Merry Christmas!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. Just remember, it's not just about the food and the presents. It's about spending time with family and most importantly about the birth of Jesus. Merry Christmas friends.





This is a lemon sour cream pound cake made in a nordic ware Christmas wreath pan. I do love my nordic ware. I colored the lemon glaze to "paint" the holly leaves and bow.

Shrimp Scampi over Spaghetti Squash

Garlic. Lemon. Butter. Shrimp. Delicious.



This is one of our favorite "Date Night" dishes. I make this when I want something special and to get us out of our chicken rut. One thing I do to make it different from most shrimp scampi dishes is to use spaghetti squash in place of regular pasta. My family actually likes it over the spaghetti squash better. It provides a nice contrast to the shrimp but still holds the sauce.

My favorite recipe for this comes from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined if desired
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 medium cloves garlic , minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
cayenne pepper
Table salt and ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat 12-inch skillet over high heat until hot, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon oil and swirl to coat bottom of pan. Add 1 pound shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until just opaque, about 1 minute; transfer to medium bowl. Return pan to heat and repeat process with remaining oil and shrimp.

Return empty skillet to medium-low heat; melt 1 tablespoon butter. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Off heat, add lemon juice and vermouth. Whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons butter; add parsley and cayenne, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Return shrimp and accumulated juices to skillet. Toss to combine; serve immediately.

For the spaghetti squash:

Cut it in half and remove the seeds. Put in a glass dish cut side down with about 2 inches of water in the bottom. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and put in the microwave. Depending on your microwave and the size of your squash, the time will vary. It takes generally about 20-30 minutes.

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake and my love for Nordic Ware

I love Nordic Ware. I have so many different Nordic Ware bundt pans and other shapes. I love all the different shapes. They have pans for ever season, every occasion. I have big bundt pans, baby bundt pans, Christmas pans, Snowman pan, and many other shapes. Hopefully there will be more pictues of these to come on my blog. Have I mentioned that I love them.

One of my favorite cakes to make in my bundt pan is a lemon sour cream pound cake. My family loves it, especially the lemony glaze I put over the cake.



Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake (baked in my chrysanthemum pan)

Ingredients

* 3 cups cake flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
* 3 cups sugar
* 6 eggs, room temp
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon rind
* 1 cup sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Grease 16-cup tube pan.
Dust with cake flour; tap out excess flour.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until fluffy.
Gradually add sugar and beat 5 minutes.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition.
Beat in lemon juice and peel.
Using rubber spatula, mix in dry ingredients.
Mix in sour cream.
Transfer batter to prepared pan.
Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 90 minutes.
Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.
Cut around cake in pan.
Turn out cake.
Carefully turn cake right side up on rack and cool completely.

The glaze is simple. Lemon juice and powdered sugar. I mix quite a bit and let it sit over night. Then I add a bit more before I serve it. It's delicious.

Greek is the word!

Delectable is also the word which can be used to describe our dinner. Greek salad, souvlaki, potatoes roasted with garlic and feta, and pitas made up our Greek feast. It sounds so fancy but it's so simple. I decided it would be a good meal for dinner with family over. I think I may have dinner guests again if the empty plates at the end of the meal were any indication of how they enjoyed their food.

First up: Greek Salad

Romaine, tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, kalamata olives, banana peppers, and lots of feta make up the salad itself.

The dressing is easy to make in your food processor. Everything comes together quickly.

3/4 cup olive oil (you may reduce the oil slightly if desired)
1-2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried basil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
fresh ground black pepper (to taste)
1-2 teaspoon sugar

I put it all in the small bowl of my food processor and whirl until it becomes almost creamy


Souvlaki:

Chicken breasts in a marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic. Before I do my grocery shopping, I usually make up a batch or two of the marinade. I'll take a pack of chicken, put it in a freezer bag, pour in the marinade and freeze. When I'm ready to make this for dinner, the chicken will then marinate as it thaws. Depending on how much time I have (and if I'm trying to impress) I'll put the chicken on skewers. If I do not have a lot of time, I'll just throw the breasts on the grill. Either way, it's wonderful. Any left over chicken makes a great topping for a salad.

I also butter or brush olive oil on the pita and throw it on the grill at the end of the cooking time for the chicken.

Don't forget the Tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber, garlic, lemon juice).

OPA!!