Quick & Convenient Cranberry Sauce

Making a couple nights ago for E and another friend, I wanted to include a bit of color -- and to make the meal feel a little fancier than rice & beans (posts on this later). I have a ton of cranberries in the freezer (and plan to buy more) and thought a cranberry sauce would be lovely to go with -- color, a bit of tart flavor to go with slightly spicy beans, and plenty of all those good things that come from cranberries. And when I paired it with a bit of guacamole from an avocado I've had for a while and which finally ripened, I thought the presentation was pretty lovely.

But the cranberries: I also had a bit of frozen raspberry-lemonade in the freezer, from when a transient friend stayed here for a few nights and didn't want to repack it (or forgot about it?) in his cooler. That's kinda like orange juice in the traditionally cranberry-orange flavors, but a bit more...fun. Or so I hoped.

Turns out, that's a pretty okay combo and this cooked up, over medium heat in about 15 minutes. It didn't cook so long that the cranberries collapsed completely, which was also nice. Plumpish cranberries in cranberry sauce are, well, nice.

Cranberry Sauce
1/2 pound fresh cranberries
1-2 tablespoons (to taste, I used about 1 1/2) frozen raspberry-lemonade concentrate
2 tablespoons water

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes and then reduce heat to medium, stirring frequently, until the cranberries are soft, but retain their shape (about 15 minutes). Serve hot or cool.

Note: You can also keep this over "warm" for a while if you want, but make sure to check it from time to time to see if you need to add more water, so that it doesn't scorch to the bottom. You could cook it down for a while to create jam or preserves, if you wanted, but you will want to make sure that if you go this route you stir it often enough that it doesn't burn as the water evaporates.

Product Review: Salpica Mango Peach Salsa

I bought Salpica Mango Peach Salsa from my food co-op a couple of months ago with an immediate use for it -- only I wound up not needing it because what type of party needs three different (but similar salsa), especially when two are fresh? Not mine.

Anyway, I opened this salsa the other day, only to realize how runny it is. It's a bit like chunky, flavored tomato juice--which makes sense because filtered water is the second ingredient. The flavor is good (a little sweet, like it should be with fruit -- but did it also need sugar? Really? I don't think so) if you like slightly sweeter salsas, but that's not really my preference. I prefer the salsas that incorporate fruit without incorporating additional sugars. It's not particularly strong on onion or garlic flavors, for a salsa, or of the tangy bite of hot peppers, even though it's in the "Medium" hotness range. These are all things you should keep in mind if you're buying this salsa and have particular ideas about how bottled salsa should be.

However, I do appreciate that I can see evidence of roasting. And peaches and mangoes. And the occasional chunk of something like a pepper, tomato, or onion. But really, when I'm looking for salsa, I'm looking for something with more substance than this particular salsa, which I had trouble keeping on a chip--much less on veggies (which, is sometimes my preference -- like today, when I didn't really want corn chips).

The label claims "made in Texas" but my bottle, at least, is distributed from Illinois, which isn't so much of a surprise since this is where Rick Bayless (as an institution) is based and Salpica salsa comes through the Frontera supply chain. Either this is a horrible inefficiency or a marketing scheme. Anyone remember the "Made in New York City?? Get a Rope" commercial? There are a few versions out there, but when I was reading the label (more carefully at home so I could write this review than I did in the store) that's the commercial I immediately conjured.

It claims "no preservatives" and "all-natural," which are both technically true if you're talking about artificial preservatives, but most salsas contain preservatives -- citric acid in some form, usually -- especially ones that have been bottled. I'll take my citric acid and spare myself the case of botulism, thanks.


All in all, I might buy this salsa again. If it was on sale. And if the other salsas nearby didn't appeal, or if I was buying it with a specific salsa need -- I just can't think of what such a need might be.

Homemade Butter

Butter is incredibly easy to make. Cooking for Engineers has a lovely post on making butter--it talks about benefits of butter, the science behind making butter, and also about the "traditional" way of making butter. They use a stand mixer, but this is definitely not a requirement. In fact, it's something you can do as easily with kids as you can do with your dinner guests, or on your own. Since we had whipping cream to go with our butternut squash soup (that post will appear soon), I asked E if she wanted to make fresh butter to go on the fresh bread.

