Christmas Cooking Through History

Merry Christmas! (or almost!)

A picture from a few years ago - we haven't had snow in the past month or more,

 and I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!

Jan here, revealing a little-known fact about me: I'm a history geek. Super history geek. I love reading about history - especially books that were written in the time period (aka: source materials.)

This book is one of my favorite sources 

for western living in the late 19th century.
You can buy it HERE.

One of the things I try to do in my writing is to give my characters' lives an authentic flavor. Whether they are cooking over an open fire or on a wood stove, doing laundry in a wash tub, or making soap out in the yard after butchering time, I want to be able to describe those activities authentically in my books.

But how does an author do that? It's one thing to read a recipe (receipt) for cooking a turkey in the eighteenth century, but when an author writes about such things, it's important to know exactly what the character needs to do. I need to visualize the activity in my mind, and the questions are endless. I know how I prepare a turkey in my twenty-first century kitchen, but what about my imaginary eighteenth century friend?

YouTube comes to the rescue!

Today I'm going to share Christmas recipes from some of my favorite YouTube cooking channels. These are fabulous sources for writers, or anyone who enjoys history. Watching these channels not only gives me the information I need to write an authentic scene, they also give me ideas for future scenes, or even new stories.

Here's the first one, from Jas. Townsend & Son's 18th Century Cooking. His turkey looks so good!

Jas Townsend also share this light and crispy cookie:

This next YouTube channel is a delight to watch. The setting is an English stately home of the Victorian Era, and the cook is a treasure. It's like Christmas with Mary Poppins. :-)

Here, Mrs. Crocombe teaches how to make Galantine of Turkey for a Christmas side dish:

And what Victorian Christmas would be complete without the Christmas Plum Pudding?

Yes, I know I haven't written any books set in Victorian England or eighteenth century America, but I still enjoy and learn from these videos.

And someday, maybe I will get that series written that takes place in mid-18th century Pennsylvania!

What are some of your favorite ways to learn about the past?

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.

Ham Puffs - a recipe rerun for New Year's

This is the best week, isn't it? The week between Christmas and New Year's?

(Unless you work in retail... Then it can be a bear!)

But this year our weather has been mild and hubby had time off, so I took the week off from most of my work projects, and we've enjoyed spending time at home and in the Hills. What can be better?

Christmas Day was quiet - just four of us, two dogs and a cat. Since we're having our family celebration on New Year's, we spent Christmas playing board games, working on a jigsaw puzzle, and opening a few presents.

But I didn't cook a big dinner. We had sweet and savory snacks, just a few of the favorites. One of the recipes I used was one I shared here six years ago. I'm glad I found it - I had forgotten about it!

Ham Puffs

Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1 can deviled ham (or deli ham, chopped fine)
1 Tablespoon minced onion
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 tube crescent roll dough

Notice supper cooking in the crock-pot...chicken for chicken tacos!
And I was going to add the mushrooms to the ham puffs, but they were voted down
by my mushroom-hating family :(

Mix the cream cheese and other ingredients (except crescent roll dough) together. You can do it by hand (that's what I did), or you can use a blender or food processor.

Don't forget the hot pepper sauce. We have several varieties around our house, but this is the one I used:

Unroll the crescent roll dough and separate into four rectangles.

Spread 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture on each rectangle and roll up jelly-roll style, from the long edge.

Cut each roll into five slices...

 ...and place them on an un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 8-10 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Let them cool slightly before serving.

These little puffs are perfect for the kind of snacking we love to do while playing board games!

Enjoy your New Year's, and best wishes for a wonderful year to come!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com

Christmas Treats for Giving

Before I begin this post, I have some sad news to share.

Custer State Park January 2017

We had a forest fire that swept through Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and surrounding ranch lands last week. Strong winds added to the problem, and made the fire hard to contain.

Go here to see some pictures from the height of the fire: Wildfire Today

The news Saturday night was that the fire was 90% contained. The really good news? Even with the gusty winds, this was not a hot, out of control fire. Many of the trees will survive and the grass will grow back. Wildlife appears to have come through all right, and none of the historic buildings had damage.

