Swedish Rye Bread

This delightful bread is part of the Christmas Eve noon meal tradition in Swedish homes of Doppa Gryta (Dip in the Kettle).  I’ll post the Doppa Gryta recipe later, but it involves cooking several kinds of meat in a large kettle, then serving the meat, and putting the kettle with the broth in the middle [...]

Norwegian Meatballs

Here’s another great recipe from the family cookbook of my friend Jeri–it originates with her Great Grandfather Fyhrie. I’m told that Norwegian meatballs is not an uncommon traditional dish for Christmas Eve, but it’s also served throughout the year, and is well-loved.

Christmas menus from Barb’s Kitchen, 2007

Okay, okay, okay, I’ll indulge Laura’s nosey impulses and share my Christmas menu.

Eggs Hussarde

My father-in-law is an excellent cook, and it is something of a family tradition that he gets up early on Christmas morning and makes something wonderful for the family breakfast (which is often a separate affair from Christmas dinner!) My favorite of his Christmas morning offerings has always been Eggs Hussarde. We are [...]

Skorpa (Swedish Toast)

I have got this wonderful scam…er…scheme that I’ve been working. I beg people for their family Christmas recipes, and they show up at my door bearing not only the recipe, but also a plate of samples. (Some of you are making a note now to start a food blog so that you can work [...]

Christmas Baking!

The month before Christmas is the best time of the year for baking, in our opinion. There are so many baked goods that are part of this time of year! The fragrance of cinnamon and bread and cookies wafting through the house is an important part of what makes it FEEL like Christmas! There are [...]

Dresden Weihnachtsstollen, or German Christmas Bread

My friend Tina grew up in Germany, and now lives here and goes to my church, so we sometimes get to sample her wonderful German cooking at potlucks. I asked her to share some German Christmas recipes with me, and here’s the first one. She gives the measurements in both metric and “our [...]

All things Thanksgiving:

Added note: We keep bumping this post to the top, so the first paragraph really no longer makes much sense. When we originally put up this post, it was a little over two weeks before Thanksgiving.
If you are like me, you still have about 15 days before you decide to start planning your Thanksgiving dinner. [...]

Basic Candied Sweet Potato Casserole

Here’s another of those traditional Thanksgiving recipes that “everyone” knows how to make. If you managed to grow up without learning how to make it, here’s the low-down:

Golden Pepper Soup

The recipe for this scrumptious soup comes from Auntie Shirl (she of birthday bash fame). My sister-in-law, Deb, served this as hors doevres before Thanksgiving dinner last year. It was the perfect way to start a festive holiday meal, so I immediately decided to add it to our must-do tradition list for this year. It’s [...]