Most married couples have a plethora of small appliances that they registered for, and received, when they got married.  I’d venture to say most of them never get used.  I saw a quesadilla maker on a registry once.  Really, people, how difficult is it to make a quesadilla in a skillet or griddle?  Most of the ones we received were practical, or I thought they would be anyway.  Even so, it was a few years before I really put some of them to good use.  I did not cook from scratch much when we were first married.  Take the bread machine for example.  I had a fantasy of making delicious homemade bread every week.  Yeah right.  I made a couple loaves and discovered that it just wasn’t that good.  The texture did not compare to the “bakery” bread I could buy at the store.  So, I didn’t use the machine much.  Then a couple years ago, I started making more things from scratch and trying to avoid trans fat and corn syrup as much as possible.  So, I decided to make my own pizza crust.  The first couple times I mixed, rolled, and kneaded by hand.  Kneading by hand is work, by the way.  I can see why my grandmothers just made cornbread, ha!  Anyway, all that work and the dough would not rise.  We just don’t keep our house that warm, between 64 and 67 degrees in the winter.  I even put the dough in a cabinet over the under-cabinet light, so a relatively warm spot, to no avail.  So, I gave up on the pizza dough for awhile.  Then, for some reason I happpened to puruse my manual/cookbook for the bread machine, and it had a recipe for whole wheat pizza dough.  Eureka!  It turned out perfect.  It kneads and rises beautifully.  I just have to pull it out and roll out the crust.  It also makes great breadsticks.  So, then I started using the bread machine probably once a week for veggie pizza.  I roast a mixture of frozen veggies (asparagus, green beans, green peas, broccoli) with some olive oil, sea salt, and cracked pepper.  Then I top the crust with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and the veggies.  It sounds weird, but it’s so good!

I consider using the bread machine once a week to be getting pretty good use out of it.  Particularly since we really enjoy the homemade pizza.  It is WAY cheaper than ordering out and much healthier than store bought freezer pizza.  But then when I was reading the Tightwad Gazette, one of the readers mentioned that they didn’t like the bread from the bread machine, but had found that if they used the machine to make the dough, then baked it in the oven, it was much better.  So I thought I’d give it a shot.  I used the french bread dough recipe from my manual, but substituted whole wheat flour for about half of the required flour.  That made it more dense, but it was still surprisingly good.  I think I’ve found another good use of my bread machine–making bread, of all things!  I’m eager to try some different kinds of bread.  I think the wheat french bread dough would actually make good soft pretzels, if I were ever so inclined.  But I’d like to try some of the other recipes, like dinner rolls, italian herb bread, etc.  I don’t have any bread pans, so I’ll probably stick to those breads that I can just roll out and bake on a cookie sheet. 

I guess I’ve been awol for December!  ‘Tis the season to be busy I guess.  We had a great stocking stuffer party on Saturday.  Seven people came over and a few others dropped off donations.  We had the veggie lasagna, which turned out great, and then proceeded to sorting and stuffing everything in the stockings.  We had more than enough.  Silly me, I’d been worried that there wouldn’t be enough to fill 25 stockings, but bless our friends, they were so kind and generous.  We sent 25 stockings as well as six boxes of movies, books, and food.  It was great.  I know the unit will be delighted to receive their goodies.   The post office provides free flat rate boxes for shipping things to troops, so I was able to go pick up a bunch of those for the packaging.  We shipped them out on Tuesday.  Hopefully everything will get there by Christmas! 

Meanwhile I’ve been working on our holiday letter.  We started the letter format last year in liu of cards.  Actually Brian sent a letter out while he was in Iraq for Christmas of ‘04, and everyone really liked that.  We found that people appreciate hearing how our year has gone, particularly those that live far away and don’t hear from us much.  And we’ve always enjoyed getting christmas letters from our friends.  Cards are pretty and all, but then I just feel bad about throwing them in the recycle bin after the holiday!  Some people save cards.  I don’t like having all that clutter around.  That’s how you end up 85 years old with a garage full of junk for your kids and grandkids to sort through!

We put up the christmas tree last weekend too.  The cats have not yet knocked it over, surprise, surprise.  They’ve managed to swipe a few ornaments off though.  They seem to like the tree skirt underneath, getting tangled up and dashing around it.  We’ve had a real tree I think once since we have had the cats, and of course they were climbing in it, so we just go with the artificial now.  It’s kind of silly to cut down a tree just to put in your house for a month anyway.  They’re really pretty and smell so nice, but really.  Unless I had enough land to get one with the roots and then plant it after, it would just be a waste. 

