I know I’ve busted out this recipe before, but I feel compelled by Holiday cheer to share it with you again. I think the last time I posted it, they were all pastels and it was Easter, so I assume that makes it fair game to repeat. We had the Christmas Ladies’ Fellowship last night, and it is now a little tradition to decorate cookies together. Anyway, this frosting is a charm to work with, and we put it into those little squirt bottles z9you can buy in cake decorating sections) to make the whole process easier, cleaner, and consequently more fun! If you get busy with multiple colors and some toothpick dragging through the wet frosting (move fast or it might start getting crunchy spots on you) – it is even more fun to play with. Either way, these cookies freeze well, and the frosting keeps well, making it very easy to use multiple days as an Advent surprise (ask me how I know). Continue reading ‘Christmas Cheer’
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When I was a kid, the cranberry sauce (from the can) was my favorite part of Thanksgiving Dinner. No joke. In fact, once I ate all the leftovers and broke out in hives the next day. But I still love cranberry sauce, though we don’t eat the jellied stuff from the can anymore. We make our own. I made two varieties this year, a fresh uncooked relish that is easy as can be and a cooked version. The first is called Cranberry Double-Orange Relish (and the recipe is in Hot Providence) and the other is from Thanksgiving 101 and it’s called Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce. Both use an orange with the cranberries, which is a perfect combo with turkey and all the trimmings. And it’s so beautiful.
In case you want the recipe, here’s the quick Cranberry Double-Orange Relish:
1 medium orange
1 12-oz bag fresh cranberries
1 cup marmalade
Cut the unpeeled orange into eighths and pick out seeds. Place half the orange and half the cranberries in a food processor. Process until evenly chopped. Transfer into a bowl, and repeat with the remaining orange and cranberries. Stir in marmalade. May be made a day ahead, covered, and refrigerated.
The Grand Marnier Sauce takes a bit longer to prepare.
2 large navel oranges
12 oz bag fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 T Grand Marnier
Grate 2 tsp zest from the oranges and set aside. Carefully remove all the membrane from the orange sections and set aside. In a medium saucepan combine the berries, sugar, 1 cup water, and the zest. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often to help dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thick and berries have burst, about 10 minutes. Add the orange sections the last few minutes of simmering. Remove from the heat and stir in the Grand Marnier. Cool completely. May be made up to a week ahead, covered and refrigerated. Serve at room temp or chilled.
It is like the best of guacamole plus the best of homemade salsa – and both of those are pretty rockin’ good! I got the recipe from a friend (thanks Jennie) a long time ago, but only recently remembered how much I love it when I busted it out to pair with chicken tacos. Â Try this at home, it is sooo nice and fresh.
- Â 2 large shallots
- Â 3 garlic cloves
- Â 2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
- Â 1/2# of tomatillos
- Â 2 medium avocados
- Â 1 T. lime juice
Chop shallots and garlic, and add to bowl with cilantro. Discard husks of tomatillos and rinse off the sticky junk in warm water. Chop those and add to bowl. Chop avocados and add. Drizzle lime juice and stir. Eat half the bowl trying to decide if you need salt or pepper. End up just sprinkling a little kosher salt. Yum.
 So, if you don’t already have a Texas sheet cake recipe that you adore, let this one be it. I am not a sheet cake enthusiast, but I actually look for reasons to make this one! Today we are celebrating Grandma Bessie’s 90th birthday, so I am making this to fill in the dessert cracks. I will simply assume that you are all making Mexican food tomorrow (and probably spending the whole day making pinatas and crepe paper flowers), so you will need a theme appropriate dessert. This cake has a dash of cinnamon in it, making it nicely coherent with a Mexican meal. Enjoy!
This is what I’m making this year . . . a tried and true success from last Easter. I decided last year to go zooming out onto the skinny branches and make leg of lamb for Easter dinner. The reason this is definitely skinny branch level is that I have no real clear idea of what lamb is supposed to taste like. This is an ok situation on a normal experimental family dinner night – but when you’re having company and it’s Easter and you’re cooking something you’ve only had once or twice before and you aren’t totally sure what it’s supposed to turn out like . . . that’s some stress. Last year I was further thwarted by having an oven that had no clear identifying marks to tell you what the temperature was inside there. So as I was shopping around for recipes and I came across a grilled leg of lamb – I jumped at it. And as it turned out it was supremely good! Plus it had the added Continue reading ‘Speaking of Easter Recipes’
When it comes to the challenges of putting on a Sabbath Feast each Saturday night, the biggest help I have found is to keep the menu simple. Once I find something that is easy, stress-less, and delicious, I serve it up regularly, and so far no one has complained. I love cooking things that the men in particular love because they are so expressive about their joy when they fill their plates. My seven-year-old grandson is just like the rest of them. When he arrives, he always comes barreling into the kitchen, gives me a hug, and then starts reconnoitering the kitchen to see what’s coming. It blesses me no end!
So here is my latest easy-peasy roast-in-a-crock-pot-with-loads-of-gravy recipe that I brought back from Bekah’s kitchen. I think I will call it Oxford Roast with Gravy.
Rub down a roast (nothing too specific here…this week I bought two chuck roasts to fit in my big crock pot) with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Brown it up in some hot olive oil on the stove. Remove to the crockpot. Using the leftover oil in the pan, stir up some sliced onions and garlic until tender. Put them on top of the roast.
Then combine one can of cream of mushroom soup, 1/4 cup red wine, 2 T. worchestershire sauce, 3/4 c. hot water, 1 T. beef bouillon granules. Pour that over the roast, shut the lid and let it cook 8 hours on low.
When you take it out, you will have loads of gravy material. Strain out the onions and thicken it with some flour and water and you will have a jug full of delicious gravy to send around with the potatoes.
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