A Holiday Recipe For You - Lisa Dale

Just like your family, my family has its traditions for the holidays. And many of them are about booze and food. :-)

For example, every year since I was a kid, my mother’s very Irish neighbors, The Flahertys, make a mulled apple cider in a huge pot on the stove; it’s warm and sweet with rum, cloves, and cinnamon. We “kids” aren’t allowed to have any (still!), but every year they call my mother over for wassailing, and when she gets home, she’s inevitably rosy-cheeked and laughing. It’s good to see.

On Christmas morning, it's a family tradition to have cinnamon rolls hot from the oven with big cups of tea. It feels special--all that icing and gooey sweet bread!

And--okay--my brother and sister and I do get together to play a little drinking game with one of the holiday movies we've been watching once a year since we were kids.

Like I said: Food and booze.

This year, I wanted to share a family secret (simple) holiday recipe with you! This is a classic in our family, thanks to my mom. But she gave me permission to share it with you!

Candied Walnuts

½ cup butter

cup brown sugar

teaspoon cinnamon

pound of walnuts (4 cups)

In a casserole dish, melt butter. Add brown sugar and cinnamon. Microwave for two minutes (it will be bubbly and hot!). Add walnuts carefully and coat them in sugary goodness. Microwave 3-5 minutes (4 is probably right). Spread nuts on wax paper to cool, and as Mom says, “this part is like Napalm so be careful!” Don’t taste. Let cool—then enjoy or wrap in a little bag to give as a gift.

Delicious!

That’s it! Piece of cake! Okay…not actually cake. But still. It’s easy! I’m telling you—people will think you slaved over these for hours. If you try them, email me and let me know what you think (lisa at lisadalebooks. com).

And in the meantime, Happy Holidays!

Lisa Dale

PS Very soon I’m going to be giving away a hand-knit organic cotton scarf, made by yours truly! If you want in on this contest, please subscribe to my mailing list or my blog!

PPS -- One more tradition, unrelated to food, but it's funny and worth sharing. My sister has a tradition of waiting until everyone’s at the house, then putting the CD player on repeat for endless revolutions of “The Holly And The Ivy.” We take bets on how many times the song will play before somebody notices.

PPS The walnuts are calorie free. That’s right. Zero calories, zero fat, zero carbs. So enjoy!