Hi Everyone! 😊
How are you all doing today? In my neck of the woods, winter has shown her true colour - WHITE! It snowed SO MUCH the last week. The dogs love it!
💚 I'm sending lots of healing prayers to my Australian friends who are struggling with the fires over there.
I wish I could send you some of my snow. 💚
I wish I could send you some of my snow. 💚
On New Year's Eve, we had our traditional Raclette dinner. This was the first year we didn't have any meat with it, but I didn't really miss it with all of the delicious veggies I served!
I made tuxedo napkins! 😊 Or are they smoking jackets?
We used store bought Raclette cheese and the Raclette Cheese I Made. We mixed the two together because my homemade cheeses don't melt very well. We put my cheese under the store bought and they both kind of melted together, it was delicious! I figured out why my cheese won't and will never melt (until I get a few cows). If you want to read about it, take a look at the post on Rainy Day Cheese Making.
At midnight, we toasted in 2020 with some Brandy Alexanders, Rum Balls and Bailey's Truffles. We aren't much for bubbly, but we do love those cocktails! The Bailey's truffles were very good, so I'll include the link to the recipe I found online - but they were way too melty. I planned to coat them with dark and white chocolate, but they never set, even after leaving them overnight in the deep freezer. Anyone have any ideas as to why they didn't set?
On New Year's Day I made a Vegetarian Tourtière. Verdict? Too heavy on the lentils. Again, I'll include the link to the recipe, but I think if I make this again, I will cut the lentils way down and add more mushrooms and potatoes. It was still very good with mashed potatoes and my Homemade Fruit Ketchup.
For dessert I made individual English Trifles.
After all of the holiday feasting, it was time to bid farewell to excess (at least for a while!) 😇 On January 2nd we celebrated Yule's Twelfth Night. I made a Cream of Chicken Soup for me...
...and a Pasta E Fagioli Soup for Alex. We had some leftover Brie on my Homemade Bread to go with it. Dessert was leftovers.
The Pagan Twelfth Night celebrates the upcoming orchard season and closes up the Yuletide festivities. I dug up and lit my Ice Lanterns (they were under about 3 feet of snow); and we sipped on Apple Cider Wassail while relaxing and enjoying the quiet evening.
Alex and I have gotten used to eating one meal in the evening while we graze a little during the daytime, so we often miss the deliciousness of a good breakfast. Last night I made Toasettes (pronounced tow-sets). This is a traditional breakfast that Alex's French Grandma used to make. It's basically a take on a "toad in the hole".
There isn't really a French word for toast. You could say "pain grillé" (grilled bread); but most Quebecers simply say "toast" but don't pronounce the "t" at the end. That's why Alex's Grandma coined this dish a toaSette.
It's a slice of toast with Cheez Whiz spread on top (I used my Homemade Cheez Whiz), and an egg. We used to add slices of bacon, but this year we added tomatoes. It's all baked in the oven and oh boy oh boy! 😋 I served it with my Lacy Hash Browns and some Iced Coffees.
The husky gals LOVE this weather. They never want to come inside!
Jack loves to run in the snow, but not for too long. He's much happier inside our cozy home. Here he is with Marlene, getting very excited to get back to his warm cuddly bed!
I hope you're all keeping well! See you on Thursday for our art date, the theme is Snow Creatures!
62 comments:
Rain. Mind if I swipe your cheese whiz recipe? My roommate calls it fake cheese when I get from the store.
Your food all looks super yummy. I read the baileys recipe and can not understand why it did not set up either. What is double cream? Is it like heavy whipping cream? The chocolates should have been enough to form it up, I think. But I bet it still tasted good.
Your Jack is quite the character. Marlene looks like she is saying "I don't mind staying out for a bit more".
Love your snow dogs, and all that food looks soooooo good and I am hungry from walking! Hugs to your furries and you, Valerie
Your food looks wonderful and combining the cheeses to melt was a great idea.
