This Classical Life

I know this is a little late for Shrove Tuesday celebrating, but I’ll remind you next year!

GINGERBREAD PANCAKES
(inspired by Kerbey Lane in Austin, but it’s been so long since I’ve eaten there, I can’t verify the authenticity)

Cream together:
6 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar

Add, then mix well:
1 cup buttermilk*
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup coffee (brewed)
2 tsp vanilla

In a seperate bowl, combine dry ingredients:
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 Tbs. cloves
2 Tbs. cinnamom
2 Tbs. ginger
1.5 Tbs. nutmeg

Add dry ingredients to wet, mixing gently. When combined, mix in:
1 stick of butter, melted

This makes about 7-8 thick, plate sized pancakes. SUPER thick. Cut back a tsp of baking soda or so if you prefer less cake-y pancakes.

* buttermilk is easy to make: 1 c. milk + 1 Tbs. lemon juice or vinegar, I let it stand for a half hour or so, but you could probably push it to even 5 or 10 minutes in a pinch.

I am feeling uninspired… I need healthy and somewhat kid-friendly dinner ideas. What should I make?

I am planning to post more recipes on the blog again, it’s the easiest way for me to keep track of and find recipes I like with my personal tweaks. One of my goals this year is to introduce the girls to more Asian food. We usually eat it and serve them something else. This was a successful first step, Kate ate all of hers, and Lexi ate a good bit as well. This is enough for 5-6 adults as a complete meal, more if you did a side salad, etc. But I wanted to make extra because I figured the leftovers would be awesome and they were.

CHICKEN LO MEIN
12 oz lo mein noodles (in the asian section of the grocery store, can also use linguine)
2 Tbs. canola oil
2 b/s chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
at least 1/2 large sweet onion
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
3-4 carrots
1 cup snow peas
6-8 ounces mushrooms (of your choice)
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup chicken broth
3 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. oyster sauce (also found in the asian section)
2 Tbs. sesame oil (more…)

I’m making King Cake today, and thinking about Epiphany. In the children’s hymn about the church year, we sing “In Epiphany we trace / all the glory of his grace.” We discover his glory revealed, first to the wise men, then through his baptism, his first miracle. He did not remain hidden, rather Christ showed himself to us. Epiphany is an extension of our meditation on the incarnation that began in Advent. He dwelt among us, not in secret, but with public words and deeds that all may see him and worship.

May Christ bless you and your house today, and throughout this season.

‘Tis the season for baked treats. Here are two of my holiday staples.

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CRACK (aka Matzoh Crack)
I make these just like this recipe. I use 5 sheets of matzoh (never saltines, not sure why) which is more than my biggest cookie sheet fits (it’s not that large) - A cookie sheet and an 8×8 baking dish. I originally put good slivered almonds on some but most people prefer it with sea salt.

SOFT MOLASSES COOKIES
This dough is refrigerated and will keep well for several days or a week, which means I can keep baking them fresh. They are really tasty and different enough to seem distinct for the holidays, even though they are good enough to serve year round.

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
white sugar for rolling

Cream together butter, brown sugar and egg until well combined. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda and spices in a separate bowl. Stir them into the molasses mixture 3/4 cup or so at a time. Cover the dough and chill for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350. These cookies are on the line whether to grease or not, so grease your cookie sheets if they tend to make things stick. Roll the dough into balls (these work well small or medium) and then roll the balls in sugar to coat.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. These are supposed to be chewy! I typically take mine off the cookie sheets faster than most other cookies (2 minutes) to cool on wire racks.

