Happy Birthday, Mom: Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

We celebrated my mom’s birthday this weekend with a family dinner at our house. My sister, our mom, and I divided up cooking responsibilities, and we all contributed a few dishes that resulted in a Sunday evening feast. We even had three desserts! My mom blew out her birthday candles with the help of my nephew and niece, and then we enjoyed some carrot cupcakes (courtesy of the birthday girl herself), and a few other treats! It was an enjoyable evening spent with a wonderful family and good food! Happy Birthday, Mom!


Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
(Recipe by Ellie Krieger)
Ingredients
¾ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup canola oil
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup natural applesauce
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups finely shredded carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
4 ounces 1/3-fat cream cheese
¾ cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift together the first 6 ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the applesauce, vanilla and carrots. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in ¼ cup of the chopped walnuts.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and lemon zest until smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts. The cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator.

Seafood Season: Spaghetti with Clams

It is the time of the year when fast food chains start advertising their “fresh fish sandwich” on television commercials, and most restaurants will serve clam chowder as their soup du jour on Fridays. We also know this time as Lent. Dietarily speaking, Fridays during Lent are no different than any other day of the year for me, however we make special consideration for my husband to avoid meat. This means lots of seafood in our house, which makes us both happy.

I began making a clam and pasta recipe when I was a teenager. It was one of the recipes in my repertoire that I would cook on my own. A few years ago, I found a similar recipe by Giada de Laurentiis. We tried it, and with her alterations, we quickly let her Spaghetti with Clams take the place of our old Clam Sauce with Linguine.

The old version that I made used dried herbs and a regular onion. Giada’s use fresh parsley, lemon zest, and shallots, making it taste so bright and fresh. Her recipe calls for Manila clams, but to keep this recipe easier and more affordable, I use canned clams. If you decide to use canned clams, this recipe is pantry-friendly (most of the ingredients you can keep on-hand), and easy to make any night of the week!

Spaghetti with Clams
(Adapted from Everyday Italian)
Ingredients
1 pound dried spaghetti
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, thinly sliced
5 to 7 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 ½ pounds Manila clams, scrubbed clean (Kate uses 2 or 3 cans (6.5 oz.) minced clams, drained)
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
½ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced into small cubes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, zested, for garnish

Directions
In a large pot, bring to a boil 6 quarts of salted water. Add pasta, stirring constantly in the beginning to prevent it from sticking together. Cook until al dente, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan. When almost smoking, add shallots and garlic and sauté until soft and translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the clams and wine. Cover and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes or until most clams have opened. (If using canned clams, cook until thoroughly heated.)

Add 2 tablespoons chopped parsley. Whisk in butter to thicken sauce slightly.

Drain pasta in a colander. Do not rinse pasta with water - this will remove the pasta's natural starches. Place pasta into the clam sauté pan and mix thoroughly. Check seasoning.

Pour pasta into large serving bowl. Zest lemon over the dish, being careful not to zest the white part of the lemon, which is bitter. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve immediately.

Valentines Dessert: Chocolate Molten Cakes with Raspberry Coulis

Happy Valentine’s Day! My husband and I usually like to use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to indulge in a fabulous meal at a trendy restaurant. With it falling on a Sunday this year, I actually requested that we stay in and I would cook something fabulous. (Sundays are my cooking day and much needed time at home to get ready for the week.) I made my husband a steak, we opened a nice bottle of wine, and topped it off with a chocolate dessert!

Chocolate molten cakes are my very favorite dessert to make and to eat. This recipe is so easy! It takes just minutes, and uses basic ingredients. I love to make these for other people, as they’re delicious and quite impressive. You can garnish them with mint leaves, fresh berries, and a powered sugar dusting, creating a beautiful presentation. The chocolate can be rich, so serving them with a little ice cream or whipped cream balances them out. I also like to make a raspberry coulis with them, giving the dessert more color and an added element.

You can make the cake batter ahead of time, refrigerate it, and then pull it out to bake when you’re ready to serve dessert (I recommend bringing it up to room temperature before baking). You’ll have to watch them in the oven, as the size of your ramekins will and the nuances of your own oven will determine the baking time. (I use these great silicone round mini pans that my mother got for me when taking a class at King Arthur Flour.)

