For Thanksgiving, people always put so much time and effort into making a nice, home-cooked feast for their family. But when it comes to the cranberry sauce, what do they do? They plop some goop in the shape of a can down on a plate.
It doesn't have to be this way! Whole cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries is one of the easiest things you can make for Thanksgiving. It really takes very little effort and the cranberries are inexpensive. So please, this year, don't buy that can of cranberry sauce. Make your cranberry sauce from scratch. It is so much more delicious.
This recipe is not from any cookbook, it's just something I know by heart. It's pretty much what is printed on the package of cranberries, although I would like to give some credit to Adam Carolla because it was from him that I first heard the recipe during his Loveline days.
1 package (12 ounces) fresh cranberries
1/2 cup to 1 cup sugar (depending on how tart you would like it to turn out)
1 cup water
optional ingredients, to taste:
cinnamon
ground cloves
orange zest
honey
Stir sugar and water together in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat, add any optional ingredients you would like, and simmer for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, cover, and let cool. Serve warm or chilled.
Note: You might want to cover it while you're simmering, as well. The popping cranberries can be a little violent at times.
Note 2: If you think your family is not quite ready to make the transition from canned jellied cranberry sauce to homemade whole cranberry sauce, just use a strainer to remove the chunks of cranberries!
Sorry about the lack of updates. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month and it's eating up most of my free time. Anyway! This cake was meant to be posted around Halloween, but obviously that didn't happen. It's just your basic red velvet cake recipe, but with black food coloring instead of red, and orange food coloring added to the frosting. The recipe is from Beyond Grits and Gravy: The South's All-Time Favorite Recipes, by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley. I forgot to take a photo of the cover so this is a low quality one from Google Image Search.
By the way, this recipe is to be used with three 8-inch cake pans to make a three-layer cake, but I only had 9-inch cake pans so mine was only a two-layer. I had to add a little extra baking time and I used the excess frosting to frost the sides of the cake, but other than that I didn't make any changes and there was no leftover batter. So if you're in a similar situation, just add an extra 10 minutes or so to the baking time, and it should come out perfect!
Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp red food coloring (Or black, or blue, or whatever you want! It's okay to use as much as 1/4 cup of food coloring if you want the color to be richer, or less grey if you're going with black.)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans, tapping out any excess flour; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add food coloring and vanilla; beat until well-blended.
In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition and ending with dry ingredients.
Scrape batter evenly into three prepared pans, and bake until a cake tester or straw inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
Let cakes cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.
Icing:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
food coloring (optional)
In a small bowl with an electric mixer, blend cream cheese and butter until light. Gradually add powdered sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition, until fluffy and light.
To assemble cake, place 1 layer on a cake plate and spread 1/3 of frosting over top. Repeat with remaining layers and remaining frosting; do not frost sides of cake.
(I'm a sloppy cake-slicer.)
This is an adaption of a recipe from a book called Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian Cooking, published in 1997. Although they're called "spicy" Thai noodles, I didn't think they were especially spicy. The leftovers were fairly spicy, but still very mild compared to pretty much anything you would find in a Thai restaurant. I think next time I make these, I'll add some extra pepper flakes. Despite the lack of spiciness, they were very delicious. I made them twice within a week.
1 1/4 cups water
2 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp soy sauce
8 ounces linguine, cooked, drained, and kept hot
1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage
In a large, deep skillet or wok, combine water, brown sugar, garlic powder, seasoned salt, cornstarch, and hot pepper flakes. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes, uncovered. Stir in peanut butter. Be careful when measuring the peanut butter. Just a little too much will overpower the other ingredients.
My measurements clearly aren't exact when it came to these ingredients.
Serve immediately.
Why yes, it is already time for another pumpkin recipe! This one is from The Heritage of Southern Cooking, by Camille Glenn. I don't have a photo of the cover because the book is actually packed away in a box right now. I have the recipe because my husband emailed a scan of it to me years ago, back when we were simply Internet friends. He claimed it was the best pumpkin bread ever, and I agree that it is.
