Cranberry Magic Bars

I saw this recipe the other day on Our Best Bites and absolutely had to give it a try!  I made these cookies and brought the into work for our Steelers Superbowl Party.  Seemed like a hit...  I know I enjoyed them.

Materials

1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs

1 stick butter, melted

14 oz. can can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/4 cups shredded coconut

1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

cinnamon as desired

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup chopped cranberries

Methods

Spread the melted butter in the bottom of a 9 by 13 pan.  Top with graham cracker crumbs and press down to make a nice crust.  Spread the sweetened condensed milk on top of the crust an top with coconut.  spread the white chocolate chips an top with cinnamon as desired.  top with the milk chocolate chips, pecans, an cranberries.  Press own an bake at 350 for about30 min.  Cut into bars and try not to eat the entire pan!!!

Let's Go Steelers!!!

Apple Cranberry Pie

Nothing says holidays like pie, or something.  The evolution of this pie:  I wanted to bake a pie and use my Great Grandma's recipe and was thinking about pumpkin at Thanksgiving, but David had it covered.  While traveling through South Bend my cousin Abby gave me her apple pie recipe as a substitute for the pumpkin.  Later, my sister suggested substituting cranberries for the raisins in the apple-cranberry pie.  A few weeks later, voila!

Ingredients
2 pie crusts (store bought... or Grandma Goerss's recipe)
8 gala apples, peeled, and thinly sliced
1 tbl lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbl all purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Methods
1. Prepare 2 pie crusts and put one int he bottom of a deep pie pan.

2. Sprinkle apples with lemon Juice.  Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Add apples and cranberries and toss to coat.

3. Place apple-cranberry mixture in pie shale and trim the pastry.  Cut slits in the second pastry (I used a snowflake cookie cutter!) and place on filling, sealing and crimping. 

4. Cover edge of pie with foil and bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes until the top is golden.  Cool and serve.

Verdict.
Good.  Very good.  Repeat after me:  I like pie.  The crust was as good as I remember, and as easy.  The pie was great.  I liked the cranberry add.  Any time I can eat cranberries I'm happy :)  They are a superfood after all!  Only down side -- I used 8 small gala apples and that was too much.  There was seepage out over the edge of the pie onto the bottom of the oven since I didn't do an expert job with my crimping.  Otherwise happy pie.

Orange Cranberry Sauced Pork Chops

Have you been wondering if this blog would even show up in your RSS feed/google reader again? I sure was. Too much travel and busy time leads to not cooking enough. I’ve done some cooking during my down time, but nothing new, nothing special at all, and I’m still awaiting camera surgery. However, in time for Turkey Day Eve I got back to the business. You know I brought out ‘old trusty’ aka the crock pot.


Orange Cranberry Sauced Pork Chops
Materials:

½ bag baby carrots
3-4 pork chops
½ can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 tbl orange marmalade
1 tbl quick cooking tapioca
¼ tsp cardamon

Methods:
Place the baby carrots in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place pork chops atop the carrots. Mix the remaining ingredients and place sauce on top of pork chops. Cook on low for 9-10 hours while at work.
Verdict:
Eh. This smelled amazing when I came home from work. I could hardly wait until going over to David’s to eat dinner. Alas, there was a lot of hype for nothing. The original recipe from a Crock Pot magazine called for orange cranberry sauce, which I couldn’t find -- so I added orange marmalade to my cranberry sauce as a substitute. I couldn’t really taste the orange. More importantly, the pork was somehow exceedingly dry, despite the fact that there was plenty of juices/water in the bottom of the crockpot. I thought it was impossible to cook dried out food in the crockpot. Unfortunately, I’m able to do that. I also didn’t really think the tapioca did anything -- I know its supposed to make the sauce creamy, but I wound up with glazed pork chops (the glaze was good despite the lack of orange taste) and a thin, watery cranberry-y sauce that the carrots were sitting in. I had high hopes… maybe will use the cranberry sauce and marmalade combo for glazed chops on the stove in the future.

I would like to note that I think pork pairs really well with fruit -- david had never had pork cooked with fruit. When I think of pork chops I think of cherries, apples, pears, and peaches -- I swear it’s a natural pairing.

Fall Salad

I celebrated October with a simple fall salad the other night.  It totally hit the spot.  nothing new, nothing major, but exactly what the season ordered. Have I told you about my love affair with goats cheese.  because i love goats cheese and fruit!

- baby spinach and leaf lettuce mix
- 1 apple, chopped
- 1 pear, chopped
- handful dried cranberries
- goats cheese
- strawberry balsamic dressing

I mixed the lettuce and fruits and topped with crumbled cheese before adding dressing, tossing and enjoying.