Christmas in July - July 16, 2021 - Celebrating other winter holidays.

[halimer]

Most cultures have winter holidays that share the idea of light breaking through darkness. Celebrate by cooking a dish that is traditional for one of these holidays and/or share your own special holiday tradition with us.

I'm sure everyone has a favorite meat loaf recipe and maybe one for mac and cheese that they'd like to share.

Yule - December 21, 2021

Yule is a pagan holiday that celebrates the winter solstice. It is traditional to burn a Yule log in your fireplace and to toast the holiday with wassail ( recipe above under party drinks )

Festivus – December 23, 2021

Festivus is celebrated as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. It was popularized by the Seinfeld TV show. Festivus features the “Airing of Grievances” either following or during a meal of meatloaf served on lettuce. So, pull out your favorite meatloaf recipe and celebrate. Turkey or ham is also an appropriate dinner.

Kwanzaa – December 26, 2021

Kwanzaa is a 7 day celebration of African American culture that is held from December 26 to January 1, ending in a communal feast called Karamu. Seven candles are lit in a kinara, representing the 7 principles of Kwanzaa. Jollof Rice is served throughout Africa and with the addition of a protein makes a full meal. Any food from the African Diaspora is also appropriate - mac and cheese, black eyed peas, jerk chicken

Jollof Rice​

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 1 hr

Total: 1 hr 5 mins

African

Servings 5 cups

​

▢ 3-4 tablespoons (42ml-56ml) vegetable oil

▢ 1 medium onion , diced, (red or white onions)

▢ 2 teaspoons (1.6g) fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon (1g) dried thyme , optional

▢ 1 tablespoon (8g) minced garlic or (9.7g) garlic powder

▢ 3 cups (591g) rice , long-grain, uncooked rice (Basmati)

▢ 1 tablespoon (7g) paprika

▢ 2 teaspoons (4g) chicken bouillon

▢ salt and pepper to taste

▢ 1 14-ounce can of tomato sauce or puree

▢ 4 cups (1000ml) chicken broth or water ( 5 1/4 cups for stove top)

▢ 1 scotch bonnet pepper or ¾ teaspoon hot pepper , omit if cooking for kids

▢ 1 pound (453.59g) vegetables (optional) (can be peas and carrots, green beans or corn)

▢ parsley for garnishing

Instructions​

Baking Method​

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rinse rice through water. In a half sheet baking pan

In a half sheet pan (12-13/16" l. x 10-7/16" w. x 2-1/2”) combine all ingredients and stir so that everything is fully combined.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil paper. Double if you can, it helps cook faster.

Gently place in oven and let it cook for about 70-80 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven and check after 70 minutes. Since posting, I have retried recipes several times and it works best for my oven after 75 minutes.

Remove carefully from the oven and let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then carefully remove the aluminum paper. Fluff rice with a fork, thrown in your add-ins and mix evenly. Serve warm.

Stovetop Method​

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.

Next add onions, thyme, and garlic, cook for about 2 minutes or until onion becomes soft and translucent.

Add rice, season with paprika, bouillon, salt, and pepper.

Cook stirring often until fragrant, for about 30 seconds. and brown stirring occasionally, for about 2-3 minutes.

Pour tomatoes sauce, chicken broth, and hot pepper, if using any into saucepan.

Bring to a boil stirring once or twice. Reduce heat to low, cover saucepan and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, for 15-18 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, let it sit covered for 5 minutes then fluff rice with a fork or serving spoon. Then throw in sauteed veggies and/or beef, chicken and shrimp and mix, if desired

Garnish with parsley and serve.

Cookware

• Use 5 1/4 cups of broth or water when making this stove top.
• I have tried several cookware for this rice and my recommendation are as follows: any shallow baking dish would work here, a Dutch oven is good, too and an aluminum baking dish.
• Make sure they have a tight fitting lid or cover it tightly with an aluminum foil as show in the video.
• Tightly cover the pot or pan with foil paper or its corresponding lid. Double foil paper to retain more heat.

