Traci Anello

The Power in Food

Tag Archives: holidays


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Holiday meal for one…Go all out!

So here we go again. It’s November first and that means time to think about the holiday meals. Spicy pumpkin dishes, savory sides, homemade crusty rolls and dessert are just the menu items you’ve waited all year for.

Here’s the thing. It’s just you. Is it worth it to do all of that cooking just for one person? Absolutely it is! There are so many reasons why too. Let’s start with the fact that you deserve this amazing meal. You’ve waited all year. You’ve worked hard. You’ve spent many nights eating a quick dish after you’ve gotten home late or if you’re a chef like me, you grab what you can when you can on the run. I’m pretty sure nurses live like this too. The advantage to creating your own dishes is that you get to make it exactly the way you like it. Do you like spicy food? Then turn up the heat! Are you living a plantbased lifestyle like me? Then off to the farmers market for all of your favorite vegetables and don’t forget the local honey. It’s all about you. Now here’s the thing, you can also make a plate for a friend you know is also alone. Maybe an elderly neighbor or the person working at the convenient store so every one else can enjoy the day with family. So what if you make a lot of food! You make individual meals and freeze them for the next month. Every day is a holiday when you pull one out of the freezer.

Just because you live alone doesn’t mean you have to pass up on the things you love, especially food. Think about your grandmother’s pie she made every year. Relive those memories. Bring her back to the table with you. Put every bit of love into what you make for yourself because food is powerful. Reach into the heart vault and remember how you felt when that piece of pie was served to you as a kid. Bring that feeling back for yourself. You earned it. You shopped, prepped, prepared and cleaned up after yourself. You finally used those good chef knives you bought. You sautéed, cooked, baked and served yourself. How did that feel?? Great, didn’t it?? Living alone does not mean being alone or feeling alone. It means making a meal and enjoying every bite. Cook that whole turkey. Make that spicy tofu with roasted vegetables and quinoa. Sauté that beautiful kale and mash those comforting potatoes. Today is your day.

Some people like to go out for a meal and that’s okay too. I know single friends that spend a couple of days at the food kitchen and what better way to feel the love than through the community.   There are so many ways to spend the holidays and enjoy every bit of it. Call your local church or food pantry and ask if they would like your company helping to prepare and serve the meal. I will guarantee you that if you do this and you start to talk to the people there, you will leave with a beautiful feel good story. Everyone has a story and nothing is better than sharing a meal with someone and listening to their story.

As you know by now if you’ve been reading my blogs, I have two cats that I refer to as ‘The Boys”. Every holiday includes them so there’s never really a time I dine alone. Ofcourse I make every meal a big deal by describing what they’re having and when dinner is ready. Include your fur babies or birds or whatever friends you have. Tell them how important they are to you especially if it’s just you and them. They want to hear it too. That unconditional love they give you every day, pay it back. They deserve it.

My point is, you’re not alone. You’re just cooking for one. That’s okay. Make it the best meal. Play some music. Buy that special bottle of wine. Call a loved one while you’re cooking. Enjoy the day. Every day can be a holiday meal when you live by yourself. The best part about making that wish before you pull the wishbone is you’re pretty much guaranteed it’s going to come true. How can it not? You have both sides. How cool is that?? That my friends is the power in food.

 


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The Holiday Prep List

Today is October 31st. For me, it’s the official start to holiday season. This is the time I come up with new holiday recipes and I also pull my best out of the archive. I know what my family likes and I do my best to meet their expectations every year. It’s not hard to do because it’s really what you put into what you’re doing aside from ingredients that makes these offerings special. It’s the thought first and foremost.

My family is pretty simple. My dad loves spicy pumpkin cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. He also loves any cookie with anisette. His parents were from Sicily so food is important to this guy. He’s 89 this year so I believe between his DNA and his ability to seek good food have done him more good than a walk around the block. So the  first item on the prep list is pumpkin. Got it. Next is my daughter, Ronni. She has just moved out West for a wonderful new job. I’m very happy for her and at the same time I miss her every day. We have spent every holiday baking or cooking together. This is the first year we will be doing it 2000 miles apart. Fear not, it will get done. This is the part where I say it’s not the ingredients that make the end results, it’s the love you put into them. This is the year I’ll be sending baked goods and ingredients to her home. Ronni and I are both plantbased so it’s pretty easy to create new gifts for her. I’ve managed to take her favorites and transform them into plantbased approved with the same great flavor. It doesn’t matter how many miles separate you and your loved ones. It’s the passion to create for them that will make it all feel like home. If you have family you want to bake for, just plan on doing it a little earlier than normal so you can allow for the shipping time. I always send my packages early because it’s that element of surprise that I love to give people. Expect it when you least expect it from me.

My sister Kim’s family loves cookies. We have a chocolate chip cookie recipe we have been sharing for years. So much that now her 11 years old daughter, Alice, is making them. That’s really the best part of the story for me. My niece is carrying on the tradition. Last year we began a new one of making homemade cinnamon buns. Alice is ready to start making desserts that are more advanced now. She loves baking and I love helping her. THAT’S what the holidays are about. My sister always invites new friends over. I love Thanksgiving at her house. She embraces the true meaning of being thankful. We always have a lot of good food, music and conversation. Her prep list is the grand turkey and an abundance of vegetable dishes that are colorful, nutritious and something new for everyone. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to introduce plantbased dishes. That’s our secret. No one knows.  Also on that list are fresh herbs (most from her outdoor garden), beautiful flowers from the farmers market and the perfect wine to compliment the entire meal.

