Date Nut Brown Bread

Relish Magazine had a great recipe for Date Nut Brown Bread. I finally got around to making it, and both Kevin and I loved it. The article said to serve it with cream cheese, but we loved it plain.




Ingredients

2 cups finely chopped pitted dates (about 10 ounces)
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg, at room temperature
2⁄3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted pecan halves, chopped

1. Mix dates, milk, butter and molasses in a medium saucepan over medium heat; stir until butter melts and mixture begins to simmer. Remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl, and cool to room temperature.

2. Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

3. Stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside.

4. Whisk the egg, sugar, and vanilla until blended well. Add to date mixture; stir well. Add pecans and flour mixture to date mixture; stir until well-blended. Spoon into prepared loaf pan.

5. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of loaf comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes.

Cranberry relish

This is the best cranberry relish. My grandma & my mom made it every year for the holidays. This year I made it. I had some leftovers, and made just a plain cupcake recipe and added in some of the relish. It made a great apple-cranberry-orange muffin.

one 12oz package cranberries, fresh or frozen
4-6 oranges, washed & cut into slices (leave peel on)
4-6 apples, washed & cut into slices, core removed
sugar to taste

side note: More oranges and apples make it less cranberry flavor. Kind of test it out, taste as you go, see how you like it.

Combine all fruits using a grinder. My KitchenAid came with a grinder attachment (yay!). I suppose you could use a food processor, but you don´t want mush, you want it kind of finely diced like.

Add about 1/2-1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you like it. Let it sit overnight. You can always add more sugar if it´s not sweet enough for you.

This will make around 10-12 cups. Usually my family makes a half recipe and if it doesn't seem like enough make the other half, or add a bit more of each until it´s seems sufficient.

Yummy orange cranberry muffins

I made Sunshine Cake for potluck, and I was hungry for some yummy muffins. I remembered my recipe for Copycat Costco muffins and found a yellow cake mix then added in a can of mandarin oranges (drained) and about 3/4 cup frozen whole cranberries.

These muffins were so good, I only got one and a half of them!

Classic Pimiento Cheese

Found this recipe in Relish Magazine. I´ve made it at least 3 times now, and we love it. Usually eat it on bread, but it would be great as a dip for tortilla chips or crackers. I never get it quite as creamy as they suggest, and I don´t have extra sharp cheddar, but definitely still worth eating.

Ingredients

2 cups finely shredded extra-sharp Cheddar
½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano)
1/3 cup mayonnaise, divided
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon grated shallot or yellow onion
1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimientos, drained but liquid reserved
Ground cayenne pepper
English-style dry mustard

Instructions
1. Combine half the Cheddar and half the Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Mix together lightly. Knead in 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise until mixture is creamy and very smooth.

2. Work in remaining cheese, garlic, shallot, pimientos, 1 tablespoon of reserved pimiento liquid, a dash of cayenne and a small pinch of dry mustard. Knead just enough to mix well: it should still have plenty of texture. Add remaining mayonnaise, if necessary—just enough to make it spreadable.

3. Let stand 30 minutes. Serve cool or at room temperature.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Good books to listen to/read

During my christmas vacation, I listened to/read about 5 books. All were pretty light reads.

The first one was The Christmas thief, by Mary Higgins Clark. I got it on cd, and listened to it as I cooked. Synopsis: Years ago Packy Noonan stole and hid diamonds in a huge spruce tree. He´s now out of jail and ready to go collect his diamonds. However, the spruce is now to be the Christmas tree for Rockefeller center. Doesn´t take much to figure out what´s going on and what will happen.

The next 4 were The Christmas Shoes, The Christmas Blessing, The Christmas Hope, & The Christmas Promise, all by Donna VanLiere. You could read each book alone, but each book did have characters from the prior book. You kind of got to watch them grow and expand. These are all Christian books, reminding us of God´s love and care for us, and His hand in our lives.

The Christmas Shoes is about Nathan, whose mother is dying on Christmas Eve, and Robert, whose family life is crumbling. Their chance meeting changes the course of both their lives. The song The Christmas Shoes by Newsong is what prompted the writer to create this story.

The Christmas Blessing follows Nathan as he´s a third-year med student. Through his interactions with Meghan and Charlie, heart patients in the hospital, he finds his path in life.

The Christmas Hope is the story of Patricia & Mark Addison who unexpectedly spend one Christmas with a little girl who helps them come to terms with each other, and bring peace with their son´s death.

The Christmas Promise is of Miss Gloria, who has devoted her life to helping those in need. Through helping her cranky neighbor Miriam, and a young woman in need, she unknowingly helps her lost son find his way back home.