The Season's Best

Winter is a great paradox for me.  I love all the seasonal foods, the parties, buying gifts, and spending more time with family but I hate slick roads and cold weather.  This weekend we are the midst of our first real snow.  Kind of late in the year for us too.  We were spoiled by good weather too long this fall.  Hopefully it doesn't snow like it did last year.  I swear it snowed every single day for three months.  It was misery.  Enough complaining...on to the things I like this season! :)

   The best cold weather breakfast?  Cream of Rice with Eggnog and homemade cranberry sauce.  So creamy and delicious with the fabulous tartness of the cranberries.  Quick to make too.  Just cook the cream of rice with half a cup of water and half a cup of eggnog.  Then top with cranberry.  I make my cranberry sauce with orange juice and brown sugar.  Just boil the cranberries in juice til they pop, stir in brown sugar, and heat til thickened.

Last weekend we had a late Thanksgiving at my mother in law's.  My contribution was the Bisquick Impossibly Easy French Apple Pie.  Everyone raved about it.  Especially my husband.  Oddly I thought it was just okay.  I'm more of a chocolate or cheesecake dessert person though.  I will say gluten free Bisquick makes life a lot easier!  I know a lot of people enjoy mixing ten different gluten free flours together and experimenting but I am lazy and I don't have room to store all those flours so I love this mix and Pamela's mixes.

Speaking of mixes I love...Chebe.  I made the cheesy rolls for Thanksgiving and they were a hit.  Another good mix is the pizza crust.  Last night we were snowed in so I whipped up a delicious pizza.  My secret is baking the crust in my cast iron skillet. I usually go non-traditional with pizza but last night I wanted it to be like classic delivery so I just did pepperoni, mozzarella, and shaved Parmesan. I need to try making calzones with the mix soon!   

It's so nice to know that so many seasonal favorites are naturally gluten free!  Like mulled cider.  I used Honeycrisp Apple Cider and Trader Joe's mulling spices and simmered for about 20 minutes.  Then I stirred in a shot of Captain Morgan's and added a festive cinnamon stick! A great drink for a cold night.  Especially soothing when you feel under the weather.