Cook Book Club: Cranberries!!

Preston's grandmother makes cranberry sauce from scratch. I know that many people probably do this, but seeing as I have only ever had cranberry sauce from the can, or from Luby's, and have not had anyone else's scratch made, I think it's amazing. 

This Thanksgiving, I had to make this cranberry sauce for my side of the family. I called Nannie for the recipe and realized that I would need a sieve. My first mental image of this device in was a jail break scene where a prisoner uses a handmade tool to attack a prison guard, but I decided that was not correct. I asked Nannie if a sieve was similar to a strainer. After a long pause, she suggested that I ask Preston's mom to help me when I started making the sauce, just in case.

Making banana ice cream

Instead, I solved this dilemma by using my Champion Juicer rather than a sieve. I bought 4 bags of cranberries, expecting to botch this project once or twice. I did, and although the third try was not perfect, it was acceptable. The juicer gets a lot more out of the cranberries than a person and a sieve, so I had to adjust the sugar to water to cranberry goo ratios for the correct flavor and consistency.

Cut to the week after Thanksgiving, and I've still got this bag of cranberries sitting in my fridge. I decided to make a cranberry upside cake, because I was craving pineapple upside cake, and some cranberry muffins, because I still had cranberries after that. Both recipes are from the cookbook classic, Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 14th Edition, however, the actual recipe for the cake is for pineapple upside cake. I broke some Cookbook Club rules and got creative. I think the only substitution I would make to the cake would be to use granulated sugar instead of brown sugar for the topping, or bottoming, because it was too thick. Also, I would use many many more cranberries... they all drifted to the sides.

Potato Soup Wars

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/baked-potato-soup-10000000357537

Me and Potato Soup are not friends. I try making it all the time and I always fail. Always. So when it was my turn to recommend a cookbook for the Cookbook Club, what do I do?

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/
Wisconsin-Potato-Cheese-Soup

I recommend potato soup.

http://www.milkandhoneyfarm.com/kitchen/
winter_favorite_recipe.html

Of course.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-potato-
soup-with-prosciutto-crisps-10000001673084

Well, the main recipe I recommended was eggplant and bread lasagna, a recipe that I found in the cookbook (or blog) Vegan Yum Yum and which I've made before and loved.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/golden-potato-
leek-soup-with-cheddar-toasts-10000001108277

But I was determined to make the potato soup.

http://www.blendradioandtv.com/Thornton_Winery/potato-soup.htm

So I did. And do you know what happened?

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamy
-potato-soup-10000000523214

I failed.

http://dandelionmama.wordpress.com/2008
/10/15/recipe-easy-baked-potato-soup/

So I'm posting pictures of other people's potato soup that look really tasty.

http://www.cottonpatch.com/menu
/nacogdoches-sal.php

Really though, there's a restaurant in town called Cotton Patch, which I think is spreading out now to many other towns, but may only be in Texas. They have the best potato soup, so Husband always asks, "Why make it at home when we can drive five minutes and be done with it?"

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/loaded
-potato-soup-10000002012818

Because I want to win. That's why.

http://livinginthekitchenwithpuppies.
blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

The next version I'm making is one my grandmother told me about yesterday. Boil a peeled potato in water until it's so tender it falls apart. Drain the water, add milk and butter and stir until thickened, then add cheese and bacon. Sounds too easy to mess up, even for me.

Chicken Gumbo, Yo

Something new!  Something successful! I kicked off two of my 2011 things to accomplish last night with this Chicken Gumbo Soup from a cookbook that my mom gave me for Christmas, Simply Soup. First, it was a new recipe, made in an allergy friendly manner. Second, I froze four servings to eat later. Although I had to send Husband to the store for okra and an onion, I'm still proud of myself!

This was no wheat day, so I used Rye flour instead of all-purpose flour and was a little scared that the substitution would ruin the soup, but it was still pretty good.  You know, I didn't even think to research what type of flour would be best (besides regular) for soups.   It is intimidating how many different types of flour are out there.  I purchased soy, rye and brown rice flour from my country bumpkin Kroger last week, so just think what you would be able to get at a "real" grocery store.

