The Christmas Table

us back to Grandma’s house at a Christmas that smelled like hummingbird cake, or to Mom’s house that was still saturated with the scent of roasted turkey. Food always takes us back. When my kids are grown, I hope some of their best memories involve our kitchen table; the one that their dad made with his own hands from the black walnut tree in our front yard. I hope when one of my daughters walks into a restaurant she will say, “That smells like the chicken and rice soup that my mom used to make,” or when my son walks into a bakery or another home he’ll say, “That smell reminds me of my mom’s biscotti that she always made at Christmas.”

Food brings us together. Especially at Christmas. We spend hours shopping for ingredients, preparing the food, and setting the table so everyone feels welcome. While TV movies and commercials are filled with picture-perfect, happy people enjoying Christmas and toasting around a beautifully decorated table, the holiday was never intended only for them. Christmas began in a manger; the first meal was from a simple peasant girl’s breast to her newborn, Jesus. Linus declared, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” Christmas is for the brokenhearted, the lonely, the widowed, and the homeless. It is for the single mom who works two jobs to take care of her kids. It is for the young woman who walks the streets or works in a strip club and for the mother at home who worries about her. It is for the fractured home and the broken marriage. It is for the celebrity or millionaire who has everything he wants but nothing at all. Christmas is for everyone who longs for home and their place at the table.

In The Christmas Table, Lauren longs to create a home that she never knew while growing up. With the newfound recipes she discovers, she is determined to build memories around her and Travis’s new kitchen table. I am delighted to share with my Sam’s Club friends a few more recipes that are mentioned within the pages of the book. I hope your family enjoys them as much as we do and that some of your greatest laughs and dreams are shared around your table because each meal is like a new beginning. Especially at Christmas.

CHICKEN AND SPINACH QUICHE

This quiche is delicious at breakfast or at dinner served with home fries and fresh fruit. You can easily add diced cooked bacon alongside the chicken or use whatever meat you like in place of the chicken. Don’t let the creole seasoning throw you off; it doesn’t make the quiche taste Cajun but seasons it perfectly. I often use a combination of cheeses in addition to Gruyère, but the Gruyère alone makes an outstanding quiche. If you have a family of five like me, you may need to make two of these because you won’t have any leftovers with just one!

1 (9-inch) unbaked pastry shell

¼ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1 cup diced cooked chicken

½ cup chopped sweet onion (or a combination of sweet onion and finely chopped leeks)

1 cup chopped fresh spinach

¾ cup shredded Gruyère or Monterey Jack cheese (or a combination of Gruyere and Asiago cheese is yummy)

3 eggs

¾ cup whipping cream or half-and-half

½ cup mayonnaise

½ teaspoon creole seasoning such as Tony’s Original Creole Seasoning

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Line a 9-inch pie plate with the pastry shell and poke holes in the bottom. Sprinkle ¼ cup cheese in the pastry shell.

In a bowl, mix the chicken, onion, spinach, and remaining ¾ cup cheese and spoon into the pie shell.

In the same bowl you just used, whisk the eggs, whipping cream, mayonnaise, and creole seasoning. Pour over chicken mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean (thirty to forty minutes, depending on your oven). Let stand at least ten minutes before serving.

BUTTERMILK BREAKFAST CAKE

This breakfast cake is so moist and tender that you can eat it plain or add chocolate chips or fresh blueberries, raspberries, peaches, or a combination of fruit. I have discovered that fresh fruit tastes better than frozen in this recipe. This is not a sweet cake; it uses only ⅓ cup of sugar, so you won’t feel a crash an hour after breakfast. The key ingredient is buttermilk, so be sure you use it and not plain milk. Buttermilk makes this cake melt in your mouth. If you don’t have whole-milk buttermilk you can always make your own, and I’m including those simple steps below (although I prefer purchasing whole-milk buttermilk over the homemade version). This cake is still wonderful the next day and freezes beautifully, too.

½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

zest from 1 large lemon

⅓ cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling

1 egg, room temperature (put in a cup of warm water for a few minutes if it’s straight out of the refrigerator)

1 tsp. vanilla

½ tsp. almond extract

1¾ cups all-purpose flour. I typically use Einkorn all-purpose, but any will work. You can set aside ¼ cup to toss with the blueberries (more on this in the directions).

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

½ cup whole-milk buttermilk

MIX-IN OPTIONS

2 cups fresh blueberries or raspberries, picked over but not washed (or washed and gently patted dry)

2 cups peeled and diced fresh peaches (a combination of these varied fruits is also very good)

1 to 1 ½ cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using cooking spray or butter, grease an eight-inch-square baking pan.

Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter with the lemon zest and ⅓ cup sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.

Toss the blueberries or raspberries with the ¼ cup of flour you have set aside. (Both of these fruits will still break apart when stirring into the batter, so don’t get discouraged. I usually skip this step for that reason and just add the ¼ cup of flour here in the next step.)

In a bowl, whisk together