You may have noticed that I like to take a theme and run with it, whether the celebration is big or small. MAR10 Day is no exception, and I had a fun time coming up with something special for our dinner on Friday. Last year, MAR10 Day fell during our “Markel Family Tour di Pizza,” but in previous years, I’ve chosen something Italian for dinner. I decided to do that again this year, but I wanted to make something new, so I found a recipe for beef ragu with pappardelle. It was excellent, and I will definitely make it again. I also found clementine Italian soda to serve with it.
For dessert, Ladybug and I made an Italian lemon cream cake, which was amazing:
I love finding fun reasons to prepare special meals!
The holiday season is officially over, so let’s take a look back at all of the festive feasts and holiday baking we enjoyed, starting with Thanksgiving. I think the turkey turned out especially well this time around!
We had our “pick out dinner” on Christmas Day:
And our “fancy” Christmas dinner two days later. I never want to prepare a beef tenderloin any other way!
On New Year’s Eve, we had our traditional hot chocolate bar, but we made it fancy, with the addition of homemade hot chocolate bombs!
And on New Year’s Day, we had our traditional pork tenderloin, with an untraditional (for us) side of twice-baked potatoes:
On to the baking. Of course there were pies (seven!) for Thanksgiving:
We made five types of German Christmas cookies in Christmas School:
And another ten types of Christmas cookies besides!
There were eight different cakes throughout the season:
And some other various treats including Christmas cracker candy and lussekattes:
This was a fun and delicious season, but now the kitchen is closed!
Chickadee and I have been enjoying baking recipes from the My Little Pony Baking Book she received for Christmas. We’ve made at least one recipe from each chapter of the book at this point…here’s a look at everything we’ve tried so far:
Strawberry Cupcakes
Celebration Cinnamon Rolls
Piñata Cupcakes
Pony Poke Cake
Chocolate Dream Pie
Cupcake Cones
Peanut Butter Candy Cookies
Out-of-this-World Brownies
Chaos Cookies
Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars
Apple Fritter Bread
Purple Velvet Cake
The recipes in the book are delicious, but they’re also a lot of fun, and they all look amazing…we’re really looking forward to baking more of them!
I have been baking this banana cake for literal decades…it’s probably one of the first recipes I learned how to make. I’ve changed it a bit over time…I used to include walnuts in the cake, but since Moose it allergic to nuts, now I leave them out, and just offer them as a topping for those that like them. To compensate for that, I started adding extra banana, and the flavor is unmistakable!
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups mashed, overripe bananas (about three bananas)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 pan. Whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter in bowl of mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugar and eggs; mix well. Add buttermilk, bananas, and vanilla; mix well. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Can you stand one more look back at the holiday season? I hope so, because it’s time to wrap-up all of the festive feasts and baked goods I prepared from Thanksgiving through Epiphany!
Our Thanksgiving dinner was fairly standard, although I did make a second kind of stuffing, and instead of just roasted carrots, I made a blend of roasted winter vegetables (which did include carrots):
Our pick-out dinner is always my favorite meal of the year, and I thought it was extra special with the full charcuterie board I prepared:
Our fancy Christmas dinner (which we had on the Sunday after Christmas) featured beef Wellington:
Our New Year’s Eve hot chocolate bar looked a little different this year, but it was still delicious!
Pork tenderloin is becoming something of a tradition on New Year’s Day:
And finally, our most recent “festive feast,” Ryan’s birthday dinner last week:
I made ten pies over the holidays (with a lot of help from the girls):
We baked more cookies than I can count, including several new varieties, my favorite of which was the Linzer Augen:
“Only” six cakes this time around (do Yule logs count as cakes?):
And some other assorted treats, including my first attempt at cannoli and gingerbread Oreo truffles:
It’s not like I’m going to stop cooking anytime soon, because we still need to eat, but I’m looking forward to planning some simpler meals for a bit!
I often take a look back at the holiday baking I did from Thanksgiving through Epiphany; this year, I thought it would be fun to look back at all of the holiday meals and treats we’ve enjoyed, starting with Thanksgiving dinner:
We had our pick out dinner on Christmas Day this time:
And our fancy Christmas dinner on the Sunday after Christmas:
Of course we had our traditional New Year’s Eve hot chocolate bar:
And a special New Year’s Day dinner to start the new year right:
And finally, our Ryan’s Birthday/Epiphany feast:
On to the baking. There were pies for Thanksgiving:
And several cakes throughout the season, for St. Nicholas Day, Santa Lucia Day, Jesus’ Birthday, the fancy Christmas dinner, and New Year’s Day:
We baked so many Christmas cookies!
And an obligatory “other” section, for things like lussekattes, coffee cake, and even some special holiday beverages:
I put in a little extra effort this year, to make up for the fact that we couldn’t go anywhere or do most of our normal Christmas activities. In the end, I think we’ll have a lot of delicious memories from this holiday season!
We never did get around to making and decorating cut-out cookies this year (I think we’ll make that a Valentine’s Day activity!), but I thought it would be fun to take a look back at all of the holiday baking we did do, from Thanksgiving Eve through Epiphany.
Ladybug and I have been planning to go to dinner at Texas de Brazil in the St. Louis Galleria for almost a year…Saturday was finally the day!
As soon as we walked in, we were impressed…there were color-changing lights behind the bar, which looked really cool through the various bottles!
The table was super fancy, and Ladybug was shocked by the napkin service, which is something she had never encountered. Not only did they place our napkins in our laps when we sat down, they refolded them every time we got up from the table!
If you’ve never been to Texas de Brazil, here’s how it works. After you’re seated, you can visit the salad bar. There were so many delicious options! (But watch out for that plant…it attacked me several times!)
In addition to the cold offerings, there are also some heated options, including their famous lobster bisque, Brazilian black beans, rice, and moqueca (fish stew):
At your table, you’re given a “coin.” One side indicates that you would like the waiters to stop by with whatever carved meat they’re carrying, and the other that you are content with what you have (at least for the time being!):
There are so many meat options, from all of the main meat groups…beef, chicken, pork, and lamb (plus the fish family at the salad bar…I tried all five kinds of meats!). Some are wrapped in bacon, some are seasoned with parmesan cheese, and all are delicious. In general, the meats are prepared medium-rare, but you can request more or less done options. And watching the waiters carve the meat table side is quite a treat!
In addition to the salad bar offerings (both cold and hot), a few side dishes are brought to your table, including garlic mashed potatoes, sweet fried bananas, and Brazilian cheese bread (Pao de Queijo), which I’ve actually made before!
We enjoyed everything we tried, from the drinks (Ladybug had a Brazilian soda, and I had their signature drink, the Caipirinha), to the salad bar (the pineapple carpaccio, couscous salad, and giant capers were some of our favorites!), to the meat (I was so happy to see so many rare options, including filet mignon and plain old steak):
Ladybug and I both chose the chocolate mousse cake, and we were definitely not disappointed…it was AMAZING!
This was a very fun and special evening. I wish it was a place we could all visit someday, but it’s not practical for a large family. I do hope that I’ll get the chance to go back with somebody someday, though, because I had a great time, and really enjoyed my meal!
