Thanksgiving – Three Berries in One Wonderful Cranberry Sauce

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blueberries, blueberry, Pioneer Woman, raspberries, raspberry, very berry cranberry sauce

One of the things you can do a couple days in advance of the holiday is make your cranberry sauce. I’ll admit that I have often used canned cranberry sauce, because I had yet to find a homemade recipe that made the work of making from scratch worthwhile. That definitely changed after I made this last year!

I recently watched the TV special Pioneer Woman’s Ultimate Thanksgiving again. One of the recipes she shared on that special was Very Berry Cranberry Sauce. I made this recipe last year and my husband and I agree; YUMMMMM! It will definitely be gracing our Thanksgiving table again this year!

It has the usual tangy flavor and bright color that you would expect from cranberry sauce, but this sauce sports more than just cranberries! It also has raspberries, blueberries and a surprise ingredient. Whiskey!!! I was worried that the whiskey would overpower the fruit flavors, but that was not the case at all! That flavor is really not distinctive, it blends in to simply make a great, fruity tasting sauce! The 3 different berries are what really make it!

So thanks to Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman! I would like to share her recipe.

Very Berry Cranberry Sauce

2 bags fresh cranberries
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup whiskey (I used Jack Daniels)
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
Put the first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan and stir. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. When boiling, lower heat to low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining berries and cook for an additional 4 minutes. I noticed a lot of whole cranberries still, so I used my potato masher to gently mash it a little and break up the berries. Remove from heat, cool and refrigerate until cold and thick.
The original recipe says it makes 24 servings. I can believe it’s that many small servings. It makes quite a bit.
Super simple and it tastes fantastic! 
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Hershey’s Chocolate Collector’s Cake – The Perfect Treat for Your Valentine!

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baking, Chocolate Cake, Cooking, Food, Hershey's, recipe, Valentine's Day, vegetarian

  

Back when my husband and I first started dating (30+ years ago), I baked this cake for him. Ever since then, we’ve joked about it being my recipe to catch a man! Anyway, if you’ve got someone who likes chocolate they wil LOVE this cake!!! The recipe even gives you options for dialing up the chocolate in the frosting. So reel in your Valentine with this chocolatey goodness!!!

I cannot take credit for developing this recipe. It came from a. Hershey’s Cocoa Cookbook that I got from my mother. In looking at the book, I see the copyright is 1979. These recipes are time tested and husband approved!

Hershey’s Collector Cake

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Hershey’s cocoa

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cups water

Cream butter and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; beat 1 minute at medium speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add alternately with water to creamed mixture. Pour batter into two greased and floured 8 – 9 inch layer pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes for 8-inch layers or 30-35 minutes for 9-inch layers or until cake tester comes out clean.. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Cool completely and then frost.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

Hershey’s Cocoa – 1/4 cup for light flavor, 1/2 cup for medium, 3/4 cup for dark 

2 2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar

6 tbsp butter or margerine

4-5 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Choose amount of cocoa for flavor you prefer and combine with confecttioners’ sugar. Cream butter with 1/2 cup of cocoa mixture in a small bowl. Add remaining coca mixture alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency. Blend in vanilla. For a glossier frosting, add 1 tbsp corn syrup.

Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Mexican Melt Over Rice – Simply Delectable!!!

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casserole, Cooking, Easy, Food, Mexican, recipe, vegetarian

 This recipe looks so simple and complete delectable! My family loves all foods Mexican, so this one is a no brainer! Gotta try it!

If you need a quick and easy dinner, this one is for you. This is a new favorite at my house, and was beyond easy, so that’s an even bigger plus. I put the chicken in my slow cooker before I left for work, and shredded it when I got home. Which made things soooo […]

https://samanthaexplainsit.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/mexican-melt-over-rice/

Buffalo Cauliflower

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buffalo, cauliflower, Cooking, Food, vegan, vegetarian

Who knew cauliflower was so versatile? I didn’t until the last year or so! You can get the pickiest of eaters to gobble this vegetable down by disguising it like this recipe does or as fried rice or cous cous as I have shared in previous recipes. I’m dying to try this one!

