At Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holiday meals, stuffing traditionally has a starring role.  This traditional dish made of cubed bread, seasonings, and vegetables has been a staple at American holiday tables for as long as anyone can remember.

If you don’t eat meat, though, you’re usually left out of enjoying the stuffing.  Since traditional stuffing is made with chicken or turkey broth and often baked right inside of the bird along with the giblets, it’s off-limits (and downright unappealing) to vegetarians.

However, vegetarian stuffing is just as easy to make as traditional stuffing, and some would say it’s even tastier than the original!  There are plenty of ways to make vegetarian stuffing and plenty of ways to customize it to your individual tastes and the ingredients that you have on hand.  Vegetarian stuffing doesn’t lose any points for taste as a result of being baked outside of the bird, and it can be extremely creative and unique.

Options for Different Budgets and Levels of Cooking Skill

You can go a number of ways when you are making vegetarian stuffing, from the extremely low-budget to the complicated gourmet method.  On the low-budget end of the scale is dehydrated vegetarian stuffing that’s sold in a large box or bag and only requires hot water and some margarine to make.  Buying instant vegetarian stuffing definitely requires attention to detail when you are reading the label, since they often contain meat products or meat stock.

If you would prefer to start from scratch and make your own gourmet vegetarian stuffing, plenty of recipes can be found either online or in vegetarian cookbooks.  These range from the very simple bread and celery route to the creative gourmet recipes containing such exotic ingredients as shiitake mushrooms, pine nuts, kale, and wild rice.  The type of recipe that you choose will depend largely on your cooking skill and your budget. 

If you can’t afford to buy expensive and exotic ingredients, there’s no need to worry.  You can spice up the inexpensive instant stuffing with some apples and walnuts, or use fresh sage and a good-quality cooking wine to make your vegetarian stuffing.  With a few modifications and creative seasoning tricks, your guests will never suspect that you actually started with dried bread crumbs in a bag!

Vegetarian stuffing can be as simple or as complex as you would like it to be.  You can make it on the stovetop or bake it in a casserole dish.  You can even use it to stuff a tofu turkey!  The greatest thing about vegetarian stuffing is that it’s very customizable; you can take any stuffing recipe and easily turn it into your signature vegetarian stuffing.

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Treat your friends to a taste of your baking skills this holiday season with a recipe that yields delicious cookies and lasting friendships. Host a cookie exchange party. These festive swaps offer a time-saving way to share an assortment of baked-from-scratch treats.

Just invite eight to 12 friends and ask them to bring six dozen of their favorite holiday cookies. At the swap, exchange cookies to end up with a variety of six dozen new cookies.

The Secret to Cookie Success

“Reynolds Parchment Paper is my simple step to better baking for cookie exchanges,” advises Robin Olson, celebrated cookie exchange hostess and pioneer of the modern cookie swap. “Lining my pans with parchment paper ensures my cookies bake evenly and slide off the cookie sheet. I also use parchment paper to roll dough and stencil decorations. It’s my tool to keep cookie baking fuss-free.”

For more how-to’s on hosting a successful cookie exchange party, consider these tips from Olson:
* Timing is everything. Choose a convenient date and time, perhaps a weekend morning. Limit the party to two to three hours.

* The more the merrier. Eight to 12 guests provide a nice assortment of cookies.

* Bake six dozen. Instead of asking each guest to bring a dozen cookies for each attendee, pick a quantity that won’t change with each RSVP. I usually ask each guest to bring six dozen cookies.

*Variety rules. To ensure guests don’t all show up with gingerbread men, ask what type of cookie they will be bringing when they RSVP. If a guest wants to bring a cookie that’s already on the RSVP list, help her think of an alternate.

* Make your favorite at home. Ask guests to e-mail their cookie recipes to you in advance. This way, you can print off copies to hand out at the exchange so partygoers can make more at home.

