A Tiffin and a Christmas Gift Guide

If you are anything like me I am sure you have some of that Turkey from Thanksgiving leftover and frozen away in the freezer. Am I right? Well instead of shoving it to the back of that freezer let's use it to make some pretty great sandwiches.

I had made a Turkey Roulade from the Bon Appétit menu planner from Epicurious.com. It was filled with Porcini, Crimini mushrooms and lovely Italian Pancetta (Italian bacon).

Once again if you are anything like me you will cook for 80 when only 8 are going to be sitting down at the dinner table. LOL!

What I did with the left over roulade was cut nice slices and put a sheet of waxed paper between each slice. This I put into a freezer bag and up it went into the freezer. Now, I can easily take out exactly the amount of slices I need on the evening before, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. The next day I have juicy slices to use in any way I want. You could do this with turkey breast too. Simply cut in thin slices and freeze between waxed paper.

Tiffin Idea


For Soeren I bought a wonderful rye roll filled with pumpkin seeds and topped with grated parmesan. The roll in itself is delicious. I took one of the turkey slices and quickly panfried it for just a few minutes on each side. The roll is spread with cream cheese and filled with the stuffed roulade. On top of this I spread some of the most delicious cranberry and ginger chutney, which was also a part of the Bon Appétit menu (I will be sharing the recipe and my experience with it next week, so look out for that).
As Soeren is not really a leafy lettuce eater I did not add any, but if you are then I suggest adding some leafy rucola leaves to the sandwich too. Soeren also just loves to nibble on cheese chunks. So, this cheese chunk comes from Bonbel and has a wonderful buttery taste to it.
The fruit choices are organic juicy pear slices and sweet aromatic golden kiwis. We love the golden variety because they taste of so many different types of fruit. I can taste papaya and mango when I take a bite of these. Soeren can eat two or three at a time so I have to make sure I have enough of these in the house.
For his afternoon snack I packed a wonderful European specialty. A nussecke is pastry made from shortcrust dough and spread with a variety of nuts and honey and one side is covered in chocolate. Simply wonderful.

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Christmas Gift Ideas


Christmas is just around the corner and yesterday, Lily talked about the lovely way her family have been counting the days to Christmas. It made me smile. Although she is in San Francisco I could not help feeling so amazingly close to her when I read the post. You see we too have a similar little tradition. A few years ago I had made 24 little sacks made of green and red felt. Decorated them with elves and snowmen and numbered them all from 1 to 24. I fill these "santas sacks" as Soeren calls them, with tiny gifts (a few crayons, Matchbox cars, little books) to help Soeren countdown the days till Christmas day. Just like Lily and her family it is such a joy to see the excitement build up.

For the big day itself, I thought I would share some ideas with you for some nice Christmas gifts. In today's post:

Homemade Gifts

What I totally love as gift ideas are those self made gifts. Every year the three of us (Tom, Soeren and me) try and make it a point to take time and make homemade gifts for special friends and family members. What started out as a bit of fun has now turned into a beautiful tradition that we all look forward to. It is not only the speciality of giving homemade gifts, it is the cherished moments spent with my partner and son that mean the world to me.

So, every year we sit together and look at photos we took over the past year. Then we select 12 appropriate pictures and make wonderful calendars for the great-grandparents, grandparents, uncle and aunt. Here in Germany many book stores sell calendars that are pre-prepared and all we need to do is decorate them and paste a few photos on them. They come in a variety of colors and styles - something to suit everyone's taste. The family members get calendars with photos of Soeren, who takes special pride in decorating the borders with glitter, stars, colored stickers and drawings. This gift idea is the hit in our family.

A few of my friends have mentioned that they would love one or a few of my pictures. So, I thought of making a few calendars for them with a selection of these photos. Others will get their favorite photo blown up and framed.

If you too have a creative hobby, how about making something special for your family and friends yourself.
If your kids are a little older they can maybe draw or paint their artwork on canvas. Last year Tom secretly got Soeren to finger paint on a huge canvas for me. This is my most cherished gift and I have it hanging in the office.

Other great homemade gift ideas are those of the edible sort. Little ad-ons to the actual gifts. They look and taste nice, but also has a great side effect. It simply shows "I care about you!"

I like to make Truffles. Placed in elegant boxes, they make a luxurious and personal gift for not only family members but are perfect for your colleagues or boss.

Next week I'll share a few more gift ideas for kids books, tech gifts and other interesting gifts. Hope you'll tune in then!

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Menu For Hope III
One last thing before I call it a day for today.
From December 11 to December 22 I will be hosting a prize for the Menu For Hope III fundraiser. I would like to rally up all the Daily Tiffin readers to help raise money for this special cause by bidding on the surprise prize I will be offering during this period. Every penny you bid will be sent to the United Nations World Food Programme. In return you will be able to get your hands on a special prize. Many of us are taking part and you will find more details here.


This Post was written by MEETA from What's For Lunch, Honey?