Cranberry Bread - 1

First off my darling readers, I must make a confession. I love cranberries. LOVE them. The day that fresh cranberries hit the supermarket shelves, I am buying bags by the armfuls and throwing them into any and every recipe I can. I'm also freezing them like crazy so I can have cranberries year around. I think one of the reasons the Chief Commentator is so hesitant to buy a deep freeze is because he secretly knows I would devote a solid 1/2 of it to cranberries.

Apparently this obsession of mine with the fruit runs in both sides of the family. Not only do the cook books I've put together have pages upon pages of recipes with the lovely little red berries being showcased, both of my grandmothers fill their books with recipes requiring them.

So for simplicity sake of keeping track of the volumes of Cranberry recipes, I've added Cranberries to my sortable list (on the right side of the blog) and because there are so many Cranberry Bread (and also Cranberry sauces, etc) I am going to number them so not to confuse myself or hopefully you. Many of them do not differ by much, although I am hoping in those small subtle differences, I will find what truely makes one better than the other.

This one comes from a recipe card from my Grandma Melusine's small cardex box. I found it the same day I found the beef bourguigon and made it the following.

3 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

3 tablespoons melted butter

juice of 1 lemon , juice of 1 orange plus water for 1 cup total liquid

1 1/2 cups cranberries cut in half

nuts

bake one hour at 325.

Ok - my first kevetch of this recipe... I do not like standing there slicing cranberries in half. Especially for a fruit that when exposed to heat pop on their own.. but I did it (patiently). It's for that reason, the recipe got a Moderate rating rather than easy. It takes a lot of time to cut those suckers. Not that it's necessarily "hard" work.

I also kinda felt like I was wasting the lemon and the orange by not grating the rind into the recipe.. but maybe that is just me.

First off, the bread came out looking beautiful. It had a very nice light color to it, it smelled amazing. The dough consistance had good flavor of oranges, and cranberries, but the texture was a little moist. Cheif commentator wondered if maybe we should have cooked it longer (although the tester came out clean) to make the texture a little firmer. Or perhaps that is just how it was supposed to be?

All in all a good recipe. Little more work than most, but tasty.

Chicken Lime Soup

This one came into my cookbook by way of my co-worker Matt. He brought it for a pot luck, and I love love loved it!!!! He brought me the recipe, and it has sat in my cookbook for at least 3-4 years, never once being made. Until now, when today we had some cool fall weather, and I was looking for something warming, and easy. Well, the soup part is easy, I am giving this recipe a mixed difficulty of easy and medium, because although the soup is easy, the frying of the tortilla strips for topping may be challenging for others who are leery of pans of splattering oil.

Chicken Lime Soup

8 corn tortillas
½ cup vegetable oil
course sea salt
4 chicken breasts
10 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 pepper corns
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 large tomatoes , peeled and chopped
5 limes, juiced
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Cut the tortillas into ¼ inch strips. Heat the oil in a medium skillet and when very hot, fry the tortilla strips, in small batches, until lightly golden and crisp. 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain. Season with sea salt to taste. Repeat until all tortilla strips have been fried. Set fried strips aside.

Add the chicken, broth, onion, garlic, pepper corns, salt, oregano, jalapenos and tomatoes into a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and cook until the chicken is just cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Remove chicken from the soup and set aside until cool enough to handle. Allow coup to continue simmering.

When the chicken has cooled a bit, shred into bite size pieces and return to the pot along with the lime juice and cilantro leaves. cook for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through and the soup is piping hot. Ladle the soup into wide soup bowls, with a handful of tortilla strips added to each bowl. If desired garnish with additional fresh cilantro and serve immediately.

Before I get to the comments, let me tell you what I did change and what I’d do differently next time, cause there definitely will be a next time.

I skipped the 2 teaspoons of salt, because I figured my broth had enough sodium in it already (and it was the reduced sodium at that) and I think that was a good call. Plus I prefer to sprinkle a little salt on the top when I eat it anyway.

Also – going forward, because the chief commentator loves dark meat rather than breasts, I think I’ll make the recipe with thigh meat, and or a whole chicken.

and finally, I like a little more heat, so I would prolly double or triple the number of jalapeno’s in the recipe.

Comments: Chief commentator said he is going to request this once a week in the winter. He loved the tang of the lime with the chicken and the broth. He specifically loved how un-salty the broth is! (good call on my part to leave out the extra salt)

I love this recipe too. I like how healthy (if you keep the tortillas out of it) that it can be. I love the zip of the lime juice, and the hearty comfort quality of the broth.

Definitely a new favorite.

Stuffed Potatoes

Before I even get to the recipe, I had a little hurry up and rush moment... that was my own doing. I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table and time everything with the steak, and a very hungry boyfriend, so instead of twice baking these, I had a deviation, and well, made them Stuffed Mashed Potatoes.

The recipe comes from a newspaper clipping. it says it serves 6, I have no idea where or how or when the paper printed this, or which paper for that matter. Here it goes:

Stuffed Potatoes

3 large baking potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt to taste

1/4 pound bacon

1 bunch scallions, chopped

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

paprika to taste

Wash the potatoes and drain. Place in a bowl and rub with olive oil and salt

place the potatoes directly on an oven rack in the center of the oven, bake at 375 for 1 hour.

