Nana Nita's: November 2010

I do not like the cranberry sauce from the can! I don’t care for just relish,uncooked ground cranberries. I kind of like a combination of the two.

Here is what I did:

2 cups of fresh cranberries

1 orange (I used a tangelo because that is what I had)

1/4 cup crushed pineapple

1/2 red apple chopped small

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp butter (real)

1 cup of sugar

Put washed cranberries in food processor . Prepare orange : Wash the orange, cut orange in half and in quarters, then cut the white part that comes up the center of the orange ,discard. I cut mine into smaller pieces because i used a tangelo and I needed to get seeds out ,but if you use a navel orange you won’t need to do that. cut off the ends of orange. Put small pieces in processor. Add crushed pineapple and chop till ground up until all small and uniform. Put in small sauce pan and add sugar and the chopped apple, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste to make sure it is sweet enough. Add vanilla and butter, stir and set off heat to cool. This can be done ahead of time and frozen .

I Also like to have Pumpkin scones made up and in the freezer for breakfast on those busy mornings with company , this is one less thing that you have to do. Just take them from the freezer and let them thaw for about 30 minutes before baking. I made these right after I made the cranberry relish and I did not clean the food processor left the orange and stuff in there and you get some added flavor for your scones.

Pumpkin Cranberry Scones with spiced glaze

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 3 Tblsp sugar

1 Tblsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp ginger

6 Tblsp cold butter cut into cubes

1/4 cup fresh whole cranberries or dried

1/cup canned pumpkin

3 Tblsp half & half

1 egg

If you are going to bake them now preheat oven to *425

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In bowl of food processor put first 7 ingredients and pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse till it resembles course corn meal. Put cranberries in and pulse till they are chopped in small pieces.

In small separate bowl mix pumpkin and cream and egg.

Pour in on dry and pulse until dough forms ,DO NOT OVER WORK DOUGH. If it is dry add a bit of cream.

Dump out on floured surface and flatten out into a square (about1 inch thick) and cut across dough in an X and then cut pieces until you have twelve scones. At this point I put them on cookie sheet and will freeze them until I need them .

To bake : *425 for 14 to 16 minutes until light brown. While the scones are baking mix up glaze .

1 cup plus 3 Tblsps powdered sugar

2 Tblsp cream

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of ginger and cloves

Stir together and when the scones have cooled somewhat drizzle glaze over scones! Yummy

You can add orange zest if you like in the scones and in the glaze. Serve with coffee!!

I like to have several soups made for the family that come early and stays after. I have cooked the Turkey dinner and I really don’t want to be cooking big meals before or after.

Potato & Corn Jalapeño Chowder

Now the joy of this is you can use your leftover mashed potatoes if you have any. If not you can just use fresh potatoes.

3 cups left over mashed potatoes, or 3 to 4 large potatoes cut up,unpeeled

2 to 3 ears of corn cut off the cob and the milk of the corn

1 can chicken broth

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion chopped

1 clove garlic minced

1 jalapeño chopped( if you don’t want as much heat take out seeds and white membrane)

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tblsp corn starch

1 cup cream

6 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Put potatoes, corn, chicken broth in slow cooker. In small skillet sauté onions and garlic and jalapeños until the onions are translucent. Add to Crockpot salt and pepper to taste. Cook until potatoes are soft (6hour low –4 on high) if you would like it smooth, mash with masher or immersion blender for just a bit.

Mix cream and corn starch and and add to soup and let it cook until it is thickened. When serving top with bacon and cheese. It is so good. You can make many additions to this … Chicken, shrimp, crab. It is all yummy and very easy.