Cranberry Apple Sauce

I have never been a cranberry sauce fan. That gelatinous stuff that comes out of the can has never looked appealing. But this...this was really good. I know it's well past Thanksgiving, and this is technically a Thanksgiving recipe, but it was so tasty I have to write it down here. I'm thinking of using it again at Christmas.

Cranberry Apple Sauce

1 cup apple cider (I used regular apple juice)
1/2 cup sugar
1 Braeburn or Gala apple, peeled and grated (I used Gala)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
1 12 oz. bag fresh or frozen cranberries (I used fresh)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
salt to taste

Boil cider, sugar, apple, cinnamon, and cloves in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add cranberries and simmer 10-12 minutes, or until berries burst and sauce thickens. (I had to constantly "pop" the cranberries as they were cooking. It took about 15 minutes for it to thicken) Stir in vinegar, season with salt, and chill at least 2 hours before serving.

Can be made up to 2 days ahead.

What Santa's Workshop looks like in these parts...

So, my addition to Arlene's fab blog this evening is not healthy. No way to sneak veggies into this recipe, no wheat germ mixed in. Pure unhealth.

And it is on the brain tonight because every year, I make huge quantities of this to put into gift bags for my husband's coworkers.

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

1 bag white choc. morsels
1 cup Rice Krispees
3 candy canes

1. Put candy canes in plastic bag and crush with cooking mallet, rolling pin, or hammer.
2. Melt choc. (50% power)
3. Stir in Krispees.

Spoon choc/Krispees onto wax paper (on tray) and spread out with large spoon. Pizza trays work well. Add crushed candy after this is spread out- sprinkle around and mash in. Chill ~half an hour. Break into brittle/bark pieces.

Easy & fun!

Jen McCarthy

Kabocha Squash Soup

This recipe is actually from my friend, Shauna's, so I can't take the credit. She helped me make it today. It was so easy and so tasty. (It helps to have a good squash.)

You could make this with a different type of squash, or a pumpkin. I got a Kabocha squash in my farm box three weeks ago and used that. (Yes! 3 weeks ago! Gotta love squash!)

I was very excited when I realized this type of squash is what I used to eat often when I lived in Australia. There is it just called a pumpkin, or a Japanese pumpkin. All these years I've been searching for it here in the states and all this time it was called something else. (Terribly common, really). It is tasty just roasted with a bit of butter.

So, here's the simple soup recipe:

1 Kabocha Squash, cut in half, seeds removed
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4-5 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
cream to add rich flavor

1. Roast squash in a baking pan or jelly roll sheet, cut side down in a bit of water. (You want the water to not evaporate during roasting, so keep adding as necessary.) Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

2. In soup pot, saute onions and garlic in small amount of oil or butter until translucent, about 10 minutes.

3. Scoop roasted squash out of it's skin and add to onion and garlic. Cover with broth and bring to a gentle boil.

4. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

5. Puree soup using food processor, blender or hand blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Can add a touch of cream.

Serve hot. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Huli Huli BBQ Chicken

Now that it isn't really BBQ season anymore, I'm posting one of my favorites from the summer. I was originally drawn to this recipe because of it's name: Huli Huli is Hawaiian for something. Possibly Tasty Tasty. Really...it's that good.

I made a coconut-lime rice to go with this chicken dish, but I didn't find it fabulous enough to pass on. This recipe comes from Cuisine at Home, which happens to be my favorite recipe magazine that I subscribe to.

The original recipe calls for drumsticks, but I don't really like drumsticks, so I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead. The recipe I'm posting is actually double the original.

Whisk together:
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 TBS ketchup
4 TBS dark soy sauce
2 TBS garlic, minced
2 TBS fresh ginger, minced
2 TBS vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Marinate; Grill:
6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Whisk all ingredients (except chicken) together in a bowl.

Marinate chicken in half the pineapple juice mixture in a large resealable baggie for at least 1 hour, refrigerated. Reduce remaining mixture in a saucepan over medium-high heat until thickened, 5 minutes; set aside for basting.

BBQ chicken on medium-high grill. Baste with reserve glaze while cooking, or save glaze and pour it over your chicken when it's served.

Corn and Pepper Salsa...or something like that...

I haven't made much lately that I feel is worthy of posting, which is why I haven't posted in a while. Sure, sure...I've tried new things. Just last night I made this risotto recipe and this roasted eggplant and tomato stacks recipe, both of which I served with a salmon fillet that I baked in foil for 25 minutes, but neither were super fabulous, especially if you already have a risotto recipe you like (I had never made risotto until last night) or a eggplant dish that you prefer (like Eggplant Parmesan...much tastier when the eggplant is fried!).

But I'm totally losing you now. Let me get back on track.

I did make something a few weeks ago that I feel is worthy of posting. I got it off my farm box newsletter, and as with every recipe, I adapted it for what I had had what I liked. I served it with salmon (again, oven baked in foil) and it was a great combination. The original recipe is more of a pepper salad with a little bit of corn. I made the peppers and corn equal in amounts. The peppers were sweet, not spicy, and they balanced with the balsamic and basil very well. And really, it wasn't large enough in quantity to be called a "salad." It was more of a topping or salsa or chutney. Whatever you want to call it, here's the original recipe from the Fullbelly website and in italics are my adaptations.

Jimmy Nardello Roasted Pepper Salad

3/4 lb. Jimmy Nardello Roasted Peppers (1/2 of that amount, plus some yellow sweet peppers)
3 ears of corn with kernels removed (I quickly boiled the corn before removing the kernels)
3 T white balsamic vinegar (regular balsamic vinegar)
3 T olive oil
1/2 salt
1/4 t black pepper
2 T chopped fresh basil

Jimmy Nardello peppers are a wonderful balance of sweet and savory. They are simple to roast or grill: Remove the stems and seeds. Preheat the broiler. Put the peppers, skins up, in an oiled, shallow baking pan. If you wish you can lightly oil the peppers as well. (I oiled them.) Broil them 2 inches from the heat until softened. You do not need to remove the skins after roasting. Cut the peppers lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips. (I chopped them). Add the corn kernels. To complete the salad, toss together the remaining ingredients and let stand, covered, 1 hour for flavors to develop.


Even though summer and it's sweet corn is now a thing of the past, I imagine that this recipe would work well with a frozen sweet corn, like the frozen white corn at Trader Joes. And you don't have to use these particular peppers. I think any sweet roasted peppers would be fine.

Besides salmon, I think this would pair well with chicken or steak (especially in a taco or fajita).

Onion Soup

I know, I know...you are thinking, "Why the heck would I want to make soup when it's so stinkin' hot outside?" I had the same thought...but then I made it anyways. It was a combination of having all the right ingredients, wanting to use my Walla Wallas before they went bad, wanting to make something new, and...well, boredom.

So last night, after the girls went to bed, I decided to make this soup. I had ripped the recipe out of those original Everyday Food magazines, and it had been in that stack I told you about before. It's a very simple recipe, and it only took about an hour from start to finish. I halved the recipe since I only had four good onions. The original recipe calls for serving it with Cheese Toasts, but I just poured it over some toasted Italiano bread that I had left over from the night before.

I'm giving you the whole recipe, which claims to serve 8. I would guess from how much I left from my half recipe, that that would be 8 small servings. If you are going to serve this as your main dish, I would guess that you shouldn't expect more than 6 healthy servings out of it.

2 TBS butter
2 TBS olive oil (I actually forgot the oil)
4 lbs onions (about 8), halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup port or Marsala wine (I used port)
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) beef broth
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) chicken broth

1. In a heavy 5 quart pot, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened, 12 to 15 minutes.

2. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are dark golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more. If bottom of the pot gets too dry, add about 1/4 cup water and scrape up browned bits with wooden spoon. (I had to do this twice...I think I probably added about 1/8 cup of water at a time. But then again, I forgot the oil, so that might explain the need for the water.)

3. Add the port and cook until syrupy, about 3 minutes. (I'm not sure what "syrupy" is supposed to look like. It never looked syrupy to me...just purple. I waited until it didn't seem watery.) Stir in broths and 2 cups water, season with salt and pepper, and bring to simmer. Serve with or over bread or cheese toasts.

Initially, I thought the soup had too much liquid to onion ratio, but I realized that when I poured it over the bread, every bit of liquid was sopped up. So, I guess the ratio is ok. And it was really really tasty.

Enjoy! (But I understand if you don't want to be a freak like me and make this in the summer. Go ahead and wait until the weather turns cooler!)

Pesto Pork Chops

Last week I found myself with an abundance of fresh basil leaves. I didn't complain-I LOVE tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella with a touch of oil olive. But those few leaves I used everyday were not going to get me through the bunch of basil before it went bad. I needed something else for the basil.

I had found a pesto recipe that J really likes a month or so ago, so I made that again. The trouble was, I didn't want it with pasta again, and we had just had pizza, so I didn't want to make that. I had thin cut pork chops thawed, but the idea of pesto with pork chops didn't sound fabulous.

As always, I looked to the Internet first. I searched "pesto pork" and sure enough, there were hundreds of recipes out there. So, I decided to take a risk. I pan cooked the pork chops in a bit of olive oil, and when they were just about done, I spooned pesto on each one, covered it, lowered the heat, and cooked it for another 5 minutes or so.

They were delicious. And the summer squash with caramelized Walla Walla onions I served with them paired well. (Of course, I did also have tomato, basil and mozzarella as another side dish, because really...I can never get enough.)

One note of caution...as always with pork chops, it's easy to over cook them. One of mine was thicker than the other two, so it was perfect and the thinner ones were a tad on the dry side. Still good, but could have been a bit more moist.

Here's the pesto recipe I used:

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, minced

In food processor, pulse together basil and nuts 3 or 4 times quickly. Add garlic and pulse again. While processor is on, pour in olive oil. Add Parmesan cheese and mix until blended.