Christmas is coming!

If you are anything like me, you will have started planning your Christmas dinner(s) by now. Normally cooking is a spontanious thing for me, but for parties and holidays I make a list of what I want to make. After this I plot out my preparations in time, scheduling my shopping, prepping and cooking over the days before Christmas. Ideally, I do as little as possible on Christmas day.

Here are my favorite recipes for Christmas this year:

Starters

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  • Salmon salad – light and healthy but yet luxurious. A well balanced fish starter.
  • Brussel sprout cappucino – seriously indulgent vegetable starter! Think creamy brussel sprout heaven
  • Beetroot carpaccio – this vegetarian starter will surprise all your guests. The best of beetroot is accentuated by this recipe. This will convert all beet haters!

Side dishes

  • Broccoli feast – easy to make a day before, and so rich and creamy.
  • Carrot soda bread – I like offering some bread with a swanky dinner. Even better paired with some home made  garlic butter

SweetSaltyChips

Main dishes

  • Make whole bird mustard chicken in the oven (1 bird will serve about 4 persons). This mustard marinade will keep your bird moist and form a tasty crust.

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  • Make vegetarian moussaka for your vegetarian friends. Don’t be surprised when the meat lovers dig in too. The spices in moussaka are the perfect heart warming Christmas flavors.
  • Make salmon in puff pastry. Make a large fillet or individual portions, it’s fancy either way.

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For more Christmas inspiration look at my Christmas page or my Christmas pinboard.

Cheese fondue

On a cold and wintery day, we just love making cheese fondue.

As a metnlintje first, I made you a (downloadable) decorative recipe! You can just follow the instructions on the FondueSketch to make the fondue. This recipe serves 2 greedy adults and a toddler. Don’t forget to season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
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I grew up in Switserland. This means I am quite a puritan about how you are supposed to enjoy your home made fondue. These are my Cheese fondue guidelines:

  • Serve with cubes of (day old) bread for maximum cheese absorbtion when dunking.
  • Have wine or tea with your fondue. If you don’t, I was told big clumps of cheese form in your tummy!
  • You can also dunk pieces of pear, button mushroom or cherry tomatoes
  • Serve with strong flavored goodies/tappas so your guests can cleanse their pallet and enjoy every moment of cheese sensation. Excellent goodies are:
    • Thin slices of high quality chacutery like salame or parma ham for a salty tang
    • Pickles like gurkins or pickled onions for a sour balance
    • Sweet fruit like grapes, (tinned) peaches or pear
  • Use a thick pan that holds and distributes heat well (le caquelon)
  • Keep your fondue warm on a (matching) warmer.
  • The crust that forms on the bottom is sacred! It’s the best part, so scrape every last bit of the bottom.

My family loves cheese, so everyone joins in for this one at our home. It always makes a festive meal in our home. We light the candles and we take our time to saver the cheese but it also leaves lots of time for conversation. Hope you enjoy it too!

Fabulous five Pinterest projects

In case you haven’t discovered Pinterest yet: Pinterest is a great website/app that lets you create you own “pin boards” of pictures that inspire you! Millions of creative people share and organize their pictures on this site. If you create an account you will be able to organize your own finds, but most importantly be inspired by others as well!

What I have discovered is that Pinterest gives you new ideas for cooking, crafts and activities with your kids. I often take elements of the idea of a creative mommy on the other side of the globe, tweak it for my own toddler and make it my own.

These are some of my latest (p)insired creations:

  1. Easy and healthy 3 ingredient cookies, for more baking ideas check out my Bake’nCake Pinterest board
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  2. Mini veggie pizza’s, for more cooking ideas check out my Food4Thought Pinterest board
    MiniPizza3
  3. Felt funny bunny, for more felt inspiration check out my Fuzzy felty figures Pinterest board
    bunny1
  4. Personalized coasters
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  5. Magazine upcycling, for more gift wrapping ideas check out my Wrap-a-holic Pinterest board
    Strik

Top tip! Get inspired for Christmas and Halloween and get an early start this year!

Personalized coaster

I created these personalized coaster for my sister yesterday, inspired by Pinterest. They are Coasters4made with the coark coasters by IKEA (HEAT). I used coasters for pans which I created with the suitable texts: flavour, good food and togetherness.

I used a permanent marker and it was surprisingly easy to make them into something special. I will definately try this again with smaller coasters. My toddler might want to join in next time. I can also see this being a great mothersday present. Or you could make placeholders for your christmasdinner or wedding by writing names on smaller coasters.

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Alweer een preview van mijn pakjes voor dit jaar.

Kerstrood

Hierin herken je meerdere van mijn tips terug:

  • Stempel je eigen papier, bijvoorbeeld met een doorgesneden appel
  • Heb je weinig over van mooi papier? Wikkel een strook om een kado.
  • Werk in een gekozen kleurenthema
  • Versier knijpers om hiermee kaarten en versieringen vast te maken aan je kado.
  • Maak decoraties van brooddeeg

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Je kent ze wel uit de bioskoop: sneak previews. Wat vind je van deze?

KerstToppers

Ik vind het leuk om mijn kado’s te versieren met een decoratie die een kleine hint geeft over het kado, zoals deze prachtige handgemaakte oorbellen. Wat zou er in dit pakje zitten?

Je kunt bijvoorbeeld denken aan de volgende kadoversieringen:

  • Een kleine speelgoedauto, legoblokje of een popje op een kinderkado
  • Lavendel als je verzorgingsproducten geeft
  • Rozemarijn of tijm op kookkado’s
  • (droog)bloemen of kunstbloemen op een vaas

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KerstOverdaad

Overdaad schaadt, dat zei mijn moeder altijd. Met de kerst is deze regel opgeheven, en als het aan mij ligt met kadoverpakkingen ook!

Gebruik meerdere linten in prints voor een luxe uitstraling en hang meerdere versieringen aan je kado. Natuurlijk is een minimalistische look ook mooi, maar kerst is daar NIET de tijd voor.

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Betrek je kind erbij! Laat je ukkie lekker losgaan met verf. Als je kind ook kan lijmen en plakken kun je ze ook glitter en lijm geven, mijn zoontje is daar nog iets te jong voor.

Kind

Om zijn kunstwerk goed tot zijn recht te laten komen heb ik het kado eerst in zijn creatie verpakt en daarna in folie. Hiertussen heb ik gekleurde pailletten gedaan voor een extra feestelijke look. Daar zal oma blij mee zijn!