wow...so i finally understand the expression, "the best laid plans". i had every intention of blogging frequently throughout the holiday season...christmas cookies, pies, jams, candies..all were on the schedule. and i did, in fact, make some of these items..but blogging about it..forget about it. now, do not get me wrong. i love blogging. regular readers know that i love to blab on..telling stories and sharing my favorite recipes. but this holiday season..oh my!..crazy is the only word i can think of to describe the past few weeks.
many of you know that i started a company last summer. we are a "green", eco-friendly lifestyle brand selling handmade items for home, garden & accessories. everything is from "reused, recycled, reimagined and/or repurposed" materials. we also offer organic bath and body care, organic dog treats and are in the process of launching an organic food line (for people!).
this company is near and dear to my heart..and i love every aspect of owning & operating my own business...but what was i thinking? i launched in july...a second later we were in the midst of holiday prepping and planning...major time suck. in addition, my entire family,and by entire i mean parents, siblings, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins,their kids etc are coming to napa for christmas. they all live either in southern california or oregon...and will be in napa from the 22nd through the 27th. this is the first time in my life christmas has not been spent in southern california. i am really, really excited but..c'mon! in southern cal everyone comes to a family member's house for a meal and then goes home. here, they are at my house for breakfast, lunch and dinner...so i have been planning, prepping and organizing like a mad women for the past two weeks...trying to ensure i have not forgotten anything. i am so excited to host christmas...and know this will be a cherished memory for the rest of my life.
this company is near and dear to my heart..and i love every aspect of owning & operating my own business...but what was i thinking? i launched in july...a second later we were in the midst of holiday prepping and planning...major time suck. in addition, my entire family,and by entire i mean parents, siblings, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins,their kids etc are coming to napa for christmas. they all live either in southern california or oregon...and will be in napa from the 22nd through the 27th. this is the first time in my life christmas has not been spent in southern california. i am really, really excited but..c'mon! in southern cal everyone comes to a family member's house for a meal and then goes home. here, they are at my house for breakfast, lunch and dinner...so i have been planning, prepping and organizing like a mad women for the past two weeks...trying to ensure i have not forgotten anything. i am so excited to host christmas...and know this will be a cherished memory for the rest of my life.
now, back to blogging...i miss it more than i can say...and thank you to all the wonderful readers who have emailed me asking where i was. here is my promise to you guys...i will try and blog a couple of times between now and christmas...then i will spend a lot of time in january recapping the experience...and sharing the recipes from the month. i have been cooking or baking every chance i get and next week's menus include an italian food night, a mexican fiesta night, a traditional christmas menu...with a twist...and a seafood extravaganza...plus terrific desserts, appetizers and breakfast items. looking forward to sharing the dishes with you.
in the interim, i am currently staring at 5 massive bushels of persimmons picked last week from my tree. i have an extremely prolific tree and have spent the years since we moved to our farmhouse trying every possible recipe trying to use up the huge crop we get each year. i always make big batches of jam...this will be a january project. for christmas, i will be making persimmon cookies, bread, bars and persimmon muffins (recipe follows). the muffins are quick, easy and have become a family favorite so... christmas morning..here we come! enjoy, and please let me know if you try them...
persimmon muffins
1 1/2 c unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
2 large eggs
1 c persimmon puree
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1 c brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
preheat oven to 350 degrees. line a muffing tin with paper liners. place first 8 ingredients in small bowl and whisk together. using an electric mixer, beat eggs for 30 seconds. add persimmon puree, e.v.o.o. and brown sugar to bowl and beat until thoroughly mixed. add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. pour into prepared muffin tins filling each cup 3/4 full. in a separate bowl, mix together the remaining cinnamon and brown sugar...and sprinkle mixture evenly over each muffin.
bake approximately 25 to 30 minutes..until a wooden skewer stuck in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
place pan on cooling rack until muffins are warm and then remove from pan.
enough about me...how are your christmas or hanukkah plans coming? are you ready? let me know in the comments section of this post. and i am always on the hunt for new and different persimmon recipes..please share yours.
happy holidays!
diane
napa farmhouse 1885™
"live a green life of style"™
one day in november, we were all working in the kitchen and i asked them what they were doing for thanksgiving. they are pretty new to napa, do not know a lot of people here yet and had to complete some work on the actual day of thanksgiving. i could not stand the thought of them forgoing the holiday this year...so we hatched up a plan to create a new tradition,"vegan thanksgiving", to be held the next day.... the three of us love to cook (obviously) so i invited some friends/neighbors who are committed NON-vegans over for a tasting dinner. terry and mary brought over some of their products...and a ton of organic ingredients...and we spent the afternoon/evening making up recipes. we served each dish one at a time to our "guests" and asked for feedback. remember...this meal was 100% vegan...to our surprise and delight everyone loved each dish. you could tell that they were not just being polite because a.) these are the type of friends who tell you what they think...no holding back and b.) the dishes were gobbled up with requests to take the leftovers home! we even had a 14 yr old boy who loved it...he kept referring to the meal as "random food"... as we explained how items like "vegan bacon" were made.
looking back, this night was one of my favorites of the year...cooking amazing food with friends (testing, eating, laughing)...feeding friends food that they loved, laughing and answering their questions about how everything was made...and then just hanging out talking and laughing. (you notice how often i have written the word "laughing"..i think that is really what made the evening so magical...it was so much fun!)
by now you are probably asking..."what did you make for vegan thanksgiving?" i will be posting a number of the recipes during the next few months...and i am proud to say that i will be adding food from the bountiful vegan to my website...they make two items that i am addicted to..their carrotuna, and their tofeggy. the carrotuna looks a bit like a carrot salad..but it tastes like the lightest, freshest tuna salad you have ever eaten. the tofeggy is their eggless, egg salad...trust me, you do not have to be vegan, or even vegetarian to love their food. (i will post when their items are on my webstore site)
my favorite recipe from vegan thanksgiving is the simplest and easiest...carrotuna crostini...
