Sweet Potato Cranberry Cheese Melt

I intended to contribute some sweet potato pie for a Thanksgiving Get Together in addition to the cranberry sauce. So much for intentions....

I had a lot of precooked sweet potatoes that desperately needed eating.  I had a lot of cranberry sauce leftover too.  (I made enough, we could of eaten it as the main course.)

I was worn out from eating and visiting the day before. Necessity is the mother of invention, so......


Sweet Potato Cranberry Cheese Melt

1. Mash cool to touch sweet potato in bottom of baking dish.  
2. Layer spoonfuls of cranberry sauce on top.
3. Dot with butter chunks.
4. Salt generously.
5. Layer white cheese of choice.  I used mozzarella, but a nice Jack or Havarti would work too.
6. Bake @ 300* for 20-30 minutes.

This taste ok cool and I ended up making some again for lunch to go the next day too.

Later incarnations involved coconut oil fried, white corn tortillas...even better!

See Ya In The Gumbo 
Heart and Soul Hop 
Scratch Cookin' Tuesday 
Simple Lives Thursday

Ahhh....Breakfast!

Home Smoked Turkey Drumstick with Warmed Orange Cranberry Sauce

The leftover cranberry sauce was already in pyrex, so I took the legs sent home with me in a doggy bag and put them in a small pyrex tray and put everything in the toaster oven.  The default setting on my oven is 30 minutes at 300*, perfect for reheating just about anything.

The turkey was purchased from a local grower who raises them on pasture with non GMO feed.   This was a "runt" at 11 lbs.  My friend likes to brine her birds and her husband smokes them using a blend of real woods.  I think hickory and pecan were part of this years batch.  Good stuff...especially the dark meat!


Friday Potluck
Friday Food

Orange Cranberry Gelatin (updated)

This is what I intended to make: No Stir Cranberry Sauce

• At about 6 PM last night, I discovered that my apple juice concentrate was from 2007 and it smelled/tasted horrible.
• I substituted frozen grape juice, mixed all the ingredients together (including adding a stick of cinnamon and star anise, in addition to cloves) and waited for the cooker to come up to pressure.  It smelled SOOOO good putting it in the pot, I was really looking forward to it.
• About 15 minutes later, I SMELLED the steam releasing from the pressure cooker.  Not good, it was burnt! It's been so long since I used the cooker, I think the burner was too high AND the gelatin was too sticky.
• After waiting for the cooker to cool, we cleaned and scrubbed (baking soda works GREAT, BTW!) and started over.
• Second can of grape juice concentrate was stinky too, cardboard container instead of plastic like the first.
• The chickens ate well last night........

This is what I actually made:  Orange Cranberry Gelatin

Looks more like strawberries than cranberries, doesn't it?

It tastes wonderful.  The only thing I don't like about it is the muddy red color it has compared to the vibrant, bright red I get with apple juice concentrate.  The star anise and cloves didn't smell right with the OJ, so I left them out.

Ingredients:
2 - 10 oz bags cranberries
1 can OJ frozen concentrate
1 cinnamon stick

1.5 cups beef gelatin
1 cup cane sugar
1 TBS COT
2 large pinches of salt
1 cup Apple Cider
or
1/2 -1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar####

Heat first 2 ingredients on medium heat in a pressure cooker until OJ is melted.  Blend remaining dry ingredients together, then sprinkle on top of wet ingredients.  I added some apple cider to the top because it didn't seem "wet" enough. DON'T MIX.  Put lid of cooker and bring up to 15 lbs pressure, then remove from heat. Let cool naturally.

When safe to open, remove lid and much cranberries with a ricer/potato masher (circular press with small square holes).***  Remove cinnamon stick and chill until set.  Can be made ahead and served at room temperature or gently warmed.  Serve with Turkey or Ham!


#### This year I didn't have any apple juice/cider, so I experimented. I LOVED the ACV in the cranberries, perked it right up, gave it some personality, like a chutney. I may have added a little extra sugar, I don't remember.


***If you have issues that make small seeds a problem, go ahead and strain out the berries instead of crushing them.  You will get all of the flavor without the future discomfort.

Simple Lives Thursday
Full Plate Thursday 
Ingredient Spotlight: Cranberries

Quick and Easy (No stir, almost) Cranberry Sauce or Jelly

Ingredients:
1 bag cranberries (OG generally require less sugar)
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate
10-16 whole cloves OR a few dashes powdered clove
Pinch of salt
Cane Sugar/Cream of tartar to taste

For jelly, add a little beef gelatin in there too.

Using a stainless steel pressure cooker, add all ingredients to the cooker, mix and seal the lid.
Bring to 15 lbs of pressure and  turn off.  Wait until the pressure is naturally released and remove lid (this is about 10-15 minutes in total.)  Stir to break any whole berries, correct for seasoning (I like tart, some like syrup sweet) and serve at room temperature.  Can be made ahead, keeps for weeks.

P.S. Don't forget to fish out those whole cloves, if using.

Simply Delish

Cranberry Coconut Stew with Beef

Cranberry Coconut Stew with Beef  (8+ servings)
(fits a 4 quart slow cooker)

2 lbs Homegrown, grass fed beef, cubed 
1 package OG frozen Cranberries 
1 can Pineapple with juice
1 can Golden Star Coconut milk (no stabilizers or fillers)
8-10 TBS Beef Gelatin
8-10 TBS Cane sugar with Cream of tartar
Salt to taste 
1-2 TBS Green Thai Curry paste (optional)
1 Onion, sliced (optional)

I had asked for some GOAT stew meat to be brought up from the freezer...I guess the lighting was poor or something.  I prefer to use organic cranberries because the non organic I can get locally have all had an unpleasant bitterness I don't care for.  The price isn't much different because I buy them AFTER season and hoard.

I layered the beef on the bottom of the slow cooker, with the cranberries filling in around the still frozen blocks.  I mixed the dry ingredients together first, then sprinkled over the top.  The canned items were added next, with the curry paste and onion being an after thought.  I like the balance of sweet and tart and found that the salt counter balanced the sour as well.

There's enough acid in the broth that the gelatin stays fairly liquid even in the fridge.  Leftovers pour out of the jar instead of having to be carved out.

Food and Health Carnival 
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