THANKSGIVING FRUIT GOBBLER
Insider reader Heather Carter writes: “This Fruit Gobbler is our favorite appetizer. Everyone helps make it and it’s delicious and fun. I got it from Family Fun magazine.”
Ingredients:
Bosc pear (for the head)
Melon (for the body)
Cheese (for the beak and tail feathers)
Red pepper (for the snood, feet and side feathers)
Raisins (for the eyes) Grapes (for the tail feathers)
Bamboo skewers
Toothpicks
Stabilize the melon body by cutting a shallow slice off the rind to form a flat base. Using a section of bamboo skewer, attach a Bosc pear head to the melon in the position of the head. Cut a cheese triangle beak and red pepper snood. Attach both, along with raisin eyes, to the head with sections of toothpick. Cut red pepper feet and set them in place. For tail feathers, skewer cheese cubes and red grapes, then insert the skewers as shown. Pin pepper side feathers in place with toothpicks. Yay!
CRANBERRY, CHERRY AND WALNUT CHUTNEY
Monitor editor Felice Belman hooked us up with this killer chutney recipe.
Ingredients:
2 cups dried tart cherries (Can’t find them? I’ve substituted craisins sometimes.)
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 cup raisins 1 cup sugar
½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup finely chopped celery
6 tablespoons apple juice
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon chopped lemon zest
1 cup toasted and coursely chopped black or English walnuts or hazelnuts.
Combine all ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring well. Cool the chutney to room temperature; cover tightly and refrigerate. The chutney will thicken as it cools and will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Serves 12.
(Adapted from “Great Good Food,” by Julee Rosso.)
VEGAN VEGETABLE CHOWDER
This vegan vegetable chowder recipe was sent to us by reader Barbara Bonsignore.
Ingredients:
3 cups corn kernels
4 cups vegetable broth or water
2 cups soy milk
1 large potato, diced
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, diced
2 Tbsp. natural peanut (almond or cashew) butter with no added oil or sugar
1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 tsp. dried dill weed
2 tsp. dried parsley
tamari, garlic powder, salt to taste
Put all ingredients into large soup pot. Simmer 30 minutes and serve.
SOY NOG
Here’s another vegan treat sent by Barbara Bonsignore.
Ingredients:
3 cups soy milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla
1/4-1/2 tsp. rum extract
pinch nutmeg
1-2 Tbsp. oil
Combine in blender until smoth and serve hot or cold.
SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
Insider reporter Keith Testa submitted this old family recipe.
Ingredients:
4 cups sweet potato, cubed
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup packed brown sugar
Î cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, softened
½ cup chopped pecans
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9×13 inch baking dish.
In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.
Serves 12.
PERFECT ROAST POTATOES IN GOOSE FAT
This recipe comes to us from our own Nature 101 writer and goose aficianado Paul Basham.
First, roast a goose and save the fat.
Ingredients:
6 pounds of medium potatoes
2 tablespoons of semolina
2 cups of goose fat
Preheat oven to highest temperature.
Peel potatoes and cut each one into thirds.
Put potatoes in cold salted water in saucepan and bring to boil for 4 minutes.
Drain potatoes in colander and return to empty saucepan, sprinkling them with semolina.
With lid on, shake the potatoes to coat them well with semolina.
Pour the goose fat into a large roasting pan and heat in oven until hot.
Put the semolina-coated potatoes carefully into the hot fat and roast for about an hour until they are darkly golden and crispy. Turn them half way through roasting.
Serve hot from oven. Makes 8 – 10 servings.
ULTIMATE CRANBERRY SAUCE
Insider editor Ben Conant sent us this cranberry sauce recipe, then wrote this intro in the third person.
Ingredients:
1 can jellied cranberry sauce
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Leave oven door open. (Hey, it gets cold in the kitchen!)
Using a can opener, cut the lid in a clockwise, circular pattern.
Upend the can onto a plate. Hold the can about 3-5 inches off the plate with your left hand, and carefully pound the bottom of the can with your open right palm. Pound the can 8 times or until the cranberry log slimily suctions its way out of the can and deposits itself on the plate.
The result should be a can-shaped sauce tower with the can ribbing pattern still visible on the sauce. If the tower crumbles on the way to the plate, get a new can and start over. Once you’ve got the ribbed sauce tower perfectly arranged on the plate, bring it to a sideboard or another room, or just throw it away. It’s gross!