Hot Cranberry Cider

Makes about 2 quarts

1 quart apple cider or juice
1 32 oz bottle cranberry juice cocktail
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
8 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks

In saucepan, bring ingreidents to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 mins. Remove spices.

Chard Potato Soup

Tamara came up with this recipe all on her own. Today was cold and rainy, so it was time for soup. Our superfluity of potatoes was the genesis of this idea. We also had Swiss Chard in the garden, ready for harvesting, that we had never yet used.

2 very large potatoes

onion and garlic, sautéed

@1/2 lb cheese

chicken bouillon to taste

Several large leave of Swiss Chard

Sauté onions and garlic until onions are thoroughly soft so they don’t give Jack a headache. Boil potatoes in water with onion, garlic, and bouillon. While potatoes are boiling, send your husband out to harvest Swiss Chard and make sure he washes the chard before letting him cut it into bits with scissors. When the potatoes are soft enough to eat, add the chard. Let boil just a couple minutes then remove from the heat. Ask your husband to go back out and harvest another chard leaf to be cut into garnish. Make sure he gets one with a pretty red stem. While he’s doing that, add the cheese to the soup. This will help it cool down to eating temperature (especially if the cheese had been inhabiting the freezer up until this point.)

Serve soup in fancy Christmas dishes and garnish with ground sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and cut chard. Sour cream adds to the luxurious texture and gives it a certain je ne sais quoi. Don’t be surprised if this fabulous dish pops up at your favorite fancy restaurant as the soup of the day. It’s really good.

Gingerbread Pancakes

We gave this recipe a try this morning. We thought they were good for a nice change-but still prefer the pumpkin pancakes.

Gingerbread Pancakes
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
3 Tablespoons molasses
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk

Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Add milk, molasses, vegetable oil, and egg to the flour mixture and mix quickly. Don't over beat. It's all right to let the batter stand or "rest'' before cooking. Pour batter onto a hot greased skillet, cooking for 2 or 3 minutes. Turn pancakes when bubbles appear on the upper surface. You may add more milk to make batter thinner. You may also reduce the amount of molasses for lighter pancakes. Serve with fresh whipped cream and warm maple syrup.