Name: How to Make Cranberry Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Yield: 2 1/4 cups
Ingredients: 1 12-ounce bag fresh or cranberries (I freeze bags of fresh cranberries, and you can just use them straight from the freezer); 3/4 cup granulated sugar; 1 cup water OR the juice of one large orange plus enough water to make a cup; zest of one orange, optional

How to Make Cranberry Sauce

November 12, 2018

What are your thoughts on cranberry sauce? Do you hate it? Or do you like the log of cranberry sauce that comes out of a can, complete with the lines from the can completely intact? If fresh, homemade cranberry sauce is your Thanksgiving style, then this tutorial on how to make cranberry sauce is perfect for you!

Click here to save this recipe on Pinterest!

When I was growing up, my grandmother always made cranberry relish for Thanksgiving dinner. Fresh cranberries, whole oranges, and sugar, all ground up together. No cooking. I liked it okay but the bitterness of the orange pith made it a little much for my young tastebuds.

We really never ate the cranberry sauce that came out of a can, and honestly, I can’t even remember when or where I first tried it. I do remember, though, that when I did try it, I realized that I had been missing out on the deliciousness that is cranberry sauce.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

And then I figured out how to make homemade cranberry sauce. I fell in love, hard, and realized that the canned stuff that you slice is just gateway cranberry sauce. I promise you, canned cranberry sauce in no way compares to homemade cranberry sauce.

Cranberries are a truly amazing little fruit. They have little pockets of air in them, and as you cook them they pop open. Full of their own natural pectin, they thicken their own sauce without the addition of packaged pectin or other thickeners. Literally, all you need to make a delicious cranberry sauce are three ingredients:

Fresh cranberries
Sugar
Water

Cranberry Orange Sauce

I love how the flavor of orange pairs with the flavor of cranberry, so I always use some orange juice and zest to give my homemade cranberry sauce a little zip. But, if you don’t like orange or have another reason not to use it in your sauce, then just leave it out!
Click here to save this recipe to your Pinterest holiday cooking and sauce boards!

I call myself a cranberry hoarder because the second that cranberries show up in my grocery store, I start throwing a bag or two into my cart every week so that I can have frozen cranberries available all year. That way, I can have homemade cranberry sauce anytime I want it. Which means that year-round I can make my Instant Pot turkey breast and some cranberry sauce and have a Thanksgiving sandwich whenever. I. Want it.

And that, my friends, is a reason to be happy.

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

Mary

Yield: 2 1/4 cups

How to Make Cranberry Sauce

This recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen , whose recipe is adapted from Ocean Spray .

5 minPrep Time:

15 minCook Time:

20 minTotal Time:

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar

Ingredients

1 12-ounce bag fresh or cranberries (I freeze bags of fresh cranberries, and you can just use them straight from the freezer)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water OR the juice of one large orange plus enough water to make a cup
zest of one orange, optional

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except orange zest, if using, in a medium saucepan. Set over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened and all berries have burst. I use the spoon to gently mash the berries against the side of the pan to make sure they all burst. This takes 10-15 minutes total.
Stir in the orange zest, if using. Place the sauce into a covered container or jar and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or up to two months in the freezer.

https://chattavore.com/how-to-make-cranberry-sauce/

Easy Caesar Dressing (No-Egg Recipe) + Video

September 21, 2017

This easy Caesar dressing is easy to make in your blender or food processor and requires no eggs, so it lasts a long time. And it’s SO tasty! Scroll down for video.

Essentially, Caesar salad came into my life when Philip Haymaker came into my life. Well, when he came into my life full-time, anyway (since we knew each other for four years before we started dating).

I remember what he ordered on our first date: angel hair pasta with tomato-basil sauce and a Caesar salad. That was on a Tuesday night. We went out again on Friday…I don’t remember what entrée he ordered, but I remember this: he ordered a Caesar salad. And almost ever restaurant salad that he has ordered in the last fourteen and a half (!) years has been the same.

