Holiday Cranberry Sauce

This freshly made cranberry sauce has become a staple at our Thanksgiving dinner. I was never a big fan of cranberry sauce until I tried this one.

Every Thanksgiving my dad had to have his cranberry sauce. The only problem was that he always bought the cranberry sauce in a can. I think this is why I never cared for it because to me it tasted like the can.

For fifteen years now my daughter has been making this delicious cranberry sauce from a recipe she found in a Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving Guide.

I'm sure my dad would have loved this cranberry sauce, much better than out of a can, I know I do.

Holiday Cranberry Sauce Recipe:

• 2 cups of unfiltered apple cider
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 - 12oz. bags of fresh cranberries

Here is how you make it:

1. In a medium to a large non-aluminum saucepan, combine the apple cider, sugar water, and cinnamon stick
2. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer a light boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar
3. Add the 2 bags of cranberries; bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the cranberries have burst (about 10 minutes)
4. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool to room temperature, transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for a least 24 hours
5. Remove the cinnamon stick and let the sauce come to room temperature before serving
6. The sauce must be prepared at least 24 hours in advance and can be prepared up to 3 days in advance.

As always Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy it.

The Best of Thanksgiving (Williams-Sonoma)

 

A Summer Salad

Sometimes it’s just too hot to cook inside even here in Western New York. We needed to come up with dinner the other night so we put together this salad with whatever we had on hand.

Fran started off with a mixture of greens that were in the refrigerator, some romaine, leaf, and iceberg lettuce, and filled up a large bowl. Then she crumbled up four strips of crispy bacon on top.

Next, she added some red onions, diced tomatoes, sliced fresh zucchini, and cucumber just picked from our friend’s garden, and to top it off shredded cheddar cheese.

While she was doing all of that I fired up the grill and grilled a boneless chicken breast. We cut up the chicken breast, whipped up some ranch dressing and created a nice summer salad with whatever was on hand.

I went a step further with my salad and added fresh ground black pepper, almonds and some raisins.

This made for a nice meal for just the two of us. So if you’re stuck for a quick dinner just put together what you have.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed.

Lipper International 8203-4 Bamboo Wood Salad Bowls, Small, 7Lipper International 1174 Acacia Wave Serving Bowl for Fruits or Salads, Large, 12Lipper International 294-3 Cherry Finished Wavy Rim Serving Bowl with 2 Salad Hands, Large, 13

Why I Love My KitchenAid Stand Mixer

In today’s busy world we need all the help we can muster, especially in the kitchen. My KitchenAid is a real time saver for me.

I have a passion for making homemade pizza, bread, and homemade pasta. My mixer makes short work of the dough for any of these.

Just add the ingredients attach the dough hook and turn it on. I have a nice batch of fresh dough for my homemade pizza in about 5 minutes.

There is nothing like the smell of homemade baked goods coming from the oven. What did you say? You like homemade cookies; well this mixer will help cut the time to mix your favorite cookie dough or batter.

 With the time you save you could be helping the kids with their homework, or talking with a friend on phone. I love oatmeal raisin cookies, and mixing up a batch in the KitchenAid is really easy.

Here is my quick and easy pizza dough recipe:

5 1/2 to 6 cups of all-purpose flour
2 package of dry yeast
3 tablespoons of oil or Crisco
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/4 cups of warm water

All I have to do now is put all of these ingredients into my Kitchen Aid bowl, attach the dough hook and turn it on. In about 3 minutes I have enough dough to make 2 fresh homemade pizzas.

  Get the recipe for homemade pizza here

Some Features of My Mixer

I have the one pictured it's the 6-quart Professional Mixer, and it comes with a Flat Beater, Wire Wisk, and A Dough Hook. You'll find that these tools are able to take on many tasks to assist you in the kitchen.

Here is a fresh batch of dough for my homemade Cavatelli.

  Get the recipe here for homemade Cavatelli.

A video of the many attachments and their uses

As always Thanks for stopping by and enjoy.

KitchenAid RRK150BK 5 Qt. Artisan Series Stand Mixer - Imperial Black (Renewed)KitchenAid NEW 7 Quart Bowl Lift Stand Mixer with Double Flex Edge Beater KSM70SK, Empire Red