At the beginning of the month Jake and I did a mini Chanukah celebration by eating latkes. I took a photo but latkes do not photograph well at all! Especially on our orange plates. I served them with homemade roasted applesauce which was fantastic.
Jake's been doing his fair share of mushroom hunting with Turnip. They came home with this big guy!
We only eat the chantrelles that he finds. Today at the market we saw that they are selling for $15 a pound. When they're free they are even better!
Last weekend Amey hosted a super fun gingerbread making party! Tons of candy, kids and healthy treats! This was my first attempt at making a gingerbread house and just because I have to be different, I made a Hanukah Hut. I think it turned out fantastic and was really fun to make. I considered myself a confectionery architect for the day. The house structure was made by me (flavor: espresso-chocolate gingerbread) and the royal icing was made by Amey. Both recipes were from the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times. The walls were strong and the royal icing dried like glue. No need for load bearing candy canes or the hot glue gun that I brought. I considered it s success!
Next up was the bake sale at work benefiting the Sunshine Club. This organization is run by ER nurses that as far as I can tell, uses the money to help needed families during the holiday season. They are currently running a gift card drive and a coat drive. I am always happy to bake for a fund raiser! I made pumpkin cinnamon rolls (shown here without the icing) and peanut butter fudge.
The rolls are actually pretty orange but I had weird lighting. I've made them a million times and are amazing. I've never had peanut butter fudge (or even heard of it) but I came across the recipe here and it just sounded too good and easy not to try. If you do attempt it, use white sugar (bad I know!) and peanut butter that's not too oily. I made it a second time a few days ago for another holiday party and it turned out too soft. Learn from my mistakes. They both sold really well. People were cutting into the cinnamon rolls as soon as I took them out and while I was icing them. I had to tell them to slow down!
Then because I didn't really getting my cinnamon roll fix, I made my own mini batch of cinnamon rolls the next morning with half whole wheat flour. I got my fix but tried to make it a teeny bit healthier. I really like chopped up pecans in them. These are mini sized and so yummy.
And of course I can't leave you without a dog picture! Here she is in her brand new "jumbo" sized blue bed. She gets one new bed a year during the holiday season. The brown one got caught out in the rain so I put it by the fire to dry out. Turnip figured out that she can use both beds to make a super jumbo nest in front of the fire! She's so freaky smart.
It's raining non stop here and the fire is always going. Hopefully no trees will fall down in our driveway trapping us in like in January. Also, I really hope the power stays on!
