braised vegetables

Thanks to Deb over at smittenkitchen, I am now in love with braised vegetables. She posted a recipe for braised brussel sprouts that I served twice as is (except I omitted the bread crumb topping) and tonight I invented my own spin on. Well, it really came about because I had braised half a green cabbage last week in cream based on Molly Wizenberg's recipe (orangette) and so I had half a green cabbage, some sad brussel sprouts and some pancetta hanging out in my fridge. And it's been rainy and cold today - perfect for some lovely braising action to happen.

1/2 small green cabbage, sliced thinly

~ 1 lb brussel sprouts, ends removed, ragged leaves removed and cut into halves

1/4 onion diced

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp grated garlic

4 oz diced pancetta

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

1/2 c vegetable stock

Melt the butter and olive oil in a saute pan. Add the vegetables and cook at medium high heat until there is some colour (browning) - ~ 10 minutes. Add onion and pancetta and cook for another 10 minutes until the pancetta is brown. Lower the heat slightly and add the garlic and cook for a minute or so. Then add the balsamic vinegar and stock, turn the heat up to high and braise for ~ 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. This is divine served with oven roasted potatoes.

(I don't have any photos of the finished dish, as it was eaten too quickly!)

construction equipment and wrapping paper rocks

It was a memorable Christmas at our house. T has been one excited boy all this month, waiting for Santa's visit. By Christmas Eve, he was almost vibrating with excitement. I picked him up from daycare just after lunch and we came home for him to open his last window on his advent calendar. A giant egg with a toy inside (a transformer type robot thingy). Very exciting. Then T played with his trucks for a bit while I made cookies. Mincemeat drops and chocolate chip oatmeal as that is what T told Santa we would leave for him. Auntie K came over with the turkey in it's brine bath.

For dinner I made braised cabbage in cream (from Molly Wizenberg's book - A Homemade Life) to go with cheese and sausage perogies which gave dinner a slightly Ukranian feel. I gave T a quick bath and hustled him into his pjs. We put out the snack for Santa - chocolate chip cookies along with a carrot for the reindeer and T insisted that I make a cup of tea for Santa and we left it all on the hearth beside the tree. Then came our three hours trying to get T to go to sleep. "Is it morning yet?" over and over. I finally had to say "Santa won't come if you aren't asleep. Do you want me to call him and say don't come because T doesn't want to go to sleep?" The answer was an earthshattering "NO", but he did lie down and eventually fell asleep. I did too and when I woke up 20 minutes later, groggy and bleary eyed, I had to start remembering where I'd hidden all the presents - both the stocking gifts and the gifts from family and friends sent in the mail that I've been hiding away for weeks to keep T from opening them. The trucks meant that there was no big assembly project this year but as usual it was after midnight by the time we took our weary selves to bed.

The blessing of the late to sleep meant that T didn't wake up until almost 8. He came out and found his stocking full, he discovered paint, colouring books, chocolate, an orange, a monster truck and a lego truck. Then we made him get dressed before heading downstairs. I went to take some pictures and discovered all my camera batteries were dead - lovely! And my search for new ones was fruitless. Ah well.

T found his Santa presents on the hearth - his bulldozer, a steam shovel and a road grader. Then he opened our presents to find a low loader (red) and a concrete mixer truck. By that point he'd figured out that the blue wrapping paper meant a truck. He opened an earthmover from Grampie and was set to open the other two boxes but we made him wait until Auntie K and Uncle M came later in the day for turkey dinner. He opened other gifts - a big pirate floor puzzle from Auntie S, a furry hat and a pirate treasure book from Auntie A, a kite and backhoe t-shirt and chocolate coins from his cousins, a Cars race car transporter and a fleece hoodie and a book from Auntie M and a hat and book from Mummy's friend PK. And along the way, Mummy and Daddy got some presents as well. T and D played with the trucks while I started cooking - first taking the turkey out of the brine and stuffing it with sausage stuffing. I made a vegetarian mushroom, cranberry, corn stuffing as well. The vegetables were carrot/yam dish from M&B, mashed turnip, maple roasted parsnips, braised pancetta brussel sprouts ( from Smittenkitchen.com without the breadcrumb topping), creamy potatoes plus gravy, cranberry sauce (M&B again), and our family traditional bread sauce. Dinner was served around 2:30 once K&T and M&B arrived and more gifts were exchanged. More trucks for T - a quarry truck and a dump truck. After dinner, we had candy cane ice cream from K, mince pie and cookies. T then played trucks while the rest of us rested,

had tea, chatted and Uncle T made hundreds of wrapping paper rocks to load up T's trucks!

Here are 4 of the trucks with the mountain of "rocks".


A lovely day and T learned that it sometimes doesn't snow at Christmas and it happens anyway!