Holiday Wrap Up.

I wanted to share some of my holiday highlights with you all in hopes that it will inspire you for next year or even for any other holiday throughout the year!

I want to start off with my favorite gifts of the season. These are my top gifts I received this year. They're gifts that are really desirable and make great presents that a lot of girls will love. Valentine's Day is coming up, so these might be good things to keep in mind! Shop the items via links below...

Living Royal Emoji Socks
Martha Stewart's Appetizers Cook Book
Starbucks Los Angeles Ceramic Tumbler
Umbra Prisma Frame
Paper Source Iphone Case
Tory Burch Wristlet 

Next, I want to inspire you all to give baking a try and cultivate holiday flavors into your baked goods. I love making oatmeal walnut cranberry cookies! As you know, I always happily share my recipes, but this recipe is my little holiday secret :X

I loved seeing holiday lights at the LA Zoo this year too. It was very festive and my favorite part was the twinkling LED light canopy above a long, beautiful walkway.

Finally, I hope you all had fun celebrating the beginning of the New Year and I hope this year for everyone that all your pain be champagne!

Thanksgiving.

I love the fall season and one of my favorite parts of it is Thanksgiving. I love everything about it...the food, the family, the Black Friday sales. So this year when Thanksgiving was held at my house, I was so excited and so ready to get into the spirit. 

Usually, my mom makes the entire feast, but this year I offered to make all the side dishes and leave the turkey to her. I hope to one day be able to make a turkey as good as hers, but making the sides was a good start for me. In addition, I went crazy over making the table setting this year and actually prepared for it for weeks in advance. Everyone's Thanksgiving is special and I hope mine can inspire some of you for next year!

So I began preparing the table setting a couple of weeks before the big day...

I made these burlap place settings with burlap ribbon and washable fabric glue. I did it by folding different lengths on a 4 x 22 inch cut of ribbon. See next photo...

On a 22 inch ribbon, fold 2 inches one way, 6 inches the other way, then 5 inches from the side you folded 2 inches from. Glue with washable fabric glue and place a heavy object on it to seal thoroughly.

Then I made the centerpieces using a large cylindrical vase and adding small pumpkins, squash, and walnuts and topping it off with a candle. I wrapped it up in the leftover burlap ribbon from the place settings and a festive bow. 

I wanted keep a rustic undertone to the table so I arranged mason jars as glasses instead of regular cups. And to top off I added paper straws that fit in with the Thanksgiving color scheme. 

The drinks I made for our guests were so yummy. In a pitcher, I just added 4 cups of orange juice to 1 cup of vodka, a few tablespoons of the syrup in maraschino cherry jars, 3 rosemary sprigs, and 2 lemons. 

Appetizers should be kept light so people save room for the Thanksgiving feast! I decided to make a veggie tray shaped like a turkey. Gobble Gobble! 

This was my take on stuffing. To 1.5 pounds of rosemary olive oil bread, I added simmered onions, roasted mushrooms, parsley, sage, thyme, and garlic and I mixed it all with 3 cups of chicken stock and 2 eggs. Baked it at 375 for 30 minutes and voila!

My Brussels Sprouts were a huge hit this year. I halved and  roasted the sprouts in olive oil, salt, and pepper at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. When they came out of the oven, I mixed them with cranberries and walnuts and finally topped it off with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese. The balance of the ingredients can be tailored to your liking! I like the taste of tart cranberries so I added a lot of those. 

Okay guys, this green bean casserole was by far the favorite side dish of the night and I like to attribute it to the fact that I did NOT use canned cream of mushroom soup! Instead I made a Bechamel sauce, which is just 5 tablespoons of melted butter mixed with 4 tablespoons of flour. Add 4 cups of heated milk and season with 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg. I mixed this sauce with blanched green beans, roasted mushrooms, and French fried onions in a buttered pan. Finally, I topped it with more French fried onions and baked it at 350 for 25 minutes. So delicious!

Sorry (not sorry) that half of these mashed potatoes were eaten before I could get a picture of it, but apparently it was that good. My favorite potatoes to use are red potatoes because the consistency is really thick but still smooth. It's easy to get lumps out with red potatoes, and I like my mashed potatoes without the lumps! You can even leave the skins on, as the skins on red potatoes are actually nutritious and have been said to improve cognitive function. I added 1 cup of warm milk and 4 tablespoons of butter to make it extra soft and creamy.

Not pictured: Cranberry sauce made by adding 1 cup cranberries to 2 cups of boiling water with orange zest in it. The cranberries will burst in the heat to make the sauce!

I finally finished off the meal with a Rose Apple Pie. I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I got it from acozykitchen.com and it is to die for. It's topped with a bourbon glaze and it's oh so decadent. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving this year and that this post served as some inspiration for next year! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Risotto Done Twice.

Risotto is one of most delicious Italian dishes out there. The first time I had risotto was at Trattoria Neapolis in Pasadena and it was to die for. So I decided to try making it myself and take a crack at being an Italian chef for a day. Risotto, although delicious, is known to be one of the hardest Italian meals to make, but this is a misconception. It's more so that it is time consuming and requires constant attention to make sure its perfect and comes out with a good consistency.

There are many different ways to prepare risotto. You can make it with a tomato sauce, add chicken or shrimp, and different types of veggies. I decided to make my risotto creamy with some mushrooms and peas.

Toasting the rice before adding wine & broth.

The finished product. 

Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of low sodium chicken broth (I used 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of hot water, you can mix and match or use only water to your taste)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 cups chopped onions
• 10 ounces of cremini mushrooms chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1.5 cups Arborio rice
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup frozen peas thawed
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring the pot to a simmer in a saucepan. Keep the broth warm over very low heat.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat then add the olive oil. 
3. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Saute mushrooms until tender, about 5 minutes. 
5. Stir in rice and let it toast for a few minutes.
6. Add the wine and cook until the liquid is absorbed by the rice stirring often, about 2 minutes. 
7. Add 1 cup of hot broth, simmer over medium low heat until the liquid is absorbed stirring often, about 3 minutes. It is so important to stir often so the rice doesn't stick to the pot. Repeat this step until all the broth it used and the rice absorbs all the liquid. This will take about 30 minutes. 
8. Add the peas and Parmesan cheese.
9. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

This turned out so delicious, but it came out with A LOT of risotto. After eating it for a couple days, I got a little tired of it so I found an easy Round 2 recipe that reuses the risotto to make a new dish. Risotto cakes! They're little patties of risotto fried up in a crispy panko breading. 

After dredging and coating in panko, ready to be fried.

Beautifully crispy.

Crispy outside and warm, creamy inside. 

Here's how I made it them...

Ingredients:

• Leftover risotto
• 1 cup all purpose flour for dredging
• Eggs, beaten
• Panko breadcrumbs
• Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1. With cooled risotto, form the mixture into a burger sized patty about 1 inch thick. 
2. Set up a dredging station with flour in one dish, beaten eggs in another, and panko breadcrumbs in another.
3. Dip the rice patties into the flour then into the eggs and finally coat them with panko breadcrumbs.
4. In a large skillet, heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil over medium heat until a panko crumb sizzles in it. 
5. Working in batches of 2-3, fry the risotto cakes until they are golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. 
6. Transfer to a wire rack to dredge excess oil and to help them stay crispy. 

Voila!

Recipes courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis and Ina Garten.