Fresh Cranberry Salsa Salad

Still looking for another side dish for your Thanksgiving? I've never really gotten into cranberries on my turkey, so every year I look for a new way to use cranberries in a creative way, but this way is so yummy I think it may become part of our yearly Thanksgiving repertoire. I had three plates full of it for dinner tonight!

Fresh Cranberry Salsa Salad

any kind of salad greens you want
fresh cranberry salsa (see recipe below)
crushed toasted pecans and tortilla chips
honey vinaigrette dressing (see recipe below)

Fresh Cranberry Salsa

chop in a food processor or by hand if you have a lot of energy:
a bag of fresh cranberries
1/4 of an onion (any flavor)
6 sprigs of fresh cilantro or parsley

After everything is chopped mix in 1/2 a cup or more of honey or agave. Or white sugar if you don’t care about that sort of thing.

Honey Vinaigrette Dressing

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup honey

Shake or mix in a blender. You can use regular apple cider vinegar instead of raw but it won’t taste as fabulous. You can buy Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar at a health food store like Good Earth.

I'll sure miss you all on Thanksgiving this year...almost as much as I'll miss all your yummy pies!

Pumpkin Roll

This recipe doesn't even need an explanation.  It's positively delicious.  Plus, every morsel screams of the holidays...and what could be better than that??

Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel-the thin dish clothes with no fuzzies on them)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup LIBBY'S 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
2. COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
3. BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
4. BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

ENJOY!

Tagine

A tajine or tagine (Berber: taǧin) is a type of dish found in the North African cuisines of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya, which is named after the special pot in which it is cooked.

I first had Tagine when I was living in London.  I had forgotten all about it until Logan's cousins came back from living in Quatar and made it for us.  I fell in love with it.  I have since tried several Tagine recipes, but then I saw that Mary (Beesley) Jolley had one in her book, so I had to make it.  It's delicious, it's beautiful with all the different colors, AND it's really healthy.  You have to try it.

Tagine is fantastic because you can pretty much put in whatever you want.  It can be a vegetarian dish or more like a stew.  Just make sure to serve it over couscous...that's a must!  It doesn't have to be cooked in a 'tagine' pot either; I just use a casserole dish with a lid.

Enjoy!

-Emily

Vegetable Tagine

2 medium Yukon gold potatoes

1 large onion

1 small butternut squash

1 red pepper

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

½ c chopped carrots

1 can diced tomatoes in juice

2 cups chicken broth

diced chicken (optional)

drizzle of Olive oil

salt and pepper

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cumin

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp paprika

couscous

Chop all vegetables into bite size pieces.  You can pretty much use any fresh vegetables you have on hand.  Combine all ingredients except the couscous in a glass covered casserole dish. Bake at 400 degrees until vegetables are soft and tender (about 1 hour).  Season chicken well with salt and pepper. Cook chicken (if adding) on the stove top and then add to vegetables and cook for 15 minutes longer.  Cook couscous according to package.  Serve Tagine over couscous.