Happy third day of Christmas! It’s the day of three French hens…you do know the song don’t you?? The “Twelve Days of Christmas”, is a fun song, but perhaps you didn’t realize that the twelve days of Christmas happen AFTER Christmas…Not before like so many retail stores have been advertising. The twelve days of Christmas start with Christmas day (1st day) and go through the 5th of January (the twelfth night). You see, Christmas does not end on the 25th of December…it BEGINS on December 25th!!! We have just started celebrating at our house. Tradition has it that the, “Twelve Days of Christmas”, song was written as a way for young Catholic children to learn and or remember the tenets of the faith in the 16th century when it was against English law to even BE Catholic. The symbolism is fun to think about and it makes me love the song even more thinking about it as a mnemonic device. So here’s to Faith, Hope, and Love…the meaning of the third day of Christmas.
Awww...bet you’ll now be humming…..;-)
I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas day. I love Christmas day, but even more, I LOVE Christmas Eve!!! It is always a full day, but the culminating moment comes at the 9:00 o’clock candlelight service at church. This year was very special for me. The service always begins with the White Christ Candle being brought down the main sanctuary aisle. This year, a Down Syndrome teen of our church was the acolyte chosen for this honor. Having this young man in his long, white robe walking down the dimly lit aisle so reverently, brought such emotion within me, I momentarily lost my breath. It wouldn’t have been a problem, but I was to help start a chant from the back balcony of the sanctuary during this procession. This particular moment was MY present for Christmas…truly…Christmas made visible to me.
“The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Light…it is a wondrous thing.
So when thinking about my recipe this week, I decided to share with you a “Light “ version of “No Beef” Wellington that we had for our Christmas celebration meal. It is soooo yummy and a real celebration entrée.
Christmas Wellington Recipe:
(4 to 5 servings)
Prep:
The day BEFORE making Christmas Wellingtons…place one 17.3 oz package of sheet puff pastry in the refrigerator to thaw. (1 package makes 4 to 5 servings) Thaw the 10 oz. box of spinach in the refrigerator as well.
Day of…
(So you only have to clean the bowl of food processor once…prep the dry ingredients needed for the filling first)
Grind in processor walnuts…you will need 2/3 cup finely ground
Set aside nuts.
Grind fresh breadcrumbs from a firm bread…we had a heel of a whole grain left. Go figure…use stale bread to make fresh bread crumbs….heheee.
You will need 2/3 cup finely ground breadcrumbs.
Set aside breadcrumbs.
Wellington Pate`
2 T. of oil
(I used walnut oil because it was Christmas and walnuts were being used in the pate` filling)
8 oz. of sliced mushrooms
(Your choice…I used baby bellas because they were on sale;-))
Heat the oil on medium high heat and sauté the mushrooms until they are golden and caramelized. Place mushrooms in bowl of food processor.
1 T. of oil
1 chopped medium onion
2 sliced cloves of garlic
In the same skillet used for mushrooms, sauté onions and garlic until both are soft and translucent.
1 10 oz. box of frozen spinach
Thoroughly squeeze the thawed spinach dry. Wrap spinach in toweling and really wring it dry.
Place onions, garlic, dry spinach all in the bowl of the processor with the mushrooms. Process the veggies until they are finely chopped and paste-like.
Transfer filling to a large bowl and add:
1 tsp. Herbes de Provence
(An herb blend that usually contains: savory, fennel, basil, thyme,
and lavender)
½ tsp. onion salt
½ tsp. of kosher salt
¼ tsp. of black pepper
¼ cup vegan cream cheese
2/3 cup finely ground walnuts
2/3 cup finely ground breadcrumbs
Chill filling for 1 hour
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
¼ canola oil
4 to 5 Frozen Veggie Patties - servings of this recipe
(Amy’s Quarter Pound Veggie Burgers)
Onion salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Heat a non-stick skillet with the canola oil on medium high heat.
Brown patties (no need to thaw)
Flip after browning first side and season with a sprinkling of onion salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Continue until all patties are browned on both sides. Set aside while preparing the puff pastry.
Two sheets of puff pastry are in the box. The pastry will be well thawed if you defrosted it the day before in the refrigerator. You can defrost on the counter the day of, but the pastry can become soggy when defrosting at room temperature. When the puff pastry warms too much, it can become difficult to work with...soooo...plan to do this defrost in the refrigerator and thus less difficulty opening the folds of the pastry.
Dust counter with unbleached all purpose flour. Open the folded two sheets of pastry and line up the two sheets of pastry together to make one long sheet of pastry. Slice from short edge to short edge of pastry to make 4 or 5 equally wide strips across the length of the pastry. Working with one strip at a time… Roll with rolling pin to lengthen and widen each strip to enclose the veggie patty and filling…use one of the veggie patties to measure the first strip to see how much rolling you need to do. When the strip of pastry is longer and wider….place 1/3 (heaping) cup of the mushroom/spinach pate` on the center of the pastry. Top pate` filling with a browned veggie patty.
There should be an overlap of the pastry dough and this extra dough can be trimmed and used for a decorative add on to the top…just wait…you will see!!!
Using a bit of water on your finger, seal the seams of the dough to completely enclose the filling and patty.
Flip the package over so the seam is on the bottom. Fold the rectangular ends under too, so that the package is now round.
Gather the scraps from trimming the pastry package. Roll out enough to accommodate a small cutout. I used a small snowflake cookie cutter, but you can use whatever shape you might have for decorating the top.
Wet the back of the cutout and place on the top of the smooth pastry package.
Continue the process until all packages are formed. Place the pastry packages on a parchment lined baking sheet. Gently and lightly, brush each package top with soy creamer…this will help to develop a golden color.
Bake Christmas Wellingtons for 45 minutes in a 400 degree oven. This allows the pastry to become golden and the patty and pate` to be hot inside the yummy package.
Remove Wellingtons from oven and serve.
Wonderfully delicious….Really!!!!
I served these with steamed asparagus with a warm, cranberry,
balsamic vinaigrette, and roasted butternut squash.
Can we just say…CELEBRATION!!!
A fire was going in the fireplace, candles lit on the table…
...the room felt special.
My eyes during our meal were drawn to the glass stars on either side of our advent wreath…flickering almost like real stars. It was mesmerizing….
I thought about how we naturally are drawn to light… sunshine, firelight, candles, tree lights…I even have this glass cube that is full of lights that sits on my kitchen counter during Christmas. I stare at it while I cook….
Light is a word that we use as a noun…an object that brings visibility.
Light is also used as a verb…an action of making light…like to light a fire
Light is also used as an adjective...a light room or in describing a color.
Light is also used as an adverb…how one travels…
(I wish I could travel light – I am a big suitcase kind of girl)
Light can be used in all parts of our speech, yes, but light filters into all areas of how we communicate and how we live. Light IS special!!! Light illumines our lives and something draws us to that light. All of us are drawn to light. We just feel safer in the light.
Even my little pugs follow the sunlight around the room to bask in its warmth.
Yes, my word for this week of Christmastide is Light. May the Light of Christmas bring warmth and illumination to each of you. It has been a difficult week for many, but today is the third day of Christmas and so, I remind each of you that Three French Hens tell us of: Faith, Hope, and Love…and the greatest of these is LOVE. As our Will sat in the sun and the light bathed him in December Light…his eyes said it all. Love leads us to the LIGHT!!
Light...it IS wondrous!!
Thoughtful living moment today: Even the smallest glimmer of light dispels darkness and rids the heart of fear. Whatever YOUR darkness...Fear not...
The Light Has Come!
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