Hello Friends! Welcome to the Depressed Kitchen, which describes not only the economy in general, but specifically as it applies to me. I have a huge stash of Depression era cookbooks, and what's left of Grandma Kettle's memories of her childhood in that time.
In this edition, I will out line either how to do a pretty good brunch on the cheap, or how to keep your in-laws visit happy and short. Pa's mom isn't liberal friendly, much younger than my mom and lives in AZ. You can imagine how she feels about me. Let's just say we both like the living arrangements. It's unfortunate she takes her peevish crap out on my kids, but whatever. If they don't get to know her, it's really her fault, IMHO. She avoids them, me, even her own son like the plague. Like I said, whatever.
So back before the little one came along the whole family worked at a very large and busy restaurant. Managers, waitresses, hostesses, waiters, etc. we all worked there. If you have ever worked in the restaurant business that depends on volume you know that holidays off are a rarity. Since we could never coordinate a family dinner, someone always couldn't make it and somebody's feeling got hurt, we changed it to a Christmas eve brunch. Starting at 7:00, we would make breakfast until noon for any friend or family member who stopped by. I would hand them a jar of homemade jam or a box of homemade cookies and feed them whatever they wanted. I wanted to share some of these recipes with you.
Slow Scrambled Eggs
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup heavy cream or half and half
1/4 cup good melting cheese like gruyere or muenster
Butter
Gently mix the eggs, egg yolk, cream. Melt a small chunk of butter over medium low heat. Add eggs and drop in cheese either grated or diced. Stir gently until eggs are just set enough. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve with crispy toast. Serves two.
So this was the most popular item this year with several slices of crispy bacon. We also served maple sausages and apple chicken sausages. The idea is that we have spent our mandatory time with these family members, exchanged gifts, etc. yet we could not be engaged in too much conversation as we were so busy feeding them. See? The conversation runs along the lines of "How would you like your eggs Nana?" rather than something more dangerous.
Easy Does it Cinnamon Rolls
1 box of hot roll mix
1 egg
1 stick soft butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup HOT (not boiling) water
1 tablespoon good vanilla
1 cup white, brown, or mixture of sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon
Mix 1/2 butter, egg, mix, white sugar, water, vanilla. Turn out on floured surface. Knead five minutes. Let rest five minutes. Roll out as thin as possible. Cover with rest of butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nuts at this point if you like. Roll up and slice. Place slices in a greased pan and let rise anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours depending on the yeast. Bake about thirty minutes at 350. These are yummy!
Frost with 1 stick of room temp butter mixed with powdered sugar and a few drops of milk.
No Christmas dinner to attend, we have already done our familial duty. The afternoon of Christmas eve is devoted to wrapping and drinking. Christmas day might see us picking at leftover Danish and perhaps relatives from even more distance on the phone. This year Christmas dinner was blueberry waffles, sausages, and ginger syrup. Tonight it is rib steaks and potatoes, easy and yummy and just a few of us to feed.
Banana Bread Pudding
1 loaf's worth of stale egg bread, brioche, butter rolls, egg rolls or Hawaiian rolls
3 eggs
2 cups half and half, whole milk, whipping cream, or a combination
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg, allspice, or your favorite spices
1/2 cup rum, dark or spiced
2 squashed large ripe bananas
1/2 cup craisins
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 stick melted butter
Mix everything but the bread and butter. Tear apart the bread and throw into the mixture. Mix thoroughly but carefully with your hands. Pour into prepared 8x11 pan. Place this pan in a 9x13 and move to a 350 oven. Fill the first pan with water enough to reach 1/2 way up the sides of the second pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Tomorrow the in law will stop by on her way out of town. She will probably stay a whole thirty minutes. I plan to be making these for her to take on her trip. "Can I get you a cup of coffee while you wait Nana? I promise these tidbits for the drive won't take long to put together."
Pretzel Snacks
1 bag of waffle pretzels
1 bag of caramels
1 bag of peanut m and m's
Heat the oven to 350. Place unbroken pretzels on baking sheet. Place one unwrapped caramel on each pretzel. Place sheet in oven until caramels start to melt, about 5 minutes. Pull them out once they are more than slightly melty and immediately place one m and m on top of each caramel.
I want to say thank you to whomever it was that purchased me a lifetime subscription. I promise to write when the jobs let me. It was a ray of light in a very dark place and for that I am profoundly grateful.
Please share your holiday recipes, tips and tricks. I hope my ideas will be helpful as you navigate your own holiday mine fields. How do you deal with your relatives from the other side of the poltical spectrum?