Cranberry – mythankfultable.com

Harvest Salad

November 7, 2018 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

I have embraced all that is butternut squash of late. Bake it and make it into soup, roast it as a side dish, or use it in this autumnal salad.

I have not loved kale, however, ever. But chop it up, use it as a base with some delicious ingredients, and use a little lemon dressing…I find, I look forward to my kale-based lunch. No, seriously, I am slowly falling in love with this vegetable. (Does anyone else think of the chard solicitation in the Farmer’s Market episode of Parks and Recreation? No?) Well, maybe I’m falling in like with this vegetable…

This salad is a full-course meal in that it incorporates a lot of vegetables, quinoa (I like tricolored for the visual) and crunchy apples, cranberries, and creamy goat cheese. It is also sort of weight watcher’s friendly as it is veggie based and if you only use a little cheese/cranberries you get a solid meal for not a lot of points.

The beauty of this kind of salad is it is interchangeable. As in, you don’t like dried cranberries or goat cheese you can eliminate or swap them out. You don’t have quinoa but have farro on hand, same deal. You make the meal unique in what makes you happy and is available in your pantry.

For this recipe, I cubed up butternut squash, tossed it in a little maple syrup and olive oil, roasted it up for an hour or so (Think glorious orange cubes of tastiness). While that is happening, I am first cooking a quinoa in a little butter on the stove top, then adding chicken stock to cook. In my research, I read that browning the quinoa adds depth of flavor and “sets” the protein. While I like quinoa as is, even cooked in water, I definitely like the flavors of the butter and the stock. (Again, you do you). Meanwhile I am tearing up kale, dicing apple, red peppers, and even this time, raw thin asparagus stalks, and getting ready to combine.

I have made this where I do the squash and quinoa the night before, and assemble the rest the next day, and I have made it when the quinoa is still slightly warm when assembling. Both turn out great. I also like that in a land of meal prepping on Sunday, this salad holds up, unlike the regular lettuce or baby spinach salad, which can’t really be made too many days in advance (nothing is worse than the smell of spinach turning…blah).

For the dressing, I combined lemon juice, olive oil (I used blood orange olive oil but any will do), salt, pepper, and a little bit of maple syrup (can also leave it out). I shake it up in a mason jar and keep it on hand for when it’s time to serve. I am not a fan of pre-dressed salad, but you could certainly dress the salad prior to serving and it will hold up.

If you are like myself in that you try to pack healthy lunches ahead of time and stay on track during the day (I won’t pack the halloween candy so I can’t be tempted and then around two I am asking myself why…) this is a salad for you. If you don’t love kale, this is the salad for you. My children aren’t fans but I make it anyway. It’s a recipe for Chrissy. And we need those in our lives. Recipes that make us healthier and stronger and happier, right?

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe.

Harvest Salad

Print Recipe

Other options of this delicious fall salad could include chopped raw asparagus, pecans or walnuts (raw or roasted) or any additional seasonal vegetable/fruit. It is hearty, healthy, and versatile!

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1 Butternut Squash, Cubed
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
2 Tablespoons Oil
Salt and Pepper
1 Cup Tri-Color Quinoa
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1 Diced Granny Smith Apple
½ Cups Craisins (Dried Cranberries)
1 Diced Red Pepper
2 Cups Kale, Washed and Chopped
2 Ounces Crumbled Goat Cheese

Dressing:

1/3 Cup Olive Oil
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
Lemon Zest

Instructions

Toss Butternut Squash Cubes in maple syrup and oil, season with salt and pepper.
Spread out Squash on a sheet pan and bake for 375* until roasted. (45-60 Minutes).
In a pan, melt butter and add quinoa, stirring until slightly toasted.
Add Two cups chicken broth and simmer until quinoa is cooked.
Wash and roughly chop Kale, add remaining ingredients to the salad and toss.
Combine dressing ingredients and add to salad (I put mine in a mason jar on the side).

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

March 27, 2018 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

So, I’m a New England Girl, through and through. Give me your white steepled churches and ancient graveyards, lighthouses, glorious autumns, and all of the goodness that comes with the history of our great nation.