Remove and allow to cool until the potatoes can be handled

*see what happens when you don't allow yourself time for this step? I instead grabbed them off the rack, chopped them using a fork and knive into large chunks and dunked them in the mixing bowl... skins and all. (can't get rid of that yummy salted skin now can I?

fry the bacon until crisp. drain on paper towels, chops the bacon coarsely and set aside.

Cut the cooked potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides, elaving about 1/4 inch of potato attached to the skins.

set skins aside.

beat the potatoe with the bacon, scallions and half the butter. Add the sour cream, worcestershire and salt and pepper. Refill the skins and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle the tops with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with papricka.

With the oven on broil, bake the potatoes in the center of the oven until nicely browned and hot thorughout - about 10-15 mins.

Ok, here is my diversion. Beat everything together until chunky yumminess. Scoop onto plates, and top with a little paprika for color. Done!

Update: 9/13/10 - the left overs were made into potatoe pancakes this morning, and turned out delish with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Chief commentator said: Loved the rustic flavors and the chunky texture (He didn't know they were supposed to still look like baked spuds) Good flavbors, the ingredients compliment each other well. He loved the chunky consistency.

This one is getting an It was OK, not a New Favorite, only because we aren't really potatoe people, so for us to make potatoes more than once a month, is hard pressed. It's also getting a moderate rating, because you actually HAVE to read the instructions. my bad.

Wild Rice Baron

The chief commentator had a co-worker seriously injured in a car accident 12 days ago, today he returned home from the hospital, after having countless surgeries, and is on a long road to healing.

Being from the Midwest, I come from a group of people that when things happen, you cook and you cook and you cook. You send over hot dishes for the family, so they don’t have to concern themselves with making food. Today, when chief came home, I informed him that he would be delivering a Wild Rice Baron hotdish, along with a carrot pineapple cake tomorrow morning.

Note: the recipe and comments about making it are here now, we are cooking our own wild rice baron (I made 2) tomorrow night for dinner, so tasting notes will follow.

Wild Rice Baron
2 cups raw wild rice
4 cups water
2 teaspoons salt (optional)
2lbs ground beef
1lb mushrooms
½ cup celery chopped
½ cup btter
¼ cup soy sauce
2 cups sour cream
2 teaspoons salt (also optional)
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ cup slivered almonds

Gently cook wild rice, water and salt for 45 minutes. Drain if necessary. Brown ground beef and set aside. Rinse mushrooms trip tips of stems and slice. Saute Mushrooms, celery, and onion in butter for 5-10 minutes. Combine soy sauce, sour cream, salt and pepper. Add cooked wild rice, browned hamburger, mushrooms onions, celery mixture. Toss lightly. Place rice mix into a slightly buttered 3qt casserole dish, sprinkle with almonds.

This can be made in advance (like I did) and then refrigerated, and baked later.
When time to bake. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 1 hour uncovered.

Comments about prep: It was harder then I thought to make, mostly because there are so many steps, and you have to do each of them in different pans, which makes for a lot of dishes. If you want a short cut in the time, I would suggest getting precut mushrooms, that was the most time consuming part of the entire recipe.

So far, it looks and smells great, and packed beautifully into the casserole dish.

Not our favorite thing ever. It was a little bland. I don't like the almonds on top. It's a good hardy dish though, and if you like wild rice, it's a good dish. I would add more spice to it next time, and get rid of the almonds.

Carrot Pineapple Cake

My Grandma Mary had a thing for carrot cake. Carrots really. Carrot bars, cake, cupcakes, cookies. If you can shred carrots and bake them into a batter, I think I have a recipe for it. Thankfully, most of them have a cream cheese frosting involved somewhere, which happens to be the chief commentators favorite thing, making him willing to try all of these recipes.

Here are the chief commentators words: “I’ve never had one so chunky. I love love love the frosting! The cake is buttery, rich, chunky, nutty, like grandma’s carrot cake that you never had, because they got too old before you were born, and just bought the store bought crap and fed it to you. It’s the new coffee cake, great for breakfast, sooo damn good.”
Carrot Pineapple Cake
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda
1 ½ cups oil
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded raw carrots – slightly packed
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups coconut
2 cups chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Combine dry ingredients, Mix oil and sugar , add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add dry ingredients, then fold in carrots, pineapple, coconut and nuts. Pour into 2 9x9 baking pans, bake for 45-55 minutes at 350.

Cream Cheese Frosting
¼ cup butter
8oz cream cheese
1 tablespoon vanilla
1lb powder sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Difficulty: Moderate. This is the first recipe I’ve made in my new kitchen aid mixer, I found that it was hard to get all the batter into the mixer, and get it to mix well. It kinda pissed me off.. But that could just be the learning curve of me and the mixer.

Overall: New Favorite.

Lamb Roast with Polenta and Vegetables with red wine reduction

I am not 100% certain the where about of how this recipe came to be, except to say that it’s written in my handwriting, and stuck in my notebook. I have made it several times in the past, occasionally I use Lamb Shank and cook it in a pan rather than a roast because it’s quicker. That being said…

What I am 100% certain about, is when you finish making this recipe, the meat is fall apart tender, and mouth wateringly delicious.

