Celebrate....Life!

I lined the Yule Log with Cool Whip.
Then on one half: Crushed Mint Oreos
Other half: Raspberries

Celebrations usually coincide with religious holidays, family gatherings, national events, promotions, life's milestones, safe voyages, etc.....but, sometimes it's fun to celebrate "just because".

Last night was one of those celebrations. Maybe it was a "just because" or maybe it was really because we were all together and feeling thankful. Whatever the reason, we decided on making a Yule Log or Buche de Noel. I usually make this for Christmas Eve, but this year time had gotten ahead of me and it never was made.

I share this 40 year old recipe with you in hopes that you find a reason to celebrate "just because".

3 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa(leave out to make plain Jelly Roll)

1/4 tsp salt

(powdered sugar)

Heat oven to 375*.  Spray jelly roll pan (15 x 10 x 1) with Pam and then line with wax paper. 

Beat eggs on high speed until very thick and lemon colored, about 5 minutes. Then gradually beat in sugar. Beat in water and vanilla now in low speed. Gradually add flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until batter is smooth. Pour into pan.

Beginning to roll it up.

Bake 12 - 15 minutes(Insert toothpick and see if it comes out clean). Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan; invert on clean dish towel that you generously covered with powdered sugar. Once it is on that, carefully remove wax paper.

While hot, slowly and carefully roll cake AND TOWEL from narrow end.  Cool at least 30 minutes.  Unroll carefully; remove towel. Spread with ice cream, cool whip, or jelly. Now roll up again and decorate with icing, cool whip, or simply dust with powdered sugar.

The "end" of the log.

Serves 10.  If you have filled with ice cream put in freezer.  With Cool Whip, put in freezer or refrigerator, if jelly you may leave a room temperature.

My Buche!!

 I usually cut off one of the ends and put it to the side of the "log" to really give the appearance of a "branch". Now ice it. Once iced you can also "dust" it with powdered sugar to give the appearance of fresh snow falling. 

In the past I have also made meringue "mushrooms" and put them beside the log or on top of the log to make it appear more "natural". 

Please excuse the ugly serving dish....it doesn't happen too often, but I was still looking for the dish I needed (smiles). 

My favorite filling is peppermint ice cream. But, the cool whip and mint oreos/ raspberries  we used this time were pretty awesome, I must say. 

                                               CELEBRATE "JUST BECAUSE"  and ENJOY!!

.... Who's Been Nibbling at my House?

A mini-sized one

For as long as I can remember, we have had gingerbread houses (Lebkuchenhaus) at Christmas time. Mom made them every year, only at Christmas, and they were a beautiful sight to behold. I know how Hansel and Gretel must have felt finding the Gingerbread House in the woods! Oh, how the aroma must have beckoned to them.


Each year just after Thanksgiving, Mom would begin her holiday baking. That always comprised of dozens of beautiful cookies that she would wrap to have on hand whenever guests would drop by during the Christmas season. But the one thing that I always looked forward to was the Gingerbread House. The smell of it baking and then the delicious aroma the decorated gingerbread house itself continued to generate for the next several weeks was intoxicating. The candies and handmade small cookies that decorated the house were so beautiful and delicate.


In those early years, we didn't help her decorate. She did it by herself, usually while we were at school, and then it was a gift to the family.  We would come home and ohhh and ahhh as we checked out all the little details that she'd incorporated.

A larger sized house not done being decorated

When I was a young adult, but before I had children, I continued the Gingerbread House making activity for my home.  Each year I would make them and have one for my home and then give others away to friends for Christmas gifts.

I still enjoyed everything about it, the baking, the decorating, the smell, and the nibbling at it several weeks later. I usually would just set it outside after Epiphany (January 6th) and let the birds, squirrels, bunnies, etc come and nibble away. I would pull the chocolates off it first and then place it where my golden retriever wouldn't find it.  (smiles)




Years later when I had children, the Gingerbread House tradition continued. We decorated them as a family. I also baked and assembled them for each of their classmates and they would decorate them during school and then take home to their families.  Each year I made at least 60 little houses--my home smelled glorious with all those baking!

Houses of all sizes beginning to be assembled.

Some years I even had Gingerbread House decorating parties with friends and extended family.  I'd bake and assembly one for everyone, but the decorating would be done by them.  Then I'd give out prizes of hand made ornaments to the winners.  Categories would be silly and usually invented so that everyone would leave with a prize ornament to hang on the tree as a memento of the celebration.