I don’t mean to imply that I had never encountered (or eaten) a Caesar salad before that first date. I recall a Caesar salad at a Red Lobster in California when I was visiting my aunt the summer before eighth grade. I also remember telling my mom about it and her saying, “Do you like Caesar salad?” in a shocked sort of way. It’s just that my family didn’t eat too many Caesar salads back then….most of our salads were of the iceberg variety, with tomatoes and maybe some green peppers or avocado mixed in, usually with a creamy ranch or blue cheese dressing. It’s actually funny to think about that now because my mom and my sister are pretty much completely enamored with Caesar salad these days and the four of us threaten each other with steak knives to see who’s going to get the last of the salad (not really but almost).

Caesar dressing is an enigma of sorts and there are all types of stories about what Caesar salad is supposed to be. You know what I say? Caesar salad is supposed to be good. I don’t think when Caesar Cardini threw together the first Caesar salad in his Tijuana hotel kitchen that he swore then and there under his breath to seek revenge on anyone that dared to change the recipe.

So here’s how it goes…you can put eggs in….or leave them out. You can use anchovies, or maybe you prefer paste (I do) or maybe you’d rather just use Worcestershire sauce (which contains anchovies)? Okay. Maybe you like your cheese shredded, or maybe you like it grated. Whatevs. Do you like to rub the bowl with garlic or do you like to crush the garlic into your dressing? Have it your way. Would you rather make a pourable dressing or would you rather assemble the salad in the bowl then make the dressing right there on the lettuce (as I did in this post)? The world is your oyster.

I’ve been doing it that way for a while: lettuce in the bowl, then egg yolks, garlic, cheese, lemon juice/vinegar, olive oil, and cheese plus croutons. I like it that way….but here’s what I don’t like: one-day salad. Make that one-hour salad. We all know that once you dress lettuce it’s done for….so I was happy when my aunt gave me her easy Caesar dressing recipe (which I used to have before the blog but lost). It doesn’t contain eggs so it’s got a relatively long shelf-life (I’ve kept it for up to four days in my fridge) and it emulsifies beautifully if you blend it just fast enough, and you just use what you need.

As you can see, this is not a very “traditional” salad I’ve photographed for you here….I didn’t have bread to make croutons so I crushed up some Stacy’s Simply Naked pita chips. They were perfect. And while I prefer shredded cheese on my salads because it coats the leaves oh so perfectly, cheese (Grana Padano in this case but usually Parmigiano Reggiano) shaved with a vegetable peeler makes a nicer visual impact for photos. My easy Caesar dressing pairs perfectly with this fresh salad.

This easy Caesar dressing is quick enough that you can keep it in the fridge all the time. Which you’ll want to do.

Mary

Yield: 12 servings
2 tablespoons
45
Easy Caesar Dressing
10 minPrep Time:
10 minTotal Time:

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar
Ingredients
1 tablespoon anchovy paste (or 3-4 flat or rolled anchovy fillets)
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon
2/3 cups neutral-flavored oil (I use grapeseed, but canola, safflower, or vegetable oil will work as well)
salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Press the garlic through a garlic press or grate on a Microplane or fine grater. Place in a food processor or blender or a container you can fit your immersion blender into (like my homemade mayonnaise, a pint-sized Mason jar works well here) along with all of the other ingredients except the oil and vinegar.
Mix well, carefully breaking up/mashing the anchovy fillets if you are using them.
Add the oil and vinegar and blend on the highest speed that your machine allows until completely smooth and emulsified. Use a leaf of the lettuce you will be using to make your salad to taste; adjust seasonings. Store in the refrigerator.
7.8.1.2
433
https://chattavore.com/easy-caesar-dressing/

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate.

Perfect Roasted Red Pepper Hummus + Video

July 7, 2017

This hummus fits my bill of roasted red pepper hummus – it’s super smooth and creamy, so delicious, and takes less than ten minutes to make!

Click here to save this recipe on Pinterest!