Lamb Roast with Polenta and Vegetables with red wine reduction

Lamb:
3-4 lb Lamb Roast, Tied
2 Meyer lemons, sliced
3-4 fresh sprigs of each
Rosemary
Thyme
Sage
Sea Salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste
Hint of olive oil

Place lamb in Dutch Oven rub olive oil over skin and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay sliced lemons around and on top of lamb & sprinkle sprigs of herbs over top. Cover and place in Preheated oven at 325 degrees for 20 minutes per pound.

Vegetables with red wine reduction:
1 large red bell pepper - diced
3 cloves garlic - minced
2 shallots - minced
2 carrots - diced
4 stalks celery –diced
1 sprig rosemary
3 sprig Thyme
Handful of sage
28 oz of diced tomatoes (I used canned)
2 cups wine (red)
2 Tablespoons dry chicken bouillon
Tablespoon of Olive oil
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Cracked black pepper (to taste)
¼ cup Reserve of juice from lamb pan

Heat Oil in pan and add Shallots and Garlic, sweat until clear.
Add in all other veggies (except tomatoes) and turn a few times to coat. Slowly add tomatoes and wine. Bring to boil. Sprinkle in bouillon & Stirl to mix well.

Chop fresh herbs and blend into sauce, turn to simmer. Stirring occasionally, leave to simmer with lid on until Lamb is ready from oven. After removing lamb from oven, stir in ¼ cup juices from pan and the 2 Tablespoons vinegar. Bring back to boil for 2-3 minutes stirring continuously.

Polenta:
1 cup dry polenta
2 cups H2o
1 Tab chicken bouillon
2 cups milk
2 Tab butter
¼ cup grated parmesan

In pot, mix polenta, bouillon, butter and water, bring to a boil, while whisking constantly, add milk and continue to whisk until cooked.

Let the lamb rest for a few minutes while you finish up the sauce (with the juices from the pan) and make the polenta.

Spoon some of the reduction sauce onto the plate, top with the lamb and a little lemon slice. Place the polenta on the side, so the juices of the sauce also run into the polenta.

Serve with lots of crusty French bread for sopping up the amazing sauce.

Technical stuff: makes 6 servings
Difficulty: Moderate, there are more steps here than most of my recipies, but well worth it
Served with: it's a complete meal but you could easily just serve the polenta
Reheat Well?: Yup. yup. yup.
Comments: Cheif Commentators words: could easily eat it at least twice a month, if not once a week. The polenta was GREAT and reheated well with left over sauce. Spice of the sauce really highlighted the polenta. Comfort food for a cold day, without being overly heavy.

yup. it's a keeper.

Lime Jello with Marshmallows

This one is a blast from the past. I definately remember my Grandma Melusine making this one all the time. It was a staple Sunday dessert.

Lime Jello with Marshmallows

1 pk lime gelatin

1 cup boiling water

1 cup minature marshmallows

1 cup crushed pineapple

1 cup pecans

1/2 pint whipping cream

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in marshmallows until dissolved. Cool but not set. Stir in pineapple, nuts & whipped cream. Pour into mold, chill until set.

Technical stuff: makes a goodsized pan full.

Difficulty: moderate, ya, jello should be easy, but really, mixing everything in evenly, it falls more into the moderate catagory.

Served with: nothing. but I bet some sparkingling wine would be yummy.

Reheat Well?: Lets not go there, but once it's set, you can have it over several meals.

Comments: Chief Commentator says: Whipped limey cool childhood delight with a nutty attitude. He liked it so much, he wants to make it for Thanksgiving Dinner. For me it too was a walk down memory lane.

Next time, I would add more pineapple, cause I like it.

Cranberry Nut Bread

For once, I didn’t “health it up” when I made my bread, and the Chief commentator’s first words were, this maybe the best bread you have ever made! Which leads me to wonder.. none the less, it is pretty damn amazing.

Cranberry - Nut Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter
¾ cup orange juice
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped cranberries or 2 cups dried cranberries
¾ cup chopped nuts. (I used walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter a pastry blender, two knives, or your hands (I used my hands) stir in orange juice, egg and orange rid. Fold in cranberries and nuts. Spoon into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 1 loaf.

Technical stuff: Makes 1 loaf.

Difficulty: moderate – if you aren’t used to cutting in butter, it could be tricky.

Time : about 60 minutes

Served with: honey butter & hot coffee

Reheat Well?: it’s delicious!

Comments: it’s really really good. really really good.

Things I'd do differently next time: I would add just a touch more orange peel.

Honey butter:
Put 1 stick of butter in microwave safe dish, and heat til soft (about 25 seconds) add in 3-4 tablespoons of honey, stir well. Place dish in freezer for 5 minutes to set.

The technical stuff

Recipes can be sorted by the following tags

Me; Grandma Mary; Grandma Melusine (this may be handy if family starts reading this, and wants a particular recipie from a certain Grandma)

Cost; Nutritional info