Love the pups! Happy Snow-filled Sunday to you- xo Diana
Swipe away Jo! :) Just follow the link to the recipe. All of my recipes are for sharing! Well, I think Mel is right. It's "cheese food" from the store lol. This Cheez Whiz recipe doesn't taste exactly like the store bought, it's better!! :) Hope you enjoy it! If you use orange Cheddar it'll look more like it. Ours lasted 2 weeks in the fridge before we ate it all!
Thanks Marsha! I appreciate you looking at that recipe, and I followed it to a T. I read that double cream is found in the UK and that it's about 40-50% milk fat. So the best I could use was whipping cream at 35%. They definitely tasted awesome, melt in your mouth! :) Marlene will stay outside as long as one of us is out there with her, otherwise, she's velcroed to Jack!! :)
Thanks Valerie :) I'm impressed by how much you walk, I need to follow your lead and get out more, even if it's cold!! :)
Thanks Diana :) I was pretty disappointed to know that my cheeses will likely never melt, and it's just how the milk products are processed here. One of these days I will find a source of raw milk, or I'll have my own! :)
I love your pups! So cute.
Your foods are amazing. You are a whiz!!! (See what I did there?????!!!!)
Hello Rain, and great post! I very much enjoy learning about traditions in families, and yours do not disappoint! Love all your food and festive adult beverages ! That sweet little Jack... what a happy boy!!!! We are still in Florida for another three weeks, and I can’t wait to get back to the ridge. This year we will be having a lot going on, but it’s all exciting! Hope and praying for your successful purchase of that homestead of your dreams! Happy beginnings!!!
Funny Jenn! :) That made me giggle! :)
Thanks Dino :) Nice to hear from you! Three more weeks...wow. I wouldn't mind some hot weather and sunshine for three weeks. :) I wish you had a blog so I could follow your homesteading! Let me know what you have planned for 2020!!
Rain you create the best posts. I swear I am going to stock you at dinner time. Have a great Sunday.
LOL Thanks Nicole! I dare you to get through the snow banks! :)
Everything looks so yummy -- now I'm hungry!
Thanks Debra :)
Oh, those little snow babies. They're so cute! David and I celebrated Twelfth Night with roasted chicken breasts basted with apple cider, my canned cranberry sauce, potato pancakes with freshly grated Jack cheese, roasted green beans, and Brussels sprouts that I cut the centers (hearts ) out and peeled the sprouts leaves and lightly sauteed them with sliced almonds, butter with salt and pepper. They were so much better that way instead of eating them as solid round sour balls. They had a much nicer taste to them. We had Iced apple tea. That's iced tea with apple cider mixed in. Tangy. I loved celebrating the pagan way. This is my second year doing this and it will be a tradition that we will keep.
Your food and drinks are very beautifully presented and I bet they taste good, too. I am surprised that your dogs like the cold and snow.
Hi Leanna :) Oh your Twelfth Night feast sounds so delicious! I'm not a huge fan of sprouts, great idea. Next time I buy them I'll try preparing them that way. I always found them a little too "sprouty" but I guess sour is the word I was looking for! I love celebrating the Pagan way too! :)
Thanks so much Gigi :) The food was all good, I'm so pleased. I get scared trying new things lol...always hoping they'll turn out delicious! Well, the huskies love the snow, they were built for cold weather. Jack though, he'd prefer to be on the couch by the fire! :)
As always...that food looks YUMMY. Unlike you, I am not the biggest of fans with that type of weather. I love snow, I love it to come and go. I don't like it hanging around!!! I am not crazy about COLD. But...it does look amazing and I love that the dogs love it.
LOVE the snow dogs - and yes, I wish you could send it our way.
Your recipes look amazing and put my efforts over the past few weeks to shame.
Salad, salad and more salad. Which is all I can face to either prepare or eat at the moment.
wow! look at that food!!! i think this is the first time in years that we didn't have raclette. maybe we will do it for valentine's day. jack is just too cute! i love those napkins! they look like kimonos!