Chocolate Molten Cakes
Ingredients
4 squares Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
½ cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray custard cups or soufflé dishes with cooking spray. Place on baking sheet.

Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on high for 1 min., or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour. Divide batter between prepared custard cups.

Bake 13-14 min. or until sides are firm but centers are soft (you want a soft center about the size of a quarter). Remove from oven and let stand for 1 min. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes.

Serve with vanilla bean ice cream or whipped cream; and raspberry coulis (recipe follows) and/or fresh berries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.). Garnish with mint leaves and dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

(Batter can be made a day ahead. Pour into prepared custard cups, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bake as directed.)

If custard cups are not available, use a 9 cupcake tin and bake for approximately 9 min.

Raspberry Coulis
Ingredients
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 cups fresh raspberries
Splash of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions
In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil on high; reduce to medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Add raspberries. Stir until thick and reduces by ¾ (about 5-8 min.). Remove from stove and strain to remove seeds. (To strain you will need to use a fine strainer or cheese cloth and will likely need to use a spoon to work the mixture through the strainer.) Add water and/or lemon juice if too thick. Refrigerate right before serving.

(I put the mixture in a squeeze bottle, which makes it easy for decorating plates. You can buy one at Bed, Bath & Beyond for about $0.99. Put the coulis in the squeeze bottle, drizzle it in a zig-zag or other pattern on plates, and then place molten cake and ice cream on top.)

Coney Island: Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup

My husband and I began dating in college. Once we met, we were instantly inseparable and pretty much spent every waking hour together that we weren’t in class. (And we did find a way to take a couple classes together, even with different respective majors.) On days that we had a short break in between classes for lunch we would grab a bite at a Coney Island that was just a block from campus.

I was some type of vegan or vegetarian at the time, and would order a simple plate of hummus and pita. My husband had his regular order as well, which was chicken lemon rice soup and two “Coneys”. While I’m pleased to say that we’ve since moved up in the world as far as restaurants that we frequent, and our visits to Coney Islands are few and far between. However, my husband will still order chicken lemon rice soup wherever he can find it.

Lucky him, he found it just the other day cooking on the stove in our kitchen! I was flipping through Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave a few nights ago and saw a recipe for this type of soup, but made with orzo instead of rice. The soup is very easy, and he loved, loved, loved it! As soon as he tasted it, he instantly informed me that I would be making it again soon. It has been in our fridge for just about 24 hours, and he has already snuck back with a spoon to sneak a taste several times.

I doubled Ellie’s recipe to have a bigger batch to get through the week. I also skipped her step of cooking chicken breasts, and instead added the (already cooked) meat from a rotisserie chicken at the end. I carefully tempered the eggs in a bowl with the hot broth, not in a saucepan (as the recipe calls for), and I thought that worked just fine. This soup gets thicker with each second you let it sit. My husband likes that consistency, but if you find that your soup has become too thick after a day or so, you can add more broth to it. I also added a few extra tablespoons of lemon juice, to make it extra lemony. Next time I might add some lemon zest too.

Lemon Chicken Soup with Orzo
(From The Food You Crave)
Ingredients
4 teaspoons olive oil
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into small chunks
1 pinch salt, plus more to taste
1 medium onion , diced (about 1 ½ cups)
2 stalks celery, diced (about ½ cup)
1 medium carrot, diced (about ½ cup)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup orzo (preferably whole wheat)
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with the salt, add it to the pot, and cook, stirring, a few times, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a dish and set aside.

Add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil to the pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and thyme and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add 5 cups of the broth and bring to a boil. Add the orzo and let simmer until tender, about 8 minutes. Turn the heat down to low to keep the soup hot but not boiling.

