Easy Peasy Orange Squeezie Cranberry Relish

It's almost Thanksgiving, especially for my house. Because there are a few snow birds a couple generations up, we're celebrating early this year. That said, November is a busy month. There's NaNoWriMo, the reviews I am working on for We Do Write and Biblivoracious, holiday shopping, and by shopping I mean sewing, and finishing up winterizing the garden (oh, my poor exposed roses!) and keeping up with the kids' activities. Long story short, I decided I'm not devoting an entire day to food prep for early Thanksgiving, especially considering that we're still planning standard Thanksgiving with the other side of the family.  So, I'm bringing the Cranberry Sauce, well, really it's a yummy cold relish. Easy peasy, orange squeezie.

Orange Cranberry Relish:
You'll need:

1 8 oz bag cranberries, frozen or fresh. I prefer fresh
1 small orange or 2 clementines - if I use the small orange I zest it, then peel the orange and split into sections. If I use 2 clementines, I just cut them down into a few strips each, still in their peels.
2 T turbinado/ raw sugar
fresh mint for garnish

Put sugar, oranges, and cranberries in food processor. Puree until the consistency you prefer. Decant into a decorative serving dish, cover, and pop it in the fridge to keep cold until serving. I like to slice the mint for garnish and set on top. It looks nice and adds a pop of unexpected flavor.

Orange Cranberry Sauce:

You'll need the same ingredients

If you like the orangey cranberry goodness in sauce form, instead of just pureeing it all together, you can add the zest and juice from the oranges to the cranberries and sugar in a sauce pan and simmer for somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 minutes. The cranberries will lose their structural integrity and it will make a nice somewhat thick sauce. 

Good Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

Yep, that's a cookie jar half full of joy, otherwise known as old-fashioned cross-fork peanut butter cookies.  This is the way my grandma and I used to bake them, and I don't know about you, but I think things taste better when I bake them myself.  So, if you've got a hankering for a yummy old fashioned cookie, these might be for you, just don't serve them to anyone with peanut allergies, capiche?

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter - crunchy or creamy, per your preference
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl cream butter and sugars, then add peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Put dry ingredients on top, and mix them together before incorporating the dry ingredients into the wet ones.  You could have premixed them in another bowl, but I hate creating extra dishes to wash.  Mix all ingredients well and then pop the bowl into your refrigerator. No room in the fridge? Now's a great time to clean it out so you can make room.

While you're washing the dishes associated with cleaning out the fridge to make room for your peanut butter cookie dough, preheat oven to 375 degrees and make sure your pizza stone (I mean baking sheet, yeah, baking sheet... no, I mean pizza stone, because that's what I like my cookies baked on) is clean enough to bake cookies.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATION TIME- If you frequently host people with peanut allergies, always line your stone with parchment paper.

Okay, your stone is clean and ready to go, your oven is getting hot, your dough is getting cold, your dishes are getting clean, and by now you've fended off kids and or partners who want the noms now.  Clean off an area on your counter top and line it with paper towels to transfer the cookies onto when they come out of the oven and find your most sturdy spatula.

Oven's hot? Sweet. Pour about three inches of water into a cup and pull out a dinner fork, you know, the one with the longer tines. Put the fork in the water. Take the dough out of the oven and start balling up the dough. Place the balls (About 1 TBS in size, give or take) about 2" apart on baking stone.  With the wet fork press the criss-cross shape into the top of the cookies.  Redip the fork every few cookies to keep it from sticking.

Bake 10-11 minutes, then let sit out at least 3 minutes before carefully transferring to the paper towels via the thinnest, stiffest, spatula you can find, then ball up the rest of the dough and repeat.

Allow to cool completely before storing in your canister (yeah, like they're really going to make it to a cannister).

Yes, you can freeze these, no, I've never personally done so. Cookies don't last long in my household.

Happy eating!

Another year, another nom

Last year I made my Buffalo Chicken Dip to take to our friends' New Year's Eve party.  I haven't made it since, so I was quite surprised when I got a text from the same friend who hosted last year's party, yesterday, asking me to bring it again this weekend.  So yes, it really is that good.  I'm also planning on trying out a caramel brownie recipe as well. Wish me luck!

Blueberry Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Yield: 1 dozen


Streusel Topping:

1/3 cup turbinado sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 TBSP butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon



Muffin batter:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup fresh blueberries (if using frozen, please warm them to room temperature and remove excess moisture)


Optional:


You could add half a cup of chopped walnuts and it'd be delightful.



