Recipe of the Week - Roasted Spiced Roots

From our Facebook page: A savory side dish for winter root vegetables!
ROASTED SPICED ROOTS
Serves 8
5 medium parsnips
5 carrots
1 medium rutabaga
1 medium acorn squash
2 Oz (80ml) peanut oil
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
3 tsp lightly crushed coriander seeds
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
6 bay leaves
3 Tbs honey

Peel parsnips, quarter, remove woody part from middle (if they’re young parsnips, you don’t need to remove the center).

Peel carrots, swede, and squash. Cut into 1” pieces.

Pour 80 ml Peanut Oil into heavy pan (cast iron is good), place over moderate heat. Add vegetables and fry, until light gold at edges.

Add yellow mustard, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, bay leaves. Cook for 1 minute, drizzle with runny honey, place in center of oven at 425F for 40 - 45 minutes. Check at 30 minutes though, as all ovens vary.

Crispy Gingersnaps - Recipe of the Week

Printed from our Carlisle House Facebook page

The holidays are over but these are our favorite Holiday cookies!

 ¾ cup Crisco

1 cup sugar

¼ cup light or dark molasses

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½  tsp ground cloves

½ tsp ground ginger 

½ tsp salt

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

*Cream together shortening and sugar.  Add molasses and egg, and beat well.

*Add dry ingredients until well mixed in, cover the dough with cling wrap and chill until stiff.  (EARLIER:  Roll into logs and refrigerate so you can just cut even lengths and roll into balls.)  

*Form into one-inch balls, and roll each in granulated sugar. 

*Bake on a greased cookie sheet about two inches apart for 8 – 10 minutes or until golden.

 

OPT: Add 2T finely chopped crystallized ginger to dough

Carlisle House Recipe of the Week!

New from our Carlisle House:  Recipe of the Week!
We get so many comments about recipes we use, discuss with guests or receive from guests and are asked to share. The first recipe is used every year for our Christmas dinner and the "HOW" is always the topic of discussion with guests around the Christmas breakfast table as it cooks all day. We used lamb from the Dickinson College Farm for this one.
 
 Always Pink Leg Of Lamb

8-10 lb. leg of lamb, trimmed
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. rosemary (dried, but I've used fresh to taste)
2 tbsp. veg. oil
2 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper, or to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Mince garlic; add salt and mash to paste. Add rosemary, oil and vinegar. Rub all over meat. Sprinkle with pepper. Place on rack in roasting pan. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Reduce temperature to 175 (yes, that is correct). Continue roasting for 8-10 hours (temperature of meat should reach 140-160). If not ready at the end of 10 hours, increase oven temp to 325 and continue roasting until done, about 15 min.

This recipe has never failed me. I prefer leg of lamb to be on the medium side of medium rare and it always comes out the way I like it. You could cut it with a fork and it smells heavenly while cooking.

Happy New Year

 We wish all of you a very 

Happy New Year!

Start the year off with a FREE night! 

 Plan a 3 night stay in January and your 3rd night is on us!

CHOOSE YOUR ROOM

and put FREE NIGHT in the NOTES section.

The Ski's the Limit - Skiing around Carlisle

It has come to our attention that some people think that it is actually FUN to wax, shine, and then attach two pieces of wood to their feet, and then to stand at the top of an icy snowy slope and proceed downwards WITH NO BRAKES! 
 

Courtesy of Ventrilock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Disregarding the sanity or otherwise of this practice, here in Carlisle we are just 35 minutes from Ski Roundtop, and an hour from Ski Liberty, and we have all these fabulous restaurants within walking distance to sip a drink, to nibble on tapas, or to enjoy a comforting aprés-ski dinner!
 
Remember that apart from skiing, there is also snowboarding (apparently much the same, but with only one piece of wood!), and snow tubing, where at least you are sitting on something soft even if that also does not have any brakes!

 CHOOSE MY ROOM! 

John Denver in Concert New Years Eve

#carlislepa, #carlisletheatre   Well, not exactly but Chris Collins and the Boulder Canyon Band will be the packed-audience headliner for the Carlisle First Night celebration on Wednesday.  YOUTUBE  There is still time to book your room and attend this performance and all the other great events.  Elvis, the jazz of  Phyllis Chapell and Sciroa, Irish memories of the Celtic Martins and so many more!!

The venues are the historic buildings, churches and halls in the Carlisle Historic District so the backdrops are magical.  At a $10 admission fee, you can't beat it! ($15 on Dec 31) We can purchase your admission passes for you and have them waiting upon arrival.  And if you make it a 3 night stay, the 3rd night is absolutely FREE...on us!  See you HERE!

Dickinson College - USA Today's Best 10 Colleges in PA

Congratulations to President Roseman at the Dickinson College and all the staff and faculty!  WE know it is a fabulous institution but to be singled out as one of USA Today's 10 Best in PA is super.  Great Christmas present!
ARTICLE

PAINT NIGHT Fun Benefits the Carlisle YWCA - Nov 13

Location: 301 G Street, Carlisle, PA, 17013
Artist: Jennifer Hull
Date: Nov 13, 2014
Start Time: 6:30 PM

$50 per person

Join one of the latest rages!  PaintNite is coming to the Carlisle YWCA and all for a good cause.

