Spring 2010, Issue 2
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HOLIDAY
Holiday food with flair
By Jennifer Gish
Spiral-cut chili cheese dogs are a delicious alternative to a Christmas turkey, said Swanson.
Le Swanson, pictured with her husband, Matt, and daughter, Malia, can't imagine a Christmas without spiral-cut chili cheese dogs.
Hot dogs may not be typical holiday fare. But Swanson, like many others around Orange County, isn't afraid to break from the norm at Thanksgiving and Christmas to spice up the food on her family's table. The food Americans eat at the holidays is just as diverse as they are.
"My family never used to celebrate Thanksgiving. Maybe it's just an Asian thing," said Swanson. "Now we do chili cheese dogs every year."
Swanson, 32, said her mother would never cook anything special for the holidays. The first time Swanson roasted a turkey was as a kindergarten teacher, when she incorporated it into her lessons at Thanksgiving.
"We used to receive turkeys when I was a kid, but we never knew what to do with it," said Swanson. "It was like, 'Oh, a big chicken!'"
Swanson, who lives in Anaheim Hills, said her family's spiral-cut chili cheese dog tradition started after someone discovered a restaurant that made its hot dogs that way. Ever since then, Swanson, her husband, and now their daughter, have eaten the simple-but-delicious Christmas day lunch and enjoyed her father-in-law's company.
"It's always what we've done. When I think of Christmas with [my husband's] dad, that's what I think of," she said. "They cut the hot dogs all the way around so they end up looking like a big drill bit. I don't like chili cheese dogs, but I love the spiral-cut ones!"
Swanson also celebrated the holidays with different food during her high school years, she said. At that time, she lived with some friends of her family. The mother of the family, whom Swanson calls her "aunt," had a Scandinavian background, and she generally made the typical American holiday food. But she always liked to try something new. Sometimes, she would roast a Cornish game hen for everyone at the table rather than serve a turkey.
"Everyone would get a mini chicken to themselves, basically!" said Swanson.
But an appetizer called shrimp cocktail aspic was at the top of the family's list of holiday treats. The best part was its name.
"It's a running joke because everyone in their family loves to eat it, but it has such a weird name," said Swanson. "They'd use any excuse to say it as much as they could."
The dish, as Swanson described it, was like an inverted Bundt cake with shrimp, veggies and Jell-O in it, but was not a dessert.
"They always make it, always have to have it," she said. "It's not a main course, but it's always on the menu."
Many families bring a bit of their culture to the holiday table. Chapman alumna Maria Sanchez, 22, said she and her family mix in Mexican favorites with their holiday feasts. Sanchez's family has made homemade tamales and other treats for as long as she can remember. The tamales - made with corn dough on the outside, stuffed with meat or vegetables, and wrapped in corn husks - are special to Sanchez for more than their yummy taste. For Sanchez, the tamale-making parties are cherished times spent with her grandmother and cousins.
"Since we were little, we'd always get together at Grandma's house," said Sanchez.
The women and boys in the family always come together to cook, although the team tends to dwindle as the day wears on. But they make memories all the same.
"The kids get tired, so the adults end up making all of them," said Sanchez. "Going to Grandma's house with all my girl cousins, just making the tamales with Grandma - that's timeless, you know?"
Sanchez and her family make several kinds of tamales, some with red or green chili, and others with raisins, sugar and nuts that are more of a dessert. They gather a couple of weeks before Christmas to make the tamales, and then freeze them until the holiday arrives.
"In the end, you can't compare her tamales with anyone else's," said Sanchez. "It's Grandma's cooking. It's just that good."
The Sanchez family incorporates American favorites into its tamale feast, including a golden brown roasted turkey, creamy mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. The 30 or so family members who gather also eat casseroles, usually made with green beans. One of Sanchez's aunts uses the holidays as an excuse to experiment in the kitchen.
"She made really good potatoes last year," said Sanchez. "They had cheese and sour cream on top, and she put them in the oven so they got kind of toasty - kind of crispy."
The same aunt even made pigs in a blanket for the family last year.
