Since Chef and I started working on what we eat (reducing portions and making things healthier), I’ve begun to prefer fresh and homemade for just about everything. When he started to go to culinary school, I only became a bigger proponent of fresh and homemade. A couple of years ago, I began looking for Cranberry Sauce recipes, hoping to find one all of us would like. That’s proven a bit harder than I’d expected (Chef prefers jellied, I prefer whole berry, and in the middle neither of us will meet), but I did finally find an excellent recipe that I love and at least a couple of the kids prefer over the canned, jellied junk. Admittedly, it’s more expensive than the canned stuff, but it’s tangy and sweet and wonderful. You won’t find flavor like this in any can (and a recent report about BPs in the linings of cans for canned foods make it well worth the cost for me). I can’t remember where I found it, unfortunately.

The recipe below is easily cut in half. Just see the comments below.

Cranberry Sauce
2 – 12 oz pkgs Fresh Cranberries
1 Orange Zested**
2 c. Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice (approx. 4 large oranges)*
2 c. Packed Brown Sugar
3 Cinnamon Sticks**
2-3 c. Water

Go through cranberries and remove any that are bruised/mushy. Combine all ingredients except water in a medium saucepan and stir to combine. Add enough water to “cover” cranberries (they’ll start to float). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer on low for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Taste: if too tart, add more brown sugar; if too sweet, add more OJ. Continue cooking at least 30 minutes (you may need to add up 1/2 c. more water) to an hour, or until the mixture thickens (it’ll start sticking to bottom of pan). Pour into dish and let cool. Serve warm or chill if desired***.

*To get the most juice out of the oranges, roll them firmly between your hand and the table for a minute or two.

**When cutting the recipe in half, I went ahead and used the zest of a whole orange and 2 cinnamon sticks. Since you adjust the taste while it’s cooking, the added tartness is easily balanced out.

***I prefer to chill mine at least overnight to give the flavors a chance to fully develop and meld. And I like my cranberry sauce chilled.

I’m playing a bit with the Homemade Curry Spice Powder I created. I really like the heat it adds when used in moderation. Went hunting for a baked spiced apples recipe, found one to play with, and added the curry. I ended up over cooking it a little (so no pictures until the next time), but even overcooked, this was REALLY good. The Granny Smiths were the perfect tart for this!

Curry & Spice Baked Apples
2 Granny Smith apples, cut in half, cored, with a small section cut off the uncut side (creates a stand & allows the apple to soak up juices from the bottom)
Apple Cider
Honey
1/2 c. Pecans, chopped*
1/2 tsp. ea, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, and Ginger
1 TBL. Brown Sugar
Butter
Homemade Curry Spice Powder

Set apples in baking dish, cored side up, drizzle with honey and pour cider into dish to about 1/4-1/2″. Combine nuts and spices (except curry), sprinkle over the apples, allowing some to fall into the cider. Top each apple half with a teaspoon or so of butter. Sprinkle desired amount of curry over the top. Bake 20-25 minutes in a 375 oven until apples are soft and topping is browned.

Loved, loved this. It was sweet and tart and had just a touch of heat. Kids loved it as well. No idea about Chef—he’s not big on apples. Regardless, I’ll be making this again. It’s delish!

We used it as a side dish, but it would also make a great savory-sweet dessert.

* Can also use walnuts or almonds, but I really liked the flavor of the pecans in this.

So, not the best name, but it’s all I could think of other than Chicken Salad Salad and Chicken Salad Plus Salad. All of them sound weird, but since salad shows up twice, I figured the squared works. Anyway, I put this together when looking for a light, healthy, filling lunch.

Chicken Salad Squared
1 Lg Can Chicken (OR similar amount cooked chicken)
2 TBL Olive Oil Mayonnaise
1 Green Onion, thinly sliced
To Taste: Paprika, Nutmeg, Ginger
Salad Greens for four
1 c. Walnuts. chopped (or your fave nut)

Mix chicken, mayo, green onion, and spices together, mound on top of green salad of your choice, top with chopped walnuts. No dressing needed.

I love this and don’t make it often enough, I admit. It’s just tasty!

Today I’m trying it with a little chopped apple on the salad, the chicken mixture on top of that, then Almonds on top of that.

I have friends who have commented on Blog Chef in the past who don’t do so now, probably because I’ve required registration to do so. I’m also sure that most the registrations I have are spammers (I can catch quite a few, but some manage to “look” like real people). So I’m trying something new that’s helped with a forum I manage. Comments are now open to anyone again. We’ll see if the new plugin helps rid me of spam registrations and spam comments without me having to police things as much as I’ve been forced to before this.

I was seriously craving lemonade last night, but we had no mix. And then I thought about it: those lemonade mixes are probably crap—lots of sugar and no real lemon anything. And I wondered, is there a lemonade recipe with lemon juice, bottled or real. Turns out there are several. Also turns out bottled lemon juice has more than lemon juice in it, but even it has to be better than the powdered crap, right? Not having any lemons on hand, I used the bottled juice for the following recipe.

Sorry no picture. I don’t have any pretty glasses for one.

Lemonade
1 3/4 c. lemon juice
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 c. cold water + extra to make 1 gal.