I didn’t grow up doing the Santa Claus thing, so maybe I don’t understand what I am missing, but we have avoided it thus far. We try to be minimalistic about gifts and possessions in general and it works for us. We decided to try to celebrate Saint Nicholas Day, and when we remember (I think it’s been twice in the last three years, thank you Google calendar) the kids set their shoes out the night before and find them filled with candy. We talk about giving gifts in secret and fighting for truth (”You can only hit heretics.”) But, speaking of the historical Saint Nicholas always leads to Kate asking if he is still alive. We’re trying not the be that family. This year we told them we only talk about Santa in our family, he’s our secret. Not sure how successful that will be. Any suggestions for how to handle this? Last year Kate told her best friend Santa was dead, but the friend did not believe her, worrying as they get older this will not work itself out so well…

I had a bowl of leftover Fake-it Italian Soup today for lunch, and thought of all the people I know hustling and bustling who would appreciate a recipe for dinner that
(a) consists of ingredients from the pantry or freezer
(b) which are relatively inexpensive
(c) only takes 15 minutes to make

Grab all the ingredients on your next trip to the grocery store, and you will be prepared for your next one-of-those days.

These have been a big hit this autumn!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice or combo of cinnamon/ginger/nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
6-8 oz. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 13×9 with parchment paper. Whisk together flour and pumpkin pie spice. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla just until combined. Add pumpkin puree (at this stage it looks kind of curdled.) Gently mix in dry ingredients just until combined and fold in chocolate chips. Bake for 30-40 minutes - mine lightly brown but a toothpick test yields moist crumbs (think brownies.) Partially cool before you lift out using the parchment paper and cut into squares. This recipe is for a FUDGY consistency, if you want something more cake-like, cream the butter at room temperature and add 1 tsp baking soda to the dry ingredients.

When Christ’s appearing was made known, King Herod trembled for his throne
But He Who offers heavenly birth seeks not the kingdoms of this earth.

The eastern sages saw from far and followed on His guiding star;
By light their way to Light they trod, and by their gifts confessed their God.

Within the Jordan’s sacred flood the heavenly Lamb in meekness stood,
That He, to Whom no sin was known, might cleanse His people from their own.

And O what miracle divine, when water reddened into wine!
He spoke the word, and forth it flowed in streams that nature ne’er bestowed.

For this His glad epiphany: all glory unto Jesus be
Whom with the Father we adore and Holy Ghost forevermore.
–Cael­i­us Se­dul­i­us, 5th Cen­tu­ry

“Hark, the herald angels sing glory to the newborn King,
peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies;
with the angelic host proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem.’
Hark, the herald-angels sing glory to the new-born King.”

Kate’s fallen in love with Hark the Herald this year, and it brings me great joy to hear her walk around the house, singing it.

P.S. I’m running a Twelve Days of Christmas sale and giveaway - see my photo blog for details.

Watch over thy child, Kate, O Lord, as her days increase; bless and guide her wherever she may be, keeping her unspotted from the world. Strengthen her when she stands; comfort her when discouraged or sorrowful; raise her up if she fall; and in her heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of her life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

—

Today we celebrated Kate’s fourth birthday with friends here, and it was a really great night. Kids and grown-ups coming together for food and fun. All her gifts were a big hit, except for a bag of clothes, which she peeked in and discreetly explained that she would open later. :) She actually did graciously look at all of them later and was excited about them. She is such a delightful girl, and I am so glad that she is our daughter.

This recipe makes a ton, great for keeping some for your family while assembling a pan for a family who needs a meal. Just make sure you’ve got several pans out (13×9 and 8×8).

ziti or penne (1.25-1.5 lbs dry)
1 lb mild italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
6 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 jars of spaghetti sauce
1 pound of italian cheese (a combo of sliced provolone and grated mozz. or “italian blend” grated)
3/4 c. sour cream
3/4 c. ricotta
parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 and start making the pasta.

Saute onions until translucent, add sausage and mushrooms and cook until everything is done. Drain sausage grease off. Throw in the garlic and cook another minute. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 minutes or so. Mix sour cream and ricotta. Mix the cooked pasta and the sausage-sauce mixture.

Assemble as follows: layer of pasta/sauce, 1/2 cheese (either a layer of sliced provolone or just 1/2 the grated), 1/2 sour cream-ricotta, repeat, then end with a last layer pasta and parm on top. If you have extra pasta, freeze it as “penne with meat sauce” as a quick lunch or dinner sometime when you need it.

The baked ziti needs to bake until everything is melted and warmed through (~30 minutes, more if its straight from the freezer). I bake it mostly covered and then uncovered at the end.