Lunar New Year is one of those days—a perfect time to crack open our good fortunes, try new things, stuff a few red envelopes with some mad money, and offer new and innovative table settings befitting of this lucky Year of the Dragon.

A Toast is in Order

And that’s why I created this signature cocktail, worthy of toasting your loftiest ideas. It’s a drink that comes with a back story. Pantone, a company that sets the standard for color in America, has declared that the official color of 2012 is “Tangerine Tango”. It’s a very deep, dark orangey red, and the exact same shade as a fire-breathing dragon… or Tangerine Tango Margaritas.

Thanks fans—I’m looking forward to spending another year with you all!

TOP NANA

Tangerine Tango Margaritas

4 cups Blood Orange juice
8 ounces tequila
4 ounces Cointreau
Juice of 3 limes (about 6 tablespoons)
Lime pinwheels
Margarita Salt


Place half of the blood orange juice, tequila, Cointreau and limejuice into a large blender. Fill the blender to the top with ice. Pulse until the mixture is well blended. Pour into Margarita glasses that have been dipped in Margarita salt. Garnish with lime pinwheels. Repeat with remaining ingredients for a second batch of cocktails.

Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Puttin’ Up the Tree…and the Soup

When my own Nana made soup for the entire family, she worked hard referring to the day’s cooking as “putting up the soup.” It’s a fine day to do so. The decorations are down and the soup is on! I always have a spiral ham around the holidays and my favorite thing to do with the leftovers is to make Velvety Split Pea Soup. This year, I used my Christmas gift to make the BEST SPLIT PEA SOUP – EVER! Click the Amazon link to get the details on the newest Kitchen Must Have. There’s a new electric pressure cooker on the market that takes the hazard out of the process. Thirty minutes of actual cooking and an additional 20 minutes to naturally reduce the pressure is all that you need to create a silky, thick, rich soup that’s all incredibly flavorful.

Take a Good Look at My Favorite Winter Soup. No, You’re Not Color Blind

Notice that my Split Pea soup is a golden brown. My recipe takes its cues from the U.K, using yellow split peas instead of the green ones. What’s really important here is the ham hock, the essence of soul food and, in this case, the essence of soup. You don’t have to feel bad about a little pork when the split peas are so darn good for you. Who wouldn’t love a legume that contains just 1 gram of fat per 350 calories? It’s a way to atone for all the hard core eating you did over the holidays.
Please post your stories of tools and gadgets you received at Christmas, and how you’re using them to make your life better.

Let’s dig in folks. 2012 is going to be deee…licious!!!

Puttin’ Up the Tree…and the Soup

When my own Nana made soup for the entire family, she worked hard referring to the day’s cooking as “putting up the soup.” It’s a fine day to do so. The decorations are down and the soup is on! I always have a spiral ham around the holidays and my favorite thing to do with the leftovers is to make Velvety Split Pea Soup. This year, I used my Christmas gift to make the BEST SPLIT PEA SOUP – EVER! Click the Amazon link to get the details on the newest Kitchen Must Have. There’s a new electric pressure cooker on the market that takes the hazard out of the process. Thirty minutes of actual cooking and an additional 20 minutes to naturally reduce the pressure is all that you need to create a silky, thick, rich soup that’s all incredibly flavorful.

Take a Good Look at My Favorite Winter Soup. No, You’re Not Color Blind


Notice that my Split Pea soup is a golden brown. My recipe takes its cues from the U.K, using yellow split peas instead of the green ones. What’s really important here is the ham hock, the essence of soul food and, in this case, the essence of soup. You don’t have to feel bad about a little pork when the split peas are so darn good for you. Who wouldn’t love a legume that contains just 1 gram of fat per 350 calories? It’s a way to atone for all the hard core eating you did over the holidays.
Please post your stories of tools and gadgets you received at Christmas, and how you’re using them to make your life better.

Let’s dig in folks. 2012 is going to be deee…licious!!!

Velvety Split Pea Soup

Servings: 8
Total Preparation Time: 10 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced, about 2 cups
3 large carrots, peeled and diced, about 1 cup
3 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 pound dried split peas, rinsed
6 cups homemade chicken stock, or prepared stock
1 large ham hock (or ham bone from cooked ham)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Dry sherry (optional)

Pour the olive oil into the bowl of the pressure cooker. Add the onions and carrots. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic. Add the stock and spit peas. Place the ham hock into the soup.

Place the cover onto the pressure cooker. Cook on the high pressure setting for 30 minutes. Turn the machine off and let the steam naturally evaporate, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove the lid from the pressure cooer. Remove the ham hock. Stir the soup. Season with salt and pepper and a drizzle of dry sherry (if using). You can cut the meat from the cooked ham hock and add back into the soup if you wish.

Sidebar:

Here’s a quick tip. Add salt AFTER the soup is cooked. Salt affects the way the food cooks, so use it at the end of the process to season. You will end up sing less salt overall.

Memory Lane Is Made from Lemon Squares…and other Sweet Nana Notes

Last Friday, I pledged to fill decorative holiday plates with a menagerie of sugary goodness. I was on the fence about what to make and ultimately decided on Scottish-Style Shortbread and Chocolate Lovers Turtle Brownies; these were homemade, and they were supposed to even out the selections on the plate that were—to me anyway—“cheating”.

Confession time: I used a few Peel and Bakes and lemon squares from a box. But these weren’t just any lemon squares, and if I hadn’t just confessed to using a mix, you’d never have known….cause, Psst…Krusteaz makes the best lemon bars I’ve ever tasted. After I write this post, I’m going on their site to congratulate them on the perfection of this recipe because it reminds me of the lemon squares I remember looking forward to as a child.

We had a neighbor who baked like Buddy Valastro, (Cake Boss). Around mid-December she’d drive her jalopy over to our house and surprise my family with two or three tins of different homemade confections. I vaguely remember something called a “buckeye” and nutty white dollops of Danish wedding cookies, but what I vividly recall are her lemon squares. And I can tell you that all these years later, it comes as a sweet surprise I can get the same flavors from a box. I’d have never known about Krusteaz if not for a wedding I attended where I found them on the dessert buffet. The bride confided that she used…gasp…”a mix!” I only know because I approached her for the recipe.

I didn’t mean to tangent here—just wanted to remind everyone of the refreshing and welcome sight lemon squares are on a Christmas cookie platter. I “cheated” so my young grandchildren could get involved; the tried and true “from Scratch” sweets come from my book, At Home in the Kitchen. Look to my entertaining blog in the coming days to get my most historical cookie recipe: Big Fat Ginger Cookies. This is a time of year when folks like to share stories about what their grandmothers made for the tree trimming, snow sledding and other ice-capades; my Nana just happened to make what amounted to—in her turn of the century domestic career—literally thousands of these particular cookies.

I’d like to pose a question to my Nana Network before I go. What makes a Christmas cookie? By that I mean, what are an ideal holiday confection’s characteristics that make someone remember it the way I do my neighbor’s lemon squares? Is it the expectation that every batch comes out perfectly—with a “never-lets-you-down” predictability in the sweetness, texture and yield? What is your favorite cookie to bake? But more importantly perhaps, what is your favorite cookie to receive?

I got to thinking why cookies are such a popular item this time of year, and decided that—no matter what kind it is—a cookie is the perfect go-to treat between Christmas activities. “Hon, will you bring me a cookie?” is a phrase I’ve heard husbands mutter a thousand times over after the X-mas lights go up.

“Sure sweetheart. I’ll bring you a cookie. What kind ya want?”

Have a chewy holiday everyone!
Love,
TOP NANA