Holidays at Home

Hi, and welcome to my blog!

I'm a newlywed and I love to cook! Luckily, my husband is my guinea pig and he eats just about anything I put in front of him.  I enjoy trying new recipes and adapting them to be my own.  I'm a better cook than I am a baker, but I'm learning!

My husband and I just recently moved and we finally have a kitchen and living room large enough to entertain. I've always loved to cook for others, so I was excited to host our first holiday at our house!

This also gave me an excuse to decorate the table with all of our new china and glasses we received from our wedding. I love our china! We chose Lenox Simply Fine Flourish Everyday Fine China. We use it every day, it's dainty yet durable. I loved finally having a table that matched from the dishes and serveware to the silverware and crystal.

We chose not to register for fine china or crystal. We knew we wanted something we could use everyday and something we could toss in the dishwasher. Who wants to host a party only to be left hand washing every single dish! Not us.

We also chose Lenox Eternal stainless steel flatware. Again, this flatware isn't silver, so there's no polishing and we can use it every day

Since my china is white, I chose a deep red table cloth to help make the china really pop on the table. I love the final result.  Oh, and I also love a bargain.  The table cloth was only $20 on sale at Target. The napkins were $10.  Napkin rings, candle holders and all the rest of the furniture are care of my Nana!

One of our favorite dishes for any Jewish holiday is noodle kugel. So I whipped one up. This is by no means light! You can make it lighter by using low-fat versions of the cream cheese and sour cream, and use less butter. But butter just makes things better! As Julia says "If you're afraid of butter, use cream."

This recipe is courtesy of my friend Allison's sister.

Noodle Kugel

1 container (16 oz.) Cottage Cheese

1 container (16 oz.) Sour Cream

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

5 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 pkg. (12 oz.) broad egg noodles, cooked, rinsed and drained

1 cup dried raisins/cherries/craisins (your choice) I prefer the craisins to add a little tart to this sweet recipe

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar

MIX all ingredients except noodles, raisins, cinnamon and cinnamon sugar util well blended. Add noodles and raisins; mix lightly. SPOON into 13x9-inch baking dish; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until lightly browned. Cool at least 10 minutes; cut into squares. I usually take the foil off about 15 minutes before it's ready so the crust is nice and brown. Serve warm.

This also makes a really nice breakfast served warm or cold!