With that, and I’ve blogged about this before, is the amazing tradition of taking a perfectly healthy berry and plunking it down in a dessert. Now, if peanut butter and chocolate are a culinary “Bachelor”, cranberry and orange are the “Bachelorette.” Disclaimer: I don’t watch either show. However, this match of cranberry and orange just work so well together. I am all about being a resident of Massachusetts. We be the cranberry kings. Bring on the cranberries.

In my endeavor to make all of the biscotti, it was inevitable I would find this recipe and attempt it.

Now, in my defense and love of citrus…I did really amp up the orange zest. How does one end up with 1/4 a cup of zest? Easy. You buy a bag of clementines, your mom brings over more clementines, and then, you see Satsumas with their little green leaves at the grocery store and you just have to buy them. Citrus overload. I can’t say I am sorry. We eat a lot of citrus. I need my vitamin C. I work with small children. My teaching table is a Petri dish.

Well, if a clementine gets past it’s freshness it gets hard and almost field hockey ball like. But guess what? That zest is perfect. I also just bought a masticating cold press juicer (who knew this was a thing? it is). Enter more use for citrus but not it’s peel. Aha! Zesting has become pretty regular and normal around my kitchen.

This recipe combines easily and bakes in two stages. It keeps forever in an airtight container. Even though I don’t love white chocolate I think it adds just a little sweet and pretty on the finished cookie. I might make these again with white chocolate chips on the inside of the cookie; give the batter a bonus, and not dip them. Mix it up a bit. I might also make an orange glaze with citrus zest and confectioner’s sugar next time around.

I will be honest and say I do love these biscotti, they are one of the best cranberry orange cookies I have ever had.

If you are a New Englander, you need to make yourself these cookies because they embrace everything that our history holds, (cranberries were even at the first Thanksgiving, remember). If you aren’t a New Englander, you should grab yourself a bag of dried cranberries and try this recipe. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe.

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

Print Recipe

This combination of cranberry and orange biscotti with a white chocolate dip makes for the perfect New England biscotti. Recipe adapted from www.yourhomebasedmom.com

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 Cup Butter
6 ounce package of Dried Cranberries (I used Craisins)
3 Tablespoons Orange Juice
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Grated Orange Zest
2 1/2 Cup AP Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup White Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350*
Place dried cranberries in a bowl and add boiling water. Let sit for five minutes. Drain well and set aside.
In a mixer with a paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar and orange zest and mix until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time and incorporate.
Add Orange Juice, Baking Powder and Salt.
Add flour until mixed.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into two 4″ x 8″ rectangles with softly rounded edges.
Place on parchment lined or silicone mat lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Allow to cool for ten minutes.
Slice baked logs into one inch slices, on the diagonal, if you desire.
Return cookies to the cookie sheet sliced side up and continue to bake for an additional 25 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool.
Microwave white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, checking frequently to not scorch the white chocolate.
Dip each biscotti into the white chocolate (or drizzle on top) and allow to cool.

Orange Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

December 11, 2017 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Orange Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

No New England cookie platter would be complete without something cranberry. Or, I should say, my cookie trays need to have cranberry somewhere. I think, to make a pretty cookie presentation there has to be a mix of colors and textures, and where the sweet has a different twist from one offering to another.

While I am more of a chocolate or salted caramel cookie fan, I do think shortbreads have a place in this world. Especially when they are lightly dusted with sugar, and packed with the sweet tangy punch of cranberries and orange zest.

Cubed Chilled Butter

The tricky part about shortbread cookies is the perfect consistency. Cutting the cold cubed butter into the flour until the dough has a sandy texture, then adding just enough liquid to bring the dough together without being too moist.

Cranberries and Sugar

This recipe has been in my cookie file for a long time, and I do not know where on the internet I found it. I did make some changes, including the amount of orange juice involved. I have in the recipe up to 1/2 Cup of freshly squeezed orange juice (I zested the orange and squeezed it for the juice). I add the juice in tablespoon at a time measurements because it really does depend on the flour and how much liquid the shortbread dough will take to hold together and still be tender. It’s a watch and feel game- you want it to stick together but not be stick-y, ya know?