When it comes to baking cookies for the exchange, Olson offers this time-saving advice:
* Roll dough with ease. Roll cookie dough between two lightly floured sheets of parchment paper to prevent sticking and to keep work surfaces clean.

* Speed up cookie baking. Arrange cookie dough on sheets of parchment paper and slide parchment onto the cookie sheet when it’s time to bake. When a batch comes out of the oven, simply swap out the sheets of parchment so there’s no waiting between batches.

* Line pans for brownies or bar cookies. Turn the pan upside down and press a sheet of parchment paper over the inverted pan. Remove the parchment paper, flip the pan over and drop the parchment paper liner inside, pressing folds in corners to fit liner inside pan. Spread batter in parchment-lined pan and bake as directed. When the brownies or bar cookies are cool, lift them by the parchment paper from the pan onto a cutting board. Fold back the edges of the parchment paper and cut into bars.

* Stack cookies with ease. To transport cookies to and from the party, place a piece of parchment paper between layers of cookies. This protects decorations and prevents cookies from sticking to each other.

For more cookie exchange tips and cookie exchange recipes, visit www.ReynoldsSimpleSecrets.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Minttens
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 1 dozen sets of MinttensIngredients:

Reynolds Parchment Paper
Your favorite sugar cookie recipe or mix
Red and green paste food colors
1 1/3 cups mint flavored baking chips
2 egg whites
Ribbon

Directions:

* Line 2 cookie sheets with Reynolds Parchment Paper; set aside.

* Prepare your favorite recipe for sugar cookies. Halve dough and tint with food colors.

* Preheat oven following recipe. Roll out dough 1/8-inch thick between 2 lightly floured parchment paper sheets.

* Cut out 48 cookies with a mitten cookie cutter. Place 12 cookies 1-inch apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Use mini cookie cutters to cut out decorations.

* Melt mint baking chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Spread melted mint chips over cookies on the cookie sheets. Top each with another cookie cut-out. Place mini decorations on cookies. (To hold decorations in place, brush underside with egg white beaten with a little water.) Repeat with remaining cutout cookies.

* Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; immediately make a small hole in each mintten with a straw. Slide parchment with cookies onto a wire rack to cool. Tie two cookies together with ribbon.

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Holiday entertaining without some scrumptious baked goods would be like Santa sans beard. Is it any wonder that government studies show the average American packs on about two pounds – and some as much as seven – over the winter?

It makes sense to try to lighten your holiday meals and many Americans are doing just that. But while it’s relatively easy to trim fats by serving your family turkey breast instead of the leg, or substituting skim milk for whole in your mashed potatoes, even the most dedicated fat-cutter can be flumoxed by holiday baking.

Fat is an essential ingredient in baking everything from pumpkin pie crusts to holiday cookies. It contributes flavor and facilitates the baking process. It’s added to baked goods in the form of butter, shortening, margarine or vegetable oil. Unfortunately, many of the man-made fats commonly used in American baking raise cholesterol levels and contain dangerous trans fats thanks to the hydrogenation process.

However, a growing number of holiday bakers are discovering a healthful alternative, one that both eliminates trans fats and adds a powerful punch of antioxidants and other nutrients: palm oil. While palm oil shares or exceeds the health benefits of other alternative oils like olive or canola, unlike those oils, palm works well in baked goods.

“Because palm oil is naturally a semi-solid at room temperature, it can be substituted in baking for other less healthful oils and shortenings that contain trans fats,” says Salleh Kassim of the American Palm Oil Council. “Not only does it work well in baking, palm oil increases good cholestorol (HDL) more than any other food ingredient. Increased HDL is associated with decreased risk of heart disease, and cancels out increased risk associated with elevated bad cholesterol (LDL). Palm oil also contains powerful antioxidants like tocotrienols, beta-carotene, and vitamins A and E. Other shortenings used in baking simply don’t measure up nutritionally to palm oil.”

