The Farm's First Christmas!

It's really beginning to feel like the holidays for me now. It never did before. In college, I felt that being home was a burden, a hazy one that either ended with me moping in my room, or texting my college friends with small details of how "annoying" my family was. In California, as I've talked about before, it never felt like Christmas, wearing shorts and driving the interstate to find fast food restaurants that would stay open for us. Or, some years, we split the burden--one of us would stay with the dogs while the other spent Christmas with family back in Pennsylvania. Lonely is all I remember for three years then.

I didn't keep up with the traditions; I never bothered to try. Maybe it was too painful, or maybe I just didn't really care that much. Those in-between years of settling and resettling, in rented houses and backyards that were too small, I never thought I had anything to celebrate. And, as always, I was wrong. And, as always, I'm learning.

We moved into our house just after the holidays last year, so this is the first time we're really experiencing it all. The tree, the fir, the snow-packed dog paws that melt on the hardwood floors. Old ornaments from second-hand stores and our mothers' attics. Wooden ones, broken ones, ones that hang on paperclips instead of hooks. Things we've never done before, experiences that I've been wanting to create.

And it was good. Rushed, but good. Haphazard, but good, to look back at a year of questions and answers and understand that sometimes the most fun we're going to have in a week is doing the mindless, repetitive tasks that we used to hate as kids.

And the same goes for cookies. It used to be a tradition, one that I seemed to forget about until I'm hungry for something sweet. But this year, as I shared with Modern Farmer, it's turned into something I love doing. Decorating, baking, cutting shapes and dipping them in coffee. I can't wait to give them out as gifts this year. And below this recipe is a special surprise for your pup as well!

Iced Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg (of course, we used our girls' fresh eggs!)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup AP flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

1. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Add egg and vanilla and mix together
3. Sift together dry ingredients and gently stir into your butter mixture
4. Turn out onto a floured work surface and pat into a disc. Wrap and chill for 1 hour
5. Preheat oven to 400*F
6. Roll out and cut dough into desired shapes (about 3/4 inch thickness worked best for me)
7. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until edges are just browned

For decorating: Use dyed royal icing (my ratio is 1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar for each 1 egg white, plus a 1/4 teaspoon of water or so, mixed with your dyes) and a bit of patience for the decorating. I always remind myself that the more handmade it looks, the more love I put into it--so I never stress too much about perfection!
 

And here is an alternative for your best pal! Make these dog treats (recipe was shared here) and give them away to all your dog loving friends!

Valentine's Day Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats!

We leave for Cancun tomorrow, so I wanted to get this last Valentine's Day post out for you! While I have a few more surprises up my sleeve for Nolan, this one came a little earlier in the week and we snacked on them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sweet, nutty, and memorable, these rice krispie treats should be just another reminder of why you're with your loved one this Valentine's Day!

Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats

As with many of my recipes, this one, too, is versatile. Use the add-ins you want, change up the white chocolate to dark, and write whatever message you want to convey to your baby boy. 

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoon butter
• 12 oz marshmallow fluff
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 12 cup rice krispies
• 1 tablespoon red sprinkles
• Pinch of flaked sea salt
• 12 oz white chocolate (chips are fine)
• 1/4 teaspoon red dye (plus more for writing, amount may vary by quality of dye)

Directions:

1. In a dutch oven, melt your butter on medium-high, allow it to cook until brown and slightly nutty
2. Immediately add your marshmallow fluff and begin stirring
3. Add sugar and continue to melt your marshmallow down
4. When completely melted, take off heat and stir in your cereal, sprinkles, and salt
5. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, press down with slightly oiled hands
6. Allow to cool and harden slightly and cut into hearts with a cookie cutter
7. While these finish cooling, melt your chocolate in a large bowl
8. Divide your treats in half. For the first half dip into the white chocolate and return to parchment to cool 
9. When you've done your first half, now mix red dye into the remaining white chocolate and mix to create a pale pink
10. Dip remaining treats into the chocolate
11. Finally, using a toothpick, paint with more dye saying on the hearts and enjoy!

Breakfast in Bed: Oatmeal Topped with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Valentine's Day used to be a tit for tat affair, early on when I was 19 and 20. It was made for show, occasion, the performance. You get older, you grow with your partner. One year I asked Nolan to pay my car insurance as a present, another we went to the spa in my hometown. This year, we bought a house and are going to Cancun on Friday. We grew older, we stopped making it harder on each other. 

I try to make it easy. I get the coffee ready and wake up with our three dogs at six in the morning. I keep the TV off so he doesn't wake. I turn the heater on in the bathroom, so the tile isn't cold when he gets a shower before work. I try to make it easy for him, easier than I used to make it. When I would demand idolatry and independence and everything in between.

We always have Sundays off together. Since we'll be gone next weekend, I made something for him to wake up to. Breakfast in bed, like I do from time to time. Warm oatmeal in our cold house. We sat in the quiet morning frost, in our wood paneled room, under the faux-fur blanket my mother got us for Christmas, and realized how far we've come in six years.

Roasted Sweet Potato Topped Oatmeal

This recipe can be easily adapted to your tastes and quantities, but the sesame against the rosemary, the roasted and caramelized sweet potato against the soft and sweet oatmeal is definitely something to try before you make adaptations.

