Mrs. Linda's Cranberry Salad: Pretty and Particularly Palatable

Christy Jordan doesn't know what she's started, putting Southern Plate on Facebook.  Or maybe she did.  Does.  I knew her when her fans weren't numbered in the hundreds yet.

Truth be told, she helped start my blogging career, such as it is.  You see, comments I'd posted in response to her status attracted the attention of Cindy (of Sweet Tea With Cindy fame) and Mrs. Diane.  I consider them Facebook Fambly; they've become more than friends via an electronic device.  They're souls I care about.

Annnyway, Cindy sweet-talked me into writing a guest post for her Front Porch Fridays.  A week later Mayree's debuted.  Mrs. Diane, observant Southerner that she is, connected a slew of like-minded souls all fans of Southern Plate, together on Facebook.  We're kind of an assorted lot spanning the globe from Alaska to the tip of Florida.  And last week she started an informal group "Thanksgiving First".
Sharings of Thanksgiving mishaps, blessings, and recipes have been going on in abundance in there.  It's delightful.

Earlier in the week Mrs. Linda mentioned her cranberry salad.  My mouth started watering, imagining the flavors worked together.  I knew it had to be made in my kitchen.  I did.  I made it.  It's a full week before Thanksgiving, so I'll be eating it morning, noon, and night for a few days but ohhhhh, it's worth it.

I didn't take a photo of the assembled ingredients before I started.  Y'all know me by now, I'm doing other stuff too and there's not always room (you got me -- there's not always the thought) to get it all together first.  In complete reverse order of what I normally do y'all are getting the ingredients and amounts first and then watch for the directions, okay?

Mrs. Linda's Cranberry Salad
one package fresh cranberries
two cups sugar
one large can crushed pineapple
one bag miniature marshmallows
one cup pecans
one and a half cup heavy whipping cream

Wash

and drain the cranberries.

Put in food processor and pulse until desired chopped-ness is reached, stirring sides down as necessary to process all berries.

Put into container and add two cups of sugar to begin drawing juices.  I put mine, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.

I took them out once last night and stirred the sugar into the berries.  I also had a bite.  Cranberries, to me, have the tartness of a Granny Smith apple with three times the flavor.

I had business out of the house this morning.  I took the cranberries out of the fridge and left them on the counter, to warm to room temperature and hasten the 'drawing' process.  I remembered to put the KitchenAid bowl and whisk in the refrigerator in preparation for whipping the cream.

Pecans!  Mrs. Linda says to use at least a cup of pecans in this.  This is a cup of pecans lagniappe.  And my little nut chopper.  Mama has one.  Her's was purchased with S & H Green Stamps the year after I was born and is made of glass.  We found this one at Dirt Cheap, sans lids.  I love it.

Open and drain the pineapple.  I'm not exactly sure if the pineapple needs to be drained.  There was less than a cup of liquid and more than enough marshmallows to soak it up.  I'll see if she won't comment and let us know for sure.

 Those cranberries are beautiful!  Add the drained crushed pineapple to them and stir 'til blended.

Can you see what a fine job the little chopper/grinder thingie does of making the pecans uniformly sized?  I can't imagine cooking anything with chopped nuts in it without running them thru this contraption.

Whip the heavy cream.  I should have probably used the whole pint of it but wanted to keep some for the ganache on one of the chocolate overload cakes going out this weekend.  I used 12 ounces in the KitchenAid with the whisk.

It takes very little time to get nice thick cream.  I did not have a bite, although I seriously thought about it.

Putting the paddle on the mixer, add the cranberry/pineapple mixture a spoon at a time, on the lowest speed.

This Artisan model has a VERY slow slow speed and incorporated the fruit into the whipped cream just beautifully.  Add pecans and mix just until blended.

It's so pretty!  I wasn't expecting it to be this festive!!! I know that's a bunch of exclamation marks going on there but really, I was surprised at how colorful the stuff is.

Take off the stand and add marshmallows, stirring just until mixed through and through.

Take the finished product, put in a pretty bowl, set it somewhere neat in your house and photograph it.

Don't forget to water the plant you've obviously forgotten to water several times while you're in there.

This made a LOT of salad.  And I do mean a lot.  It's going to be a perfect side for Thanksgiving.  The flavor of it?  Well!  It's a cranberry salad, not a relish, and certainly nowhere close to the thick sweetness of a congealed salad.  The cranberries are tart and sweet, but not puckery tart, just wake-the-mouth-up tart. The pineapple is an incredible flavor to go with the berries, also not too sweet, with the flavor standing alone.  The pecans?  Sheer Southerness with their slightly buttery crunch.  For some reason, the marshmallows almost taste toasted.  I don't know if it's the brand or what, but their smoothness in the midst of all the other textures, and sweetness makes this an awesome salad.  I forgot that the whipped cream made it a coronary event.  The effect is has on the salad reminds me of sour cream on apple pie -- it completes it.

