Gran’s Cranberry Sauce…not jellied.
A hand-cranked meat grinder works better than a blender, but either will do. (Blender gets things too ‘same’ and too fine.) Back off and use blender very slightly. You want chunks, not a puree.
2 packets cranberries. Discard green ones.
2-3 large sweet oranges
1 pkg pecan pieces.
Sugar if needed: taste as you go, but oranges should do it.
Grind berries, oranges, pecans, mix, chill.
If you wanted it gelled, cherry Jell-o might do it. But it’s better without. Us kids used to ask for this stuff as a before-dinner bribe and then again as post-dinner dessert, even with the lure of pies on the table.
This was a big hit for me last year. As soon as cranberries hit the stores this year I made another one. http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/cranberry_meringue_pie.html
I found this in a Market Day catalog selling Goldfish Grahams. You could use gingersnaps, graham crackers, etc. for dipping. If your store sells it, Cool Whip makes a seasonal Cinnamon version, which I have also used for this. Consider Pumpkin Pie Spice rather than the three spices listed. Go by taste.
Pumpkin Dip
3oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
dash of cloves
1 8 oz tub Cool Whip type frozen toping plain
Cream the powdered sugar and cream cheese together.
Stir in the pumpkin and spices.
Fold in the Cool Whip.
Makes approx. 2.5 cups (per the recipe)
I do a cheesecake that is as dense as New York style, although I’ve made an effort to cut down on the fat:
6 eggs, beaten
1 c. plain or lemon nonfat yogurt
2 boxes nonfat cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1 Tb vanilla
1 9″ graham cracker pie crust, either storebought or homemade
Blend the cream cheese with the yogurt until thoroughly mixed, then cream in the sugar, then eggs and last the vanilla. Pour into crust and bake at 350 until lightly browned on top, usually about 45 minutes. Pull out and allow to cool and set before serving. You might be able to get away with using a granulated sugar substitute, although I’ve never tried it. Hmmm — I might have decided what I will make for dessert for Thanksgiving; at least I know DH will like it.
*Forgot to add, those are 8 ounce standard size boxes of cream cheese.
I think a food processor might work a lot better than a blender.
Evil Mad Scientist Labs had a recipe for cranberry chutney, which sounds interesting:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2011/indian-style-cranberry-chutney/
I am the only one in my family who remembers how to make this German dish; I asked my Aunt for the recipe years ago before she died. We always used to have it at out Christmas Eve dinners, but since our family has dispersed and doesn’t get together for Christmas any more, I want to get it out there so that it will not disappear forever.
Herring Salad
1 can small whole beets
1 boiled egg
1 tart apple, peeled
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 jar pickled herring in wine sauce (reserve the liquid and onions as well)
3 medium boiled potatoes, peeled
1/2 c. mayonnaise
Dice all solid ingredients into 1/2″ or smaller cubes and mix together in a large bowl. The herring will often have onion slices as well; chop up a couple of tablespoons of them and add to the mix. After blending, add the mayonnaise and mix again. It should have the consistency of potato salad; add a little of the liquid from the herring, if it appears dry. The beets will stain the entire thing a festive pink, which will deepen over time to magenta.
This seems to be one of those traditional middle-of-Germany winter dishes that gets made when you need to do something different with boiled root vegetables and preserved fish.
That sounds both German and Scandinavian. I don’t think I’ve ever had pickled herring, so I’m having difficulty imagining the taste.
The beets: Are those pickled beets or non-pickled? — Very odd, I used to use pickled beets fairly often, but somehow got out of the habit, if it was ever a habit.
Should it be served cool (chilled) or warm (heated) ? — I ask since German potato salad is usually served warm, while American potato salad is usually served chilled. — Obviously, the Herring Salad gets refrigerated, as would potato salad.
Huh, our ancestors, all of them, must’ve had a high tolerance and usage for salt, since it was so common as a preservative.
I’m intrigued, but don’t know when I’ll fix this. Better copy it down now, before I forget.
It’s definitely an acquired taste. The beets are just boring canned beets. Aunt A used to insist on the small whole ones; she said they tasted better. German potato salad uses lots of vinegar and celery seed (and bacon!), so this is a distant relative. It can be eaten immediately, but the flavors will blend better over the next few days in the fridge.
I’ll be making my pumpkin cheesecake
12 oz, cream cheese at room temp.
