Cranberry Salsa Recipe

My co-worker had this recipe in her Taste of Home magazine and I, intrigued, quickly copied it down. It sounded like a easy to make, delicious alternative to summer’s salsas and a great way to use the seasonal fruits (cranberries) that are available now.

This is whipped up in the food processor so it couldn't be any easier. It was sweet and tangy while the flavor of the lime really brightened it up. It also has that cinnamon-cumin flavor combo that I love!

It was delicious with chips, but it would also be excellent with some cream cheese on a butter cracker like Ritz. Then you would have that sweet, sour, creamy, salty thing going on. And I bet it would make a wonderful and unique filling in a Butterflied Pork Loin.

I made this last Friday for a potluck and it was a huge hit. Everyone wanted the recipe. I’ll be making it again this week for us at home.

If your looking for something a little unique, but ultimately delicious, then you found it right here. Fresh Cranberry Salsa!

 

 

Cranberry Salsa

Recipe found in Taste of Home Magazine

 

• 1 bag (12 oz)  fresh cranberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
• 3 Tablespoons fresh minced cilantro
• 2 green onions (I used 1 slice of a red onion)
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lime peel
• 1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, allspice, and cumin.

Tortilla chips

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse till blended. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate until serving time. Serve with chips.

 

Check out these other Cranberry Salsa recipes!

My Own Sweet Thyme

Rah Cha Chow

The Schell Cafe

In Jennie’s Kitchen

Love & Olive Oil

Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe

 I first heard of Sticky Toffee Pudding when it was the winning flavor of a Haagen Dazs ice cream contest back in 2006. I had to give the winner a try, and I fell in love with it immediately. Since then, I have bought Sticky Toffee Sauce and Sticky Toffee Cheese, but now was the time to try the real thing!

 

This weeks Martha Monday project was picked by Lorraine of Sweet Lorraine Bake Shop.

She choose Martha Stewart’s Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding!

In classic English style, a cake that is soaked with a rich buttery sauce is often called a pudding.  This easy recipe is  a sponge cake that is made with finely chopped dates. After baking, you poke holes all over and pour a warm sticky ooey gooey toffee sauce all over the warm cake. Then the cake soaks up the rich buttery sauce.  It’s bliss!

It also makes plenty of sauce so you’ll have more to pour on top. It’s also great on ice cream!

This Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding was everything I wanted it to be. And more!

Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding

By Martha Stewart

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Serves 10

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
• 8 ounces pitted dates, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine dates and 1/2 cup boiling water; set aside to soften, at least 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt to combine; set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add date mixture, flour mixture, and vanilla; mix just until moistened.
4. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare toffee sauce.
5. Remove cake from oven; cool in pan 5 minutes. To ensure it will come out easily later, carefully invert hot cake then return it, right side up, to pan. Using a toothpick, poke holes all over cake. Pour about 1 cup warm sauce over cake; let absorb at least 20 minutes.

Toffee Sauce

Ingredients

• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, heavy cream, light-brown sugar, and salt. Heat over low, stirring, until sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes. Simmer mixture over medium heat until reduced to about 2 1/2 cups, 8 to 12 minutes. If desired, reheat sauce over low before serving.

Check Out These Puddings!

David Lebovitz made Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding

Greedy Gourmet’s Sticky Toffee Pudding

Peabody’s Sticky Toffee Pudding

Chocolate and Zucchini's  Sticky Toffee Pudding

Don’t Forget Delicious! also made Sticky Toffee Pudding

Use Real Butter made a Sticky Toffee Pudding too!

Smothered Pork Chops

Did you enter my giveaway?

Did you vote for me?
I'm like a thousand votes behind and I need your vote!

OK. Good!
In other news, today is my surgery day and the hospital just called. My surgeon had an emergency surgery and that bumped mine back an hour. It's not till 2:15.
And I can't eat anything.

So I figure I'll give you my last pork dinner.
It's a keeper! And a great way to use up buttermilk.

I grew up in a pretty much pork free home. Oh sure, we had some bacon and sausage, but there were no tender chops or succulent tenderloins ever cooked in my mom's house. We ate beef.

My dad grew up eating mutton (which is old sheep, not pork)
and that ruined him for life. No sheep, No pork! No chops of any kind!
I didn't know what a pork chop tasted like till I was about 12 years old.

We had taken a trip to S. Dakota and I was at my uncles. I don't remember why I was there, or where my parents were, but I remember he was frying up some pork chops and
my love affair began.


The Hubby cringes when I pull out the pork chops.
I don't care, I love pork. So I got him real good with these chops!

He liked them!!!

And I'm making them again, real soon.


Enjoy!

Smothered Pork Chops
By Tyler Florence

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 pork chops, 3/4-inch thick, bone-in (I used boneless, but next time will use bone in)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup buttermilk
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions
Put the flour in a shallow platter and add the onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels to remove any moisture and then dredge them in the seasoned flour; shaking off the excess.

Heat a large saute pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. When the oil is nice and hot, lay the pork chops in the pan in a single layer and fry for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove the pork chops from the pan and add a little sprinkle of seasoned flour to the pan drippings. Mix the flour into the fat to dissolve and then pour in the chicken broth in. Let the liquid cook down for 5 minutes to reduce and thicken slightly. Stir in the buttermilk to make a creamy gravy and return the pork chops to the pan, covering them with the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes until the pork is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Autumn Apples

My mother in law can make a good applesauce. Usually the urge strikes when I see mom-in- law making it. I was thinking about apples and their variations the other day when Red Hot Cinnamon Applesauce came to my mind. Then I was reading fellow blogger Julie's site named Noshtalgia and she had made the applesauce.

Well that got my corer spinning. I pulled out the big guns! I sliced, peeled , and cored those big boys in no time.



Fill up your pot with 10-12 apples.
The original recipe called for 3/4 cups of water.
But,I used 3/4 cups of apple cider.(wise choice you say!)




Add: 3/4 cups sugar and
1/4 cup Red Hot candies.
Let simmer for 15 minutes


Now that pot of applesauce was gone before I could even tell you about it.
It was sweet and Cinnamony.
It was like dessert warm off the stove and a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream would of made a great accomplice.

The cold leftovers made a fine breakfast.

I'm off in search of more apples!