Ingredients for Roasted Sweet Potatoes:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 2 TB olive oil
• 1 TB brown sugar
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions for Roasted Sweet Potatoes:

1. Preheat oven to 400*F
2. On a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, mix all ingredients
3. Bake for 25 minutes or until caramelized and tender
4. Allow to cool before assembling oatmeal (see below)

Assembly: Make your quick cooking oats to box direction for 2 people, substituting the water for almond milk.  Mix in 1/2 TB of peanut butter per 1 cup of oatmeal. Top with desired amount of sweet potato, sprinkle each bowl with 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon chopped rosemary, 2 tablespoon brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of sesame seeds. Eat immediately with a bit of maple syrup on top.

This post was made in partnership with Le Creuset, making some of my absolute favorite and most envied pieces around. To find out more, visit their website, like their Facebook, or follow them on Instagram!

Cioccolata calda: Or, Italian-style Hot Chocolate

In Italy, I drank a lot of tea. Too embarrassed to order the proper coffee and how many packets of sugar I used; I got mine from vending machines on campus anyway. I would nurse it while craning my neck to look at a fresco, taking notes, doodling in the margins when my teacher would switch to Italian. I did not know Italian. I never thought to learn before moving there.

Italy is a blur now, I remember it in fragments. In some ways, I can't remember much of anything except the cafeteria, the silent nuns who nodded their heads. The liturgical smell of the monastery that was a mix between parchment and antiseptic solution. I remember the art in vague metaphors of form and color. I think I cried seeing the David, but it could have been an eyelash. My contacts were old that day too, I do remember that.

October was a blur. I took trips to Belgium, Ireland, Spain, and Tunisia. I didn't bother to answer my phone when my mother called to wish me a happy birthday. I ended an email to a professor with "Besos". I was not myself, but I was a lot of things. I ate with my hands, standing up, quickly with my head down. I smoked a joint on a statue with two friends and fell asleep in the cab home. I didn't get the hang of it all, but I thought I did.

By November of that year, I started to figure out how to order coffee, the rules and rituals of calling Rome my home. We had a fake Thanksgiving and then Christmas rolled in lazily. Marketplaces and stands selling witches and baubles. I bought nothing but a ticket to the carousel and the icy air turned my cheeks red and dry during finals week.

It's six years ago today since I left for a flight to JFK. The morning before my bus left, I ordered a hot chocolate. Something to keep my hands busy and warm, as impatient as they were back then. The drink was thick, nearly a pudding, its silken warmth coating my throat. It was spiked with an alcohol I never quite tasted again but it hung on my tongue like a whispered prayer.

And this is my approximation, with Reddi-wip and chocolate sprinkles and smooth peanut butter. Made on the stovetop in a saucepan I found at a Texas flea market. It all comes full circle, it just took a few years and a few thousand miles to get there.

Italian-style Hot Chocolate!

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup almond milk
• 2 TB cornstarch
• 2 TB whole milk or water
• 6 oz milk chocolate, best quality you can afford, chopped
• 2 TB smooth peanut butter
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• ½ TB almond liqueur
• Whipped cream, marshmallows, and sprinkles, if desire

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, whisk together cocoa, sugar, cream, and milk
2. Heat on medium until sugar is dissolved, but making sure to stir frequently so the cocoa doesn’t clump
3. While the saucepan is heating, in a small bowl, mix together cornstarch and milk to create a slurry
4. Next, heat your cream mixture until bubbles form around the rim, then immediately take off heat and stir in your slurry, chocolate, peanut butter
5. Continue to stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until everything is well-mixed
6. Finally, stir in extract and liqueur
7. Now, if you feel your chocolate was a bit clumpy, you didn’t stir enough, or your slurry did not fully incorporate into your mixture, I recommend running your entire mixture through a sieve to make it extra silken
8. Serve immediately, top as desired. This recipe doesn’t not store wel

The Leftovers: Roasted Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Spread

I spent yesterday at my sister's place, kissing my niece's hands and telling her I love her. We showed her the Christmas lights and she stared in amazement at the colors. We ate off of paper plates on the couch and my mother said she was thankful that I was home now. I tried to fight off a nap and nearly lost. I was in bed by ten after finishing the first season of Fargo.

Today, I'm baking alone. I have the house to myself and I'm going to clean up my mess and then make a new one, I'm sure. But, like last year, here is a recipe for some of your leftovers - this time with sweet potatoes.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Spread

This recipe is very forgiving, so feel free to use any kind of goat cheese you'd like. Further, this recipe outlines if you do not already have roasted sweet potatoes on hand -- if you do, then just use a cup or a cup and a half of your leftovers.

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato, cut in half and pierced with a fork
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 oz creamy goat cheese (I used Vermont Creamery's Spreadable Goat Cheese)
• 1 TB parsley
• 2 TB honey
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425*F and lightly grease a shallow casserole dish or baking pan
2. Place your sweet potato halves skin-side down in your prepared pan and drizzle with olive oil and pat a quarter cup of sugar on each
3. Roast for 30 minutes or until fork-tender
4. Remove from oven, allow to cool
5. Remove from skins and place meat of your sweet potatoes and the caramelized sugar in a food processor
6. Throw in remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. You may want to add a bit of greek yogurt to this if it is not as smooth as you would like
7. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, use on toast for breakfast