A White Christmas

Yesterday morning we woke up to a dusting of snow, which was perfect because we celebrated Christmas with my family. So we enjoyed a white Christmas.

It turned out to be a beautiful day with lots of sun, although super cold (in the single digits with a windchill in the negative double digits). There was lots of great food and great family fun! We always celebrate a homemade Christmas with my family, all gifts have to be made or used (except for a few gifts for the kids). It’s always fun to see what homemade items everyone has come up with. I always make cinnamon rolls for all the families so they have something delicious to pop in the oven on Christmas morning. I even found these great tree-shaped pans to put them in this year instead of the usual aluminum square.

I also made reusable cloth shopping bags for everyone this Christmas. I had a great time stitching them up earlier this week.

In the afternoon we also made birdseed pine cones with our nieces in the afternoon for their homemade gifts for everyone. They really enjoyed giving something that they made themselves.

Now only one more family Christmas to go and our own personal Christmas celebration and the season will be finished.

How many family Christmas celebrations do you attend?

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Ok, You Caught Me

I guess for all of those who have been calling me a tree-hugger you’re right and here’s the picture to prove it (I’m the in the pink on the right).

This photo was taken a few years ago at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We saw this tree while hiking up to Ramsey Cascades and were amazed at how huge it was. We decided this would be the best way to display the size of this tree.

Ramsey Cascades is the highest waterfall accessible by trail in the park. We ate our lunch at the top and while we were sitting, huge chunks of ice kept falling off the waterfall into the river below, awesome! Worth the hike through snow and ice (at least to me, I think the others in my group were less than humored by the snow/ice).

For those of you who are hikers out there and live in the midwest, I would highly recommend this trail. Mr Chiots and I have hiked it twice (although once we got rained out by big thunderstorms).

RAMSEY CASCADES

Ramsey Cascades is the tallest waterfall in the park and one of the most spectacular. Water drops 100 feet over rock outcroppings and collects in a small pool where numerous well-camouflaged salamanders can be found.

The trail to the waterfall gains over 2,000′ in elevation over its 4 mile course and the 8-mile roundtrip hike is considered strenuous in difficulty. It follows rushing rivers and streams for much of its length. The last 2 miles pass through old-growth cove hardwood forest with large tuliptrees, basswoods, silverbells, and yellow birches.

Anyone else made the hike up the Ramsey Cascades? Or any other great waterfalls? (I know Joe always has great photos of waterfalls on his blog).

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Freezing Rain

While taking a bowl of kitchen waste out to the compost pile yesterday I noticed some rain had frozen on the Red Russian kale leaves. So beautiful, especially with the purple veins of the kale running underneath it!


This is what you get when you have a 50 degree day with rain and a 30 degree drop in temperature by nightfall. Everything is covered in tiny jewels the next day!

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Garden Decor

I always put a few things out in the garden during the winter to brighten it up since there aren’t any more flowers. I have a few metal birds that go out by a birdbath right by the back door. I really like the way they look when there’s snow on the ground, they’re very cheery. They make me smile every time I come and go.


Anyone else decorate their gardens during the dull winter months? With what?

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Spreading a Little Christmas Cheer

I loved to cook long before I loved to garden (not sure why I didn’t start a cooking blog). I’m not a huge baker other than breads, probably because I don’t really like cookies and cakes. I make them when requested for gatherings, but my real love is cooking savory dishes and baking beautiful breads.

This is 98.4% Whole Grain Seeded Sourdough from Wild Yeast.

Since I don’t like to make cookies I leave those to my mom this time of year. She does a great job, making the perfect gingerbread people soft and chewy just like I like them and crispy but soft butter cookies with icing. She also makes the most wonderful spritz cookies in all shapes, colors, flavors and sizes. Since my mom is the cookie person of the family, I specialize in a little something different. My contribution to the holiday sweet table is chocolate. Delicious chocolate covered cherries to be exact. I’ve been making these for many years and my request list keeps getting longer every year. Friends come out of the woodwork around Christmas and ask when I’m going to be making them. It’s always nice to have a special thing around the holidays.

Usually I start making my cherries right after Thanksgiving. This year however, we’ve been super busy so I started a week late. I made my first batch on Sunday evening and then another on Monday. These were brandied cherries, so I soak the cherries in brandy for a while in the back of the fridge. Then I make brandy flavored fondant to wrap them in, and then they’re enrobed in delicious semi-sweet chocolate.

On Thursday I made a batch of regular almond flavored cherries (these are my favorite). This year I’ve been playing with my recipe a little, I’m using local organic butter and I’m trying to cut the corn syrup out of the recipe. It was a success! I must say, tempering chocolate isn’t for the faint of heart. If you want to make these quickly, just buy dipping chocolate from the store. Most people won’t be able to tell the difference. But if you’re a chocolate lover like me, a little semi-sweet or dark real chocolate is the way to go. Once you learn the trick to tempering it’s not too bad (it just takes longer).

Here’s the recipe in case anyone wants to make some.

CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES
50 maraschino cherries, well drained
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 pounds dipping chocolate, white or dark

Combine butter, corn syrup and salt; blend until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix well. Knead until smooth and shiny; wrap in wax paper and chill for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain cherries. Shape a marble-size piece of fondant around each cherry; place on wax paper-lined tray. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.

Melt chocolate over hot water, stirring constantly. Dip cherries and place on wax paper-lined tray (I find those tiny muffin cups to be perfect). Store in covered container in a cool, dark place for 10 to 14 days to fully ripen and to attain the “liquidy” inside.

Brandied Cherries
Soak cherries in brandy for at least 2 days. Omit almond extract and add 1/2 teaspoon brandy flavoring instead. Follow recipe as stated above.

So what are you famous for? Cookies, chocolates, breads?

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