I’m going to begin this week with a continuation of the tree decorating that was finally accomplished. It has been many years that I did tree trimming as the family usually took over as soon as the Thanksgiving meal was done. No such luck this year as they found other tasks more to their liking besides there wasn’t a whole lot of room and time to unpack the contents. It took a while but I managed to get the tree together. As I said the star was found but not in the container and when it was placed on the tree it didn’t light up. In the course of putting the rest of the lights on I broke the corner that would hold the star upright. Various ideas were tried to make it usable but still no lights – one bulb was missing. As I expected, it had to be that bulb or the rest would not work. I doubted they even made that variety of bulb any more and Christmas wouldn’t have the same memories with a new tree topper. It was finally time to vacuum the floor and sure enough there was that bulb and the star is now lit.
We were married in November and with everything else trying to start a new household we didn’t get a tree (a real one) until the very last minute. It was on sale and I think we paid a dollar for it. We did buy lights and tinsel but no decorations. The next year we hung baby rattles on it and from then on something new was added every year. We bought a set of bells that still are used. It wasn’t long before there were school ornaments brought home and some continue to be hung. There really isn’t any theme but collections of birds, bells, and lots of Santas.
Last week I watched the British bread baking show and little did I realize that I had already typed in a stollen recipe for this week. If you don’t care for fruit cake this may be an alternative. It looks very Christmasy and is more like a raisin bread with candied fruit.
Holiday Fruit Salad
2 apples, chopped
1 ripe pear, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, broken and toasted
1 banana, sliced
1/4 dried cranberries
1/2 sour cream
1/4 orange marmalade
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons orange rind
Lettuce for garnish
Combine all ingredients except banana and lettuce, mix well. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Salad may be prepared up to 4 hours ahead. Add banana just before serving. 4-6 servings
Shrimp Primavera
2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 pound fresh or frozen shelled, deveined, uncooked large shrimp, thawed
1/4 cup milk
1 (1 lb.) package frozen vegetables with pasta
1/2 cup sour cream
Nutmeg
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add shrimp; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Remove shrimp from skillet; cover to keep warm.
Add milk and frozen vegetables with pasta to skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.
Add cooked shrimp. Stir in sour cream until well blended. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. 3 – l cup servings.
Holiday Stollen
1-1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
Grated peel from 1 lemon
Grated peel from 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups hot milk
8 to 8-1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1/2 cup lemon peel
1/2 cup chopped red candied cherries
1/2 cup chopped green cherries
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 egg beaten
Powdered sugar
Beat butter, egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon peel, orange peel and vanilla in large bowl, until light and fluffy. Slowly add milk; mix thoroughly. Add 2 cups flour and yeast; mix well. When mixture is smooth, add enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough forms and can be lifted out of bowl. Lightly flour work surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Mix raisins, candied orange and lemon peels, cherries and almonds together, knead fruit mixture into dough. Place dough in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. Grease two large baking sheets. Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Divide dough in half. Make three 12 inch ropes of one half of dough. Braid. Repeat with other half of dough. Brush beaten egg on braids. Let braid stand until doubled.
Preheat oven to 350º. Bake braids about 45 minutes or until golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
