Well, it’s been a busy few months, involving a lot of writing at work, meaning when I have free time, I’m not too excited to use it to do more writing. I’m going to try to get back to blogging, but you probably know me well enough by now to not trust any promises! Anyway, here’s another recipe from Thanksgiving (eek!), but it’s really good any time, either with leftover sweet potatoes, as here, or with pumpkin. Sorry, no picture from this one!

I purposely made more food than I thought we needed to feed the six of us last Thanksgiving, since I enjoy the leftovers and finding ways to use them. Matt and I had a couple nights of just reheating the leftovers pretty much as they were originally served, but the real fun part is figuring out ways to make the leftovers into something new. I especially had a lot of leftover sweet potatoes, and decided to try adding them to pancakes. I adapted the buttermilk pancakes I usually make from The Joy of Cooking, adding my sweet potato casserole (which was topped with coconut and hazelnuts) and some spices. Since these are a good bit sweeter than normal pancakes, they were especially great topped with tart leftover cranberry sauce!

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I love cranberries so much I made them two ways for this year’s Thanksgiving – in cranberry salad, and this cranberry sauce. I love the cranberry salad by itself, but I love the cranberry sauce with turkey, on a sandwich, or topping the pancakes I’ll share with you soon that I made with the leftover sweet potatoes.

Honestly, I didn’t measure anything very carefully, but just tasted it and added things until I liked the flavor. But, it turned out so well, I at least wanted to have a record for next year of what I put in. I think this kind of thing is best made tasting as you go anyway, since what it needs will depend on the flavor and sweetness of your cranberries.

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First in a series of Thanksgiving posts. I know it’s way too late for this year, but in case you want to really, really plan ahead…

As I was looking for a new way to make sweet potatoes this year, I found this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, and I’m so glad I decided to try it. The coconut milk and ginger are a nice departure from the usual brown sugar and pecans or marshmallows, and they are just sweet enough but not overly so. I adapted the recipe slightly from the original, using hazelnuts instead of macadamias, and adding a bit of brown sugar. The leftovers were great in pancakes, which I’ll share sometime soon.
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Okay, I know, it isn’t really famous (yet), but it is well-known and well-loved in my family at least. This may be simple, but it imparts a phenomenally delicious crust to red meat. I literally look forward to it all year. Dad started making it several years ago to rub on the standing rib roast we always have on Christmas Eve, but it’s also great on steak or lamb.

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced (or more or less, depending how much meat you have)
Fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Very coarsely ground black pepper
Sea salt

Start by mincing the garlic. Use equal parts of rosemary and pepper as garlic, and add slightly less than an equal part of sea salt. Mix all this together and rub on the meat. Wrap it loosely and refrigerate until ready to cook. The longer it stays on the meat the better. Mom and Dad say they usually leave it on the meat for at least a couple of hours.

I know, it’s the new year, and everyone’s got all kinds of resolutions to exercise and eat healthier, and the last thing you need is more pictures of delicious sweet things. So, I promise this is the last of the Christmas sweets. This is a traditional yeast bread/cake often made by Moravians, usually at Christmas time, but sometimes other times of the year as well. My mom grew up in the Moravian Church, but doesn’t remember making sugar cake herself until I was little and she made it for the Candle Tea (a kind of church bazaar at Christmastime) at Raleigh Moravian Church in North Carolina. She got the recipe there from Mae Marshall.

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