Warm the remaining 1 cup broth in a small saucepan until it is hot but not boiling. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Gradually whisk the lemon juice into the eggs. Then gradually add the hot broth to the egg-lemon mixture, whisking all the while. Add the mixture to the soup, stirring well until the soup is thickened. Do not let the soup come to a boil. Add the cooked chicken to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink: Honey Barbecued Salmon

I’m in the middle of another busy week and am still recovering from my baking mishap last week. While my newest batch of chocolate crunch granola bakes in the oven, I’m going to take a few minutes to type up a lengthy recipe that I tried a few weeks ago.

The Main Street Ventures restaurants have their own cookbook on display in a number of restaurants we’ve been frequenting for many years. It is a collection of gourmet recipes from their prized restaurants across the country. I’ve been eyeing the cookbook for quite sometime, but for some reason I never purchased it.

In December my husband and I joined our very good friends (and their darling baby girl) for a fabulous birthday dinner where they generously gave me this cookbook (along and a lovely bottle of wine). Some of our favorite dishes from the restaurants are in this cookbook, and the photographs of the food are beautiful. I’ve already attempted a couple recipes from the book, and the first one that I tried was their Honey Barbecued Salmon.

The ingredient list is lengthy and the recipe has you throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the barbecue sauce. At first it seems like overkill, but all of these ingredients meld into a deliciously sweet and spicy glaze. Mine was particularly spicy, as I used the entire jalapeño. (I recommend only using the jalapeño flesh and discarding the membrane and seeds if you don’t want it too spicy. If you are sensitive to hot peppers, you should also use rubber gloves when handling them). Since it is the middle of winter and our ground outside is still white, I followed their instructions to bake then broil the salmon. As soon as it warms up we’re going to try this on the grill! If you don’t like salmon, try the sauce with with chicken!

Honey Barbecued Salmon
(From Mainstreet Ventures Distinctive Recipes)
For Salmon:
Ingredients
1 ½ lb. Salmon filet, boneless and skinless
1 ½ cup Honey Barbeque Sauce (recipe follows)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 450°F.

Cut salmon filet into 4 equal pieces. Place parchment paper on a 9x12 inch baking sheet pan. Brush both sides of each salmon piece with barbecue sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 6 minutes, then switch oven dial to broil and cook salmon for 3 more minutes until salmon just flakes.

Brush lightly with sauce prior to serving. Transfer the salmon onto plates and serve with more sauce, if desire.

For Honey Barbecue Sauce:
Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
1 cup honey
¼ cup coarse-grained mustard
¼ cup Jalapeño pepper, minced
2/ Tbs. rice vinegar
½ tsp. Tabasco
3 Tbs. light brown sugar
1 Tbs. curry powder
1 tsp. sweet paprika
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. lemon juice
½ tsp. ground black pepper

Directions
In a heavy saucepan, stir together sauce and dry ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve. Sauce will keep for one week covered and chilled.

Shrimp Suggestion: Lemon Spaghetti with Shrimp

Just a couple of hours ago, my friend Dana posted a comment on the blog that she had tried a couple of my recipes. She mentioned that she couldn’t get enough of the Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta with Basil, and that she had also added some shrimp to it. Her comment made me think of a similar dish that I like to add shrimp to myself! (And thanks, Dana, great suggestion!)

This recipe for Lemon Spaghetti is so easy and so delicious. It works well as an entrée, particularly with the addition of some cooked shrimp, chicken, or scallops. It also works as a great accompaniment. You can serve it hot, or at room temperature, and you can also have fun trying different shapes of pasta.

The original version of this recipe is from Giada de Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian, however a few years ago I started adding Trader Joe’s Colossal Butterfield Shrimp marinated in garlic and herbs (found in their frozen section), and never looked back! The TJ’s shrimp are flavored perfectly for this dish, and all you have to do is put the frozen shrimp under the broiler for a few minutes, and then they pop right out of their shells. This comes together quickly with little hassle, so it's perfect for a night that you want a homemade meal but don't really feel like cooking.

And while this has nothing to do with cooking, I'd like to mention a very cool blog I have recently stumbled upon. 365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. (Plus "before" and "after" photos.) Marisa over at New Dress A Day has a lot of creativity and can really work a sewing machine!