Thanks Pam :) Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge fan of snow either!! I HATE the cold. I never minded it when I was younger though! It's just the shoveling, it's really back breaking. Alex and I plan to get a snowblower when we settle down because it's just too much and by April we run out of place to put it!!! :)
Thanks Elephant's Child :) Oh, I'm CRAVING salad...I can only eat my home grown lettuce, all the store bought ones give me indigestion, so when spring rolls around I plant dozens of seeds and we eat salads all summer and early fall! I usually plant a few seeds in my window so we have some baby lettuce during the winter, but this year, I ran out of seeds and since we're moving, I didn't buy any more! Wish I had bought some now though!!
Oh Joyce, Kimonos!!! LOL I never thought of that! :) We actually had Raclette twice during the last week because we had so much cheese!!! :)
Your food looks comforting and delicious as always, your pets look so happy. I don't blame them being ready for a warm comforting bed.
Your dog photos are wonderful, our Butchy hated the snow, but if my belly was as low to the ground as his,I would hate it too. I do hate driving in it.
Happy 2020!
Thanks Christine :) I'm with the pets, a comfy warm bed is perfect for these cold nights!!
Thanks Connie :) Oh I wouldn't like having my belly hit the snow either lol! Happy 2020 to you too!!!
All the food looks so good and I love the way you did the napkins.
Thanks Arlene :) The napkins are fun to fold! :)
Every Sunday when I visit your blog I tell myself I really need to step it up in the food department. I love all your makes, Rain. Even if you show something I'm not sure I'd like, I want to want it! LOL at Jack. Yes! I want to go inSIDE!
Thanks Becki :)) I'm so glad you enjoy the foodie posts! I'm with Jack too, inside in the winter is better! :)
your snow dogs are so cute, the video is great!
Yes, I also like to make the wishes of the Australian hopefully it will get better soon !!!
So delicious things I would have loved to have eaten with. * * Smilie
I wish you a nice week!
Greetings Elke
I love the napkin folding idea. Very cute. Wow, look at all that good food. It all looks so amazing. Love the dog photos in the snow too.
. . . . . . and I thought I had been extra busy in the kitchen recently! You are a whirlwind sweet Rain, and Alex is certainly a lucky man.
Jack is adorable - so obvious that he understands every word. Does he speak French too, haha! Come to think of it, do you and Alex?
Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and joyful New Year. Take care in all that snow - digging so deep for the lanterns recalls digging out my kids' winter boots years ago when we lived in New England!
Hugs - Mary X
Thanks Elke :) I'm glad you liked the video! Everything was delicious over the holidays, I need to slow down now lol! :)
Thanks Kristina :) It's so much fun to fold the napkins. There are instructables all over the internet for it!
Thanks Mary :) It's funny you ask about the language. Alex was born in a French Canadian family here in Quebec. I was born in an English-Canadian family, also here in Quebec. I learned French in school and basically if you work here, you have to know French. But Alex lived in the States most of his life so he and I are an English couple. We are both fluently French, but without getting into politics, it's hard to enjoy the French language here in Quebec as an English person, that's why we're moving to a new province in the spring, we feel quite unwelcome as English Canadians. When we got all of our dogs, they were all "French" I guess you could say and we taught them English commands and they understand us perfectly now!
hahaha Jack wants to go in for sure. all your food photos - love them and i was already getting hungry with your blog going to be the last one i checked before going upstairs to eat and then i see all that delicious looking food. Love your napkins too!
Thanks Sandy :) I love the food, but the presentation is fun for me, I'm always trying to find new ways to fold those napkins! Jack is really smart, he knows what he wants!!! :)
Love your dogs in the snow … and your food is so delicious, it's making me feel hungry! LOL!
Enjoy your week.
All the best Jan
Thanks Jan, have a great week! :)
As always, your spread looks so fabulous and festive, and even though I know veggies are healthy to eat, I need my meat girl(lol) Such special sweet treats that look so yummy. I don't blame your dogs for loving the snow, and it looks truly beautiful. This weekend in North Carolina it will be 70 degrees in January!!!! Hugs and Happy New Year! RO
Rain, your food dishes always look so pretty and so delicious! Wish I were a cook like you! I'm with Jack when it comes to getting back inside and out of the cold. Your dogs are adorable.