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
cinnamon; five spice powder; vanilla to taste (be careful not to use too much)
15 oz, pumpkin or squash ( I use my own roasted buttercup squash, beaten until smooth)
1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)
Combine cheese and sugar; beat until very light
Add eggs, one at a time
Alternate adding flour and squash, beat until smooth after each addition.
For a crust I use graham cracker or one made from biscotti. Sometimes I mix almond meal, brown sugar, melted butter and a little flour.
Press into the pan….last year I did it in a small pumpkin shell.
Pour mix into pan or shell; drag maple syrup through mix after it’s in the pan.
Wrap the base of the pan or pumpkin in foil place in preheated 325 F in hot water bath. Bake about one hour until center is firm.
Cool in oven for one hour. Remove from over and water bath and cool on rack; then refrigerate overnight.
I have been making this as several smaller cakes, but the mix freezes very well so sometimes I portion it out so I can bake it when I want.
To be really decadent serve with a little whipped cream and caramel pecan sauce.
This is a rich and filling dessert. I cut a six inch cake into eight slices and it’s plenty.
That actually sounds tangy-salty-yummy.
Because I use my own roasted buttercup squash, which tends to be quite sweet, I adjust the amount of brown sugar to taste, Roasting gives the squash a deeper flavor. Hey, at least I don’t say you have to grow your own squash!
I thought I’d bought most of my Thanksgiving ingredients, then got home and realized I hadn’t bought bread for the stuffing. But I’ll be going again before the holiday rush, so I should be fine.
Probably a store-bought rotisserie chicken for the main course, because, well, I’m lazy this year. 🙂 Sweet potatoes or yams, I can never keep straight which is which. My grandmother’s stuffing recipe, a half batch this time. Broccoli slaw for another vegetable dish. Cranberry sauce, naturally. Either a pumpkin pie or a mince pie, mmmm. I need to make sure I have ingredients for the wassail recipe.
But a quiet Thanksgiving again this year. I think I’ll welcome that, though, this time. Likely quiet at Christmas too.
It’s very possible I’ll freeze leftovers to use through the holidays, and fix baked / broiled fish, to use what’s in the freezer.
I’ve never fixed gingerbread before, bread or cookies, and I’m likely to hunt up a recipe. I’d welcome one.
(Those pumpkin recipes look really good!)
We don’t have yams in the U.S., despite what labels may say. They’re all sweet potatoes. Some folks call them yams, but they’re just wrong 😉
(Google will tell you what _real_ yams are)
Actually, we do — they’re SE Asia imports 😀
Gran’s stuffing mix: cornbread, regular bread toasted, walnuts, diced; sage, cumin, thyme, salt, pepper, and an egg. She’d stuff the bird, but most of the stuffing just went into a dish that baked along with it, along with some of the bastings from the bird. Gran would also bake the giblets right along with the turkey, but not in it.
When everything was done, remnant of bastings went into a pan in which gran put the diced giblets, to heat up; once it boiled, in went cornstarch dissolved in water, and cooked til thickened. Into the hot gravy—more diced walnuts.
Gravy went on turkey and on dressing and on mashed potatoes. We had sweet potatoes as well, baked, then quartered, smothered in butter and brown sugar and cooked slowly until candied down, then baked with a marshmallow topping which had to toast and brown. And the cranberry sauce above. And green beans, as well, with a little bacon grease—what can I say? We were a southern family. We grew up on bacon grease. There were homemade rolls, cloverleaf sort. Or monkey bread, which is just a crazy jumbled loaf that’s been put in like a large sausage, coated in butter, encouraged to form a loaf in a pan and rise again as it bakes—it will break wherever it was buttered. Then pecan pie and mince pie with whipped cream (real), and pumpkin pie.
Then we would lie about in pain for hours, pretending to watch football.
Gingerbread Cookies
3 cp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2+1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cp butter, soft
1/2 cp light brown sugar,packed
1 egg
1/2 cp light molasses
Use Butter Icing or Royal Icing
1. At med speed, beat butter, sugar & egg until light & fluffy.
2. At low speed, beat in molasses until smooth.
3. Beat in spices & soda, then gradually add flour, beating until smooth & well combined.
4. Divide into 2 disks, wrap each in waxed paper. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hrs).
5. On well-floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll each disk to 1/4″ thick. Flip once while rolling. Cut out cookies, shaking cutters to loosen. Onto well-greased sheets or parchment, 1+1/2″ apart. Re-roll trimmings & cut.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 ÌŠ.