Preheat oven to 400 degrees


Line muffin pan with cupcake liners or butter muffin cups and dust with powdered sugar.

*All dry measurements are level measurements. I use the scoop and sweep method.*

In medium mixing bowl, mix struessel toppings and set aside.

In large bowl mix all muffin ingredients except berries until well mixed.
Gently stir in blueberries.

Spoon muffin batter into muffin pan. Fill each cup 2/3 full.
Crumble topping over batter.


Bake 18 to 22 min at 400 degrees. Check for doneness.

Note- this is a very sweet recipe. If you want something a little less decadent, I would be comfortable cutting the sugar nearly in half. It will still be delightful.

Rolled Garlic Pesto Cheese Bread

One of my very favorite things to bake has been featured over at Modern Rosies

Modern Rosies: Lunch Pail: Rolled Garlic Pesto Cheese Bread:

Go check it out, it is as fabulous as it sounds. Then spend some more time on the Modern Rosies site, because it's quite possibly he best DIY site out there.

Homemade Caramels Recipe.

Yummy Yummy Caramels

(For those of you who are looking for a recipe for Homemade Carmels, this is for you too.

I pronounce it Carmel as well, but apparently, there's another A in there. Who knew?)

Backstory- I went to the Apple Orchard recently and remembered how unbelievably delicious homemade caramels are, and how much I love them.  So, I decided to find a good and easy recipe for making them myself, because the successful accomplishment of somewhat difficult recipes makes me eel powerful.  Anything that requires me to keep track of temperature qualifies as somewhat difficult to me, even though it's actually quite easy, you just have to pay attention.


In my search I found a lot of recipes that seemed to fit the bill, and ultimately decided on the one over at Giverslog.  However, my dyslexia kicked in and I misread it, so ultimately, I ended up doing something different, and it turned out delightful, so I'm going to share that with you.


Yield: about 60, depending on how you slice them.
Time:  about 90 minutes prep and cook time. 4 hours to cool, extra time to cut and wrap.
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter cut into one oz chunks
1 cup light corn syrup
1 14-oz. can evaporated milk
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 
1 tsp. vanilla


Equipment:Working candy thermometer
Small Sauce Pan
heavy, 3-qt. sauce pan
heat resistant spatula or good mixing spoon
parchment paper
 9×9 pan (or 9x 13" pan if you want them thinner/easier to cut/ to have more) 
wax paper (optional)

Small bowl of cold water (optional)
pastry brush (you might not need this, but have it out anyway)


Steps from here to Yummo


1. Put about two inches of water into the small sauce pan and clip your candy thermometer to the side, being sure to not let it touch the bottom of the pan.  Boil the water.  Take note of what the thermometer reads when your water boils. If you're at/near sea level, it should read 212 F (100 C). If it doesn't, adjust your goal temperature by the same amount. As a matter of fact, write this down so you're not second guessing yourself later. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP


2. You're done with the small pan of water. Empty it and let it cool to be put away again. Remove your thermometer, dry it off, and clip it to the side of your 3-qt sauce pan, being sure not to let it touch the bottom of the pan.  


3. Line your 9x9 pan with parchment paper, being sure to fold it in the corners so it comes up the sides of the pan.


4. Melt butter over medium low heat in 3 qt sauce pan.


5. In the center of the melted butter, and taking care not to get any on the sides, pour brown sugar into center of melted butter, taking care not to get any on the sides of the pan as apparently sugar left clinging to the edge of the pan can make the whole batch crystalize. If there is some on the side, push it down with a damp pastry brush.  Stir  slowly  until butter and sugar are well combined, by which I mean, stir a lot.


6. Add evaporated milk and corn syrup. Mix, mix, mix.


7. Raise temperature to medium for a minute, then raise temperature slowly while mixing frequently, until mixture is boiling. Did I mention mixing? Do that, a lot. Do not raise temperature too quickly. By the time it's boiling, it should be pretty homogeneous, rather than a greasy separated mess. If it's a mess, you needed to be stirring more prior to this point. 


8. Reduce heat to medium again, maintaining a good steady boiling action.  Stir. Seriously, keep stirring this puppy. Stop stirring and it might get greasy and distasteful. Seriously, keep it moving, keep it homogeneous.