Paint an original work of art while you enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres, then spend a relaxing night at the Carlisle House.

No experience needed and all supplies provided!  AND - one Christmas present done!

Register HERE !

Dickinson College - Fall Open House on November 8

 Considering colleges?  Visit one of the highest-rated National Liberal Arts Colleges.  Dickinson College proudly rates 37 on the US News & World Reports current standings of hundreds of schools. 

Register for their informational Fall Open House and stay at the Carlisle House, a Select Registry Inn and the favorite lodging choice of college families and alumni - 4 blocks from the campus!  Mingle with other visiting families for interesting conversation and a delicious breakfast.  Over 400 Trip Advisor reviews!

Walk to many eclectic international restaurants and discover why Carlisle is the culinary destination for South Central PA and the Carlisle House is the finest accommodation.

8 Colorful Reasons to Come to Carlisle in October

Pennsylvania and our Cumberland Valley are at high color!  Come trek our beautiful parks and forests to experience nature and changing seasons! 1. Little Buffalo State Park Just off State Route 34, North of New Bloomfield the Little Buffalo State Park surrounds the Little Buffalo Creek and is watched over by Buffalo Ridge. The area was occupied at one time or another by quite a few different tribes of American Indians and nations during the migration away from the European Settlers. Finally the Albany Purchase of 1754 (3 years after Carlisle was founded) acquired the State Park land from the Iroquois League of Six Nations.
2. Colonel Denning State Park The State Park was named after William Denning, who was a veteran of the American Revolution. He was never actually a colonel, rather he served his country as a sergeant from March 1778 to April 1780 in Nathaniel Irish's Company of Artillery Artificers in Benjamin Flower's Regiment, and is deserving of a place in history for his manufacturing of wrought iron cannons. Denning was stationed just outside of Carlisle, Pa., at Washingtonburg Forge, now Carlisle Barracks. which provided armaments for the Continental Army, including cannons. It is at this forge that William Denning made wrought iron cannons in a process of welding gads (strips) of wrought iron in successive layers to produce a cannon lighter and better able to resist failure during firing than cast iron cannons. Unfortunately none of his cannons are known to still exist. Our picture shows a wrought-iron reinforced cannon from a later date.
Pine Grove Furnace State Park Steeped in natural and historical features, the 696-acre Pine Grove Furnace State Park is in the area known as South Mountain at the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our guests enjoy all sorts of recreational opportunities, including the two mountain lakes, Laurel Lake and Fuller Lake, hiking the Appalachian  , biking the rail trail, visiting the Appalachian Trail Museum and imagining when the park was a charcoal-fired iron furnace community. The park is surrounded by Michaux State Forest, which provides opportunities for exploring extensive public lands around South Mountain.
4. Gifford Pinchot State Park Spring and fall are the times of the great bird migrations. Gifford Pinchot State Park is a rest stop for many migrating forest birds due to its location in an area of forest surrounded by many farm fields. Warblers, vireos and thrushes stop to rest and eat before flying on to their breeding or winter homes. Pinchot Lake and its shoreline wetlands are a beacon luring waterfowl by the thousands. Mergansers, geese, mallards, loons, teal and many other ducks can be seen swimming, diving and dabbling for vegetation and small fish.
5. Caledonia State Park Why would a State Park be named after the old Roman name for Scotland back in the 1st to 3rd centuries AD? Well, one of the most effective and powerful legislators of the Civil War era was one Thaddeus Stevens, an abolitionist, radical republican, who was born in Caledonia County in Vermont. That county in turn was named Caledonia because of the high number of Scots who settled there. Stevens was a lawyer and businessman with significant interests in the iron industry, and also served in the U.S. House of Representatives where he championed the passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution.
6. Fowlers Hollow State Park The 104-acre Fowlers Hollow State Park is in a narrow valley created by Fowler Hollow Run. The park is on the edge of Tuscarora State Forest at the intersection of several multi-use trails. The campground of the park is a good base for adventures into the huge tract of public land.
7.Big Spring State Forest and Tuscarora State Forest Tucked in the side of Conococheague Mountain, Big Spring State Forest Picnic Area is a quaint picnic and hiking area. A short loop trail leads to a partially completed railroad tunnel with historic interpretation at the trailhead. The park also provides access to the Iron Horse Trail for day and overnight hiking. The park takes its name from nearby Big Spring, whose waters form the scenic Shermans Creek. Big Spring State Forest Picnic Area also serves as a trailhead providing parking, restrooms and access to the extensive snowmobile trail system in the Tuscarora State Forest.
8. Kings Gap Environmental Education Center Kings Gap is our favorite place to go for a hike, or for one of the many programs held there. With over 20 miles of trails ranging from Easy through to "Rather You Than Me!", and from 0.3 miles to 6 miles this State Park provides something for everyone. The historic Cameron-Masland Mansion looks over the Cumberland Valley and a gorgeous panorama of green turning to gold at this time of year.