Anyone who’s ever tried to substitute olive or another kind of oil for the shortening, butter or margarine required in many Christmas cookie recipes knows the sad results: batter that oozes or runs, cookies that never form properly and are either gummy, oily or dry, and an “off flavor” caused by the strong taste of the substitute oil. Cakes, breads and other confections can be equally disasterous with the wrong substitutions.

Palm oil’s unique semi-solid consistency and chemical makeup, however, actually enhances the texture of baked goods. It delivers the plasticity needed to enable the baker to repeatedly roll and knead dough, as well as the aeration that makes your cookies crumble perfectly, cakes light and fluffy, and breads fresh and tasty. It is virtually flavorless, so it doesn’t overpower the flavors of the other ingredients. Palm oil also melts at higher temperatures, meaning it doesn’t melt too quickly and ruin the batter before it’s cooked through.

To substitute palm oil in your favorite holiday baking recipe, simply use a one-to-one ratio. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of shortening, use 1 cup of palm oil. Be sure to purchase the original form of palm oil, which is white and resembles shortening, rather than liquid red palm. The liquid form is better used in other cooking, like frying.

By using palm oil, you can cut trans fats and eliminate hydrogenated oils and shortenings in recipes for cakes, cookies, breads, puff pastries and even candy. And because palm oil is very stable, you can store it at room temperature for many months and it won’t go rancid – even when you heat it for baking.

Palm oil can be found at Whole Foods Markets and other specialty food stores. Visit www.wholefoodsmarkets.com to find a store near you. To learn more about the benefits of palm oil, or to find a list of distributors in your area, visit www.americanpalmoil.com or call (877) ASK-PALM (275-7256).

Try this holiday-friendly cookie recipe, courtesy of Whole Foods Market, to see how palm oil performs in holiday baking:

Ginger Palm Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup natural vegetable shortening from palm oil
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
1 egg
2 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger (minced, crystallized ginger can also be added for extra ginger bite)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup natural turbinado sugar (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large mixing bowl, blend the palm shortening with the brown sugar and molasses. Whisk in the egg. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Add this mixture to the liquid ingredients, stirring carefully to fully combine. You may wish to gather the dough in your hands to continue mixing as the dough is a little stiff.

Form 48 rounded teaspoons of dough. If desired, roll in the turbinado sugar. Place the dough rounds onto cookie sheets spacing about 1 inch apart. Gently press down with finger tips since these cookies do not spread.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on sheet for five minutes. Continue cooling on wire racks. The cookies get crispier as they cool. Store the cookies in an air-tight container.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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TOPPING:

1 tbsp. butter or margarine

1/3 cup Fancy Molasses

1/4 cup sugar

6 slices pineapple

6 maraschino cherries

CAKE BATTER:

1/3 cup shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup Fancy Molasses

1 1/2 cups sifted flour

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. each ginger and cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 egg

1/2 cup sour milk

Place butter in a 9″ square pan or casserole dish, melt, add molasses and sugar. Over this arrange pineapple and cherries.

CAKE PART: Cream shortening, sugar and baking soda. Add Fancy Molasses. Stir in 1/4 of sifted dry ingredients. Beat in egg. Add remaining flour and sour milk alternately. Beat until smooth. Pour over pineapple and spread to corners. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes, turn out upside down.

Credit: www.newscanada.com

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For parents trying to keep kids on track to develop healthy eating habits, the holidays can be as frustrating as that granddaddy of all bad eating days, Halloween. Sugar-filled chocolate Santas and holiday cookies, starchy stuffing and fat-filled mashed potatoes all can conspire to derail parents’ best efforts and intentions.

“Eliminating sweets and starches from our holiday fare probably isn’t practical for most of us,” says Holly Clegg, cookbook author and spokesperson for the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission. “But it’s easy to prepare healthful, festive holiday meals that will also please your child’s sweet tooth. Turn to the sweet potato for inspiration.”

