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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Recipe Exchange: More Christmas Gifts

Recipe Exchange: More Christmas Gifts

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Recipe Exchange: More Christmas Gifts

 

Getting my parents Christmas gifts is impossible. They really don’t want more stuff and if I give them cash, they give it back. ?

This year, since I was traveling home last week, I decided the best thing I could do was cook for them. So that’s what I did. I made twelve meals for two.

This included:

Spinach Tomato Soup (recipe here)

Spinach Lasagna (recipe here)

Chicken Tortilla Soup (recipe here)

Shredded Chicken – I shredded two pounds of chicken that I cooked with garlic, sage, rosemary and basil in the Multi-Pot/Instant Pot. They can then use it for chicken salad or BBQ chicken.

Chicken Noodle Soup

  • 1 lb chicken, diced
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
  • 32 ounces of veggie broth ( I use my vitamix to blend carrots, celery, garlic, onion to make a quick, nutritious vegetable broth)
  • 12-ounce sliced carrots (I use frozen)
  • 12-ounce green beans (I use frozen)
  • 3 stalks of celery, diced
  • 1/2 onion diced (optional, my parents love onions)
  • 10 oz of small bowtie pasta or egg noodles.

Multi-Pot/Instant Pot

In the instant pot, add oil and use the saute feature to quickly brown the chicken until it’s golden. Add remaining ingredients and pressurize for 15 minutes.

And finally…

Minestrone (with tiny meatballs)

  • Tiny meatball recipe is here and make bite-sized balls – I halved the recipe, using 1 lb beef.
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 10 oz sliced carrots (I use frozen)
  • 2 medium ribs celery, chopped
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 2 cups chopped seasonal vegetables (potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, butternut
  • squash, green beans or peas all work) Again, using frozen is easy
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, with their liquid
  • 32 ounces vegetable broth (see instructions above)
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 10 oz orecchiette, elbow or small shell pasta
  • 15 ounce-can Great Northern beans or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups baby spinach, chopped kale or chopped collard greens
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • Garnish: Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Multi-Pot/Instant Pot

On the sauté setting on the Instant Pot, heat oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion, carrot, celery, tomato paste and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables have softened and the onions are turning translucent – about 7 to 10 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients (except parmesan), cover and using the soup setting, cook for 15 minutes. Let depressurize and then for added flavor, using the sauté setting, cook an additional 5 minutes with lid removed. Add more water if needed.

=================================

I’m busy baking today. I’m almost done with my gift box treats. But I made a double batch of spritz cookies – half butter, half citrus drop, so I’m taking several days to bake TWELVE dozen cookies. LOL. I’m also thinking I’ll make a batch homemade Poppycock mix.  Then all that’s left is boxing them up and delivering them.  Need more holiday gift food ideas, click here.

How are your holiday plans going? Favorite recipes to share? What’s on the menu for Christmas dinner? Other holiday meals? Solistice, Hannukkah, Festivus, Kwanzaa and Boxing day are all ahead of us…and let’s not forget National Pepper Pot Day

Consider this your Sunday afternoon open thread…

Reader Interactions

58Comments

  3. 3.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    My food gifts: candied pecans (2 cups pecans rinsed in hot water and tossed with 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, then toasted at 350 for 10-20 minutes or till golden brown. pecans take longer than walnuts, for which this recipe was originally designed), smoked paprika almonds (2 cups almonds tossed with 1 Tbl melted butter, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, toast at 350 for 10-20 minutes or till golden, stirring every 5 minutes), and orange biscotti (recipe much too long to include). I may do a batch of biscotti with pistachios for my husband and my son’s in-laws, depending on my son’s answer to whether they can eat pistachios (come on Nied, answer the question!). I like to cook, but I’m not much of a baker.

    I may also make homemade hand lotion bars as I have in past years. They really heal cracked, winter-chapped hands. But that doesn’t really count as baking, does it now?

  4. 4.

    AM in NC

    That is such a fantastic and generous gift idea!  I had a friend who gave me a birthday of a pot of soup each month for 6 months, and it was one of the best presents I’ve ever gotten. My kids were little, and having a couple of ready-made, homemade meals to pull out of the fridge was heaven.

  6. 6.

    geg6

    I just give all my siblings and their spouses a couple of jars of whatever we canned that year (bad harvest this year, so only tomatoes and blackberry jam).  Since the garden was not very good this year, I got small gift boxes from Penzey’s to round it out.

  7. 7.

    Yarrow

    Very nice gift! This year I went to my local farmers market and bought locally made things from small local vendors. Some unusual jams, some pickled items, and some cookies that an organization that supports disabled people sells. The disabled folks have a hand in making and putting the cookies in festive tins. If it’s not relatively locally made and something people can use up it’s not going to be a gift this year.

  8. 8.

    geg6

    Oh, and if you don’t have an instant pot, how do you adjust the cooking times?  And no, you cannot talk me into getting one.  I have enough shit in my kitchen, thank you very much.

  11. 11.

    debbie

    @geg6:

    A friend and I would team up and give jars of her homemade grape jam and my peanut butter tea bread. A pretty tasty combo.

