My New Year Began in Maine

As my fellow cafe members know, I got stuck in Maine when my car broke down. A friend said it sounded like the plot of a Hallmark movie. Alas, it was not so pleasant.

But there were some highlights, like getting to spend an extra week with my daughter. She and I made a collard greens and black-eyed peas recipe for New Year's Day. It was so simple that I wanted to share.
Note: this is adapted from a recipe she found online.

First we sautéed some red onion and garlic. To that we added vegetable stock (not too much - maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup). Once that had simmered a bit, I added a mix of greens - some julienned collard greens and one of those packaged mixes of greens including kale, spinach, beet greens, etc. Simmer for a few additional minutes, spritz with some lemon juice and serve. We served then with some warmed up black-eyes peas, but this was so tasty that it would make a great side for anything.

You can see we made my favorite sweet potatoes with maple syrup, pecans and pomegranate seeds.

I thought I'd share some of my pretty Maine photos.

The Christmas tree in downtown Portland.

I loved this house. It's hard to see from the photo, but each of the front windows had a gorgeous tree lit with golden white lights, and each window had a candle.

This was the storm that was supposed to give us 1 - 3 inches and then turn to rain. We ended up with over a foot. Treacherous driving, but it was so pretty.

And then there was this - the snow that greeted me on my first day back at work.

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2020 brings you bountiful blessings.


Today would have been my mother's birthday if she hadn't passed last March. I'd appreciate a prayer for Joan if you have a minute today.

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

Greens and Beans and New Year's Good Luck!

Missy Tippens

How many of you eat greens and black eyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day? My family always did that while I was growing up, so I usually try to do the same to keep up that tradition.

Okay, so this year I admit we went out to eat on January 1st! I was too lazy to cook. haha However, we did eat our good luck meal on the 2nd.

First, I sautéed some green and red peppers and chopped up leftover HoneyBaked ham. (I would have used onions but we have a family member who can't eat them.)

Then I dumped in a bag of frozen field peas and a bag of frozen collards. And followed up with about 3/4 of a box of chicken broth.

I simmered them until hubby got home, which ended up being about an hour. It takes at least 30 minutes for the peas to get tender.

It made a nice soup! You could also thicken it up and make it more like a stew, but I didn't want to add calories. I also served these new grapes I recently discovered. They really do taste like cotton candy to my daughter and me! (Hubby didn't agree.) However, once you eat a few, you don't really notice any more--and I decided I like regular grapes better. Still, it was fun for something different!

I also wanted to share these gorgeous chocolates my daughter-in-law got me! She bought them at a store in downtown Duluth, Georgia, called The Chocolaterie. They make them there. Almost too pretty to eat!! ALMOST. Because the box is nearly empty now. ;)

www.missytippens.com

Creative New Year's Day Meal

Missy Tippens

I came down with the flu on New Year's Day. What a way to welcome in 2018!

So, being a little puny that day, I tried to pull together a somewhat traditional meal. When I was growing up in Kentucky, that meant steamed cabbage (my parents didn't care for greens), corned beef, black-eyed peas, and cornbread. We always called it a meal for good luck.

Well, I hadn't been to the grocery in a while, so I had to do the best I could with what I had on hand. Again, this is the story of my life of never having ingredients I need! :)

Plus, I was running a fever. LOL

First, I had no cornmeal! Oh my gosh, how did that happen?? But, like any good southerner, I DID have grits.

I did not have black-eyed peas, plus my family doesn't love them. But I did have pinto beans.

I didn't have collard greens (first choice) or turnip greens...but I did have a spinach-kale mix.

But (and here's another Tippens move), the greens were getting past their peak and were a little gross in the middle. SOOOO...by the time I threw away the slimy pieces, there wasn't much left. We each got about a tablespoonful. hahaha!

Did I mention I had a fever and chills by that point? And I was starving. My husband kept saying they could make their own sandwiches or something. But I was determined! We would have our good luck meal like from my childhood.

No corned beef? That's fine. I never really liked it anyway! I got a package of turkey sausage hotdogs out of the freezer, thawed them in the microwave, and added them to the beans to cook.

Voila! Our New Year's Day dinner.

Here's to hoping our insanely weird good luck meal doesn't bode poorly for the year. :)

Notice (with your magnifying glass) the microscopic serving of greens!

The grits got a little too thick, but they were amazing with the butter and cream. And the whole thing filled our stomachs. That's a blessing right there!

Plus, look at these pretty new dishes I just bought on clearance at Macy's! I enjoyed eating on them for the first time.

Even hot-dogs, grits, pinto beans, and greens could taste good on these. :)

Happy 2018 everyone!!

Missy

www.missytippens.com

Shepherd's Pie - the vegan way

What do you think of when you hear Shepherd's Pie?

I picture a cozy country cottage (probably in the English or Irish countryside) and a family gathered around the hearth eating a meat pie covered in a thick layer of mashed potatoes.

Hungry yet?

Cook's has a video. Here's hoping it plays. (You probably have to go to the page.)

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/videos/2363-shepherds-pie



I attended a Christmas party last week at a German restaurant and one of the items listed for the buffet was Shepherd's Pie. I was so excited.

Turns out German Shepherd's Pie is very different. The meat is bratwurst and beneath the potatoes was a layer of sauerkraut. Different, but delicious still.

The next day while I was waiting for my daughter's coffee drink to be ready, I picked up a magazine that had Shepherd's Pie on the cover - but it was a chicken one. The drink took awhile to be ready, so I got to read a lot. Apparently there was a lot more to changing the recipe than just switching to chicken. I wish I'd noted which magazine it was in.😟

Onward to Christmas Day.

My husband and eldest always have Thanksgiving Turkey and Christmas ham, but my vegan daughter always selects some new dish for us to try. This year we made a vegan Shepherd's pie.

The reason I'm sharing it today is because I think substituting black-eyed peas for the lentils would turn this into a rib-sticking New Year's Day meal.


(I can hear all you carnivores screaming NOoooooooo!)😱😱😱😱😱

We started with diced onions, carrots, parsnips and garlic.

Fresh thyme and sage.

 Mushrooms go in next.

Simmer everything for a while in the Dutch Oven.

The recipe called for a covering of whipped cauliflower, but my daughter had been eating so much cauliflower lately that we decided to substitute mashed turnips.

The turnips rest lightly on top.

After it's all baked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looks like mush here, but it's the perfect comfort food - and not an unhealthy ingredient in there!


To give proper credit, the Shepherd's Pie we made was a mish mash of these two online recipes.

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie with Mashed Cauliflower

and

Vegan Lentil Shepherd’s Pie with Parsnip and and Potato Mash

Do you have a favorite Shepherd's Pie recipe?