Cranberries and Broccoli and Carrots, Oh My!

It's Friday night, we have six days until we leave, and we still have produce in the fridge. Oh my!

Last night we did a stir fry. Who says that you can't use leftovers in a stir fry? We cooked up some jasmine rice and tossed in chopped crystallized ginger when it was done cooking, removed from heat, put the lid on - amazing, easy, could eat this three times a week no problem. Then we cut some fresh broccoli into florets (leftover from when we had roasted broccoli), sliced baby carrots thinly (trying to finish off the bag), thinly wedged half an onion that was hanging out in the fridge, and sliced a leftover grilled ribeye steak (great way to make one moderate sized steak feed two people). Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil or wok oil in a skillet heated over medium heat, toss in the veggies, and stir fry. I put a little water in after five minutes (maybe a couple tablespoons) and put the lid on to gently steam the broccoli. Remove from heat, toss in the steak, put the lid on, and by the time you have the plates out and the rice dished up, the steak has been heated through but not really cooked more.

Tonight is french bread pizza. Day old french bread bought at a reduced price, cut in half, and frozen has been pulled from the freezer to thaw on the counter (won't take long, maybe 30 minutes). Usually I cook down plain tomato sauce until thick enough to be pizza sauce, but tonight it's clean out the fridge, so we're using leftover spaghetti sauce as the pizza sauce. Top with cheese that needs to be used and some pepperoni that was in the freezer (takes 5 minutes to thaw enough to pull apart, if that), and we have S's pizza. For the grown ups, we'll top with lots of stuff from the fridge, whatever is at hand. There's a bell pepper in there, so pepperoni, bell pepper, maybe some onion or thinly sliced garlic. Leftover grilled chicken, pork chops, and steak make great toppings when thinly sliced and added at the very end of baking. Even kielbasa and taco meat work out great!

One other thing that I'll be making either tonight or tomorrow morning is cranberry almond coffee cake, a big favorite for S and for me. It's just as good using frozen cranberries as it is fresh cranberries, so this is one of my recipes I like to make in the depths of winter with cranberries I've stashed in the freezer. The golden color of the coffee cake, studded with brilliant red cranberries, wafting the aroma of almonds and cranberries is delightful, and paired with the tender but firm texture, the smooth almond flavor, and the pop of the cranberry tartness is something that draws me back again and again. I make my own almond paste, but you might be able to find it in your grocery store, especially with the holidays upon us. One batch of almond paste makes three of these coffee cakes. Buy up some fresh cranberries and stash them in your freezer to make this for the holidays! In fact, this recipe looks like it would also work with blueberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, or cherries, so maybe do some experimenting and enjoy the results!

Cranberry Almond Coffee Cake
1/2 c. almond paste
6 T. butter or margarine, softened (3/4 stick)
1/2 c. sugar plus 2 T sugar for sprinkling on top
3 eggs or 3/4 c. egg substitute
1 1/3 c. flour, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. fresh or frozen cranberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8" square baking dish.
In a small mixing bowl, cream almond paste, butter, and 1/2 c. sugar until fluffy.
Add two eggs, beating well after adding each one.
Combine 1 cup flour and baking powder; add to creamed mixture.
Beat in the remaining egg and flour.
Stir in the extracts.
Gently fold in the cranberries
Spread evenly into the prepared baking dish; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Almond Paste
1 1/2 c. blanced almonds (I like to use sliced, it comes together faster)
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp salt

Place almonds in a food processor; cover and process until smooth.
Add the remaining ingredients; cover and process until smooth.
Divide almond paste into 1/2 cup portions; place in airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 1 month or freeze for up to 3 months.

Both recipes are from Taste of Home.

Using Up the Jam

Life last week was crazy, but I'm back! Next week we go on a trip to see family for the holiday, so for the next 10 days, I'm going to tackle two things that are pressing issues in my kitchen right now: using the bags and bags of fresh cranberries we found at Sam's and using up as many leftovers and odds and ends in the fridge as we can before we leave. I canned 13 pints and 13 pint-and-a-half jars of cran-applesauce on Saturday, so there went 3 of my 8 bags (each bag is 3 pounds) of cranberries. Tonight's dinner will be grilled chicken, steamed veggies, and surprise muffins, our all time favorite way to use up the bits of jam in the fridge. Surprise muffins are extremely versatile, and everyone in our family loves them. I've done them not only with the basic muffins but also with cornbread muffins, so take your pick! The cran-applesauce would be a great addition to your holiday dinner table, and you can either freeze it or can it. I use a Foley food mill to puree my sauce, but I know other people have an attachment for their food processor, and still others like to peel and core the apples, then use a ricer or potato masher to make a chunkier sauce. If you've never canned before, buy a Ball Blue Book for $5 - $6 and check out the step-by-step instructions!

