A couple of holiday treats for you

http://womenofgreen.com/2010/12/cooking-is-a-sustainable-act-an-interview-with-kim-odonnel/

     Hope you all had the merriest holidays marked by festive feasts, as I did. Above is an excellent interview with a chef / writer that is well worth reading. And below is some detail about a yummy treat I made to give as gifts recently.

 No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

2 C graham cracker crumbs
1.5 C powdered sugar
1 C chunky peanut butter
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C chopped salted peanuts
1.5 C melted milk chocolate

Lightly grease an 11 x 7" baking pan. In large bowl mix all ingredients except chocolate. Press mixture into pan. Melt chocolate, mixing until smooth. Spread evenly over mixture in pan. Chill until set and then cut into bars.

New Appliances!!

Have spent quite a bit of time researching and shopping for new kitchen appliances over the last couple of months. This sweet ride has just been installed in my kitchen. Will be up to all kinds of experimentation now. I think of this as the holy trinity of ovens. The nuke above does all kinds of tricks my old one didn't, but the real fun is below. The main oven can turn itself on and off! And it has a convection oven which I have never worked with before. Did you know that convection cooking is greener than conventional? I am most excited about the third oven on the bottom. You can opt for it anytime you don't really need a full oven (which is most of the time for me) and it doubles as a warming oven ~ something I have always wished for. Keeping everything warm has always been my biggest challenge when hosting a nice dinner. So stay tuned for my first trials (and errors). There are going to be a lot of them!

The President and First Lady today;

50 Mile Dinner

      Here are some photos I took at the 50 Mile Thanksgiving Dinner where all slow food enthusiasts and pot luck participants had to bring a dish made from at least one local ingredient. See last post to learn what I brought.

Colorful, nutritious, and YUMMY! How do other pescetarian families navigate the traditional holiday meals?

Thursday November 25th: Fifty Mile Thanksgiving Dinner - Chronicle News Story - WMUR Manchester

Thursday November 25th: Fifty Mile Thanksgiving Dinner - Chronicle News Story - WMUR Manchester

I am in this episode from a local television show, about a wonderful event that we have in my town that is quickly becoming a favorite holiday tradition of mine. Here are some photos;

The dish I brought to the dinner was called Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes. The recipe comes from Quebec but I made it with largely local ingredients. These are the before and after photos. Fresh organic pumpkin and potatoes are boiled til soft mashed together with some butter, milk, Greek yogurt, and fresh herbs until desired consistency is reached. Garnish with pepitos and crunchy onions.