Christmas Acorns

I love tradition, and I believe that my sisters have started a new one that I will look forward to every year for years to come at holiday time.

Before I write about it however, I have a confession. I sort of invited myself and crashed the party of what was originally intended as a Christmas cookie exchange for White family "siblings". Let me elaborate. I am not an original sibling; I am an honorary sibling. After nearly twenty-one years of marriage to the only son in a clan of 8, I feel a sense of entitlement. Moreover, I feel like their sister, not their sister-in-law, so it's not my fault. It's theirs for embracing me as one of them all these years. It did not occur to me that perhaps I wasn't an official invitee until after I'd baked chocolate crinkle cookies (aka 'black and whites') and classic peanut butter cookies until 1:00 AM in the morning and then showed up with my husband (the real White sibling) at the party where there were very few spouses in attendance. Ahem. But now that I've attended, I have become an inherent part of the White sibling cookie exchange tradition, and therefore, I can write about what this blog is really about now...Christmas Acorns and the lesson of resilience I took away from them.

It's been said that necessity is the mother of invention. It's also been said that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. In this case, when an unexpectedly robust winter storm kills your power and renders your oven unusable, you make Christmas Acorns. Christmas Acorns, so dubbed by the sister that made them, are delicious little morsels that are crunchy, chewy, chocolate and nutty little bites of heaven. And we would not have experienced them had it not been for a winter storm and said sister's resilience and perseverance.

The new family tradition came in the form of a Christmas cookie exchange. It was planned several weeks in advance. Reminders were sent and RSVPs requested so the host sister could plan accordingly. Guests were requested to bake nine dozen cookies and, if they liked, bring a few samples to share. I was planning what to bake, poring through the 'Art of Good Cookies Plain and Fancy', a cookie cookbook given to me by my great Aunt Irene P. Tener. I absolutely love and treasure this book. It is dog-eared from years of baking her own delicious cookies, speckled with what I suspect are vanilla stains and personalized with her own notations like "delicious and good for packaging" and "added extra almond extract, freezes well" in her signature flamboyant handwriting. Being the competitive bunch that we are, I can imagine we all were trying to find THE be-all-end-all cookie or candy that would be THE talk of the party, and as well, determine what sort of beautiful packaging we would use to make the exchange complete.

And then it hit. The first real winter storm that killed power, toppled trees and rendered baking, for some, impossible. Most people would have graciously bowed out of the exchange because how do you participate in a cookie and candy exchange when your oven is defunct? But, one of my sisters is not 'most people'. And this is where the necessity being the mother of invention part comes in. Although the oven was not working, her computer was and her network was intact. She sent the request out to the great virtual abyss for bakeless cookie ideas, and the answer from the cosmos (okay, truth be told, it came from another sister) was...Christmas Acorns. Christmas Acorns are made by taking bite-sized little pretzel nuggets and wrapping them in caramel. When I made them, I used Kraft caramels and painstakingly rolled out each little cube to wrap around the pretzel and shape into an acorn shape (it just made me appreciate the original effort all the more). One end of the 'nut' is dipped into melted chocolate and then dipped into crushed nuts to create the 'cap'. I used a combination of crushed almonds and walnuts.

The lesson here is from my Foodie sister is that every obstacle (including those related to cooking or baking) is not really a roadblock, but an opportunity. Who would have known that had it not been for a winter storm we would not have been introduced to what most certainly will be a Christmas tradition going forward! Yum!

Food Therapy

So, I have finally won the battle with technology and am entering my first ever post on a blog! Experts say if I do this every day for 22 days it will become habit. I actually 'blog' in my head all the time, so the trick for me will be to get my blog thoughts on to virtual 'paper'!

Let me start by saying that I am an unbelievably blessed woman with an awesome husband who is the best and most talented cook ever. It is not uncommon on a Monday night (when other families are having Kraft macaroni and cheese or Hamburger Helper to kick off the week) for him to be flipping through one of the many cookbooks in our library for a new recipe to try.

Last Monday he decided to make Pasta Primavera with homemade fettucine pasta. For some, this may not sound very difficult or challenging, but this man works a backbreaking job for ten plus hours, and then comes home and embarks upon the task of making pasta from scratch for us. I believe it is his therapy; the way he unwinds at the end of the day. He is uncompromising when it comes to food and his philosophy is this. If you are going to the trouble of cutting up garden fresh broccoli, carrots, red bell peppers and onions, then sauteing them in extra virgin olive oil and blending them with a creamy white fettucine sauce made from real butter, it's criminal to pour that delicious combination over store-bought, boxed pasta.