Lemon Spaghetti with Shrimp
(Adapted from Everyday Italian)
Ingredients
1 pound spaghetti
2/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
½ cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
½ - 1 pound cooked shrimp

Directions
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the oil, Parmesan, and lemon juice in a large bowl to blend.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce, and the reserved cooking liquid, adding 1/4 cup at a time as needed to moisten. Season with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Toss with lemon zest, shrimp, and chopped basil.

White Out: White Bean Dip

This is my last recipe from my "Brown Bear" birthday party theme. (Yes, it has taken me about a month to get through all of them!) To recap, I did an hors d'oeuvre in each of the following colors: brown, red, black, green, blue, yellow, purple, gold, and now white.

It has turned out to be an ideal day to post the white recipe, as it is a white winter wonderland outside! We’re in the middle of a Midwestern snowstorm, and while I made this for dinner tonight, I’ll share with you Giada’s white bean dip – a fun take on hummus (without any tahini, but using cannellini beans for a creamy texture).

I would also like to mention that my friend, Sunny, could use lots of prayers right now. I mentioned a couple of months ago that she is expecting twins, and she has now been hospitalized at 25 weeks. She and her husband live far away from their families, and have a little one at home. Thank you for sending warm, positive thoughts their way.

White Bean Dip
(From Everyday Italian)
Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (Kate likes to add a little lemon zest too)
1/3 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons
1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 pitas
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Place the beans, garlic, lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, and parsley in the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the bean puree to a small bowl.

Cut each pita in half and then into 8 wedges. Arrange the pita wedges on a large baking sheet. Pour the remaining oil over the pitas. Toss and spread out the wedges evenly. Sprinkle with the oregano, salt, and pepper. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until toasted and golden in color.

Serve the pita toasts warm or at room temperature alongside the bean puree.

Breaded Not Burnt: Best Baked Chicken

When my sister and I were growing up, there were days when we would arrive home before our mother made it home from work. Our mom would sometimes leave us with an easy recipe to get dinner started, or she would have prepped a meal for us to finish off in the oven. It was the beginning of a passion for cooking for us both!

One of the meals we occasionally assisted in was a baked chicken recipe. The chicken breasts were coated in instant potato flakes and baked. On one particular day, my sister happened to burn the chicken and subsequently, it was forever named after her. From that point forward, we continued to call that chicken “The Chicken that [Insert Sister’s Name] Burnt”. Even years later, we would say to our mom, “What are we having for dinner tonight?”, and she would respond, “The Chicken that [Sister] Burnt”.

This recipe isn’t the chicken that she burnt, but quite similar, and much better too. Instead of potato flakes, it is coated in herb-seasoned stuffing. My mom shared this recipe a couple years ago, after my husband tasted her chicken and loved it. After making several rounds of it for him, I tried it myself by using Quorn Naked Chik'n Cutlets, and also enjoyed it. It’s pretty easy to make, and you can bake as many or as few chicken breasts as you want to. I recommend using Pepperidge Fram Herbbed Stuffing for your bread crumbs. I make this on a regular basis for my husband, alternating which vegetable sides I pair it with (on this day it was Broccoli with Myer Lemon Olive Oil and sweet potato fries).

Best Baked Chicken
(From All Recipes)
Ingredients
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons celery salt
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 dash pepper
1 (6 ounce) package herb-seasoned stuffing mix, crushed into crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions
Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease a baking dish.

In a medium bowl, mix the sour cream, lemon juice, soy sauce, celery salt, garlic salt, and pepper. Dip each chicken breast in the sour cream mixture, then roll in the stuffing mix to coat.

Arrange chicken in the prepared baking dish. Drizzle with the melted butter.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

Holiday Spirits: Cocktails

December is a month that is filled with celebrations: Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and most importantly, my birthday! Our December is especially packed this year with a cousin’s wedding and a new birthday added to the month – my niece’s first birthday! With holiday parties likely starting up this weekend, I thought I would help kick off the month’s festivities with some fun cocktails.