Combine sugar & 2 c. water, heat until sugar melts. Mix with remaining ingredients, stir well. Adjust sugar and lemon to taste. Pour and add ice. Makes 1 gallon.

Kinda wondering if I can make limeade the same way. Limes are a bit more expensive though, so I’ll have to wait to find out.

I’ve also heard combining the lemonade with mint leaves makes a nice combo, but I’ve not tried it.

This is a lovely recipe from Levi Roots Caribbean Food Made Easy, though I did some adjustments because we didn’t have a pan big enough for the amount of chicken we needed cooked up.

Here it is all glazed and lovely in the serving dish….

The first change is we did chicken legs instead of boneless thighs (but I think this would be a wonderful bento recipe with boneless chicken as the base). Second, we don’t own a frying pan big enough for all that chicken, so I made the caramel and lime sauce then baked it. I also found I needed to add a little flour to help the sauce thicken up on the stove when the chicken was done. Not a lot, maybe a tablespoon.

Here it is on a plate (darker photo because the kitchen tends to be brighter than other rooms)….

The recipe is simple, the result delish! There’s the sweetness of the caramel and a touch of tang from the lime. Not flavors I’d imagine would go together, but they do very well.

Most of the recipes in Roots’s book look pretty simple, and he was raised in Jamaica, so if they aren’t authentic, they are based on the authentic flavors of the area. If nothing else, the book is a good place to start if you’re interested in Caribbean food.

Tried to get a picture of this, but nothing was coming out. If something does, I’ll edit and add the picture.

I wanted to do a curried roasted potatoes the other night, but we didn’t have any curry spice. As with most the other recipes I’ve posted, I found two or three and played around to come up with this.

Homemade Curry Spice
1 TBL. Ground Coriander
1/4 TBL. Tumeric
1/2 tsp. Cumin
1/4 TBL. Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger
1/8 tsp. Ground Cardamom
1/2 tsp. Ground Cayenne
1 TBL. Ground Cinnamon
1 TBL. Star Anise, ground in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle

Combine and mix well. Store in airtight container and use as desired.

And, btw, the potatoes were good.

What do you with apples that are about on that edge where they’ll need to be thrown away soon but they’re still edible (and pretty)? Make applesauce! This is a simple recipe I adapted from another. Came out nice. Kids LOVED it!

Chunky Sweet ‘n Tart Applesauce
8 Lg. Apples (about 8 c.), peeled, roughly chopped, divided*
1/2 c. packed, Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/4 c. Water

Combine 6 c. of the apples with remaining ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium to medium-high heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep apples from burning. Add in remaining apples, and continue to cook about 15-20 minutes or until the second batch of apples are tender but not too soft. Turn off heat. Use a potato masher and mash apple mixture until desired consistency. Serve warm or chill and eat cold.

Makes about 3 1/2 cups or so.

*I used a mix of Rome, Pink Ladies (4), Golden Delicious, and, I believe, large, green Granny Smiths

Another lovely dress up for rice to make it something different than plain old rice. It’s a beautiful rice with a lovely flavor. This is a mash of several recipes I poked around at plus a few things I did myself. And two pictures for you to look at.

Mediterranean Herbed Rice
2 c. Uncooked Rice
4 c. Water
Salt & Butter to taste
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
1/2 tsp. Basil
1/4 tsp. Cardamom
2 TBL. Chopped Parsley
2 Green Onions, Finely Sliced
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1/4 c. Pine Nuts
1/4 c. Sliced Almonds*

Combine rice, water, and all ingredients in rice cooker and let it go.**

It’s flavorful and colorful, and the nuts add a bit of texture to it. I might try adding a bit more cardamom to it, but I think the hint of it is nice, so probably wouldn’t add too much more. Here’s a picture where you can see the pine nuts a but more clearly…

My son absolutely LOVED it.

*OR 1/2 c. Pine Nuts
**I did stir it a couple of times to make sure all those herbs and greens and got mixed in.

I’ve been interested in trying my hand at these for some time now. Finally went hunting for an easy recipe that uses leftover (rather than making fresh) rice. Adapted from a recipe found on About.com.

Sorry about the picture. Couldn’t seem to keep my hands still.

Bolinhos de Arroz
2 c. Leftover Rice
1 c. Water
3 TBL. Heavy Cream
1 Egg
1/4 c. Finely Chopped Red Onion*
1 Green Onion, Finely Chopped*
2 TBL. Finely Chopped Parsley*
1 tsp. Baking Powder
4 TBL. Grated Parmesan Cheese (opt)
3/4 c. AP Flour**
1 tsp. Salt
Oil For Frying

Combine rice and water in saucepan and bring to low boil. Cook until water is absorbed. In large bowl, combine all ingredients except oil and mix well. Add more flour if necessary to form a dough that can be form into balls. Heat oil in heavy pan or deep fryer to 350 degrees. Flour hands and roll dough into small balls about the size of a walnut***. Fry 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Let drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Kids loved them so it’s likely I’ll make them again.

*Finaly chopped in this case means fairly close to minced.
**The original recipe called for 1/2 c. I put in closer to a cup of flour and the dough was still a little sticky. Might try refrigerating it or trimming down the water in the rice next time.
***Watch the size. Smaller ones will cook through better. I had some that were a bit on the large side and they were a bit doughy on the inside despite being quite browned on the outside.