An Old-Fashioned Christmas - Blog Tour Review + Recipe

When I got the tour invitation for An Old Fashioned Christmas: Sweet Traditions for Hearth and Home by Ellen Stimson (Amazon link) there was no way I was passing it up.  A cookbook with a holiday theme?  A cook that considered herself "a bread and butter cook ... possibly more butter than bread"? That gorgeous Christmas-y cover?  Yes please!

The blurb did not oversell this book.  It's absolutely lovely.  Charming stories with a good dash of humor, beautiful home-y pictures, delicious looking recipes with photos and stories attached tom them.  I am not a snow fan and consider anything under 50 bundle up and stay inside weather but this book made me want to spend a Christmas in Vermont!

When it came to deciding what recipe to try out it was a tough decision - should I go savory with Citrus Soy Pork Loin?  More sweet with John's Grandmother's Roske Cookies or Maple Pecan Cookies?  Maybe some Salted Caramel Turtles?  Or back to savory with Cheddar Chive Biscuits?  There were tons more choices and finally after much thinking and deciding I decided to go with:

Luxurious Garlicky Scalloped Potatoes

2 1/2 pounds red potatoes
1 1/2 cups half and half
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 ounce minced fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
butter for the casserole dish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Wash and peel the potatoes.  Slice potatoes 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
Combine potatoes, half and half, heavy cream, garlic and salt and pepper in a saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
Pour potatoes and sauce into a buttered casserole dish and bake for about 45 minutes.

My Changes:  I ended up using Russet potatoes instead of red because I have a weird aversion to red.  I made sure I sliced them really thin and they cooked well.  Also due to an unfortunate incident regarding my kitchen scale (life lesson - don't store your scale on top of the toaster oven) I didn't have a way to measure 3/4 of an ounce of garlic so I ended up using a heaping tablespoon and it was nice and garlicky without being like biting into a garlic bulb.

My Results: Seriously yum!  It was pretty simple to make and really the most time consuming task was slicing the potatoes.  The rest was dump, stir, dump in casserole dish and bake.  It was a little more liquidy than I expected but that wasn't really a bad thing and the flavor was amazing.  I had it with fried pork chops and the simple crispiness of that contrasted really nicely with the flavorful sauciness of the potatoes.  I'll definitely be making this dish again!

Bottom Line:  Not only is this book full of family friendly recipes that are just a touch unusual but the book itself is lovely!  I have a feeling it will be on my coffee table all during the Christmas holidays and I expect it will be well paged through by all who see it.  I also have a feeling that more than a few of these recipes will end up on my holiday table and in Christmas goody bags.

This book was received from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.