Discovering Hummus

When Philip and I first got married I had never eaten hummus before. Remember that this was back in 2001, when Chattanooga didn’t have any natural foods stores and you couldn’t buy prepared hummus in the deli case at any old grocery store. I bought a book that had a hummus recipe (albeit pretty unorthodox, as it was made with yogurt) in it and started making hummus about once a week for a good long while.

Those early days of hummus making were daunting because my dang food processor was so flipping cheap (please promise me that when you buy small appliances for your kitchen, you will buy quality ones – even if you have to save up for them) that every time I used it some new plastic piece broke off of it. $13 for a mini-chopper was not a good decision. Luckily, we pretty quickly invested in a basic Cuisinart and it saved the day.

I kind of got sick of hummus for a while, since we ate it all the time. Not to mention that, in all honestly, my hummus kind of sucked. Earlier this year, I bought a couple of tubs of Sabra hummus on a whim because they were buy one get one free. Suddenly I was buying hummus every week. Their roasted red pepper hummus is pretty good, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I really should be making this myself.

Saving Money?

The thing about making your hummus yourself is that, if you just compare the cost of making it yourself to buying a tub, well, no, you aren’t saving any money. But then, if you consider how much more hummus you get when you make it yourself, then yes, yes you are saving money. I knew my hummus recipe needed revamping, and when I saw a recipe from Milk Street Kitchen I jumped at the chance to try a different way…and it was perfect.

Hummus Tips

My perfect roasted red pepper hummus is not an exact replica of the recipe from Milk Street, but I did use some of the principles to develop this recipe. Here are a few of the things that I learned:

Don’t buy tahini in a can. Please don’t. I did it for years and all it was good for was to waste a whole lot of tahini. I apologize if your mom owns the tahini-in-a-can company, but it just never worked for me. I could never get the oil to stir back down into the tahini. Plus, tahini is best stored in the fridge, so I like to microwave the tahini for a minute or so to get it flowing smoothly. Just spend an extra buck or two to buy jarred tahini.
Liquid is good. There’s a pretty fair amount of liquid in this recipe, including the liquid that I drained from the chickpea can. Not to mention that the hummus will firm up in the fridge, so I stir a little water into it when we’re eating the leftovers too.
It’s best at room temperature. If you’ve ever eaten hummus and declared that you hated it, consider whether that hummus was cold or room temperature. Much like the tahini, I give my refrigerated hummus a quick whirl in the microwave to warm it up and loosen it up a little bit. It makes a huge difference.
Garnishes are a good thing. A swirl of olive oil, a sprinkle of cumin and paprika, a handful of reserved chickpeas and chopped red peppers….they all add flavor and textural variety that will make your hummus sing.
Garlic? We don’t need no stinking garlic. I mean, if you want garlic, then you can certainly add it…but after making it without I don’t know that I’ll go back. You may not be able to scare off a vampire but this hummus is delicious without the garlic and you won’t be embarrassed to go into a meeting after eating this for lunch.
Blend till you think you’ve over blended it, then blend some more. Seriously. Some bloggers tout removing the skin from the chickpeas to get super smooth hummus, but I’d much rather let my food processor do the work. Trust on this.

If you think you hate hummus, give this roasted red pepper hummus a try (or leave out the roasted red peppers if you aren’t a fan). You may just change your mind!

Save the recipe to your Pinterest snack board!

Mary

Yield: 2 cups hummus
Perfect Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
This recipe was adapted from a recipe from Milk Street Kitchen
10 minPrep Time:
10 minTotal Time:

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar
Ingredients
1 can reduced-sodium chickpeas, drained (liquid reserved)
3/4 cup tahini (warm or room temperature)
1 teaspoon salt
juice of 2 lemons
1 roasted red pepper, chopped (see notes for directions on roasting a pepper, or use a jarred red pepper)
olive oil, for garnish
crudite, pita wedges, or crackers, for serving
Instructions
Set aside 2 tablespoons of chickpeas. Place the remaining chickpeas in the food processor and process for 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl when needed.
Add the tahini and salt and process for another minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add 3/4 cup reserved chickpea liquid (this was all of the liquid from my can of chickpeas), the lemon juice, and the red peppers (set aside a tablespoon of the chopped red peppers for garnish). Process until perfectly smooth, one to two minutes. Taste and add additional salt if needed.
Pour the hummus into a large, shallow bowl. Make a swirl in the bowl and add a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle the reserved hummus and red peppers on top. Serve immediately.
Refrigerate leftover hummus for up to a week. To serve, microwave briefly warm slightly and add a bit of warm water to loosen up the mixture.
Notes
To roast your own red peppers, place an oven rack in the highest position and preheat the broiler. Slice the sides off of a red pepper. Place on a baking sheet and place under the broiler. Broil until blackened, watching closely. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the blackened skin and chop the flesh.
7.8.1.2
516
https://chattavore.com/perfect-roasted-red-pepper-hummus/

Classic Macaroni Salad + Video

June 16, 2017

This classic macaroni salad is another treasure from my grandmother’s collection. It’s easy and just a little different from the norm.

I’ve written a lot over the last three years about my grandparents and their influence on me-just overall as well as on my cooking. My grandmother had many signature dishes (like this strawberry pie and this breakfast casserole) and I grew up watching her cook dinner nearly every night (we ate at their house more nights than not because my mom didn’t get home from work until dinnertime).

The strange thing is that there are lots of things that other people mention that my grandmother was known for of which I have no recollection, like tomatoes and artichokes, chicken stuffed with shrimp (now that’s a decadent dish!), and this classic macaroni salad. I guess they’re just things that I didn’t really eat as a kid, but it still seems strange to me that I don’t remember them.

My grandmother passed away when I was fourteen and when my grandfather passed away when I was twenty-one I got my grandmother’s recipe books and a recipe card file that belonged to my great-grandmother. I remember going through them and not recognizing too many of the recipes…but over the years people have mentioned recipes to me and asked if I had a copy of them. I had my grandmother’s bright orange recipe book on my shelf but never could seem to find the recipes that people asked about.

The strangest thing happened in May. Philip had to clean out the basement closet (because we had too have a termite treatment-ick!) and pulled out a box of “stuff” that had been there since we moved in 2002. I figured it was a bunch of junk that we didn’t want anymore (and some of it was) but I found some dishes of my grandparents’….and the recipe book. And the card file. Recipes people had been asking about? There they were. Treasure. I nearly cried. But instead…I’m going to share those recipes with you. This classic macaroni salad is up first.

For many years I wouldn’t touch pasta salad with a ten-foot pole. Languishing on salad bars it always looked heavy and a little greasy and made me cringe. When a friend brought a tortellini and balsamic pasta salad to a work potluck I changed my perspective on pasta salads but still had trouble finding a recipe that I loved to make. This is it. I’ve scaled the recipe down from my grandmother’s (sixteen servings!!!) and pickled the onions. The dill pickles and the cheddar cheese add a little flair to the salad, and the sour cream, mayo, and mashed egg yolk dressing is just a little unexpected.

Add this classic macaroni salad to your repertoire. Trust me. My grandmother knew what she was doing.

Shared on The Weekend Potluck on Served Up With Love.

Mary

Yield: 6 servings

Macaroni Salad

20 minPrep Time:

10 minCook Time:

30 minTotal Time:

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar

Ingredients

¼ cup white wine vinegar
½ small onion, finely diced
5 ounces small shell or elbow pasta
2 hard-boiled eggs
½ teaspoon dry mustard
1/3 cup cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon seasoned salt
1 Kosher pickle or 4 gherkin dills, diced
4 ounces cheddar cheese, diced
1 stalk celery, cleaned and diced
½ bell pepper (any color), diced