I received an email from Whole Foods (I don’t shop there, $$$, but they got my email when they bought Wild Oats) with this interesting breakdown of the winter solstice celebrations, so I thought I’d share:

Winter Holiday Traditions

Throughout our lives, each year’s winter holiday season is a much anticipated time. From late November to early February we have a virtual catalog of celebrations: Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Winter solstice, Sancta Lucia, Christmas, Kwanza, both Western and Chinese New Year and the interconnected Three Kings Day (Epiphany) and Candlemas Day (Dia de la Candelaria).
This clustering of holidays around the winter solstice — the shortest day and longest night of the year — is no accident. The solstice was a frightening time for our pagan ancestors, especially in the northern reaches of the globe, and its celebration was rooted in fear and superstition, which gave rise to traditions that survive to this day. These traditions help make individual holidays memorable and many, though not all, involve food, since food was of supreme importance when gods of thunder and goddesses of love ruled the world, and our minds.

Thanksgiving

Food is the main attraction on Thanksgiving, with the noble turkey taking center stage. But hidden within the turkey itself is an interesting piece of anatomy with a tradition all its own — a thin, V-shaped bone that is similar to our own collarbones joined together. Both the bone and the tradition surrounding it is variously called the wishbone, the lucky break or, in Britain, the merrythought. Care is taken while carving the bird to preserve this bone, which is then thoroughly dried and presented to two children, who each grasp a branch of the V and make a wish. The children then pull smartly and whoever ends up with the larger piece supposedly gets their wish. This particular “wishing” ritual probably originated in Italy before the Common Era and was brought to Britain by the Romans and to the shores of the New World by English colonists. It is part of a long established series of wishing and good luck rituals that include “first star,” birthday candles, horseshoes, the four-leaf clover and the rabbit’s foot.

Hanukkah

The eight-day celebration of Hanukkah is based on the professed miracle of one day’s worth of lamp oil (pure olive oil) lasting for eight days during the reconsecration of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Maccabees in 165 BCE. Olive oil being edible, it was inevitable that it become integral to this holiday’s food traditions, hence the pervasiveness of fried food on Hanukkah tables. Of those foods, latkes are perhaps the most common today and potatoes their most common ingredient. Originally, however, latkes were made from a variety of other vegetables, since potatoes were indigenous to the Americas and unknown to the rest of the world at that time. Sufganiyot — donuts without the hole — are another very popular fried food, especially in Israel, where they appear on street vendor’s stands up to a month before the holiday.

The Winter Solstice

The celebration of the winter solstice is an extremely ancient rite that strongly influenced the founding of more modern holidays, including Hanukkah and Christmas. The Roman version of it, known as Saturnalia, was such a popular holiday in the early days of Christianity that the celebration of Christ’s birthday was set to coincide with it.
Because of the sheer age and pervasiveness of the solstice celebration, several of its own traditions became part of the Christmas holiday that eventually replaced it. Among them were:

• Kissing under the Mistletoe — This plant was revered by early Celtic and Nordic tribes who assigned to it magical powers that included protection from such things as disease, witchcraft and lightening strikes. The kissing legend probably derives from a complex and somewhat illogical Norse myth that relates how Frigga, the goddess of love and beauty, implored all living things that sprang from the earth not to harm her beloved son, Balder. Since mistletoe was a parasitic plant that grew on trees and not from the earth, it was excluded and its wood subsequently used by the evil god Loki to make an arrow which killed Balder. Frigga’s tears of grief turned the Mistletoe’s red berries white, and when Balder was later restored to life, she forgave the plant and made it a symbol of love, decreeing that anyone who met beneath it must kiss. When a man kisses a woman under the mistletoe, he must remove one berry and when the berries are all gone, there is no more kissing. A Christian addition to this plant’s lore relates how the wood was used to make the cross upon which Christ was crucified and as a result it was cursed and barred from growing in the earth and forced to grow on other plants instead.
• Christmas trees and wreaths — The Romans brought evergreen plants indoors to celebrate Saturnalia, a days-long feast and celebration to honor Saturn, the god of agriculture. This pagan tradition was kept alive in parts of northern Europe as the Roman Empire faded away. Beginning in Germany centuries later, it insinuated itself into the Christmas holiday and German emigrants later brought it to America. The tradition was solidified in the mid 19th century when Queen Victoria (of German ancestry) installed a Christmas tree in the royal palace. In America a decade later, President Franklin Pierce put one in the White House. By 1880, Christmas tree ornaments were being manufactured — the beginning of the end for homemade decorations such as popcorn and cranberry strings — and in 1923 President Calvin Coolidge switched on the lights of the first national outdoor Christmas tree.

In addition, myths and legends unique to Christianity were promoted throughout Europe to help consolidate the young religion. Others simply took on a life of their own and were embellished by imaginative entrepreneurs. Among these were:

• Sancta Lucia, or St. Lucy’s Day — This holiday occurs on December 13th in several European countries and denotes the beginning of the Christmas season, or advent. Though originating in Sicily to celebrate the martyrdom of a young girl, it is today most ardently embraced by Sweden and in America by Scandinavian and German Lutheran congregations. It was originally a family event in which the oldest daughter would don a candle-lit evergreen or Lingonberry wreath as a crown and serve her parents coffee and saffron-flavored buns while singing a song appropriate to the occasion. It is now a public event featuring a procession of young women — still filled with song and wearing candle-lit wreaths and white dresses — led by the winner of a beauty competition whose duties are often remarkably similar to those of a Miss America or Miss Universe. The candle-lit evergreen wreaths are hallmarks of pagan cultures that celebrated the triumph of light over darkness.
• Gift-giving and Santa Claus — This tradition originated with the story of the gifts of the three magi to the Christ child, which was joined centuries later with elements from the life of Bishop Nicholas of Myra (later Saint Nicholas). These events and legends metamorphosed into the Santa Claus of today — complete with sleigh and reindeer — when Clement Moore’s poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (also known as The Night Before Christmas) was published in 1823. A series of engravings in Harper’s Weekly appeared decades later depicting scenes from the poem and in the mid 20th century, Coca-Cola ran a print advertising campaign that further embellished — and firmly established — the Santa Claus phenomenon.
• Christmas stockings — this tradition is attributed to the original Saint Nicholas who is said to have left gifts of gold in the stockings of three poor girls who needed dowries. They had hung their laundered stockings by the fireplace to dry overnight. Centuries later, this fetching image was adopted by Clement Moore in his Christmas poem mentioned above.

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is a relatively new holiday, established in 1966 to celebrate African-American and Pan-African family, community and culture. The word kwanzaa is derived from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits.” It’s a secular event, running from December 26th to January 1st, with each day representing a different principle:

• Umoja (Unity)
• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
• Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
• Nia (Purpose)
• Kuumba (Creativity)
• Imani (Faith)

A Karamu, or feast, is held on December 31st, featuring a wide variety of foods from Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas, representing the diversity of African peoples and their collective heritage.

King’s Day and Candlemas Day

Rosco de Reyes, or King’s Cake, is central to the celebration of King’s Day and Candlemas Day. Originating in France but now popular in Mexico, King’s Day, January 6th, is the feast of the Epiphany, during which Rosco de Reyes — a round cake representing a crown — is served. Two plastic figures representing the infant Christ and a king are baked into the cake. Whoever finds the king figure in their serving must show genuine kindness to the person who finds the infant Christ figure, and both must work together to host a party on February 2nd, Candlemas Day, which usually features tamales and Mexican hot chocolate.
The Mexican tradition of serving tamales on Christmas is, like other traditions noted above, connected to prehistory. In this case probably to the Aztec celebration honoring Huitzilipochtli, their god of war.
Two other notable traditions that have no discernible connections to historical events or religion are fruitcake and eggnog. Fruitcake probably originated during the late Middle Ages as a wedding cake and became commonplace for celebrations of all kinds. Made with a quantity of dried or candied fruit and often infused with liquors, these dense butter cakes have a less than stellar reputation. According to the editors of the Joy of Cooking, “Many people feel that these cakes improve greatly with age, though not everyone agrees. …they have been reported to be enjoyed as long as twenty-five years after baking.”
Eggnog comes to us from a variety of English drinks made from milk, eggs and alcohol, usually wine. Now available commercially from October into January, eggnog has been associated with Christmas and New Year’s celebrations since the 19th century. Liquors used include wine, brandy, rum, bourbon and sherry. The origin of the term eggnog is obscure, but it probably came from the word “egg” combined with “grog” — a common Colonial term for rum — or “noggin,” a small wooden mug used in Colonial taverns.
Holiday traditions continue to evolve, within countries, communities and families. Each of us has fond memories of family and personal traditions, both large and small. Though they may be based on ancient superstitions and appear a bit silly if analyzed in a rational light, they nevertheless help bind us to our loved ones and inform our shared past, present and future.

I upgraded my hand mixer and I’m just beside myself!  This new mixer is FABULOUS!  I was previously using a low end ($20?) hand mixer that I’d gotten when I first got married.  It came with a couple different mixer attachments including one for cookie dough.  Cookie dough is about the only thing I use it for, as I rarely make cakes.  Well, the finish on the beaters started to chip off into my dough!  Ew!  That can’t possibly be good for you!  So, I upgraded.  I went with this Kitchen Aid Mixer, which was about $40.  Definitely worth every cent!  I always kind of thought you were paying for the brand with Kitchen Aid, but this is a really nice product.  It only came with one set of beater attachments, but they work for everything–simple and efficient!  Just goes to show cheaper isn’t always better.  Next on my upgrade wish list is this Kitchen Aid Food Processor which my mother-in-law has in her kitchen.  I used it last time we visited, and it was so much nicer than the Black and Decker model I currently use.  I read some mixed reviews about it not holding much liquids, but I use a blender to mix liquids, so I don’t think that should be a problem.  It chops and purees like a dream!  I think it will be worthwhile to upgrade since we will be making our own baby food in a few months.  With all of the purging and upgrading I’m doing, we’ll be having a really great yard sale next spring! 

Update: While creating the above link, I found the White Food Processor on sale through Amazon for $129.99!  That is $60 cheaper than I’d seen one anywhere else online, and it’s $249.99 in store.  I’d really wanted the red one, but couldn’t justify an extra $60 just for the color!  So, I ordered it.  I’m so excited!