Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Ok, I may be WAY late in the game but nonetheless, I'm starting my Thanksgiving recipe posting. I'm doing things differently this year, which is a big reason why I'm posting this so late (the day before....eeek! lol). I don't like to write about something I haven't tried, and a few of these recipes I'm trying for the first time today. So, let's get started:

Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce

I used to LOVE cranberry sauce from the can. I like that it's free of lumps (yuck!) and I can scoop it up with my stuffing on a fork. This year I decided to make my own from scratch, because that's the kind of food I prefer to eat ;)

The What:
1 (12 oz) bag of fresh cranberries
1 medium orange
1 cup of sugar
About 1 1/2 cups of water (enough to fill a medium sauce pan with approx. 1 inch of water)

The How:

1. Add water and juice from the orange, and 1/4 or the juiced orange to the sauce pan. Bring to a boil.
2. Rinse cranberries and toss the unripe (mostly white in color) and rotten/mushed berries in the compost pile (or garbage disposal...or wherever). Add berries to the boiling pot. 
3. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5-10 minutes. The cranberries will start to pop, which is kind of neat to listen to. Once the berries are half popped, and the mixture is mushy, remove from heat.
4. Pour the sauce into a wire strainer over a bowl. Using a spatula (that's stain resistant!) mush the sauce through the strainer to remove the solids and get a smooth sauce. 
5. Stir in sugar, making sure it dissolves completely. From here you can pour into your mold or serving dish of choice. I used two straight-sided jars I had hanging around. 
6. Refrigerate for a few hours. I went with three. The jelly should set up on it's own, as the cranberries and orange have enough pectin to combine with the sugar and make this happen. *NOTE: If yours doesn't set after being refrigerated overnight, take 2/3 of it and bring to a boil. Then take a packet of unflavored gelatin and use per package instructions (add it the the remaining COLD 1/3 of sauce, add boiling sauce, stir well, refrigerate until set).

Sweet Potato Zucchini Soup

This soup was inspired by a recipe shared with me by a good friend. The original recipe called for a regular potato, but I was all out at the time so I substituted a sweet potato. A few other tweaks and I ended up with a delicious and healthy lunch!

The What:
2 cups cubed zucchini (no need to peel)
1 cup cubed sweet potato (about 1 medium potato, peeled)
1/4 (about 1/4 cup) onion. Chopped, chunk...whatever
1 cup water
3/4-1 cup hot broth or stock, your choice
2 TBS heavy cream (I had to substitute milk mixed with cooking oil, 50/50)
Salt, pepper, basil and garlic to taste


The How:
Place potato, zucchini, onion, water and seasonings in a crock pot on high. Cook for about 4 hours or until everything is mashably soft. Turn off the pot and allow it to cool to the touch.
Once it's cooled, place the contents in a blender or food processor. Add cream and about half the stock. Blend or process until smooth. Continue to add stock until desired consistency is reached. Serve with crackers, croutons, bread sticks or my fave...a grilled cheese sandwich :) Makes 2 servings.

Enjoy!

Not Just For Making Waffles!

This is french toast!

So I try to make breakfast ahead for my husband who leaves early for work. Some nights I'm just so tired the idea of making pancakes or french toast from scratch is daunting! I have a waffle maker so waffles is usually what I make, but I wanted some variety. So I came up with this idea: french toast in the waffle maker! Yes, it can be done, and it turns out AWESOME!

I'll be back later with a french toast recipe :)

Cooking Tip! Onions...

Every one's experienced the tears and burning typically associated with cutting onions. In all honesty, it has been a while since I've suffered through this culinary punishment. I usually use softball-sized yellow or red onions and had never had a burning-tears experience. However, I recently bought a 3 pound bag of mini yellow onions that are PERFECTLY sized for per-meal portions but make my eyes burn something fierce! After several nights of painful eyes and out of utter frustration I remembered a tip I had read somewhere: chew a piece of gum while chopping your onions. So I tried it...and it worked! I used minty gum, which may matter, and just started chewing it while I chopped. No tears. No burn.

So, go forth and onion-fy!

Fudgy Brownies

Mmmmmm....so rich, chewy, moist...my ideal brownie and not from a box!

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped or chips
• 1 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 large eggs, cold
• 2 tablespoon cold brewed coffee
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Tools: 

• Large mixing bowl
• Small microwave safe bowl
• Spoon for string
• Measuring cups and spoons
• 8 x 11  baking dish. Nonstick is great, glass is good too. Silicone is also ok, if you already have it.

Directions:

Position rack in the lower third of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees F.Butter glass or metal (non-stick!) baking dish to prevent sticking. Silicone should be sprayed with cooking spray.


Put the butter, oil and chocolate in the microwave safe bowl and heat until melted. In large mixing bowl add both sugars, vanilla and salt. Stir well. Add melted chocolate mixture, eggs and coffee. Stir until well combined and glossy. Add in cocoa powder, flour and baking soda. Stir until just combined.



Pour the batter into the pan and bake until the top is crispy and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean but a small sample sticks together when squeezed between your fingers. You want it gooey. Takes about 20-25 minutes.


Cool the brownies in the pan on the counter. Cut brownies into 1-inch squares. Serve. Store extra brownies in a tightly sealed container (or a cake stand, like I do) at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Homemade Frozen Toaster Waffles

Pre-freeze. They look pretty much the same frozen though :)

My husband gets up VERY early for work and I am just not into getting up with him to make a nice breakfast. As a result, he hasn't gotten much of my homemade waffles with syrup. So I decided to make a batch for the freezer that he can actually make himself (and not set the kitchen on fire lol). Super easy, toaster-friendly:

The Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3 cups milk (I like to add 4 TBS vinegar to it. It reacts with the baking soda a bit to help make them fluffy)
1 tsp salt
1 TBS sugar

The How

Preheat waffle maker. Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk wet ingredients in a small bowl and add to dry ingredients. Stir well, until it's thoroughly combined but not necessarily to get all of the lumps out (small lumps are fine). Fill each waffle cavity with about 1/4 cup of batter (more or less, depending on the size of your maker). Cook waffles according to the device's instructions.Ends up making about 2 1/2 dozen, give or take.

When done allow to cool completely before bagging and freezing. Any steam may cause moisture that will make them stick together or release water in the toaster. Neither situation is ideal.

Toast when ready, as you would with store-bought waffles. Yeah, it's that easy :)

If you want to change it up a bit you can add/substitute some of the following:

• Add 1 cup of chopped blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or other berry to the batter (apples should work too if you peel them first and chop them up good. Haven't tried it though)
•  For whole wheat pancakes, use 1 1/2 cups all-purpose and 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flours.
• Add 1 cup of nuts for a nutty waffle treat
• Add 1 cup of chocolate chips for a kid-favorite waffle 
• The batter can also be seasoned/flavored with 2 tsp vanilla extract (the real deal please!), 1 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg.

You can also use this batter for pancakes. If you reduce the milk from 3 cups to 2 1/2, they'll be extra thick and fluffy. 

Enjoy!

Hello there!

Welcome to my little plot of webspace! You can call me Ashley, everyone else does lol. I am a wife to a great man and mother to one amazing little girl. I decided to put this together as a way to collect and share some of the things my family enjoys. We aren't HUGE on tradition, but there are certain things we always try to make time for. The biggest of which being my cooking. I LOVE to make food: cooking, baking, crock potting and even gardening (that I started for the first time this past spring!). I hope you'll find my bits of writing interesting and maybe even useful as I share what makes my little family so full of love :)


Until next time!