Craftiness Is Cooking Now

Happy 2011!  

I hope everyone's holidays were beautiful and delicious.  I was so inspired this year when I met Shauna, a.k.a. Gluten-Free Girl and read her book all about learning to cook while falling in love with her husband that I thought maybe I could do it too.  I made it #4 on my holiday prep list and here's my New Year's mandu -- Korean dumplings that my family makes on this day every year.

For Christmas I was busy too: my, that was a lot of spinach.

It was for Peggy Fallon's Emerald Spinach Fondue from her book, Great Party Fondues.

Then, Brie with Pesto and Pine Nuts and Cannellini Bean Dip from Great Party Dips, also by Peggy Fallon, and some Pointsettia Champagne Cocktails.

Of course we had eggnog and I love these Pottery Barn glasses with one for each of Santa's reindeer, sad that they're no longer available in the store!

And then today was Korean dinner day.

The filling is just shredded cabbage and zucchini, beef, breadcrumbs, onions, sesame oil and seasonings and I got a little fancy with the crimping this time.

I used 2 packages of wrappers so there were a lot!

They were being eaten just about as fast as I could fry them.  I'm by no means much of a cook (yet!), but I find it best to just deep fry a few at a time so they don't get crowded and stuck together and the oil temperature doesn't drop.

So, there we go, just a few simple recipes for the holidays.  And what of Shauna's book that inspired me in the 1st place?  I unfortunately didn't have it with me at my parents' house, but more to come in the New Year!