I am typically a traditionalist when it comes to cocktails. I like my classic cosmopolitan, lime margarita, and when it comes to adding other ingredients to champagne, I think you shouldn’t mess with a good thing. In the latest round of cooking magazines I’ve received in the mail, several recipes have caught my eye, and I decided I could be adventurous. These cocktails are creative and have a special touch like fresh herbs or frozen fruit.

The Sparkling Cranberry Punch is a recipe I made five years ago for a holiday dinner with our friends in New York. We set a bottle of vodka out next to the punch bowl, so those who were interested could spike their drink. The Cranberry Liqueur has been a family tradition for Christmas Eve or our annual cousin game night. It is pretty strong, but is a lot of fun to make your own flavored vodka. This can make a great gift bottled up. Of the new recipes, my favorite that we tried is the Pomegranate-Rosemary Royale. It is a twist on a traditional kir royle, and the rosemary really makes this a seasonal cocktail.

Pomegranate-Rosemary Royale
(From Cooking Light, November 2009)
Ingredients
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
2 cups Champagne or sparkling wine

Preparation
Combine 1/4 cup water and sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add rosemary; let stand 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids.

Pour 2 tablespoons pomegranate juice and 1 tablespoon rosemary syrup into 4 Champagne glasses. Top each serving with 1/2 cup Champagne. Garnish with rosemary, if desired. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 drinks.


Sparkling Cranberry Punch
(From Better Crocker’s Entertaining Basics)
Ingredients
1 (12-oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 ½ cups cold water
1 (64-oz.) bottle cranberry juice, chilled
4 (12-oz.) cans ginger ale or Sprite, chilled
For Ice Ring:
Sliced fruit, berries, strips of orange, lemon, or lime peel and mint leaves
Water or fruit juice

Directions
Mix the lemonade concentrate and cold water in a pitcher. Stir in the cranberry juice. Pour into a punch bowl.

Just before serving, stir in the ginger ale (or Sprite). Add the ice ring (see below) or ice cubes.

Ice Ring:
Choose a ring mold or bundt cake pan that fits inside your punch bowl. For color, arrange sliced fruit, berries, strips of orange, lemon, or lime peel and mint leaves in mold. Slowly add just enough water or fruit juice to partially cover fruit (too much water will make the fruit float); freeze. When frozen, add enough water or fruit juice to fill mod three-fourths full; freeze overnight or at least 12 hours to make sure ice ring is solid. Unmold ring and place in punch bowl fruit side up.

Makes 24 servings (about ¾ cup each).


French 75
(From Raley’s "Something Extra", Holiday, 2009)
Ingredients
2 oz. lemon juice
1½ oz. gin
2 tsp. powdered sugar
4 oz. champagne or sparkling wine
Maraschino cherry

Directions
Shake 2 oz. lemon juice, 1½ oz. gin and 2 tsp. powdered sugar with ice; strain into a tall glass. Top with 4 oz. champagne or sparkling wine and stir. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Makes 1 drink.



Sparkling Mojito
(From Raley’s "Something Extra", Holiday, 2009)
Ingredients
2 oz. rum
3/4 oz. lime juice
1 tbsp. powdered sugar
5 mint leaves
2 oz. sparkling wine

Directions
Stir 2 oz. rum, 3/4 oz. lime juice and 1 tbsp. powdered sugar together in a cocktail shaker or small pitcher. Muddle 5 mint leaves (by mashing against the side with a long-handled spoon) in the shaker. Strain into a tall glass over ice, top with 2 oz. sparkling wine and stir lightly to mix. Garnish with a sprig of mint, if you like.

Makes 1 drink.



Citrus Basil Sparkler
(From Raley’s "Something Extra", Holiday, 2009)
Ingredients
2 oz. pink lemonade
2 oz. orange juice
1/4 tsp. basil (optional)
3 oz. sparkling wine

Directions
Combine 2 oz. pink lemonade, 2 oz. orange juice and 1/4 tsp. basil (optional) in a cocktail shaker or small pitcher. Pour into a tall champagne flute and gently stir in 3 oz. sparkling wine.

Makes 1 drink.



Cranberry Liqueur
(From Cooking Light, December, 2003)
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 (12-ounce) package fresh cranberries
3 cups vodka

Preparation
Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan; cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and cool completely.