As I’m writing this, the leaves are falling from the trees and the cats (Bear and Chaos) are convinced they’re going to catch them. They sit in the window crouched down and ready. Speaking of the boys, they have their own little prep list. Every year they get turkey and gravy on Thanksgiving and beef and liver on Christmas. The holidays are stimulating with all of the decorations. It takes a lot of energy to knock the bulbs off the Christmas tree so a good meal is essential for them. Insert eye rolling emoji here. I love these two and they are just as much of the celebrating as anyone.

As you begin to think of what you want to make this year, here are a few ideas that will make holiday baking much easier and fun. Every year I use the same shortbread dough to make a variety of different cookies and bars. It’s an easy 4 ingredient recipe: Organic flour, butter (I use vegan), confectionery sugar and salt. This recipe takes flavors and other ingredients like chocolate and nuts like it owns them. For cookies  I make chocolate and raspberry linzors, stained glass cookies, holiday shapes and almond hearts with the shortbreads. other cookies I do are Mexican wedding cakes, my dad’s favorite anisette cookies, our famous family chocolate chip and my very own plantbased compost cookie. For bars using the shortbread I make chocolate walnut bars, Southern bourbon pecan squares , Citrus lemon bars and Maine blueberry bars. My next blog will have some of these recipes and any others just request them and I’ll send them over your way with one condition: You share it with someone else and you find a child to make them with. That’s all. Let’s keep this cool holiday baking thing moving forward.

Whatever you decide to make whether it’s for family, your local police station, the school, your co-workers or even yourself, remember the first ingredient is love. You use that one and everything else will come out just fine. This is the power in food.

 


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Back to pie crust…Crimping

To crimp or not to crimp…Not a famous quote but probably should be.

Crimping a pie crust is as individual as you are. It’s a necessary step to a successful pie and the one you create becomes your signature.

In Webster’s Dictionary, crimping is defined as “To cause to become wavy, bent or pinched as in to pinch or press together in order to seal”. Well said. Now if Webster’s had a sense of humor they would finish the definition with : “Because if you do not seal properly, you’re going to have a blow out and a heck of a mess to clean up”. That’s the truth. Even though it’s a necessary step, it’s a decorative step as well. Remember, if the pie looks amazing, it’s already starting to taste amazing.

The different styles depend on how you’re feeling that day or if you have developed your own signature way. At some point you’ll make enough pies that you develop your own style. Mine is the simple yet effective “pinch”. The pinch is when you take your thumb and pointer and create a “v” with your tips. Then you take your opposite pointer and press it into the “v”. Each time you will place your thumb in the last crimp. This is a very popular method. The clown ruffle is a crimp that is smooth and looks just like the ruffle around a clown’s neck. Use the same thumb and pointer on one hand and then turn the opposite thumb flat to create the shape.Some others are the dreadful looking fork press. Just take a fork and smash the two crusts together. Not attractive at all but it’s out there so I’ll just consider this a for warning. Remember, what you do outside the crust, reflects the inside. If you’re ever with someone who is doing this, now’s the time to show them a beautiful decorative crust. Best excuse for you to rescue them and cover up that mess. The decorative look is after you finish the crimp, make small cut outs like little leaves or circles. Egg wash the entire crimped crust and then lay each leave on the crust overlapping the last. Leaves are especially nice for this in the Fall. I have posted the pie crust with the circle overlay to show you. I have also posted a picture to show you how to do the entire crust with circles. This is a nice trick because you can create vents without intentionally puncturing the crusts. Just leave small vents when you lay the circles down.

If you’re making a gluten-free crust, working with small circles is a very easy way to work with that crust. It can be a challenge to move a large circle without cracking it. Whether you’re gluten-free or not, these tips work very well for any pie.

If you are making a single shell, it’s a really good idea to make the complete shell already with the crimping done and then freeze it. You only have to freeze it for an hour but remember, you have butter in the crust (you better be using butter!) and as soon as it hits that oven, it might want to relax. This is just an insurance to be sure your quiche or cream pie (heavens!) will hold up. I like to make a batch of pie dough and then make them all single shells and have them ready to go in the freezer.

So that’s my lesson on crimping. I never thought there was that much to know but I guess once you start talking about it, there’s more than you think. There’s more than I thought! Feel free to add any ideas you have. Remember to have fun. Making pies with kids and watching them create their own styles (sorry about the mess) is actually more fun than eating the pie itself. It’s almost time for the holidays so you have plenty of time for a few dress rehearsals. How bad can that be? Here’s a quick tip: If it’s that bad (including the blowouts): Regardless of what it looks like, save it by putting a serving of the pie mess in a dessert glass and add a scoop of ice cream and another scoop of the filling. People will think you made the best dessert ever! And do you know what? You just did.

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