Chip Dip

Christmastime gives me so much 'Mom' material I can barely keep up.  This isn't necessarily just a Christmas recipe, but one my family always had on Christmas Eve.  We call it Pond Family Chip Dip.  Or just Chip Dip, but I guess a more appropriate name would be Onion Dip.  Not French Onion, just Onion Dip.  My mom always made it in mass quantities partly because we always had a crowd, but partly because it was always everyone's favorite.  It's only appropriate that I made it today in her mixer and the photo above shows it in her Chip Dip bowl.  I don't know that this bowl saw any other kind of dip than Chip Dip.

It originated from my Dad's side, as his Mom, our Mimi, as we called her, would make it.  My Dad's Brother carries on the tradition as well, but makes it a bit different than my Mom.  My Uncle's is a bit sweeter and my Mom's is a bit more oniony.

There is of course no real recipe of how my Mom made it and adapted it.  Fortunately the Christmas before my Mom died I happened to wake up early.  My Mom was always the first one up and especially on Christmas Eve there was a lot of action going on in the kitchen.  I think by the time I got up she had already made her potatoes and crust for her quiche and numerous other recipes I have yet to post here.

I remember sitting at the counter by the Kitchen Aid while she was making Chip Dip.  As I sat down with a cup of coffee, she asked me, "Want to learn how to make Chip Dip?"  So I sat and watched and took it all in.  My Mom didn't measure.  As I think I've written here before, she was certainly not a measurer.  There was a lot of squirting from the ketchup bottle, pouring of the Worcestershire and sprinkling of my mom's favorite ingredient, Seasoned Salt.  Then she would just continue to taste it.  She had probably made it hundreds of times, so certainly didn't need a recipe.  Then she would turn on the mixer and just let it whirl.  My Mom used that Kitchen Aid Mixer for everything.  She would whip this dip for probably 15-20 minutes to get in a creamy consistency.  Maybe that's why her first mixer went kaput at some point.  She definitely put it to good use.

It was over a year before I tried it on my own.  There was a lot of tasting involved to figure out how to get it just right.  I had to test the color, the consistency and of course the flavor, but I think I got pretty close.  After getting the approval of my Dad I think it must be as close as any of us will ever get it.  Although I think that my Mom would laugh at this recipe and that it only lists to use three packages of cream cheese, I don't think she ever made it with less than ten since we always had at least 20 people over for Christmas Eve.  Try it for yourself.  Maybe it'll be a Christmas tradition in your family too....

Trish's Tips:  My Mom never took the time to bring the cream cheese to room temperature, but it really does help to keep the lumps out.  Taste as you go and make it your own.  Add more onion or more Worcestershire if you like a sharper flavor and more ketchup if you like it sweeter.

Pond Family Chip Dip

Ingredients:

3 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese (1 1/2 lbs total)
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 TBL plus 1 tsp Ketchup
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 cup grated onion with juice (about 1/2 of small onion)
1 TBL milk (optional)

Directions:

Grate Onion on small side of box grater.  It should be just a pulp with no visible chunks of onion.  Put cream cheese in mixer.  Beat until soft.  Turn mixer off, scrape sides of bowl and turn on low.  Slowly add Worcestershire, Ketchup and seasoned salt.  Mix until smooth.  Add milk if needed for smoother consistency.  You may need depending on how juicy your onion is.

Cocktail Nuts

Cocktail nuts always remind me of my mom.  She was a member of a very exclusive Yahtzee Club in my neighborhood growing up where the neighborhood ladies would get together and play Yahtzee once a month to the wee hours.  My siblings and I could never sleep that night and would watch TV in my parents' room to the hoots of the Yahtzee ladies.  They always had a good time.  I always remember as a kid loving the one time a year that my mom hosted because that meant hors d'oeuvres for dinner.  It was my favorite dinner then and is my favorite dinner now.

