CRANBERRY SAUCE

Oh, yum!  I’ve been working my way through the 5 lbs of fresh cranberries – tomorrow what is left must go in the dehydrator if I want to keep them.

Tonight I made a very yummy cranberry sauce.

• 2 C fresh cranberries
• 1 apple
• 3 mandarin oranges (you could use one large regular orange)
• 4 dates, soaked and pitted

Put all ingredients in the food processor and process to your choice of texture.  I ran the processor for quite a while, but the sauce still came out chunky.

This is so yummy that I think I could make a meal of it, and I probably will.  I ended up doubling the recipe, because I have to have something for a party tomorrow, and it tasted so good that I wanted to keep some for Thanksgiving, although I may eat it all tomorrow.  This could definitely qualify as a dessert on its own!

One of my “fun” experiences is coming up.  One of my classes is going to have a Thanksgiving party, and I told them that it was potluck – everyone has to bring a delicious lunch dish from their country (i.e., no cakes, cookies, candy – only what they consider healthy food – I do this because they always tell me that Americans only eat junk food, so they should show me what people from their country eat… it makes for a nice international experience for them…. and I bring something from “my cuisine” – often kale or collards)

This time, I think I will bring some kale and some sauerkraut from the last batch.  When they ask me what it is, I will tell them that it is “hamburgers”.

Today was the last CSA distribution for the season (gosh! I’ll have Thursdays “off” for a while).

The distribution was moved to a place quite a bit away from my apartment, so I had to take a bus over there. (Interestingly, when I was getting on the bus, I saw a guy I have seen at the CSA pick-ups getting off the bus, so I tried to tell him that the pick-up was not in the usual place, but his English apparently wasn’t good enough for him to understand, and he just growled “What you talk about?” and I had to get on the bus.  Another reason why people should go to English school.  Another New York experience.)

The pickup was in a neighborhood I don’t often get to. I was surprised to see so many Thai restaurants on that street, and the place where the pick-up was was a cute little bar/restaurant – our pickup was in what looked to be their “outdoor garden” and felt like “their refrigerator” (it was coooooold!).  Still, it was nice that they had agreed to host us, since the community center was closed today.  Actually, with the situation as it was, I found the environment much friendlier than usual. I guess the stress of being in a new place made people more chatty.  It was nice.

My box had:

sweet potatoes, a savoy cabbage, a bag of potatoes, a big daikon, a big rutabaga, 5 carrots, a watermelon radish, two large heads of broccoli, and a small butternut squash

I traded the potatoes for a huge daikon, and then I found another member who was willing to trade her kale for my broccoli…

It’s Thanksgiving time: the sweet  potatoes have a name in my house, but I am thinking I might try another recipe.  I am going to make kale chips.  The Savoy cabbage will go to sauerkraut (wonder how it will be different?), and the rutabaga, watermelon radish, and a good part of the daikon will go to the pickle jar.

Kale

We’re down to the wire! Thanksgiving is 5 days away.  What are you going to eat?

FREE RECIPES!!! Just click on HOLIDAY RECIPES .. these are recipes that I have collected and used over the years. They work. They are tasty. You can give them to non-raw friends, and they will like them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got 5 lbs of cranberries with my CSA distribution last night.  These are fresh cranberries,1 so I have to move quickly, or else put them all in the dehydrator.  I don’t recall ever having had fresh cranberries before, so this is exciting.

Tonight, I made an apple-cranberry cocktail, to start.

• 3 apples
• 1/2 C cranberrries

Process through the Champion juicer.

I got about 1 pt of juice and about 1 cup of “ cran-apple sauce”

The juice was very sweet, tasting mostly of apples.

Later in the evening, I went back and put @ 2 C cranberries into the juicer with three big apples.

This came out tart (I liked it) and the “cranapple sauce was quite tart – I added about a T of cinnamon, and it tasted good to me (it is sitting in the refrigerator, mulling, for tomorrow’s lunch.

This was the next to last vegetable delivery… coming down to the end…and the last one comes next Monday… so quickly… I always feel nostalgic about now..

Here is what we got and what I took home

Sweet Potatoes – 5 lbs
Carrots – 1 bun
Red Kale – 1 bun
Baby Potatoes …………………..kale (inter-member trade)
Celery Root 2 pc…………………1 squash
Sunshine Squash – 1 pc
Parsley – 1 bun……………………1 squash
Broccoli – 1 pc…………………….1 squash

Those Sunshine Squash look just like pumpkins.  They are sweet, too.

Traded the potatoes for kale with another member who likes potatoes but doesn’t care for kale….   kale chips this week!

Those carrots are nice and big! Such a surprise! We’ve been having baby carrots all season. These babies are hefty!

All of these vegetables are so welcome with Thanksgiving coming up!

For Holiday recipes, please check out my Holiday Recipes page

I received the Benriner Cook’s Help gadget today.  Yea!  Okay… so what could I spiralize with what I had hoped would be THE Japanese answer to my spiralizing quest?

I had a big rutabaga (I mean, BIG).  I looked at the pictures, and I found the English (ha ha) “translation”, and I cut the rutabaga to look like something in the pictures (the pictures show BIG hunks of vegetable).  I don’t know from centimeters (duh! I’m American – we don’t do centimeters!), so I went by the pictures.  Wrong move!

I had this nice big (maybe 5 inch tall) chunk of rutabaga, and I went at it with the new “miracle” machine.  Trouble from the start. The teeth on the turning thing did not want to grab.  The machine did not want to do much after two or three turns of the knob.   I took the machine away from the counter-top and put it on the table which is about the height of the top of my thigh (I am 5′9″ tall) so I could turn the knob at waist/elbow height. That worked about the same, but it was easier to turn,  except that the table is wobbly.

Even though I was experiencing these issues, I really liked the thin-ness and texture of the noodles, so I wanted to find a way to get more of them.  I ended up grabbing the rutabaga with my hand and turning it by hand.  When it got down to about 3 inches, I was able to use the turner.  Now I have a big bowlful of limp (I like limp) very thin rutabaga noodles.  The texture is even softer than marinated pasta made with a Joyce Chen spiralizer.

So, I went back to read the instructions again.  Putting the lie to those pictures of big vegetable chunks that the smiling Japanese lady with fat fingers grabbing the turning knob in a most ungraceful way was spiralizing, I saw that the instructions suggested an 8 cm chunk.  8 cm is a little more than 3 in.  That  was about where the turning knob started working for me.

After I finished spiralizing the rutabaga, I went to clean the Cook’s Help – not so easy– I ended up digging out the old discarded toothbrush that I had saved to get the stuff out of the teeth. (I was really really careful because I did not want to cut any more fingers – my almost amputated finger is just to the point where I can type with it)  The vegetable brush did not work.

This is another model of Japanese technology. If you want to really deep clean it, you need a screwdriver, to unattach everything.

Still and all, I really really like the super-thin angel-hair pasta this baby makes.  The Joyce Chen spiralizer cannot hold a candle to it.  I’m dreaming of cool things I can make with this really skinny (almost chew-free) pasta.

First, I have to say that I am thrilled to have gotten one of the winter shares, with add-ons of apple cider and apples (they always say it is going to be a lottery, and I always stress out over that.. will I be in, or not? Personally, I think that people who were in the winter share the previous year should have first dibs, same as it goes with the spring/summer/fall shares).  So thrilled was I that I sent off my payment as soon as I learned I was in!

We got, for the most part, what they said we would (they said a Japanese salad turnips, but I got 1 bun. bokchoy)  Here is how it worked out – what I got, and what I traded for.

Potatoes – yellow – 2 lbs
Watermelon Radish – 2 pcs
Boston Lettuce – 1 hd………………traded for 2 watermelon radishes
Escarole – 1 hd…………………………traded for 1 butternut squash
Radicchio – 1 hd
Japanese Salad Turnips – 1 bun..bok choy – 1 bun
Butternut Squash – 1pc
Broccoli – 1 pc…………………………traded for 1 bun. cilantro
Cilantro – 1 bun

I’m happy. I love squash.  I always donate my potatoes – I’ve been told that some people call me “the potato lady”.   Someone suggested using bok choy for wraps, so I’ll try that this week.  I expect I’ll use the radicchio for wraps as well. (If that works out, I’ll post my recipe.)  Some of the cilantro went into dinner last night, and the rest went into the dehydrator.

I mentioned the new sauerkraut I was making… it’s done!

It is a little saltier than I would like, but the acid test (giving it to my room-mate) worked well, i.e., she liked it.

This batch was much softer than the first batch: I am thinking it is because the cabbage was grated so fine when I was trying to slice it with the food processor. I like soft, but I will not be using that grating blade again (I almost amputated a finger when I went to take it out of the dish rack).  I like soft, but, then again, maybe the soft came from the addition of the acidophilus.

I have more cabbage, so I want to start more sauerkraut – the plain is gone, anyway, and the garlic/chili powder one, which is reminiscent of kimchee,  is half-way gone.  I decanted the “kimchee” flavored one into a smaller jar, and layered it with the new salty sauerkraut, mashing it down to mix it.  That came out instantly good, according to my room-mate. I liked it, too.  It goes to the fridge.

With the next batch, I am going to control the salt more, since I will be using the acidophilus. I am also considering making a small batch with the Zukay salad dressing as the acidophilus addition… I think it would have an interesting flavor.

Stay tuned.

CILANTRO PESTO

1/3 C walnuts or pine nuts
1-2 cloves garlic, to taste
1 lg bun. cilantro, roots and larger stems trimmed, washed and dried
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 – 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
1/4 C raw vegan parmesan cheez
Salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, finely chop nuts and garlic. Add in lime juice and cilantro, and continue processing. Drizzle in oil gradually. From time to time, stop and taste until you feel there is enough oil. Add oil if texture seems dry.

Place pesto in a mixing bowl. Fold in cheez, and season to taste with sea salt and pepper