  14. 14.

    James E Powell

    I am in search of a recipe for gingerbread men persons. The last time I made them they were very hard. After one day they were like slate roofing tiles. Recipes and any tips would be most appreciated.

  16. 16.

    Yutsano

    I think I’ll crank out some sugar cookie dough this afternoon to haul over to my parents ranch. Mom can choose to bake it off today or use it for my nephews later in the week. Either way should be fun.

  19. 19.

    geg6

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Thanks!

    Oh, and thanks also for the tomato spinach soup recipe.  I have some ground beef I need to use up and there is nothing in that recipe I need to pick up at the store.  Perfect for a weeknight dinner in cold weather like we’ve been having.  That’s tomorrow’s menu!  I have some crusty olive oil bread that I can toast with garlic and mozzarella that will be perfect with that.

  21. 21.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    So I’m going out on a shoot today with a fellow photographer, he says he’ll be here at 1:30pm.  So I’m up until 5am working on shots I took last night, which I finished and put up on my patreon.  Set the alarm for 11:30am, about 10:30 I’m awaken by the sound of my door being banged on, he’s here, he meant 10:30am…Agh.

  23. 23.

    geg6

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Tonight is baked Parmesan panko chicken breasts (coated in mayo, garlic powder, paprika, seasoned salt and parsley and then rolled in the Parmesan and panko) with maple roasted butternut squash and steamed broccoli.  John has a thing about soup on a Sunday.  He thinks it’s too casual for Sunday dinner.

    And before you mayo haters start, it keeps chicken breasts ridiculously moist and tender.

  24. 24.

    evap

    My 92 year old mom is the same, doesn’t need any more stuff, so I’m going to make her a batch of her favorite cookies — orange nut balls.   She’s been told by the doctor to stop eating dairy, so I will make her the vegan version with Miyoko’s vegan butter.   I normally make a vegan batch for the house since my daughter is vegan and I don’t do dairy.   They are almost as good as the version with butter.   Miyoko’s vegan butter is incredible (and costs more than real butter), I went through many pounds of it for Thanksgiving and will go through even more for the upcoming holidays.

  27. 27.

    geg6

    @dnfree: 

    I don’t have a pressure cooker and rarely use my slow cooker. I. Do. Not. Need. Another. Kitchen. Gadget. Generally, the only gadgets I use are my hand blender and my mini food processor. Once in a blue moon, the slow cooker. I’d be happy to get rid of the rest, honestly.

  28. 28.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @mrmoshpotato:

     

    @mrmoshpotato:

    So you can use them to make fried eggs that are very, very moist?

      The recipe is cocoa butter, coconut oil, and beeswax, so totally edible. The beeswax probably ruins the texture for food though. :-(

  29. 29.

    Kristine

    I’ll be baking pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins for friends, who gave me a jar of local honey and some chocolate-sea salt caramels.

    I had some fresh spinach in the fridge, so I made the tomato-spinach soup. I used all sausage instead of ground beef, and had no beans or carrots to add. But the amended stuff is bubbling away, and I am looking forward to having a bowl in an hour or so with some bread and butter.

    I don’t have a blender, so I stuck the spinach and tomatoes in the saucepan, warmed them until the leaves wilted, then hit them with the stick blender. Poured the result out and set it aside, then did the onions/sausage/etc. When that was ready, poured the tomato/spinach back in. Looks really good.

    I also added 2 tbs tomato paste and 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce b/c umami.

  30. 30.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @geg6:the only gadgets I use are my hand blender and my mini food processor.

     

    @geg6:

     I don’t have a mini food processor so I usually use a knife instead of dragging out the full-size one, but otherwise I’m there with you. My burn scars and skin grafts say no pressure cooker, and my slow cooker lives in the laundry room only to be dragged out occasionally. It was a life-saver at thanksgiving – who knew you could make stuffing for a crowd in one, and let it go all day? But other than that and the occasional pot roast that’s where it stays. The hand blender does get a workout though. We have lots of soups in the winter. I’ll be using it tonight for smoky chickpea, red lentil, and vegetable soup.

  31. 31.

    Sab

    Yay. I misplaced my chicken tortilla soup recipe.

    I just made Christmas cookies from TaMara’s last year recipe exchange, and they turned out just like the one’s my mother used to make. Another Christmas tradition saved by TaMara.

  33. 33.

    Emma

    Bookmarked the tomato spinach soup. It will go in my cache of tomato soups that I love, because it sounds fantastic!

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    Plan this coming week to whip up a big pot of one of my favorite colder weather dishes, curried eggplant. Picked up some of the best looking eggplants have seen in a long time during the monthly grocery shopping sojourn. Works as a side dish and also as a main course, over rice. Improves each day it sits in the fridge after cooking.

    Have the energy and the will today to prepare it but there won’t be room in the refrigerator to put the pot until midweek.

    Might get my act together enough next weekend to crank out a mass o’ latkes and also some of Mom’s mandel brot as a nod to Hanukkah. Rule #1: There is no such thing as making too many latkes.

  37. 37.

