Some Nice Thanksgiving Sides

 Wondering what goes great with roast turkey? Look no further. Here are a few Kelly favorites!

Sparkling Gelatin Salad

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 cups fruity soda or ginger beer*

1 1/2 cups white grape juice

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups canned madarin oranges, drained

1 cup seedless green grapes, halved

3/4 cup fresh raspberries

coconut oil (or cooking spray)

*Original recipe called for Riesling wine here. I like to use Hansen or Izzy orange, or Fever Tree ginger beer.

    Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup of the soda.

    Combine grape juice and sugar in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture, stirring until the gelatin dissolves. Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl. Let stand 10 minutes, stir in the rest of the soda. Wait another ten minutes or until it is thick, but not set. Whisk to form small bubbles. Fold in the fruits.  Pour or spoon into a 5-cup decorative mold coated with coconut oil or cooking spray. Cover and chill at least 4 hours. 

    When ready to serve, warm slightly in a large bowl of water. Place a plate upside down on top of mold, and invert carefully. Maybe give it a gentle shake to help it drop onto the plate. Yield 12 small slices.

    NOTE: Double this recipe to fill a standard bundt pan if you want to feed a crowd.

Broccoli Salad

3-4 cups broccoli pieces

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

1 lb bacon, fried crisp, chopped

1/2 cup sunflower meats

1-2 cups red grapes, halved

Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

    Cut the raw bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and fry it up. Drain on paper towels. Add everything to a large bowl. Whisk the dressing together and stir it into the collection in the bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

    NOTE: This salad has endless variations. You can leave out the bacon and use vegannaise for vegans. You can use raisins or Craysins instead of grapes. Sunflower seeds are optional. I've seen it done with little cubes of cheese and no fruits at all. Follow your whimsy!

Vegan Apple Pie

Someone you love might be vegan, in which case you will inevitably need to make a vegan pie. You might also have apples, from that cute one-year-old’s birthday party in the orchard last week, just waiting for an excellent destiny. The universe has spoken. 

This recipe is for an 8-inch pie.

Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

108g  coconut oil (1/2c?)

1/4 t salt

2 t sugar

Blend until crumbly, then add 

4 T ice cold water

Mix until comes together in a dough. Wrap and refrigerate ten minutes.

Filling

7 apples, cored, peeled, sliced

1/2 lemon, squeezed

1/3 cup sugar

2 T cornstarch

1/4 t nutmeg

1/2 t cinnamon

Stir all together, then roll out the crusts.

Preheat oven to 400°F

Divide dough in half. Roll first circle to 2 inches bigger than your pan. Ease it in with no stretching. It should hang over all the way around. Dip your finger in remaining ice water and wet the top rim of the crust all the way around. 

Pour in the filling.

Roll out another circle 1 inch bigger than the pan. Cut into ten strips. Lay them on in lattice formation. Roll up the edge and pinch all the way around. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and dot with butter flavored Crisco.

Bake for 20 minutes. 

Reduce heat to 375°F and bake 30 more minutes.

Sweet 'n Smoky Chicken

 

This recipe was developed by my dad's younger brother, Steve Ownby, when he and his wife Carole took a cooking class together around 1980 or so. We have made it again and again with very little variation except for which chicken pieces and which cooking appliance. You can see it's a well-worn recipe card. For this blog I'm going to tell you how I made it today, in two different crock pots, for my family and to give away to some other little families who could use a meal right now. My hope is that you will see the possibilities and go make it for yourself. It's SO worth it!

Prepare the crock pot (or baking pan):

1 large onion, cut in half and sliced in large arcs

Scatter the onions to cover the bottom of the crock pot.

Prepare the chicken:

10 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
2 teaspoons Old Hickory Smoked Salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place all the thighs on it skin-side-down. Sprinkle with the smoked salt and then broil for about 5 minutes, or until it starts to crisp a little. Remove from broiler and turn the pieces over. Sprinkle with smoked salt and the black pepper and  then broil again. Place the broiled pieces on top of the onions in the crock pot.

Prepare the sauce:

1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

two good shakes of hot sauce ( I make my own)

Place all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove pan from heat and pour over the chicken pieces. Turn the crock pot on high and cook for 4-5 hours until the thighs shrink a little and are tender enough to fall off the bone. Serve over wide egg noodles, with broccoli and a salad maybe.

Viennese Plum Cake

 This has become my favorite plum cake recipe, and it works perfectly with gf flour. I have used chopped walnuts instead of almond flour, and that is delicious too. I found the recipe using a google search for plum cake. It was originally published in Taste of Home magazine. 

This version is gf with almond flour in the topping

For the cake:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup 1:1 gf flour mixture (or all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups fresh or frozen plums (about 1 3/4 pounds fresh)

   I used 12 Italian plums from my friend's backyard

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the topping:

1/2 cup 1:1 gf flour mixture (or all purpose flour)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cold butter, cubed

3 tablespoons almond flour (or other chopped nuts)

    the nuts are optional, but I like them!

Directions

     In a large bowl, cream softened butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.

     Transfer to a greased 9-inch square baking pan (I used a 7x11-inch pan lined with parchment paper) Top with plums. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over plums.

     For topping, in a small bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in almond flour or other nuts if desired. Sprinkle over top.

     Bake at 350º Fahrenheit for 50-55 minutes or until topping is golden brown and plums are tender. Cool on a wire rack.

NUTRITION FACTS

1 piece = 1/9 of whole cake

327 calories

17 grams fat (10 grams saturated fat)

87 mg cholesterol

234 mg sodium

41 grams carbohydrate (24 g sugars, 1 g fiber)

4 grams protein

Our Christmas Favorite Antipasta

My mom got us all hooked on this terrific salad recipe, originally published in the December 2000 issue of Cooking Light Magazine.

Ingredients

3 cups asparagus, cut in 2-inch lengths

3 cups mushrooms, quartered 

1 cup red bell pepper strips

3 oz mozarella cheese, in 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup pitted ripe olives

14 oz can artichoke hearts, quartered & drained

11 1/2 oz jar pepperoncini, drained

Steam asparagus for 2 minutes, then plunge into ice-water to chill. Drain. Combine with all other ingredients. Stir with dressing. Chill for 45 minutes to 2 hours. Do not make this more than 8 hours ahead, or freshness will be gone.

For the Dressing:

1/3 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon each of salt & pepper

Put everything in a small jar with a lid. Shake to combine.

 

Fishy Potato Skins

 Remember potato skins? They are great football tailgating food, usually covered with cheese and bacon. But what if you just wanted a little bite of something to tide you over before dinner? And what if you were not into meat, but were okay with fish? Here's where these tasty gems can shine!

You will need:
1 1/2 pounds small potatoes 

   (I used Private Selection Petite Gold, 

   but any color will do, as long as they 

   are small enough to be bite-sized)

1-2 T olive oil
4 oz hot-smoked salmon (not lox)

8 oz Daisy sour cream
2-3 T cotija cheese (or any cheese will do)

3-4 T chopped chives 

   (or fennel or dill fronds, or rosemary)

Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Cut each potato in half, maximizing surface area at the plane of the cut. Toss all of the cut halves with the olive oil. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil, and  spread out the potatoes, cut side up. Roast for 20-30 minutes. Divide the smoked salmon evenly among all the potaotes. Top with a small dollop of sour cream with the cheese mixed into it. (You won't use all of it, but you can use the leftover cheese/sour cream tomorrow for a full-sized baked potato.) Sprinkle with tiny green things, and serve.

Tiny GF pies!

For Page's birthday, and as a needed break from moving activities, we had a little fish taco feed on the back deck. For dessert I pulled out these little fancy tart molds that had been hiding in my bottom drawer for who knows how long. I had lots of eggs and lemons, so lemon meringue pie seemed inevitable, but I also whipped up some Guinness pot de creme for a second choice of flavor. Just a few weeks later, we had friends on the deck for steak. It wasn't quite strawberry picking season, but I had some good jam from last year's haul, so I cut up some giant tasteless strawberries and drowned them in jam for the win! Two more weeks elapsed and Cash flew into town for a visit. We found a bag of frozen blueberries in the bottom of the garage freezer and half a can of crushed pineapple in the door of the kitchen freezer...sounds like blueberry piña colada pie to me! (Too bad we didn't take pictures, but I'll add them if when we make them again.)

For the crust:
3 oz cream cheese
4 oz (1 stick) butter
1 cup Pamela's gf flour*

1/4 t xanthan gum

Blend together until it forms a ball of dough.

Divide into 24 pieces. Press one piece in to each of 24 tiny tart molds. 

Bake all the mini tarts on a cookie sheet for 1/2 hour at 325º F

Note: You could totally use a mini-muffin pan instead.

*If you don't need gf, just use regular flour and skip the xanthan gum

For Lemon filling:*

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

dash of salt

3 egg yolks (reserve whites)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 t lemon zest

1 1/2 cups hot water

1-2 T butter

     Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan until well blended. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon zest. Set aside. Add the hot water to the dry ingredients in the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken. It will look thick and cloudy. Add egg mixture gradually and bring back to a bubble, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add butter. Stir until butter is melted. Cool for about 10 minutes, then pour into the baked pie shell.

For the Meringue:

3 egg whites (reserved from above)

1/4 t cream of tartar

1/4 cup plus 2 T powdered sugar

1 t lemon juice, or 1 t vanilla

grated lemon zest as desired

     Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Beat the egg whites until foamy. add cream of tartar. Continue peating until whites form soft peaks. Add sugar and lemon juice or vanilla, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue on top of pie and sprinkle with grated lemon zest. bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

* I clipped this recipe from The Oregonian newspaper in 2005 when "Million Dollar Baby" was up for some awards at the Oscars. It is from The Dinah Shore American Kitchen and credits Virginia Martin for the recipe. It is the best lemon meringue pie recipe I have ever had! This makes a 9-inch pie. It's actually way too much for 24 mini-pies, so I ended up with jars of lemon curd in my fridge for later.

NOTE: For the tiny tarts, I put the meringue in a giant ziplock bag and snipped off a piece of the corner and then piped it onto the little tarts before baking. It only took a bout ten minutes to get golden.

For the Pots de Creme filling:*

4 large eggs

2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 t kosher salt

1 t vanilla

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup Guinness Extra Stout

   (also great using Cold Fire Brew Co. bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout)

     Blend eggs, chocolate chips, salt and vanilla in the blender for one minute to completely chop the chocolate. Heat the stout and cream in a small saucepan over medium low heat until small bubbles appear on the sides. Pour into the blender, cover and blend for 2-3 minutes until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is silky. At this point, normally I would divide among 8 ramekins, cover, and chill for at least 4 hours. Serve with whipped cream. But this time we used the filling to fill 24 little tarts, chilled them, and still served with whipped cream.

* I first had this at JaneAnne's book club, but the recipe came from here http://www.alwaysorderdessert.com/2013/03/dark-chocolate-guinness-pots-de-creme.html

These are fabulous without any crust, but it turns out they make a terrific filling for tiny tarts too!

For the Strawberry filling:

1 pound of fresh strawberries, cut into pea-sized dice

8 oz strawberry rhubarb freezer jam (see June 2019 of this blog)

     Heap lots of little dice into each prepared shell, and top with some of
the freezer jam. Serve with whipped cream. Like I said, I didn't take a picture! But just imagine a tiny little version of this delicious looking pie.

For the Blueberry Piña Colada filling:*

2 cups frozen blueberries

3/4 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

3 T piña colada mix

2 T sugar

1 1/2 T cornstarch

1 T Myers Rum 

pinch of salt

     Mix all together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat and cook until the blueberries all pop and the mixture becomes dark and thick. Spoon into prepared baked shells and top with flaked coconut. Chill before serving.

*This recipe is a pared down version of one of my favorite pies from Ken Haedrich's excellent book, Pie.