Thanks so much RO :)) Trust me, I'm not a veggie person as much as I may seem lol...but Alex went vegetarian last year so I'm trying to be mindful of that. He doesn't mind if I eat meat, but I sometimes just don't feel like making two meals! Plus I'm saving money not buying it! Oh gosh 70 degrees...I'm envious!!! :)
Thanks Henny :) I can only handle the winter if it's close to zero, then it's really nice, but my bones can't handle too much cold anymore! I'm right behind Jack! :)
Rain,
Your foods look so good always! I think I would've kept the ice lanterns buried and stayed indoors. lol The snow is beautiful in your neck of the woods but I'm happy just seeing your pictures. I'm going to check out your pasta soup and homemade bread recipes. I want to try making a crusty bread to have with hard cheese for snacking on the weekend. Nope, it won't be homemade and won't be as good as yours but it'll be good enough for us. :)
Thank goodness I just ate because your posts make me hungry...HAHA
Oh that Jack! Those big, beautiful, soulful eyes! Oh my goodness, is he ever adorable. I just want to scoop him up and hug him :)
I am so heartbroken with what's going on in Australia. I am praying for rain!
Thanks Cathy :) You had me at bread and cheese! :) We actually opened two more cheeses yesterday and oh my gosh we are spoiled, they were good! The bread recipe is so easy to make, but you have to start it the day before you bake it. Well, you don't, but it's much fluffier on the inside if you let the dough sit in the fridge overnight! I was contemplating not digging out the lanterns, but they're just so pretty lit up at night!! :)
Thanks Martha :) Jack is definitely huggable! :) Yeah, the fires in Australia, I'm trying not to watch any news or read too much about it because it's too much for my emotions. I just pray quietly for those poor animals and the people over there.
Looking at all that goodness I realise how much I miss cheese. I dont miss the meat at all but cheese ... god !!!!
Time for babies on the farm cant come soon enough so I can make cheese again ... lol
Your food looks delicious. I feel like I wanna take a week of wellness food vacation at your house ❤
Thanks Sis :) You may want to rethink that "wellness" week...I have lots of wine and chocolate here lol! ;) I agree, I don't really miss meat, but I would miss cheese! I kind of envy that you will have raw milk!!!
I'm not sure if my comment on your Cheez Whiz recipe actually went through, Rain. Yours is much healthier than the commercial kind. And I've already got your recipe saved on my desktop. Jack is too funny. I don't think he liked being out in the cold. I can't believe that you can make it through the day by grazing. Well, I believe you can ~ I can't! LOL Your food always looks so scrumptious! We had sushi on New Years Eve. Our supermarket has on-site, freshly made sushi every day; but it's a rare treat for us. We stayed home enjoying the sushi and some other treats with a bottle of wine and a movie. It was perfect!
You certainly do have a LOT of snow and yes, I know, that is quite an understatement. Your New Year's Eve and New Years day meals looked so good. We had a plate of cheese, sausage, pepperoni, olives and roasted peppers which were leftovers from our pre-Christmas get together and we also enjoyed some Prosecco, which I really like but my husband tolerates at least once a year. The dogs do look happy, maybe not Jack so much.
Thanks Louise :) Oh your New Year's Eve sounds like it was just lovely and cozy!! Who needs to go out! I don't get notifications anymore when people leave comments, so I'll have to go and see if the Cheez Whiz recipe has your comment. It's very tasty, it's not 100% like the store bought, but it's dang good! Let me know if you make it!
Thanks Dorothy :) I love Prosecco too! Alex isn't a fan of it, he likes sweeter wines so we mainly stick to warming cocktails in the winter. Your charcuterie plate sounds so yummy! I love eating finger foods! We did have a lot of snow around New Years and today it's POURING rain!
Wine and chocolate sounds like perfect wellness ;)
I agree sis! :)
Can't help it...Jack is my fave! Those eyes!
Same here Stefanie! :)
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