Tips: Double recipe for gingerbread house. Flour cutters. Cut cookies as close as can; re-rolled cookies are tougher. Can use crushed candies to make glass cut-outs. Freeze rolling pin.
In the previous post, a few people mentioned gluten/wheat free desserts. I’m looking for wheat, nut and soy free recipes. Suggestions for good websites or recipes? oh, no barley either, but dairy is okay. Don’t want to poison the person in question… O_o
I got an uncooked cranberry-orange relish recipe off the Ocean Spray bag a bunch of years ago: 1 12-oz bag berries, 1 large navel orange, ½ cup sugar. I used to fight to get it all to chop without puréeing in the blender, even divided in four batches. It works WAY BETTER in a food processor.
The addition of pecans is intriguing. You say one package — how big? (I get my pecans in 2-pound sacks at Costco )
What do I do with all those pecans? I just discovered nut butter from the Cuisinart! Honey-almond-pecan is my favorite so far. Dump 2 cups of pecans and 1 cup of almonds in the food processor. Let it run, (noisily), 8-10 or even 12 minutes. Periodically stop it , disassemble the lid, anÄ‘ scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. When it goes gooey add in a spoonful of honey. Makes about a cup and a half. You might want to refrigerate it against rancidity, but in my house it doesn’t last long enough 🙂
Also turn three cups pecans into butter, then add a cup of chocolate chips and keep processing till it’s a smooth brown goo. You’ll never buy Nutella again.
Or for the masochists, pecan pie. You will lose every filling in your head.
We often cook apples – like an apple crisp or pie, but with no topping or crust. Unfortunately, I tend not to measure, but will be making some this weekend, so will gladly post an update on quantities, if you want.
Peel, core, and slice apples into a greased (or sprayed) baking dish (microwave-safe will save time; see below). I try to use multiple varieties for the differences in flavor and texture. I’m fond of quince, so sometimes will use a mixture of apples and quince.
Combine with some raisins and orange or lemon rind. You can use dried or fresh cranberries instead.
Sprinkle very generously with cinnamon. I also use allspice, ginger, mace/nutmeg, and a little pepper, depending on my mood and the preferences of our guests. Ginger and pepper can be a bit too strong for some.
Add sufficient liquid to come up about 1/2 or 1 inch from the bottom (more if the pan is very deep, less if it’s shallow). I always add some lemon juice. The rest can be apple cider or water. If you plan to cook the dish completely in the microwave, you won’t need as much liquid, though.
If you have not used apple cider, I’ll add a little agave nectar (or honey or sugar).
Stir to combine all the ingredients.
You can add a little oil or butter if you want. Doing so will make it richer, of course, but I think it tastes just fine without.
You can cook the dish completely in the microwave (a mixture of medium and high power), or cook it partially in the microwave and finish it in an oven at 325 – 375 degrees, or cook it completely in the oven. If you cook it in an oven, stir the fruit occasionally, so that the top doesn’t over cook, and add more liquid if needed. You could also cover it with foil.
Cook until the fruit is the consistency you like – some prefer mushier and some prefer firmer texture.
Serve hot, warm, room-temperature, or even cold. We prefer it warm to hot.
It’s tasty as is, but a topping of whipped cream, ice cream, or vanilla or hard sauce is just fine.
You can also combine rolled oats, butter or oil, spices, and sweetener (here I’d use brown sugar) to make a streusel topping and sprinkle that over the top before you place the dish into the oven. Bake it long enough for the topping to become lightly browned and crunchy. If you use the topping, add it after you’ve partially cooked the apples in the microwave (if you choose to do so). It does best in the oven, not the microwave.
Sorry that the instructions are so vague. Again, I’ll prepare a 9 x 9 or 9 x 13 dish this weekend, so will have “real” measurements for you, if you’d like.
If you want that cranberry relish to jell, all you need to do is cook it gently–cranberries have all the pectin they need already.
My family’s favorite cranberry relish is very much like your recipe, CJ, but we also add a Granny Smith apple, peeled/cored and chopped to medium size (gold raisins are a nice add as well). As others have already said, a food processor is just the ticket to get the texture just right.
Skip the food processor if you want it to jell–chop all but the cranberries to size as desired, then cook gently over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. When the berry skins pop you are done; stir once more and chill.
