the bitter sweet

cranberry relish....
this is way better than any ol' canned cranberry jelly goop...
   ...what is that stuff anyways?

this has becoming a new tradition in our family...
it's a recipe from my sister-in-law's grandmother...
...my husband's, brother's wife....
she shared it with us a few years back
(can't remember now, but maybe 5 years ago?)
my mom made the recipe last year
and this is the first year I've made it...
so yummy...and so easy...
actually I should say the kids made it this year...
I was only in the kitchen for parts of the process
....the big knife process
...and the taking pictures process

girl child cutting and coring the apple
boy child peeling the orange
big knife sitting just haphazardly in the mix!

and this recipe is so simple that I actually walked them thru the recipe from the other room while I folded clothes!

lets pretend that I didn't just yell at them to stop yelling at each other

Grandma Grace Carlson's Cranberry Relish
Prepare at least 2-3 days before using so ingredients blend
1 pkg. cranberries
1 orange, peeled and seeded
1 lemon, peeled and seeded
1 apple, cut and cored, no need to peel
1 16 oz. can crushed pineapple
     (I had a 20 oz can, that I just measured out 16 oz/approx 2 cups)
1 cup sugar

Wash cranberries in colander.  Grind first four ingredients; cranberries, orange, lemon, apple. (Grandma used a meat grinder; food processor is best next option, and probably safer if your leaving the kids unsupervised your letting your kids make the recipe...). Add pineapple, with it's juice, and the sugar to the ground fruit. Let stand 1-2 hours and taste. Add more sugar if needed but keep it fairly tart.
Relish will sweeten some as it stands for a few days.
It will also darken, I was worried, I remembered it being darker, and when the kids were finished it was a pale pink, I think all the air bubbles from the food processing...it darkened up pretty fast, like within an hour...

I doubled the recipe because I think it's a nice gift to 'bottle' up and hand out to friends

lots of cranberry relish
 there was one other sm jar already gifted to the piano teacher

if you give as a gift remind them that this needs to be refrigerated.... 

priceless moments

the kids and I hit the farmers market last Saturday...

Beau was going to the library sale and he likes to wait in line....

and well, 

well, the crew that shows up early and waits for the library sale is a very interesting mix of people...

so rather than wait around and people watch 

(it is a good group to people watch with, but maybe not with the kids in tow)...

anyways, rather than wait the kids and I walked over to the farmers market...

I wanted some peaches and some honey...

got both, and the peaches were gone by Sunday afternoon...

yeah, I know, I take amazing pictures...don't be jealous!

so back to the farmers market for us on Tuesday morning...
I wanted  needed to make a peach cobbler...
arrived at the market around 11 and the peaches were almost all gone, I asked for 10 lbs because some ladies at the office wanted some too...and some for eating...
it was the last pickin's of the day and she sold me her last 10 lbs,
& they were all seconds and needed to be used that day...
took all 10 lbs to the office
only got rid of maybe 2.5 of the 10 lbs
& I was left with just less than 8 lbs of peaches...
that needed to be uses asap...
so I set to work peeling those little guys...
and before I knew it I had a helper...
the girl child came it,
donned her apron
found a knife
and asked me how she could help...

before I knew it she had taken over all the peaches and I had moved onto making the 'cobbler' part...

it was great working together with my girl..

she peeling and slicing peaches, me mixing up the cobbler...

talking about girl stuff....

laughing...

and then cleaning up the mess of peach juice all over the floor and counters...

and then enjoying the girls first cobbler...

this was only 1 of the 2 cobblers we ended up with, the other went to our neighbors...

it was a bubbling, golden bit of heaven...

I love a good cobbler....

but a girls' first cobbler...that's just priceless...

Whole Wheat Peach Cobbler

peaches

6-8 peaches-peeled and sliced

1/2-1 cup sugar 

     (depending on the sweetness of the peaches, you may be able to cut this down to 1/4 cup)

2 Tbs cornstarch

2 tsp vanilla

cobbler

1 1/2cups whole wheat flour (or regular if you want)

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

pre-heat oven to 350

place peaches, 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla into large saucepan, stir over med heat until mixture begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

while peaches are cooking mix up cobbler,

mix all dry ingredients together, and then cut in butter.  once mixture is crumbly slowly add in milk.

pour peaches into a greased 13x9 inch pan and then drop spoonfuls of cobbler over top of peaches...

bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes until cobbler is golden and bubbling...

serve warm with vanilla ice cream and or whipped cream...

or for breakfast...

no judgement...

it's whole wheat, oats and peaches...that's a good breakfast...

and well it's better than doughnuts...

check out this amazing recipe book...

"New Recipes for Good Eating"...check out how happy the mom is feeding her kids the doughnuts she just fried in Crisco......

Sunday Night 'Dinner'

Sunday Night is a hard night in the ChambersMade household....
Sundays are a long day for us with the whole family having to be out the door by 7:45 because of church and then not back home until around 1....and then a late lunch....and then well I just don't want to make dinner a few hours later...
we usually settle on something like 'Brinner' (Breakfast for dinner)...or leftover buffet...
well today the grandparents were in town...
and the kids stayed the night with them last night in their hotel....
spent the morning....and early afternoon with them...
and met us at the movies after church
     (for us, not for them...skippers!)
and ate popcorn and candy....after the kids had lunch at Costco with the g-parents....

so when we got home at 4:30 NO one was thinking dinner....

then by 7 a few of us starting thinking they might be hungry....
and I was thinking that if I wanted the kids to NOT wake up at 6 am STARVING to death I needed to send them to bed with SOMETHING in their tummies....

so the smoothie is what won for dinner....
and here is my amazing smoothie recipe....

some yogurt
some frozen fruit
some juice

blend....

so tonight's recipe used vanilla yogurt, strawberries and mango were the frozen fruit, and a strawberry/guava juice (something that was in concentrate and cheap!)....

so a little protein (yogurt), a lot of fruit, and a little sugar (juice)...and you have a wonderfully easy dinner...

and my picture...well, um...they were all gone by the time I remembered to take a pic....

and you can make these for valentines day and call them 'smoochies' ....

tons of other options for flavor combos....
strawberry and vanilla yogurt are a good base
and then the frozen fruit options and combos are endless (I just would steer clear of the frozen cherries...even without the pits...even with major blender time the girl child said that there were 'fruit scabs'...yeah NOT what you want in your smoothie!)
and the juice, whatever you think would be good, or what you have in your fridge/freezer...or skip the juice and use milk....

enjoy!