9. Watch the thermometer. I find that it gains heat slowly at first, then very rapidly at the end, so pay attention.  To make caramels, you're aiming for about 244 F- which is early in the firm ball stage.   If you don't trust your thermometer (like I don't trust mine) grab that bowl of cold water and drop a little of the hot mixture into it.  The water will rapidly cool it and if you pull it out of the water and it squishes into a somewhat firm ball, that's what you're aiming for.


10. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in thoroughly.


11. Pour into prepared/lined pan.

(I was lazy about the whole folding bit. Seriously, cleaner edges are your friend)

12. Allow to cool. All the way. This takes painfully long.  Maybe go to the gym or something, it takes hours.


13. Remove from pan by lifting it out via the parchment paper.  Slice into candies of your preferred size. I like to use good sharp pizza cutter for this.

14. Wrap those candies in wax paper.  You know, except the ones you gobble up while slicing and wrapping.




Note- you can take the mixture off at earlier stages for different purposes.  If you take it off during the thread stage, it'd make a nice dip. It'd be good for dipping apples and other treats in during the soft ball stage.

Handy Candy Temperature Chart

(according to my Pyrex candy thermometer)

Syrup:.....................230 - 235

Fudge/Soft Ball:....... 236-240

Firm Ball:................. 240-250

Hard Ball: ................250-266

Soft Crack:.............. 270-290

Hard Crack:............ 300 - 310

Buffy the Chicken Dipper

For New Year's Eve, we were invited to a friend's house for the first time in our married life, so we took the offer.  Of course, I don't believe in going to a gathering without bringing something, so what am I bringing? Some crusty and thinly sliced bread and Buffy, the Chicken Dipper. Well, Buffalo Chicken dip.

Buffy, the Chicken Dipper

1 package cream cheese

1/2 cup Blue Cheese Dressing

1/2 cup Sour Cream - softened

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, by weight.

1/4 cup hot sauce (such as Tobasco or Frank's)

1 can chicken in water. (you could just grill up some chicken breast and pull it apart)

Pull apart the chicken and mix everything up in a 9" square or round baking dish. 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit approximately 30 minutes, until bubbly.

Stir before serving, best served hot with tortilla chips, crusty bread, bagel chips, or celery. 

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Pink Saturday: Holiday Recipe

In lieu of your regular Pink Saturday post, I'm linking you to my favorite pink seasonal dessert's recipe, and giving you a not-so-pink one, but yummy nonetheless. It's pretty quick and painless.

Pumpkin Cookies

1 tub or tube of premade sugar cookie dough*.
Pumpkin Butter

Roll dough into a log, refrigerate for at least three hours.  Slice dough into quarter inch disks, place on cookie sheet. Bake as per instructions. While still hot, spread a very thin layer of pumpkin butter on top.

Simplicity, but a little more fun than a plain old boring cookie straight from the oven and plain.

You CAN spread pumpkin butter on top before baking, which I prefer, but you have to transfer pumpkin butter to a separate dish before spreading so as to avoid raw cookie dough germs from contaminating the pumpkin butter.



* I like to get this from the refrigerated section in one of our local grocery store where they sell things they make in their bakery to be baked at home. You're more than welcome to make your own sugar cookie dough.

For more recipes, check out Beverly's Pink Saturday.

Last Minute Dessert.

You bought the canned pumpkin, but you forgot to make the pie.  You've never made a pie before. You just killed the crust and the store is out. You know, because you texted your spouse and s/he's braving the madness only to find no pre-made pies and no pie shells left.
Calm down. Stop panicking.  This is not a catastrophe.

Take a white/yellow/vanilla or heck, even a chocolate cake mix, add your pumpkin. Mix it up really smooth.
Add some pumpkin pie spices if you want or skip them. No eggs, no oils, no milk, no water, just the mix and the pumpkin.
Now put that in your baking dish of choice. Bake it however long you'd bake the cake.
If it's still too soft in the middle, bake it a little longer, but remember, there's no egg or anything in it, so if it's mushy, who cares? It's still yummo, especially with whipped cream on top.

Crisis averted.

Almost Winter Pie

Like I said before, not everyone is a fan of teh Pumpkinz.  

They need options. 

Almost Winter Pie

1 package Oreo cookies or store brand knock off.

1 container of Peppermint ice cream.

1 container fudge topping 

Whipped cream

Set ice cream out on counter.

Crush Oreo cookies into tiny little crumbles. I like to do this by putting them in a baggie and beating it with a wooden spoon.

