You're currently on:

Keramikos Kitchen

Home / Blog / Company / FAQ / Contact Us
Search Site

Archive for December, 2010

Christmas Recipes for Any Sized Gathering

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Try Cooking a Glazed Ham This Christmas

With Christmas less than a week away, you may still be scrambling to find easy Christmas recipes that you can make for the holidays. Whether you’re serving four or forty, these recipes for Christmas will make a great addition to your meal.

Christmas Dinner Recipes
You may have settled on the menu for Christmas dinner, but do you have a game plan for how and when you’re going to cook it? Prepping in between opening presents and washing up the breakfast dishes often leads to a stressful day. During the holidays, it helps to plan ahead, especially for Christmas dinner. If you’re cooking a turkey from frozen, make sure you take it out at least the night before. Making stuffing? Chop up onions and celery, and tear up your bread the night before as well. This will save you a lot of time come Christmas morning.

Christmas Side Dishes
Christmas side dishes need to be simple and complementary to your main course. If you plan to cook a Christmas ham, consider pairing it with scalloped potatoes, a green bean casserole and maple glazed carrots. Sticking with traditional turkey dinner? Pair it with mashed potatoes, braised cabbage and roasted root vegetables. Almost all Christmas side dishes can be partially prepared ahead of time, giving you more time to spend with your friends and family on the big day. Cut and pare any vegetables you can in the days leading up to Christmas and store them in an airtight container in the fridge.

Christmas Recipe for Glazed Ham
A glazed ham is a nice Christmas recipe alternative to turkey for those who still have Thanksgiving leftovers lurking in their freezer.

Ingredients

  • 1 10-pound fully cooked, boneless ham
  • 1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
  • 1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
  • 2/3 cup golden brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey


Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place ham in roasting pan and spread mustard evenly over surface. Pat brown sugar over mustard coating, pressing firmly to adhere. Drizzle honey evenly over. Bake until ham is well glazed, spooning any mustard and sugar glaze that ends up at bottom of pan, about 30 minutes. Transfer ham to serving platter; let cool at least 25 minutes. Slice ham with sharp knife and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
Serves 10

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Ceramic Knives, Recipes | 2 Comments »

Freezer Recipes for Easy Weeknight Dinners

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
Lasagna Makes for a Great Freezer Meal

Lasagna Makes for a Great Freezer Meal

Life can often be hectic and very few of us have time to cook up elaborate meals during the week. This time of year, comfort foods like soups, stews and casseroles are great, but they require time and planning. Instead of stressing about getting dinner on the table, why not look to freezer recipes that will keep for weeks and provide easy weeknight dinners in a flash?

Freezer Meals
Not all of your favorite meals are freezer friendly, but there are a number of recipes that are easily frozen. Think of things that often taste better the second day like chili, lasagna or soup. By preparing a large batch of something, you are instantly cooking freezer meals that will be good for lunch or dinner. If your regular recipe usually provides you with four servings, double it and freeze the leftovers. It often doesn’t take much more effort to make twice as much of something – especially when you’re prepping with a sharp, Chef’s knife – but it does save you lots of time and energy the next time you need a quick meal. Just chop up a few extra onions for pasta sauce, or peel a few more carrots for chicken stew.

Preparing Freeze Ahead Meals
How do you prepare freeze ahead meals? It’s pretty simple. If you’re  making something like soup or chili, ladle it into freezer safe containers and let it cool down before putting the lid on. Once your containers are cool enough, they can go straight into the freezer. Freeze ahead meals like soup are then ready to be pulled out whenever you need them. Making a lasagna? You can either make it, cook it and then freeze it in portions, or make a whole lasagna in a Pyrex or disposable aluminum pan and freeze it before cooking. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and then aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn.

Great Meals to Freeze

You can choose from a number of meals to freeze to add to your standard weeknight dinner lineup:

  • Pesto
  • Macaroni and Cheese
  • Soups
  • Stews
  • Pasta Sauce
  • Chili

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in How To, Recipes | 4 Comments »

Keramikos Kitchen featured on This Girl’s City

Monday, December 6th, 2010

Check it out.  We were featured on This Girl’s City blog when we were at the Vancouver Home and Interior Design Show a few months back.  She’s got a great photo of our 5 Piece White Ceramic Knife Set with Multi-coloured Handles and the Bamboo Cutting Board.

You can see it here. Thanks Chloe :)

http://thisgirlscity.com/2010/09/15/vancouver-home-interior-design-show-2010/

From This Girls City Blog

Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Best Christmas Gifts for the Kitchen

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
A Chef Knife Makes a Great Christmas Gift

A Chef Knife Makes a Great Christmas Gift

Still stuck on what to get your friends and family for Christmas this year? If they like to cook, some of the best Christmas gifts for the kitchen include quality knives. No matter what a person likes to prepare, a sharp knife can make all the difference.

Kitchen Gifts
No kitchen is complete without a decent knife, but often people put off buying one for themselves because of the cost. What better Christmas gift than one they’ll use on a daily basis? If there’s one knife everyone should have, it’s a proper chef’s knife. If you want to get a kitchen gift that will cover all your loved ones cooking needs, then a knife set is probably the better way to go.

Kitchen Gadgets
Kitchen gadgets can make great stocking stuffers. They’re often something that we don’t use that often, but that doesn’t have to be the case. A good vegetable peeler makes for a practical, useful tool for any kitchen. It’s a gift that will most likely be used right away to make that big holiday dinner!

Christmas Gift Basket
If you’re feeling particularly generous this year, why not throw together a Christmas gift basket? Include the basics like a good knife or knife set, some kitchen utensils, a cutting board and maybe even some bakeware or pots. You could also theme your Christmas gift basket and include a cookbook and ingredients to help them get started. This would be a great gift for someone just starting out on their own, or who’s just starting to experiment in the kitchen.

What are some of your favorite kitchen gifts to buy? Share them with us!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Ceramic Kitchen, Ceramic Knives | 1 Comment »