Holiday Traditions

Yesterday evening I kicked off the first night of Hanukkah with Isaac and his family at a friend of the families home.

We started the evening with a glass of wine and the lighting of the menorahs.

There were enough menorahs for everyone to light one.

Quite the Festival of Lights!

It was also Shabbat so we enjoyed some delicious, locally baked challah from Montana Gold Bread.

Dinner was delicious. It started with a spinach, mandarin oranges, walnuts, and dried cranberries with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Potato latkes, of course!

Baked salmon, which was cooked to perfection!

Roasted root vegetables we my contribution to the meal- I used this recipe.

Here’s my plate. My potato latke was topped with apple sauce.

We came back to our place and opened presents with Isaac’s family! Twas a fun filled evening.

Wishing a Happy Hanukkah to everyone who celebrates!! The best part is that Isaac and I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas so we still have this to look forward to:

As an update, Isaac and I decided to stay in to celebrate our anniversary a few nights ago. Cline 2008 Ancient Vines Zinfandel and homemade butternut squash ravioli made the night a success.

I was sent some coupons for Nasoya won-ton wraps and I had been saving them for a special meal- they ended up making the homemade ravioli super easy. I used this video post for inspiration.

For the butternut squash filling I used:

1 cup canned organic butternut squash
1/4 cup Tofutti Better n’ Cream Cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp sea salt and ground black pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions- Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl and place a teaspoon of filling into the middle of each round won-ton wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrap and folded it to make a half moon shape. Boil water and cook the raviolis for 2-3 minutes.
While the raviolis cook, heat about 1- 4 tablespoons butter, sage, parsley, sea salt, ground pepper and pine nuts on the stove. Top the plated raviolis with the butter sauce and serve.
I served the ravioli with broccoli and the meal turned out to be quite delicious. Perfect for our special night!
I also received some beautiful flowers from Isaac, which made me smile from ear to ear.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Today I’ve been enjoying the annual Christmas cookie bake that my mom, sister, and nieces do every year! It’s been so fun spending a day in the kitchen with my girls! Tomorrow I’m off to a graduation party and then headed to my holiday work party later. Busy little weekend.

I’ll be back with an update on the delicious cookies we’ve been baking today- here’s a little teaser.