"She just finds these recipes and everyone ends up loving them," said Sanchez. "It's cool because they're new, different."
For other families, Thanksgiving and Christmas meals resemble the American classics, but with some twists. Nicholas Luong's family, for instance, incorporates some of its Vietnamese heritage into its holiday food.
Luong, of Garden Grove, is a first-generation American citizen. His parents emigrated from Vietnam during the Vietnam War. To Luong, 23, Thanksgiving and Christmas are opportunities to show pride in being American. That's particularly true when it comes to the food, he said.
"We have pretty much Asian food every day," he said. "Thanksgiving and Christmas are very American meals, so we eat American things."
The Luong family takes advantage of the ready-made holiday meals supermarkets carry. His mom normally goes to the store and picks up whatever is in stock. The turkeys come raw from the store, so the family enjoys the rich roasting smells all day. Luong's older brother Tim, described as the chef of the family, has largely taken over the cooking duties for his mother during the holidays. But his mom sometimes spices up the spread by making her signature bacon-wrapped broiled fish.
"It's like spring rolls with lettuce," said Luong. "The bacon wrapping is something extra, a little modification of it that my mom added in for extra oomph."
Despite the yummy fish dish, Luong's holiday favorites will always be stuffing, turkey and gravy.
"I only have it once a year!" he said.
While the Luongs eat traditional food with a Vietnamese twist, Melinda Nowak's family incorporates some of its German heritage into its holiday food. A steamed purple cabbage dish - a traditional German food - occupies a place of honor alongside the turkey, sweet potatoes and rolls. Half the family likes the dish, but Nowak, 33, isn't a fan of the purple vegetable.
"I don't like it!" she said. "I can't even describe what it tastes like. I don't even know what's in it, but it's more along the lines of sauerkraut, kind of vinegary."
Corn chowder is typically on the menu for the family's Christmas Eve gathering, said Nowak. Everyone makes merry with a big dinner complete with candles and fine china. For years, her family would celebrate advent, the four weeks before Christmas when Christians prepare for the nativity of Jesus. The family members would gather to eat cookies and drink tea in those weeks leading up to Christmas.
While she was alive, Nowak's maternal grandmother - her Oma, the German word for grandmother - would send goodies from her home in Germany to her grandchildren in the United States. Nowak's favorites were gingerbread-type cookies that were like little cakes, and of course, the German Gummi Bears.
"That was always something," said Nowak nostalgically.
For Nowak, the holidays are a time to reflect on the ways she's been blessed. On Thanksgiving, her favorite holiday, she and her family take turns sharing what they're thankful for.
"It's just a pure day to do what we should be doing: giving thanks," said Nowak. "I love going around the table hearing what's happened in everyone's lives in the past year."
Nowak's job in management at Macy's gives her a taste of how commercialized Christmas has become.
"I like Thanksgiving because it's overlooked by the consumer world," she said.
Meals cooked and shared with family at the holidays are about more than what is on the menu. No matter what families around Orange County and across the nation eat this season, many say that the food they make will bring them together. New traditions will take root, old traditions will live on - and Swanson will enjoy some spiral-cut chili cheese dogs.
Ideas for starting new traditions
By Jennifer Gish
Anaheim Hills resident Le Swanson doesn't feel like it's Christmas until she smells the spiral-cut chili cheese dogs cooking.
And good friends of Swanson's family feel the same way about their shrimp cocktail aspic - an appetizer made with Jell-O, shrimp and veggies. The best part about the aspic is the pronunciation of its name, said Swanson. Saying it elicits giggles every time.
"It sounds like an expletive!" she said.
If starting a new tradition sounds like a good idea this holiday season, why not try a couple of Swanson's recipes?
Spiral-cut chili cheese dogs
A Swanson family favorite
Ingredients:
1 package hot dogs
1 package hot dog buns
1 can Hormel chili (Swanson prefers chili without beans)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Cut a spiral down each hot dog, being careful not to cut too deep.