E was skeptical. I think she imagined a butter churn. I told her I'd made it with the kids I was nannying over the summer, and that they were 2 and 5. This convinced E that it wouldn't be so bad (especially after I assured her we had plenty of cream for making whipped cream for the brownies I'd made her and for the soup, which was our real reason for buying whipping cream.) I love guilt-trips.

We poured cold whipping cream into a small jar and screwed on the top. E started agitating (shaking) the jar. After a bit--when we both thought maybe she'd been shaking it too long, we opened the jar, looked at the thickening cream, and poured off half the jar (about 1/2 cup--it'd started off with just about a cup) so that the process would go faster. E passed the jar off to our friend Caitlin, who was at our place for dinner and Caitlin diligently shook the jar. It finally started to form a very thick cream and then, very soon after that, butter and buttermilk. We added some salt, and Caitlin shook it a while longer. Then we scooped out the butter and got rid of the buttermilk (though you could use it -- I might recommend pour it off before you add the salt if you want to do that).

Then we added the other 1/2 cup back in and E had the opportunity to finish making butter. It went faster this time, in part because the cream was even colder (I'd stuck it in the freezer) and in part because there was less in the jar, and was therefore easier to agitate. At one point, E looked at me and said "I think it turned back into cream!"

What had, in fact, happened was that the butterfat and buttermilk separated. I got her to shake it a little longer and then we added salt and she finished shaking her butter. We spooned it out and put it on the same dish as Caitlin's butter--just in time for the hot bread and butternut squash soup.

All-in-all the entire process, both sets of butter probably took a collective 15-20 minutes. We had soft butter on the table and it was satisfying to spread fresh butter on my gluten-free bread--and I think fun to have a pretty much completely homemade meal, right down to the butter.

Although we used a jar to make butter, you can also whip it with a whisk or fork. In the past, I've accidentally created (literally sweet) butter by over-whipping air into whipped cream. Oops. But a kind of happy mistake that I spread on waffles a few days later.

Homemade Butter
Whipping/heavy cream
Salt (optional)

Pour a small amount of very cold whipping cream into a small jar that can be closed with a lid. Close the jar and shake until a ball of butter begins to form, about 5-10 minutes, depending on the amount of cream you used.

Pour off the buttermilk, add salt, and shake or stir in. Pour off any additional buttermilk. Chill in the refrigerator to help it firm up, if desired. Keep any butter you don't use in a sealed container, in the refrigerator, on in a butter bell.

Product Review: Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese, Herbs and Chives

I don't like cream cheese. I'm just going to put that out there. Cream cheese frosting? It's okay. Occasionally. Like once a year, or on carrot cake. Cheesecake? I'll pass. Cream cheese on a bagel? For the most part, spare me.

But at some point back, I had a vegan carrot cake at the R. Thomas Deluxe Grille in Atlanta. If you haven't been there, you should go. I make a point of stopping there whenever I happen to be in Atlanta (and not just in the airport). I'm getting distracted from the point though. To say the least, after that visit (where I also shared, family style, several other dishes with my traveling companions), I learned to like fake cream cheese. It's not as strong as "regular" cream cheese, it doesn't leave an oil slick on my tongue, and well, in all honesty, it doesn't taste particularly like cream cheese.

For a long time, I only used fake cream cheese for vegan cream cheese frostings. And so, I wasn't buying it often or using much of it. But then, during my most recent move, I accidentally picked up a Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese Herbs and Chives. I think I actually intended to buy plain, for some specific purpose. Rather than returning it when I realized my mistake, I opened it and tried it (mostly because, in the past when I've been convinced to eat cream cheese, it's been flavored with other things).

It tasted like Thanksgiving to me. Stuffing, to be exact. And that was a lovely addition to my new GF yeast-bread endeavors, as well as to just making me feel like I was getting something more savory. It's smooth, creamy, and doesn't have that particularly tofu-y taste of the plain version of this mock cream cheese (or other mock cream cheeses). It spreads easily--perhaps more easily than traditional cream cheese--and where I'm living, it doesn't cost anymore for a tub of Toffuti than it does for organic cream cheese.

