Holiday Relish

aka Cranberry Sauce

12 oz fresh, frozen, or canned cranberries
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
1 orange, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1/2 cup red wine
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir to combine. Keep stirring and bring the ingredients to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer gently until relish thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Garnish with orange rind curls.

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The recipe I was following is from Parade, but I made a few changes, some of which I can't remember, but I think I hit most of them. Judging by the picture at parade.com, the original recipe does produce something more like relish than sauce. Adding some wine (mulled wine if possible) makes it more liquid and adds a rich flavor. Based on what was in our mulled wine, one could probably add cloves and allspice to this sauce, or just add it to the wine and enjoy that while cooking for the holidays! (It does wonderful things to pot roast as well.)

Granddad Franklin's Potato Salad

10 white potatoes, still warm
2 medium peppers
2 celery stalks
1 onion
1 large tomato
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp celery seed
4 oz pimentos
1 cup sweet pickle relish

Cut and mix? I haven't made this yet--maybe I'll sit down with Grandma tomorrow and figure some more detailed directions out. She is apparently the only family member (aside from Great-Granddad Franklin himself) who can make this potato salad right.

Scott's Pasta Salad

1 pound pasta
2 heads broccoli
1/2 head cauliflower
2 carrots
1 cup chopped chicken
1 red or yellow pepper, chopped and raw
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Cook and drain pasta. Cut broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots in bite-size pieces and steam until tender-crisp. Throw everything except the cheese into a big bowl and mix it up. The hot pasta will take a little of the edge off the raw garlic. Add the cheese last, on top of each serving if you like.

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I haven't tried making this recipe yet, but when I ate it (straight from the Kirner kitchen) for the first time, it was amazing. Now that I've rediscovered the recipe, I will make it soon!

Evelyn's Meatloaf and Sweet Potato Fries

makes 6-8 servings

From Mennonite Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley:
Meat loaf:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or 1 lb. ground beef and 1/2 lb. fresh bulk sausage
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. dry onion, or 1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp. celery salt
3 slices bread, torn into small pieces
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup milk
1 egg

Topping:
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 tbsp. prepared mustard

Mix together all meat loaf ingredients. Shape into a loaf and place in a 5x9 baking dish. Mix together topping ingredients. Spread over loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.


From CountryLiving.com:

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large (about 1 1/2 pounds) sweet potatoes

In a small bowl, combine cumin, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400°. Peel potatoes, cut each in half lengthwise, and cut each half into 6 wedges. In a large bowl, combine the cut potatoes, oil, and spice mixture. Toss until potatoes are evenly coated. On a baking sheet, arrange potatoes in a single layer and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake until edges are crisp and potatoes are cooked through -- about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

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I found out that if you cut thinner fries, you only bake them like 20 minutes. I baked a batch and also pan-fried some, and most of them were burnt. Still tasty though. I'm also finding out that while this cooking every day thing is a lot of fun, it's really easy to just eat alllll the time. I think I've eaten like six meals today, not to mention all the snacks while making them! At least when I was at school I didn't have time to eat this much...