Shortbread Dough

The cranberries are dried (I used Craisins) and pulsed in a food processor with some sugar and added to the dough. I find the zip of orange and cranberry together add a perky flavor to the otherwise traditionally buttery dough of shortbread.

I’m not going to lie. When it comes to this kind of cookie, I am a believer that more is more. I will always be heavy handed when using zest or something like that. If you find that there is extra zest or an additional 1/4 cup of cranberries, throw them in the dough. The cookies won’t lack for that extra teaspoon of orange zest.

Once the dough comes together, form into logs and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight in parchment or wax paper. The key to this is making sure the wrapper is tightly sealed around the dough. Any open edges, you run the chance of the dough drying out- and this is not the dough to have dry out. (Think play-doh after the lid wasn’t put on correctly).

Once the dough is chilled, slice the logs into 1/4 inch slices (I do not use a ruler for this…no one has time for that). Then coat the disks of dough in sugar, and place on a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet. (Have I mentioned Santa is bringing me new Silpats? Can’t wait!).

These cookies are tender and so when they are baking- you need to be on it. These cookies are essentially butter, flour, and sugar, with your decorative mix ins. While the butter melts into the dough making light little pockets of air-it can also burn or brown quickly, which, is bad. Unless you like browned bottom cookies, in which case we can’t be friends. (Kidding! I’m kidding…sort of).

Once the cookies have cooled, they will freeze nicely for at least a month, or stay fresh in a sealed container for a few days. Shortbreads don’t have that chewy consistency, but these do hold their own, the buttery base kind of melting in your mouth with the chew of the cranberry.

Personally, I love the way these cookies smell and look more than anything. They smell so citrusy, and the sugar glints off the dough in just the right way…they really are pretty little cookies fit for this New England girl’s table.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy,

Click below for a printable recipe!

Orange Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

Print Recipe

Delightfully fresh shortbread cookies with the sweet tart of cranberries and orange zest. Dusted with sugar right before baking.

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1 Cup Dried Cranberries
1 ½ Cup Granulated White Sugar
5 Cups Flour (spooned and leveled- not scooped)
2 Cups Butter, Chilled and Cubed
2 Teaspoons Almond Extract
2 Tablespoons Orange Extract (I used more in my cookies- I love orange zest)
1/4 – 1/2 Cup fresh squeezed orange juice (add by teaspoonful until dough comes together)
Additional Sugar to coat cookies before baking

Instructions

Combine cranberries with ½ Cup of sugar in a food processor and pulse just until cranberries are broken down into smaller pieces and combined with the sugar.
Combine flour and remaining sugar in a different bowl.
Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into the flour and sugar mixture until resembles fine crumbs.
Stir in cranberry sugar mixture, extract, and orange juice by teaspoonful and using hands, knead dough into a ball.
Shape dough into a log, and chill in wax paper or parchment paper (four hours to two days).
Preheat oven to 325*
Slice logs of dough into ¼ inch slices. Coat cookie slices with sugar.
Bake cookies on parchment lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set.
Let cookies cool for several minutes on baking sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
Store in airtight container for three days or freeze for up to three months.

Cranberry Pecan Streusel Crunch Pie

December 4, 2017 by chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Cranberry Pecan Streusel Crunch Pie

I am a New England girl. I am more specifically a Massachusetts girl. Give me my glorious western mass mountains, rotaries, the turnpike, the cape, the fact that I can be in Vermont in an hour, and all the glory that goes with the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins, and the Red Sox. Ok, so I am not a big sports fans, but I can name key players and read a twitter feed to follow games, so who is any wiser? (Oh wait, just shared that on my blog…)

Cranberries!

Something that every New Englander can hopefully know is the harvesting of a cranberry bog. These little power houses of antioxidants are amazing in their chambered, floating figures of bright red goodness. It is a fall tradition, to flood the bogs, set those babies free, and corral them into their futures as cranberry juice, cranberry sauce, Craisins, and of course, to be sold as is in the stores.

Cranberries, Orange Zest and Sugar

If you are not from New England, in the world of YouTube and other internet wonders, you too can witness a cranberry harvest, but there is nothing like actually being there. It’s cooler weather, the leaves are starting to turn, cider and cider donuts are happening, typically there is a festival one weekend, and you think to yourself, “Hey, we are known for this! This is a very cool New England thing.”

