Individualized chicken wraps

We have plain chicken left from last night's casserole so I made wraps:

For Me

Chicken, romaine, home canned cranberry relish and mandarin oranges

For my husband

Chicken, romaine, Parmesan and salsa verde

Simple dinner tonight

I went for a simple dinner tonight. I broke up some chicken breasts and mixed them with the leftover turkey. Served with some potatoes, home canned apples and cranberry clementine relish and a taste of store bought cranberry sauce for comparison.

Cranberry relish

In the food processor combine:

- 12 ounces fresh cranberries

- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract

- 5 small clementines cut into chunks

- 1/4 cup local raw honey

- almost one cup sugar

- almost one cup raw almonds

Chill for several hours. 

I'm going to can this. For Christmas.

Grain Free Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Ah, the beauty of food via Facebook... Just Eat Real Food posted this recipe from Edible Harmony. The original recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free.

http://www.edibleharmony.com/grain-free-pumpkin-cranberry-bread/

I thought to myself, "Gee, it's thanksgiving morning. This would be a fantastic seasonal breakfast and fun for child and I since it's simple."

And since the doctor removed her right ear tube Monday, I'm keeping her dairy free.

If you want the real recipe, go to Edible Harmony. If you want horrible misadventures in the kitchen, by all means read on.

Preface: I am finishing my last semester of college classes, after this I just need to finish my honors thesis. We're broke (like most of America). And I have a part-time job at Target which means I work full-time this week because of Black Friday. So right now this instant, I'm stressed.

And holidays tend to push my over the edge anyway.

I am an opening cashier tonight, which means I go in at 8:30 pm and cashier until 1:30 am. Then I go in tomorrow at 5 pm to close the café. To reset my body clock toward working late, I stayed up and watched a James Bond movie after punching out of work at 10:07.

My internal alarm clock woke me up at 7:15. Child was reading to herself out loud, so I got up and closed everyone's bedroom doors. Then, the cats started scratching at the door which went from annoying to amusing when one cat started attacking the cat who was scratching at the door.

So maybe baking wasn't the best course of action for a morning that started this way.

Child got the eggs. I called up the recipe on my phone. Six eggs. Left from out last trip to the farm. Exactly what we needed. And in my head I still have this reaction of "That's a LOT of eggs." I understand coconut flour requires gads of eggs but it's still a shock.

Especially when you've only had a 1/2 cup of coffee.

Child cracks all the eggs and puts them in a bowl. The recipe says to combine eggs, 12 pitted dates and 1/3 cup coconut oil in the food processor.

We dump in the eggs and the dates and child starts measuring 1/4 cup oil because I don't have a third. I let her jam the oil (coconut oil is a solid at room temp) into her cup and I fling some extra into the food processor.

When it's ready, I let her pulse forgetting that the edge of the food processor is broken and this stream of eggs and coconut oil spews onto the counter. Like the Incredible Hulk, I turn into stark raving mad lunatic mom.

What to do? I have to get those dates pulverized. Husband gets blender. With my sunny optimism, I remind him that this won't work and we're doomed.

It works for the dates. Child measures the coconut flour. I add 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce to replace the egg mixture now on my counter. We blend. Blender stops. Coconut flour jams blender.

We reassemble poor food processor. Transfer mix to food processor. Realize blade isn't all the way down. Fiddle and twist.

Add remaining ingredients. Pulse. Recipe a for 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon. I love cinnamon. And my coconut flour bake goods tend to be bland, especially since I have taste buds so attuned to refine sugar.

The only cinnamon we have is in a grinder. Child grinds for what feels like an eternity.

We pulse. I add some local raw honey. Taste buds. Need to wean off sweet. We stir in cranberries. Plop into loaf pan. Batter seems to disappear.

We sprinkle unsalted pumpkin seeds on top. We bake.



Verdict: I need to get toothpicks so I don't keep using random household objects to poke baked goods.

This is delightful!

Success!

Sweet potato pumpkin crunch

I made a crazy sweet potato casserole today with an inside custard of 2 eggs, 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, one can evaporated milk, cinnamon, one large can yams and one small can pumpkin.

Topped with crumbs of almonds, dried cranberries, flour and brown sugar.

Poured butter on it and baked at 375 for 35 minutes and 15 minutes at 350.

Served with a side of roast beef and spinach roll ups. Or Lebanon bologna.

Cranberry orange bread

I decided to modify my cinnamon raisin bread into a cranberry orange loaf. I started with the Traditional White Bread from my 25th anniversary Betty Crocker cookbook.

CRANBERRY ORANGE BREAD
- about 2 cups whole wheat flour
- about 5 cups unbleached white flour
- 1.5 tablespoons local honey
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons (or did I use a tablespoon?) yeast
- 1 cup triple sec, heated (plus more for bowl)
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 cup raisins and craisins

Mix the wheat flour and 2 cups white flour with the butter, salt, sugar, honey and yeast. Add liquid. Stir thoroughly with wooden spoon.

Add fruit and enough remaining flour until the dough is elastic and not wet to the touch. Need ten minutes.

Sprinkle light amounts triple sec into the bowl (straight from the bottle), and drop the dough in. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour.

Now, my house is always low so I preheat my oven to 200, turn the oven off and open the door and let most of the hot air out. Then I put the dough in and close the door.

The dough is ready when it doubles in size. Push a finger in and if the indentation remains, it's ready.

Knead again. Grease two loaf pans. Divide dough in half. Make rectangles, roll them tightly and then tuck the ends under. Put them in the loaf pans.

Preheat oven to 425. Cover dough and let rise 30 minutes. Until they double. I place my loaf pan on the burner where the oven exhausts so that hot air will keep it warm.

Bake 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown.