An Update from the Kitchen

Our apologies, dear readers, for neglecting you this long.

Time slips away so fast and before we knew it, Valentine's Day had come and gone without a post. Well, we've been busy as usual, and although it's no excuse, we've been working very hard to bring you more quality content. As you are well aware, we have a parent company, HandmadeTV, which will be producing close to 1,000 more video recipes in 2008. Our hopes are, that very soon, the Holiday Kitchen will be part of a larger family of ever-expanding video libraries.

For now though, we're finding that our initial 67 recipes were really a great starting point. Along with almost 3 million views across the internet, we've received tons of great feedback! People seem to like the fact that we take the home cook seriously, and have produced this fantastic resource especially for them. And, as we've pointed out (almost to death), at least half of our holiday fare can be repurposed into fabulous dinners and snacks and enjoyed all year long-not just for November and December, thankyouverymuch! So what are we waiting for? Let's get cooking!!!

Again!

Of note, we happened to be up in Lake Placid, NY recently, visiting a good friend. This cozy, little Adirondack metropolis is well-known for hosting not one, but two, Olympic games-1932 and 1980. Just in case you don't believe this after seeing the olympic museum, skating arena, and toboggan run, the impossibly high ski jump remains to prove it. Currently buried under about 3 feet of snow, the town pretty much revolves around winter sports and...winter sports.

Our friend tends to be the opposite of us in most regards-especially on the subject of food. Where we're more adventurous, he is meat and potatoes. But, he definitely knows his meat and potatoes-the same way a good sommelier knows their wine-and, after a long day on the slopes, decided to take us out for his idea of the best shepherd's pie in town. We have to say, it was absolutely the perfect, simple comfort food for the end of a long winter day.

So what could possibly top it? How about a healthy take on the classic? The next day, we tested the Holiday Kitchen's vegetarian version of shepherd's pie on our dubious friend. Not only did he love it (and not even miss the meat), he insisted on downloading the video recipe so that he could make it himself, on a regular basis.

Success!

If you haven't tried it yet, make this favorite of ours-which will give you a healthy dose of vegetables without keeping you in the kitchen for too long.

Perfect for the inner olympian in you.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie



Ingredients

4 medium potatoes
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup of the grated cheese of your choice
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 stick of celery, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 cup of cauliflower florets
1 tsp of Italian seasoning

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Peel and cut potatoes. Cook in boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender and drain.
3. Pour milk over the potatoes and mash until smooth.
4. Stir in the grated cheese of your choice and season to taste.
5. Heat Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic, celery, leeks, carrots and cauliflower florets.
6. Saute all these veggies gently for 10 minutes if the pan dries out too much, add a little water from the boiling potatoes rather than more oil.
7. Next add a can of beans that you've drained and rinsed andd add Italian seasoning.
8. Spoon the beans and vegetable mixture into an ovenproof dish top with the cheesy potato mash.
9. Sprinkle over with the top with another quarter cup of cheese.
10. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

Visit the website to download the video for yourself!

*Also, coming soon to this blog:

A weekly, seasonal guide to vegetables and herbs, which we think will help you greatly in all of your future cooking endeavors!