Flamingo Musings

Cooking, Canning, Baking - It's All Kosher

Paté de Hibiscus, Cheese, & Girls’ Night In Wrap Party + Jarlsberg Giveaway

 

 

Chanukah begins next week, with Christmas and the New Year not too far behind. It’s the perfect time to have a “just us girls” evening, and wrap up the kids’ (and significant others’) gifts, away from those snooping curious eyes,  don’t you think? Well, Jarlsberg, Wild Hibiscus Flower Co., and Honey Ridge Farms thought so, too. They’re sponsoring this post and a fun giveaway, so you can make it happen. Oh, and *bonus* – Frieda’s Specialty Produce will be sending the lucky winner a box o’ yum, including just about all the fruit you see in this post, plus some other goodies, too!

jarlsberg | Flamingo Musings

We all love the Holiday Season and can’t wait for it to get here, right? And then it finally gets here and everything revolves around the rugrats kids and out-of-town visitors and family obligations. And we all promise our friends that we’ll get together after the New Year. Why wait?  With a few simple ingredients that take virtually no time at all (really!) to make it our own, and some help from the cheese counter and produce department at the store – and maybe a case of couple bottles of wine –  just have the girls over to dish and get “wrapped up” in the spirit, together!

I’ll be sharing more easy and quick recipe ideas over the next several days, but for now, let’s get started with the easiest one of them all: Paté de Hibiscus. Actually, it’s a much firmer version of my Wild Hibiscus Jelly recipe, especially prepared so it can be sliced or cut into fun shapes to go with cheese plates or just snacking. Sort of a paté de fruit, but made from Wild Hibiscus Heart-Tee herbal tea! Fine. It’s more like really firm jello. But vegan. Also, it sounds better in French.

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Paté de Wild Hibiscus

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups water
  • 3 Wild Hibiscus Heart-T herbal tea bags
  • 1 Tbs. lemon juice
  • 4 tsp. Pomona’s Pectin calcium water*
  • 1/2 cup pure cane sugar
  • 3 tsp. Pomona’s Pectin pectin powder*

Preparation:

Place a small dish in the freezer for gel-testing, later.

In a small saucepan (2 quart or so capacity), bring the water to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat, remove the tags from the tea bags and place the tea bags in the hot water. Stir, then cover and allow to steep for about 3 minutes. Remove the tea bags from the water.

Hibiscus Paté Gel

Bring the tea back to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the lemon juice and the calcium water.

Mix the pectin powder thoroughly with the sugar, and add it to the pot gradually, stirring vigorously until the sugar and pectin are completely dissolved.

Continue boiling for another 2 minutes.  Take the dish out of the freezer and place a small amount of the liquid onto it. Return the dish to the freezer for another 2 minutes. At the end of that time, remove the dish from the freezer. If the liquid is firm and moves intact when pushed with your finger or the tip of a spoon, it’s ready.

Pour the liquid into an 8″ x 8″ or 9″ x 9″ square heat-proof glass casserole dish. It will start setting up almost immediately. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use – at least one hour, to make sure that it’s cool enough to handle.

Hibiscus Paté Gel

Here’s where we have some fun! Run a dinner knife or thin-bladed spatula around the edges. Now, flip the dish over onto a cutting board. If you have small (1-inch) pastry cutters, just press them into the jell and cut out your shapes! *Hint* – After pressing the cutter all the way through the jell, tilt it slightly before lifting it out. Your cut-out shape should come out with the cutter and you can gently push it out. If your shape stays in the jell, just take that same dinner knife and slide it under the shape and gently push it up. It’ll pop right out!

Don’t have itty-bitty cutters? No problem. Just use that dinner knife to slice squares into the jell. Surely you can do a better job than I did. 😉

Hibiscus Jell Cutouts | Flamingo Musings

Hibiscus Jell Shapes | Flamingo Musings

*(Recipe Note:  I only use Pomona’s Universal Pectin in my jam and jelly  – and now, vegan jell and paté de fruit – recipes. Each box consists of 2 packets: one smaller packet that contains the calcium powder to be mixed with water – 1/2 tsp. calcium powder mixed with 1/2 cup of water – that’s the “calcium water” – and one larger packet that contains the pectin powder.)

jarlsberg | Flamingo Musings

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Ready to put it together? Get a head start by entering to win all of this deliciousness! The winner of this giveaway will receive: A coupon for FREE Jarlsberg cheese, a very cool slate cheeseboard, a cheese plane, a whole range of Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. products, and a variety of Honey Ridge Farms honey products!

prize package

~~PLUS~~

A gift box from Frieda’s Specialty Produce, including the best seasonal produce, Pine Nuts, sweet and delicious Raisins on the Vine, crepes, and much more!