"This is the house that Jack   Mom Built"
She modeled it after Time Life's.

This year is no different from all the rest.  The gingerbread (Lebkuchen) baking has begun and the tradition is continuing!







I encourage you to give it a try.  You may even start a new tradition in your home.






** Please don't confuse the real thing to the prepackaged stuff they sell in the stores.  There is NO comparison.

Yup!  Gingerbread marks the season in my house.

As this season of Advent begins and you rush to the hustle and bustle of all that is demanded of you, I hope you can find a quiet moment or two to remember the true meaning of Christmas.


Love was born at Christmas.  Peace and Blessings to you so that you may have love and understanding of others.

Tradition and Heritage

Great-grandmother's recipe that
Mom typed years ago for me.

Those two words don’t necessarily have to be related. You can have a tradition in your family that is part of your heritage that you do year after year as if to honor ancestors from long ago; or, you can have a tradition that is a ritual that you’ve only been doing for the past few years, but you want to keep it going. Sometimes what your children feel is a tradition, may only have been done a few times, but seems as though it has been their whole life to them.

My Great-Aunt Pat's son visiting and
carrying on Pickle tradition with
future generations!

Well, Bread and Butter Pickles may well be an example of Tradition and Heritage in my family. When I was young and still at home, it was my family’s tradition to make pickles.  The time it really comes vividly to mind was when we were living on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. I remember working with Mom in the kitchen and I was finally old enough to be given the task of slicing the cucumbers.  She was so specific in the size that she wanted them sliced. While I was slicing, and slicing, and slicing, and my fingers were becoming more and more shriveled, I remember listening to her tell me how she loved the smell of Bread and Butter Pickles being made during the summer by her grandmother; and, how she helped do the very thing I was doing. I felt proud to be given the task, and suddenly the pruned fingers didn’t bother me so much. 

My daughters in the kitchen

I hadn’t really known my great-grandmother.  Although she died when I was about 6 years old, we were living in Hawaii at the time, and we had been in England before that. So, all I really have are the stories of what a great cook she was and a few photographs that I cherish and share with my daughters.

Back to the Pickles----

We continued with all the steps: 1) slicing the peppers and onions.
2) Combining with the cucumbers and salt (to bring out the water). 3) Bringing the vinegar, sugar and spices to a boil before adding the other three.

I still remember how my eyes burned from the onion vapors, my nose was inundated with the steaming vinegar smell, and don’t forget that my fingers were still pruning! BUT, this was my HERITAGE and it was going to be a TRADITION that I was finally old enough to participate with.

Onions, peppers, and cucumbers! 

The recipe has been in our family for about 100 years. I remember hearing (and need to ask for clarification) that someone had won a Blue Ribbon decades ago with that recipe at a County Fair. Through the years, Mom has made the pickles, sometimes, I’ve been there to help, other times not.  However, the recipe is in a cookbook my Mom had made for me back in 1982 when I was young and on my own.  I never made them by myself until 2002. My daughters were finally old enough and I thought it was time to carry on the TRADITION and teach them a fun side of their HERITAGE!

Jars filling up with Pickles.
Next stop- the water bath!

That first year that we made them (2002), the whole house smelled of onion vapors. We all had tears that wouldn’t stop….we couldn’t even see.  We had fans on, windows open, and still it offered only minimal amounts of relief.  This warranted a call to Mom.  We analyzed the recipe and the steps I'd done. We laughed when we realized that 100 years ago when they said a “large” onion, it was by natural standards. So when I used 8 large onions by today’s standards, I was mega dosing!  We all made notes and vowed to use better judgment in the future.

Later that same summer, my parents and grandmother came for a visit and the ladies critiqued my pickles. That means color, taste, and presentation had to be up to Heritage standards! (hee, hee). But the best compliment of all came after they’d left my house and had taken a jar of my pickles on to my Great Aunt Pat. She was the real chef in the family and she called to tell me that my pickles were wonderful. She said I would’ve made my great-grandmother proud. I felt all the years of those different generations melt away. It’s funny how some things you do are just in your blood.  Whether or not you think something is your Heritage, it has a way of finding you, sometimes without you knowing it.

Excited to see that Blue Ribbon

In 2004, I entered the Bread and Butter pickles in our County Fair and took home a Blue Ribbon.  That recipe had come full circle, and I felt such a connection to my Heritage.

I hope there's something you'll think of today to help carry on a tradition or share a bit of your heritage with your children or even a good friend! Little things like this connect us all.