Thanksgiving Files: Cranberry-Apple Sauce

November 24, 2016 / TaMara / 1 Comment

I love whole berry cranberry sauce and adding apple takes it up a notch. Always best prepped the day before so the flavors can meld. Yummy.

It couldn’t be simpler and fun to make (mostly because the cranberries pop as they cook). Here’s a basic recipe to get you started:

Cranberry Sauce

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water or apple-cranberry juice (100% juice)
3/4 cup to 1 cup sugar
12 oz (1 bag) whole, raw cranberries
1-2 apples, finely chopped.

saucepan

Wash cranberries. Bring juice and water to a boil, add sugar and stir until sugar dissolves, then add cranberries, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes, no more. Remove to a tempered glass dish or mold, cover and refrigerate for 12 hours. What you’ll have is a nice thick cranberry sauce with whole cranberries. You can add different things for a variety of sauces: pecans, orange rind, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, currants.

Friday Recipe Exchange: Spicy to Sweet

May 6, 2016 / TaMara / 1 Comment

JefferyW’s Carnitas

No rhyme or reason for tonight’s recipes. A hodgepodge of culinary treats. Nothing pithy to say, so lots of photos instead.

Pictured above, Pulled Pork, sweet and spicy barbecue or spicy carnitas (at top), recipes here.

Dinner menu this week is full of fresh spring flavors, Herbed Linguine and Apple Salad, menu and recipes are here.

JeffreyW brings us three sweet treats. Blueberry Banana Bread with Sugared Pecans, pictured above and recipe here.

He changes it up a bit with his Raspberry Banana Bread, click here.

And finally, one of my faves, he whips up a batch of Creme Fraiche, above and instructions here.

For the pet lovers, there is a Bixby video…how do you move 160 lbs of Great Dane…well… video is here. And a cute photo of him crashed out on the couch here.

What’s cookin’ for your weekend? Anyone planning on breakfast in bed/fancy dinner for the mothers in their lives? If you’re looking for breakfast recipes, click here.

Tonight’s featured recipe comes from a friend of mine. He is always experimenting in the kitchen and coming up with delicious dinners. Good are the friends who feed you.

This can also be made in a slow-cooker.

Carne en su Jugo

½ lb bacon, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 lb sirloin steak, sliced thin and then cut in 1-inc pieces (pork works well, too)
1 can (28oz) tomatillos
½ cup cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
salt
2 can pinto beans
sour cream for garnish
shredded cheese
chopped onions for garnish
fresh lime juice for garnish

Brown the bacon in a large dutch oven. Add the beef and cook until brown (leave the bacon grease in the pot).
Blend the tomatillos in your food processor and strain well to remove the seeds. Add about a cup of the tomatillo liquid back into the food processor and blend with the cilantro, and garlic.
Add the tomatillo/cilantro/garlic sauce and the rest of the strained tomatillo liquid to the beef and bacon. Add salt to taste.
Stir in pinto beans and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beef is tender, about 1 hour.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with pico de gallo (recipe below), fresh lime, sour cream.
Serve corn or flour tortillas on the side.

Pico de Gallo

chopped onion
chopped tomato
chopped cilantro
splash of lime

Mix together 20 to 30 minutes or more before meal.

That’s it for this week. Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and all the moms out there. Have a great weekend – TaMara

Dinner Menu: Spring Flavors

May 3, 2016May 1, 2016 / TaMara / 3 Comments

Lots of fresh spring flavors in this dinner menu, which is what I need after a long cold week.

On the board tonight:

Herbed Fettuccini
Apple Salad
Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt

Herbed Fettuccini

9 oz fresh fettuccine
½ cup chicken broth
5 green onions, thinly sliced
4 oz fresh spinach, torn
¼ cup snipped fresh parsley
2 tsp dried basil
salt & pepper to taste
2 oz fresh parmesan, grated or goat cheese (chevre)
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
6 oz artichokes hearts (opt)

2 large saucepans, large serving bowl

Cook pasta according to pkg. directions. Next bring broth to boiling in second saucepan. Add green onion and spinach. Reduce heat, cook and stir for 2 to 4 minutes or until spinach is slightly wilted. Add parsley, herbs, salt & pepper; mix well. Remove from heat; cover and set aside. Drain cooked pasta and remove to serving dish, cover and keep warm

In saucepan combine cheese, milk, and butter. Cook and stir until cheese is melted. Add pasta; toss to coat. Remove from heat. Add vegetable mixture, hazelnuts, opt artichokes, half of the tomato to the pasta mixture; toss gently to mix, heat until warm through. Transfer back to a serving bowl, garnish with remaining tomato.