Adeline Alley

In November Julia and I went with friends to one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants, and had one of the best appetizers ever – buffalo cauliflower. I am normally not a huge cauliflower fan – I like it just fine, but it’s never anything I think about making or ordering. This cauliflower was fantastic, and it seemed like it had to be easy to make so I set out to do just that.

In the midst of college football bowl games whip this easy appetizer or side dish up and everyone will love it without the guilt of wings.

Buffalo Cauliflower

(Serves 2-4)

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets

1 Tbs. canola oil

1/3 c. Frank’s Red Hot

1 Tbs. butter or Earth Balance

1 Tbs. blue cheese crumbles

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400

Toss cauliflower with 1 Tbs. Canola oil

Black pepper and pinch of…

View original post 59 more words

Pico de Gallo Spaghetti

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Cooking, gluten-free, pasta, pico de gallo, recipe, spaghetti, vegan, vegetarian

 I’m reblogging this post by someone else as it sounds DELISH! My niece recently posted a picture of her toddler eating salsa with a spoon when out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. He is obviously related to us! My brother-in-law has cautioned people about sitting too close to my sister and I when eating salsa as they might experience a tomato rash from the salsa splashing as we shovel it into our faces. We LOVE salsa!!! That’s why I thought this pasta was perfect for us. I can’t wait to try it!

Hi All, One of my favorite combinations. Pico de Gallo & Spaghetti noodles! Fresh, light, and basilicious! Basil is the best smell in the world, other than coffee. Obviously, my inspiration for this dish came when I was eating a big bowl of pico de gallo. My mind immediately went to ‘why couldn’t I add […]

http://glutenfreeginger.com/2016/02/09/pico-de-gallo-spaghetti/

Turkey & Red Lentil Soup – Savory and Hearty Goodness!!!

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Cooking, Food, red lentils, soup, Sweet potatoes, Turkey, vegan, vegetarian

  
I had some red lentils left over from the soup I made a few days ago. I thought I might as well throw those in a pot and get creative. I didn’t feel like going vegetarian this time, so I added some ground turkey, but you could leave that out of the recipe. This turned out to be a very savory, hearty and delicious dinner for my family. They really enjoyed it! This recipe could easily be adapted to make it vegan friendly.

As I frequently do, I thought I would sneak some vegetables into the soup. This kept it to a one pot meal, so all I had to do was serve the soup and folks could grab a slice of the bread I made to go with it. I happened to have sweet potatoes on hand, so I diced a couple of these up and added them to the soup. After cooking with the lentils for quite a while, these sweet potatoes melted like butter in your mouth when eating the soup. Yumm!!!

Now I got creative with the spices in this version. You might not have some of the spices I used in your pantry, but that’s OK. As I always say, play with your food! Give your spices a smell and taste a little and see if you think it would add an interesting dimension to your dish. You might discover a new flavor profile that you love!

Turkey & Red Lentil Soup

1 ½ cups red lentils

5 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

2 tsp cumin

¼ tsp saffron

¼ tsp cardamom

½ tsp ginger

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced or 1 tbsp canned, diced jalapeno

4 fresh basil leave, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, pressed or diced

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 red onion, diced

1 pound ground turkey

Salt and pepper to taste

I chose to cook mine in my Dutch oven on the stove top, but you could also put this in a slow cooker, but if you’re doing this you’ll want to cook it on low for 6-8 hours. Using the Dutch oven, my cook time was about 2 hours total.

Put lentils and broth in pot and bring to a simmer over medium low heat. Add next 9 ingredients (sweet potatoes, beans and spices) to lentil pot. In a frying pan, cook ground turkey and onions. Cook until turkey is browned and onions are soft and translucent. Add turkey and onions to soup pot. Continue to simmer. For the last 30 minutes, tilt the lid to allow some of the liquid to cook off. You may need to increase the heat a bit to maintain a simmer. You want to allow your lentils about 2 hours total cook time. Salt and pepper your soup to taste.

