Oil, Vinegar, Dishes + Cranberry Vinaigrette

Hello. My name is Carolyn. And I'm an oil, vinegar and dishes addict. I need a 12-step program, I think. They come out with some new flavored oil or vinegar and I'm a sucker. Hand it to me. Gotta have it. I'm embarassed to say that I have way too many, and more often than not, when I'm making a complex salad dressing (I usually make my own, since I dislike most bottled dressings) I don't even GO to my cabinets for these specialty oils or vinegars because I think the flavor will be wasted (as well as the money I paid for them) in the dressing.

So, now you know. I'm flawed. It's a good thing I don't really have a food budget. My DH probably wishes I did. I do remember the days when I really had to watch what I spent, but thankfully life has been good to us. I do look at prices, but if I want some kind of food item, I'll usually buy it.

The only time DH complains is when I buy dishes. I do love buying new dishes. I have to just slap my hands sometimes when I get into a TJMaxx store or Home Goods and I see some darling little set of 4 plates. No salad plates with them. Maybe 2 bowls. Or, maybe a couple more soup bowls would be nice. I just have to talk to myself. Where will I put them. Will I really, really use them? I walked in the door the other evening with a set of 8 salad plates. Since DH washes almost all of the dishes I couldn't fool him by hiding them somewhere and pulling them out in a couple of weeks. He'd know. So I confessed right up front. WHAT?, he said. This wasn't a what, dear, kind of response. It was a loud WHAT? Then I reminded him that our little set of 4 dark green salad plates that kind of went with our everyday dishes now was a set of 3. We can't use a set of 3 plates. They're going out into the donation bag in the garage, I said. So these are to replace those. But why 8, he said? Well, because when I bought the other four, that's all they had. The new ones had 8, so I bought them all. They were only $2.99 each, I said. As if that would make much difference. He sighed. And washed them. I reminded him that I don't have many vices. Buying books and cookbooks maybe. Spending time on the computer, yes. And probably this blog too. I think I'm forgiven. I think.

So what brought this all to mind was making a salad dressing yesterday. I'd read about the dressing over at Culinary Fool, and thought it was so festive and holiday-ish. So I got out all the ingredients and went to my vinegar cupboard. You want to see?

Yup, those are ALL oils (mostly in the left two) and vinegars (mostly right). The shelf at top right is awry because it's where DH stores his wine essentials (corkscrew, cap remover) so it sits cattywampus because I need the height for the bottles below.


When we had our kitchen remodeled there was this space at one end of the island, facing our family room. The cabinet maker was going to just put in blind ends there. They'd have looked pretty, but I knew there was about 4-5 inches of depth in there. Crying out for just the right things to store on shelves. Aha. Oils and vinegars. Perfect home for them. One cupboard is a bit deeper, so I can get 2 layers in there. I made the cabinet maker put in cupboards. I don't want to know how much extra that was. I'm very happy with my oil and vinegar cupboards.

But, I've digressed; back to the salad dressing: Searching through the vinegar options, I found a citrus vinegar, a specialty one. Perfect, I thought, to go with the orange juice in the dressing and the cranberries. I like all the pretty shaped bottles they use for vinegars these days. I have a couple of balsamic bottles that are too tall for these cupboards, so they have to live in the walk-in pantry. But I forget about them in there.

This dressing isn't appropriate for every salad. With the fruit (cranberries) and juice (orange) it's best suited for a simple salad. I used half sugar and half Splenda, to keep the carbs down a bit. Apples, just a few, sliced in a simple salad would be nice. Or pears. Dried cranberries are so popular to toss into salads, but I think they'd be too sweet in this case. Certainly some toasted nuts would go well. I added walnuts. My salad came together, then, with arugula, head lettuce even, sliced apple and walnuts. Very yummy. Thanks to Culinary Fool for this one. It's a keeper.

Cranberry Vinaigrette
Recipe: Dishing with Kathy Casey: Food, Fun, and Cocktails from Seattle's Culinary Diva, via Culinary Fool blog
Servings: 12
2/3 cup fresh cranberries -- or frozen
1/4 cup sugar -- [I used half sugar, half Splenda]
1/2 cup white wine vinegar -- or distilled vinegar [I used citrus vinegar]
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup orange juice -- or other citrus juice
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1. Place cranberries, sugar and vinegar in small saucepan and heat over medium heat until cranberries pop, 5 - 10 minutes.
2. Let cranberries cool slightly and then transfer to a blender. Puree (being careful to make sure the top doesn't pop off if they are still warm) the mixture until fairly smooth - there will still be pieces of bright red skin. Add the mustard and orange juice and lightly mix.
3. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Slowly, slowly add the oil while continuously whisking until all oil has been incorporated and the mixture is emulsified.
4. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator.
Per Serving: 143 Calories; 14g Fat (83.5% calories from fat); trace Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 50mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 2 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Cranberry Relish with a zip

(I'm thrilled to say that I discovered a menu setting on my Canon PowerShot 400SD Elph, that offers me an option of "digital macro." For the 2 years I've owned it I've only used a quick set close-up setting. Amazing what you can find out if you read the manual, eh?! But the digital macro gets right in there. You'll be seeing more of these really close close-ups.)

Well, I don't know about you, but I've been planning the Thanksgiving menu the last couple of days. We're excited that we'll have all three of our children here, with all 5 grandchildren too, who range in age from one infant up to age 13. Plus some other extended family too. That will make a table for 16, which is two more than our table can accommodate, so we'll probably have to set up a small table from the children nearby.

Everyone is bringing something, so that makes my job easier. I'm grateful for the help. I've always thought that Thanksgiving dinner is one of the most labor intensive there is, of the entire year. So much of it has to be done at the last minute - the potatoes, the gravy, the salad, etc. But I heard a suggestion the other day - potatoes hold real well in a crock pot. Just make them several hours ahead, preheat the crock pot and throw the entire batch in, cover, and it will hold for many hours. Sounds like a plan to me.