Friedas_PRIZEBOX

Just click into the Rafflecopter box, below, and get your entries in by Monday night (December 15th) at midnight!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

While this post was sponsored by Jarlsberg, USA, Wild Hibiscus Flower Company, and Honey Ridge Farms, all opinions, recipes, text, and photographs are my own and original to RJ Flamingo and her real-life alter-ego, and are copyrighted materials, not to be reproduced in any form without express permission from the author. All fruit used in this post and its photographs, was provided by Frieda’s Specialty Produce. When I write about a brand or product, it’s always something that I personally love and would recommend to my own mother. Sponsored posts help me pay my web host. And buy food. Thank you for your support!

Vegan Hibiscus

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  6. Christmas Eve is dinner with my family, which includes a hysterical white elephant gift exchange (and inevitably, accusations of cheating.) Christmas Day is a morning of gift exchange with my partners family, usually followed by Chinese food because his mom quit cooking years ago.

  8. my family and i do multiple christmas day activities which is fun! the morning with my mom and her family and then my dads and grandparents and then my boyfriends! love seeing everyone

  9. We’re getting together at my daughter and son-in-laws for Christmas Eve appetizers then I’m making them, son and hubby Christmas breakfast. After that the whole family will gather at my Dad’s where I’m cooking Christmas supper.

  11. Chanukah here! We’ll make latkes and applesauce. Traditional dishes with a few experimental ones added each year.

  14. We have always gathered at my grandparent’s house – ALL of us. As the family has grown it has become even more fun! They are 88 years old and still happy and in good health. We are all so fortunate. This is the thing which means the most to me. Sure, at our house we have our own traditions… Christmas Eve pajamas and games, decorating, baking, etc. And we do things outside of the house – family movie outings, dinners, volunteering, etc. But the thing which trumps them all is gathering, nearly 50 of us at times, at my grandparent’s house. It’s truly magical.

  16. Christmas itself is always a casual all-day brunch for my extended family; everyone comes and goes on their own schedule, with food that can be kept gentlu warm (like ham), or made in batches without much fuss.

    • That’s the best kind, JJ! I hope you try the vegan jello recipe in this post – it’s perfect for that sort of thing, because the cut-outs will hold their shape and won’t get rubbery, even when sitting out for hours!

  19. My family and I get together on Christmas Eve and bake pies, cookies, and holiday food together and then open presents. It’s always a lot of fun.

  20. Not much celebrating due to an unexpected death in our family. But we will be having a family Christmas dinner and gift exchange for the grandchildren.

  21. My boyfriend will be joining me and my family on christmas eve and we will celebrate Christmas all together!

  22. I’m just celebrating with my 2 sons that live close and their families but I think I will stay home for Christmas.

  23. I’ll be visiting with my mother’s family all of Christmas day, then seeing my sister and BIL after the new year at Disney World!

  26. We are having a huge get together with tons of friends and family, great music, food and spirits.We’ll be dancing and singing all night long around the firepit until midnight when maybe, just maybe, there will be a few fireworks.

  33. After many years of traveling for the holidays I am very excited to be staying home and celebrating with my family. And there will be Mexican food too!

    • Awesome, Bethany! I know that the one year we traveled over the holidays, all we could think of was how much we wished we were home. Enjoy!

  34. We will see my Brother’s family on Christmas Eve and then celebrate with my Adult kids and their partners on Christmas Day. It’s a little different because normally we do church service, dinner and driving around looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. Working on being flexible as times and dynamics change.

  35. The whole family gets together for Christmas. We’re going to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a few friends and dinner.

  39. I will celebrate with family and friends by having an open house all day on the Saturday after Christmas. I find that people are very busy on Christmas day trying to visit with their loved ones and that after Christmas they are tired. So I decided this year to open my house up on Saturday after Christmas, having a buffet table set up all day so people can come and visit and enjoy some food. That way they don’t have to worry about cooking after Christmas when they are trying to rest and recover and get ready for the New Year. Thank you!

    • That’s a great idea, Lori! And thoughtful, too. If your plans include a cheese board, I hope you’ll try making these jell shapes. They can sit out all day and won’t melt or get sloppy, and they’re so quick and easy to do. Merry Christmas!

  41. I’ve never heard of making jellies with hibiscus like this — super interesting! I’m going to have a quiet holiday season at home this year, but I’ll be sure to celebrate with a festive dinner, a walk around town to see the lights, and plenty of nog. 🙂 Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!

  42. We’re Italian, so we always celebrate with lots of FOOD! Typical traditional treats like lupini and olives, Italian style doughnuts, cicerchiata and other yummy treats! All the goodies in this giveaway would be put to good use!

  44. Were having a big ol’ prime rib dinner with the family this Christmas. I love the idea of your Paté de Hibiscus. I would love to make it and have a girls night with cheese and wine. How impressed my friends would be! Merry Christmas to you and yours Renee!!!

  45. I’ll be attending an event at a friend’s. She has a get together each year between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.