HOW TO TELL WHEN A POMEGRANATE IS RIPE.

A couple of years ago, we met this wonderful woman at the Grandville Costco.  She gives out fruit samples, but she also gives out great information.  She has taught us how to find a ripe honeydew melon, a pineapple, and pomegranates. 

HOW TO CLEAN A POMEGRANATE:  Pomegranates are ripe when they look a little “beat-up”.  It will not be shiny and there should be some slight concave indentions on the sides.  To clean:  Score around the top (blossom end) about ½-inch to 1-inch down from “blossom”.  Remove the top.  Score with a knife between each indention.  Open along the score lines.  Put cold water in a bowl and with a piece of the pomegranate below the water, use a spoon to scope out the seeds.  When all the seeds are removed from pomegranate, drain the water well.  Put the seeds in a covered container with a couple of pieces of paper towel on the bottom to soak up moisture and store in the refrigerator. 

I would have picked this pomegranate as it is shiny and pretty.

Our Costco friend said that ripe pomegranates have a dull skin.

To open the pomegranate, cut off the top, stem end.

See how the skin is wavy?  Make cuts into the pomegranate where the skin "waves in" as the seeds are in the part that bulges out.

Using a spoon, scrap the seeds out of the segments under water.  If you don't do it under water you will have a mess everywhere.

Drain the seeds. 

I put a layer of paper towels in the bottom of the container that I store the pomegranate seeds.  Enjoy!!

HOLIDAY TRADITIONS FROM ISRAEL, FRANCE AND THE PHILLIPPINES

These pictures were taken at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Their Christmas and Holiday Traditions Around the World exhibit runs through January 9th.  Please remember to double-click on a picture to make it a full-screen picture.

While Tom was taking pictures, I went around and took pictures of the donkeys.  In the Bible, the donkey is the animal most mentioned.  I love donkeys!!!

RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH EGG NOG BREAD, CAKE OR COOKIES

It took more than a couple of experiments before I had the correct amount of rum flavoring, brandy flavoring, and nutmeg to give a full-bodied egg nog taste to this recipe.  After I finished and had a fully developed recipe, I couldn't find brandy extract or flavoring in my part of the country.  If you can't find brandy flavoring, a good substitute is LorAnne Oils https://www.lorannoils.com/.  Their web site is very interesting.  They sell just about any flavor you can think of in a concentrated oil.  When using oils to replace extracts/flavorings, use 1/4 teaspoon of oil for every teaspoon of extract/flavorings.


What I like about this recipe is that it can be made into loaves of bread, baked in Bundt pans for cake, or baked in mini-Bundt pans to make little "cookies".  The mini-Bundt pan "cookies" look delightful on a cookie plate of a mixed variety of cookies. 

Fragnant with nutmeg, these treats are yummy no matter what shape they are.  Enjoy!!! 

When I make Egg Nog Bread as bread, I like to add Michigan Dried Tart Cherries to the batter.  The combination of Egg Nog and cherries is delicious and for the holidays it makes a very pretty bread when sliced and put on a plate.


MICHIGAN COTTAGE COOK EGG NOG BREAD


2 eggs, beaten
1 c dairy eggnog
2 t rum flavoring extract
1 t brandy extract
1 t vanilla
1 c sugar
1/3 c sour cream
½ c butter, melted
2 ¼ c flour
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 t nutmeg
GLAZE
2 T butter, melted
1 ½ c powdered sugar
2 T dairy eggnog
A little rum extract

Ingredients:  Eggs, eggnog, rum extract, brandy extract, vanilla, sugar, sour cream, butter, flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.

Dried Michigan tart cherries make a nice addition.

Glaze:  Powdered sugar, butter, eggnog and rum extract.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together.  Mix well.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat eggs.  Combine eggs, eggnog, flavorings, sugar, sour cream and melted butter together. Mix well with an electric mixer. Add dry ingredients to eggnog mixture and mix to moisten. Pour into well greased loaf pan/pans. Bake in preheated 350° oven for 40 to 60 minutes for a large loaf pan or 20 minutes for a 2 ½ x 4-inch loaf pans. Makes 12 loaves from the 2 ½ x 4-inch pans. Mix together the glaze ingredients and pour (spread) over bread while it is still warm.

This pan makes great little Bundt cakes.