Hopefully we'll be able to make a trip out there sometime soon, and I'll keep track of the recovery process. :-)

But the big news today: Can you believe that Christmas Day is only one week away?

Snow, sleighbells, Christmas greenery, the fragrance of Christmas cookies baking....

...and neighbors greeting each other with more than the usual wave.

At least in our neighborhood we do.

For the last several years, the neighbors around our little cul-de-sac have shared cookies and other treats with each other as a Christmas greeting. Neighbor to neighbor, getting to know each other a little bit better.

Nothing fancy, nothing big.

Just a little something to say, "Merry Christmas!"

Last year I made Mindy's Pumpkin bread and shared one of those little loaves along with some fudge and a few cookies. You can find Mindy's recipe here: Mindy's Pumpkin Bread

This year, I'm adding a bag full of my amazing Crunchy Cereal Mix. What makes it amazing? Because I've tweaked the "official" ingredients to make my own blend of spices. You can do that, too - mix in some Cajun spice, or maybe add a bit more garlic. Is siracha more your style? Add it in to the spice mixture! Here's my recipe to get you started: Jan's Crunchy Cereal Mix

I made some fudge this year already. Carrie, Katie and I got together for a baking day a couple weeks ago. But where is the fudge??? Alas, I didn't hide it well enough! So today I'm making a batch of my favorite peanut butter fudge, and another one of chocolate fudge. Grandma's Peanut Butter Fudge

Whatever we put in our bags or containers for our neighbors, we know it's appreciated. And it isn't something that happens in a lot of neighborhoods anymore. People move - like we have - and it's hard to form friendships. Front porches are non-existent in newer sub-divisions. And if you don't have children going to the same school, you may never really see your neighbors.

But this one time a year, we leave a bit of a snack on a neighbor's doorstep - - and it has made a difference on our little street.

Joe, a few doors down, found out we have a wood stove, so he collects the scraps from his woodworking hobby for us to burn (thank you, Joe!). And his wife loves to read...so guess who gets a copy of my books?

The family with all the dogs (4?) had a problem with their back gate last summer and the two biggest dogs escaped one day when everyone was at work. When the dogs came back home to an empty house, Joe and I tied them in the shade with a bowl of water to wait for their owners.

The family at the end of the street - in the rental house - is always fun. Every other year it's someone new. It's so much fun to surprise them!

But more than anything else, giving these little gifts reminds me of Ebeneezer Scrooge on Christmas Day - it takes so little to give something that can make such a difference in someone's day!

So as the year winds to an end and the winter chill sets in, let us all spend this week - this last week before Christmas - with the spirit of giving in our hearts and a smile of joy on our faces. Because no matter what else is happening in our lives, this is the time we celebrate our Savior's birth.

What is your favorite way of giving this time of year?

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Goodbye.... for now!

Hello, everybody! Mary Jane here and this is goodbye... for now.
                                                             
I'm eyeballs-deep in several series, we'll be traveling for a while, and, frankly, I think I've run out of recipes!
                                              
 So, I've decided to take a step back from the cafe until life is calmer.
                              
I can't express how much I've enjoyed sharing recipes on Yankee Belle Cafe.
                                         
The charming successes...
                                                 
                                                                    And the fails!
                                   
Like double chocolate pound cake with mint ganache. 
                                            
The pork roast with onions that I think I stole from Ruthy... Or was it Jan?
                                    
The never-fail  Biscotti recipe from a friend.
                              
The lavender flan recipe from a magazine.
                               
                                                                
Oh,  how I made myself hungry looking at posts like this chocolate cream raspberry pie!
And then there were the photos of family life...
                                                     
OH MY. All the pictures!
                                                 
Butterfly hunting...
                                             
Cardboard armor...
                               
Hilarious photo fails!

I love this one. Or maybe I just love the memory of the brown sugar pound cake with caramel glaze!
                              
I might possibly have cried a little at this "banana phone" picture. All my babies did this. Now they're all too old to pretend to talk on the banana phone!
                                               
So many milestones. All the wonderful food, comments, conversations, memories...
                                         
 I've learned so much about cooking and family and faith in the cafe.
                                     