2. Grill hot dogs.
3. Place each hot dog in a bun, then cover with chili and shredded cheese.
4. Place hot dogs in oven or toaster oven to melt cheese and crisp the hot dog buns.
Shrimp Cocktail Aspic
Good for giggles
Ingredients:
4 cups V8 juice
1 8-ounce jar tomato sauce
1/2 cup onion choped
1/2 cup celery leaves, chopped
3 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
4 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 to 3/4 pounds shrimp
3-4 stalks celery
20 large stuffed green olives
Directions:
1. Mix 3 cups of V8 with the chopped onion, celery leaves, and cloves.
2. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
3. Strain and cool.
4. Dice the celery into fine bits and slice the green olives.
5. Soften the gelatin in remaining V8 juice, adding to hot V8 juice to dissolve. Add tomato sauce, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce.
6. Chill until thickened, able to fold the shrimp, diced celery and green olives into the mixture without falling to the bottom or sit on the top. Chill until molded, then serve.
Ingredients for the sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon horseradish
Lemon to taste
Swanson's notes:
The amount of shrimp to your taste, I like a lot. No tails, please. I also like a lot of mustard and horseradish in the sauce. Tasting is good, so suit it to your taste.
Recipes for health-conscious holiday celebrations
By Jennifer Gish
For many students, the college years present enough of a problem for trying to stay fit and healthy. The infamous freshman 15 might be enough to scare some students away from enjoying the food this holiday season - the last thing they'll want is to gorge themselves on fat-filled holiday meals.
Thankfully, health-conscious individuals don't have to sacrifice taste for nutrition. Try these low-fat or vegetarian recipes this holiday season.
Turkey meatloaf with sun-dried tomatoes
Taken from www.foodfit.com"
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 cup bread
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and cook 2 minutes more and set aside to cool.
3. Drain the tomatoes and finely chop them.
4. Combine the tomatoes, turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, skim milk, salt, pepper and the cooled onion mixture. Thoroughly mix together.
5. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions. Pack each portion into a 1 1/2-cup baking dishes, such as a soufflé dish or a ramekin. Sprinkle the tops with cheese and bake for 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Serving size:
1 mini loaf
Number of servings:
4
Nutrition information:
Per serving
Calories 281 Carbohydrates 20 grams
Fat 6 grams Fiber 2 grams
Protein 35 grams Saturated fat 2 grams
Sodium 565 milligrams
Sweet potato and pumpkin lasagna with black olive butter
Taken from www.cooking.com
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 medium sweet potatoes, washed
1 small butternut squash, halved, seeded
1 small sugar pumpkin, halved, seeded
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Twelve 6-inch-square fresh lasagna noodles, or 12 extra-wide dry lasagna noodles
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Lightly coat 2-quart soufflé dish with olive oil. Cover 2 large baking sheets with foil. Lay potatoes on 1 foil-lined baking sheet. Lay pumpkin and squash cut-side down on second foil-lined baking sheet. Roast until potatoes, squash and pumpkin are tender, about 40 minutes. Cool slightly.
3. Peel potatoes, squash and pumpkin. Working in batches, transfer potatoes, squash and pumpkin to food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer mixture to bowl; stir to blend. Season to taste with salt. Transfer puree to prepared dish; smooth top. Bake until vegetable puree is completely heated through, about 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, puree olives and 3 tablespoons olive oil in clean food processor. Mix in rosemary. Transfer olive puree to large bowl. Mix in melted butter. Set aside.
5. Drop lasagna noodles into large pot of boiling salted water and cook until al dente. Drain. Toss lasagna noodles with olive puree.
6. Spoon mounds of pureed vegetables onto 6 individual heated plates. Drape 2 lasagna noodles over each serving. Garnish with cheese and serve immediately.
Number of servings:
6
Nutrition information:
Per serving
Calories 566 Fat total 24 grams
Carbohydrates 84 grams Sodium 141 milligrams
Total cholesterol 31 milligrams Protein 10 grams
Fiber 9 grams % calories from fat 38%
Time-tested favorites
By Jennifer Gish
Butterball's signature turkey apricot chestnut stuffing complements its roasted turkey recipes perfectly.
Roasted turkey is an all-American holiday favorite.
Taken from Butterball
Shopping list:
1 loaf sourdough bread
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup almonds
1 1/2 cups onions
1 1/2 cups celery
4 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups chestnuts
1 1/2 cups dried apricots
1/2 cup raisins
2 cupus chicken broth
1 Butterball fresh or frozen whole turkey
No-stick spray
Serving suggestions:
If using fresh chestnuts, one pound will yield about 2 1/2 cups peeled nuts. To roast fresh chestnuts, cut an X with the tip of a knife on the flat side. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place nuts in a shallow pan and roast 20 minutes. When just cool enough to handle, peel off shell and dark skin covering nut.
If using canned chestnuts, a 15 ounce can or jar will yield 2 1/2 cups peeled nuts.
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread bread cubes on bottom of large shallow baking pan. Bake 15 minutes or until light golden, stirring once. Set aside.
2. Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add almonds. Cook and stir 3 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove with slotted spoon. Set aside. Add onion and celery to remaining butter. Cook and stir 5 minutes, or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in poultry seasoning and salt.
3. Combine bread cubes, vegetables, chestnuts, apricots, raisins and almonds. Add broth; mix well.
4. Reduce oven to 325 degrees.
5. Remove neck and giblets from body and neck cavities of turkey. Refrigerate for another use or discard.
6. Drain juices from turkey. Dry turkey with paper towels.
7. Fill neck cavity with part of the stuffing. Turn wings back to hold neck skin against back of turkey. Fill body cavity with remaining stuffing.
8. Place turkey, breast up, on flat roasting rack in shallow roasting pan. Spray turkey with cooking spray. Place small pieces of aluminum foil over skin of neck cavity and over stuffing at body cavity opening to prevent over-browning during roasting.
9. Roast turkey 4 1/2 hours, or until meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees when inserted in center of stuffing and 180 degrees when inserted deep in thigh. Cover breast and top of drumsticks with aluminum foil after 3 hours to prevent overcooking of the breast.
10. Let turkey stand 15 minutes before removing stuffing and carving.
Deep-fried turkey
Taken from "Martha Stewart Living"
This recipe should be made outdoors; making it in the kitchen is too dangerous.
Ingredients:
Serves 10 to 12
Fresh turkey (15 pounds)
25 medium dried bay leaves
3 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
3 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
3 tablespoons Konriko brand, or other hot Creole seasoning
2 teaspoons garlic powder
4 gallons peanut oil
Directions:
1. Wash turkey inside and out under cold running water; pat dry. Finely grind bay leaves in spice grinder; transfer to small bowl. Finely grind thyme, oregano, and peppercorns separately; add to bay leaves. Mix in Creole seasoning and garlic powder.
2. Rub 1/3 spice mixture on inside of turkey, 1/3 under skin of breast, and 1/3 on outside of turkey; place in roasting pan. Cover; marinate overnight in refrigerator or up to 24 hours.
3. Bring turkey to room temperate. Using a wooden skewer, thread neck flap securely to bottom of turkey. Fold wing tips under. Using steel or aluminum wire, truss legs and tail's nose together securely; form a handle with wire. This will enable you to hold turkey while submerging in hot oil.
4. Heat oil in 10-gallon pot with liner basket over high heat until temperature registers 360 degrees. Holding turkey by handle, immerse in oil. Maintain temperature at 360 degrees while frying. Fry until golden brown, about 45 minutes, or 3 minutes per pound.
5. Lift turkey from oil; transfer to a wire rack over a roasting pan. Drain for 15 minutes. Serve.
Ideas for starting new traditions
By Jennifer Gish
Anaheim Hills resident Le Swanson doesn't feel like it's Christmas until she smells the spiral-cut chili cheese dogs cooking.
Recipes for health-conscious holiday celebrations
By Jennifer Gish
Thankfully, health-conscious individuals don't have to sacrifice taste for nutrition. Try these low-fat or vegetarian recipes this holiday season.
Time-tested favorites
By Jennifer Gish
Turkey with apricot-chestnut stuffing and deep-friend turkey.
© Copyright 2010 Prowl: Chapman's Online Student Magazine