A note on the meat - I bought a carton of chicken broth to use, but it was only 4 cups. Because I used boiled chicken breasts, I was able to use an extra cup of the "chick breast stock" to make the full 5 cups.  Also, Husband grilled the garlic sausage the previous night and it did not taste good at all. But the flavor really came out when it was cooked in the soup, so don't judge the garlic sausage if you've never had it.  It was the perfect thing, and the best part of the soup in my opinion.

Other changes to the recipe: I added a can of kidney beans with the tomatoes and used brown rice rather than white rice. I also dosed the gumbo with chili powder at the last minute. And because bell peppers are not on the list of things to eat for the next month, no green bell peppers for this girl's gumbo. I had a severe allergy attack just cutting a poblano pepper the other day. Really, I'm not kidding. You woulda thought I was chopping giant mutant venomous jalapaños (Why does spellcheck want to change that to Galapanos?).

Easy empanada-muffins

I've been wanting to try this ever since Saturday when I made a pizza like version at my parents' house.  This was so much better... and counts as my new dairy/egg free recipe for this week. And it was so easy, Katie could do it!

These little creations are like a cross between an empanada and a muffin, hence the creative name I gave them, Easy empanada muffins.  I was inspired to make them in muffin tins after bumping into the Cowgirl Chef on blogger and stumbling upon her recipe for eggplant, tomato and feta muffins.  She is a texas native that lives in Paris, and her website features lots of mexican foods and Texas classics with "french twists." 

All you need for this recipe is a filling of your choice and Pillsbury crescent rolls.  I used left over taco meat (made with ground buffalo and a package of taco seasoning, a can of Rotel chopped tomatoes (drained) and a chopped onion), tomatoes, bell peppers, "tamed" jalapenos, left over sauteed onions, yellow squash (I know it doesn't sound like it belongs here, but it was a use-it-or-lose-it situation), and some salt and pepper.  I chopped the veggies in my food processor and tossed them in a pan.  When they were soft, I added the taco meat to warm it up.  If there is alot of liquid in your mixture, you might want to cook it out.  

I took the mixture off the heat and proceeded to the next step, but I think if you let the filling cool, it would work better.  I've read a quick cooling tip in Cooking for Food Allergies Everyday and Gourmet: spread the mixture out flat on a plate and stick it in the freeze for 5 minutes before using.  

I mixed in some real shredded cheese to a small amount of the mixture for Pres, but used Tofutti soy cream cheese for the majority of the filling.  I used one large package (8 rolls) and one small package (4 rolls) of Pillsbury crescent rolls.  Rather than separating the dough at the perforated marks, I pushed the perforations together with my finger and cut the dough into little squares.

I put about a tablespoon of the filling in the center of each square and roughly folder the corners up so they met in the center.  I then put each empanada-muffin into the muffin pan, which I had spritzed lightly with olive oil.

I cooked them for ten minutes at 375 degrees.  They were a little soft on top, so if you would like them more crispy, I guess you would cook them at a lower temp. for longer time...?  However, I don't need to worry about that because I don't like things crispy!

Let them cool before removing from the pan, or they might fall apart.  And there you go... easy goodness that can quickly switch between cheesy and dairy/egg free.  If you leave out the meat or substitute tofu, it's vegan! 

And you also have my first real recipe post, although I know I didn't really put a recipe on here.  But that's just me.  I'm not great with directions, and when you get them out of me, they are going to be of the East Texas turn-right-at-the-big-oak-tree sort.  Naturally, it would be the same for a recipe.

Adventures in Dinner Sitting

Crab cakes! These were a little harder than meatloaf. Either they fell apart very easily or I misremember the consistency of crab cakes. I fried these, but I have 4 more in the fridge that I'm going to bake later this weekend. Even if they fell apart, they were still good! Thank you Libby Avery for Cooking for Food Allergies Everyday & Gourmet.

I also made a white bean and eggplant hummus that I watched Giada make the other day. Yes, we are on a first name basis. Giada's hummus was probably better than mine but only because I had to work in batches due to my janky food processor. She put about 1/3 cup of olive oil in her hummus, but her olive oil must have been way better than mine because 1/3 cup of olive oil from my pantry was not a good choice. I doctored it with what I should have used originally: the lemon flavored olive oil from Texas Olive Ranch that I bought at Gruene a few weekends ago. Yum!