Our posts aren't just about food.  They're about all the moments in our lives, good and bad. (Our good things jar. We're in our fifth year and every Jan 1st we open them one by one to read the wonderful things that happened. I don't curate the collection. Anyone can write, or have someone else write, a note. Some of them are hilarious! )
                                                           
They're about the history of our country...
                                       
...and the pioneers who made it what it is. The posts are about our yearning to carry on what was given to us.
                               
The recipes aren't just desserts or dinner or snacks. They're family recipes that are really more about generations of love, than the food.
                                
They're secret recipes passed from friend to friend.
                                      
Whether Mardi Gras King's Cake, Ash Wednesday, Easter,
                                                      
Advent or Christmas, the posts echoed the church calendar in our houses.

The posts are about  new babies and beginnings and passing on the Good News in a community of faith.

                                                
There are more posts about books than I would have thought possible, dozens between the six of us! It's about work and persistence and perseverance and fellowship. We lift each other up, celebrate writing 'the end' and each contract or book release.
                                                       
It's about pets, the cats and dogs that are members of our family.
                                            
Sleeping in silly positions...
                                               
 and laughter and growing up.

It's about learning to listen and work on new skills, trying new things, perhaps starting new traditions.

 About quiet moments of peace on a chilly day.

About noticing the beauty of a fluffy kitten, or a tender touch. The cuddles of sleeping babies, the warmth of a toddler's hand, the hug of a teenager.

These posts tracked five years of my family life, from having six kids under twelve, to having six readers in the house and three (almost four!) teenagers

 In our posts we bring our readers on our vacations, near and far. To conferences, on hikes, to churches and bookstores and restaurants.
                                        
Lakes and oceans and wheatfields.
                                                         
I saw five years of vacation photos...
                                                   
 and I felt a rush of gratitude for the freedom to travel and explore this beautiful country.
                                                        
Freedom to stay in a fancy hotel, or in a yurt on the Oregon coast...
                                                   
To eat a five star restaurant to catch our own food off the dock.
                                             
To see the old and the new.
                                        
To buy our food from a farmer's market, 
                                                  
Or buy cactus shipped from far away. (It's grown on me...)
                                  
                                        To make ice cream from our own mulberry tree, 
                                     
To plant the trees we want, how we want, and spray whether we want to or not. (Our organic cherries.)
                                     
Or buy from a local farm that can decide whether to grow organically or not.
                                           
To tend a forty year old grapevine, and sell or eat the fruit as we wish!

 We're writers, but we're readers, too!
                                  
Whether we're in the mountains or at the shore.

 The posts celebrated my sweet tooth and how delightful it was when I met Mr. Latte.  And then foun a delicious copycat Starbucks gingerbread syrup.

 We invited our readers into our kitchens, whether sharing our decorations, renovations,
                                            
Furniture rescues...
                                              
vintage dishware...

 First steps!!

 We brought flowers...

                                    
And more flowers (and more and more flowers)! I never knew I posted so many flowers.

 Sleeping babies in funny hats.

 Preteens pretending to fall in love with "seaweeda" with the fabulous hair!
And oh, the kid pictures. So many moments of our daily lives.
                                     
Blowing bubbles instead of doing dishes.
                                      
Finding the world's biggest icicle.
                                                      
Unhappy faces when their favorite pie pumpkin was sacrificed for pumpkin bread...
                                                     
That recipe is here! Of course, there were recipes, too.

So. Many. Cupcakes. 

                                                           
Can I just say how hungry I got while scrolling through recipes like these homemade calzones??

Or this lemon poppy seed sour cream bundt cake?? 

Or banana rum shuttles...

I smiled to see dear Edna in so many posts.

 She's still on my counter, supervising all the new arrivals and making sure their performance is up to par.

 But as much as life stays the same, it's still ever-changing. And so, we're off on our next adventure! I'll still pop in when I can because I'm sure I'll be missing the Yankee Belle Cafe community.

 All of our love and gratitude to Ruthy, Missy, Jan, Mindy and Cate! Until we see you again!