Christmastime is Here

Christmas is my favorite holiday.  It is the season of peace, happiness, love, charity, and hope.

It's true that Christmas has become so commercialized lately, and that all anyone seems to care about is  presents.  I don't seem to have too big a problem with that though.

I love giving gifts, and Christmas is a wonderful time to do it!  Gifts express how much you care about someone, why you love them, what you have in common, or anything else you wish to express.  I don't think about giving gifts in a monetary sense, but the meaning behind the gift is what is important. 

Christmas gifts should be a reflection of the relationship between the person giving and receiving.  To help me keep the balance and choose gifts that are meaningful I keep a few tricks up my sleeve. 

Tips for Christmas Shopping

The first thing I do is keep a running list on my phone of gift ideas for people.  Whenever I see a good movie with someone, go to a concert, read the same book, have a similar food interest, I write it down next to their name.  When that person's birthday or Christmas rolls around I have an already made list of their interests so that I can find a gift that will be meaningful. 

The second thing I do is try to buy throughout the year.  If I find something on sale or that screams the name of a family member or friend I will go ahead and purchase it.  This helps with budget issues as well as time issues once the holidays roll around.

The third thing I do is start early.  After Halloween I start getting my thoughts together about who I need to give gifts to, what my budget is, and my time frame for gifts.  Once all that is accomplished I can hit the ground running after Thanksgiving.

A trick I use is pinterest. Most of my female friends and relatives have a pinterest account.  I know that I often post products I would like to have in my life, ideas for craft projects, recipies I want to try.  Why not use that same information to give something wonderful and thoughful as a gift.  My cousin has a list of art she wants in her house, my friend has a board of books she wants to read, my sister has a board of jewelry she wants.  Pinterest is basically an already categorized wish list!
For the $5 stocking stuffer kind of gifts at Holiday parties I often bake, make candy, or something else homemade.  Everyone loves Christmas goodies, and they can be very cost effective when you make a large batch.  If you need to bring something not homemade keep an eye out at stores like Tuesday Morning, TJMaxx, or Ross.  These stores often have really great deals throughout the year on generic gifts like candles, lotion, kitchen tools, and other items.  You can stock up on these throughout the year, then have lots of items quickly at hand when you need them.

All of these help me stay sane during the holidays and enjoy what they are really about; spending time with loved ones.

Greasy Sae Soup

Last year a group of friends and I started a supper club based on the principles of Iron Chef.  Every Tuesday we would get together to watch Chopped on Food Network.  (Can you tell we love food, love to eat, and love to read/watch things about eating?)  There would either be a theme or ingredient that everyone had to incorporate into their dish.

It was great for us because most of us were recent college graduates and almost no idea what we were doing in the kitchen.  It also fueled our creativity and forced us to think outside of the culinary box week after week.

Around the time the Hunger Games was released into theatres, we are all huge fans, we decided to have a Hunger Games themed supper club.  Everyone brought amazing dishes to the table, it was one of our most successful nights. 

My contribution was Greasy Sae Soup.  It's not really called Greasy Sae Soup, the original recipe comes from My Recipes and is a Tuscan Kale, White Bean, and Ciabatta Soup.  The first time I made this recipe I went straight by the book.  I saw some ways I could improve upon it for my own tastes. 

Since that first supper club I have made this several times.  It is so easy, and so delicious.  As everything simmers together there is a wonderful earthy taste and texture that gets going.  I always think I'll have enough to freeze, never happens!  It's so good I end up eating the whole pot in just a few days. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

And so, I present to you:

Greasy Sae Soup

Ingredients

1 can white beans, drained
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (I use cremini mushrooms, but feel free to choose whatever you prefer)
2-2 1/2 qts veggie broth
10 garlic cloves, minced
10 fresh sage leaves
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 bunches kale, rinsed chopped
1 tblsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tsp capers
1 tsp pepper

Directions

1. Place broth, beans, garlic, salt, pepper, garlic cloves, sage, and chili flakes into a stock pot.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat.

2. Add the mushrooms and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. After the 20 minutes have passed, add the capers and kale.  Add the kale a handful at a time.  If you put both bunches in at once it will be quite overwhelming and you won't be able to stir it at all.  Once you've placed a handful of kale in the pot, spoon the broth over the kale to begin to wilt it.  As the kale wilts it will get smaller and you can continue to add more and more. Once kale has all been added, simmer for another 15-20 minutes.  The second simmer is to get the kale wilted down to a size and texture you like.

4. Once the kale has wilted down as far as you would like it to go, turn off the heat and serve!  You can add more salt and pepper at this point to suit your taste level.  You can also add either Parmesan cheese or feta to each individual serving dish.  I don't (I'm trying to stay as vegan as possible with my home cooking) and I don't miss it at all; but do as you wish!

This soup is served best hot with some crusty bread on the side.  As you can see from the picture, I didn't have any crusty bread, toast had to do.  Such a lovely end to a rainy and dreary day!

Dragon Noodles

This is one of my new favorite recipes!

It comes from Budget Bytes, one of my favorite websites for recipes!

Things I love about Dragon Noodles:

1.     Spicy
2.     Easy
3.     Cheap
4.     Did I say spicy?

When I make my dragon noodles I usually don't use the lo mein, I usually use half a container of fettuccine.  I rarely have lo mein hanging around my pantry but I often have fettuccine or other stringy pasta. 

You can easily make this a vegan recipe by using margarine instead of butter.  The recipe also calls for eggs but you could easily use egg beaters or tofu instead.
This may be one of the easiest pastas I have made in a long time!  And almost all of the ingredients come straight from your pantry!  (Stay posted for a post on keeping green onion around all the time!)