Week 29 of my US National Food Day Challenge is now over … 5 out of 7 done this week, pretty good going, as it included Christmas Day! Leave a comment to let me know what you think of my quest!
December 24 – National Egg Nog Day
Not a really big fan of Egg Nog – I was looking for a recipe that incorporated it somehow, but decided to just let it go!
December 25 – National Pumpkin Pie Day
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Mmmm, pumpkin pie. For years I have loved all things pumpkin, but it’s only been the past 12 months that I’ve convinced the rest of the family that pumpkin pie is good. This pumpkin pie recipe wasn’t the greatest one I’ve ever used, and the graham cracker crust I used was overcooked, but this actually turned out as a good picture, better than the taste, which is different for me! |
December 26 – National Candy Cane Day
| I wasn’t going to do this day because I really don’t like candy canes. But on Christmas Day afternoon I sat looking at our Christmas tree and saw all the leftover candy canes still hanging on it. And I found a recipe for sweet and salty Christmas ‘bark’. One of our neighbors had given us a whole pile of potato chips, I had leftover chocolate and mini-marshmallows … and so a monster was born – me … I ate WAY too much of this and am now going on a no-sugar challenge again! |  |
December 27– National Fruit Cake Day
| I never realised that Americans think of fruit cake as something almost completely different to the rest of the world – the way it’s been described to me is as hard, jelly-like fruit with not much else going for it. I used a very simple gluten-free recipe and it turned out really well, more like those that I’m used to from Australia! |  |
December 28 – National Chocolate Candy Day
Again, I didn’t want to just buy something and I didn’t really feel like making anything for this day …
December 29- Pepper Pot Day
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I didn’t know what a Pepper Pot was until I did some research (thank you Google!) Turns out it was a beef soup/stew, with peppers (or capsicums for my Australian friends). I used our new slow cooker and a recipe that I found from somewhere and it was ok. Not awesome, but ok. It won’t become a family favorite unless I spend a lot of time trying to jazz it up! |
December 30 – National Bicarbonate of Soda Day
| So I looked at this day and wondered what I could do for it. And then the answer hit me. Cookies have bicarb soda in them … I have been hanging out to try a recipe for white chocolate cranberry pistachio cookies for ages (all of Grant’s favorites) so this was a great opportunity for me to try it. I made them. They were awesome (and I didn’t eat ANY of the dough this time, so there!!) |  |
Coming up next week:
- December 31: National Champagne Day
- January 1: Bloody Mary Day / Apple Gifting Day
- January 2: National Cream Puff Day
- January 3: Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day
- January 4: National Spaghetti Day
- January 5: National Whipped Cream Day
- January 6: National Shortbread Day / Bean Day
Stay tuned to see which ones I choose to make/eat and how successful (or not) I am!
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