Does everybody love the cranberry? No. Some people like it with their booze (Hello Cape Codder), some people like it for health reasons. I’m just a fan. Thus, this pie for the holidays.

Look at how pretty they are. All nestled in sugar and with orange peel.

Cranberries Pie Filling

This pie is so beautiful color wise, and it is paired with a pecan oat streusel that is just sweet enough and just crunchy enough to balance the tart of the cranberries. The original recipe is found on the www.smittenkitchen.com website.

The filling is partially cooked on the stovetop, and the combination of the pectin in the cranberries with the cornstarch make for a tight filling that packs a punch flavor wise. It is not cranberry sauce in a pie crust at all.

The streusel crust combines oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans, and is pulverized to make a crumbly but consistent texture. I processed mine quickly so the little bits of pecan and oats were identifiable without being dominant. This may, in fact, be my new favorite streusel topping. I may just try this on top of muffins or crisps in the near future.

Cranberry Pie

After the cranberry filling is partially cooked and the streusel is prepped, it is as easy as assembling the layers and popping it in the oven.

You know when you have to wait for something special and you wait and wait and wait? I got these pie crust punch cutters in my Christmas stocking last year and have waited all this time to use them.

I made an extra pie crust just for the decorative edges on this year’s pies and was I ever happy. I rolled the pie crust into the pie plate, and instead of pinching the edges, I cut and attached the pretty leaves on the outside rim.

Cranberry Pecan Streusel Crunch Pie

Of all the pies this past holiday held, this was the one I chose for dessert. Just enough tart and sweet, crunch and chew, and balance between the flaky pie crust, crumble of the streusel, and consistency of the cranberries. Topped with a dollop of fresh homemade whipped cream, I was a happy girl.

There seems to be a common thread in my life these days of balance, between the sweet and the not so sweet, the blessings and the sorrow, and the fine line to keep solid between the two.

In this daily journey, I am thankful for the sweeter side of things, for the smell of cinnamon and the beautiful colors around me. I am thankful to live in a part of the world where every fall the mountains burst with colors, and the cranberry bogs fill with tiny chambered floating fruit, bobbing along their flooded homes to make their way into this special dessert for my family.

Every day is a gift.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe.

Cranberry Pecan Streusel Crunch Pie

Print Recipe

This pie combines the jewel like color and tart flavor of cranberries, orange zest with a pecan oat streusel topping. It is a perfect balance of tart and sweet, crunchy and chewy and flaky!

Author: chrissy@mythankfultable.com

Ingredients

Scale

1 Unbaked Pie Crust

Cranberry Filling:

4 1/2 Cups of Fresh Cranberries (original recipe said you can use frozen- I did not).
1 Cup White Granulated Sugar
Orange Zest from one Orange OR 2 Clementines (I like the taste of orange and cranberry so I add more)
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon of Cornstarch

Streusel Topping:

2/3 Cup Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup White Granulated Sugar
1/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon salt
3/4 Cup Pecan Pieces
6 Tablespoons Butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

For Cranberry Filling

Combine cranberries, orange zest, sugar, cornstarch, salt in a saucepan over medium heat and begin to cook. Some of the cranberries will pop or leak juices, which is perfect. Continue to stir and cook for approximately 5-7 minutes. Allow filling to cool slightly. (I waited about 10-12 minutes).
Pour cooled filling into pie shell.

For Streusel Topping:

Using a food processor, grind oats and pecans for a coarse grind, add additional ingredients except butter. Pulse processor to combine all streusel ingredients.
Combine Streusel ingredients with melted and cooled butter until crumbled in texture.
Sprinkle topping over cranberry filling.

Bake pie for 50 minutes or more or until the cranberry filling is bubbling up through the streusel topping. If pie crust begins to brown too much while filling is cooking, cover edges of pie with foil to protect from burning.

Notes

While cooking this pie, I erred on the side of longer, waiting for the cranberry filling to really bubble up through the streusel topping. It did mean my cooking time was longer, but the result was worth the wait. The cranberries cooked down but retained their consistency, the crumble topping browned nicely, and it was all over a beautiful pie to cut into!