Yams for the holidays are an American tradition. Native Americans were cultivating yams when Columbus arrived, and sweet potatoes were almost certainly on the menu for the very first Thanksgiving. But when Grandma set that dish of candied sweet potatoes on the holiday table when you were a child, she may not have realized the health benefits she was sharing with her family as well.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest considers sweet potatoes to be one of the most nutritional vegetables out there. Sweet potatoes are packed with beta-carotene (which gives them their yellow or orange color), vitamins A, C, B6, and E, iron, potassium and fiber, and are naturally low in fat. What’s more, says Clegg, yams are among the “good carbs” nutrition experts recommend.

Clegg and the yam experts at the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission offer these tips and recipes for sweetening your holidays:

* Fresh sweet potatoes store well at low temperatures and low humidity, making them available year-round. There’s no need to refrigerate uncooked yams; simply store them at 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

* Choose fresh yams that are smooth, dry, plump and clean.

* When using canned yams in a recipe, add them at the end of the cooking process since they are already cooked before they are canned.

“Sweet potatoes are so versatile they can play a role in virtually every course of your holiday meals,” Clegg says. “They are great as a side dish or dessert and can even be incorporated into soups and main dishes.”

For more tips and recipes, visit www.sweetpotato.org.

Recipes:

Appetizer: Sweet Potato Crunchies

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh sweet potatoes (yams) cooked and mashed or 2 (15-ounce) cans sweet potatoes, drained and mashed
1 tablespoon margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large egg
3 cups crushed corn flakes

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Add margarine, brown sugar, pecans, vanilla, flour and cinnamon. Mix well. Beat in the egg. Form the mixture into bite-size balls and roll in crushed corn flakes. Place the sweet potato balls on the baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve with toothpicks. Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen.

Entrée: Pork Chops and Sweet Potato Gravy

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds pork scaloppini (thin cuts of pork medallions) or boneless pork chops
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
2 cups water
1 pound sweet potatoes (yams), baked, peeled and mashed or 1 (15-ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained and mashed
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions

Preparation:

In a small bowl, combine paprika, garlic powder, cayenne, salt and pepper. Sprinkle both sides of pork with seasoning. In large skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, over high heat, heat oil and brown pork on each side. Remove and set aside. Add flour, stirring constantly to brown the flour. Add onions and sauté until almost tender, about five minutes. Stir in pecans. Add water and bring to a boil. Gradually add sweet potatoes and blend until smooth. Stir in syrup. Return pork to pan, reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the pork is done, stirring occasionally. If gravy gets too thick, add water. Sprinkle with green onions and serve. Makes six servings.

Side Dish: Baked Sweet Potato with Topping

Ingredients:

1 Fresh sweet potato (yam)
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon raisins
2 teaspoons sunflower seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat over to 400 degrees F. Prick potato with fork. Bake on foil-lined baking sheet one hour, or until very tender. Split sweet potato and top with maple syrup, raisins and sunflower seeds. Season to taste.

Microwave instructions: Pierce potatoes with fork and arrange on paper towels. Microwave on high eight minutes; turn potatoes over after four minutes.

Makes one serving.

Dessert: Sweet Potato Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated raw sweet potatoes
1 cup chopped pecans

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2-3 tablespoons milk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together. Add remaining ingredients in order listed, stirring after each addition. Spread batter in a greased 9×13x2-inch pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. For glaze, mix powdered sugar, butter, and enough milk to make a thin glaze. Spread over hot brownies. Cool before cutting. Makes 24 servings.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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Top food website kicks off long-running tradition November 28. New recipe delivered daily to subscribers for 12 days.

Knoxville, TN (PRWEB) November 10, 2007 — On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars? That can mean only one thing: FoodNetwork.com’s popular 12 Days of Cookies newsletter is back — with a full roster of Yuletide yummies that will satisfy the sweet-tooth in everyone. With the holiday season quickly approaching, the baking bug is biting millions of Americans, and FoodNetwork.com, the No. 1 food and cooking website, offers inspiration and know-how for all-new scrumptious cookie recipes.