Tofutti makes other lactose- and milk-fat free varieties of "better than cream cheese," but I haven't seen them in my stores yet. According to the website, I should also be able to find garlic and herb (I wish!), garden veggie, French onion, and smoked salmon flavors--hopefully they'll come to a store near me soon, or better yet, maybe Tofutti would like to send me samples to review (fingers crossed!). The smoked salmon Tofutti product, in case you were wonder, is not vegan.

Since I first accidentally purchased the Herbs and Chives version, I've been purchasing it regularly. It's comforting to eat, nice and melty, and helps dress up my GF breads.

Homemade Horseradish

I was recently gifted horseradish. What, I wondered, does one do with horseradish root? Aside from make it into ground horseradish root, pickled with vinegar and salt. A quick internet search returned the result "not much." One can also make it into a relish with beets and onions, apparently, or turn it into an apple soup. But mostly it acts as a flavor enhancer and is used moderately sparingly. The apple soup uses 1/2 cup (pretty impressive--maybe I'd make it if I had apple juice around and let you know how it is). But generally, it isn't meant to be the main flavor.

That's not too much of a surprise. Horseradish is super-hot in the same kind of flash-in-the-mouth way of wasabi--not too much of a surprise, since they're in the same family, Brassicaceae and are used (and prepared) in moderately similar ways.

A couple of fun facts about horseradish:

• It will tarnish silver.
• 10 tablespoons fresh = 6 tablespoons dried, powdered
• The young, tender leaves of the horseradish plant are edible and can be used in salads.

When I was in my early 20s, a friend gave me horseradish from her garden--horseradish to transplant, not to eat. She advised me to put it in a large container, rather than in the ground, because apparently horseradish spreads pretty crazily (at least if allowed to go to seed). A quick google search turned up close to 140,000 results. I did this and not long after had a lovely horseradish plant. I didn't know what to do with it though and after it chocked out the lettuces I'd planted along with it, I just let it die in its container. That being said, I don't think most people will need as much horseradish as is easily produced, so if you're considering planting it, you might also consider who you want to give it to when its ready to be harvested come autumn!

Horseradish about to be pureed

I pureed the horseradish with a little water, salt, and vinegar. I'm not reposting the recipe I used, because nothing was an exact, measurable amount. But basically, these are things that every "make your own horseradish" recipe called for, a pickling amount. Because that's, in part, how you preserve horseradish root--by pickling it.

Agave-Sweetened Blackberry Jam

Blackberries are plentiful and everyone's out picking them. I see people people walking around with mason jars half-filled or filled with blackberries. I see people (like myself) wandering around with plastic bags and tubs gathering berries. And I see people (also like myself) picking just a couple and eating them.

You can tell a blackberry is ready to pick when it practically melts off its stem while you're pulling it off the bush. Usually at this point, blackberries have lost their sheen and are dark and perfectly black. My blackberries weren't all fully ready when I made this jam, as you can see from the picture, but I needed enough to make jam because I had enough that were crushing under the weight of their fellow berries and forming blackberry juice.

For the past couple of weeks, my fingers have been stained with blackberry juice, which has been lovely--and has made me even more excited for making blackberry jam (especially once my friend Rachael shared that she was making blackberry jam while listening to Iron & Wine one recent evening).

This is a simple blackberry jam, sweetened with agave nectar since some of my berries were under-ripe and tart.

Agave-Sweetened Blackberry Jam 
1/2 gallon fresh blackberries, well washed
2-3 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a medium pot, over medium-low heat, cook the blackberries until soft, then stir in the agave nectar and lemon juice.

Continue to simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the jam has thickened to the desired consistency.

This will keep in the refrigerator, in a closed container, for about 2 weeks, or you can freeze it.

Autumn Harvest Butter

This simple recipe combines some of the best flavors of fall: pumpkin and apple. The recipe I originally made used freshly baked, mashed pie pumpkin, but you can also use the 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!). The jar on the right is the pumpkin butter; the two smaller jars are spicy pineapple core relish.

The best part about this recipe is how fast and simple it is to make. How long you'll need to cook it will depend on whether your applesauce is very thick and how thick you like your pumpkin butter. I used homemade applesauce made from Macintosh apples the first time, but the second time, I just used store bought unsweetend applesauce.

Enjoy!

Autumn Harvest Butter

15 ounces 100% pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch cardamom
1 tablespoon lime juice

Combine all ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes, or until mixture is sufficiently thick (this will depend on your personal preference).