Place cranberries in a food processor; process 2 minutes or until finely chopped. Combine sugar mixture and cranberries in a large bowl; stir in vodka.

Pour the vodka mixture into clean jars; secure with lids. Let stand 3 weeks in a cool, dark place, shaking every other day.

Strain the cranberry mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a bowl, and discard solids. Carefully pour liqueur into clean bottles or jars.

Presented in small decanters or glass bottles, Cranberry Liqueur makes a memorable gift. Attach a gift tag and include the following: "Cranberry Cosmopolitan: 1/2 cup Cranberry Liqueur, 1/4 cup Cointreau, 2 tablespoons lime juice. Mix with 1 cup crushed ice; strain into martini glass. Makes 2 cocktails."

Yield: 4 1/2 cups (serving size: 1/4 cup)

Note: Liqueur can be stored refrigerated or at room temperature for up to a year.

Spiced Wine: Winter Sangria

My husband and I were spoiled with sangria from the start. There was a local Italian-style tavern in the college town where we met during undergrad, which was known for having the best sangria. At the ripe age of 21, we, along with our friends, had many fantastic evenings (followed by unfortunate mornings). Spring and summer evenings were spent sitting elbow-to-elbow at long picnic tables in their outdoor garden. The establishment’s strong sangria was served in mason jars filled with red wine and fresh fruit. Each subsequent sangria that we’ve since tried has been compared to this first taste. Few have held up to our prominent college favorite.

While our beloved sangria from yesteryear is a red sangria, I’ve made several white sangrias that we enjoy during hot summer days. A recent edition of Cooking Light included a recipe for a holiday-inspired red sangria. I purchased a bottle of Zinfandel and decided to give it a whirl. The recipe calls for satsumas oranges, which I was unable to find. Per their suggestion, I substituted with tangerines. (When I make this again I will slice the tangerines instead of segmenting them. There are far too many seeds to remove from a tangerine, and doing so while pieces are segmented nearly destroys each section of fruit.) This sangria is delicious! It is a cross between a mulled wine and a sangria. It is much more refreshing than a mulled wine, but still presents the flavors of the holidays with the clove and cinnamon.

Winter Sangria
(From Cooking Light, November, 2009)
Ingredients
• 1 cup fresh satsuma orange juice (about 4 satsumas)
• 1 cup satsuma orange sections (about 2 satsumas)
• 1/3 cup Triple Sec (orange-flavored liqueur)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
• 1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
• 1 (750-milliliter) bottle fruity red wine

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a pitcher, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Great Minds Think Alike: Chickpea and Winter Vegetable Stew

My friend, Christina, just sent this recipe to me the other day. Coincidentally, I had already flagged it in my most recent edition of Cooking Light. I have relished all of the recipes she has been sending me, and this incident clearly indicates that she and I are on the same wavelength with food!

While I had planned on trying this recipe, it is comforting to know that someone’s taste buds that I trust endorsed it! The recipe calls for Harissa, which is a fiery spice paste used in Moroccan cooking. Unable to find Harissa myself, and per Christina’s recommendation, I substituted with Sriracha. This dish is loaded with vegetables. It has great, warm flavors, and is spicy from the chili paste, and sweet from the honey.

Chickpea and Winter Vegetable Stew
(Adapted from Cooking Light, November, 2009)
Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup (1/2-inch) slices leek
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
3 2/3 cups vegetable stock, divided
2 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
1 cup (1/2-inch) sliced carrot
3/4 cup (1-inch) cubed peeled Yukon gold potato
1 tablespoon harissa
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound turnips, peeled and each cut into 8 wedges (about 2 medium)
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/3 cups uncooked couscous
8 lemon wedges

Directions
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and leek; sauté 5 minutes. Add coriander and next 4 ingredients (through garlic); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add 3 cups vegetable stock and the next 8 ingredients (through chickpeas); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in parsley and honey.

Remove 2/3 cup hot cooking liquid from squash mixture. Place cooking liquid and remaining 2/3 cup stock in a medium bowl. Stir in couscous. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges.