The Munchkin's Notebook

For Christmas I got the meat grinder and sausage stuffing attachments for my Kitchen Aid mixer (I love that mixer). Before you go and say that is a horrible gift, I actually asked for them due to the sausage making class I took earlier in the year at  Sur la Table . Also making sausage is not that hard if you have mechanical help.  I would not be making sausage if I had to use a hand grinder, because that would be too much like work.  Meat grinder attachment grinding up the pork So today I made my first batch of sausage. I made one pound of sage breakfast sausage.  The recipe called for pork butt (I used pork stew meat), fat back (I got rid of that since the stew meat had plenty of fat), sage, parsley, black pepper, thyme and salt. I also added some garlic and some cayenne pepper it to give it some kick.  I cut the meat up into 1 -2 inch cubes mixed the meat and the spices together then ran it through the grinder twice, the first time through the cour...

My Grandparent the foundation of many of our family Christmas traditions. The Holidays a time to gather with family and friends and be filled with Holiday cheer. So as I do my final preparations for Christmas, I realized nobody I know ever has a Norman Rockwell painting type Christmas, they are more like the Griswold family Christmas, without cousin Eddy.  Everyone has their family traditions, and quirks but those are what make the holidays special.   Family traditions are steeped in history, and can come from the old country, can be passed down from generation to generation or just ingrained into your psyche as the only proper way to do things because “they have always been done that way” thus shape your view of the world. The traditions are what makes things feel like home or the occasion is complete.  So as we gather with family we should all take a step back and reminisce about the good times, and realize people grow up/old, traditions morph as the family ch...

I looked at the TODAY show’s Christmas Movie bracket and have to disagree with the selection of the best Christmas movie of all time. I’m sorry the best Christmas movie of all time is not “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  I know it is a well-loved Christmas classic, and people adore it, but it just not the best. I would of preferred to see a “Bishop’s Wife” with Carry Grant with that has many of the same themes, but it couldn’t of one because it wasn’t even on the bracket.  I also believe their bracket was flawed since they were missing numerous Christmas movies.  They were missing many of the great classics such as:          “The Bishop’s Wife” with Carry Grant           “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”           “The Year Without Santa Clause”           “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”           “Frosty the Snowman”       ...

Capital Building at Botanic Gardens' Holiday Display Every year the National Botanical Gardens put on a holiday display made of all natural/organic materials. In the main area they have scale models of important Washington DC landmarks including the Capital building, the White House and the Washington Monument all surrounded by poinsettias.  Then they set up a model train display in one of the wings of the building. This year’s theme was the “World’s Fair” which showcased the many of the architectural achievements from each of the fairs such as the Eiffel Tower and the Space Needle.  My husband and I went to see the display last Sunday when it was snowing in DC. Actually one of the best times to go to some of the museums and exhibits is when it is snowing since locals don’t go out in the snow and the city seams almost deserted.  As little as an inch of snow seems to throw people around here into a panic. I'm from the north, so snow doesn't bother me, plus we have th...

Our little Christmas Tree On Saturday we hosted our annual holiday party. While this is a small party in size it still does not diminish the amount of work one must put into the preparations, since I do the cooking.  None of that catering for use everything is homemade from the ham to the cookies, except the chips (I have to draw the line somewhere).  This year we made ham soaked in orange rum (it was one drunken pig) with cloves and dried Valencia orange peel.  I also made Swedish meatballs with ground beef and pork sausage for the sauce I use the McCormick seasoning package in conjunction with the scratch recipe it makes for a more flavorful dish.   In addition to the two main dishes we had the traditional vegetable tray with ranch dip, a summer sausage with cheese tray which included a goat cheese wrapped in cranberries, pita chips, warm artichoke dip and cheese puff biscuits. I was surprised at the flavor and texture of the goat cheese, which was simil...