Apple Salad

16 oz spring greens, washed
2 Granny Smith apples
2 Fuji (or other sweet red) apples
½ cup raisins
2 oz toasted slivered almonds
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

serving bowl

Layer greens in bowl. Core and cut apples into large chunks. Layer over greens, add raisins and nuts. Mix together vinegar, oil, salt & pepper. Drizzle over salad, toss, then crumble feta over the top.

Note: If you can’t find toasted almonds, heat a skillet, add almonds and stir constantly until they are lightly toasted.

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Apple-Raisin-Walnut Crisp

April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 / TaMara

I love fruit crisps. They are quick and easy to make and with all the good ingredients I feel less guilty about the sweet treat. This one kicks up traditional apple crisp a notch.

Apple-Raisin-Walnut Crisp

3 Granny Smith apples, cored & sliced (peeling opt)
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup flour

8×8 glass baking dish, lightly greased, small mixing bowl

Place apples, cinnamon, raisins, nuts and ¼ cup sugar in baking dish, mix well.

In mixing bowl, cream butter and remaining sugar, add flour and oats, mix until crumbly. Crumble over the apple mixture.

Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes until top is golden brown. Let cool.

Alternately you can use this cast iron skillet method for making the crisp.

Friday Recipe Exchange: Caramel Apple Crisp and a Splash of Bourbon

October 16, 2015October 16, 2015 / TaMara / 1 Comment

Another week when I rarely saw my kitchen. This is actually how I began my recipe quest years ago. I love food, love to cook, but between work, travel, pets and crazy hobbies, complicated, time consuming recipes had little appeal for me. I had a few tricks up my sleeve to make cooking fit my schedule and while I was married I had fun expanding my repertoire. After my divorce, I noticed a lot of my friends were too busy or too intimidated to cook, so I started creating quick and simple dinner menus for them…which turned into a little business that then morphed into this blog.

My only rules – a short list of fresh ingredients that were quick to cook. I searched out recipes I could adapt to fit those requirements without losing flavor. So that’s how we got here to the recipe exchanges. Tonight it’s about apples. I have a drawer full of them right now. Mostly I’m content to slice one up and eat it (after sharing half with Bixby, who still favors apples over almost any other treat). Eventually I’ll start to bake with them and when I do, tonight’s featured recipe will be my first dessert.

Other ideas include:

Bourbon Baked Apple Crisp (pictured above), click here for the recipe.

JeffreyW’s Cinnamon Apple Syrup, recipe and photos here, or his Praline Apple Bread, here

Butternut Apple Soup, recipe here.

And the dinner menu this week, which includes Herbed Fettucini and a Sliced Apple Salad (photo below and click here for menu and recipes).

If you want a chuckle, here are two recipes where I did not follow my own advice and will never do again: Apple Butter and Dried Apples – quick and easy they were not. What’s cooking for you this weekend? Doing any fun fall activities like apple picking or a corn maze? Don’t forget share your favorite fall recipes, apple or otherwise.

For tonight’s featured recipe, I wondered what would happen if I added caramels to my favorite apple crisp. It was amazing. Great flavor without being too sweet. I reduced the sugar to adjust for the caramels. Since I began making fruit crisps in my cast iron skillets, it’s the only way I prepare them, but if you don’t have an oven-proof skillet, you can transfer the cooked apple mixture to a glass baking dish, add topping and bake that way.

Cast Iron Caramel Apple Crisp

2 lbs apples – mix of sweet and tart (about 3 apples)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp granulated sugar
dash of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to taste
10 caramels, unwrapped
2 tbsps of cream

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup flour

10 inch cast iron skillet and small mixing bowl

Core and cut apples into small pieces (about 1/2 inch). Peeling is optional, but with this method the peels cook nice and soft, so it isn’t necessary and I think they add great flavor.

Melt butter in skillet, add apples and sugar, stir until apples are well coated. Cover and cook on medium heat until apple mixture is soft and caramelized, stirring occasionally. About 20-30 minutes.

While the apples are cooking, melt the caramels and cream over medium heat, stirring until smooth. If you spray the pan with cooking oil before melting caramels, cleanup is easier. Pour over apples just before adding crumble mixture.

In mixing bowl, stir together butter, sugar, flour and oats, mix until crumbly. Crumble over the apple mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a 400 degree oven, just until top is crispy golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes and serve warm.

What makes this so good is that because the apples are cooked on the stovetop, you can use a much higher heat in the oven and get a good, crisp top without drying the whole mixture out or under cooking the apples. Really, this is one of the best apple crisps I’ve made.