Press Oreo crumbs firmly into the sides and bottom of a pie plate.

Pour and spread fudge topping over the firmly pressed crust to desired thickness.  

Scoop and press peppermint ice cream into pie crust.

Freeze at least 5 hours.  

Top with whipped cream and serve cold, preferably with hot cocoa. 

Pumpkin Haters Anonymous' Apple Crisp

Not everyone wants pumpkin pie. I get that. Spouse detests pumpkin and I can't get JabberWalky to do more than a bite or two of anything pumpkin, poor kid. If you have some pumpkin haters in your household, maybe an easy apple crisp is more their speed.

Pumpkin Haters Anonymous' Apple Crisp 

1/2 cup oats,
1/2 cup brown sugar,
1/4 cup flour 1/2 tsp cinnamon,
dash of salt,
1/4 cup butter,
2 1/2 lbs chopped apples*

Prepare apples in the bottom of an 8"x8" pan, combine other ingredients in a bowl then fork mixture on top of apples.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes.

*I don't peel my apples. I just core and chop.  If your apples are very mushy, they make mushy crisp. If they're too sweet, well, ew. A nice crisp tart apple makes a better crisp.

I think the next time I make this I'll go ahead and sprinkle on some toffee as well. I like toffee.

Pumpkin Cheese Pie

Sometimes plain old pumpkin pie is just a little plain, so if you're in the mood to try something a little outside the box, this isn't a bad place to start.

Pumpkin Cheese Pie

(A.K.A. In Search of a Better Name Pie*)

2 8oz packages of cream cheese,

 4 eggs, 

1 cup sugar, 

1 16oz can pumpkin, 

2 packages instant vanilla pudding, 

3/4 cup milk, 

a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, 

2 cups Cool Whip,

 2 graham cracker crusts.

Cream the cream cheese sugar and eggs together.  Pour into pie crusts, bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until puffy in center.  Cool.  Combine pudding mix and milk, then add pumpkin and spices.  fold in 1 cup Cool Whip and spread on top of cheese layer.  Cover with remaining Cool Whip and chill.  

Yes, I know, Cool Whip isn't particularly good for you, nor is anything pre-canned or instant, but it's pie. It's not supposed to be good for you.

*I'm thinking of calling it "Thankful Ogre Pie" from now on, because it's in layers, and ogres have layers...

Abomination Pie

We have one week left until Thanksgiving, so I'm sharing some of my favorite recipes.
I'm torn on this because I don't know if I'll be making it this year.  I need to find a new source for my canned pumpkin, or make my own pumpkiny goodness out of a pie pumpkin, but that takes all the easy peasy out of this recipe.  You see, apparently Libby's, the ready to go canned pumpkin at my grocery store is part of my NoNestle boycott.  Sad, no?
So I'm looking for options.  But nonetheless, here's what my brother has lovingly termed "Abomination Pie," which he says with an eager and full mouth.

Abomination Pie  

Crust:
1 box Yellow cake mix(-1 cup which is reserved for topping)
 1 egg
1/2 cup melted butter.

Mix & press into a 9"x 13" cake pan.

Filling:
 1 large can of pumpkin   (This usually involves eggs and some spices.)

Follow directions on the can to make filling. Pour onto crust.

Topping:
1 cup Yellow cake mix,
1/4 cup turbinado or raw sugar
1/4 c soft butter
1 tsp cinnamon.
OPTIONAL- 3 Tbsp crushed toffee bits or nuts

Mix together and sprinkle on top.

Bake 45 minutes at 350.  Serve with your whipped cream of choice.

Carnival

When I was in high school, my German teacher, Frau K., made a huge deal about the Carnival season, which starts on 11/11 (today) and culminates on Shrove Tuesday.
Her interpretation, and therefore my interpretation of said dates are not up for debate at the moment. I don't care if they're wrong, I just love the idea that today kicks off the next few months of living it up and enjoying yourself.
So, I would like to propose, for you, that tonight we all set the table festively, and do something fun, even though  it's a school night.
Daughter and I will be going out for ice cream sundaes after rehearsal tonight, even if it puts us home ridiculously late, because the Carnival season is all about living now. So by golly, we're going to live now.