Enjoy!

Meatless Monday

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Cooking, Food, Healthy Cooking, low-fat, Meatless Monday, recipe, vegan, vegetarian

 I don’t think my family could handle going vegetarian, but we do try to eat meat-free meals once or twice a week. I love finding new recipes for doing this and this blog post sounded delicious!

Looking to kick the week off right? Try starting Meatless Monday. For those of you that do eat meat, I would definitely encourage you to try this as it is an excellent initiative that can really drive change for us. Aside from the health benefits, going meatless once a week can also help reduce our carbon […]

https://andtravelwell.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/meat-free-mondays/

Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes

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Cooking, Food, recipe, side dish, Sweet potatoes, twice baked, vegetable, vegetarian

  Thought I would share this post from another author. I had never thought of making twice baked potatoes with sweet potatoes. Enjoy!

Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes, spinach, chickpeas, Italian cheese blend, garlic plus seasoning, salt, pepper I used this recipe   This dish was even better than I expected! I love love love chickpeas and sweet potatoes, so when I stumbled upon this yummy vegetarian recipe I knew I’d hit the jackpot. All the flavours work […]

https://foodannmadetoday.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/twice-baked-sweet-potatoes/

Red Lentil Soup – An Awesome Lowfat, Yet Hearty Soup

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Cooking, cumin, Food, lentils, recipe, red lentil, slow cooker, soup, vegan, vegetarian

  
I don’t know why, but with all the soups I make I had not made lentil soup until just recently. I’ve used regular lentils and last night I made a red lentil soup that was just fantastic! I’m a convert! Lentil soup it is! This red lentil soup had a curry flair to it and was a little bit spicy, which I love!

Lentils are more than just a tasty soup ingredient. They are a very healthy addition to your meal. All types of lentils have similar nutritional values. They are virtually fat free and an excellent source of protein, iron, fiber and vitamin B.

This particular soup was very low in fat and calories. It could easily be made vegan by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth that I used.

I can’t take credit for creating this recipe. There was no author, but it came out of the Something Extra magazine that Raleys supermarket puts out.

Red Lentil Soup

2 tbsp olive oil

4 garlic cloves, diced or pressed

1 large onion, finely diced

3 carrots,  peeled and finely diced

1 – 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

Zest and juice from one lemon

2 tbsp toasted cumin seeds (I put mine in a dry frying pan and sautéed over medium high heat for a couple of minutes until fragrant)

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tbsp ground cumin

5 cups vegetable or chicken broth (I used my home made turkey broth)

2 cups red lentils (I found these in the bulk section of my grocery store)

2 tbsp tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, cook for 5 minutes or until onions are translucent.
2. Add all ingredients, except salt and pepper, to slow cooker and stir. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste at the end of cooking time. 

As shown in the picture, I served mine with sliced avocado. The avocado cut the spice nicely. Cilantro would also be good.

Enjoy!

Roasted Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes and Carrots – Sneaking Those Vegetables In!

  
As I’ve mentioned before, I take pride in getting picky eaters to eat their vegetables. To be honest, sometimes I’m tricking myself into eating my veggies! My younger daughter and I both don’t care much for cooked carrots, but other family members enjoy them, so I’m always trying ways to incorporate them in a way that keeps every one happy. This savory, hearty side dish did the trick!

Everyone in our family LOVES potatoes, so the combination of carrots with russet and sweet potatoes was a big hit! In most of my meals I include a meat, a veggie and a starch. The great thing about this dish is it covers both the veggie and the starch category. It’s so hearty that this one side dish is plenty filling, but with the sweet potatoes and carrots it is really good for you too!

Roasted Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, and Carrots

2 russet potatoes, washed and scrubbed

2 sweet potatoes, washed and scrubbed

2 carrots, washed and scrubbed

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 tbsp garlic olive oil (or use regular oliveo oil and add a diced or pressed garlic clove)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to I purposely left the skin on all the veggies to retain all the vitamins, but you can peel if you prefer. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and then spread on a baking sheet in a single layer.