He is so busy creating the perfect meal that he may not realize the benefits of his cooking 'therapy' and how it extends to our whole family and brings us closer together. Our 13 year old daughter got off the sofa from watching iCarly to investigate what he was doing with the manual pasta machine. Before we knew it, she is busy helping him repeatedly feed the dough into the machine, and they are laughing and talking as they figure out together the process that will result in the best noodles. Our son, always on the lookout for nice things to do for his girlfriend, stopped in the kitchen long enough to watch intently as his dad made the fettucine sauce in order that he could repeat the recipe and surprise her with his own homemade meal. This resulted in some good father/son bonding if only for a few brief moments. And of course, all this time and effort resulted in an absolutely fabulous meal that we all sat down and enjoyed together as a family.

There are some people out there who may believe that food as therapy is not necessarily a good thing, but for us it draws us closer, makes mundane moments magical and gets us talking, laughing and working together for the common goal - FOOD. For us, food fuels not just our bodies, but our relationships. Like pouring the pièce de résistance over boxed pasta, it's a shame to not benefit fully from what a good meal can do to bring a family together.

WII-tarted and chicken fried

I need a 12 year old to come to my house and show me how to set-up the stupid WII. I really tried to last night. I worked on it for about an hour. So needless to say I did not exercise last night and tonight I had a meeting with a designer until 8:30 so it's not happening tonight either. There's is always the morning, well at least I can hope.

I did do OK with eating better - woohoo, not exactly great but, any step in the tight direction is an improvement.

I did the breakfast smoothy thing and it was fantastic

Lunch was a small serving of tuna and a salad (half my normal amount of salad dressing)

Dinner was not as calorie conscious as I wanted but not horrible. I was all prepared to make the tortilla soup. I had thawed out the chicken breasts, opened the package and about gagged. The chicken was bad. We ended up getting a taco salad from Jimboy's Taco. I had mine without the sour cream and only a little bit of avocado.

This is no way to write a food blog! I am a good cook really.

Pomegranates and Peas Please

Everyone around me is talking about losing weight going to the gym and eating better. Even my son David who is in fantastic shape is giving up cheese, if you know David you know this is a real sacrifice for him. I know I desperately need to do the same. That is: lose weight, go to the gym and eat healthier. So why do I resist? I tell myself how I will feel better, look better and probably live longer, but I still ate 2 ice cream sandwiches after dinner, (at least they were the skinny cow brand so they don't really count, right?) My lack of self discipline is not especially evident in other areas of my life, so why am I so out of control with my weight?

Here's my thought, if I had to admit what I eat everyday and how often I exercise to anyone who might be reading this, maybe then I would become accountable for the state of my waist line. Don't even ask my weight that is something I can't even admit to myself.

This is my intention: to eat healthier, watch not just the quantity but the quality of food I put in my mouth and serve my family. No more indulgent menus with excessive amounts of butter and second servings. Although I refuse to give up taste nor will I resort to eating Lean Cuisine and other frozen cardboard food substitutes. I should be able to put my culinary skills to work and make delicious and nutritious meals. Now to address the exercise half of the equation. Since I bought myself the WII Fit for my birthday (Oct 15th) and have yet to use it, I will set it up tonight and learn how to use it. I will even commit to try it for at least 1 month. Then evaluate the effectiveness and desire to continue.

This is how I will start the day tomorrow

Breakfast

a large fruit and vegetable smoothy. I use to make them all the time and they are so good. Here's one of my recipes

1/2 cup ice

1/2 cup Poms pomegranate juice

1/2 cup low fat plain yogurt

1 med banana

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1 small carrot

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup water

Supplements:

1 tbls liquid calcium

1 scoop fiber

1/2 scoop super green algae

Blend until smooth

This makes 2 large servings and tastes great

Don't know what's for lunch yet but how's this sound for diner?

chicken tortilla soup,

steamed broccoli

glazed pears with pecans for desert

Wish me luck

Chicago Fire Pizza

One of our favorite Pizza restaurants is Chicago Fire in Old Town Folsom. The pizza is fantastic whether it's their thin crusts or their deep dish I have never been disappointed, but my latest obsession, the item I must order whenever I go there (which is often) is the baked artichoke. It's perfectly prepared with butter and parmesan cheese baked on. There is no need for any dip just peel and eat. Have the caesar salad with it for the perfect lunch!

When you go, if the wait is long (don't despair it is worth the wait) get on the waiting list then go over to Procissi Cellar's wine shop just across the street. You can order a sampling of 5 wines for $6. and enjoy the local art display from some of the best artists in northern California. Be sure to tell them Theresa sent you

http://chicagofirerestaurant.com

http://procissicellar.com