A New Heritage: Christmas with @mustloveherbs

Deep in the eastern Kentucky mountains Lauren of @mustloveherbs is creating a new style of heritage.

LAUREN, A TEACHER BY TRAINING, IS AN AVID BAKER, GARDENER AND FORAGER. Her New Heritage style of cooking embraces using ingredients at hand, while paying homage to tradition and old-fashioned simplicity. She loves spending her time reinventing traditional family recipes to fit today’s tastes and ingredients. Lauren’s kitchen garden not only feeds her household in the warm months, but also throughout the winter by utilizing many ancestral food preservation techniques.

Where do you live? Where did you grow up? I live in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky, in the same small town I’ve lived in all my life. My family’s roots in this area run over 200 years deep. The road I grew up on was actually named after my great-great-great-grandmother. 

Tell me a little about yourself. I grew up in an a very artistic family. My mother is a teacher with a degree in developmental psychology, and has a gift for decorating and making things beautiful. My father is a talented musician who owns a recording studio/production company. I grew up in a home with a beautiful garden, next door to my grandparents. My grandfather, Big Daddy, had an acre garden and a greenhouse; this is where my love of gardening started. My family spent a lot of time together. We were known to share multiple pots of coffee and stacks of magazines in the evenings.  I met my now-husband when I was a junior in high school. We have traveled, remodeled, and raised 5 wonderful pups together in our 13 years of marriage! So much of who I am now, I can attribute to his love and support. 

What role have food and cooking played in your life? When did you start cooking? I come from a long line of very good “country cooks” as well as professional bakers. I was taught at a very young age how to string beans and peel potatoes. My grandmother would put a chair at the kitchen sink for me while she cooked, and let me make my “stews” with scraps from whatever meal she was cooking. I truly felt like I was making something delicious along with her. As I got older, she taught me how to correctly make gravy and cornbread, along with countless other meals. 

Who taught you to cook? Was your family culinary? My maternal grandmother, Meme, taught me how to cook. My mother and father are both excellent cooks, but were afraid I would burn the house down. My grandmother often nearly burnt the house down herself, so that didn’t faze her. 

When did you first realize you had a passion for cooking? Around the age of 5. I have always been drawn to the kitchen. If someone was cooking, that was exactly where I wanted to be. Seeing someone stir a pan of gravy is almost hypnotic to me. 

What is it about food and cooking culture, or dining, that you love? I adore that we can share so much of who we are through cooking. Heritage is often spoken through a dish or while enjoying one. Cooking bonds people by allowing us to try new things together or to enjoy comfort foods that bring back the fondest of childhood memories.

How would you describe your cooking style? New Heritage -- country cooking that has been updated only when it needs to be, in order to adapt to today’s ingredients. 

Where do you find ideas and inspiration for your recipes? My biggest inspiration is my garden. In the winter this often means I pull out things I’ve stored from summer harvests or use what is in season, such as apples, root vegetables and cold-weather greens.  I am also heavily inspired by family recipes. Lately I have been doing my best to make my grandmother’s Christmas cookie recipes! They are a family tradition that I am determined to get right.

What is your favorite thing to cook for others? Bread. Whether it is cornbread, biscuits, focaccia or even a Babka, everyone loves bread! 

What is your favorite item in your kitchen? My favorite kitchen item is my grandmother’s cast iron skillet. It was originally my great-great-grandmother’s. She received it as a wedding gift in 1919. It has been passed down through the generations of our family ever since. 

What has been your biggest challenge with your cooking? Your biggest accomplishment? My biggest challenge has to be my newly-developed red meat allergy. Being Appalachian means that pork goes into nearly any dish. Cornbread is often made using bacon grease. Soup beans aren’t complete without a ham hock. Making all of my favorite meals taste just as good without using pork has been my proudest moment. Even my pork-loving momma said, “they taste just like Granny’s” when referring to my fresh green beans.

CHOCOLATE & PEPPERMINT BARK

Ingredients:

12 ounces semi sweet chocolate (chips or bars)

Chopped old fashioned peppermint candy sticks and/or candy canes

Holiday themed sprinkles

Directions:

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl using 30-second increments. Stir after each increment. When the chocolate is nearly all melted remove it from the microwave and continue to stir until it becomes smooth and glossy.

Pour the melted chocolate onto your prepared baking sheet and smooth it out until desired thickness is achieved.

Sprinkle the peppermint candies and sprinkles evenly over the melted chocolate. You may need to lightly press in some of the ingredients.

Allow the chocolate to cool at room temperature for 3-4 hours before breaking. You can also place in the fridge for 30 minutes if you are in a pinch.

Once completely hardened, carefully break apart the chocolate using your hands. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve or gift!

CRANBERRY, ROSEMARY & ORANGE CAKE WITH ORANGE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients for Cake:

⁃3 cups of flour + more for dusting

⁃1/2 tsp of Baking Soda

⁃1/2 tsp of Baking Powder

⁃1/2 tsp of Salt

⁃Zest of 3 oranges

⁃Juice of 1 orange

⁃Zest and juice of 1 lemon

⁃3/4 cup of buttermilk

-2 cups of cranberries

-2 sticks of butter (1 cup) at room temperature

⁃2 cups of sugar

⁃2 tsp of vanilla

⁃5 eggs

⁃2 tbs of fresh rosemary

Ingredients for Icing:

⁃2 cups of confectioners sugar

⁃4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

⁃1/2 tsp vanilla extract

⁃3 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice.

Directions for Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Grease and flour your Bundt pan.

In a medium bowl combine 3 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. In a small bowl combine the zest and juice of the oranges and lemon with the buttermilk. Set aside.

In a separate bowl add the cranberries and 2 tbs all purpose flour. Stir until all the cranberries are completely covered in flour. Set aside.

In your stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla. Add the eggs in one at a time. After all eggs are added turn the mixer off and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl making sure there isn’t any unmixed butter and sugar.

With the mixer on low add the buttermilk and flour mixtures to your butter & sugar mixture by alternating between flour and buttermilk until both are gone. Add the rosemary in and mix until evenly distributed.

Take the cranberry and flour mixture and fold it gently into your batter. Make sure the cranberries are even throughout the batter but do not over mix.

Pour the batter into your greased bundt pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for a minimum of 30 minutes. This is imperative to it coming out cleanly! After 30 minutes flip the cake out carefully onto a wire rack and allow to cool for another 30 minutes. While the cake cools you may prepare the icing.

Directions for Icing:

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the confectioners sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and orange juice. Use an electric mixer on medium speed mixing thoroughly until icing is smooth and creamy. Add more juice 1/2 tsp at a time if the icing is too thick. Add powdered sugar in 1 tbs at a time if mixture is too runny. The consistency should be somewhere between a frosting and a glaze.

Spoon the icing evenly over the cake. It should spread nicely over the edges on its own.

FUDGE & ALMOND PINE CONES

Ingredients:

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

2 oz unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

7 oz sweetened condensed milk (1/2 a standard can)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups sliced almonds

Directions: In a heat safe bowl combine the chocolate chips, butter, salt, condensed milk, and vanilla. Using the double boiler method, heat your ingredients. Be careful not to let the water touch the bottom of your bowl. Stir constantly until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Take off heat immediately and place mixture in fridge to cool for 20-30 minutes.

The mixture should hold its form but still be moldable.

Form the chocolate mixture into a cone shape and place it on parchment paper. Begin sticking almonds into the bottom of the cone. Move your way up placing each row behind the next in an overlapping pattern until you reach the top. Place the finished pine cone in the fridge to set up for a minimum of 1 hour! Makes 15 pine cones! Recipe Can easily be doubled.