Each day from November 28 through December 9, a new, exclusive recipe for a seasonal sweet will be delivered daily via e-mail to users who subscribe beforehand at http://foodnetwork.com/12daysofcookies For the first time, each recipe will be accompanied by an instructional broadband video to make preparation even easier.

This annual tradition grows more popular every year — over 2.7 million people have already signed up for the latest edition of 12 Days of Cookies, in anticipation of twelve days of holiday dessert ideas, a dozen sets of easy-to-follow written and video instructions, and a season filled with compliments to the chef.

Also, FoodNetwork.com/12daysofcookies has just launched an archive of past year’s editions of 12 Days of Cookies, so visitors can access such appetizing delicacies as chocolate-dipped hazelnut shortbread, chocolate peppermint pizelle, and coconut-cranberry macaroon, anytime. Those who miss installments of the 2007 newsletter can access them on the site as well.

This year’s new recipes, just like those in years past, are sure to wow your friends, family, co-workers or fellow holiday partygoers.

Scripps Networks Interactive
The award-winning, category-leading Web sites created and supported by Scripps Networks Interactive attracted an average of more than 15 million unique visitors per month in 2006. The Scripps Networks Interactive properties — Web sites HGTV.com, FoodNetwork.com, DIYnetwork.com, FineLiving.com, GACTV.com, Recipezaar.com — are not only extensions of Scripps Networks leading lifestyle brands, providing users programming information and additional instructional content, but also exciting destinations for original content, engaging video and powerful interactive tools.

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Here’s Savvy Cooking’s Christmas in July Post!

Christmas recipes abound. Everyone has his or her favorite. But many times the recipes are oriented towards the kids, because they enjoy sweets so much. Yet everyone also knows that chocolate knows no age boundary. Spicing it up with another adult favorite – alcohol – makes for a delightful combination. After all, ’tis the season to be merry!

To make this fine Christmas dessert that can be enjoyed all year round, you’ll need:

2 cups of chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
3 tablespoons of corn syrup
1/3 cup of rum
1 bar German chocolate
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
3/4 cup of chocolate sprinkles
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1 cup of ground pecans (optional)

Luckily for those who are kitchen challenged, this confection is ultra simple to make. Just toss the cookie crumbs into a bowl and pour in the corn syrup. Knead the mixture together for a minute until all the crumbs are nicely coated. At this stage, they should easily stick together.

If the weather is too hot for them to do so, you may want to cool it in the refrigerator for just a few minutes. But not too long, there’s still much to do.

Pour in the rum and blend until it’s well incorporated into the corn syrup. Then add the chocolate chips and stir gently. Toss in the powdered sugar and mix until everything is uniform. Shape the mixture into balls about an inch (2.5cm) in diameter and lay them out onto wax paper. For extra firmness, you can cool them in the refrigerator while the next steps are carried out.

Take a double boiler and bring the water to about 100F/37.8C. Slide the chocolate bar onto the top section and when it starts to melt, swivel it just a bit. Take care not to get carried away. You don’t want to slosh the water out of the bottom section. Take a wooden spoon and move the semi-liquid chocolate around until it’s completely melted.

Remove from heat and pour the water out of the lower section. You can pour the chocolate into a warmed ceramic bowl or leave it where it is. Warming a ceramic bowl is simple, just put some water into the bowl and heat in a microwave for about 30 seconds. Make sure the water doesn’t completely boil away, though.

Remove the rum balls from the refrigerator and dip them quickly into the warm chocolate. The melting point of chocolate is about body temperature, so it should solidify nicely when it comes in contact with the cold rum ball. Let the chocolate drip off for a second or two before moving on to the next one.

You should be able to make about two dozen rum balls this way. For a variation to suit different tastes, try bourbon, rye or other types of whiskey instead of rum.

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