I wish I could get fresh cranberries in the summer 'cause this would be one heat-busting salad to have in the fridge.  As it is, though, I'm going to enjoy it the next couple of days, making it again next week.  Thank you, Mrs. Linda, for sharing it with us.

Baby Bootie Buds

Gertrude Stein said, "Rose is a rose is a rose."  I'd have to agree with her.  I love putting fresh flowers on cakes turning them into centerpieces when it's a cake-and-punch type function.  My flowers always come from Wade the Florist, where I also work when he needs another set of hands.

 Christmas Eve wedding cake

That was a huge honkin' cake!

Mama's 80th Birthday cake

Sometimes though, the shop is closed and fresh flowers aren't readily available.  Yesterday evening, when I decided I wanted to decorate a baby shower cake with flowers, it was too late to stop by.  Wade had a delivery and wouldn't be back in town for a while, so I decided to make baby bootie buds!  I've made them before, using baby wash cloths as well as booties.

When the baby cake is for someone I know, I like to add in

all the little extras you see here:  pacifiers, thermometers,

aspirators, hairbrush, etc.;  It's my gift to the prospective 

parent!

I'm sure someone else must do them as well, but the inspiration for them arose from diaper cakes!  There are a couple of talented ladies in the community that make the cutest diaper cakes.  I had thought, "If they can wad up diapers to look like a tiered cake and tie them together, I bet I can do something for a REAL cake with baby stuff..."  And I do!

It really doesn't take any special equipment.  If you're a do-it-yourself kind of gurl or feller, you already have a pair of wire cutters (for the greenery) and scissors for the plastic holder-thingies keeping the socks bound together and the curling ribbon.  If you have chenille wires, those work well, too.  Mine have disappeared:  I suspect the dog.

 I use the most economical skewers available (I think they're $1.00 for a hundred?) and a big roll of curling ribbon can be bequeathed to your great grands.

Cut the booties out of their packaging (duh).

Start at the toe end of one bootie

Ewww!  You can tell my hands and wrists are swollen

from major use, splitting and hauling wood yesterday

evening.  Middle age BITES!

wrap tightly around a bamboo skewer and secure 

with a length of curling ribbon or any ribbon you want to use.  Tadadaaaaaa!  Congratulations on making that rose bud!

Now do that exactly as many more times as you want to!  The baby booties and socks were on sale at Family Dollar so I purchased enough to make 18 buds.  To assemble the cake, cut the greenery with stems long enough to penetrate several inches into the cake.  I usually leave mine about six inches long.

All you need is a cake.  This one is for a baby girl.  It's a chocolate cake with chocolate Bavarian cream filling and butter cream icing.

When making fresh cut arrangements, Wade puts his flowers in first and then fills in with greenery.  His mom, Mrs. Jane, does just the opposite.  She always makes her basic arrangement shape with greenery and filler and then puts in the flowers.  It's easier for me to arrange HER way than his ('cause he's just good that way).

 I like symmetry.  The silk greenery is mounded as high

as it is out.

It's a perk from working in a florist:  I make bows their way!  The use of a bow depends strictly upon whether there's ribbon in the house or not.  Distribute bootie buds randomly but evenly through the greenery, not forgetting to place a few close to the cake.  See those cutters?  They're my Cutco pruners.  They don't leave the kitchen.  I have them in the cake stuff to cut dowels and skewers with.  You might have to trim a few skewers shorter getting closer to the edge of the cake to avoid having the middle slap full of holes.

AND, don't freak out if the bud slides off a skewer.  It happens all the time.  All you have to do is slide the skewer back through the middle of the bud.  Or cut the ribbon and retie.  Either way, it's not a big deal.

So there you have them!  Try them for a baby shower in your neck of the woods!

Hummus a la Havard aka Humdinger Hummus aka Rich Fletcher's Roasted Pepper Hummus (Evolved Version)

Okay.  You know how I told you from the beginning to make a recipe your own?  Welllll... I didn't mean to take Rich Fletcher's hummus and turn it into a different sort of larrupin' (rhymes with terrapin but has nothing to do with turtles) Southern dip, but that's exactly what happened.  Unintentionally, of course.

 I wasn't going to tell 'bout the mistake made in the processing of the hummus because I felt silly about it (I should have known to start with less and add more if necessary) but that'd almost be untruthful.  While I am less than truthful at times (embellished facts, perhaps?), I'm certainly NOT untruthful when it comes to food and recipes.

Anyways.  I had seen Rich's post on roasted bell pepper and garlic hummus last week.  It looked like most any other recipe for roasted pepper/garlic hummus except, and that's a BIG except, he used Worcestershire sauce instead of lemon juice.  "What brilliance!" I thought then (and know now).  I don't know why I hadn't ever thought of it!  I've always liked Worcestershire sauce, it being one of the few constant flavor additives ever-present in Mama's kitchen.  Why!  I like it so much that Lee and Perrins are my Fellows' godfathers (embellished fact).  When I saw it in Rich's hummus recipe I knew there was a batch of the Middle Eastern staple coming to a CuisinArt in my kitchen soon.  This evening it hit the blades running...

I've been baking all afternoon, my mind busy with the stuff of busy-ness and trying not to think about the impending dental appointment at the dawn of crack eight in the morning  I wish y'all could come in the back door, sit down at the kitchen table, and enjoy the scent of baking done

and continuing.

 It smells like a child's birthday cake dream.

It's a good evening to have something to munch on.  Like hummus...

This is what you'll need:

See those Nut-Thins?  They're almond/rice crackers.  I was excited to see them on the shelf of the Pig until I ate one and realized they were nutified rice wafers.  Not something I'm likely to spend $3.09 on for four ounces again.  Roasted bell peppers, roasted garlic (I make my own in that jar on top of the peppers {I don't make it IN the jar, the jar is what it's put in when made}), chili oil, olive oil, garbanzo beans, Worcestershire sauce, and coarse sea salt are the ingredients.

Open the garbanzo beans and drain, reserving a half cup of the liquid.

A half cup?  Mayree!  Isn't that a bit much and why do you use the liquid anyways?  Yes, Smart Folks.  It was too much by a LOT and I use the drained liquid to start processing the hummus.  I like very smooth hummus.  If I use olive oil in the beginning of processing, it takes a LOT of oil (cause the garbanzos keep soaking it up) and the end texture is more like peanut butter than hummus.  If I use a bit of the liquid they're canned in, I get that smooth texture and THEN add the olive oil.

Everything is going into the CuisinArt, so dump it in as it's measured.

Garbanzo beans, 1/2 cup liquid, two tablespoons roasted garlic paste,

one very large roasted bell pepper (almost a cup's worth!),

one fourth cup tahini,

and two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.

 

Process to desired smoothness and add two tablespoons of olive oil

and one tablespoon of chili oil!

This should have been the last step BUT guess what?  It was too soupy!  One half cup of the liquid was too much in the beginning!  What to do, what to do???  It tastes awesome at this point, the hot chili oil giving the hummus an extraordinary heat that won't burn up your palate but keeps your tongue warm while you're eating it.  It's delicious!  But it's runny:  NOT the way I like it at all!  Hmmmmmmmm... I should've bought two cans of garbanzos but I didn't.  I did have a couple of cans of other beans:  black, navy, and butterbeans.  Black beans?  In hummus?  An exceptional idea but not this evening.  Navy beans?  Nope.  Those are emergency rations.  Butterbeans?  Welllllll... Let me think about the flavors and textures for a while...

I cleaned up the dishes thinking about it.

And then I opened, drained, and added a can of butterbeans to the hummus.  Incredible!!!  The hull added the same texture to the hummus that home-ground cornmeal does to cornbread!  There's that little bit of husk or shell or whatever-it's-called in it, giving the teeth something to do while the tongue enjoys smoothness!

 It made a bunch, too.  I've plenty to share.

OH!  Don't forget to put a sprinkle of coarse salt on it when serving.  I really really like using coarse salt to finish.  Biting into a grain of it is life affirming.  I love it!

Rich Fletcher's Unintentionally ReWorked Roasted Pepper and Garlic Hummus ingredients are:
1 can garbanzo beans, drained with 1/2 cup liquid reserved
1 can butterbeans, drained
1 very large roasted bell pepper (or as much as you like)
2 tablespoons roasted garlic (paste)
1/4 cup tahini
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chili oil

Y'all saw it put together.  Remember, it's NOT rocket science.  I fixed the hummus and am tickled pink with the Southernized (don't tell me butterbeans aren't Southern - they call them baby limas every where else!) dish.  Most of the time, unless something is burned to a crisp or transformed into a non-Newtonian liquid or laid out on the floor and beyond salvaging, it can be fixed somehow.  Now go. And do likewise!