That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend – TaMara

Christmas Eve Recipes: Cranberry Chutney

December 23, 2014December 23, 2014 / TaMara / 1 Comment

Cranberry Chutney

12 oz bag fresh or frozen whole cranberries
3 crisp red apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1-inch thick
ground ginger to taste
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar*
1 cup water

Combine ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until softened, reduced and thickened, about 30 minutes. Cool fully before serving.

*I started with a full cup of sugar and it was much too sweet, so I added another 6 oz of cranberries to bring the tartness back. So I reduced the sugar in the recipe to 3/4 cup. If it’s too tart, you can always add more sugar. Because not everyone has 5 bags of frozen cranberries in their freezer to adjust with if there is too much sugar. 😉

For the entire Christmas Eve menu, click here.

Dinner Menu: Kid Friendly Chili-Mac

October 9, 2014 / TaMara / 2 Comments

JeffreyW’s Cornbread Muffins. His recipe: I always use the recipe on the round box that Quaker yellow corn meal comes in as a base, these also have cheddar cheese, minced fresh jalapeno, and a thinly sliced green onion, white part and all. A half recipe yielded 4 muffins. I used 1 whole egg in the half recipe, and about 1/4 cup of shredded cheese.

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Sorry I have been absent of late. Work has been busy and the deadline of another project I’m working on is looming, so I’ve barely seen my kitchen. Not to mention it’s fall in Colorado and I want to be outdoors whenever possible.

I doubt there will be a Bixby update this week, but he is doing well and growing daily, though he still has not caught up to his ears or his feet. Standing on his back legs he is 53 inches.

This menu tonight is from my Kid-Friendly series. I loved chili-mac as a kid and it’s still one of those quick comfort foods I make when it needs to be easy and tasty.

Chili-Mac
Corn Muffins
Raw Vegetable Tray
Apples

Chili-Mac

12 oz elbow macaroni
2 tsp olive oil
½ onion, diced
½ green pepper diced
1 lb ground beef
14 oz can diced tomatoes
15 oz can kidney beans
1 tsp to 2 tbsp chili powder
¼ tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 qt. saucepan, skillet

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain. While macaroni is cooking, heat oil in skillet, sauté onions & peppers. Add hamburger, brown & crumble. Add hamburger, tomatoes, beans, chili powder & salt to drained macaroni. Stir, let simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

Corn Muffins

( you can’t beat those 33¢ Jiffy mixes, but this is a good muffin recipe)

1 cup flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 egg (well beaten)
8 oz can creamed corn
¾ cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil

muffin pan, paper muffin cups

Mix dry ingredients, make well in the center, add egg, corn, milk & oil. Stir until just moistened, don’t over mix. Add paper muffin cups to pan, fill each 2/3 full. Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes.

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Friday Recipe Exchange: Apples, Bourbon and Caramel

September 19, 2014September 19, 2014 / TaMara / 2 Comments

We have a city apple orchard. I’ve cycled by it for years, didn’t give it much thought except to wonder what the city did with them every year. This year I found out. Seems the weather has created a bumper crop so the city put out a reminder that these apples were there for everyone, they were pesticide free and please, please, please come pick some because there were so many they were breaking branches.

Photo from City of Longmont

We headed over and picked a few last weekend and I decided that apples would make the perfect topic for tonight’s recipe exchange. I’ve got some old favorites and some old favorites with a new twist, including tonight’s featured recipe, Caramel Apple Crisp, pictured at top.

Let’s start with one that is perfect around this time of year when mini chocolates abound, Baked Snicker Apples, recipe here.

mouth-watering is the only way to describe, Mrs. J’s Famous Apple Pie, click here.

I have bourbon, I have apples, seems I need to make some Bourbon Baked Apples, recipe here.

Totally not apple related, the weekly menu this week was Spaghetti and Meat Sauce, recipes and shopping list here.

What’s on your menu? Now that the weekend means autumn is official, what are some of your favorite fall recipes?

Cast Iron Caramel Apple Crisp

2 lbs apples – mix of sweet and tart (about 3 apples)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp granulated sugar
dash of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to taste
10 caramels, unwrapped
2 tbsps of cream

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup flour

10 inch cast iron skillet and small mixing bowl

Core and cut apples into small pieces (about 1/2 inch). Peeling is optional, but with this method the peels cook nice and soft, so it isn’t necessary.

Melt butter in skillet, add apples and sugar, stir until apples are well coated. Cover and cook on medium heat until apple mixture is soft and caramelized, stirring occasionally. About 20-30 minutes.

Alternately, if you don’t have an oven-proof skillet, you can transfer the cooked apple mixture to a glass baking dish, add topping and bake that way.

No Bixby Diary this week, I’ll make up for it next week. Until then….TaMara

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