Tomato Sauce Substitute

• If you don't have a can of tomato sauce in your pantry, you may replace it with a can of crushed tomatoes or tomato puree (thicker than tomato sauce), HOWEVER the consistency will not be the same.
• I would recommend, if you can, to use the can of tomato sauce if you can get your hands on it because it’s a crucial ingredient to this dish.

Doubling the Recipe

• To double the recipe, double everything EXCEPT the cooking time. You might have to add just a few minutes more, depending on the baking dish. Start checking after 80 minutes.

Other Add-ins



If you want to add other vegetables in this dish like green beans and corn, sauté first the vegetables and throw it in when it’s all done. It is vibrant and colorful this way, also this would ensure that your vegetables are perfectly cooked.

• One of our readers threw in shredded cabbage, carrots, yellow pepper and green onions into the mix.
• On the other hand, if you want to throw in shrimp, saute them first and add them as you fluff the rice. The residual heat will warm them enough and they will not go rubbery.
• Make sure your beef or any other meat is cooked before throwing it in the mix.

Rice

• The rice was NOT PARBOILED before putting in the oven. All you need to do is RINSE the rice with water.
• I use Royal basmati rice for this recipe which is available at Walmart and Costco. I have tried several variety and they work just as well.
• If you don't have basmati rice, you may replace it with white long-grain rice with same ratio of rice and water.
• As per some of our readers here, you can use brown rice but that would need a bit more water (cannot give you the exact measurements because I never tried it) and it will take you two hours since brown rice takes longer to cook.

Scotch Bonnet Pepper Substitute

• Swap habanero pepper for scotch bonnet or replace it with ¾ teaspoon hot pepper. Omit if serving it for the kids.

Using Bouillon Cubes

• You may swap bouillon cubes with 1-2 teaspoons of Creole seasoning. That should add more flavor to it.
• When using bouillon cubes instead of the powder, simply dissolve it completely in liquid before adding.

Paprika Substitute

• You may leave out completely the paprika, or swap it with curry. It would slightly alter the taste, but not that much if you love curry.

Other Notes

• To avoid a mushy rice, reduce the liquid by 1/3 cup.

 

[teachermomof2]

Here's my favorite meatloaf recipe:

Marvelous Meatloaf-It is SOOO delicious!!!!!

comfyinthekitchen.com

Our favorite Macaroni and Cheese is from the back of the box of Mueller's Elbow Macaroni:

Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese - Mueller's Recipes | Mueller's Pasta

This classic macaroni and cheese dish comes together quickly and is sure to be a family favorite.

www.muellerspasta.com

I always fresh grate a piece of yellow american cheese or cheddar cheese for this recipe. It results in a smoother sauce.

 

[Holiday_Mom]

On December 21st, I like to celebrate winter with making snowflakes. I use to do this with my preschool students and I have carried this through the years with my family.

• Take a tortilla and fold in half and then fold in half again. Fold it in half one more time.
• Take your kitchen scissors and snip shapes out of the tortilla, just like a paper snowflake.
• Open up the tortilla and it will look like a snowflake.
• Spritz tortilla with water.
• Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes.
• Take out and dust with confectioner's sugar.
• It you like your tortillas crunchy, let them bake in the oven longer.
• We like the snowflakes just slightly toasted. We have done them with cinnamon sugar too.

 

[Lori K]

On December 21st, I like to celebrate winter with making snowflakes. I use to do this with my preschool students and I have carried this through the years with my family.

• Take a tortilla and fold in half and then fold in half again. Fold it in half one more time.
• Take your kitchen scissors and snip shapes out of the tortilla, just like a paper snowflake.
• ...

Oh, thank you for the inspiration! I'm thinking this would be an interesting pre-dinner activity with friends, only instead of baking them and sprinkling with sweets, each person can fill them with their individualized burrito filling and we can bake them and serve over shredded lettuce and other fresh toppings. Everyone would know their burrito by the snowflake pattern.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

On December 21st, I like to celebrate winter with making snowflakes. I use to do this with my preschool students and I have carried this through the years with my family.

This is such a fun idea.