Surprise Muffins
1 egg or 1/4 c. egg substitute
1 c. milk or soy milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
jam of choice

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin papers.
Beat egg, then stir in milk and oil.
Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be slightly lumpy.
Fill muffin cups 1/3 full. Put 1/2 - 1 tsp of jam on top in the center. Put more batter in the muffin cup until 2/3 full.
Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Lesser amounts of jam will result in a hidden center of warm jam in each muffin. Greater amounts of jam will result in some breakthroughs, so there will be the warm jam middle but some evidence of it on the outside.
Try with cornbread muffins too, making centers of pepper jelly, lime jelly, honey jelly, etc.
Original muffin recipe is the popular muffin recipe from old Betty Crocker cookbooks.
Makes 12 muffins.

Cran-applesauce
4 1/2 lb sweet apples, bad spots removed - core and peel if not using a food mill
1 1/2 lb fresh or frozen cranberries (not craisins!)
1 c. water
Put all ingredients in a 6-8 qt pot with a lid, cover, and cook on medium-high until apples are soft and falling apart and cranberries are burst, about 20 minutes.
Mill using a food mill. If not milling, put the mix through a ricer or mash with a potato masher.
The sauce is done. No kidding! Now you may serve, freeze, or can.
If freezing: pour/ladle into freezer containers, cool, put lids on, label, and freeze.
If canning: ladle into prepared/sterilized jars, put on prepared lids and bands, and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.
Makes 9 cups.

Soup in a Hurry

Today is still chilly and cloudy, and the bathroom painting project that should have taken one day is on day two. On top of all that, I work this evening, so dinner is going to be disjointed again!

One of our favorite fall back plans is soup, and one of my favorites is clean-out-the-fridge soup. I keep a thickened tomato broth in my pantry, made from simmering ripe tomatoes and then putting them through a food mill, producing a smooth, slightly thick "juice" to which I add some herbs and then can. I will put a quart of this tomato broth into a pot, then add all sorts of leftovers from my fridge and freezer. Corn or green beans from the freezer, slice up the leftover sausage from last night's dinner or chunk/shred the last of the rotisserie chicken you bought two nights ago, chop up the half an onion sitting in the fridge, toss in some leftover small pasta, heat it all through in about 10 minutes on medium-high, and we'll have hot soup in 15 minutes total prep and cook time. This can be vegetarian or even vegan, loaded with meat, or whatever you want. Substitute a big can of V8 for the homemade tomato broth. Sprinkle the soup with croutons, shredded cheese, whatever you think goes together.

Our version tonight will be tomato broth, sausage crumbles, corn, onion, and pasta with some rolls warmed up from the freezer or maybe some french bread (we buy a big loaf of french bread, slice it, then put all the slices back in the bag, and freeze, pulling out slices as we need them - they thaw on the counter in under 10 minutes). Leftovers can be frozen or eaten over the next couple of days.

What do I do with the leftovers?

It's a perfect storm for kitchen trouble right now: pay day which means a trip to the grocery store and a trip to Sam's Club, ripening produce in the garden, and a fridge full of leftovers. There is nothing wrong with leftovers, but I'm going to need that fridge space in a couple days! Hello, freezer!

Tonight's dinner will be omelets using the leftover grilled venison from Monday. There are a few marinated mushrooms floating in the jar in the fridge, and we'll slice them and stuff them in the omelets too, freeing up even more fridge space. Tuesday's chili will be portioned into rectangular 1 cup snack containers and stacked in the freezer; tomorrow I'll pop the chili "bricks" out and put them two to a quart bag and put back in the freezer - I even have toddler shoe boxes that will hold them upright. Last night's venison tips in gravy is going to be a little more work. I have a desire to have meat pies in the freezer again, so I'll thin the gravy slightly with a bit of broth, pull the chunks of meat into bite size pieces, add in sliced carrots, chopped onion, diced baked potato, frozen peas, and heat it all to get the gravy moving. No recipe because it's all tailor made for each cook and done by feel. Roll out pie crusts to fit foil individual pot pie pans (the secrets to the pie crust: use lard, a basic crust recipe, and roll out between sheets of plastic wrap so you aren't incorporating more flour which toughens crusts!). One recipe for a double crust 10" deep dish pie crust will make four pot pies with double crusts (crusts on top and bottom). Assemble, freeze, wrap well in foil, and label. When we want meat pies, we pull out of the freezer, preheat the oven to 350, and bake for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. I know every single thing that went into them, they are homemade, and they are convenience food - fantastic!

On a side note from yesterday's post, the cake was wonderful! Moist, firm, flavorful, and easy. I highly recommend it!

I'm also planning tomorrow's dinner already. We'll have chicken fajitas on a Friday night - perfect! I keep BL/SL (boneless skinless) chicken breasts in Chili's copycat fajita marinade in the freezer. I will pull a bag of this chicken out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw today, and tomorrow evening I will have thawed chicken that has been marinating as it thaws. More to follow tomorrow!