So party it up. Make those Shirley Temples to go with dinner.  Serve chicken strips AND lasagna because everyone has their own favorite. Have dessert, even though it's just a Thursday.  DVR Gray's Anatomy and instead do some wild and wacky karaoke with the fam.  Wear your glitzy jewelry that you have absolutely nowhere to wear without feeling ridiculous.  Hula-hoop in the living room and don't be afraid to put that tutu on.

Do it.  Make tonight a Carnival night. Make it special.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeasy decadent dessert of special occasion only goodness-

One half of a package of premade chocolate chip cookie dough (not Nestle' though, because we're boycotting them)
Favorite icecream
Whipped cream
Hot fudge or chocolate sauce topping
Caramel topping
sprinkles
A spoon for each family member.

Preheat oven per cookie dough instructions
Take one pie tin or glass pie plate (glass will look nicest) take half the package of pre-made cookie dough and mush it into the pie plate.
Pop this in the oven for about twice as long as the instructions, you know, because it's one huge cookie.

Remove from oven, quickly scoop icecream onto giant cookie (still in pan) top with whipped cream, drizzle with sauces and toppings.

Serve by setting on table and encouraging everyone to just dig in.  If you're afraid of germs or can't imagine your littlest one not burning his/herself on the hot pie plate, you can divvy it up, but it's so much more fun to share.

Optional- toss some nuts or toffee bits on it too.
Optional and keep a fire extinguisher handy- got a sparkler to put in the top? That might rock.


Just don't party quite til you pass out.

Try It Tuesday: Pudding

I know, I know, you can't have your pudding if you don't eat your meat, but... I've got a sick kidlet who wants pudding.  So, being away from home and without anything nice and "instant" I found a pudding recipe and modified it a touch.  So I'm going to go make pudding, and I thought you'd like to try it along with me.

2 cups milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar (turbinado in my case)
3 TBS cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Vanilla extract (be sure to capitalize your Vanilla, as it is sacred)
1 TBS butter

Mix your sugar, corn starch and salt in the bottom of a sauce pan.

Slowly decant the milk into the pan while stirring constantly until the dry mixture is dissolved evenly into the milk. Turn on your burner and heat on medium until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, do NOT boil.

Remove from heat and stir in Vanilla and butter.

Pour into serving dishes and put them in the fridge.  Let them chillax a bit before serving.

So you go try it with me, and I'll try it, and then tell me how you might change it up and how it turned out.  Go forth, cook. Be joyous, and I've heard you can do it with non-milky milks, but I don't know if it works so well with no-milk-butters.

You're eating what?

This morning I awoke to a rant.

@Sheepmama, a delightful woman whom I happily follow on twitter made the mistake of shopping casually and not reading the full ingredient list on a breakfast cereal purporting to be healthy. Consequently, when she noticed the list of ingredients she couldn't pronounce, along with the dreaded "High Fructose Corn Syrup," she got a little irritated, and I can't blame her.

Food marketers get away with far too many misleading statements.

She made a few great points about claiming that things are "all natural" and the notion that just because it's natural, it's good.

I have to agree with her. Everything was made from something found in nature. But there comes a point in the chemical processing when one has to step back and say "it ain't natural no more." Because it isn't. Saying "But we used corn to make it," does not mean that it is any less processed or unnatural than plastics, bleaches, solvents, or dioxins. It just means that the base material is one with which people are generally familiar.

Furthermore, corn isn't precisely the most natural thing out there. When one takes into consideration the pesticides frequently used in it's growth as well as the genetic engineering of the plant, it is very hard to argue that corn is itself a natural commodity these days.

In closing, she left us with this delicious sounding recipe for a crock pot cereal. Yum.

3 cups water, 2 1/2 cups quality apple juice, 1/2 cup barley, 1/2 cup steel cut oats, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup dried apricots,chop (here)

1/4 cup quinoa, 1/4 cup wheat berries, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 cup honey (here)

Put everything except the honey in the rockppt overnight. If desired ad l&d the honey in the morning. Top w toasted sliced almonds. Enjoy! (here)

Somehow I like an ingredient list I can understand.

Do you have any simple alternatives for a healthy/ier breakfast?

Hungry Hungry Hippos

No mushes for Snapdragon. No mushes, he says. 10 month old babies don't eat mushes, silly mommy, and certainly not 10.75 month old babies.

He likes carrots, and green beans, Cheerios and cheese. He likes spears of zucchini and bits of banana, but what else should he be eating?

He's my hungry hungry hippo, but he needs some variety in his diet! What finger foods are you giving your kidlets?