Will Run For Cranberry Sauce

You may already have had your fill of cranberry sauce this season (my apologies if it jiggled and came out of a can) but have you had your fill of port?  It isn't uncommon to see someone drinking port out of a measuring cup early Christmas morning (why exactly Farmer tries to be inconspicuous I'm not quite sure).

If you are looking for a quick and easy recipe for your next cranberry sauce & gravy themed dinner party this just might be it (more about that another time).

Cranberry Sauce

ingredients

1 C Ruby Port (drink remainder in glass measuring cup in order to remain inconspicuous) 

2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half

1 C dried Johnson's cranberries

1 medium cortland apple, peeled & roughly chopped (or other sweet apple such as Macintosh) 

2 1/2 C of frozen or fresh  Johnson's cranberries

3/4 C water

1/4 C brown sugar 

Bring port and broken cinnamon sticks to boil in a medium saucepan.  Reduce heat immediately and simmer for approximately 5 minutes.

Add dried cranberries to the saucepan and simmer for approximately 5 more minutes until the cranberries are soft.  

Add fresh cranberries, chopped apple, 3/4 cup of water, and sugar.  Bring to a boil stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Reduce heat to low, simmer until cranberries and apples breakdown stirring regularly until sauce has thickened to desired consistency (approximately 20 minutes).

Discard cinnamon sticks (unless you have a relative that you aren't too crazy about).

Cool and enjoy.

* Leftovers are great in oatmeal, yogurt, smoothies.

Will Run for Apple Cinnamon Dip

Summer vacation is almost over (gag!).  I've spent the summer filling up the sarcasm tank and mentally preparing for another ten months of 7 & 8 year olds (if anyone can really prepare for that). 

  The end of summer vacation means the beginning of cake club and staff room treats.  Sometimes you need a slice of coconut cream cake after you've just spend the last 40 minutes teaching two dimensional shapes to an opera singing ballerina chicken.  

While I'm not really one to pass up cake I love to share healthy treats with my students and my co-workers (who I am pretty sure think that I come from another planet most of the time.  It could be the homemade deodorant, my bright green shorty running shorts, my funky metal lunchpail or  101 other things).

On that note you'll find a delicious recipe for cinnamon dip below to go with the deliciously imperfect apples that are sitting on my counter.  Apples that have lumps and bumps and are not the size of a small child's head.

deliciously imperfect

While apples are delicious on their own dip makes everything better especially cinnamon dip!

Apple Cinnamon Dip

(makes 2 cups with some extra for taste testing)

ingredients

*Silken Tofu Extra Firm (for grilling, stir frying & sauteing)12 oz/349g

1/3 C apple juice

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 Tbsp maple syrup

Place all items in a blender and blend until desired consistency is reached (1-2 minutes).

* Be sure to use extra firm silken tofu otherwise the texture of your dip will either be gritty or too runny.

This makes a great dip but it can also be used in place on yogurt in parfaits or as a topping for crumbles or cobblers.  Yum!  For a nuttier taste add 1-2 tsp of unrefined sunflower oil.