response 1 of 30:

Dec 18 19:33 UTC 1993

What, no one else has a holiday recipe?

Here is an excerpt from the upcoming _Romanchik Family
Slovak Cookbook_.
 
Christmas Eve Mushroom Soup
 
 Slovak families, like many Eastern Europeans, have their
Christmas feast on Christmas Eve. After the feast, families go
to church for Midnight Mass. Before the 1960s, you had to
refrain from eating meat for at least eight hours before going
to Mass so that you could receive communion.
  So, the Christmas Eve meal was meatless. Families would serve
a fish, normally a carp, and this mushroom soup. By the time we
were kids, the rules had changed, and while we could now eat
meat on Christmas Eve, we still made this soup.
  When we were small, we would celebrate Christmas Eve at my
grandparent's house. There would be fifteen people there: my
grandparents, my Uncle John and Aunt Irene, their three kids,
and our family (there are six kids in my family). It was quite a
crowd.
  My grandmother pulled out all the stops at Christmas. It took
her at least a week to make all of the foods she served on
Christmas Eve. She would bake what seemed like an unlimited
number of nutrolls, poppy seed rolls, kolache and rozky. Of
course, I loved it all.
  All of these pastries, plus chocolate-covered cherries, hard
candy, and bowls of nuts would be sitting out when we got to her
house. As kids, we dug right in. Our parents tried to warn us
about spoiling our appetites, but I payed them no mind; I  never
had any problem with my appetite.
  Once we were all seated at the table, my grandmother would get
out a jar of honey, put a little dab on her finger, and anoint
all of us with the sign of the cross. She used to tell us that
this would make us sweet throughout the upcoming year.
  The following recipe is exactly as my grandmother
gave it to me. Like all of her recipes, it is incredibly
detailed.
 
Ingredients
 
2 tall cans mushrooms
3 small cans sauerkraut juice
1 quart water, more or less
1 medium onion plus 1 teaspoon instant onion
1/2 stick margarine plus 1 tablespoon butter
dash garlic powder
3 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste
 
  "Put mushrooms in blender on chop for a split second. Only do
one can at a time with the juice. Pour chopped mushrooms in
four-quart saucepan, add the sauerkraut juice, and add the water
a little at a time. As you're adding the water, taste for
sourness. Add salt and pepper, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon
instant onion, dash of garlic powder, and let simmer for one
hour.
  "Then, mix 3 tablespoons of flour with a little water to make
a thin paste (like for gravy). Add slowly, mixing with fast,
small strokes to keep it from lumping. Let simmer for 20 minutes
on low, stirring occasionally.
  "Brown in skillet 1 medium onion thinly sliced in the 1/2
stick margarine. Pour into the soup, stir well, and it's ready
to eat. That's how I do it. You can alter it to suit your taste
buds.
  "Call if you need help_reverse the charges."
 
  Despite my grandmother's exacting advice, the amounts are not
very critical. I use fresh mushrooms and sauerkraut instead of
sauerkraut juice. Chop the mushrooms coarsely (if you chop them
too finely, the soup will taste "musty").  Place mushrooms into
a pot, cover with water, add some sauerkraut juice, and simmer
for an hour. Add sauerkraut to adjust the sourness, then stir in
the flour mixture.
  We serve this soup with boiled potatoes and browned onions to
give the soup more body.

response 3 of 30:

Nov 29 16:39 UTC 1995

I'd like to resurrect [sp?] the holiday recipe item...

Please do share your favorite holiday food treasures, be it a main
course item, side dishes, snacks, drinks, or desserts...  We have a lot
of collected "wealth" here in this conference, so lets make 
this year's version special!!  [BTW, I didn't get to come "home"
for any of the winter holidays last year and had to work for
Thanksgiving again this year... So I'm really tryiing to get into
the holiday spirit for  Christmas for this year, so I'm looking
for new and creative ideas--for while I'm here in NC as well as
when I come up to Michigan to see my family.]  Thanks in advance!

response 5 of 30:

Dec 3 11:08 UTC 1995

I've never tried to make home made noodles but I hear they're delicious!
Thanks for the recipe... 

Any other suggestions or ideas?? I do know there are LOTS of people
here that cook/bake for the holidays--cookies/treats to full many courses
of meals... So don't be shy, share your holiday traditions and recipes!

response 7 of 30:

Dec 11 23:46 UTC 1995

I'll post my recipe for mushroom-sauerkraut soup here once I convert it
from AmiPro to ASCII.

response 9 of 30:

Dec 27 16:24 UTC 1996

Well, every since I was a little girl, my Bubbie, (Grandma in Yiddish) has
always made Mandel Bread during the Chanukah season.  Unfortunately, she is
no longer with us, but her recipe lives on. :)  

Mandel Bread is like a biscotti, except that it is not so hard, and is more
like a cookie that does not require dunking.  My Bubbie always made them with
almonds and then cinnamon and sugar on them. YUMMY!!!

response 11 of 30:

Dec 10 23:56 UTC 2006

Ok, y'all; its been 10 years since this item was active. So it's time to open
it back up for discussing holiday traditions with food, cool ideas, recipes,
etc.  What kinds of cool things will YOU be having this holiday season?

response 13 of 30:

Dec 11 18:11 UTC 2006

When I'm home for Christmas in MI, we do the same meal every time.  
I've finally started bitching about it, because quite frankly, it 
wouldn't hurt us to expand our palates a little bit.  The meal is 
always:

ham
mashed potatoes (that my grandmother makes)
candied sweet potatoes
scalloped corn
some other vegetable concoction - usually green bean casserole
a jello salad
a spinach salad my mom makes
rolls

desserts are usually:

pies
pumpkin roll
fudge
cookies

So last year, when I did not go home for Christmas, I made the 
following for the people I had over:

BBQ baby back ribs and chicken
Grilled veggies
twice baked potatoes
sweet potato casserole (probably the best recipe I've ever had for 
sweet potatoes)
Green beans
Berry cobbler
brownies

It was so much fun to have different food!  This year, I have no idea 
what we're doing, but I'd kind of like to have enchiladas...

response 15 of 30:

Dec 11 19:20 UTC 2006

Why is the Eastern Orthodox meal meatless?  Just curious.

response 17 of 30:

Dec 11 20:15 UTC 2006

Eastern Orthodox people used to fast Wed Fri Sat by not eating animal products
or oils.  Nuts were okay, so almond milk was used.  Sunflower seeds were not
on the prohibited list of oil seeds so people started growing and using them.

response 19 of 30:

Dec 12 03:20 UTC 2006

Jim's Christmas tradition is we visit his sister and nieces and nephew and
he eats himself sick while doing home repairs and improvements for them for
a few days, and we come home with enough cookies to make him sick for another
day.  This year I will be contributing dried apples, apricots, cherries,
pears, mulberries, sour cherries, black raspberries, pawpaws, tomatoes and
squash and pumpkins.  Carving pumpkin is much improved by drying - it is
crunchy and has a strong flavor instead of being nearly liquid and bland. 
We have to try sweet potatoes next.  We also did apple, peach, and pawpaw
fruit leather and want to try it with a sweet squash.

response 21 of 30:

Dec 12 15:17 UTC 2006

Sounds cool, Jeanne! You definitely don't get bored with the variety! :-)

response 23 of 30:

Dec 12 22:57 UTC 2006

Aren't you clever!!!!!