Since I’m unable to cook everything I want for the blog every single month, I have enlisted the help of a friend of mine to bring a little more variety. Every month or so, Andrea will share some of the links that have caught her attention the most over the past few weeks. Andrea loves to cook as much as I do. She also tries hard to find new, exciting, and healthy things to feed her family. She always finds the most interesting and intriguing (not to mention delicious sounding) recipes, so I knew I had to share her with you all. Enjoy! -Darla
Hi everyone! This is Andrea again! You may remember me from my post back in October? Well, I’m back again, with more delicious recipes to share with you! I’ll be making my way here every month or two to share some of the wealth of links I’ve saved up, just a few at a time, so keep an eye out for me!
The holidays are here again! Personally, my life is crazy hectic right now, and adding Christmas to the mix…well, it just got more crazy hectic! 🙂 Somehow, in the midst of it all, I still manage to find time to browse recipes online. I must feed the addiction that I was telling you all about a couple of months ago. 🙂
We celebrate Christmas in our family,  and we decided years ago to do our holiday gathering first thing Christmas morning since everyone has so many places to be that day, and so many meals to eat with their other families, so why we do breakfast! It’s fun and different, but we can still have a traditional ham for our meal just like almost everyone else does. Or at least I thought everyone else did. Over the years I’ve learned just how differently Christmas is celebrated by others. I especially enjoy learning what other cultures do for Christmas. I like to see what kinds of food they eat the most, though! You know…since I’m a food addict! 😉
I’m fortunate enough to work with many Hispanics, and I’m even more fortunate to get to eat some of the food they bring to work. It’s a definite perk of my job! My favorite is definitely tamales! They are so good! I was surprised to learn that tamales are usually served at Christmas, though. They require so much time and effort that they are reserved for special occasions. I decided this year I want to make some tamales for our Christmas! I know I’ll be cooking for breakfast, but that’s ok, in many countries, tamales are eaten for breakfast too. I tried making them once before, and they were ok, but not great. This time will be different, though: I found a new link to try out! I can’t wait to try making them again. These look like they’re going to be just what I need to succeed. I can’t wait!
Researching tamales made me curious about what people in other countries eat for their Christmas meals too. I found a few recipes that piqued my interest, and thought I’d share them with you!
In Ireland one thing you’ll find on everyone’s Christmas table is Irish Soda Bread. You don’t need to look far to find a great recipe for that! Sugarbear posted one on here back in March that is awesome! Click here and you’ll have the recipe at your fingertips!
In England they serve something I’m a bit hesitant about, but I’m still intrigued by. I just haven’t quite grasped the concept of it yet. If you’ve had this, I’d love to hear your thoughts about it. It’s called Bread Sauce. Here is a recipe for it that I would consider reliable since it’s Nigella Lawson’s! I used to find her fascinating when I’d watch her on Food Network. It may just be the accent, though! 😉
I definitely had to find out about Greece because I just love Greek food! Olives and feta cheese are two of my favorite things! Once I noticed the sweets, that’s all I could look at. This baklava really caught my eye, especially since I love baklava so much. It’s something I’m very intimidated by, though, so it’s been on my list of things to try for quite some time now. I will try it eventually…really.
Appelflappen just has a nice ring to it! When I looked up Dutch food this is what I discovered, and it sounds delicious! This recipe could definitely make it’s way into my family’s traditional Christmas meal. I doubt anyone would be disappointed by it!
My kids have German in their heritage from their father’s side of the family. Also, my dad was stationed in Germany while he was in the army so I thought I’d look to see if there is anything that sparked an interest there. Mulled wine is something that I thought sounded really good, and could add just a little something to the adult’s meal. Of course my kids can’t have it yet, but if I start making it now I’ll be an expert by the time they are old enough to enjoy it, right?
No matter how you celebrate your holidays, you can certainly enjoy these recipes. I hope you all have very happy holidays, and a safe and happy New Year, as well. Enjoy the links!
More Sugar from Andrea:
In Denmark we drink mulled wine at Christmas too (pays to have Germany next door!)
Anyway, I don't know how old your kids are, but I can't remember not having a taste when my mum made mulled wine – when it's been on the stove, simmering for most of a day, most of the alcohol will have evaporated.
Also, when we make mulled wine we put a lot more in it (uhm, wine-soaked, cinamonny raisins) If you're interested I'll e-mail you a recipe 🙂
PS. Love your blog!
I was wondering where the appelflappen recipe is? You accidentally linked the baklava recipe twice. 🙂 I'd like to make some for my Dutch expat friend.
@Mandassassin -The post has been updated with the link! Sorry about that! 🙂
Im from the UK and we have bread sauce every year. its soo nice lol, may be different to american tastes but it makes christmas meal christmasy to me ^.^
I am from england and i can whole-heartedly recommend bread sauce!! It isnt disgusting like it sounds! It is creamy and savoury and christmassy and absolutely delicious!! Delia Smith has an amazing recipe!
There is nothing more enjoyable then a nice Glühwein when it's bloody cold outside in Europe during end of year holidays! Hot cocoa does the trick for non-alcoholic people.
I haven't heard of Appelflappen being something Christmassy, but then again I might be missing out since I'm from Flanders and even though the Dutch are right on our doorsteps, they do tend to have the most different traditions and behaviours.
I can recommend for these days also what we call Raclette. It is my absolute favourite food. Unfortunately it is not that swell for my cholesterol.
Our typical dessert is a Kerststronk. I couldn't find an appropriate translation to English. I did find Kerststol and Stollen but these are hardly Flemish and no where near the dessert we and the French share. If you google it up for images, you might have a better idea of what I mean. It is a dessert with a spongy type of cake and lots of buttercream in many different flavours.
I'm living in Australia though for the moment and I have to say, things for Christmas are very different here then what I am used to. But I can't wait to try out all the sweets!
Thanks for the list, it was a pleasure to read!
In Greece a cookie called melomacarona is popular around Christmas-time. It's a crumbly cookie dipped in a warm honey syrup and crushed walnuts sprinkled on top.
This is Andrea! I love all the other suggestions you all have posted here! These are great!
@Emily and Anon-I'm very glad to hear bread sauce is good. I may have to go ahead and try it this year.
@Evangeline-I actually did see the cookie you are talking about when I was looking through recipes. I just love baklava though so when I was trying to decide which to post, baklava won out! LOL The cookie sounds awesome too!