It helps to have the knack. I can never make it set, nor can my daughters. My spousal unit and son seem to have no problem…
Curried Butternut Squash
1 butternut squash
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Frontier Indian Curry Powder
2 Tbs olive oil or melted butter
Skin squash and cut into 3/4″ cubes. Toss in a heavy baking pan with other ingredients. Stir well. Bake at 425F for 45 min, stirring every 15 minutes. You want the insides like pudding and the outsides lightly browned.
On the curry powder front, you can use a garam masala, or something like this:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tandoori-Spice-Blend-363234
Spice Islands curry powder would work, but isn’t the best.
That sounds purposeful. If you have any leftovers, I’d think they could easily be turned into squash soup.
Pea Salad
Green peas (My SIL insists on canned Le Sieur petit pois, I like to thaw frozen ones and use them uncooked)
Cubed cheese, about a quarter the amount of peas (Cheddar is a favorite, but almost any favorite will do)
Mayonnaise, just enough to coat the other two
Salt and pepper to taste.
Put it all in a bowl and stir. Keep it in the fridge.
A quick substitute is to simply use peas and chunky bleu cheese dressing.
My recipe for pea salad adds a couple of stems of chopped celery and a dash or two of celery seed, and a small diced tomato, plus one or two diced hard boiled eggs.
The ratio of pecans to oranges to cranberries in that sauce: I’d use two ordinary packets (Safeway) of cranberries, to a couple of softball-sized good oranges and two fistfuls of pecans. All gran’s recipes tended to rely on fistfuls: measuring cups were a late invention.
I’d second the idea to boil the cranberries and sugar a few minutes, until the berries pop, so they gel. The recipe for whole berry sauce is usually on the back of the Ocean Spray bags, or a cranberry-orange relish. I’d think with the oranges and nuts, that should still gel fine, though lightly. It’ll need about 20 min. to cool and gel a bit.
From Cook’s Illustrated, this was my favorite cranberry sauce:
Ingredients
3/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 (12-ounce) bag cranberries, picked through
2 medium firm, ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
Instructions
Bring water, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and salt to boil in medium nonreactive saucepan over high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Stir in cranberries and pears; return to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until saucy, slightly thickened, and about two-thirds of berries have popped open, about 5 minutes. Transfer to nonreactive bowl, cool to room temperature, and serve. (Can be covered and refrigerated up to 7 days; let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.)
However, this year I’m going to try:
Cranberry Chutney
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest plus 1/4 cup juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
12 ounces (3 cups) frozen cranberries, thawed
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
1. Combine oil, shallot, garlic, ginger, orange zest, salt, and pepper flakes in medium bowl. Microwave, uncovered, until shallot has softened, about 1 minute.
2. Stir cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and vinegar into shallot mixture. Microwave until cranberries have softened and liquid is thick and syrupy, about 8 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until chilled or up to 3 days. Serve.
Also on the menu this year:
Smashed Potatoes with Bacon and Parsley
White potatoes can be used instead of Red Bliss, but their skins lack the rosy color of Red Bliss skins. Try to get potatoes of equal size; if that’s not possible, test the larger potatoes for doneness. If only larger potatoes are available, increase the cooking time by about 10 minutes. Check for doneness with a paring knife.
Ingredients
6 slices bacon, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise in 1/4-inch pieces
2 pounds Red Bliss potatoes (about 2 inches in diameter)
Table salt
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon bacon fat
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and warm
1/2 cup cream cheese (4 ounces) at room temperature
Ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
1. Fry bacon in medium skillet over medium heat until crisp and browned, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate; reserve 1 tablespoon bacon fat.
2. Place potatoes in large saucepan and cover with 1 inch cold water; add 1 teaspoon salt and bay leaf. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently until paring knife can be inserted into potatoes with no resistance, 35 to 45 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain potatoes. Return potatoes to pot, discard bay, and allow potatoes to stand in pot, uncovered, until surfaces are dry, about 5 minutes.
3. While potatoes dry, whisk melted butter, reserved bacon fat, and softened cream cheese in medium bowl until smooth and fully incorporated. Add 1/4 cup of reserved cooking water, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, parsley, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Using rubber spatula or back of wooden spoon, smash potatoes just enough to break skins. Fold in butter/cream cheese mixture until most of liquid has been absorbed and chunks of potatoes remain. Add more cooking water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed, until potatoes are slightly looser than desired (potatoes will thicken slightly with standing). Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper; sprinkle individual servings with portion of fried bacon and serve immediately.