The Yahtzee rules entailed that each member would only host once a year, but on that day of the year the hostess did everything, all the food, drinks, etc.  I remember my mom deciding what to make and getting it all prepped the day of.   She would set up card tables in the living room and on each table were a bowl of M&M's and a bowl of nuts.  I think she would make sure not to set those tables up too early because the M&M's were quite a draw for us as kids.   As an adult, the nuts are more of a draw for me.

These aren't the cocktail nuts that my mom would have, but I think she would have liked them.  They are a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy.  I brought them to a Christmas Party that I went to this weekend and they were a hit.  I used my favorite nuts: walnuts, pecans and almonds, although I still found myself picking out all the pecans.  Use your favorites.  They would also be a great homemade gift and are pretty simple to make.  Enjoy!

Trish's Tips:  Make sure to really let the nuts glaze and cook for the last part.  If not the sugar won't fully dissolve in the water and evenly coat and you will get more of a grainy texture.  Either way it will still be good, but will clump together more.  I made this mistake once.

Spiced Nuts
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 C unsalted mixed nuts, such as walnuts, almonds and pecans
4 TBL unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 TBL brown sugar
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Put aside.  Mix spices and reserve.  Heat the nuts in a dry skillet over medium-high heat and cook, stirring frequently until they begin to toast about 5 minutes.  Add the butter and cook, stirring, until the butter melts and the nuts begin to darken, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the spices, the sugar, 1 TBL water and the salt and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens and the nuts are glazed about 5 minutes.

Remove the nuts from the heat and transfer to the baking sheet, separating with a fork.  Let the nuts stand until cooled and the sugar has hardened, about 10 minutes.  Store in an airtight container.

Sugar Cookies

It's definitely that time of year.  My mom always had a huge list of cookies she would make, mostly to please each of us, her kids.  And with five kids each with different 'favorites', that meant a lot of cookies.  But we always had a crowd for Christmas so they definitely never went to waste.  These are Rachel's favorite.  My dad loves the peanut butter ones with the kisses, although actually he hates the kiss part and always rips that off.  You would open the tupperware container to a half full bin of cookies with several abandoned kisses.  La's favorite are definitely the buckeyes or peanut butter balls as we call them and often puts herself on a 'cookie quota' for fear of eating them for breakfast.  I guess mine always changed, my mom would always call and ask what she wanted me to make before coming home.  So we had our traditions, but also would throw in some new ones.  But she always made these.  Sometimes she would wait for all of us to come home before she baked them so we could all do it together, but either way they were always a staple on the cookie platter.

The original recipe is from a neighbor of my parents and it makes a ridiculous amount of cookies.  Sometimes we would start making them and just leave part of the dough in the freezer.  Too much to tackle.  That's probably why we would often have Valentines Day Sugar Cookies as well.  A way to use up all of that dough.  Those pink hearts are pretty cute though.  I've halved the recipe here for you.  I made the whole huge batch last night and thankfully had lots of friends to help.  My mom used to laugh how she had to make us do things like decorating the tree and making cookies, but somehow we all grew into loving it.  I think mostly we were just hard-to-please teenagers.  But even as we got older and were excited about making the cookies, at some point we would get bored of it and abandon my mom.   So half of the cookies would be cutely decorated with sprinkles and the whole bit, and the other half would be just a slab of frosting.  My poor mom.  The whole decorating thing got old and we just left her to the rest.  She would be left with probably 50 cookies to frost on her own.

Although these aren't my absolute favorite Christmas Cookie, for me they are so nostalgic.  They are of course a great recipe.  A little bit of citrus makes them a bit different than your standard sugar cookie.  And of course they are buttery with creamy frosting, but more than anything I just can't imagine Christmas without them.  And my mom would be happy to know this year that I stuck it out to the end although there was some talk about just having 'cookie dippers' rather than frosting the last few.  Some things never change I guess!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies
1 1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1 tsp Orange Peel
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
2 TBL Milk
2 tsp Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
4 1/2 Cups Flour
1 TBL Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

Frosting
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 TBL Milk

Directions:

Cookies
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium sized bowl.  Set aside.  In mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs and beat until fluffy.  Stir in milk, vanilla, orange peel and orange juice.  Slowly add dry ingredients.  Mix and divide in half and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat Oven to 375.  Roll and cut out dough to desired thickness.  Bake for 6-10 minutes depending on size of shape and thickness of dough.  Cookies are done when center no longer looks wet.  Or if you like them more crispy cook until ends start to turn golden brown.  Let cool before frosting and decorating.