So, listen up . . . that's the phrase I seem to use when I'm about to share something important. I'm going to give you my prized (well, no, I haven't really won a prize for it, it's just prized by me!) recipe for cranberry relish. My mother introduced cranberry relish to our family's Thanksgiving table back in the late 1950's I think. It was just the chopped cranberries (and I was often the one who had to sit and hand chop the cranberries - very tedious, I might add), and minced orange, including some of the peel, with sugar. I made it that way for years. Until one year I saw a recipe in a magazine, I think, that mentioned adding apple and ground ginger. I love ginger and what it does for baked goods and other things too. I tried it, and it's become the regular on my Thanksgiving table ever since. Over the years I've tweaked the recipe a bit - reduced the sugar a tad, and added more ginger. And I think the original recipe called for 2 apples, but I preferred the single one. So that's why I call this a Carolyn original. I have no recollection where I first saw the recipe including the apple and ginger, so I can't given any credit for it.

This keeps for about a month, and is wonderful added to a turkey sandwich, or as a chutney type side with grilled meat. But it seems to have its strongest affinity to poultry. I can eat this straight out of the container, I like it so much. Just remember to make this a day ahead, if at all possible. It takes several hours for the flavors to blend AND for the sugar to do its magic with the fruit, drawing out the juices.

Cranberry Relish with a Zip
Recipe: This is a Carolyn original
Servings: 10
12 ounces fresh cranberries
1 large apple -- cored
1 large orange -- with peel, chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup sugar
1. You may use fresh cranberries, if available. If you've frozen them, just defrost before starting relish.
2. In a food processor, whiz up the cranberries first. Do not allow them to turn to mush. Scrape out into a bowl. Do the same with the apple, leaving the peel on, and add to cranberries. Cut orange into many small pieces, peel and all and do the same. Be careful there aren't any large pieces left in the workbowl. Add ginger and sugar to the mixture, stir well and refrigerate for a few hours.
2. Will keep for about a month before spoiling.
NOTES : Cranberry relish has always been a favorite of mine, and I've made a bunch of different kinds over the years. But, this is my favorite, with just a bit of tartness. It's also wonderful with grilled meats - pork chops, chicken and even steak.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 90 Calories; trace Fat (1.4% calories from fat); trace Protein; 23g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Fruit; 0 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.
To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Cranberry Noels - what? This is May isn't it?

Are all cookies seasonal in your book? Certainly I have a few cookie recipes that I don't make year around . . . like gingerbread men . . . or sugar cookies decorated with red and green. But otherwise, cookies are calendar universal. I had a bag of dried cranberries that needed to be used, and I remembered this recipe that's become a personal favorite since 2000 when my friend Darlene brought them to a Christmas cookie exchange.

If you haven't ever been to a cookie exchange, you should try it. These days, every woman's magazine blasts ideas for how to streamline our shopping, wrapping, decorating, cooking and entertaining during the holidays. Happily I've hostessed cookie exchanges for years. I had my first one in about 1971. And I've had them many times since - not every year, but every few. I love to have a variety of cookies to serve friends and family during the holidays, so what's easier than inviting a group of baking friends to share everyone's goodies. I can remember many times trying to figure out the math - okay, 11 people coming, everyone's bringing 5 dozen, how many of each cookie do we take? Got it. Oh, one gal didn't come at the last minute? Oops, change the number. Oh, another gal only got 50 out of her batch? Uhm, what do I change the number to now? Eventually we just took a bunch and if there were still lots of cookies, we'd make another turn around the cookie table adding a few more to our stashes.

I didn't intend this to be a lesson in cookie exchanges, but one thing I've learned is that each different cookie needs to go into its own plastic bag and sealed. Otherwise, someone's double mint cookies will infect all the other cookies in your container with mint. And all the bags go directly into the freezer after the exchange.

These Cranberry Noel cookies were the hit of the cookie exchange that year. Hands down. (Thank you, Darlene.) They came from Martha Stewart, but at the time they were the #1 winner of a Christmas cookie contest Martha had on her website. For this posting I did look it up and finally found it on one of Martha's forums here. I know they were originally part of a cookie contest because I wrote it into my recipe in 2000. She subsequently published it in a Christmas special issue, apparently. These are super simple - you mix up the batter, roll into two logs, roll the logs in shredded coconut, chill, slice and bake. And once they're cooled they go into Ziploc freezer bags and back into the freezer.

So, just because these contain dried cranberries, pecans and coconut, that doesn't mean you can't have them in May! I had one yesterday in the mid-afternoon with my cup of Earl Grey tea. Delicious.

Cranberry Noels
Recipe: Winner of MarthaStewart.com's online Cookie Contest, 2000
Serving: 48 Preparation Time 15 minutes

1 cup unsalted butter -- room temp
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract -- or rum (I always use vanilla)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries (sometimes I chop them a little)
1/2 cup pecans -- chopped
3/4 cup shredded coconut meat -- unsweetened

1. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat until just combined. Gradually add flour, cranberries and pecans. Mix on low speed until fully combined.
2. Divide dough in half and shape each half into 8-inch logs, about two inches in diameter. Roll logs in coconut, pressing firmly to coat the outside of the logs, but without misshaping the logs. Wrap logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about two hours.
3. Heat oven to 375°. Using a sharp knife, cut logs into 1/4 inch thick slices. Transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet, placing about 1 - 1.5 inches apart. Bake until the edges are just golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 78 Calories; 5g Fat (57.8% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 10mg Cholesterol; 23mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

To print just the recipe, click on the title of this posting.