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Sunday, December 31, 2023

Menu Plan: Days 7 - 12 of the Nativity Feast and Theophany


Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

We have a whole other week of no fasting! It has been both a restful and celebratory time, which is just perfect.

Tonight is our 27th anniversary, and we get to celebrate with our church family and then with dancing. This Friday, we will have a 12th Night Christmas party for my knit night group. It is a good week. Next week we will be back to normal school schedules.

Once we are back in the New Year, we will also return to a little more frugal shopping, and use what we have in our freezers and pantries as much as possible. We are still making room for more butchering, and also preparing for a lovely trip for Dominic and Shawn's wedding. We are so excited to share in that with them. Our prayer for you in this New Year is that you find the joy and peace of Christ!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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Saturday, December 30, 2023

Recipe Round Up: Garlic Rib Roast, Boursin Stuffed Potatoes

Garlic Rib Roast

Making a rib roast is super simple. I will give a basic guideline on how to do it, but because the size of the roast is mostly increased or decreased in length, rather than depth, most of the times are pretty close regardless of how big or small your is. If you need to adjust times, do it in the middle section. The times here will produce a rare to medium rare roast.

4 pound rib roast with the bones on or tied to the roast
1 head of garlic, peeled and cut into slivers
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring the meat to room temperature in a high sided roasting pan so it will cook faster and more evenly. Poke it all over with a sharp knife to make holes for the garlic. Poke the garlic slivers into all of those holes. Rub it with the salt and pepper. Let it sit while you preheat the oven, or even a little longer than that.

Preheat the oven to 500°F and roast for 45 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325°, without opening the oven, and bake another 60 minutes. If your roast is smaller you may want 5 - 10 minutes less time here. If it is larger, you may wish to go up to another 15 - 20 minutes. Increase the heat to 450° and roast for another 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest on a cutting board while you prepare any pan sauces from the juices and drippings in the pan. Slice thinly and serve.

Boursin Stuffed Potatoes

These are so easy and really delicious. I first saw this recipe in Bon Appetit or on their online website just before Rich and I were married. I printed and saved the recipe and we made it for our first Thanksgiving together. Since then, I changed the recipe a bit and have used different soft cheeses and herbs when we didn't have Boursin, and it is quite forgiving and lovely.

4 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed
1 1/2 cups Boursin cheese
6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
kosher salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Pierce potatoes with fork. Bake directly on oven rack until tender, about 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes.

Halve each potato lengthwise; leaving 1/4-inch thick shell, scoop flesh in large bowl. Add Boursin and mash until smooth; add parmesan cheese and parsley, and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon potato mixture into potato shells, dividing equally. Place on baking sheet. Dot with butter. Preheat oven to 400 F. Bake potatoes until heated through and they begin to brown on top, about 25 minutes.

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Thursday, December 28, 2023

Craft On: Scarves and Socks

I'm nearly finished with the scarf. It just needs blocking now. There is only about a yard of the yarn left, which Mariam plans to make into some sort of braided bracelet. It wasn't exactly yarn chicken, because I planned to use up these skeins, but left just enough to weave in the end on one half of the scarf and graft the two halves together.

While I have made a little progress on the socks, they will not be finished in time to enter for a prize.

I don't think I will finish any more books this year, but the picture shows my stack to finish soon or start in the new year.


If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

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Sunday, December 24, 2023

Menu Plan: Fourth Sunday in Advent - Peace and the Feast of the Nativity

We have reached the fourth Sunday of this rather short Advent. Tonight we will celebrate the vigil of Christmas Eve and break our fast. Tomorrow, we are going to have to celebrate the Christmas service at home, because our only other options are to drive two hours away or to go at 8:30 in the morning after the late night to a church we aren't really involved in at all or at 11:30 at a Spanish only liturgy. The Catholic churches in town seem to be the only ones who are having Christmas services at all here, which makes me sad. Not because they are, but because so many churches who insist that we keep Christ in Christmas then don't have church on Christmas, so people can do breakfast/family/presents instead, not after, but instead. If we want to keep Christ in Christmas, we should keep the Mass in Christmas. Worship Him on Christmas, then do your brunch and presents and all of that.

Anyway, it is the beginning of a long feast and we are looking forward to it. Today is the last day of the fast, and it is shorter because of the vigil. I am grateful that there are churches holding services and that our priests have cared for us by providing us with the Eucharist, so we can worship Him, even in our home.

We are planning our normal 12 Days of Christmas treats, and will be resting and enjoying Christmas music and silly Christmas movies. Ballet and gymnastics and all of that starts earlier than we start back at schoolwork, but we will try to rest and have fun as much as we can, celebrating our Savior and retreating a little from our culture's consumerism. I pray you have a blessed Christmas holiday and season (which lasts through February 2)!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.


Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

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Saturday, December 23, 2023

Recipe Round Up: Pasta Trapanese and Farls

Could you get any further apart than these two recipes? I'm not sure. They are both delicious and hearty, though.

Pasta Trapanese

This is a simple pasta dish that can be made fast friendly by leaving out the cheese quite easily. You can use a fast friendly oil if it is not an olive oil day. The sauce is a Sicilian variation on pesto and is so good! This feeds eight to 12 people with a salad, bread, and fruit.

6 cups cherry tomatoes, or canned diced tomatoes
30 large basil leaves, or about 2 tablespoons of dry or 2 frozen basil and oil cubes (we've used all three with success)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup whole almonds, lightly toasted
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (we use Aleppo pepper)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups freshly grated hard, Italian cheese like parmegiano, pecorino, or something like that (if you leave it out, increase the tomato and almond)

Pulse the almonds, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, and salt together in a food processor. Add the tomatoes and olive oil and process until fairly smooth - not too grainy, not too chunky, not too wet.

Scrape the pesto into a large serving bowl and stir, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the cheese at this point, if you are using it. Let sit while you prepare the pasta. This sitting time really makes a difference. The first time I made it, I tasted it right away, and it was pretty crude tasting, but rounds out after it has a chance to settle.

Cook your pasta to al dente, drain, but let some water cling to the pasta, and toss with the sauce in the serving bowl.




Farls

This is my new favorite way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. You can make them from fresh potatoes, also, but I like to make these for breakfast the next day when I have leftovers. I don't know if the fresh herbs are authentic, but we liked them added to the mix.

6 cups mashed potatoes
1 1/2 cup flour (I use bread flour)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh herbs (we use chives, dill, parsley or a mix of all three)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled (plus more for cooking)

In a large bowl, add the mashed potatoes, flour, salt, pepper, and melted butter. Mix well and stir the dough together until it forms a ball.

Divide the dough in half and turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten it into two 9 inch round discs. Using a large knife cut the disc into 8 pieces each.

Melt a big knob of butter in a large frying pan or skillet over medium-low to medium heat until bubbling. Carefully add the potato farls and cook over medium-low to medium heat for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Flip them over and cook for another 4-5 minutes on the other side. They should be crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Serve immediately while hot (though we thought they were quite good warm, or even room temperature).

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Sunday, December 17, 2023

Menu Plan: Third Sunday of Advent - Gaudete (Joy Sunday)

Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis: sed in omni oratione et obsecratione cum gratiarum actione petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum. Benedixisti Domine terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob. — Philippians 4:4–6; Psalm 85 (84):1

Rejoice! And again, I say, rejoice! This is our little break in the darkness as we prepare for the Light to enter the world. This is a reminder that our fasting and preparation are in joyful expectation of the Lord who has come, and who is coming. He will redeem the earth and resurrect the faithful to life. This is not a fast of strict penitence, but of self examination and preparation to meet our Savior with joy. We are still in the Advent anticipation, and still busy with fasting, praying and almsgiving, but are also taking time to remember the happiness that awaits us in His Incarnation and return in glory. Normally, we would be putting up our tree with the lights today, as we used to do at our former home, in honor of Gaudete Sunday. Nutcracker kind of threw a wrench in that for us, so we will be getting our tree sometime this week, and putting up the lights, then doing our normal decorating on Christmas Eve after the liturgy.

This whole Advent has been going quickly and we've been a little off our normal observance. We didn't do any of our Jesse Tree devotions at all. Regardless, Christ will come and come again.

May your fast be fruitful, so you may welcome the Christ Child in your heart and home, and prepare for His coming in glory!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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Thursday, December 14, 2023

Craft On: Almost a Stocking

I have another finished GAL project! The stocking still needs the loop to be sewn in, so it's not finished finished, but it should be completed today. Because I finished this, I started another project, but I was so excited about a sock design, that I cast on for that, too.

So, now I have a pair of socks for me and a beaded scarf on needles. Both projects are further along than this picture that I took at my sewing day yesterday. Also! I am nearly finished with Amira's coat (not the pink, frothy thing in the picture) that I have been working on for longer than I want to admit. It needs steaming/ironing and the buttons and buttonholes put on it. I'm hoping to get that all done by Christmas.

At the moment, I am reading two books and I'm not quite sure what I think of them or if I will finish them. They are interesting, and I appreciate both authors' perspectives, but I don't know if I can get into either of them. One is a work of fiction, The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris, and the other non-fiction, Seriously Dangerous Religion. Both are topics that interest me, but I'm not as drawn into them as I would like.


Linking to Unraveled Wednesday.

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

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Sunday, December 10, 2023

Menu Plan: Second Sunday of Advent - Love

I know the picture says peace. We don't know why. Peace is the last Sunday.

We have completed the first week of Advent, and it was a little easier because of the feasts of Saints Barbara and Nicholas, which was a blessing. We are also finished with the first weekend of Nutcracker, and have one more to go. All of us are fighting a cold, my back seized up on Friday from turning the wrong way to grab the girls' costumes to steam them, and we are all sleep deprived and exhausted. We will try to rest a bit more this week, while I wish that electric lights hadn't shifted the world to working through all manner of darkness, instead of living with the seasons.

The kids and I couldn't find the walleye in the freezer last week, so we had a tuna pasta instead, which was delicious, but I'm sending Rich to the freezer to see if he can find it so we can try again this week. We had a ton of our muffins leftover from Saturday, so we are eating them this week, too. Also, we had so much leftover of the tuna pasta dish (I made what said was enough for 12, but it was enough for 20), that we ate that for dinner on Wednesday, too. The sweet and sour shrimp I made more like hot and sour, and we liked it that way.

Since we do have another Nutcracker weekend, we are going for fairly simple meals this week, again. Next week is Gaudete Sunday, and ballet will be over, so we can get our Christmas tree and put our lights up, and relax. We save decorating the tree and the rest of the house for Christmas Eve. I am looking forward to the more fun work and rest to follow.

May your fast be fruitful, so you may welcome the Christ Child in your heart and home, and prepare for His coming in glory!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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Thursday, December 07, 2023

Craft On: Stocking Progress

It's December and I am taking a break from my designing. Right now I have a stocking on my needles and I'm back to making good progress on the baptismal gown. Perhaps I will get to the pair of socks I've been wanting to make the past two GALs. If I finish those, I have a scarf, a baby vest, and a set of crocheted snowflakes waiting for me. It is the first Nutcracker weekend, and we are super busy, too. Only two girls in this show. However, there is a lot to do the next week or so. I am always more ambitious with my plans than I have time to put them into action.

I've picked up Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages and On the Incarnation, which I try to read each Advent. I was trying to find a light book to read and just didn't really have any luck finding one that caught my interest.


Linking to Unraveled Wednesday.

If you would like to receive updates and early notice of new patterns, beta knitting opportunities, and great discounts (plus pictures of new yarns, new tools, fun places, neat hints, book ideas, recipes and more) each month, please subscribe to 1,001 Knits. My best, and sometimes my only, discounts go to my subscribers.

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Sunday, December 03, 2023

Menu Plan: First Sunday of Advent - Hope

Blessed Fast! Happy New Year! Though Advent is shorter this year, and even came later than normal, it feels a little rushed. Part of that is that so many of us in the family have been dealing with deadlines and pressures and things that just have to be done. Please pray for a holy Advent for us.

Because of our evening church situation, we are a bit more lax on the fast on Sundays than we otherwise might be. You may see dairy on those days. Also, the Advent fast is a little lighter, in general, as there are many fish days, and more wine and oil days. We try to fast within our strength and do the best we can, knowing that the point is the spiritual training and not the fast itself. The fast was given to us as an exercise and blessing. The only reason I share how we fast is so you know what to expect from meals and recipes during this time, if you are looking for ideas, or if you need to avoid some of the things we will be eating.

The West's fast is more lenient and shorter than the East's, anyway. Our family walks the line between those. Maybe because of that extra week, we were able to eat up the meat before it went to waste, and could start with the light fast today. Our general rule is close to the Orthodox, but we will relax more for Saints Barbara and Nicholas, including egg and dairy those days, and on Sundays, except for the final two weeks of Advent. We will be avoiding meat, fish (most days), eggs and dairy (with the exceptions I mentioned already), wine and olive oil on most weekdays. Shellfish is always permitted, so when we find that at a good price, we definitely eat it. I share this with you as an encouragement. We strive within our strength, and our family situation. We have discussed how to handle this with our priests and our local priests, and are considering also the parish we are part of that doesn't generally follow the fast as much. Fasting and abstinence are such good tools that God gives us through the Church, and I encourage you to try to fast with the Church. It is not as useful to pick and choose, but rather to strive for your church's rule with such accomodations as necessary for health, age, and situation. Talk to your priest. If you don't have a priest, find one and talk to him.

The Hawaiian "tacos" last week were kind of a bust. They were edible, and we ate them, and the slaw recipe that came with it was actually excellent, but there was just too much going on in those white people tacos. We won't make it again. However, the pork chops pizzaiola were fantastic, and quick to make, even for the kids (who made the entire dinner that night, because I was working on something that had to be done ASAP), and we will definitely make that again. With pork chops being relatively inexpensive, we have a ton in our freezers, so come January, we will be using them more again. Also, we found out that we can use our sourdough starter discard to make crumpets, so that will appear more often. It is perfectly fast friendly, and gives us something to make with the starter besides crackers (which are also Lenten and taste a little like cheese). The website where I first saw the sourdough cracker recipe has warned us that it is going away, so I will share our interpretation of them soon. We are still trying to eat from what is in our freezers and pantry and get fresh produce and replenish staples for our groceries. This helps us make room for the deals to come later this month, and the final butchering we have planned. The good news is that nobody wants to eat meat right after butchering, so it won't tempt us.

Every winter, I wish we could live more according to the season and light, and sleep more and do less, but it seems that this time is even busier. So, we will do our best on that score, also. This is such a hard time of year for many of us in the family, though. December and January, especially, are so cold here. We've had our first snow, our first consistent snow, and our first snow that stuck. This week is supposed to warm up a bit, by which I mean in the 30s and 40s, but we don't have snow in the forecast. The roads are slick, though, and we have kids on the road, so pray for them, also.

I pray that your fast will be fruitful, and that you welcome the Christ Child in your heart and home, and prepare for His coming in glory!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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