    Kent

    What are we taking the day off from politics today?   I can live with that.

    Gotta say, two purchases have completely upped my soup game this year: (1) Instapot.  I actually have two of them now, a 3 gt and a 6 qt, and (2) immersion blender.  I’ve also taken to using my mini-food processor almost exclusively for chopping garlic.  Easier than using a garlic press, grater, or chopping by hand.

    Mostly I start with the same 4-ingredient base:  onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and broth.  Then I diverge with the main ingredients:  split pea, chicken noodle, lentils, etc.

  39. 39.

    prostratedragon

    Thanks for the recipes, and the appetite boost. I always have some tomato soup ingredients on hand, so think I’ll make some, maybe have that and Italian sausage for dinner and put the ribeye back in the freezer. Tomato soup takes all manner of improvisations. Last time I had a bottomless pot of caponata on hand, so added some to it and it was divine. Christmas will be a small affair this year, as the family is shrinking, so no decisions yet. Any potluck is likely to get classic macaroni and cheese from me.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    @Kent

    Yup, I was as skeptical about it as the next guy but the Instant Pot almost overnight became an indispensable tool in my tiny kitchen.

  41. 41.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @Kristine: I hope this isn’t too long for a comment. I LOVE this quick & easy recipe!

    Smoky Chickpea Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup
    By Jennifer Segal
    Servings: 6
    Total Time: 30 Minutes
    Ingredients
     2 tablespoons olive oil
     1 yellow onion, finely chopped
     4 garlic cloves, minced
     1 large carrot, diced
     Heaping 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
     3/4 teaspoon cumin
     4 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
     1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
     1/3 cup red lentils
     1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
     2 bay leaves
     1 teaspoon salt
     1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
     1 (14.5-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
     1 cup cooked vegetables, frozen peas or chopped fresh greens (or any combination)
    Instructions
    1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring
    occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, smoked paprika and
    cumin; cook, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn’t brown, about 2 minutes more.
    2. Add the broth, diced tomatoes, red lentils, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper and bring to a
    boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer; cook for ten minutes. Add the
    chickpeas, cover the pot and cook 10 minutes more. Fish out the bay leaves, then transfer
    2 cups of the soup to a blender and purée until smooth. Add the puréed soup back to the
    pot and stir. Taste; if you want the soup to be thicker, purée a bit more soup. Add the
    cooked vegetables, frozen peas or chopped greens and simmer until the soup is hot and
    the vegetables are warmed through. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.
    Nutrition Information
     Per serving (6 servings)
     Calories: 222

     Fat: 7g
     Saturated fat: 1g
     Carbohydrates: 32g
     Sugar: 7g
     Fiber: 10g
     Protein: 10g
     Sodium: 622mg

    ETA: This is really fast and easy, even allowing for chopping veggies. I use 1/2 box of arugula, then use the other 1/2 of the box later in the week for leek, potato and fennel soup.  that soup is supposed to have watercress but I can never find it when I need it so I’ve just taken to automatically subbing arugula. Works for me.

  45. 45.

    schrodingers_cat

    Sorry to interrupt this lovely recipe exchange thread. But eliminationist rhetoric coming from pro-BJP media personalities.

    Please report the Tweet in the screenshot as targeted harrassment if you are on Twitter. From a brief perusal of her timeline she also is an MRA.

    Thanks.

  46. 46.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @grandmaBear: OH. OH! 

    I Think I will have to try that after I finish my ill-considered diet. Who goes on a diet before the holidays anyway??? Definitely going to bookmark that though. I planted a baby fig tree this fall and I may plant another in the spring (turns out deer don’t bother them). That sounds absolutely amazing.

  47. 47.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m not sure how to do this from your tweet. Do I find her tweet on her timeline, or can I do it from your tweet? I tried to do it from your tweet but it looks like I’m reporting YOU! which is not what I want to do!

  51. 51.

    waratah

    I am a little late but want to thank you for the soup recipes. The tomato soup with spinach and hamburger sounds really good and your tortilla soup is different from any others I have seen so want to try it.

    i am going to make a chicken green chili soup with potatoes using some of my hatch green chili I put in the freezer. I have one recipe with heavy cream and one without.

  52. 52.

    mrmoshpotato

    Is there a Recipes category?  It’d be great to be able to click it and be bombarded with delicious recipes.

  55. 55.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @waratah: Please share your Hatch green chile soup recipes! I love their chilis, and have found them (canned, but you make do with what you have) in a local store.

  56. 56.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @mrmoshpotato: There is a recipes category, but since the site switch, finding categories is laborious at best, frustrating and time-consuming at worst. I cannot find them without jumping through a bunch of hoops, and I just do not have time for that. It defaults to open thread, so that’s what I go with. Sorry.

  57. 57.

    Exregis

    After Hurricane Maria, I donated several hundred dollars each in my two adult children’s names (as well as another donation in my own name) to the Hispanic Federation, in honor on my late mother, an 18-year old immigrant from Puerto Rico who didn’t finish eighth grade. They each wrote back saying that it was a great gift to them and thanking me. Do your parents have a special charity?

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