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water, or more as needed
We actually use a full teaspoon of both cinnamon and nutmeg, to make the bread even more flavorful.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Cream the butter and sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer or in a food processor. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture becomes thick and smooth.
Sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Add the flour, pumpkin, and water alternately to the creamed butter and eggs. Do not overbeat.
Spoon the batter into a lightly greased or foil-lined standard (9 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3-inch) loaf pan. Place the pan on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 1 hour. When a skewer inserted into the center comes out dry, the bread is done.
Remove the pan from the oven and allow the bread to stand for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack.
Cool the bread thoroughly before slicing.
Not the healthiest thing to eat, but oh so delicious. I served it with a green salad to balance things out. This recipe is from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook, published in 1996.
6 medium boiling or baking potatoes (2 pounds)
1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (8 ounces)
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
paprika
Heat oven to 375F. Scrub potatoes. You can peel them if you want, but the skins get very soft while baking in the cheese sauce, so I think it's unnecessary.
Cut potatoes into thin slices to measure about 4 cups.
Spread potatoes in ungreased 1 1/2-quart casserole.
Melt butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion in butter about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly.
Stir in milk and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
Pour cheese sauce over potatoes in casserole.
Bake uncovered 1 hour. Mix remaining cheese and the bread crumbs; sprinkle over potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake uncovered 15 to 20 minutes longer or until top is brown and bubbly.
Nice little hors d'oeuvre that are very easy to make. This recipe is from the Ladies' Home Journal Cookbook, edited by Carol Truax, published in 1960. The cover does not photograph well.
1 pound medium mushrooms
1 cup chopped pecans
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1/4 cup soft butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
For chopped pecans, unless you want to chop them yourself, look in the baking section of the grocery store, near the chocolate chips. I used "pecan chips" which came in 1/2 cup bags.
Wipe mushrooms with a damp cloth. I personally chose to wash mine, even though the book says they shouldn't be washed unless very dirty.
Remove caps and arrange in shallow baking dish with hollow side up.
Chop the stems and mix with pecans, parsley, butter, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper.
Mix well and heap into the mushroom caps. Press down firmly. Pour cream over the mushrooms. Cover and bake in moderate oven, 350F, for 30-45 minutes until tender. 30 minutes was perfect for me.
Baste once or twice with the cream in the dish. Add a little more cream if necessary. Six servings.
Let the mushrooms sit for a few minutes before serving, as they tend to fall apart easily, but less so when they've cooled. Also, you might want to sprinkle a tiny bit more salt on top.
It's finally October! So why not have a recipe that involves pumpkin? Actually, I really love pumpkin so don't be surprised if I make a post in April with something pumpkin-y. This recipe is from Muffins by Elizabeth Alston, published in 1985. The original recipe includes almonds, but I don't care for nuts in bready or cakey things, so I left them out. I've written that part of the recipe in brackets.
[1/2 cup (1 1/4 ounces) sliced unblanched almonds]
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup plain pumpkin (half of a 1-pound can)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips
I also included a dash of ground cloves. For the chocolate chips, I used Ghirardelli bittersweet baking chips. They're larger than most chocolate chips, but they worked perfectly.
Heat oven to 350F. [Put almonds on a baking sheet or pie pan and bake about 5 minutes, just until lightly browned; watch carefully so almonds don't burn. (You can also toast them in a toaster oven.) Slide almonds off the baking sheet so they cool quickly.]
Grease muffin cups, or use foil or paper baking cups.
Thoroughly mix flour, sugar, pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Break eggs into another bowl. Add pumpkin and butter, and whisk until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips [and almonds].
Pour over dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened. This is the most important part of making muffins. You must never over-stir!
Scoop batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until puffed and springy to the touch in the center. Turn out onto a rack to cool. Wrap in a plastic bag and keep for 1 or 2 days. I've had pumpkinbread and pumpkin muffins go wonky pretty quickly, so definitely try to eat them all within just a few days.
Delicious! This recipe was so easy and the muffins tasted amazing, so I'll definitely make these many more times in the future.