For loaf pans I use Original cooking spray.  For Bundt pans, I use the cooking spray with four.

I use this pan to make little Bundt cookies.

Beat eggs.

Add eggnog, rum flavoring, brandy flavoring, vanilla, sugar, sour cream, and melted butter.

Mix well.

Add combined dry ingredients.

Beat to moisten.

Scoop batter into pan.

Ready to bake in preheated 350° oven.  For this size, bake 15 minutes.

Flour the cherries before adding to batter so they don't sink to the bottom.  I didn't.  I was in a hurry.  Cherries sank to the bottom of the pan. 

Little Bundt "cookies".

For glaze, put butter into a bowl.

Add powdered sugar, eggnog, and rum extract.  Beat well.  Add a little eggnog if the glaze is too thick.

Glaze while still warm.

So pretty and so good.

Enjoy!!!!!!

FAMILY CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS PART 2 INCLUDING PICTURES OF THE MUCH MALIGNED HOLIDAY GREEN JELLO!

When I was writing about family traditions on Christmas, I forgot to mention one of our favorites that I introduced in the 1960's.  Erin shows off our must-have Christmas Tree Coffee Cake.  She says it just isn't Christmas without this coffee cake.

Our family band that plays Christmas music before dinner has grown.

We are up to 5 members.

Everyone who has a food column has written in disparaging terms about Green Holiday salad.  To my children, it wasn't a holiday without it.  For Thanksgiving, you can top the salad with orange jello.  My Mom made a green jello for holidays that consisted of cream cheese and nut balls put into pear halves or pineapple rings in a pan.  The pan was then filled with liquid green jello to encase the fruit.

Food writers may not like it, but try to find a box of green jello in the stores during holiday weeks.  Someone is buying and enjoying it.

IT'S CHRISTMAS

Christmas is a time for joyous celebration for the Blessed Birth of Jesus.  Christmas is a time for family and traditions.  It is a time of magic, and happiness touched with sadness for those who can't join us at the Christmas table because of war, death, distance or family quarrels. 

Picture from the 1940's.  My Dad added Dutch traditions of gift giving to the family.  He would hide gifts, write poems to serve as clues to a gift, put gifts inside gifts.  He gave my Mom a beautiful diamond ring hidden inside of a pocket of a new robe.  The robe was the present she unwrapped.  Hiding gifts is probably why Mom, Grandma and I are in the doorway to the kitchen instead of by the tree. My brother and Grandma are looking on as I help with the unwrapping.  I have no pictures of my Dad at Christmas as he was always the one taking the pictures.  Be sure today that you take some pictures of the picture taker in your family.  The next generation will thank you.

Picture taken in the 1970's of my beautiful babies.  We added traditions to the family rituals.  An elaborate, elegant brunch was our contribution to new traditions as was Green Jello Salad.  I don't care what the food-snobs say, it isn't a holiday without Green Jello Salad which is deliciously cool and refreshing when served with the big Christmas dinner.  Double-click on the picture if you have trouble seeing Mitchell's happy expression on his face.

Picture taken in 2009.  New traditions are starting.  Grandson with his sax and his Leading Lady singing while Tom plays his clarinet is one of our newer traditions of  having a Christmas musical.  This year Christy has dusted off her trombone and Grand-daughter will play her trumpet.  Next year another Grandson will join Christy playing trombone. 

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus and in our family two members of one family.

Our Daughter-in-law creates fabulous birthday cakes.  The flags are toothpicks and fruit roll-ups. 

Christmas is for children.  To me, the smiles on children's faces make the day so special. 

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

DEBOER BAKKERIJ IN HOLLAND,MICHIGAN ON CHRISTMAS EVE DAY

We stopped at DeBoer's Bakery in Holland, Michigan during a quick trip to Holland to get traditional tamales for our Christmas Day.

The bakery was packed with people picking up their orders; others were hoping to get bread and cookies before they disappeared.

These Almond Stollen were gone as soon as Tom moved away from them.

Wonderful Dutch Currant Buns.  Fantastic with Gouda cheese.

Some Dutch decorations.

Jan Hagel cookies.

Dutch Love Letters or Envelope cookies.

Dutch vegetable bread.

Boterkoek on the right and Chocolate Brioche on the left.

The bread menu.

The old bicycle bread cart.