Frosting
Mix all ingredients in mixer until smooth.  Make sure to let cookies dry before packing up.  Best to pack in layers in air-tight container.  Put wax paper between.

Soup Season

As the name of my blog would suggest, there really isn't a soup season.  But I don't think anyone will argue that when the weather drops like it has in the last couple of weeks in Chicago, soup sounds pretty darn good.  Especially Tomato Soup, maybe with a grilled cheese?  Other than mac 'n cheese, I can't think of a better comfort food.  I would say soup is definitely up there as the top things that my mom was great at making.  That and bread, which probably comes as no surprise to anyone reading this as those are the only posts I have made, although I will argue stew isn't really the same as soup.  All right, a bit of a stretch I know, but worth a try.

This recipe isn't one of my mom's, although I think she would have liked it.  It's one of Giada De Laurentiis' and my mom had all of her cookbooks.  She didn't always, okay never, cook from them verbatim but used them as inspiration.  She may have said, "I'm making tomato soup"  to which I would ask, "who's recipe?" to which she would answer, "a combination of Giada's, Barefoot's and Tyler Florence".  That translated meant that she would used aspects of each recipe and combine them to make her own creation.  And it was always good!  Hoping I can pick up that talent at some point.

I also think this time of year is very fitting for this recipe because it would be perfect for a Holiday Open House.  The deep red color with the rosemary garnish is particularly festive.  And, of course, soup is always great for entertaining.  In fact this is already on the menu for a baby shower that I am co-hosting in January.

I think the thing that I like best about it is that although it's a tomato soup, it's much more filling due to the beans than your standard tomato soup.  The white beans add a creaminess factor that you would otherwise have to add cream to get.  So it's also on the healthy side as you get the fiber and protein from the beans without all of the fat from the cream.  My mom probably wouldn't have liked that part of it, in fact I'm pretty sure she would have still added cream to it, and you should try that too.  It probably would be even better than it is here.  Try it and let me know what you think!

Trish's Tips:  Make sure to cut the carrot smaller than the onions or let simmer for longer than 30 minutes.  If not, they don't do well in the puree stage and you will end up with chunks of carrot.  You could also use a food mill to puree.  If you are using a blender BE CAREFUL! The steam can literally blow the top off of your blender.  I suggest filling only halfway, then removing the cap from the little whole and covering with a towel while you blend.  This enables the steam to get out.  This soup has a little bit of a kick.  If you are a bit wimpy when it comes to spice, decrease the amount of red pepper flakes or leave them out all together.  (By my use of the word 'wimpy', can you tell that I love spice?)  I certainly wouldn't describe this as spicy, but it does have a bit of a kick to it.

Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon Zest & Rosemary
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
2 TBL olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, (about 1 cup) peeled and chopped (better to chop smaller than the onions)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1- 15 oz can cannelini or other white beans, drained and rinsed
1 - 28 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes with liquid
3 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 tsp minced fresh rosemary, separated (1 tsp for mixing in and 1 tsp for garnish)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
Slices of fresh mozzarella or goat cheese to top with
Zest of one lemon

Directions
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, carrots and garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender but not browned, about 5-10 minutes.  Add the beans, tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, 1 tsp rosemary, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  Bring the soup to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, covered.

Puree the soup in a blender in batches, being careful to remove and discard the bay leaf.  Return the soup to a soup pot and keep warm over low heat.  Taste and season as needed.

Serve topped with cheese and a bit of lemon zest and remaining 1 tsp rosemary.