What did the kitchen turn out this year?

I love the holidays and the family and the friends and of course, the food!!










Soft pretzels have always been a weakness for me and I have been playing with different recipes to find the ONE that satisfies my taste for these salty, chewy nuggets of the divine.  I have made some good ones but I finally found the perfect pretzel for me.  I suppose that I should first tell you that I worship Alton Brown.  I am intrigued by him and the way that he uses science to explain cooking.  Love it!  If you haven't already guessed, I used an Alton Brown pretzel recipe that you can find here.  I must say that they turned out perfectly.  I gave them in these cool jars to family for Christmas.  I went with the bite sized pretzels, they are about 2 inches square or 1x2 rectangles.  They showcase really well in the acrylic and the LED spot light is awe inspiring. Oh how yummy they look...

Can you see how chewy and salty they are?

My mouth waters when I look at this picture.

This recipe is definitely a keeper.  Thanks Alton.  My next pretzel adventure will be flavored pretzels.  Till then, make some of these yourself.  They are easy and super yummy.  Gotta go.  My pretzels are calling to me and when they call I will answer.

Yea!  My mouth waters just looking at these veggies.  These are honey and thyme roasted winter vegetables.  They are always a winner but this year I added some beautiful crimson colored beets.  The recipe is really easy, you can find the printable version of my recipe here.  If you like these kind of root vegetables then you will love them done this way.

Of course, you have to have a sweet dish, it is the holidays after all.  Being that I am a bit of an adventurer and love to try new things I thought that I would try a pumpkin gingerbread trifle.  That's what I said!  What I wasn't prepared for was how huge this was and how completely addicting this was.  I got the recipe from this site and it is well worth the time it takes to make it.  The most tasty part is the butterscotch pudding that is spiced and pimped with some pumpkin puree.  I could seriously forget about the cake and just have the pudding part with whipped cream and be very satisfied.

Alright, now that I have tempted your tummy you need to whip these up for yourself.  Save some room though, I have another temptation coming soon.  I got a spiffy new gadget for Christmas and had to try it out.  Wait till you see the results.  Till next time, please always remember and don't ever forget:

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."

Voltaire