Thanksgiving Delights: Part Two, Cranberry Butter

Recipe: Cranberry Butter
Source: The Orange Strainer
Time: 15 minutes, plus time in refrigerator
Ease: 2
Taste: 10
Leftover Value: 10
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

A local diner near my house serves bread with three types of butter: regular, garlic, and cranberry.  Butter and bread is classic.  Garlic butter is incredible.  Cranberry butter is an unexpected delight.

The first time I experienced this butter wonderland, I wanted to take back my dinner order and send for more bread and butter.

It was that amazing.

This cranberry butter is what made me choose to make Baked French Toast as part of my Thanksgiving breakfast.

As I started to make it, I feared that it wouldn't meet my expectations.  This is probably because I've never made anything with cranberries before.  Because of this, I decided to give a raw one a try.  The taste was so bitter, I instantly started shaking my hands and making whining noises like Will Ferrell did in Elf when he sprays Passion Fruit (perfume) Spray in his mouth.

Cranberries alone are terrible.

Cranberries in butter are mind blowing.

I chose to make it the simple way (simple = less dishes to wash), however, if you want a more whipped butter, you can mix the ingredients in a stand mixer rather than the following way.  Just remember to lightly mix in the fruit.  You want there to still be some chunks of cranberries throughout.

Here's what you'll need:
1/2 cup of cranberries
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 T powdered sugar
2 T honey
Zest of one orange

Start by giving the cranberries a good chop.  I had frozen mine so it made them super easy to chop up.

Put your softened butter into a medium sized bowl.

Sprinkle in the powdered sugar.

Pour the honey on top.

Give it all a good mix at this point.

Then, zest the orange over top of the butter mixture.

Toss in the cranberries, but not any liquids that may have gathered at the bottom of your measuring cup.

Lightly mash the berries into the butter mixture.

Refrigerate for a few hours.  Serve with pancakes, french toast, baked french toast, fresh bread, muffins, or any delicious carb of your choosing.

If you cross your eyes, this picture is totally in focus.  I had to add it to show that each butter knife's worth is woven with bits of cranberry which have been transformed from passion fruit spray bitter to a pleasantly sweet surprise.  

Mixed with maple syrup, it is positively divine.

Because I think you're cute, I've written the recipe out below:

Cranberry Butter

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of cranberries
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 T powdered sugar
2 T honey
Zest of one orange

Steps:

Chop up the cranberries.  

Place softened butter in the bowl.  

Add the powdered sugar and honey.  Mix well with a spoon.  

Zest one orange on top of the butter mixture.  

Add the berries.  Mix lightly.  

Refrigerate for a few hours.

Enjoy!

Brussels Sprouts Are...Delicious?

Recipe: Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic and Cranberries
Source: Pioneer Woman
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/12/brussels-sprouts-with-balsamic-and-cranberries/
Time: 40 minutes total
Ease: 3
Taste: 8
Leftover Value: 8
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer:  Keep it in the Strainer!

My vegetable education growing up was very basic.  In the world of my brothers and me, the only vegetables that existed were corn, carrots, peas, broccoli, and string beans.  If we could have had our choice, none of them would have existed.  We were the cliche children whose mother had to say, "Eat your peas!" and "If you don't eat your vegetables you aren't leaving this table!".

I think that might be why I struggle today to find satisfaction in snacking on veggies.

And also a reason my thighs are the size that they are.

But I'm going to keep telling myself that the last one is hereditary.

Regardless of these woes, I try.  I try to resist the urge to be the person at the dinner table who ignores the vegetables completely.  I try to serve at least one veggie with each meal, and I try to explore new realms.

Hello Brussels Sprouts.

These guys tend to get a bad rap.  I guess they were the peas of the generation before mine.  In fact, the only time I had ever seen a Brussels sprout was when someone my father's age used it as a visual for an example of something they disliked.

Hubby and I agreed that Brussels sprouts was a veggie we wanted to try, regardless the outcome.

The night I decided to make these bad boys I was in the middle of a spastic phone conversation with my older brother and sister-in-law and it was storming outside.

Then, the power went out.

It seems that them's is always the breaks.

Somewhere in my mass of craziness and confusion, I thought that the sprouts needed to roast, then go back into the oven with balsamic glaze and cranberries.

Silly me.

I ended up rushing the prep portion in order to end up with extra time on my hands with my sprouts in the dark (sorry about all the prepositional phrases...in that sentence; sorry I just couldn't help myself).

In the end, the only complaint I had was my own fault.  My balsamic mixture didn't end up as thick as I know it should have been and that was due to the phone call, the lights out, and the inability to read directions.

Yet all in all, they still looked beautiful.

And were the perfect pairing with my lemon chicken and ricotta and kale mashed potatoes.  More on those later?  I think yes...