Matching Christmas Pajamas

I was raised Greek Catholic, so it was customary for my family to abstain from meat and milk products on Christmas Eve. As I got older, I learned that for Italians this is known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  We aren’t Italian, but my mom raised me to cook like one (see my ever popular meatball recipe). This feast consists primarily of seafood (minimum seven dishes), as well as pasta, baked goods and veggies.

Fried Foodapalooza

Our dinner typically consists of the following:

- Pierogies

- Fried shrimp

- Cocktail shrimp

- Salmon

- Fried scallops

- Fried smelts

- Clams

- Catfish

And the pièce de résistance, fish from Long John Silver’s.

Long John Silver's Fish

We’ve been having fish from Long John Silver’s as a part of this dinner for as long as I can remember. While our tastes are a bit more refined now, it still remains a staple in our meal. Like I said, Christmas is a time of traditions.

What’s on your menu for Christmas or Christmas Eve? How do you celebrate the holidays in your kitchen?

Whether honoring long-standing traditions or creating new ones, I hope you all have a joyous holiday shared with loved ones.

Each year, I make a spooktacular smorgasbord of food that would make even the witchiest of witches weak at the knees. To add to the ghoulishness, everything gets a Halloweeney name.

Some of my favorites from the In the Kitchen with Stacey archives:

- Skin and bones (prosciutto and basil wrapped chicken fingers)

- Bloody eyeballs (meatballs)

- Goblin gook (crab dip)

For a child’s Halloween party, I would recommend:

- Bugs in a bowl (popcorn with chocolate chips mixed together)

- Creepy crawlers (jell-o jigglers with gummy worms inside)

- Spiders (Oreo cookies with licorice string legs in the center and orange icing dots for eyes)

For an adult Halloween party, may I suggest:

- Bloody-hand punch (Utilizing either a hand mold or a latex glove, fill with fruit punch and freeze overnight. Combine 1 fifth vodka, 64-ounces no-pulp orange juice & 2 liters of Sprite to a punch bowl. Add frozen fruit-punch hand.)

- Worm casserole (Combine 8-ounces cooked spaghetti with 6-ounces cooked egg noodles. Mix in 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese. Place in a large greased casserole dish and top evenly with breadcrumbs. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.)

In closing, I’ve included a picture from last year’s Halloween party. This was the inspiration for my blog header that my best friend created, so I thought it seemed apropos to include. Please note – my husband always ends up shirtless by the end of the Halloween party. It’s like a Halloween tradition. Also, my dog gets a costume. Don’t judge me.

Any creepy confections you’d like to share? I’m always welcome to new ideas.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Chicken soup isn’t very glamorous, but it’s tasty and perfect for warming your belly on a cool day. And this recipe will warm lots of bellies (or just your own with plenty left to freeze for later).

Homemade Alphabet Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 chicken leg quarter
5 chicken bouillon cubes
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 small onion
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Up to 3 12-ounce boxes San Giorgio Alphabets

Directions:

Combine chicken, parsley, bouillon and pepper in an 8-quart stock pot.

Chop carrots, celery and onion.  Add vegetables to stock pot and fill about 3/4s of the way with water.

C0ver and heat on high. When it begins to boil, reduce to medium heat and cook for an additional hour.

The directions moving forward are based on my personal preferences. There are many, MANY ways to enjoy chicken soup, but this is what I do.

After heating for an additional hour, turn off and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight. The next day return to burner and heat on high. Once the soup returns to a boil, reduce heat to medium and remove the chicken from the pot with a pair of tongs.  Discard the skin and remove the chicken from the bone, shredding with your fingers. This can be a little messy, so I recommend removing any jewelry.

Once done, add shredded chicken to the pot and continue to cook for another hour or so. Reduce soup to low.

In the meantime, prepare one box of alphabet soup noodles according to package directions.

I know many people either add the noodles directly to the soup or even cook the noodles in the soup pot. However, I prefer to keep them separate and combine at the end. I find you will typically need 3 boxes of soup noodles per pot of soup, but I also like my soup really noodley (I just made up a word).

Add noodles to a bowl and ladle chicken soup over top. Serve with crackers if preferred and enjoy!

Interesting note: I can’t make clams without thinking of the book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories, a collection of twisted short poems and stories from Tim Burton, whom I love. I realize that I’m making clams, not oysters, but the mind goes where it wants to go, right? I share an excerpt of the poem “The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy” with you because honestly? Tim Burton’s writing is a heck of a lot better than anything I can come up with right now. Enjoy (the poem and the recipe)!

Ten fingers, ten toes,
He had plumbing and sight.
He could hear, he could feel,
But normal?
Not quite.
This unnatural birth, this canker, this blight,
Was the start and the end and the sum of their plight.

She railed at the doctor:
“He cannot be mine.
He smells of the ocean, of seaweed and brine.”

“You should count yourself lucky, for only last week,
I treated a girl with three ears and a beak.
That your son is half oyster
You cannot blame me.
… Have you ever considered, by chance,
A small home by the sea?”

Not knowing what to name him,
They just called him Sam,
Or sometimes,
“That thing that looks like a clam”

Everyone wondered, but no one could tell,
When would young Oyster Boy come out of his shell?

Grilled Clams on the Half Shell

Ingredients:

8 ounces of bacon (approximately 8 strips) finely diced
12 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons finely chopped parsley leaves
Fresh ground pepper
50 little neck clams, scrubbed

Directions:

In a medium frying pan, render bacon over medium heat until golden brown, approximately 5 to 6 minutes.

Add garlic and red pepper flakes to frying pan and cook for an additional minute.

Remove from heat and add oil and parsley.

While prepping the bacon mixture, grill the clams over high heat. Cook until clams are opened, approximately  5 minutes. Discard any clams that don’t open.

Remove top half of the clam shells and discard. Plate clams in half shell.

Spoon the bacon mixture atop the clams. Add fresh ground pepper to taste. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Or more specifically this.

While Red Bull gives you wings, months of drinking Red Bull and then taking it away gives you migraines and irritability. You’ve been warned.

Upon looking up information on National S’mores Day, I found NUMEROUS s’mores makers online. S’mores. Makers.   You want to know how I made my s’mores today? I used a Zippo lighter, a toothpick and my hands.  Any illusions to my class have been shattered, but at least I don’t own one of these.

Or one of these.

Should anyone want to spend the $10 – $15 on either of these contraptions, I will gladly take your money and come over with my trusty Zippo anytime you like. I’ll even bring the Hershey’s bars.

I’m fairly certain everyone knows how to make a s’more but in honor of the holiday, I’ve posted the recipe (I use that term loosely) below. It’s nearly dusk here on the east coast. Why not end your evening outside with an ooey, gooey s’more?

S’more

Ingredients:

1 graham cracker

1 marshmallow

1 Hershey’s chocolate bar

Directions:

Break graham cracker in half.

Break chocolate bar in half, placing one half on each half of graham cracker.

Heat marshmallow over an open flame. In my case, with a lighter.

Place marshmallow atop the chocolate and place the other graham cracker/chocolate half on top. Smoosh together and enjoy.

Happy S’mores Day everyone!

I thought about the reasons I started this blog. One was so I would have an archive of my favorite recipes, since a recipe box is a concept I cannot seem to grasp. Another was because I like to write. In college, I was only 2 courses shy of an English minor because of all the writing classes I took for fun.  And less times than I’d like to admit every once and awhile, I actually write stuff that isn’t half bad.

So what’s a girl to do in the summer months when it’s too hot to cook but still wants to write every now and again? I feel like I have other stories to tell. Like how I’ve basically become an exhibitionist since moving to a house with practically no neighbors. Or just the random thoughts that go through my head as I lay awake at night, insomnia-laden, looking up at the stars.  That kind of stuff really isn’t meant for a food blog though. I will never find an audience if I’m not targeted. But I’m also not going to find an audience when I’m barely writing.

Since I’ve started doing this, I’ve “met” other bloggers who knock my socks off.  A few that have multiple blogs. I tip my hat to them. Especially all of these mommy bloggers. I don’t know how they find the time.  They all deserve crowns. And vodka. The thought of running more than one blog is just too much for me, I think.

Basically I’m asking for some feedback here from the people that already frequent my kitchen.  Would expanding my subject matter be blog suicide? Comments, thoughts and musings welcomed.

I order a club sandwich all the time. And I’m not even a member. I don’t know how I get away with it.

“I like my sandwiches with three pieces of bread.”

“So do I.”

“Let’s form a club then.”

“Okay, but we’re gonna need more stipulations.”

“Yes we do.”

“OK… Instead of cutting it once, let’s cut it again.”

“Yeah, four triangles.”

“And we will position them in a circle. And in the middle we will dump chips. Or potato salad.”

“Let me ask you a question, how do you feel about frilly toothpicks?”

“I’m for ‘em!”

“Well, this club is formed. Spread the news on menus nationwide.”

~ Mitch Hedberg

I typically take existing recipes and tweak them. This is one of the first recipes I’ve done from my own creation. It looks fancy but isn’t very difficult to make. And the dish is well worth the prep time. If there is prosciutto in it, inevitably my husband will love it. If basil and mozzarella are in it, inevitably I will love it. So this was a win-win in our household.

Now that I’ve finally written this, I’m going to head back into my kitchen and hope for genius. Or at least above-averageness. In the meantime, I highly recommend you try the veal.

Breaded Veal Roll

Serves: 4 (directions reflect 4 servings, but images only show 2)

Ingredients:

6 veal cutlets (approximately 2 pounds)

12 slices prosciutto

12 small fresh mozzarella balls

Fresh basil leaves (approximately 30)

2 eggs

1 cup breadcrumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lay veal cutlets down on wax paper. Pound flat utilizing a meat tenderizer.

Lay 2 slices of prosciutto atop each veal cutlet.

Slice or press mozzarella balls and place atop the prosciutto (2 per cutlet).

Top each with approximately 5 basil leaves (may need more or less depending on size).

Carefully roll the layers and secure with a toothpick.

Here is a side view of what the roll should look like. Also? I just really love how this shot came out.

In a medium-size bowl, beat the 2 eggs. Place the breadcrumbs in a separate medium-size bowl. Dip each roll in the beaten egg mixture. Immediately place in the breadcrumb bowl and coat thoroughly. Place completed rolls in a baking dish.

Bake for 25 minutes. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

I’ve been thinking about that (the poor belittled woman whose image is being blasted over the interwebs unbeknownst to her) over the past few days and the more I think about it, the more it sickens me. I’ve been reading things too lately. Personal observations made by others. How quickly we are to judge.

Tall woman with big breasts, low cut shirt. “Look at that slut.”

Thin woman with skinny arms working out. “She must be anorexic.”

Overweight woman at the beach. “Lazy slob.”

When did we become a society of people that tears one another down rather than build each other up? Think about the one thing you don’t like about yourself. Say you think your nose is too big. Imagine every person who saw you made fun of you for it. Not liking you because of it. Inflating your insecurities. Not a great feeling, right? AND THAT is what we are doing each and every time we judge someone without knowing them.

I’ve got a small chest and wide hips (good breeding hips, my mom said). I’ve certainly been judged on my appearance and for my “flaws” although I certainly don’t see them that way. They are what make me me and I embrace them. I think if we spent more time embracing our own flaws maybe we wouldn’t spend so much time pointing out other people’s, which in fact aren’t flaws at all. There is no such thing as perfection. There is just you, me and everyone else. All unique and wonderful in our own ways.

Would the world be such a bad place if we were a little nicer to each other? I think back to my first Thirty at 30 post. I need to start working more random acts of kindness into my life. To counteract all the negativity. I’m going to need more post-it notes.

I’m stepping off my soap box and heading back into my kitchen. I just write a food blog. What do I know?

I leave you with this:

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt