The Pajama Chef

Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce

December 19, 2011November 22, 2013 Sarah

So, for a long time, I thought there was only one kind of acceptable cranberry sauce. And let me give you a hint: the stuff in the can is most definitely not it. See, I like it sweet and tart… like a cranberry, ya know, not all gelatinous, uber sweet, and shaped-like-a-can. However, over the past few years, I’ve tried some other varieties besides the traditional cranberry relish… and guess what? Some of them are pretty fabulous. I still like the original, but trying new things is fun.

My latest try combines sweet pineapple and tart cranberries and is nothing short of fabulous. It was on our Thanksgiving table, and I wanted to share it before Christmas so it can be on your table in a mere six days!! It was delicious atop turkey and with the traditional holiday spread, but it was the leftovers that really made this Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce stand out. I enjoyed it stirred into vanilla yogurt and as a dipping sauce for apples, and I hope you’ll try it too!

Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce [from Skinnytaste]
printable version

Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh cranberries
20 ounce can crushed pineapple in pineapple juice
1/3 cup sugar

Directions:

Drain liquid from pineapple into a measuring cup. Add water so that there is a a total of 1 cup of liquid. Pour liquid into a saucepan, stir in sugar, and bring to a boil.

Next, rinse cranberries and place in a food processor and pulse several times until roughly chopped. Stir into sugar mixture, then cook over medium heat until thick, approximately 10 minutes. Then fold in pineapples and cook for another minute. Cool then store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Time: 20 minutes.

Yield: 4 cups.

Menu Plans

Menu Plan

December 18, 2011December 16, 2011 Sarah

After last week, I thought my husband deserved some good meals this week. But the thing is… I’m leaving him here all alone with the kitty because I’m going to Michigan to visit my grandparents with my family for part of the week. Ben has to work, so I needed to make some good meals at the beginning of the week that he can have as leftovers the rest of the week. Including today’s lasagna, hopefully this will be good for him so he doesn’t exist on the delicacy also known as Hamburger Helper all week. 🙂

Week of December 19

Monday: Slow Cooked Smoky Chipotle Brown Sugar Chicken

Tuesday: Crock Pot Hot Potato Soup

Wednesday-Friday: I’ll be gone, Ben will have good leftovers, wings, and even Hamburger Helper as good options!

Saturday: not sure yet… something delicious I hope!

Sunday: Christmas with the family!

Menu Plans

Menu Plan… in reverse

December 16, 2011 Sarah

So, I realize it’s a little silly, doing a menu plan–typically done at the beginning of the week–at the end of the week. But hey–I have an excuse. It’s finals week. Over the weekend, I spent about a million hours working on a paper. Then Monday I worked on it from 8:00 am until 3:50 pm, a mere 10 minutes before it was due. However… it was turned in on time. Then, it was a mad rush to work on the next assignment for five hours that night, a website for a nonprofit. Tuesday had me staring at the same. stinking. computer screen in the library for 11 hours–yes, you read that right–until I was done. My sweet husband picked me up and took me to dinner to celebrate being done with my SECOND TO LAST semester of grad school!! Yay!

The rest of the week has been a blur of working a bit, watching tv, cooking, reading, and generally doing whatever sounds fun at the time. But now it’s time to get on track. I want to have fun this Christmas break, but I also need to be somewhat productive. For me… that starts with making a menu plan so I can get what we need at the grocery store and not buying everything that looks yummy. So… here we go. 🙂

Week of December 12

Monday: well let’s see, that was a tasty dinner of leftovers in the library. awesome.

Tuesday: gotta love some tilapia at Red Lobster

Wednesday: real cooking! Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup and Pomegranate Kale Orzo. amazing.

Thursday: Christmas group party! woohoo.

Friday: Asian Turkey Burgers and Thai Veggie Burgers. Burger overload. can’t wait. 🙂

Saturday: Chinese food feast with friends! bringing sweet & sour chicken.

Sunday: Mom’s lasagna. always the best!

Breads, Recipes

SRC: Honey Yeast Dinner Rolls

December 5, 2011November 22, 2016 Sarah

December already?!? Where has 2011 gone? The good news is that another month brings another session of The Secret Recipe Club. If you missed it in November, the premise is this: you’re assigned a different member’s blog every month. You visit their blog, choose any recipe you want, then make it and share it on your blog. It’s a fun way to find new blogs and be stretched to try new recipes, cooking styles, etc. Then, everyone posts about their assigned blog on the same day. It’s so fun–if you have a blog, definitely check it out and consider joining.

For December, I was assigned Jen’s blog–Beantown Baker. Jen is an engineer by day, and a baker/chef extraordinaire by night! I was so tempted by many recipes on her blog including Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies, a family recipe for Rice and Beans, and Pumpkin Butterscotch Cheesecake Bars. I’ve definitely bookmarked more than a few recipes to try in the future. And although I don’t yet have my very own kitchen to customize [yay renting… sigh…], I loved/coveted reading about the kitchen renovation she and her husband did in their Boston home. It’s absolutely gorgeous! I would love to cook there. Basically, if you haven’t gotten the drift, Jen and her blog are pretty awesome. Her Ohio roots don’t hurt matters any. 🙂 This Indiana girl loved her six years in Ohio and always appreciates meeting Ohioans. But getting on with it…

Out of all the recipes on Beantown Baker, I decided to try my hand at Honey Yeast Dinner Rolls. I was looking for some bread to take to Thanksgiving in OHIO with Ben’s family, and since Jen served them last year, it was obviously meant to be that I should too. These rolls were a huge hit. They were denser than most other rolls I make, which, admittedly is not many, but they were still quite soft, tender, and chewy. These rolls were a little fancy and sweet from the honey, making them the perfect accompaniment to our holiday spread. I highly recommend them for yours as well!

Honey Yeast Dinner Rolls

Servings: 12 or 16
Time: 3-4 hours
Print

from Beantown Baker

Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup warm water [105°-115° F]
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 cups bread flour
cooking spray
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

Add yeast and warm water to the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, blend until combined then add honey, oil, salt, and egg. Mix well. Add 3 cups of flour, mixing on low until the dough comes together. With the mixer still running on low, add the last cup of flour and mix until combined.

Switch to the dough hook and run on low for about 8 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.

Meanwhile, lightly grease a large bowl with cooking spray. When dough is ready, form into a ball and place in bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm area [my kitchen was warm enough the day I made these, but sometimes I place in a sink full of warm water to help matters along] until it doubles in size, about 2 hours.

Turn out dough onto a floured countertop and knead for about 30 seconds. Cover again and let rest for 10 minutes. Punch dough down and divide into 2 equal portions, and continue dividing until you have 12 or 16 equal pieces, depending on how big you want them.

Grease a baking dish with cooking spray, then roll each piece into a ball and arrange evenly. Cover and let rise again for about 20 minutes [my rise time was a little longer due to an unfortunately timed errand and it was just fine].

While the rolls are doing their last rise, preheat oven to 400 degrees [well, not if you aren’t at home… fires are no good. Duh.] Then mix together melted butter and honey and brush on each roll. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Click on over to check out other posts from today’s reveal of the SRC. Have a great day!