TRADITIONS: COOKIES AND THE HOLIDAYS

Traditions. Come December, they are blissfully unavoidable. One of my all-time favorite traditions during the holiday season revolves squarely around cookies.

Baking them. Exchanging them. Delivering them. Eating them.

As a kid, my friends and I would gather in the kitchen at a cozy farmhouse up on top of a very big hill. We would bake dozens upon dozens of cookies, all while eating our healthy share of dough and giggling our way through sugar-high versions of our favorite Christmas carols and hymns. Once cooled, the cookies would be packed up and delivered around our sleepy little town to those simply needing to know someone was thinking of them.

Today, cookie making is still an important part of my friendships during the holidays. While we no longer bake in that cozy farmhouse up on top of a very big hill, we still eat too much dough and laugh until we cry. Our generosity has evolved, though dropping off cookies still happens on occasion.

We at next summer hope your traditions continue this holiday season. And, for those of you without traditions, we hope you consider starting some of your very own. They are part of living a good life.

DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix 1 cup softened butter, 1 1/3 cups light brown sugar, 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
3. To the mixture, stir in 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
4. Mix in 3 cups rolled oats and 2 cups of white chocolate chips (Hello, White Christmas!)
5. Spoon equal sized bits of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.
6. Eat one… or two, but save some to share with friends and neighbors. And don't forget to bring in a few for us to try as well. 

Happy Birthday Izzy

This past week was our dog, Izzy's, third birthday. Since we think of her as a member of the family, we had to celebrate. Lindsay gave Izzy a real treat - a dog cake. We've included the recipe below. 
You'll need the following:

• 1 egg
  1/4 cup peanut butter
  1/4 cup cooking oil
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1/3 cup honey
  1 cup shredded carrots
  1 cup whole wheat or white flour
  1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 6 cup ring mold.
2. Combine the egg, peanut butter, oil, vanilla, and honey, if desired, in a large bowl; blend well. Stir in the carrots and mix thoroughly. Sift together the flour and baking soda and fold into the carrot mixture. Spoon cake batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes; then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

You'll notice in the picture below we made a few changes. the letters on Izzy's cake were made with one of her favorites - Beggin' Strips! 

As you can tell, she seemed to like it. And if you come by our house for dinner, don't worry, that's Izzy's plate. You won't be served on it. Besides, she licked it clean. 

Construction of the Perfect Sandwich

A professor I had in college told me the most important lesson he learned from his farmer father - if something's worth doing it's worth doing right. One thing I've learned over the years is that a good sandwich is truly worth doing and that means it's worth doing right. The construction of a sandwich is just as important as the parts that go into making that sandwich. The following is a list of ingredients in my perfect sandwich:

                           1. Rock Hill Bakery jalapeño cheddar bread

                           2. chipotle mustard

                           3. bacon

                           4. cheddar jack cheese

                           5. dry salami

                           6. cracked pepper turkey breast

                           7. dill pickle chips

                           8. spicy pepperoncini

Here's the most important part - the construction. Start by toasting the bread. This gives the bread some heat. Immediately, after pulling the bread from the toaster place the cheese on the warm toast. This will cause the cheese to quickly warm up and begin to melt into the bread. This cheese layer serves multiple purposes: 1. it covers any holes in the toast; and 2. it protects the toast from any wet elements in the sandwich which would dampen the bread.

Next, add the cooked bacon. Hopefully, if this is done quickly enough, it will melt slightly into the cheese and bond with that half of the sandwich. 

    

Next, you have to add the mustard to the other slice of bread. Try not to add too much (which could dampen the bread, or worse, flow out of the holes in the bread), but make sure you've covered the entire slice of bread. 

    

Once the mustard had been added, you need to cover that slice of bread with the dry salami. Like the cheese, this will cover any holes and it will protect the bread from any more moisture. This is especially important because of the next step. 

    

The spicy, but damp pickles and peppers are added next. It's important that each of these should be shaken to remove any extra moisture before placing them on the sandwich. 

    

   

Finally, the turkey is placed on top of the bacon. The turkey now acts as a barrier between the bacon and the peppers and pickles. This ensures that the bacon and toast remain crispy, acting as a textural foil to the soft salami and turkey. 

   

Anyone who has tried this sandwich knows that, when properly constructed, it becomes an element of a truly good life.