Instructions

Place the onion in a bowl and cover with the vinegar. Refrigerate until you are ready to mix the pasta salad-at least 30 minutes.
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside until cool.
Remove the yolks from the hard-boiled eggs (save the whites for another use, or have a snack). Mash the yolks. Combine the mashed yolks, mayonnaise, sour cream, dry mustard, and seasoned salt.
Place the cooled pasta into a large bowl and add the pickles, cheese, celery, and bell pepper. Drain the onion and add to the bowl. Pour the dressing over and mix to combine. Adjust seasonings. Chill until ready to serve.

https://chattavore.com/classic-macaroni-salad/

Quick and Easy Shrimp Rolls

October 14, 2016

If you’ve ever been intimidated by the idea of cooking seafood, try these quick and easy shrimp rolls – you might just change your mind!

I don’t cook a lot of fish or seafood on here, and it really is a shame. Fish definitely has lots of roots in the South, and shrimp is not the least of these. Shrimp is definitely my favorite seafood to eat and to cook, so finding ways to feature it here is always fun for me.

I know that a lot of people don’t care for seafood, and to each his or her own. I don’t care too much for raw onions (as you guys well know), and I don’t want them forced on me for sure. However, I know that a lot of people don’t cook seafood even though they enjoy eating it because they find it intimidating to cook.

Honestly, I’m not sure what’s intimidating about cooking seafood, unless it’s the fact that it can be easy to over cook and that when it sticks, well, it can fall apart. All you need to know to avoid those mishaps is a few simple tricks, and if your fish falls apart, well, who really cares? You can eat it anyway, and it will still taste good.

You don’t have to worry about the shrimp in these shrimp rolls, though. It’s not going to fall apart, and as long as you’re paying attention, you aren’t going to overcook it. I don’t think that shrimp rolls are really a traditional Southern food, but shrimp is definitely traditional and any salad made with meat and mayonnaise is pretty darn Southern.

I’ve always wanted to try a Maine lobster roll, which is funny because I never cared for lobster. Actually, I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten lobster. My parents used to cook lobster at home all the time and I think I was very freaked out by the claws. One of these days, though, I will consume an authentic Maine lobster roll (we plan to visit some friends in Maine one of these days – I promise we will, guys!).

Anyway, the concept of these shrimp rolls is based on a lobster roll – lightly dressed seafood salad piled on a buttered hot dog bun along with some lettuce. In the name of recipe testing, we ate these shrimp rolls twice in a two-week period, and that was a good thing. The shrimp rolls come together with about 20 minutes of active prep and cook time and they’re a great, light, easy weeknight dinner.

These quick and easy shrimp rolls will convince you that seafood is not scary to cook – so if you aren’t convinced, try these out!

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite.

Mary

Yield: 4 rolls

Quick and Easy Shrimp Rolls

15 minPrep Time:

5 minCook Time:

20 minTotal Time:

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

My Recipes My Lists My Calendar

Ingredients

1 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon salt
1 small shallot, finely minced
1 celery stalk, finely minced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste
4 hot dog buns (I like Martin's Potato long rolls)
2 tablespoons butter melted
4 lettuce leaves, washed (I used romaine leaves because that's what I had, but butter lettuce would be more traditional here)

Instructions

Fill a 4-quart pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the salt and the shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes, until the shrimp is cooked through. Drain the shrimp and chop it into 1-inch pieces. Refrigerate until cool.
Combine the shrimp with the shallots, celery, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and Old Bay. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Preheat the broiler and set an oven rack 8 inches from the broiler. Open the hot dog buns and brush the buns with butter. Broil until very lightly browned.
Place a lettuce leaf inside each hot dog bun. Divide the shrimp mixture among the buns. Serve immediately.

Notes

Prep/cook time does not include time to chill the shrimp after cooking. This took about 20 minutes for me.

https://chattavore.com/quick-easy-shrimp-rolls/

If you've ever been intimidated by the idea of cooking seafood, try these quick and easy shrimp rolls - you might just change your mind! | recipe from Chattavore.com

« Previous Page